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This New Smart Lock From Yale Pairs With Video Doorbells in Ways I Haven't Seen Before

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 07:00
The latest Matter-powered lock from Yale has a new design and features made specifically for the Google Nest Doorbell -- here's why I'm interested.
Categories: Technology

Dealing With Spotty Internet? A Network Switch Might Fix It

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 07:00
Should you consider investing in a network switch? Here’s why it might help optimize your home internet connection and bring you faster speeds.
Categories: Technology

Google Earth is now an even better time-travel machine thanks to this Street View upgrade – and I might get hooked

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 07:00
  • Google Earth is celebrating is 20th birthday this month
  • It's just added a new historical Street View feature for time-traveling
  • Pro users will also get AI-powered upgrades to help with urban planning

Google Earth has just turned 20 years old and the digital globe has picked up a feature that could prove to be an addictive time-sink – historical Street View.

Yes, we've been able to time-travel around our cities and previous homes for years now on Google Maps, but Google Earth feels like a natural home for the feature, given its more immersive 3D views and satellite imagery. And from today, Google Earth now offers Street View with that historical menu bar.

That means you can visit famous buildings and landmarks (like the Vessel building in New York City below) and effectively watch their construction unfold. To do that, find a location in Google Earth, drag the pegman icon (bottom right) onto the street, click 'see more dates', and use the film strip menu to choose the year.

Around major cities and landmarks, Street View images are updated so regularly now that their snapshots are often only months apart, but in most areas they're renewed every one to two years. That opens up some major nostalgia potential, particularly if the shots happen to have frozen someone you know in time.

Bringing history to life

(Image credit: Google)

To celebrate Earth's birthday, Google has also made timelapses of its favorite historical aerial views, which stitch together satellite photos over several decades. This feature became available in the web and mobile versions of Earth last year – to find it, go the the layers icon and turn on the 'historical imagery' toggle.

One fascinating example is the aerial view of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral (above), which Google made exclusively for us. It shows the gothic icon from 1943 through to its unfortunate fire in 2019, followed by its recent reconstruction.

But other examples that Google has picked out include a view of Berlin, from its post-war devastation to the Berlin Wall and its modern incarnation, plus the stunning growth of Las Vegas and San Francisco over the decades.

There's a high chance that Google Earth will, once again, send me down a hours-long rabbit hole with these Street View and historical imagery tricks. But it's also giving Pro users some new AI-driven features in "the coming weeks", with features like 'tree canopy coverage' and heatmaps showing land surface temperatures underlining Earth's potential for urban planning.

That perhaps hints at the Gemini-powered treats to come for us non-professional users in the future. But for now, I have more than enough Earth-related treasure hunts to keep me occupied.

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Categories: Technology

Fewer Identity Theft Reports, Larger Losses: Here's What to Make of Latest Research

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:45
Experts say criminals might just be using AI and other tech to get better at picking victims.
Categories: Technology

Jensen Huang is offloading nearly $1bn of Nvidia stock - but there's no reason to be concerned

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:27
  • Jensen Huang could sell six million Nvidia shares before the end of 2025
  • Nvidia's CFO and Director are also preparing to sell stock
  • Quarterly revenue continues to grow, so Nvidia isn't worried

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has started the process of selling off part of his vast cache of company shares, but don't get spooked - it's part of a 10b5-1 trading plan, which in this instance, allows Huang to sell off six million shares (worth around $865 million).

Huang, who has until December 31, 2025 to sell his allocation of shares, has already sold 100,000 shares for $14.4 million in a series of transactions on June 20 and June 23, according to a SEC filing.

Nvidia has not commented publicly on the sales, however they were not kept secret – the company disclosed Huang's intention to sell up to six million shares in its most recent quarterly report.

Nvidia execs are selling their shares

The same announcement confirmed Nvidia CFO Colette M Kress and company director A Brooke Seawell would also sell up to 500,000 and 1,153,049 shares respectively, though with different deadlines – March 24, 2026 for Kress, and July 31, 2025 for Seawell.

Huang is currently estimated to be worth $126 billion (via Bloomberg), and has sold a total shares totalling a value of over $1.9 billion to date.

