How Solar Cells Could End Up in More Everyday Items
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New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Microsoft says China-backed cybercriminals hacked into US nuclear weapons agency
Microsoft has warned that Chinese state-sponsored hackers have breached its SharePoint software used by the US agency responsible for maintaining and modernizing the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons, according to a report. The National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency that operates under the auspices of the Department of Energy, was among the targets of a hack allegedly carried out by Chinese-backed cybercriminals, according to Bloomberg News. A Dutch cybersecurity company estimates that around 400 government agencies in the US, Mauritius, Jordan, South Africa and the Netherlands were impacted by the hack, according to Bloomberg News. Advertisement 4 A US government agency responsible for maintaining the nation's stockpile of nuclear weapons was reportedly targeted in a hack by Chinese-backed cybercriminals. U.S. DepartmentofDefense The Dutch firm, Eye Security, previously estimated that just 60 entities were impacted. A source familiar with the situation told the financial news site on Tuesday that no sensitive or classified information was known to have been stolen in the hack, which was made possible by exploiting a flaw in Microsoft's SharePoint document management software. 'On Friday, July 18th, the exploitation of a Microsoft SharePoint zero-day vulnerability began affecting the Department of Energy,' an agency spokesman told Bloomberg News. Advertisement 'The department was minimally impacted due to its widespread use of the Microsoft M365 cloud and very capable cybersecurity systems. A very small number of systems were impacted. All impacted systems are being restored.' The breaches have been ongoing since at least July 7, according to Adam Meyers, senior vice president at CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that has partnered with Microsoft to ward off potential cyber threats. 'The early exploitation resembled government-sponsored activity, and then spread more widely to include hacking that 'looks like China',' Meyers told Bloomberg News. CrowdStrike's investigation into the campaign remains ongoing. Advertisement 4 In a blog post, Microsoft identified two reputed cybercriminal organizations, Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon, in the alleged scheme. Bloomberg via Getty Images The Post has sought comment from the NNSA, Microsoft, CrowdStrike and Eye Security. In a blog post, the tech giant identified two reputed cybercriminal organizations, Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon, in the alleged scheme to exploit flaws in Microsoft's software that is used by customers on their own networks rather than in the more secure cloud. These customers are at risk of having their data compromised by the hackers, according to Microsoft, which also fingered a third Chinese-based organization, Storm-2603, as doing the same. Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! Microsoft SharePoint is a platform used to store, organize, share and manage internal web content across an organization — similar to intranets. The NNSA wasn't the only agency that was targeted in the alleged cyberattack. Among the victims are the US Department of Education, Florida's Department of Revenue and the Rhode Island General Assembly, which is the Ocean State's legislative body. Internationally, governments in Europe and the Middle East have also been targeted. Cybersecurity researchers have detected breaches on more than 100 servers, representing at least 60 victims across various sectors, including energy, consulting and academia. 4 The National Nuclear Security Administration is a semi-autonomous agency that operates under the auspices of the Department of Energy. Jarretera – Microsoft has patched the vulnerabilities in recent days, but the company expressed concern that hackers will continue to exploit these flaws in future attacks. 'We have high confidence that threat actors will continue to integrate them into their attacks,' Microsoft stated in its blog post. Advertisement 'China opposes and fights hacking activities in accordance with the law. At the same time, we oppose smears and attacks against China under the excuse of cybersecurity issues,' a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said in a statement. Cybersecurity experts have expressed grave concerns about the severity of the threat. Michael Sikorski, chief technology officer and head of threat intelligence for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks Inc., described the situation as a 'high-severity, high-urgency threat.' Advertisement He emphasized the risks posed by SharePoint's deep integration with Microsoft's ecosystem, which includes services like Office, Teams, OneDrive and Outlook — all of which contain valuable data for attackers. 4 This archive picture shows the first B61-13 HiFi nuclear bomb unit completed at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque earlier this year. Craig Fritz/Sandia National Labs / SWNS Eye Security reported that the flaws allow hackers to access SharePoint servers and steal authentication keys, enabling them to impersonate users or services even after patches are applied. 'We estimate that the real number might be much higher as there can be many more hidden ways to compromise servers that do not leave traces,' Eye Security's co-owner Vaisha Bernard said in an email to Bloomberg News. Advertisement 'This is still developing, and other opportunistic adversaries continue to exploit vulnerable servers.' Despite Microsoft's efforts to bolster its security measures, including hiring executives from government agencies and holding weekly security meetings, the recent breaches have drawn renewed scrutiny. The US government issued a report last year that was critical of Microsoft's lax security culture.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Eight months in, Swedish unicorn Lovable crosses the $100M ARR milestone
