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    in Networking

    Enterprise 5G 'big wave' advances as Celona nabs $60 million Series C

    Celona co-founders, from left, Ravi Mulam, Mehmet Yavuz, Rajeev Shah, Vinay Anneboina. “People inside any of the deep ecosystems like telecom or enterprise or cloud who truly appreciate how big a transformation is happening, were probably the ones most interested in being part of this journey,” said Shah, who is CEO. 
    Celona 2022
    The movement to use cellular frequencies as office broadband connections that behaves like wireless LANs is winning converts and money at a surprising clip.  Celona.io, the two-year-old enterprise 5G networking vendor profiled by ZDNet in November, on Monday announced it had received $60 million in venture funding in a Series C round, bringing its total funding to date to $100 million.   The new money comes with what appears to be momentum among some very large customers in the automotive and retail markets.  “We are getting some pretty specific validation points,” Celona’s CEO and co-founder, Rajeev Shah, told ZDNet regarding what he sees as his company’s leadership in the still-young enterprise 5G market, speaking in an interview by phone.  Those validation points include two of the largest retailers and a couple of the largest automotive companies in the world becoming customers, said Shah. He was not at liberty to disclose their names.  “We had set a goal to say, the most innovative enterprise customers, when they make their design choice for their private networks, we want to be that choice,” he said. The projects of those companies, said Shah, are “significant automation initiatives.” “In all of these scenarios, what’s really happening is they’re putting in big robotics and unmanned vehicle types of applications.” That includes using 5G for things in the back office, in particular, said Shah, because there are fewer dependencies to hold up the rollout. “But we’re starting to see it even in retails and venues, where the experiences for the actual consumer is being shaped by some of this.”  Also: Enterprise 5G is a software ‘revolution,’ says startup Celona One customer that runs venues is looking to 5G to cover an entire sports stadium “to affect how you check-in, how you do your ticketing, how you pay for things, the security covering the entire facility using cameras.” The technology is not being used as a replacement for Wi-Fi, said Shah. Rather, like the early days of Wi-Fi joining wired ethernet, for Celona’s customers, “it is almost like a shift left for them,” he said. A shift left is a term offered by Celona board member Matt Howard of Norwest Venture Partners, where a new technology is additive to what stays in place. “This is like 3.0,” explained Shah. “Think of the 1990s as driving LAN and desktop computing together, and Wi-Fi plus mobile was the next major trend; we see 5G LAN as AI-driven automation as the next wave.”Every time you have one of these things emerge from the right, everything shifts to the left.”

    Another “validation point,” said Shah, is having the round of funding led by DigitalBridge Ventures, the venture capital unit of DigitalBridge Group, a Boca Raton, Florida-based real estate investment trust that has focused on tech-related property investments such as cell towers and data centers. “DigitalBridge is quite an innovative financial firm,” said Shah. “They went from being a traditional REIT and investment fund to becoming a digital infrastructure firm.” The fund sees everything from fiber to towers to co-lo as the infrastructure of 5G and edge and cloud, the “macro trends,” said Shah. “One of their observations, internally, was that while they had a lot of exposure to those growth vectors, they did not really benefit from what was going to be a correlated increase in software and hardware.” Investing in Celona, in other words, gives DigitalBridge a hand in that area of the payoff of 5G. Joining DigitalBridge are returning investors; Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, NTTVC, Qualcomm Ventures and Cervin Ventures. The mid-to late-stage growth market for startups was “very hot” in the fall, said Shah, leading to “very competitive terms” for the valuation and letting the company hit the high end of its valuation range in an oversubscribed round. He declined to disclose the post-money valuation. “People inside any of the deep ecosystems like telecom or enterprise or cloud who truly appreciate how big a transformation is happening were probably the ones most interested in being part of this journey,” said Shah. “The more run-of-the-mill SaaS investor is not the one we got the same resonance with,” he added. “There’s still a divide where the SaaS investor hasn’t fully caught on to how big a wave is coming.”   A somewhat surprising aspect of the announcement is Verizon as a customer. The company’s founders had experienced the intransigence of large carriers in the deployment of enterprise cellular in previous forms, a malaise they told ZDNet they would be careful to avoid.  But collaborating with big carriers is also important for going to market with large enterprise customers. And 5G is different enough from prior cellular efforts it can change the carriers, indicated Shah. “The traditional experience with operators all of us have had is that they’re very slow-moving,” said Shah. “But what has changed is the emergence of this new spectrum of CBRS,” he said, referring to Citizens Broadband Radio System, a part of the so-called S-Band of the spectrum below 6Ghtz that the FCC licenses for broad commercial use. CBRS is “neutral to any operator,” he said, meaning a shared resource among carriers rather than a fiefdom licensed to a single entity. The spectrum, therefore, “I think creates a dynamic where innovative customers and service providers are going to be rewarded for thinking more holistically.”  “I’m excited that someone like Verizon has really embraced that way of thinking,” said Shah. “I think their enterprise team is viewing this as an opportunity to really differentiate themselves,” he added. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that triggers a chain-reaction” among fellow carriers.  Priories this year with the new funding are two-fold: to expand the company’s march to the markets in the U.S. and globally and to continue product development investment.  “This is still a technology area that is ripe for innovation, so we are not going to slow down,” said Shah. “We are going to continue to make wireless even more automated in its operations.”  No follow-on financing is planned at this point. “We have no shortage of interest in people wanting a piece of the pie,” said Shah of investment interest. “But we have no need to do anything for the next two to three years.” The talent market is certainly competitive, which will be a challenge for expanding the team. Celona was 85 people when ZDNet last interviewed them. He said that the company has “reached the three-digit mark” just recently. The plan is to “effectively double as soon as we can hire,” said Shah. “Hiring another hundred people within the next few weeks and months is honestly one of our great initiatives.” “I think it’s a good place to join, so I’m looking forward to the new team that gets expanded.” More