However, unlike investor reactions to company ongoings, Huang's decision to sell up to $865 million in shares should not be a cause for concern. Rather, it's a common scenario seen among billionaires who want to get access to their cash.

In fact, Nvidia share prices have been steadily climbing for the past month. Now valued at $144.17 each, Nvidia is the world's second-most valuable company, trailing just behind Microsoft with a market cap of $3.515 trillion.

Nvidia's financial performance continues to impress investors, with first-quarter revenue up 12% quarter-over-quarter and 69% year-over-year.

Suggesting that the growth could continue for quarters to come, Huang noted: "Countries around the world are recognizing AI as essential infrastructure – just like electricity and the internet – and Nvidia stands at the center of this profound transformation."

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Categories: Technology

'A global phenomenon': MobLand gets an offer it can't refuse as hit Paramount+ show gets renewed for a second season

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:26

MobLand, the crime families drama with Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren in front of the camera and Guy Ritchie executive producing, is Paramount+'s second most popular original series ever – so Paramount+ has made its creators and stars an offer they can't refuse: MobLand will be back for a second season.

One of the best Paramount+ shows has spent five consecutive weeks in Nielsen's original streaming series top 10 and has racked up more than 26 million global viewers already, making it the second most-watched original series behind Landman.

Paramount Global CEO Chris McCarthy (one of the firm's three CEOs) says that the firm is "elated" to give season 2 the green light. It's a "global phenomenon" that has "dominated" domestic and international charts, including soaring to number one in the UK.

Is MobLand worth watching?

The setup isn't exactly out-there – two rival mob families clash, causing carnage – but the cast is great: in addition to Hardy, Brosnan and Mirren there's Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Jasmine Jobson, Geoff Bell, Daniel Betts, Lisa Dwan and Emily Barber.

Reviewing the first two episodes, Empire Magazine said: "Not even direction from Guy Ritchie – on more sophisticated form than normal – can entirely elevate a somewhat by-the-numbers story that will feel familiar to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the genre. Showrunner Ronan Bennett is on capable form here though, even if MobLand is yet to hit the heights of his other notable shows, including Top Boy and last year's The Day of the Jackal."

I love The Indian Express's description of it as "a soap opera for boys... derivative but decidedly entertaining" because that sums up the consensus: as NPR puts it, "This isn't a perfect crime drama... But the overly convoluted plot is spiced by glorious, scenery-chewing performances from Pierce Brosnan, as the family's profane, brogue-spewing patriarch Conrad Harrigan, and Helen Mirren." You know you want to see that.

I'll be honest: my quality bar for gangster dramas is pretty low, providing you make it entertaining – so for example I inhaled all three seasons of Gangs of London, which often struck me as a telenovela with assault weapons, because it's an undemanding, entertaining and often hilarious thing to watch after a long day. This seems to be very much in the same vein, and Empire isn't the only review to suggest at least some similarities with Top Boy. And that's enough to rocket it right to the top of my watch list.

The first season of Mobland is streaming now on Paramount+.

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Categories: Technology

watchOS 26 could help protect your privacy with this secret new Apple Watch setting

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:24
  • Code in watchOS 26 suggests that a new privacy setting is coming
  • It would let you hide data in complications until your Watch is unlocked
  • Health data will always be hidden on a locked Watch

Apple’s watchOS 26 update contains a bunch of useful tweaks, but not everything new has been announced by Apple – and it looks like a secret feature has been discovered in the watchOS 26 beta that could bring an interesting change to your watch faces.

MacRumors contributor Steve Moser has apparently uncovered code in the watchOS 26 developer beta that brings a new setting to your watch: the ability to show or hide data inside complications while your watch is locked.

In practice, this would mean that you could disable complications on your watch face – such as weather info, your battery level, calendar info, and more – from appearing until you unlock your Watch. This is somewhat similar to an iOS setting that can obscure the content of notifications until your iPhone is unlocked.

The, err, complication here is that MacRumors has been unable to find where this setting is actually located. A Reddit user has supposedly been able to activate it, but they didn’t explain how they did so or where they found the setting.

