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WHY VCS GHOST FOUNDERS, OR REJECT DEALS AND NEVER SPEAK TO THE FOUNDER AGAIN

VC ghosting often signals a lack of interest, attributed to time constraints and increased deal volume.

* How companies reduced addressable security incidents by 99%

and improved labor efficiency by 50%. * Practical strategies to enhance security, streamline compliance, and minimize risk.

full study [4] after the webinar. Register for free here

NTT COMMUNICATIONS SUFFERS DATA BREACH IMPACTING 18,000 COMPANIES

NTT Communications has disclosed a data breach affecting nearly 18,000 companies after detecting unauthorized access to its Order Information Distribution System on February 5. The breach exposed customer contract details, corporate contact information, and service usage data.

ETHEREUM PRIVATE KEY STEALER ON PYPI DOWNLOADED OVER 1K TIMES

The PyPI package "set-utils" targets Ethereum developers using the eth-account library. The package hooks the from_key and from_mnewmonic() functions in the ethereum package to intercept private keys, encrypt them, and upload them to the Polygon blockchain. Polygon transactions have very low processing fees, no rate limits, and free public RPC endpoints, enabling attackers to retrieve the keys at any point without requiring their own infrastructure.

UNDOCUMENTED COMMANDS FOUND IN BLUETOOTH CHIP USED BY A BILLION DEVICES

Researchers from Tarlogic Security discovered 29 undocumented commands in the firmware of the ESP32 Bluetooth device. The commands could allow for memory manipulation, MAC address spoofing, and LMP/LLCP packet injection. While the commands could open the door for supply chain attacks, a more realistic threat would be a physical attacker establishing persistence and performing further attacks through the ESP32's memory.

REVERSING SAMSUNG'S H-ARX HYPERVISOR FRAMEWORK

Mobile devices lead security with defense-in-depth strategies, moving sensitive data from untrusted kernels to higher trust levels like hypervisors and secure enclaves. Samsung's Real-time Kernel Protection (RKP), part of Knox on Exynos devices, uses H-Arx Hypervisor to protect the kernel. The post discusses how to reverse the hypervisor framework, which includes a common core (harx.bin) and loadable plug-ins in a proprietary uH format.

ABUSING VBS ENCLAVES TO CREATE EVASIVE MALWARE

VBS enclaves allow a Windows user to run code in an isolated memory region that even the “standard” kernel cannot access. This presents an appealing attack surface for malware, as VBS malware would be invisible to EDR running in the standard kernel, but the VBS enclave code must be signed by Microsoft. This post explores bypassing the Microsoft checks by abusing debuggable enclave modules or exploiting vulnerable enclaves.

NOT LOST IN TRANSLATION: ROSETTA 2 ARTIFACTS IN MACOS INTRUSIONS

Rosetta 2 technology creates AOT files on Apple Silicon Macs, essential for analyzing macOS intrusions, even if malware is erased. Mandiant found that sophisticated actors target cryptocurrency firms with x86-64 malware due to its wider compatibility and lenient execution policies compared to ARM64. These AOT files, stored in protected cache directories, can uncover critical intrusion evidence through timestamps, execution patterns, and binary features, even after deleting malicious files.

GuidePoint, Wipro, and Kroll, this report by Obsidian Security

covers:

JS-X-RAY

JavaScript & Node.js open-source SAST scanner - a static analyzer for detecting the most common malicious patterns.

IMPLANT.JS

implant.js is a proof-of-concept modular implant platform that leverages the V8 JavaScript engine.

ATT&CK EVALUATIONS LIBRARY

The ATT&CK Emulation Library hosts adversary emulation plans from published ATT&CK Evaluations. These plans emulate specific adversaries, like Turla, covering initial access to exfiltration. Organized by evaluation and threat actors, they simulate real breaches.

HACKED HEALTH FIRM HCRG DEMANDED JOURNALIST ‘TAKE DOWN' DATA BREACH REPORTING, CITING UK COURT ORDER

U.S. cybersecurity journalist "Dissent Doe" refused a U.K. court order to remove articles on the ransomware attack against healthcare provider HCRG. Citing First Amendment protections and U.S. jurisdiction, Doe noted that HCRG is taking legal action to stop the republication of stolen data.

DEVELOPER SABOTAGED EX-EMPLOYER WITH KILL SWITCH ACTIVATED WHEN HE WAS LET GO

A federal jury convicted Davis Lu, 55, of sabotaging his employer Eaton Corporation's systems after being let go. He created malware that crashed servers and a kill switch that locked thousands of employees out when he was fired in September 2019. Lu now faces up to ten years imprisonment.

1PASSWORD IS MAKING IT EASIER TO FIND PASSWORDS BASED ON YOUR LOCATION

1Password now lets users save a location with a password and view passwords in a "Nearby" tab. This feature could be useful for linking travel documents to airports or healthcare documents to doctors' offices. 1Password ensures that location data is not stored, shared, or tracked, with all nearby checks conducted on the device.

