Latest news with #AmazonAWS
Forbes
2 days ago
- Forbes
Potential Cyber Threat Emerges As MOVEit Scanning Accelerates
Scanning activity targeting MOVEit Transfer systems surges globally, raising fears of another ... More widespread exploitation campaign. Progress Software's MOVEit Transfer system is back in the cybersecurity spotlight — and not for good reasons. New telemetry from GreyNoise shows a sharp and sudden surge in scanning activity, raising fears that attackers may be preparing for a fresh wave of exploitation, echoing the mass compromise campaigns of 2023. A Sudden Shift That Demands Attention On May 27, GreyNoise recorded a striking jump in the number of unique IPs probing MOVEit Transfer systems. Scanning activity, previously hovering below 10 IPs per day, skyrocketed to over 100. The next day, it surged to 319. Since then, daily scans have remained high, fluctuating between 200 and 300 unique IPs — a pattern that GreyNoise calls a 'significant deviation' from baseline behavior. These aren't just idle scans. Nearly half of the probing IPs — 44% — are associated with Tencent Cloud. Others originate from Amazon AWS, Cloudflare, and Google Cloud, platforms often abused for mass-scale reconnaissance due to their ease of access and global reach. The scans are originating primarily from the United States, but also span Germany, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and other countries. The targets are globally distributed, with GreyNoise noting attempted access across the UK, Germany, France, and Mexico. Echoes of 2023 MOVEit Transfer made headlines just a couple years ago when a critical SQL injection vulnerability (CVE-2023-34362) was exploited by the Cl0p ransomware group. That zero-day led to breaches at hundreds of organizations, including government agencies and major corporations. The attackers used automated scanning and mass exploitation to infiltrate unpatched instances at scale. The current surge raises concerns that we may be witnessing a similar prelude. Attackers are known to conduct broad reconnaissance to identify unpatched or misconfigured systems before launching widespread attacks. GreyNoise's detection of sustained scanning over multiple weeks — rather than a short spike — suggests that reconnaissance is ongoing, possibly automated, and potentially linked to active threat actors preparing an operation. But not all experts see this as a clear sign of an imminent threat. 'The increase in scanning activity targeting MOVEit Transfer systems is worth monitoring, but doesn't necessarily indicate imminent or widespread exploitation,' said Shane Barney, CISO at Keeper Security. 'This type of behavior often reflects opportunistic threat actors probing for unpatched systems – not necessarily a sophisticated adversary.' Still, Barney acknowledged the high stakes: 'The MOVEit vulnerabilities have a history of being exploited at scale, with significant consequences, so organizations must remain vigilant.' What to Do Now Security leaders should act now, not later. Here's what should be prioritized: Nivedita Murthy, senior staff consultant at Black Duck, emphasized that attackers are quick to capitalize on lapses in patching. 'Attackers are exploiting a vulnerability in outdated versions of MOVEit Transfer, emphasizing the importance of keeping software up-to-date with the latest patches,' she said. Murthy also noted the growing role of automation in these campaigns: 'With the help of AI, attackers can automate a lot of their tasks and run attacks faster while making them harder to detect.' She recommends a layered defense, starting with visibility: 'Security teams should inventory all instances of the software using SCA tools, implement additional controls such as authentication and authorization, and regularly scan their software inventory for risks.' Maintaining accurate Software Bills of Materials, she added, is also critical to managing risk and 'helps confidently unleash business innovation in an era of accelerating risk.' Cloud Platforms as Recon-as-a-Service There's also a broader trend at play: cloud infrastructure is now a top tool for adversaries. Spinning up virtual machines on public cloud services takes minutes and costs pennies. That makes them perfect for running scanning scripts or launching low-and-slow enumeration attacks while obscuring true attribution. Tencent Cloud's appearance in this story is notable, not because the company is complicit, but because of the volume. With nearly half of scanner IPs traced back to Tencent's ASN, it's clear adversaries see value in its global footprint and accessibility. This development calls for better coordination between cloud providers and the security community to detect, report, and tear down abuse infrastructure before it's weaponized. A Warning, Not Yet a Breach While the scanning activity may not yet point to a coordinated exploit campaign, the patterns are uncomfortably familiar. Last year's MOVEit breaches didn't start with explosions — they started with quiet reconnaissance. 'Ensuring patches are applied, systems aren't unnecessarily exposed, and privileged access is tightly controlled are all foundational steps that help reduce risk,' Barney advised. 'While cybercrime groups may attempt to speed up and scale campaigns with automation or AI, core defense strategies remain the same: establish a zero-trust architecture, manage privileged access, and use real-time threat detection.' This isn't cause for panic…yet. But it is a call to be prepared. Threat actors are scanning. Whether or not they act depends, in part, on whether defenders leave the door open.