Privacy protections

(Image credit: Future)

The one addendum to this purported setting is that your Apple Watch will never display your health data when your device is locked, regardless of whether you toggle the feature on or off. This is to protect your private health info from people who might otherwise be able to see it (and potentially misuse it).

One of Apple’s strengths is its commitment to user privacy, and this can be seen across many of its products and devices, from its iCloud Private Relay that obfuscates your internet activity to the Private Cloud Compute capabilities of its Apple Intelligence AI model. The company even fought, and won, a very public battle with the FBI over access to users’ devices, and has pushed back strongly against attempts to compromise its end-to-end encryption policies.

That means it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that Apple is adding more privacy features to the Apple Watch with watchOS 26.

We’ll likely come across similar instances over the coming weeks and months while Apple refines its software betas and gets them ready for the full release, likely in September alongside the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE 3, and the iPhone 17 lineup.

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Categories: Technology

6 Fabrics That Will Keep You Fashionably Cool in the Summer Heat

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:17
Now that summer is here, it's time to stock up on cooling clothing made from fabrics that will help you beat the heat.
Categories: Technology

Uber Launches Waymo Driverless Rides in Atlanta. Here's How to Hail a Robotaxi

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:00
The companies are launching self-driving rides across 65 square miles of Atlanta, with plans for future expansions.
Categories: Technology

I Love Lenovo's Latest ThinkPad X1 Carbon but Was Shocked at the Cost of Upgrades

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 06:00
The little laptop is extremely light and long-running, making it a great pick for road warriors. But, Lenovo, you want how much for an OLED display?
Categories: Technology

An iPhone 17 case maker may have leaked the flagship phone's display upgrade

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 05:41
  • A now-amended Amazon listing hinted at a 6.3-inch iPhone 17 display
  • The iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen
  • All four iPhone 17 models could sport 120Hz ProMotion screens

Based on the iPhone 17 rumors we've heard so far, we were expecting the base-model 2025 iPhone to get a bigger 6.3-inch screen – up from the 6.1-inch display of the iPhone 16 – and the upgrade may now have been confirmed by a third-party case manufacturer.

An Amazon India listing spotted by GSMArena was showing an iPhone 16 Pro screen protector from Spigen as also being compatible with the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro. The listing has now been revised to remove any iPhone 17 mentions.

The implication is that the iPhone 16 Pro, the iPhone 17, and the iPhone 17 Pro are all going to have the same 6.3-inch screen size. It matches a leak that emerged last month, though it's possible that smaller bezels – rather than any increase in the phone's physical size – will be the reason for the larger screen.

As for the iPhone 17 Pro, all the indications have been that the phone will retain the same 6.3-inch display as its predecessor. That could make choosing between the standard and the Pro model a little trickier than it was last year.

Another display upgrade

The iPhone 16 Pro has a 6.3-inch display (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Another iPhone 17 rumor that's doing the rounds is that all four models are going to come with 120Hz displays, which Apple describes as ProMotion. That means smoother effects and scrolling, and support for an always-on display.

Again, it would blur the line between the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro, so we'll have to wait and see what decisions Apple ultimately makes. It's possible that the standard iPhone 17 could stick with last year's chipset to provide a more affordable option.

It seems almost certain now that we'll also get an iPhone 17 Air handset, replacing the iPhone 16 Plus. The talk has been that the iPhone 17 Air will be just 5.5mm thick, front to back, though some of the benefits of it being so slim could be undone by the size of the camera bump around the back.

The series will be rounded out by the iPhone 17 Pro Max (or perhaps the iPhone 17 Ultra), which is said to be getting the same sized 6.9-inch screen as the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The phones are expected to be launched in September.

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Categories: Technology

LG G5 OLED TV's screen for cheaper than the LG C5? Philips’ 2025 OLED range is more affordable – and it has 2 top features LG doesn't

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 05:41
  • From OLED_EX to META 3.0 OLED panels
  • 3 or 4-sided Ambilight, depending on model
  • Inbuilt Bowers & Wilkins speakers

Fancy getting a TV with the same panel as an LG G5 for less cash, and with Ambilight smart lighting and B&W audio? Then you're going to love the latest announcement from Philips.