NEW CHIRP TOOL USES AUDIO TONES TO TRANSFER DATA BETWEEN DEVICES

Chirp translates characters into sound frequencies for transmission between Computers and Smartphones.

AKIRA RANSOMWARE GANG USED AN UNSECURED WEBCAM TO BYPASS EDR

The Akira ransomware gang used an unsecured webcam to evade Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) systems and carry out encryption attacks on a victim's network.

CHROMECAST (2ND GEN) AND AUDIO CANNOT CAST IN 'UNTRUSTED' OUTAGE

Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio users have been unable to Cast audio or video content due to an "Untrusted device" error message.

94% OF ADVERTISERS CONCERNED TARIFFS WILL LEAD TO CUT IN AD SPENDING

94% of US advertisers are concerned about tariffs impacting ad spending, with 57% extremely concerned. Most expect a 6%-10% drop in ad budgets, while 22% anticipate a larger decrease. Traditional media and social ads will see the largest cuts, while CTV and online video may be more resilient. To adjust, 45% plan to reduce overall spend, 35% will focus on performance-based campaigns, and 29% will shift to digital channels. 66% of US consumers believe companies should cut CEO pay in response to tariff-related inflation.

HOW FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE IS KEEPING YOUNG PEOPLE ON THE PLATFORM

Facebook's Marketplace is a key driver of engagement, particularly among younger users, despite a decline in teen usage. 32% of US teens use Facebook, down from 71% in 2014, but 1.1 billion users across 70 countries frequent Marketplace for its no-fee listings and local pickups. The platform competes with eBay and Craigslist and taps into the growing $350 billion resale market. A partnership with eBay is expected to boost sales.

MY WEIRDEST A/B TEST BLEW EVERYONE'S MIND

A/B tests show that adding a blurred product screenshot behind a sign-up form can boost conversions, with MyCase seeing a 94% increase. The blurred background exploits curiosity gaps, gives users a sense of progress, and reassures them about what they're signing up for. The effect can be further enhanced with interactive elements like gradual reveals and animated blur.

COMPANY BLOGS ARE NO LONGER WORTH THE INVESTMENT

Company blogs are losing relevance as traffic declines due to Google's degraded search, AI content aggregation, and a shift to private communities. Independent creators on Substack and LinkedIn now attract more traffic than corporate blogs. Companies should focus on influencer partnerships, high-engagement platforms like YouTube and podcasts, and specialized content such as product docs and user-generated content. Blogging isn't dead, but it's no longer a reliable primary growth strategy.

DESCRIPT

Descript is an all-in-one audio and video editing tool designed to make content creation easier. It allows users to edit video and audio by editing text, just like a Word document. Descript can automatically transcribe recordings, enabling users to cut, rearrange, and enhance their content with ease. It also includes features for removing filler words like "ums," turning recordings into clips or social posts, and streamlining the editing process - ideal for creators looking to save time and effort.

Q1 2025 MAGNETIC 100: RESTAURANTS REPORT (PREVIEW)

McDonald's, Wingstop, and Starbucks are among Gen Z's top restaurant brands. This study highlights brands generating the most organic, user-generated content in the first quarter of 2025, including during cultural events like the Super Bowl and holidays. Other top brands include Chipotle, Taco Bell, Crumbl Cookies, and Raising Cane's.

HOW A BROKE DAD BUILT A 7-FIGURE CONTENT AGENCY FROM TWITTER DMS

Clifton Sellers built Legacy Builder, a seven-figure content agency, by growing his Twitter following, sending 100 DMs daily, and reinvesting in a professional rebrand. His agency evolved from ghostwriting to full-service content management for high-profile founders, handling social content, outbound engagement, and newsletters. Key tools include Notion, Metricool, and Beehiiv. His success came from relentless direct messaging, refining content systems, and delivering high-end client experiences

HOW MARKETERS ARE USING AI FOR WRITING

This survey of 53 marketers found that 83% have published AI-assisted content, with over half producing more than 5 pieces. ChatGPT, mentioned by 90% of respondents, dominates AI tool usage. The top reasons for using AI include speed (68%), research (22%), and improving writing (22%). While 60% say AI content requires more editing, many find it helps generate more content faster, improve writing quality, and assist with ideation. Some respondents also reported better search rankings and conversions.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE CLUELESS ABOUT BRANDING. THE DOGE TURMOIL SHOWS WHY THEY'VE NEEDED MARKETING CAMPAIGNS ALL ALONG

Government agencies like the NIH and NSF fail to communicate their value, leaving them vulnerable to political attacks and funding cuts. Despite funding breakthroughs like Ozempic and Wegovy, they lack branding and marketing strategies. A well-funded campaign is needed to highlight their impact, shift public perception, and pressure policymakers. Without better storytelling, these agencies risk further defunding and losing public support.

