Etherhiding is a technique used by attackers to distribute malware using public blockchains, specifically Ethereum. It works by hiding critical information, such as payloads or configuration data, within blockchain smart contracts, making them accessible while making them difficult to take down or block. This hands-on demo shows how to build a simple Ethereum smart contract using Solidity, deploy it to the Sepolia test network via MetaMask, and create a web page that retrieves and displays the hidden information from the blockchain using Infura RPC.
If you're reading this newsletter, you're interested in cybersecurity. Want to take the next step? Get up to speed and certified with Georgetown University's Online Master's Program [13] - where you'll master leading tools and techniques, understand established frameworks, and gain hands on threat detection experience with real data. To learn more, join the free webinar [14].
NAKIVO Backup & Replication v11.1 offers enhanced features, including real-time VMware replication with automated failover via Site Recovery workflows, eliminating manual setup through automatic IO Filter and Journal Service installation. It broadens Proxmox VE support with Flash VM Boot for instant recovery, VM replication, and direct tape recovery, while MSP Direct Connect enables secure, encrypted client-side connectivity supporting VMware, Hyper-V, and Proxmox VE. Additionally, the update introduces granular backup options for physical Windows and Linux systems, allowing selective folder and volume protection with flexible recovery methods such as SMB/NFS shares, all featuring encryption, immutability, and air-gapping for ransomware defense.
MAD-CAT (Meow Attack Data Corruption Automation Tool) is a security testing program designed to simulate data corruption attacks on six database platforms: MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Cassandra, Redis, CouchDB, and Hadoop HDFS. It allows for both single-target tests and bulk CSV attack campaigns, with options for scenarios that include credentials or not. This enables security teams to evaluate how well their databases can withstand corruption threats. Security experts can utilize MAD-CAT to examine data integrity measures and verify backup and recovery processes across various database setups within their systems.
Aleksei Olegovich Volkov (aka "chubaka.kor") pleaded guilty to serving as an initial access broker for Yanluowang ransomware, attacking seven US businesses between July 2021 and November 2022, with total ransom demands reaching $24 million. FBI blockchain analysis traced cryptocurrency payments to accounts owned by Volkov and a co-conspirator in Indianapolis, confirming his identity and communications about attack coordination and profit-sharing. Volkov faces up to 53 years in prison and must pay $9.2 million in restitution. Victims experienced operational shutdowns, data encryption, executive harassment calls, and DDoS attacks following initial compromise through vulnerability exploitation.
The reach of government spyware now extends far beyond its original promise of targeting only criminals and terrorists. Increasingly, journalists, activists, and minor political figures around the world are being surveilled, enabled by vendors whose scalable technology and weak oversight make widespread abuse easy. Governments, both democratic and authoritarian, face little accountability or limitation, although international moves and investigations may finally be prompting some overdue scrutiny and action.
Emerging enterprise threats increasingly concentrate in the user's browser. Unmanaged AI tools, browser extensions, and non-corporate logins are key risks, as traditional security solutions can't see or manage what happens in browser sessions, enabling sensitive data exposure. Set up session-native controls and browser-level monitoring to close these critical security gaps and prevent breaches.
US Customs and Border Protection deployed Mobile Identify (listed as "287 TFM" on Google Play Store), a facial recognition app enabling 555 local law enforcement agencies across 34 states participating in Section 287(g) programs to identify immigration status by scanning faces, returning reference numbers requiring ICE contact rather than direct personal information, with captured photos stored for 15 years even for US citizens.
The FBI issued a federal subpoena to domain registrar Tucows demanding extensive billing records, internet session logs, payment information, and cloud computing service details to unmask the anonymous operator behind archive.today (Archive.is and Archive.ph), a web archiving service operational since 2012 that's commonly used to bypass news paywalls, though the subpoena does not specify what crime is being investigated.
The French court criticized the Louvre for prioritizing art spending over security, exposing long-known weaknesses, including easy-to-guess passwords (such as "LOUVRE") and a lack of CCTV, which enabled a major jewelry heist.
