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 The world celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Colossus. And Britain's GCHQ spy agency celebrated this groundbreaking code-breaking computer that played a crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany during World War II. To ring in the special occasion, GCHQ released never-before-seen images and sounds of Colossus.

Developed in 1944, Colossus was the world's first digital computer. A massive piece of machinery, it towers at a staggering a two-meter tall, a mass of switches, plugs, and wires — operating on 2,500 valves. It processed information with unprecedented speed for its time, decrypting intercepted German messages in mere hours, instead of weeks. It’s most notable achievement was in the approach of D-Day, revealing that the Nazis believed false information about the landmark event.

2023 saw a massive drop in funding for cybersecurity startups. They reached a five-year low, going far below their peak in 2021. Total venture capital in the sector only reached $8.2 billion across 692 deals. For comparison, 2022 saw $16.3 billion spread out over 941 deals. That’s nearly a 50% plummet. The decline fell to its worst in the fourth quarter of 2023, with startups only raising $1.6 billion — the lowest since the third quarter of 2018. Notably, only three cybersecurity startups managed to secure funding rounds above $100 million: BlueVoyant, Island, and Verkada.

The downturn is widely being blamed on a market reaction to inflated valuations and funding rounds, like the kind we saw frequently in 2021. This situation has left many firms struggling to grow into their previously high valuations. Ofer Schreiber of YL Ventures highlighted the sector's need to adapt to new market realities and investor expectations.

Google updated its Chrome browser once again, directly addressing three major security flaws — one of which was a zero-day vulnerability that is actively being exploited. Google has not released extensive details about the attacks using this exploit (identified as CVE-2024-0519), but we know it’s an out-of-bounds memory access issue within the V8 JavaScript engine.

The company was made aware of the zero-day through an anonymous report. Alongside the critical zero-day patch, the Chrome update also rectifies two additional high-risk memory safety problems in the V8 engine. These fixes are part of Google's ongoing efforts to enhance security, which include internal audits, fuzzing, and other initiatives.

Interesting Read

CEOs are optimistic about AI's potential to enhance product quality and employee productivity, leading to improved profitability — but there is an underlying concern about cybersecurity risks. 77% of CEOs believe generative AI could increase cybersecurity breaches. They also worry about misinformation and potential legal or reputational damage from AI use.

It’s part of a recent PwC poll of CEOs around the world. The survey highlights the need for responsible AI usage and building trust in AI systems, emphasizing an enterprise-wide approach to ensure reliable and appropriate AI deployment. CEOs recognize that while generative AI promises competitive advantages, it also brings challenges in terms of trust and security. The complete survey includes many other interesting insights into the minds of the people leading the economy.

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Stay Safe, Stay Secure.

The CybersecurityHQ Team