The company has detailed the recommended retail prices for its 2025 OLED TVs in the UK and in Europe (thank you, FlatpanelsHD) and to say they're aggressively priced would be an understatement.

That's particularly true in the UK, where its OLED760 range starts at just £1,200 (which is around $1,635 or AU$2,510, although those are guesses based on the UK pricing, rather than anything official) for the 55 inches and where the range-topping OLED+950 is a very reasonable £3,400, for the 77-inch model.

Philips 2025 OLED TVs: pricing and key features

Let's start with the most affordable models: the Philips OLED760. Each TV has an enhanced OLED_EX panel with 1,000 nits of peak brightness, the seventh generation of the P5 AI processor, Titan OS with Game Bar 2.0 and Ambilight on the top and sides. I love Ambilight, especially for gaming, and it's much easier to have it inside your TV than to do what I did and stick a lightstrip to the back of it.

The OLED760 range goes on sale in late June and the prices are:

  • 55” launch price £1,199
  • 65” launch price £1,499
  • 77” launch price £1,999

Ambilight is - literally - brilliant. The 2025 TVs have three- or four-sided Ambilight built-in (Image credit: Philips TV)

Next up there's the OLED810. This time the OLED_EX panels deliver up to 1,500 nits, the P5 AI processor is ninth-generation and there's an integrated 70W sound system with rear-mounted subwoofer. Once again these are three-sided Ambilight TVs. Availability is the end of June and there's just one size for now, the 77-inch at £2,199.

The Philips OLED+910 has LG's META 3.0 OLED with RGB Tandem panel delivering a whopping 3,700 nits peak, a 9th-gen P5 AI processor, Ambilight on four sides and an 81W Bowers & Wilkins 3.1 sound system. It's a real rival to the LG G5 and when it goes on sale in September 2025 the prices will be:

  • 65” launch price £2,199
  • 77” launch price £3,339

And finally there's the flagship OLED+950. Once again it's a META 3.0 OLED and RGB Tandem panel peaking at 3,700 nits; Ambilight is four-sided and the sound system is a 70W 2.1 setup with rear-mounted sub. That's coming in October 2025, will be exclusive to Richer Sounds, and the prices are:

  • 65” launch price £2,799
  • 77” launch price £3,399

That's the OLEDs taken care of. There will also be new Ambilight MLED TVs, which use miniLED and start at £1,099 for 75 inches, and there will also be QLEDs starting at just £369 for 43 inches and rising to a still-cheap £1,349 for 85 inches.

With the exception of the Richer Sounds exclusive OLED models, all of these TVs will be a vailable from Amazon, Currys and Richer Sounds; the QLEDs will also be available from Argos and the OLEDs from AO.

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Categories: Technology

Salesforce unveils Agentforce 3, its smartest agent platform yet

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 05:25
  • Salesforce unveils Agentforce 3, its latest and greatest AI agent platform
  • Agentforce 3 offers more oversight and control over AI agents
  • Also include MCP support and over 100 third-party service connections

Salesforce has revealed the next generation of its AI agent platform, promising more visibility and control over your systems going forward.

The company says Agentforce 3 marks another big step in the field of digital labor, allowing customers to create and deploy smarter and more powerful agents than ever before.

The launch includes a new Command Center tool to give users "complete observability" as well as some major upgrades when it comes to model support, and over 100 new prebuilt industry actions.

Agentforce 3 arrives

“With Agentforce, we’ve unified agents, data, apps, and metadata to create a digital labor platform, helping thousands of companies realize the promise of agentic AI today,” said Adam Evans, EVP & GM of Salesforce AI.

Salesforce says its new Command Center, part of Agentforce Studio, will offer users much more oversight into the work their AI agents are carrying out on a daily basis.

Previously, this had included observing technical issues around the safety and performance of models - however this will now be expanded to cover agent health, performance and outcome optimization.

This will allow users to monitor and analyze every interaction carried out by an agent, spotting trends and preventing issues before they happen, and offering natural language support for generating topics, instructions and case studies.

It will provide real-time contextual information pertaining to the specific agent's work tasks, and can also offer AI-powered recommendations for tweaks and edits to agents, hopefully making them even more effective.