Less than a week after it became Europe's latest unicorn, Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable is now also a centaur — a company with more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Lovable took only eight months since its launch to get here, thanks to the skyrocketing popularity of its AI-powered website and app builder. The startup claims it now has more than 2.3 million active users, and last reported 180,000 paying subscribers. With only 45 full-time employees, and 14 open positions on its careers page, that makes for an impressive employee-to-revenue ratio. Subscriptions seem to be driving the bulk of Lovable's revenue, but the company isn't prioritizing sales at all costs. Shortly after Lovable said it had reached ARR of $75 million in June, its CEO Anton Osika wrote on X that Lovable had 'lost $1.5 million ARR in a single day' because it had moved all users on its Team tier to its less expensive Pro tier, which now also accommodates collaboration. The Teams plan is now being replaced by a Business tier, which sits between the Pro and custom Enterprise offerings. The new plan offers business-focused features such as self-serve, Single Sign-On (SSO), templates, private projects that won't be visible to the entire team, and the option to opt-out from having your data be used for training. Lovable already has a slate of large customers like Klarna, Hubspot and Photoroom, but there are still notable barriers and concerns around vibe coding among enterprises — where the big money is. This new tier could help Lovable find intermediary use cases and drive more businesses to use its tools for more than prototyping, which is what the startup says most people use it for today. This has been one focus for the company, and Osika recently said that businesses were driving significant revenue from projects built with Lovable. The startup says more than 10 million projects have been created on Lovable to date. The $100 million ARR club isn't large, especially in Europe, but it is growing thanks to tailwinds from all things AI. In April, Nvidia-backed B2B AI video platform Synthesia, also surpassed that milestone — though it was founded in 2017, not late 2024. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Changes to federal student loans leave aspiring medical students scrambling to cover costs
Twenty-year-old Eric Mun didn't want to believe it: Only one kid in the family could make it to medical school — and it wasn't going to be him. Mun had done everything right. He graduated high school with honors, earned a scholarship at Northwestern University and breezed through his biology courses. He immigrated to Alabama from Korea as a toddler. From the quiet stretches of the South, he dreamed of helping patients in a pressed white coat. But dreams don't pay tuition. And with new borrowing limits, Mun's family can only support one child through school. 'My parents already implied that my older brother is probably going to be the one that gets to go,' Mun said. President Donald Trump's sweeping 'big, beautiful' tax and spending bill, signed into law earlier this month, imposes strict new caps on federal student loans, capping borrowing for professional schools at $50,000 per year. The measure particularly affects medical students, whose tuition often exceeds $300,000 over four years. Aspiring physicians like Mun have been thrown into financial uncertainty. Many members of the medical community say the measures will send shock waves through a system already laden with economic barriers, discouraging low-income students from pursuing a medical degree. 'It might mean there are people who want to be doctors that can't be doctors because they can't afford it,' said Richard Anderson, president of the Illinois State Medical Society. Before the passage of Trump's budget bill, the Grad PLUS loan program allowed graduate students to borrow their institution's total cost of attendance, including living expenses. The program was slashed as part of a broader overhaul to the federal student loan system. Now, beginning July 1, 2026, most graduate students will be capped at $20,500 in federal loans per year, with a total limit of $100,000. Students in professional schools, like medical, dental or law school, will face the $50,000 annual cap and a total limit of $200,000. Mun's parents work at an automobile assembly plant. Throughout high school, he knew he would have to rely on scholarships and federal loans to pay his way through college. Mun's voice faltered. 'I'm just trying to remain hopeful,' Mun said. Also folded into the bill: the elimination of several Biden-era repayment plans, cuts to Pell Grants and limits to the Parent PLUS loans program, which allows parents of dependent undergraduates to borrow. Proponents of the Republican-backed bill said the curbed borrowing will incentivize medical schools and other graduate programs to lower tuition. The tuition of most Chicago-area medical schools is nearly $300,000 for four years, not including cost-of-living expenses. Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine has a $465,000 price tag after accounting for those indirect costs, according to the school's website. Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science trails closely behind at nearly $464,000. 'One of the main concerns about the Grad PLUS program is money that is going to subsidize institutions rather than extending access to students,' said Lesley Turner, an associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Still, many medical professionals expressed doubt that schools will adjust their costs in response to the bill. Tuition for both private and public schools has been steadily climbing for decades, up 81% from 2001 after adjusting for inflation, according to the Association of American Medical some evidence that Grad PLUS may have contributed to those tuition hikes. A study co-authored by Turner in 2023 found that prices increased 65 cents per dollar after the program's introduction in 2006. There was also little indication that Grad PLUS had fulfilled its intended goal of expanding access to underrepresented students. But Turner cautioned against the abrupt reversal of the program. After accounting for inflation, the lifetime borrowing limits now placed on graduate students are lower than they were in 2005, she said. Many students may turn to private loans to cover the gap, often at higher interest rates. More than half of medical students relied on Grad PLUS loans, according to AAMC. The median education debt for indebted medical students is around $200,000, with most repayment plans lasting 10 to 20 years. The median stipend for doctors' first year post-MD was just $65,100 in 2024. 'I think for many reasons, it would have been reasonable to put some sort of limit on Grad PLUS loans, but I think this is a very blunt way of doing it,' Turner said. In a high-rise on Northwestern's downtown campus last week, 20 undergraduate students and alums from local colleges gathered for the Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative Fellows program. The eight-week summer intensive offers aspiring medical professionals a deep dive into cancer health disparities information and research. Participants like Mun have been left reeling after the flurry of federal cuts. Alexis Chappel, a 28-year-old graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, watched her dad struggle with addiction growing up. She was deeply moved by the doctors who supported his recovery, and it inspired her to pursue medicine. But she has no idea how she'll cover tuition. 'I feel like it's in God's hands at this point,' Chappel said. 'I just felt like it's a direct attack on Black and brown students who plan on going to medical school.' Just 10% of medical students are Black and 12% are Latino, according to AAMC enrollment data. Socioeconomic diversity is also limited: A 2018 analysis found that 24% of students came from the wealthiest 5% of U.S. Pendergrast, who graduated from Feinberg in 2023, relied entirely on Grad PLUS loans to fund her medical education. Juggling classes and clinicals, she had little money saved and no steady stream of income. Pendergrast was so strapped for cash that she enrolled in SNAP benefits — a program also cut under Trump's budget bill. Now an anesthesiologist at University of Michigan Health, she's documented her concerns on TikTok for her 48,000 followers. 'It's not going to improve representation, and it's not going to improve access,' Pendergrast said. 'It's going to act as a deterrent for people who otherwise would be excellent physicians.' For low-income students, the application process is already fraught with economic obstacles, Pendergrast said. Metrics like GPA and the Medical College Admissions Test, or MCAT, are heavily weighted in admissions, and may disadvantage students from underresourced schools. Many students also lack mentorships or networks to guide them through the process, she noted. 'I think the average medical student is going to be richer and whiter, and not from rural areas and not from underserved communities,' Pendergrast said. The elimination of Grad PLUS loans comes amid a mounting nationwide physician shortage. A recent AAMC report predicted a shortfall of 86,000 physicians by 2036. Meanwhile, a significant portion of the workforce is poised to enter retirement: The U.S. population aged 65 and older is expected to grow 34.1% over the next decade. The shortage is particularly concentrated in primary care. In practice, that means longer waiting times for patients, and an increased caseload on physicians, who may already suffer from burnout. 'If the goal is truly to make America healthy again, then we need to have a strong physician workforce … We should be coming up with ideas to make it more accessible for people who want to be doctors as opposed to hindering that,' Anderson said. Sophia Tully, co-president of the Minority Association of Pre-Med Students at Northwestern, said she and her peers have struggled to reconcile with a system that often feels stacked against them. The 21-year-old plans on taking an extra gap year before medical school in an effort to save money. Tully summed up the environment on campus: 'For lack of a better word, people are panicking.'