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    in Information Technology

    Hackers are getting faster at exploiting zero day flaws. That's going to be a problem for everyone

    Hackers were much faster to exploit software bugs in 2021, with the average time to exploitation down from 42 days in 2020 to just 12 days. That marks a 71% decrease in ‘time to known exploitation’ or TTKE, according to security firm Rapid7’s new 2021 Vulnerability Intelligence Report. The main reason for the reduction in TTKE was a surge in widespread zero-day attacks, many of which were used by ransomware gangs, according to the company. As Rapid7 notes, 2021 was a grim year for defenders, which kicked off with the SolarWinds Orion supply chain attack which was  pinned on Russian state-sponsored hackers. The year ended with the very different Apache Log4j flaw, which had no obvious main attacker but was spread across millions of IT systems.   Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) and Project Zero researchers also have also observed an uptick in zero-day attacks, where attackers are exploiting a flaw before a vendor has released a patch for it.Rapid7 tracked 33 vulnerabilities disclosed in 2021 it considered to be “widespread”, an additional 10 that were “exploited in the wild”, and seven more where a threat was “impending” because an exploit is available. The company recommends patching impending threats today.   Rapid7’s list excludes browser flaws because they’re already well-covered by Google Project Zero’s zero-day tracker. Instead, Rapid7 focusses on server-side software, meaning its dataset under-represents zero-day exploitation detected in 2021, it said. Rapid7 highlights several startling trends. For example, in 2021, 52% of widespread threats began with a zero-day exploit. What’s “unusual and wildly alarming” about this trend, it said, is that these attacks aren’t just highly targeted ones, as was the case in 2020. Instead, last year 85% of these exploits threatened many organizations rather than just a few. Rapid7 blames much of this trend on the proliferation of affiliates supporting the ransomware industry, which is now dominated by the ransomware-as-a-service model. Last year, 64% of the 33 widely exploited vulnerabilities are known to have been used by ransomware groups, it noted. Its 2021 “widespread” list includes enterprise software from SAP, Zyxel, SonicWall, Accession, VMware, Microsoft Exchange (the ProxyLogon bugs), F5, GitLan, Pulse Connect, QNAP, Forgerock, Microsoft Windows, Kaseya, SolarWinds, Atlassian, Zoho, Apache HTTP Server  and, of course, Apache Log4j. These flaws affected firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), Microsoft’s email server, desktop operating system and cloud, a code sharing platform, remote IT management products, and more. Many of the bugs were exploited at a time when most people were still remote working and relying on remote access and VPNs to connect to work. It does however note a few bright spots in 2021, including the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) frequently updated Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and its binding directive for federal agencies to patch flaws within a certain timeframe. Also the main reason the security industry can measure such a spike in zero-day attacks is because zero-day exploits are being detected and analyzed quicker. More