Elsewhere, Agentforce 3 includes built-in support for the Model Context Protocol, providing much greater support for plug-and-play compatibility with a wide range of other agents and services without the need for custom code.

Customers will be able to connect to numerous third-party tools and resources, including Amazon Web Services, PayPal, Box, Cisco Systems, Google Cloud, IBM, Notion Labs, Stripe, Teradata and Writer.

“Over the past several months, we’ve listened deeply to our customers and continued our rapid pace of technology innovation," Evans added.

"The result is Agentforce 3, a major leap forward for our platform that brings greater intelligence, higher performance, and more trust and accountability to every Agentforce deployment. Agentforce 3 will redefine how humans and AI agents work together — driving breakthrough levels of productivity, efficiency, and business transformation.”

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Categories: Technology

Sony has leaked the Monster Hunter Wilds title update 2 release date via the PS Store, and the patch is coming sooner than you might think

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 05:20
  • The release date for Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 2 has been leaked by Sony via the PlayStation Store
  • It's revealed that the second major patch will arrive on June 30
  • The update is also expected to include new events, two "fan-favorite" monsters, and more

Sony has accidentally leaked the release date for Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 2.

As reported by IGN, Sony mistakenly updated the game's PlayStation Store page ahead of schedule, revealing that the upcoming patch will be released on June 30.

Although it's now been rolled back, the website also revealed the contents of the update, which will include new events, Leviathan Arch-Tempered Uth Duna, layered weapons, a new armor set, as well as two "fan-favorite" monsters.

One of these monsters is likely Lagiacrus, which was revealed earlier this year, while the other is seemingly going to be Seregios, according to dataminers.

The new event rewards make me feel like an old man... from r/MonsterHunter

Capcom has confirmed that its next Spotlight showcase will air this week on June 26 at 3pm PDT / 11pm BST.

The broadcast will offer new details on Monster Hunter Wilds and Title Update 2, so we can expect the official release date to be announced then.

Last week, game director Yuya Tokuda also shared some additional details about the upcoming patch in Capcom's Director's Letter.

Tokuda revealed that the second major update will bring several quality of life updates, including improved navigation in the Grand Hub, "improved Seikret usability", photo mode adjustments, and the aforementioned layered weapons.

To stay up to date with all things Monster Hunter Wilds, you can check out our roadmap coverage, which includes release dates, confirmed downloadable content (DLC), what's to come, and more.

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Categories: Technology

New iOS 26 beta fixes the one thing everyone hated about Liquid Glass

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 05:18
  • The second iOS 26 developer beta is out now
  • It makes a change to Control Center that improves legibility
  • It also includes various other tweaks and additions, such as order tracking and a Recovery Assistant

The second iOS 26 developer beta has already landed, and it includes a small change that could make a big difference for users.

With iOS 26, Apple is rolling out a new look to the interface, known as ‘Liquid Glass’, and a big part of that is the inclusion of more glass-like, transparent elements. But in the case of the Control Center the company arguably took the idea too far, as in the first beta the controls were hard to make out against certain backgrounds.

In this second iOS 26 beta the Control Center background and its icons are more opaque, as you can see in the comparison image below (shared by MacRumors). This shows the original design on the left, and the new, slightly less transparent version on the right.

Control Center in iOS 26 beta 1 on the left and beta 2 on the right (Image credit: Apple / MacRumors)

This should make it easier to find the controls you’re looking for, but this isn’t the only change in the new beta.

You’ll also find a new ‘Reduce Transparency’ option in the Accessibility menu, which lets you make the control backgrounds more opaque, and there’s now an Accessibility section in App Store listings, so you can see what accessibility features an app includes.

Order tracking and assisted recovery

The Wallet app can now use Siri to track orders, even if they weren’t made using Apple Pay, there’s a new ringtone (which is dividing opinion among users), a new Live Radio widget for Apple Music, and the ‘new tab’ button’s location has been moved in Safari’s tab management view.

There’s also a new ‘Recovery Assistant’ feature, which according to the beta release notes “is a new way to recover your device if it doesn’t start up normally. It can look for problems and attempt to resolve them if found.”

