gremlin/Getty Images In the year ahead, nine out of 10 organizations are expected to hire talent with generative AI expertise, with a quarter of organizations forecasting that at least half of their new hires will need this skill. In addition, six in 10 companies now have a chief AI officer (CAIO) to guide the process. […] More
<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The 2025 iPad 11th Generation is on sale now for $299 (typically $349.) The upgraded iPad has double the base storage as year’s model, more RAM, and an upgraded processor in the A16 Bionic chip. However, it still isn’t compatible with Apple Intelligence and doesn’t support the Apple Pencil Pro. more […] More
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETOver the past decade, spyware tools have been repeatedly found on the phones of journalists, activists, and politicians. This has raised concerns about the unprecedented proliferation of spyware technologies and the lack of protections within the tech sector.Also: Got a suspicious E-ZPass text? Don’t click the link (and what to do if you already did)Meta’s WhatsApp recently revealed it discovered a hacking campaign targeting about 90 users — mostly journalists and civil society members across two dozen countries. According to a WhatsApp spokesperson, the Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions — now acquired by Florida-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners — was behind the attack.Graphite, Paragon’s spyware, was found to have infiltrated WhatsApp groups by simply sending users a malicious PDF attachment. Without users’ knowledge, it can access and read messages on encrypted applications like WhatsApp and Signal. What is a zero-click capability?What happened to WhatsApp was a zero-click attack, meaning targets don’t have to take any action for their devices to be compromised. In contrast, phishing or one-click attacks require user interaction with a malicious link or attachment. Once a phone is infected with a zero-click capability, the attacker can quietly gain complete access by exploiting a security vulnerability. In an interview with ZDNET, Rocky Cole, co-founder of mobile threat protection company iVerify, said that “in the case of graphite, via WhatsApp, some kind of payload, like a PDF or an image, [was sent to the victims’ devices] and the underlying processes that receive and handle those packages have vulnerabilities that the attackers exploit [to] infect the phone.” Also: 7 simple things I always do on Android to protect my privacy – and why you should tooWhile public reporting does not specify “whether graphite can engage in privilege escalation [vulnerability] and operate outside WhatsApp or even move into the iOS kernel itself, we do know from our own detections and other work with customers, that privilege escalation via WhatsApp in order to gain kernel access is indeed possible,” Cole said. iVerify has uncovered instances where “a number of WhatsApp crashes on [mobile] devices [they’re] monitoring with iVerify” have appeared to be malicious in nature, leading the iVerify team to believe that the malicious attacks are “potentially more widespread” than just the 90 people reported to have been infected by graphite. While the WhatsApp attack was predominantly launched against members of civil society, mobile spyware is an emerging threat against everyone because mobile exploitation is more widespread than one might think, Cole said. Moreover, “the result is an emerging ecosystem around mobile spyware development and an increasing number of VC-backed mobile spyware companies are ‘under pressure to become profitable enterprises,'” he said. This ultimately “creates marketing competition” for spyware merchants and “lowers barriers” that would deter these mobile exploitation attacks. Also: I clicked on four sneaky online scams on purpose – to show you how they workEarlier this year, WhatsApp won a lawsuit against NSO after a federal judge in California found that NSO was exploiting a security vulnerability within the messaging app to deliver Pegasus. The infamous NSO Group — known for infecting the phones of journalists, activists, and Palestinian rights organizations — has used similar zero-click capabilities through its Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, a commercial spyware and phone-hacking tool. Historically, the NSO Group has avoided selling to US-based clients and has also been banned by the US Commerce Department under former President Joe Biden’s administration for allegedly supplying spyware to authoritarian governments. However, “shifting political dynamics [under the Trump administration] raises the possibility that spyware may become more prevalent in the United States” — exacerbating mobile exploitation. Cole said the world is totally unprepared to deal with that. More