CNA
5 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Exclusive-Amazon loses AWS generative AI boss as tech talent shuffle heats up
SAN FRANCISCO :Amazon's AWS recently lost its vice president overseeing generative artificial intelligence development, as the competition for talent heats up. Vasi Philomin told Reuters in an email that he left Amazon for another company, without providing specifics. A company spokesperson confirmed that Philomin had recently left after eight years with Amazon. Philomin helped lead generative AI efforts and product strategy, and oversaw foundation models known as Amazon Titan. The spokesperson said Rajesh Sheth, a vice president previously overseeing Amazon Elastic Block Store, had assumed some of Philomin's responsibilities. In his biography, Philomin said he also helped create and lead Amazon Bedrock, a hub for using multiple AI models and one of AWS's premier products in its battle for AI supremacy. He was a frequent speaker at AWS events, including Amazon's annual cloud computing conference in Las Vegas. Amazon is working to bolster its reputation in AI development, after rivals like OpenAI, and Google have taken an early lead, particularly with consumer-focused models. The Seattle-based online retailer and technology powerhouse has invested $8 billion in AI startup Anthropic and integrated its Claude software into its own products including a new revamped version of voice assistant Alexa that it's rolling out to customers this year. In December, Amazon introduced its Nova AI models which provide for text, video and image generation. Earlier this year, it added to the lineup with a version called Sonic that can more readily produce natural-sounding speech. Companies are employing creative techniques to hire top AI talent, including using sports industry data analysis to help identify undiscovered talent, Reuters reported last month. As a result, compensation has skyrocketed for some. However, as Amazon races to produce more advanced AI, it said it expects its own success will lead to fewer corporate jobs, according to a memo from CEO Andy Jassy last week. Job growth limits will be driven in particular by so-called agentic AI, which can perform tasks with minimal or even no additional input from people. "As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy wrote.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Amazon loses AWS generative AI boss as tech talent shuffle heats up
By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon's AWS recently lost its vice president overseeing generative artificial intelligence development, as the competition for talent heats up. Vasi Philomin told Reuters in an email that he left Amazon for another company, without providing specifics. A company spokesperson confirmed that Philomin had recently left after eight years with Amazon. Philomin helped lead generative AI efforts and product strategy, and oversaw foundation models known as Amazon Titan. The spokesperson said Rajesh Sheth, a vice president previously overseeing Amazon Elastic Block Store, had assumed some of Philomin's responsibilities. In his biography, Philomin said he also helped create and lead Amazon Bedrock, a hub for using multiple AI models and one of AWS's premier products in its battle for AI supremacy. He was a frequent speaker at AWS events, including Amazon's annual cloud computing conference in Las Vegas. Amazon is working to bolster its reputation in AI development, after rivals like OpenAI, and Google have taken an early lead, particularly with consumer-focused models. The Seattle-based online retailer and technology powerhouse has invested $8 billion in AI startup Anthropic and integrated its Claude software into its own products including a new revamped version of voice assistant Alexa that it's rolling out to customers this year. In December, Amazon introduced its Nova AI models which provide for text, video and image generation. Earlier this year, it added to the lineup with a version called Sonic that can more readily produce natural-sounding speech. Companies are employing creative techniques to hire top AI talent, including using sports industry data analysis to help identify undiscovered talent, Reuters reported last month. As a result, compensation has skyrocketed for some. However, as Amazon races to produce more advanced AI, it said it expects its own success will lead to fewer corporate jobs, according to a memo from CEO Andy Jassy last week. Job growth limits will be driven in particular by so-called agentic AI, which can perform tasks with minimal or even no additional input from people. "As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy wrote. 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
Forbes
17-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Is Nvidia Competing With Its GPU Cloud Partners?