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    in Information Technology

    Using Russian tech? It's time to look at the risks again, says cybersecurity chief

    Organisations using Russian-linked software or products have been told to take time to consider the risk involved with using those technologies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. New guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – part of GCHQ – says organisations in several key areas in particular should reconsider the risk of using Russian-controlled products as part of their network or supply chain because of the risk of potential cyber attacks. The NCSC said that Russian law already contains legal obligations on companies to assist the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and the pressure to do so may increase in a time of war. And while it said there was no evidence that the Russian state intends to suborn Russian commercial products and services to cause damage to UK interests, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. “In our view, it would be prudent to plan for the possibility that this could happen,” said Ian Levy, technical director at the NCSC in a blog post. “You may choose to remove Russian products and services proactively, wait until your contract expires (or your next tech refresh), or do it in response to some geopolitical event. Alternatively, you may choose to live with the risk,” said Levy.He added: “Whatever you choose, remember that cyber security, even in a time of global unrest, remains a balance of different risks. Rushing to change a product that’s deeply embedded in your enterprise could end up causing the very damage you’re trying to prevent.”NCSC said organisations providing services to Ukraine and organisations or individuals doing work that could be seen as being counter to the Russian state’s interests, making them retaliatory targets for cyber attacks, should reconsider their risk.Organisations involved in critical infrastructure, the public sector and high-profile organisations which if compromised, could represent what the NCSC describes as a ‘PR win’ for Russia are also urged to think about the risks of using Russia-linked software and technology products. National security departments in government were advised against using cloud-enabled products where the supply chain included states like Russia in 2017, but following the invasion of Ukraine, others are being urged to consider the risks too. It’s not possible for the NCSC to provide custom guidance on managing risk to every business, but it’s urging organisations to err on the side of caution, particularly if they’re more likely to be a target of Russian cyber aggression because of the invasion of Ukraine. Organisations should also consider how they could protect their network if those services are abused. “This conflict has changed the world order, and the increased risk and uncertainty aren’t going away any time soon. However, the best thing to do is to make plans, ensure your systems are as resilient as practical and have good recovery plans,” said Levy.  SEE: A winning strategy for cybersecurity (ZDNet special report)

    Ukraine Crisis

    The NCSC also notes that any additional sanctions against Russia could means that services could be stopped at a moment’s notice, so organisations should examine how they would mitigate this. Russian-state backed hackers are accused of being the perpetrators of several major hacking campaigns, including the SolarWinds supply chain attack.  In many instances, these attacks target the lowest hanging fruit, abusing unpatched software, weak passwords and poor network management. Organisations are urged to apply security patches and use strong passwords to help protect networks from nation-state hackers – and other cyber criminals who use the same tactics. One of the most widely used forms of Russian-owned software is Kaspersky antivirus. According to the NCSC, individual users are highly unlikely to be targeted by any potential cyber attacks which look to abuse the software, meaning that “it’s safe to turn on and use at the moment,” according to Levy.Nonetheless, it’s warned that if Kaspersky were to be subject to sanctions and the antivirus software stopped receiving updates, users may need to switch to another provider. The NCSC will continue to evaluate the potential risk of cyber attacks by Russia – and other hostile groups – which could target the UK. The NCSC has previously issued guidance on what organisations can do to help protect their networks from cyber attacks which might occur as a result of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. MORE ON CYBERSECURITY More

