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The Growing Cybersecurity Risks To The Supply Chain In The AI Era

#cybersecurity #suppychains #ai #tech

Supply chains are a primary target for cybercriminals and provide the foundation of global commerce in the hyper-connected digital ecosystem of today. Artificial intelligence (AI) simultaneously exacerbates vulnerabilities as it revolutionizes operations through predictive analytics, automation, and real-time visibility. Sophisticated threat actors, ransomware groups, and nation-state actors employ AI to exploit the vulnerable links in intricate, multi-tiered supply networks.

Artificial intelligence can create dual-use dynamics. It promotes efficiency by facilitating real-time data transfers and hyper-connected operations, while simultaneously significantly expanding the attack surface. Compromises of a single vendor or update have been shown to have a cascading effect on economies, governments, and critical infrastructure through supply chain attacks.

In The AI Era, Supply Chains Are Prime Targets.

The complexity of supply chains is inherent, as they encompass continents, jurisdictions, and a multitude of third-party vendors, contractors, and software components. Each link—whether it be legacy systems, unvetted code, IoT devices, or 5G-enabled connections—provides potential entry points. AI exacerbates these risks by allowing attackers to automate reconnaissance, create polymorphic malware that evades detection, create personalized phishing campaigns, and identify vulnerabilities quicker than defenders can apply patches.

New kind of dark tourism emerging in online ‘Backrooms,’ study shows

Digital culture is reshaping people’s experiences of fear, curiosity and belonging, according to new findings from Lancaster University. Researchers have explored why online environments like the “Backrooms”—mysterious empty spaces resembling uncharted office blocks, basements and corridors—have become so compelling, and why people are choosing to get lost in spaces that don’t exist.

Unlike traditional “dark tourism,” which focuses on physical sites and historical events, the “Backrooms” represent a new kind of experience that exists entirely online. They emerge from, and circulate through, the darker corners of the internet that are less visible, less regulated, and often more experimental in tone.

The research, co-authored by Dr. Sophie James and Professor James Cronin from Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), explains how, in these online spaces, people are not traveling to real locations, but entering shared digital environments that feel immersive, unsettling, and just out of reach.

Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution

Forget little green men — the galaxy’s most likely aliens may be hives and swarms. From biology to starships, insectoid life could shape civilizations stranger than ours.

Go to https://PIAVPN.com/IsaacArthur to get 83% off from our sponsor Private Internet Access with 4 months free!

Grab one of our new SFIA mugs and make your morning coffee a little more futuristic — available now on our Fourthwall store! https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editor: Thomas Owens Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy 6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths 13:47 Signals in the Swarm 16:53 Sensory Worlds 18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species 19:35 Privacy 22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology 20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators 23:21 Cultural & Political Models 24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations 25:52 Final Thoughts.

Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
Reddit: / isaacarthur.
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits:
Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution.
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editor: Thomas Owens.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic.

Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy.
6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths.
13:47 Signals in the Swarm.
16:53 Sensory Worlds.
18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species.
19:35 Privacy.
22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology.
20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators.
23:21 Cultural & Political Models.
24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations.
25:52 Final Thoughts

Commercial Space Economy: Space Stations, Space Data Centers, and NASA

Matthew Weinzierl and Brendan Rosseau, authors of Space to Grow, explain the commercial space economy and the role of NASA, Artemis, commercial space stations, space-based data centers, Starlink, GPS, China’s space program, national security, and space governance.

The conversation covers how governments, private companies, and investors build, fund, regulate, and compete in space, from microgravity research and launch markets to lunar exploration, space resources, and the economics of commercial space.

We also try and re-write the Space Treaty and look at the politics of the space race.

Please enjoy the show.

Thinking on Paper is a technology podcast about AI, Space, quantum computing, science, and the systems shaping the future.

🏠 Buy us a beer on Substack: https://thinkingonpaperpodcast.substa… Take us with you on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/00volKq… 🎧 Remember steve jobs on APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast… 📺 Get the clips and outtakes on Instagram / thinkingonpaperpodcast — Links & Resources Matthew: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/pro… Brendan: linkedin.com/in/brendan-rosseau Buy Space To Grow: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/ite… — Chapters 00:00 Setting The Scene 03:35 Microgravity 07:43 Economic Incentives 12:14 Political Cycles 17:09 International Collaboration 18:45 National Security in Space 21:36 Space Exploration 24:27 A Day Without Space 28:49 Space Investment 30:37 Space-Based Data Centers 33:40 Space Resources 38:26 Governance in Space 40:55 A New Space Treaty.

Continue reading “Commercial Space Economy: Space Stations, Space Data Centers, and NASA” | >

The Commoditization of Intelligence: Why AI Aggregators Will Beat Foundation Models

Everyone is currently watching the major tech giants throw billions of dollars at the AI arms race, cheering for whichever foundation model happens to top the leaderboards this week.