That’s the main stuff, but there are a few other small changes, like a new description for Low Power mode, and it’s likely that more adjustments and additions will be unearthed in the coming days.

If you’d like to try out these changes for yourself and you have a compatible iPhone then you can – just head to our guide covering how to download the iOS 26 developer beta for full instructions.

However, unless you really can’t wait for the final release (likely landing in September) we’d caution against installing beta versions on your primary device, as they’re inherently less stable than finished software.

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Categories: Technology

Verizon's Project 624 Is an AI-Powered Customer Service Initiative

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 04:30
We spoke to the CEO of Verizon's consumer group to get all the details about a new project that's been under wraps for months.
Categories: Technology

Are You Replacing Your Contact Lenses Often Enough? Here's What Happens When They Expire

CNET News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 04:00
This is everything eye doctors want you to know about caring for your contacts and when to replace them.
Categories: Technology

Amazon reveals huge £40 billion UK investement in major cloud, AI and jobs boost

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 03:52
  • Amazon's three-year plan includes £40 billion in UK investment
  • "Thousands" of jobs set to be created across new and upgraded sites
  • Most of the benefits will be seen in regions typically overlooked by such investments

Amazon has announced plans to invest £40 billion into the UK over a three-year period spanning between 2025 and 2027.

The multi-billion pound investment will fund the expansion of Amazon's operations within the UK, leading to more jobs, boosting national GDP and strengthening the infrastructure that Amazon relies on (and therefore other UK consumers and businesses).

The huge sum isn't insignificant – the UK is Amazon's third-largest market, after the US and Germany, two nations that have already seen billions in investments spanning both ecommerce infrastructure and sovereign cloud efforts.

UK Amazon investment

Boasting of its position as a top-10 private sector employer across the UK, with more than 75,000 citizens part of its workforce, Amazon said its latest investment would create thousands more jobs, the "vast majority" of which should be away from London and the South East.

Four new Amazon fulfilment centers are in the pipeline, including two in the East Midlands, one in Hull and a further one in Northampton - with the latter two anticipated to generate 2,000 jobs each.

The company also declared its investment would be nearly matched when it comes to boosting the UK's GDP, which Amazon anticipates adding £38 billion to the UK economy.

Besides adding further delivery stations across the UK, Amazon also plans to upgrade more than 100 operational buildings and open two more at its East London corporate HQ.

Promising a minimum salary of £28,000 for full-time workers (and £30,000 in London), robotics technicians, safety experts and mechatronic engineers will be among the more than 60 roles offered by the company as part of its huge investment.

"When Amazon invests, it’s not only in London and the South East – we’re bringing innovation and job creation to communities throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, strengthening the UK’s economy and delivering better experiences for customers wherever they live," noted Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the "thousands of new jobs," which he described as offering "real opportunities for people in every corner of the country to build careers, learn new skills, and support their families."

“Amazon’s £40 billion investment adds another major win to Britain’s basket and is a massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business.," he added.

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Categories: Technology

Why document-borne malware needs to be back on the radar for organization

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 03:50

The cybersecurity profession is always on high alert for new attack tactics as criminal groups adapt to overcome improved defenses against phishing and ransomware. But alongside the new innovations, some old-school tactics appear to be evolving making a comeback – or rather they never quite went away.

Document-borne malware is one such tactic. Once considered a relic of early cyber warfare, this method continues to pose a significant threat, particularly for organizations handling large volumes of sensitive information, such as those in critical infrastructure.

The appeal for attackers is clear. Everyday files - Word documents, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets - are inherently trusted and flow freely between businesses, often through cloud-based platforms. With modern security more focused on endpoints, networks, and email filtering, these seemingly mundane files can act as the ideal Trojan horse.

Understanding this evolving risk is key to stopping seemingly innocuous documents before they can wreak havoc.

Why are cybercriminals still using document-borne malware?

On the surface, attacks using malicious documents feel like a bit of a throwback. It’s a tactic that’s been around for decades at this point, however, that doesn’t make it any less dangerous for organizations.

Still, while the concept is nothing new, threat groups are modernizing it to keep it fresh and bypass standard security controls. This means the seemingly old-school tactic is still a threat even for the most security-conscious sectors.