"HI, [FIRST NAME]" - IS NOT PERSONALIZATION

Personalization uses customer data to address their needs, challenges, and beliefs about your product.

DEEP DIVE: CAL.COM

Cal.com is an open-source alternative to Calendly designed for enterprises, teams, and developers who need more customization, white-labeling, and self-hosting options.

things. See you there or catch it on-demand.

WHY LOCAL-FIRST SOFTWARE IS THE FUTURE AND ITS LIMITATIONS

Local-first software has data primarily residing on the client device and synchronizes with a server in the background. Local-first has benefits like instant app responses, offline capabilities, and increased user data control, but also introduces challenges such as conflict resolution and client-side data migrations. Recent advancements like increased browser storage limits, new storage APIs, and WebAssembly are allowing local-first approaches in software to grow.

WHAT IS MODEL CONTEXT PROTOCOL (MCP)? HOW IT SIMPLIFIES AI INTEGRATIONS COMPARED TO APIS

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standardized protocol that acts as a universal connector for AI agents to access various external data sources and tools. Unlike traditional APIs that require custom integrations for each service, MCP offers a single integration point for multiple tools and services, allowing for dynamic discovery and real-time two-way communication.

HOW MUCH TRAFFIC CAN A PRE-RENDERED NEXT.JS SITE REALLY HANDLE?

This developer investigated the traffic capacity of his pre-rendered Next.js site and found its VPS performance surprisingly limited, handling only a few concurrent visitors effectively. Scaling the VPS led to barely any improvement, so he explored alternatives like Cloudflare (rejected due to privacy concerns) and Vercel (deemed too expensive and restrictive). Finally, he upgraded to a dedicated server, which boosted performance and now allowed the handling of thousands of requests per second.

GREAT SOFTWARE DESIGN LOOKS UNDERWHELMING

Great software design appears deceptively simple because its primary goal is to eliminate potential failure modes early in the process. This is achieved by strategies such as minimizing hot paths, reducing unnecessary components, centralizing state, and using well-tested systems.

IT IS HARD TO RECOMMEND PYTHON IN PRODUCTION

Python is not ideal for production environments despite its popularity in data science. It is resource-intensive, resulting in larger Docker image sizes and higher memory usage compared to languages like Go. Furthermore, it's hard to constantly maintain and upgrade Python codebases.

BECOMING A GOOD ENGINEER

Passion and ambition are necessary for becoming a good engineer. A good engineer has a deep understanding of their field's principles, continuously learns and critically evaluates new developments, and understands the limitations of tools and technologies. To become a better engineer, one should learn to think critically, read extensively, apply knowledge to practical projects, and critique their own work.

MAKO

Mako is a production-grade web bundler built with Rust. It's designed for web app, library, and framework development, and it has zero-configuration setup with out-of-the-box support for TypeScript, CSS Modules, and React.

AIRO

Airo is a tool that simplifies deploying containerized applications from a local machine to a self-hosted server by automating tasks like building Docker images, configuring HTTPS, and updating configurations.

ANON KODE

Anon Kode is a terminal-based AI coding tool that can use any model supporting the OpenAI-style API to fix code, explain functions, and run tests. The tool allows users to configure AI models through the onboarding process or manually in the config and offers a bug submission feature.

METRIC-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT AND THE CLAUDE EFFECT

The feeling of software and real-world usability can be a better indicator of value compared to chasing metrics and benchmarks. This is shown by how Claude is the most popular tool for coding, even though other AI models top leaderboards. This shows the limitations of metric-driven development, where an over-reliance on numbers can lead to neglecting the actual user experience.

WHAT I LEARNED BUILDING A FREE SEMANTIC SEARCH TOOL FOR GITHUB AND WHY I FAILED

SemHub is a free semantic search tool for GitHub issues that aims to improve upon GitHub's existing search capabilities by allowing cross-repository and fuzzy searches. Despite using a modern TypeScript stack and vector search optimizations using pgvector, the project failed to gain traction. The creator found that the tool was solving a problem that wasn't painful enough for most developers and required too much behavioral change.

HOW MUCH ARE LLMS ACTUALLY BOOSTING REAL-WORLD PROGRAMMER PRODUCTIVITY?

A lot of the gains from LLMs during coding are likely unevenly distributed among power users and those skilled at integrating LLMs into their workflow. In fact, it's possible that the time saved by LLM code generation is often wasted fixing and untangling the resulting code, potentially leading to more bloatware than genuinely useful software.

I'VE BEEN USING CLAUDE CODE FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS

WHY GO'S ERROR HANDLING IS AWESOME

Go's explicit error handling is verbose (`if err != nil`), but that is actually a strength because it makes code clearer, forces devs to address potential failures, and allows for the creation of actionable error chains.

LETTA

Letta is an open-source framework for building stateful LLM applications with features like agent development environments, REST APIs, and support for various LLM backends.