Veterans are a high-income, tech-enabled audience with large purchasing power across home improvement, electronics, and digital shopping. With an average household income of $115K and above-average engagement with live and cable TV, they represent a premium consumer segment. Their strong presence in small business ownership and work-from-home roles creates further relevance for categories like office tech, software, and pet care.
Research shows that younger people report trusting brands more than older people. The difference reflects how each group defines trust. Over-35s tend to trust charities, financial services, and healthcare providers, valuing ethics and safety. Meanwhile, under-35s trust everyday retailers and online services for reliability and performance. For older consumers, trust is a filter that must be earned through values and customer care. For younger consumers, trust is a baseline, and marketing should demonstrate consistent service and reliability.
Morning Brew turned business news into a media empire by combining an accessible voice, a viral referral program, and effective native advertising. Its newsletter, launched by two University of Michigan students in 2015, now reaches over 4M subscribers and drives 30% of new signups through referrals at almost no cost. The brand's conversational writing style and humor make complex topics easy to understand. Its multi-platform ecosystem across newsletters, podcasts, and social media built an audience and revenue model that has become a blueprint for modern media growth.
Matt Britton, CEO of Suzy, built a GTM system from 25,000 hours of customer calls. Using Zapier and Gong, he created automated workflows that generate summaries, sentiment scores, sales coaching, and keyword extraction from transcripts. The framework fuels paid media and SEO efforts without manual input. It also produces privacy-compliant content and live Slack alerts. His approach redefines the executive role in AI implementation by replacing delegation with direct capability building.
Lindy AI CMO [10] is a suite of powerful agents that ship beautiful marketing campaigns—fast. Simply enter your business's website, and watch AI agents study competitors, create messaging docs and campaign briefs, and generate creative assets. Everything is automatically organized in Airtable, ready to deploy.
Stape GTM Helper is a free Google Tag Manager Chrome extension designed to speed up and simplify GTM debugging. It helps identify errors faster in GTM debug mode by providing a structured, color-coded view of GTM tags.
High-ranking Google Ads use urgency and power words like “today”, “now”, “free”, and “get” to grab attention. Numbers and superlatives such as “top” boost credibility and specificity, while adjectives like “luxury” and “expert” emphasize quality over price. Clear calls to action, most often phone calls, guide users toward immediate next steps. Headlines favor professional punctuation and title case, while dynamic keyword insertion is rarely used.
AI Overviews appear on 21% of all keywords, showing that Google surfaces them most often for informational, question-based, and longer queries. 99.9% of AIOs appear on informational searches, 57.9% on question queries, and 46% on queries with seven or more words. AIOs are 1.9x more common for non-branded searches and frequently appear in categories like Science (43.6%) and Health (43%), while being rare in Shopping (3.2%) and News (15.1%).
Grüns grew fast by turning a chore into a treat. Founder Chad Janis saw that people liked supplements but hated messy powders. He made vitamins into gummies instead. The idea worked because it flipped guilt into permission. Eating candy became taking vitamins. Grüns showed that good products make people feel good about what they already want to do. The same rule applies to AI and other tools. Turn hard or guilty tasks into things people enjoy.
Timelessness is a brand's ability to stay relevant as trends change. It signals consistency and endurance seen in brands like Apple and Chanel. Timeless brands grow through trust, design, consistency, and resilience. Trust builds loyalty and profit, while design creates recognition and emotional connection. Consistency drives efficiency, and resilience protects pricing and market share. Measuring timelessness means tracking retention and execution efficiency. The payoff comes from patience and disciplined brand building that compounds over time.
Metronome is the monetization infrastructure platform trusted by OpenAI, NVIDIA, and Anthropic. This week, they're announcing a host of new capabilities - including three new ways to support flexible and hybrd pricing models [4]:
The AI frenzy is a bubble, but bubbles often build the future. Even if the hype bursts, today's rush to invest in chips, power, and new ideas could spark lasting innovations that drive growth for generations.