Nvidia Headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. Nvidia recently announced two new cloud initiatives. First, the company announced DGX Cloud Lepton, designed to connect artificial intelligence developers with Nvidia's wide network of cloud providers. Second, Nvidia announced a new cloud service, the Industrial AI Cloud, intended to provide AI services to manufacturing companies in Europe. While these moves pit Nvidia against its cloud partners, the larger cloud service providers (CSPs) chose to compete with Nvidia using their in-house developed GPU alternatives. Google has the TPU, Amazon has Trainium, Microsoft has Maia, etc. (Nvidia is a client of Cambrian-AI Research.) Turn about is fair play, and Nvidia is helping its cloud partners sell AI services that keep their GPUs running at high utilization, maximizing profit, while also helping developers access a broader inventory of rare and expensive GPUs. Much to the consternation of its cloud partners, Nvidia launched the new DGX Cloud Lepton service at Computex this year, and has already garnered a healthy suite of CSPs to agree to join the service. While Oracle and Google have yet to sign up publicly for Lepton, Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure have done so. They see the benefits of having their clouds accessible and promoted by Nvidia. The smaller GPU cloud players have also joined the party, including CoreWeave, Crusoe, Firmus, Foxconn, GMI Cloud, Lambda, Yotta Data Services, Nebius, Nscale, Firebird, Fluidstack, Hydra Host, Scaleway, Together AI, Mistral AI, SoftBank Corp. These providers offer both on-demand and long-term GPU access, supporting a wide range of AI development and deployment needs. Other CSPs won't want to miss the train, and will likely join soon. At the Paris GTC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that Nvidia and Deutsche Telekom were building an AI Cloud for European manufacturing companies. The Industrial Cloud will provide access to state-of-the-art AI infrastructure and Nvidia's rich portfolio of software. Support will be available for CAD, CAE, Omniverse, Robotics, and Autonomous Vehicles. The cloud is fully configured to support Nvidia's optimized enterprise AI software portfolio, and should be open for business in early 2026. Nvidia's Industrial Cloud for Europe represents a major step in building sovereign, AI-powered infrastructure for the continent's industrial sector. By providing secure, high-performance compute resources and a robust AI software ecosystem, the initiative aims to propel European manufacturing into the next era of digital innovation Nvidia is partnering with Deutche Telekom to build the first Industrial AI Cloud for European ... More manufacturing companies. The Industrial Cloud will be powered by 10,000 Nvidia GPUs, including the latest DGX B200 systems and RTX PRO servers, making it one of the largest industrial AI deployments in Germany. Think of this as a manufacturing-focussed sovereign data center managed and operated by Deutsche Telekom, ensuring data sovereignty and compliance with European regulations, addressing concerns about dependency on non-European cloud providers. The lack of NVL72 racks tells us that Nvidia expects customers to fine-tune and serve AI inferencing, not create new foundation models. Users will have access to Nvidia's CUDA-X libraries and workloads accelerated by Nvidia GPUs and Omniverse, supporting a wide range of industrial applications such as simulation, digital twins, robotics, design, engineering, and factory planning. The cloud will also support applications from leading industrial software providers including Siemens, Ansys, Cadence, and Rescale, enabling advanced manufacturing workflows for companies such as BMW, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, and Schaeffle. First, it says that Nvidia isn't afraid to compete with its cloud partners in its quest to provide access to state-of-the-art AI infrastructure to its end users. As we noted, the larger CSPs chose to develop competing AI accelerators, so they should not be surprised. Second, in reality Lepton doesn't compete with CSPs; it provides aggregated access to their massive arrays of Nvidia GPUs, not a cloud that is owned and operated by Nvidia. And the Industrial Cloud is filling a gap left by the CSPs to provide focussed and sovereign resources for the European manufacturing base. Customers will love it, and so will the ISVs whose software has been optimized to run on Nvidia GPUs.