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    in Networking

    Aruba ESP updates legacy networks for hybrid work

    This week, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) company, is holding its Atmosphere user event. After being virtual-only for the past two years, the conference has an in-person component due to the pandemic. For Aruba customers, Atmosphere has always been an important event because it’s the place to learn about the innovation the vendor is bringing to the network, particularly in Wi-Fi, where Aruba has been a technology leader since its days as an independent company. One could argue that the 2022 Atmosphere is the most important one since HPE acquired Aruba in 2015, given that the companies are planning to return employees to the office. In addition, COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation initiatives, which mandates upgrades to networks. Almost all the technology building blocks of digital transformation – including cloud, mobility, IoT and security – are network-centric in nature. Businesses cannot become digital organizations with a legacy network.Aruba announces new functionality in ESP and Aruba Central Today at Atmosphere, Aruba announced new capabilities in its Edge Service Platform (ESP), along with new functionality in its Aruba Central management portal, to enable a higher level of network agility. Digital businesses need to change with speed, and that requires an agile IT foundation, but legacy networks tend to be rigid and brittle. The new Aruba Central NetConductor enables businesses to centralize the management of distributed networks. Legacy networks are typically managed on a node-by-node basis, which is why it often can take months to make even a simple networkwide change. Aruba goes cloud-native for new capabilities Central NetConductor is a service built on a cloud-native platform that brings the benefits of the cloud to the network. Nearly all facets of IT infrastructure have benefited by centralizing capabilities in the cloud. Computing and storage have been trending this way for more than a decade. Unified communications and contact centers are currently in this transition. The network, however, is not there yet. The centralization of configuration capabilities enables network administrators to make a change once and propagate it across the network in near real-time. This can be key for policies that dictate application performance but also for the enforcement of Zero Trust and SASE security policies. In its media advisory, Aruba highlighted three key principles of network modernization. They are: Automation. Just a few years ago, automation was a dirty word with network professionals because many viewed it as a threat to their jobs. Today, the opinion has changed because automation is the only way for IT to manage a hybrid workforce. Central NetConductor offers simplified, intent-based workflows with AI-enabled automation to remove much of the heavy lifting with which network engineers are tasked. Security. The rise of the cloud and personal devices have made security in the app or endpoint difficult to manage. In a world where everything is connected, infusing security into the network makes the most sense. NetConductor offers increased threat detection and protection with integrated identity-based access control and dynamic segmentation, which are important components of zero trust. Security has always been a key differentiator for Aruba. In fact, I have often referred to Aruba as a security vendor that delivers its value through the network. Agility. As mentioned earlier, network agility is critical to business agility. NetConductor uses standards-based protocols such as EVPN, VXLAN and BGP and operates as a virtual overlay to a physical underlay. This enables NetConductor to work with other vendors. Customers also have purchasing flexibility because they can procure the solution in a network as a service (NaaS) consumption model. Improved indoor location services coming to Aruba Wi-Fi Aruba also announced self-locating indoor access points (APs) with built-in GPS and Open Locate, an emerging standard, for improved indoor location services. AP installation is a manual process, which can lead to inaccurate location information. Aruba’s Wi-Fi 6 and 6E APs use a combination of traditional Wi-Fi location and GPS to improve indoor location services’ accuracy greatly. The new APs obviate the need for surveys or record location information as the entire process is automated. Historically, Wi-Fi triangulation was very inaccurate, but the new Aruba capabilities improve location services down to under a meter. This is critical for asset tracking, safety/compliance purposes, facility planning, retail apps, venue experiences or other location-based services. Many businesses I have interviewed have been interested in building indoor location-based apps, but the lack of accuracy has held them back. HPE has handled the Aruba acquisition very well, primarily by letting the group run autonomously. Since the purchase, HPE has expanded the portfolio of Aruba products from being primarily Wi-Fi to the campus and WAN. These new solutions can help businesses modernize the end-to-end network and prepare for the next era of work.

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    in Information Technology

    Transparent Tribe APT returns to strike India's government and military

    The Transparent Tribe hacking group is back with a new malware arsenal and victim list including India’s government and military. Active since at least 2013, the advanced persistent threat (APT) group operates in at least 30 countries. However, the APT tends to focus on India and Afghanistan – with the exception being attacks recorded against human rights activists in Pakistan. Transparent Tribe, suspected of being of Pakistani origin, is also tracked by cybersecurity researchers using the labels PROJECTM, APT36, and Mythic Leopard. In 2020, Kaspersky found that the APT was the architect of ongoing cyberattacks against government and military personnel. Malware including Trojans, backdoors, and a propagation tool called USBWorm that quietly copied malicious code to removable drives were used at the time. Cisco Talos has provided an update on Transparent Tribe activities. On Tuesday, cybersecurity researchers Asheer Malhotra, Justin Thattil, and Kendall McKay said in a blog post that a campaign, ongoing since at least June 2021, has chosen the Indian government and military bodies as targets.Transparent Tribe uses phishing to deliver maldocs and malicious web domains to push its malware, which is primarily Windows-based. The fake websites used to deliver payloads mimic government and defense organizations and will serve visitors downloader executables, packaged up to appear to be friendly software, .PDFs, or image files. While past themes have included topics such as COVID-19, the APT moves with the times and adapts to different trends. The latest samples, deployed in 2022, include a fake version of Kavach, a multi-factor authentication (MFA) application. Talos says that the legitimate Kavach app is “widely used” by India’s military for accessing government resources. If a target executes the fake .NET executable, upon installation, a legitimate version of the app is installed — alongside a malware dropper. The second version of this infection vector might raise suspicion, though, as the full MSI installer for Kavach is pulled — as a 141MB package. Malicious payloads, including the Remote Access Trojan (RAT) CrimsonRAT are downloaded and executed. Since 2020, the .NET RAT is considered the APT’s “malware of choice” and is capable of extensive data theft and surveillance. However, Talos notes that Transparent Tribe continues to “incorporate new bespoke malware, indicating the actors are actively diversifying their portfolio to compromise even more victims.”Among the group’s current toolset are the long-standing ObliqueRAT malware, a new Python-based stager for deploying NET-based spyware and other Trojans, and a new .NET implant for executing arbitrary code. 