Gen AI prototyping tools expand product creation access. However, they blur the line between prototypes and real products, which require far greater complexity, reliability, and scalability.
Most companies use “mission” and “vision” as hollow slogans. However, when done right, they clarify purpose, guide choices, and connect profit to impact. Define why you exist, what future you're building, and the next milestone to get there - words only matter if they drive action.
Web 2.0 established engineered viral loops and the viral factor, but mobile and saturation ended classic virality. Durable growth now comes from retention-led, multi-loop products. Flashy tactics only create spikes.
Product leaders can improve user verification flows by layering passive, active, and behavioral signals. While the most common use case for risk signals is fraud, you can use the same principles to increase conversion, reduce friction, and make verification smarter [9] and more dynamic. Learn how to use signals across the customer journey in Persona's guide to a signals-based product strategy [9].
As leaders rise, honest feedback fades. Building trust, inviting openness, and modeling vulnerability make feedback safe and essential for continued growth.
Enduring success in technology comes from creating real value, not chasing inflated valuations. Lasting impact arises when products solve genuine problems rather than impressing investors with hype.
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Warp fuses the terminal and IDE into one place, with AI agents built in. Edit files, review diffs, and ship code, all without leaving the platform that is trusted by over 600k developers and ranks ahead of Claude Code and Gemini CLI on Terminal-Bench.
Apple is working on new satellite features, including a satellite framework for third-party apps, satellite-powered maps, richer messaging capabilities, 'natural usage' improvements, and satellite over 5G. Bringing most of these new features to market will require major upgrades to Globalstar's satellite infrastructure. SpaceX acquiring Globalstar would force Apple to rethink its business model and long-term strategy for satellite services. However, it could also bring opportunities - Apple could collaborate with SpaceX on premium satellite features.
Tesla's in-house Rental program lets people rent vehicles for between three to seven days, starting at $60 per day. It includes free Supercharging and free Full Self-Driving for the duration of the rental. There are no limits on mileage or charging, but renters are not allowed to leave the state from which they rented the vehicle. Customers who purchase their own Tesla within seven days of using the Rental service will receive up to a $250 credit towards their purchase.
Baidu, Pony AI, and WeRide each have hundreds of robotaxis on the road in China operating commercial paid services without a human safety driver. Their technology and rider experience are generally similar to the driverless taxis operated by Waymo in the US. China's robotaxi fleet is projected to grow to tens of thousands of vehicles by the end of next year. The Chinese companies are testing autonomous vehicles in around half a dozen countries - Waymo is only testing its vehicles in one country outside of the US.
Preventive, a startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his husband, as well as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, is working toward creating genetically engineered human children. Editing gene embryos with the intention of creating babies is banned in the US and many countries, so the company has been searching for places to experiment where the practice is allowed. Preventive is part of a growing number of startups funded by powerful people in Silicon Valley that are pushing the boundaries of fertility and working to commercialize reproductive genetic technologies.
AI spend is rising, but how are you measuring return on investment? We love this guide from You.com [9], which gives leaders a step-by-step framework to measure, model, and maximize AI impact. Get clear KPIs, four ROI formulas (and when to use each), and a battle-tested LLM prompt [9] for quickly creating your own interactive ROI calculator. Turn “we think” into “we know.”
Valdi is a cross-platform UI framework that compiles TypeScript directly to native views on iOS, Android, and macOS. It delivers native performance without sacrificing developer velocity with automatic view recycling, optimized component rendering, an optimized layout engine, and viewport-aware rendering. Valdi eliminates the traditional compile-test-debug cycle that slows native development with instant hot reload, full VSCode debugging, and a familiar syntax. It integrates easily into existing apps and can be scaled as needed.
Work is much messier today than when roles were somewhat rigid and handoffs were clean. Loops are now tighter, and the fast path from idea to impact crosses multiple disciplines. It is now better to have cross-domain fluency along with product sense and engineering craft. AI doesn't lower the cost of choosing the right thing, shaping it well, and operating it in the wild. Models can accelerate execution, but developers still own intent, architecture, and accountability.