Author: TechBrunch

It appears that the UK government quietly completed encryption advice from government web pages just weeks after requesting backdoor access to encrypted data stored on iCloud, Apple's cloud storage service. The change was discovered by security expert Alec Muffet. In a blog post Wednesday, AlecMuffet wrote that the UK's National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) does not recommend that high-risk individuals use encryption to protect sensitive information. In October, NCSC released a document entitled “Cybersecurity Tips for Lawyers, Lawyers and Legal Professionals,” which advises the use of encryption tools such as Apple's Advanced Data Protection (ADP). ADP allows users to turn on…

The war in Ukraine brought drones to the forefront of modern warfare, surged the demand for counter drone systems. However, legacy solutions for counter drones such as ground defense systems and cyber warfare often come with a large price tag. For German startup Alpine Eagle, these solutions are lacking. Currently, if a $500 first-person view (FPV) drone has the ability to destroy millions of dollars of tanks, a cost-effective answer is needed. “We use cheap, mass-producible systems to establish symmetry against the numerical benefits of cheap strike drones,” Dutch entrepreneur Jan-Hendrik Boelens told TechCrunch. Munich-based Alpine Eagle, which he co-founded…

Gong, a startup that helps companies forecast revenue from potential sales, has surpassed $300 million in annual recurring revenue, the company announced Wednesday. Since its founding in 2016, Gong has been using AI to analyze customer interactions. The addition of generation AI features in recent years has helped to drive the company's growth. “We're seeing a lot of momentum,” Gong CEO Amit Bendov told TechCrunch. Gong was last valued at $7.255 billion as it raised a $250 million Series E in 2021 on a deal led by Franklin Templeton with participation from Coatue, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Thrive Capital and Tiger…

A Barcelona court has determined that Omri Lavie and Shalev Hulio, co-founders of Spyware Maker NSO Group, and former executives of two affiliate companies Yuval Susekh, can be charged as part of the alleged hacking of Catalan lawyer Andreu Van Den Eynde. Ilidia, a Barcelona-based human rights nonprofit that filed criminal charges, announced its ruling on Monday. In the lower court, Ilidia requested that judges Ravie, Julio and somekh be charged in addition to their company. Initially, the court refused the request. Ilidia appealed, and the High Court ruled that three people can now be charged. “This ruling sets a…

Artificial intelligence is a major trend in cancer treatments, focusing primarily on cancer detection as early as possible. That makes a lot of sense given that cancer is not fatal. However, there is little to ask another basic question. If someone has cancer, do they need aggressive treatments like chemotherapy? That's the problem with Ataraxis, which Ai is trying to solve. The New York-based startup focuses on using AI to accurately predict cancer outcomes in 5-10 years, as well as when patients have cancer. If there is only a small chance that cancer will return, chemotherapy can be avoided entirely…

Artificial intelligence is a major trend in cancer treatments, focusing primarily on cancer detection as early as possible. That makes a lot of sense given that cancer is not fatal. However, there is little to ask another basic question. If someone has cancer, do they need aggressive treatments like chemotherapy? That's the problem with Ataraxis, which Ai is trying to solve. The New York-based startup focuses on using AI to accurately predict what cancer outcomes will look like in 5-10 years, not just when patients have cancer. If there is only a small chance that cancer will return, chemotherapy can…

As part of the iOS 18.4 software update, which is now in its public beta, Apple is introducing an AI-powered summary from the APT Store review. The new feature leverages the company's built-in AI technology, Apple Intelligence, to provide an overall summary based on reviews others have left on the App Store. A review summary is generated by a large-scale language model (LLMS) and highlights important information in short paragraphs, explains Apple's website. Also, the summary is updated weekly for apps and games with enough reviews to generate a summary, but Apple didn't say that threshold. App Store users can…

Former US cybersecurity official Rob Joyce told lawmakers Wednesday that federal probation therapy employees would have “devastating effects” on U.S. national security. Joyce, director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency until his retirement in 2024, provided testimony to the U.S. House Committee on the Communist Party of China. “We would like to raise serious concerns that the aggressive threat of reducing US government probation employees will have a catastrophic effect on cybersecurity and national security,” Joyce said. Probation staff are federal employees with government services for less than a year. Since taking office, the Trump administration has sought to…

Ryan Breslow is once again the CEO of Bolt, the fintech company told TechCrunch on Wednesday. Bolt shared a recent communication with investors, writing that Breslow is “a challenging few years later.” Justin Grooms, who has been interim CEO since March last year, is currently president of Bolt. Grooms, the company's former sales director, took over as CEO after it was reported that Maju Kuruvilla had been removed by the Bolt board of directors. Bolt's outspoken founder, Breslow resigned as CEO in early 2022. Over the years he misunderstood investors, inflated metrics, violated security laws, and finally claimed he was…

Anna Patterson has a renowned career in Silicon Valley. She founded three startups, including search engines Upstarts Xift and CUIL, as well as Recall.Archive.org, and became an Internet archive. She was Google's vice president of engineering and later launched Gradient Ventures, a seed fund focused on AI. And she's not finished with the building. Patterson told TechCrunch that she had itching to start something new again a few years ago, but she wasn't sure if there was another startup. However, after losing her breast cancer diagnosis and many jobs that year in 2023, she realized she could either go back…