As with other email-based tactics, attackers typically seek to hide in plain sight. Most attacks use common file types such as PDFs, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets as malware carriers. The malware is usually hidden in macros, embedded in scripts such as JavaScript within PDFs, or hidden with obfuscated file formats and layers of encryption and archiving.

These unassuming files are coupled with popular social engineering techniques, such as a supplier invoice or customer submission form. Email attack tactics, such as spoofed addresses or compromised accounts, further camouflage the malicious content.

The rise of cloud-based collaboration tools has increased the attack surface. We’re all used to receiving any number of emails throughout the day with links to SharePoint, Google Docs, and other common platforms. This makes it harder to detect malicious files before they enter networks.

What makes document-borne malware particularly dangerous for critical infrastructure?

Most attacks seek to breach networks unnoticed to maximize their impact and eventual rewards. The potential gains for exfiltrating sensitive data or shutting down a system means groups are willing to invest more time and resources in trying new tactics that can pass unnoticed.

Further, document-borne attacks are all about blending into the background. For example, in the financial sector, the ecosystem offers plenty of opportunities with the thousands of incoming documents from customers, suppliers, and partners daily. Most firms have a constant inflow of financial statements, loan applications, compliance paperwork, and myriad other files entering their system.

If opened, a single malicious document can spread malware across critical networks. Attackers leverage document-based threats to deploy ransomware, steal credentials, or exfiltrate sensitive data, so one wrong click can come with catastrophic consequences, especially for critical sectors that rely heavily on a reputation for trust and reliability.

Strict regulatory compliance demands can raise the stakes further and, depending on their region and function, firms could fall under the remit of the GDPR, DORA, NIS2, and more. Failing to meet these demands can result in severe financial penalties and a significant blow to the firm’s reputation.

Why are organizations struggling to defend against these threats?

From our experience, document security is often overlooked in favor of other areas like network perimeter and endpoint protection. Document-borne attacks are mundane enough to slip down the priorities list but advanced enough to defeat most standard security tools.

Security teams may lack the visibility or tools to inspect and sanitize every incoming file, particularly in fast-moving digital workflows.

There tends to be an over-reliance on signature-based antivirus solutions, which often fail to detect modern document-borne threats. While security teams are typically aware of malicious macros, formats like ActiveX controls, OLE objects, and embedded JavaScript may not be on the radar.

Attackers have also latched onto the fact there is a significant mental blind spot around documents seemingly delivered through familiar cloud-based channels. Even when employees have received phishing awareness training, there is a tendency to automatically trust a document coming in through an expected source like Google or Office 365.

What steps should businesses take to mitigate document-borne malware risks?

As with most evolving cyberattack tactics, a multi-layered strategy is the key to fending off document-borne threats.

One key step is adopting a multi-engine approach to malware scanning. While threat actors may be able to fool one detection engine, having multiple different tools will improve the chances of catching hidden malware and reduce false negatives.

Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) tools are another important element. These sanitize and remove malicious macros, scripts, and active content while preserving document integrity. Suspect files can then be run through advanced standboxes to identify previously unknown threats by detecting their malicious behavior whilst in a contained environment.

The network should also be set with strict file policies, restricting high-risk file types and enforcing user authentication before document uploads. Setting file size limits can also help catch malicious documents where hidden code has made them larger than normal.

Efficiency and reliability are also key here. Organizations need to be able to identify malicious documents hiding in their typical incoming traffic, but without disrupting a workflow that customers expect to be fast and consistent.

Stronger email security measures will also help to detect and block malicious attachments before they reach users. Moving away from signature-based detection and towards behavioral analytics will improve the chances of catching out attackers posing as trusted contacts and services.

Including document-based threats in employee awareness efforts will also help staff spot signs like unexpected macros and spoofed invoices in case they make it through other measures. In particular, more scrutiny is needed for files shared through cloud platforms.

Companies should adopt a zero trust mindset, treating every incoming file as a potential threat until it has been scanned and sanitized.