    The new additions are “quickly deployable” malicious tools and RATs, Talos says. When the smaller payloads are used, the threat actors appear to accept their more limited capabilities as a trade-off compared to CrimsonRAT and ObliqueRAT.In addition, Transparent Tribe has not ignored mobile technologies in its quest for fresh victims. One tool, CapraRAT, is in constant development and has one goal: the theft of data from handsets. “This campaign furthers this targeting and their central goal of establishing long-term access for espionage,” the researchers say. “The use of multiple types of delivery vehicles and file formats indicates that the group is aggressively trying to infect their targets with their implants such as CrimsonRAT. Although not very sophisticated, this is an extremely motivated and persistent adversary that constantly evolves tactics to infect their targets.” Previous and related coverage Have a tip? Get in touch securely via WhatsApp | Signal at +447713 025 499, or over at Keybase: charlie0 More

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    in Information Technology

    Ukraine destroys five bot farms that were spreading 'panic' among citizens

    SBU
    The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has destroyed five “enemy” bot farms engaged in activities to frighten Ukrainian citizens.  In a March 28 release, the SBU said that the bot farms had an overall capacity of at least 100,000 accounts spreading misinformation and fake news surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24 and has now lasted over a month.  According to the security service, the bot farms have “tried to inspire panic among Ukrainian citizens and destabilize the socio-political situation in various regions.” The SBU has accused Russia of operating the farms for conducting “large-scale information sabotage.” The farms were found in areas including Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Ternopil and Zakarpattia.  The bots used social media accounts to spread “distorted news” and propaganda related to the invasion.  SBU investigators raided several bot farms and seized items including over 100 GSM gateway devices, close to 10,000 SIM cards, laptops, and other computing equipment. Photos shared by the Ukrainian agency also appear to show the seizure of mobile phones, USB drives, and weaponry. 
    SBU
    However, investigators have not mentioned any arrests. Ukrinform reports that the country has launched a new fact-check bot, “Perevirka,” that citizens can use to identify fake online content.Ukraine has faced a barrage of cybersecurity incidents and breaches since the beginning of 2022, before the war began. This week, infrastructure belonging to the Ukrainian internet service provider (ISP) Ukrtelecom was the target of a cyberattack. For a time, connectivity collapsed to 13% of pre-invasion levels, but Ukrainian officials say the attack has since been “neutralized.”  Previous and related coverage Have a tip? Get in touch securely via WhatsApp | Signal at +447713 025 499, or over at Keybase: charlie0 More

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    in Information Technology

    Log4Shell exploited to infect VMware Horizon servers with backdoors, crypto miners

