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Spain-Backed Fund Joins FOSSA's Sovereign Satellite Communications Push

Spanish startup FOSSA Systems "has raised about $10.5 million to expand its connectivity constellation," reports Space News, noting some funding is backed by Spain's government:



The support from the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) comes a year after the fund injected 14 million euros into Spain's Sateliot , which is also developing a satellite connectivity network with security and defense applications. Spanish private investment firm Kibo Ventures led FOSSA's funding round, the six-year-old venture announced June 24, bringing its total raised to date to nearly 20 million euros.

The proceeds will help fuel FOSSA's push beyond the tiny picosatellites it once used to connect low-power monitoring devices toward larger cubesats in low Earth orbit, enabling additional sovereign communications and space-based intelligence capabilities... The company's funding round follows a wave of investments this year in European ventures planning to develop sovereign space capabilities, including Austrian propulsion startup Gate Space, which secured 6.3 million euros earlier this month from a European Commission-backed accelerator program.





"Our goal is to establish FOSSA as a European benchmark in sovereign space infrastructure," said Julián Fernández, FOSSA's CEO and cofounder.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

China's AI Matches Anthropic in Cybersecurity, Causing Worry Over US Restrictions

Chinese AI systems "have matched the performance of Anthropic's powerful model Mythos in some cybersecurity scenarios," reports the Wall Street Journal.
They call it "a development poised to reset the global tech race and pressure the White House in its overhaul of U.S. AI policy."


Security researchers said that a new AI model, released this month by China's Zhipu AI, also known as Z.ai, can match the latest U.S. models when it comes to finding security bugs, although it still lags behind Anthropic's and OpenAI's products in other tasks. Overall, the capability gap between top U.S. models and those built by Chinese companies has narrowed significantly, and use of Chinese AI systems has surged as businesses seek to rein in runaway costs. A host of companies, including Microsoft, are weighing how they can offer Chinese models on their platforms, a development that is set to alter the balance of power among tech companies...

Unlike models from Anthropic or OpenAI, Zhipu's GLM-5.2 is open-weight. That means it can be downloaded and run on hardware operated by anybody and can be modified and used without supervision. Open-weight models are ideal for users who want unfettered access to systems they control, but they are also ideal for hackers, who can run them in the shadows. GLM-5.2 has ranked as one of the 10 most-used AI models, according to data from OpenRouter, a company that provides access to more than 400 AI models. In some benchmarking tests, according to the cybersecurity company Semgrep, GLM-5.2 bested Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 model, which was released in May. When given further instructions, Opus 4.8 and GLM-5.2 can match Mythos in bug-finding ability, according to researchers...

"Banning Fable while selling chips China needs to develop its own version is a gift to China," said Saif Khan, a distinguished technology fellow at the Institute for Progress think tank who worked on export restrictions in the Biden administration. The U.S. needs to maximize the use of Mythos and comparable models to harden its cyber defenses while it can, he added. Among the Mythos 5 and Fable 5 users that had lost access before Friday's decision to restore Mythos 5 access for some trusted entities: the National Security Agency, which had been testing the tools and found them impressive in trials, according to people familiar with the matter... "It is incentivizing companies across the globe to use cheaper but very capable Chinese open-weight models, while at the same time undermining the U.S. AI industry," said Niels Provos, a researcher who led security teams at Google and Stripe. "I don't understand it."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Are Checks Sent Through the Mail Vulnerable to Theft?

The New York Times tells the story of a 63-year-old retiree who wrote a check for several thousand dollaras to pay her taxes. But she discovered much later that her taxes were never paid because that check had been intercepted and then altered to be payable to someone else:


In some cases, thieves may pilfer one or more checks from local mailboxes. Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, said thieves sometimes "fish" for checks at free-standing drop boxes, using long tools with sticky pads on the ends to grab letters. In other cases, more sophisticated criminals may steal large batches of checks, copy them and then sell them on the internet. Often, the purloined checks are chemically altered in what's known as "check washing" to remove the name of the recipient. The thief replaces it with a fraudulent name, and often increases the amount of the check, before cashing or depositing it.

The 63-year-old retiree's bank told her she'd waited too long to recover the funds:

Schwab's "security guarantee," outlined on its website , says that "Schwab will cover losses in any of your Schwab accounts due to unauthorized activity." But fine print at the bottom of the page notes that reimbursement "requires your timely reporting of unauthorized activity to Schwab," and that Schwab "will not be liable for additional or increased losses resulting from a failure to report unauthorized activity in a timely manner." It notes that more details are available in account agreements... Notify your bank as soon as possible, said Scott Anchin, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and policy at the independent bankers association. Banks generally allow at least 30 days and sometimes up to 90 days from the time your statement is made available to you to report suspected check fraud, he said.

So how can you avoid check fraud? Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, just suggests that "No one should ever mail a check."

If you must write a check, he said, try to deliver it in person or take it inside a post office to mail rather than relying on your own mailbox or public drop boxes. The American Bankers Association recommends using permanent "gel" ink pens when you do write checks to reduce the risk of tampering... And if you don't already, consider using your bank's online bill payment service.

The article notes that even the U.S. federal government "has been moving away from paper checks for things like benefit payments and income tax refunds, saying digital payment methods are more secure."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Formula 1 News

Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website

5 betting lessons learnt after Russell wins in Austria

The Mercedes star returned to the top of the podium for the first time since the season-opener in Australia.

Larry Spring, 87 Years Young

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Larry Spring, 87 Years Young

I Thought I Heard You Whisper

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

I Thought I Heard You Whisper

Canada als eerste door naar achtste finales na zege op Zuid-Afrika; gastland treft zaterdag winnaar Nederland - Marokko

Voor Canada is het bereiken van de achtste finales een enorme mijlpaal. Bij eerdere WK's verloor het alle drie de groepswedstrijden.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Axios: VS en Iran staken aanvallen, dinsdag gesprek in Doha

WASHINGTON (ANP/RTR) - De VS en Iran hebben afgesproken om de aanvallen op elkaar te staken. Dat meldt Axios zondag op basis van een hoge Amerikaanse functionaris.

"We hebben besloten alle kinetische activiteiten stop te zetten", vertelt een hoge Amerikaanse functionaris aan Axios, verwijzend naar de militaire term voor uiteenlopende aanvallen.

Daarnaast meldt Axios dat beide landen elkaar dinsdag verwachten te ontmoeten in de Qatarese hoofdstad Doha om hun geschil over de Straat van Hormuz op te lossen. Washington noch Teheran hebben gereageerd op de berichten.

Voorlopig staakt-het-vuren

Op 17 juni kwamen de VS en Iran een voorlopig staakt-het-vuren overeen, maar de afgelopen dagen kenmerkten zich door aanvallen over en weer. Invloedrijke Iraanse geestelijken dringen ondertussen aan op het stopzetten van de gesprekken met de VS, zodra de VS opnieuw het voorlopige akkoord schendt.

De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump dreigde zaterdag via Truth Social de oorlog te hervatten om "de klus af te maken".


Overleden persoon aangetroffen op strand Texel

DE KOOG (ANP) - Op het strand van Texel is zondagavond even voor 22.00 uur een overleden persoon aangetroffen. Het lichaam werd aangetroffen op het strand ter hoogte van De Koog, meldt een politiewoordvoerder. Over de identiteit van het slachtoffer kan de politie niets kwijt.

Hoewel de persoon op het strand werd gevonden, is het volgens de politiewoordvoerder niet duidelijk of het slachtoffer uit het water kwam of op het strand is overleden. Ook over de verdere toedracht is niets bekend. Er wordt overlijdensonderzoek gedaan.