ZDNETHere we go again. A zombie news story that should have been laid to rest last January has risen from the grave and is walking among us again.The original storyIn case you missed the original story, here’s a recap: Last January, dozens of tech-focused news sites reported that the free upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 was “for a limited time only.” In a quote from the same source, they warned that Microsoft had decreed you would need to upgrade to Windows 11 to continue using Microsoft 365 apps on your PC after the Oct. 14, 2025, end-of-support deadline for Windows 10. Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 – 2 free optionsThe problem with all those reports is they were based on an article by a very junior Microsoft employee posted on an obscure blog for Microsoft nonprofit customers. It wasn’t an official announcement, and the post was deleted that same day. A Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNET’s sister publication PCMag that the blog post “contained inaccurate information and a misleading headline.” Microsoft’s official support document, “What Windows end of support means for Office and Microsoft 365,” had been published a month earlier and was much less alarming. It begins: “Microsoft 365 apps will no longer be supported on Windows 10 after it reaches end of support on October 14, 2025.” That statement is repeated in bold later in the document: Support for Windows 10 will end on October 14, 2025. After that date, if you’re running Microsoft 365 Apps on a Windows 10 device, the applications will continue to function as before. However, we strongly recommend upgrading to Windows 11 to avoid performance and reliability issues over time. Back in the newsSo why did this zombie story start appearing in my news feeds today? I blame Forbes.They’re the ones standing there, shovel in hand, shouting about “Microsoft’s surprise deadline u-turn” while continuing to quote from the inaccurate, long-since-deleted zombie blog post. Also: Is your Microsoft account passwordless yet? Why it (probably) should be and how to do it rightToday’s fuss is based on a newly published page at Microsoft’s product documentation site, Microsoft Learn: “Windows 10 end of support and Microsoft 365 Apps,” which contains this note: To help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11, Microsoft will continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support. These updates will be delivered through the standard update channels, ending on October 10, 2028. That shouldn’t be a surprise. The three-year continuation in security updates for Microsoft 365 matches the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates available to Microsoft’s enterprise customers. It would be a nightmare to rebuild the Microsoft 365 update servers so they delivered updates only to PCs running Windows 10 with an ESU subscription while blocking other Windows 10 devices. So everyone gets those updates. More
Through the Nitro Pro workspace, you can quickly download Windows, macOS, and iOS apps, as well as open up tools including requests to sign, self-signing, converting Word to PDF, and PowerPoint to PDF — or vice versa. The software’s user interface is easy to understand and contains all the functions you could need including text editing, highlighting, annotation, freestyle drawing, and conversion. However, in my opinion, Nitro Pro might be overkill for casual users. There are a few annoyances, such as trying to format and align large amounts of text, and sometimes the text correction function doesn’t work very well.The most interesting feature to note is Document Assistant. This tool, currently in beta, utilizes AI to create summaries, answer queries, or translate PDFs. You can upload files up to 25MB in size. So far, it seems quite good as a summary tool. You can choose between a variety of plans, including an individual license for $15 per month, starter pack bundles, small team subscriptions, and Nitro Pro Business, which includes volume license discounts. A 14-day free trial is available, but you don’t have to hand over any financial information. Demo modes, however, will watermark your documents. Although a lack of readily available support has been noted, many customers are still happy with the power of this PDF editor.Nitro Pro features: Editing functions | Document conversion | Demo available | Document Assistant AI | E-sign facilities | Free trial | SSO More
“We’re excited to become a clinical-stage biotech company; it’s exciting from an AI drug discovery standpoint,” says Absci founder and CEO Sean McClain. Absci Artificial intelligence has been working its way into the drug development process for years now, but with little to show so far in revamping the notoriously burdensome process. While drugs are […] More
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Artie Beaty/ZDNETSports fans rejoice: ESPN is launching its own streaming service.In an announcement today, the sports media giant said its direct-to-consumer sports-only streaming service is set for rollout this fall. The name is pretty straightforward — ESPN. Also: The best live TV streaming services: Expert testedESPN does have a streaming service now in ESPN+, but that’s more of an add-on. It includes live sporting events, studio shows, documentaries, and more, but it doesn’t have the biggest events or actual ESPN channels.ESPN (the new streaming service) will carry every single piece of ESPN (the network) content. You’ll get all programming from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, and ESPN+, plus live events like Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Baseball, College Football Primetime, and any game that’s airing on ABC (Disney owns ABC) — 47,000 live events a year in total. The unlimited package will cost $30 a month or $300 a year (a savings of about $60). More