    The Log4Shell vulnerability is being actively exploited to deliver backdoors and cryptocurrency miners to vulnerable VMware Horizon servers. On Tuesday, Sophos cybersecurity researchers said the attacks were first detected in mid-January and are ongoing. Not only are backdoors and cryptocurrency miners being deployed, but in addition, scripts are used to gather and steal device information. Log4Shell is a critical vulnerability in Apache Log4J Java logging library. The unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability was made public in December 2021 and is tracked as CVE-2021-44228 with a CVSS score of 10.0. Researchers have warned that Log4Shell is likely to continue for years, especially considering the bug’s simple exploitation. Microsoft previously detected Log4Shell attacks conducted by state-sponsored cybercriminals, but most appear to focus on cryptocurrency mining, ransomware, and bot activities. A patch was released in December 2021, but as is often the case with internet-facing servers, many systems have not been updated. According to Sophos, the latest Log4Shell attacks target unpatched VMware Horizon servers with three different backdoors and four cryptocurrency miners. The attackers behind the campaign are leveraging the bug to obtain access to vulnerable servers. Once they have infiltrated the system, Atera agent or Splashtop Streamer, two legitimate remote monitoring software packages, may be installed, with their purpose twisted into becoming backdoor surveillance tools.The other backdoor detected by Sophos is Silver, an open source offensive security implant released for use by pen testers and red teams. Sophos says that four miners are linked to this wave of attacks: z0Miner, JavaX miner, Jin, and Mimu, which mine for Monero (XMR). Previously, Trend Micro found z0Miner operators were exploiting the Atlassian Confluence RCE (CVE-2021-26084) for cryptojacking attacks.

    A PowerShell URL connected to this both campaigns suggests there may also be a link, although that is uncertain. “While z0Miner, JavaX, and some other payloads were downloaded directly by the web shells used for initial compromise, the Jin bots were tied to the use of Sliver, and used the same wallets as Mimo — suggesting these three malware [strains] were used by the same actor,” the researchers say.In addition, the researchers uncovered evidence of reverse shell deployment designed to collect device and backup information. “Log4J is installed in hundreds of software products and many organizations may be unaware of the vulnerability lurking in within their infrastructure, particularly in commercial, open-source or custom software that doesn’t have regular security support,” commented Sean Gallagher, Sophos senior security researcher. “And while patching is vital, it won’t be enough if attackers have already been able to install a web shell or backdoor in the network.” Previous and related coverage Have a tip? Get in touch securely via WhatsApp | Signal at +447713 025 499, or over at Keybase: charlie0 More

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    in Robotics

    Can drones zipping through the forest prevent fires?

    A drone collecting data in the forest using Treeswift technology.
    Treeswift
    One of the major challenges of managing forest lands against threats like fire and deforestation is the daunting logistical hurdle of collecting data. Drones darting through forests under the canopy may help.

    The precarious-sounding premise has won investors a big vote of confidence to the tune of $6.4 million, including a recently closed $4.8 million round. Treeswift, a startup that’s developed a drone=based solution to navigate under the forest canopy to collect vast quantities of data, including information on individual trees, announced the seed round led by Pathbreaker Ventures.The problem is profound, and it’s not hard to spot the market need. “Our mission is to build the data ecosystem for the natural world, and we are accomplishing that by capturing important data from below the forest canopy,” said Steven Chen, Treeswift’s CEO. “We anticipate that Treeswift technology will help to obtain a more transparent, verifiable, and accurate view of the planet from the ground up.”Also: Drone delivery nearer to take-off following latest FAA recommendationsNot surprisingly, Treeswift is iterating on a previously performed process with a mishmash of technologies and boots on the ground measurement. Previous approaches used remote sensing methods such as satellites or planes, but this top-down method is insufficient for detailed insights about what’s going on beneath the canopy. That job has traditionally been accomplished by human workers called timber cruisers, who take to the forest floor with journals and tape measures. Drones that employ a variety of cameras, sensors, and advanced machine learning algorithms can simply cover more ground faster while doing a more comprehensive job of collecting data sets.That’s important for a variety of industries and use cases. Forestry data can help provide a detailed picture of fire risk, for example, by identifying highly combustible dead and damaged trees. Climate models depend on accurate measures of carbon capture, which is directly related to the health and size of trees in forests. Also: Butterfly propulsion for electric aviation commences testingTreeswift is advised by Dr. Harold Burkhart of Virginia Tech’s Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation and Dr. Vijay Kumar, the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Laboratory.Of course, extractive industries can also use tools that can be used for conservation can also be used by extractive industries; one of the primary customers for Treeswift is likely to be the commercial logging sector. “The Molpus team has been particularly impressed with Treeswift’s ability to allocate trees into product classes accurately and to identify stem quality issues impacting value,” said Randy Taylor, Senior Director, Resource Planning of Molpus Woodlands Group. “Understanding and accurately maintaining timber inventories play an important part in managing our clients’ forests to their potential.”The hope is that equipping the commercial forestry sector with tools to better identify and target which trees it cuts may help avoid the indiscriminate cutting methods that are destructive to habitats and soil health and can actually increase fire risk. More