We list the best document management software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Categories: Technology

The path to Agentic AI: overcoming complexity to embrace the autonomous enterprise

TechRadar News - Tue, 06/24/2025 - 01:41

The future of enterprise AI isn’t just about insights – it’s about a monumental evolution of how businesses buy and sell in the global economy.

AI agents are poised to take automation beyond any capabilities that we’ve witnessed to date, shifting from AI tools that assist decision-making to independently thinking entities that augment execution at scale.

Deloitte predicts that by 2027, half of all companies will use GenAI to launch agentic AI pilots or proofs of concept, marking a significant transformation in how businesses operate.

Challenges on the Path to Agentic Adoption

While agentic AI holds immense promise, organizations must first overcome multiple hurdles. Case in point: Another recent survey found that more than 85 percent of enterprises will require upgrades to their existing technology stack in order to deploy AI agents. Most businesses are still in the early stages of AI adoption, and scaling agentic workflows from initial investments to drive enterprise-wide ROI remains a major challenge.

The road to agentic AI requires rethinking IT infrastructure, ensuring seamless and quality data integration, addressing security and compliance risks, and fostering organizational trust in autonomous solutions – all while ensuring the right guardrails are in place. Without a well-defined strategy, companies risk inefficiencies, implementation barriers, reputational risk, and missed opportunities to harness AI's full potential.

Complexity in Scaling

Agents individually aren’t enough. They can’t be deployed in isolation and need to work in coordination across systems to execute complex multi-step processes – manifesting as agentic workflows. Unlike monolithic systems with predictable interactions, an agentic workflow orchestrates a network of AI agents to solve intricate and layered problems autonomously with machine-scale analysis and human in the loop decision making.

Businesses need advanced orchestration frameworks capable of managing these complex interactions, ensuring robust error handling and maintaining workflow continuity across teams. Developing a clear roadmap will be critical in helping organizations deploy and scale AI agents effectively.

Accountability and Governance

With multiple agentic workflows operating independently yet collaboratively, ensuring accountability is a major challenge. Without a well-defined governance model, businesses risk a lack of oversight, which can lead to noncompliance, financial discrepancies, and reduced trust in AI-driven processes. Agents need to understand the rules of business that humans follow – rules that are defined by legal frameworks, ethical practices, and captured in contracts between customers, suppliers, and partners.

By “gut checking” decisions against contractual terms before taking action and ensuring clear audit trails are in place across the business, agentic decision-making becomes transparent and traceable, and far less likely to result in unnecessary liability.

Ensuring Data and Privacy

In any enterprise system, it’s critical for organizations to handle sensitive information responsibly and securely. Before deploying agentic workflows, ensure that data is clean and structured so sensitive information may be used by multiple agents simultaneously without exposure.

This applies to bank account details that are necessary for supplier payments, employee personal information, and contract data, as prime examples. Businesses should also establish secure data pipelines and continuous compliance measures to mitigate risks while enabling AI agents to function effectively and responsibly.

Trust and Change Management

Adopting agentic workflows requires more than just technical capability – it demands cultural change. Many organizations struggle with trusting AI agents due to concerns about reliability, accuracy, bias, ethical implications, and lack of transparency.

In fact, a recent study revealed data output quality and security and privacy concerns are among the top 10 barriers to AI adoption. Resistance to change within organizations, combined with a lack of understanding of how AI agents work, can create obstacles.

For businesses to fully embrace agentic AI, increase AI literacy and awareness around how AI agents operate with internal training and a top-down call to action driven by leadership. Emphasizing security protocols and privacy protections will also help to build confidence.

The First Step Toward an Autonomous Enterprise

So where can businesses realize immediate value from AI agents and agentic workflows?

AI agents are only as good as the data they train on. If enterprises want to drive profitability and capture returns from their AI strategy, they should start by looking at the data that drives the flow of commerce. Commercial agreements and the critical data they contain are foundational to how enterprises buy and sell, while also providing the compliance constraints agents need to do their jobs well without adding layers of risk.

The path to agentic AI is not a straight line. Yet by strategically addressing challenges, businesses can unlock new levels of intelligence and operational efficiency to embrace their future as an autonomous enterprise.

We list the best performance management software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Categories: Technology

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