It is an incredible spectacle to watch unfold, but focusing too closely on the tech itself might mean we are missing the actual business revolution happening right under our noses.

We have seen this exact economic shift before. The biggest winners of the internet era weren’t the ones who built the physical infrastructure or supplied the goods; they were the platforms that organized the supply and owned the user relationship. The same economic laws are now coming for artificial intelligence, actively turning “intelligence” into a basic, interchangeable utility.

The real value moving forward is no longer in the models themselves, but in the seamless interfaces that aggregate them. If you want to protect your business from vendor lock-in and position your team for ultimate flexibility, it is time to rethink your approach.

Read my full blog post to dive into why the future of AI belongs to the aggregators, and how your business can strategically capitalize on this shift.

We spend an enormous amount of time obsessing over the titans of the AI arms race. Every single week seems to bring a breathless new headline about OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, or Meta releasing a foundation model that edges out the competition on some obscure benchmark test. We find ourselves endlessly arguing over parameter counts, context windows, and raw reasoning capabilities, captivated by a multi-billion-dollar war unfolding in real-time.

Continue reading “The Commoditization of Intelligence: Why AI Aggregators Will Beat Foundation Models” | >

Microsoft Exchange, Windows 11 hacked on second day of Pwn2Own

During the second day of Pwn2Own Berlin 2026, competitors collected $385,750 in cash awards after exploiting 15 unique zero-day vulnerabilities in multiple products, including Windows 11, Microsoft Exchange, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Workstations.

The Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 hacking competition takes place at the OffensiveCon conference from May 14 to May 16 and focuses on enterprise technologies and artificial intelligence.

Security researchers can earn over $1,000,000 in cash and prizes by hacking fully patched products in the web browser, enterprise applications, cloud-native/container environments, virtualization, local privilege escalation, servers, local inference, and LLM categories.

Silk made into strong plastic-like materials with 6G potential

Silk threads can be fused into transparent, plastic-like materials that twist terahertz frequencies of light, according to research led by Imperial College London, University of Michigan Engineering and Tufts University. The findings could enable components of 6G networks to be made from upcycled silk.

The new materials are also lightweight, yet stronger than many metal alloys and conventional plastics produced from fossil fuels. Their mechanical properties could make them useful in sports gear, shipping containers and certain kinds of packaging. In ballistics tests, the new materials were about as puncture-resistant as carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers, which are used in the bodies of airplanes and the chassis of automobiles. And, because the materials slowly degraded when implanted into mice, they could prove useful in temporary medical implants.

The researchers are particularly interested in the material’s ability to twist, or polarize, terahertz frequencies of light. The 6G band, which could transmit data up to hundreds of times faster than 5G networks and is particularly appealing for rural high-speed internet, extends into terahertz frequencies.

New quantum protocol breaks distance and speed barriers in fiber networks

Scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China have successfully deployed a multi-mode quantum relay network, achieving matter–matter entanglement over 14.5 kilometers, according to media reports.

The system, known as Xinghan-2, was detailed in the journal Nature Photonics on May 7. It addresses a key bottleneck in quantum communication by achieving both high transmission rates and high fidelity at the same time.

Quantum relays are seen as essential for the future quantum internet, as they help prevent signal loss over long distances by dividing communication channels into shorter segments. Previous approaches often involved a trade-off between the high speeds of single-photon interference and the high precision of two-photon interference.

You can put a data center at your house—but who really pays?

“The idea, put forward by a California smart utility box company called Span, is to put the GPUs where the power has already been allocated—at the home. Span says the average household uses only about 42% of the electricity allotted to it, and rarely reaches peak usage. Span’s smart utility boxes detect that, and steer the extra available power over to the GPUs, which live inside a ”node” that sits beside the house and looks something like an HVAC unit. The boxes contain 16 Nvidia GPUs, 4 AMD CPUs, 4 terabytes of memory, and a cooling system. When a large number of homes have these, the servers could be connected together in a network and work together on distributed computing jobs (workloads), Span says.

In exchange for hosting a node, Span pays a big chunk of the homeowner’s electricity and broadband internet bills.

And there may even be advantages for putting the compute power closer to the end users that are using the chatbots or AI services, Span says.

It’s a cool idea on paper, but it’s almost completely unproven in real-world use. Span has been prototyping the units but has yet to install any of them beside real homes. I asked Span VP Chris Lander if his company has done technical studies showing that its brand of distributed computing will be fast and robust enough to handle real AI workloads. ‘We’ve done a bunch of technical studies internally [and] a bunch of modeling for different kinds of workloads, both from the business point of view [and] the product point of view and from the technical architecture point of view,’ he replies.

The idea of asking homeowners to host boxes full of GPUs is a symptom of the woeful dearth of data center space needed for AI computing.

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