Risky Business #824 -- Microsoft's Secure Future Is Looking a Bit Wobbly
In episode 824 of Risky Business, Patrick Gray and Adam Boileau dissect a wave of cybersecurity headlines, from Microsoft’s unsettling reshuffle of its security leadership and upcoming Secure Boot certificate refresh to aggressive state‑backed campaigns by Russia targeting the Winter Olympics and China‑linked groups compromising telecoms in Norway and Singapore. They also examine active exploitation of Ivanti, BeyondTrust, and SolarWinds products, and highlight an anonymous defender who blocked port 23/tcp across the US internet backbone. The show features a conversation with Ent.AI founder Brandon Dixon on the emerging role of large language models in security, and a technical deep‑dive with James Wilson into Claude’s attempt at building a C compiler.
The New Phase of GCCs in an AI-First World: GCC 8.0 and the Evolution of Enterprises
The article outlines the emergence of GCC 8.0, a new maturity stage where Global Capability Centers become AI‑native engines of enterprise innovation. With India alone hosting about 1,600 GCCs—projected to reach 2,400 by 2030—these centers are shifting from cost‑center support to...
Ship Only What Users Actually Need, Backed by Data
The best teams ship what they can prove users need. User research turns opinions into evidence and protects you from confident guesses. Get the receipts on your users with Seena Labs — seenalabs.io
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Robinhood held its Q4 2025 earnings call on February 10 2026, where CEO Vladimir Tenev and CFO Shiv Verma presented a solid financial rebound. Revenue rose 18% year‑over‑year to $1.2 billion and the net loss narrowed to $150 million, reflecting higher margin contributions from crypto...
Self‑Driving Infrastructure Gains New Runtime Log Tools
Full self-driving infrastructure getting closer every day. Today we shipped: 1️⃣ 𝚐𝚎𝚝_𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎_𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 in our MCP server¹ 2️⃣ 𝚟𝚌 𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 CLI filters² e.g.: --𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜-𝚌𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝟺𝟶𝟺 --𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝟷𝟶 Just ask Claude Code to fix your crashes. Or trigger an agent when an anomaly alert webhook...
The European Supervisory Authorities and UK Financial Regulators Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Oversight of Critical ICT Third-Party Service Providers...
The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority to coordinate oversight of critical ICT third‑party service providers under the Digital...
Asia Fumbles With Throttling Back Telnet Traffic in Region
Telnet remains a major security weakness in the Asia‑Pacific, accounting for roughly half of the world’s exposed Telnet endpoints. Global throttling on Jan. 14 cut Telnet sessions by 83 % but Asian providers applied inconsistent filters, leaving the region’s traffic relatively high....
Gilead Dips as ‘Strong’ Earnings Outweighed by High Expectations for New HIV Drug
Gilead Sciences reported a strong fourth‑quarter, with product sales reaching $7.9 billion, a 5% year‑over‑year increase, and its flagship HIV treatments Biktarvy and Descovy surpassing analyst forecasts. The company projected full‑year sales of $29.6‑$30 billion and EPS of $8.45‑$8.85, staying within consensus...
ByteDance Suspends Seedance 2 Feature That Turns Facial Photos Into Personal Voices Over Potential Risks
ByteDance’s AI video platform Seedance 2.0 can ingest multiple media types, allowing users to blend up to nine images, three videos and three audio files into short clips. During testing, the tool’s facial‑to‑voice capability generated a voice nearly identical to...
The New Space Playbook Faces a Physics Cliff at the Moon
The SmallSat Symposium highlighted a looming “physics cliff” as commercial space shifts from LEO to lunar operations. Engineers warned that the fail‑operational models and automotive‑grade components that powered mega‑constellations cannot survive the intense radiation of deep space, especially during Solar...
A Thousand Physicians Call on FDA to Reverse CRL for Myopia Drug
More than a thousand physicians have signed a citizen petition urging the FDA to overturn its complete response letter (CRL) rejecting SYD‑101, Sydnexis Inc.'s pediatric myopia treatment. The company met the agency‑specified primary endpoint, but the FDA concluded the data...
FDA’s Accelerated Approval Messaging Collides with CRL Reality
The FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL) rejecting Regenxbio’s accelerated‑approval application for clemidsogene lanparvovec, a gene therapy targeting Hunter syndrome (MPS II). The decision underscores a growing disconnect between the agency’s public messaging on accelerated pathways and its actual regulatory...
17 Best Shopify Watch Stores That Nail Design And Branding
The episode breaks down 17 standout Shopify watch stores, highlighting the design, branding, and marketing tactics that set them apart. It emphasizes the importance of high‑impact visuals, virtual try‑ons, storytelling, collaborations, trust signals, social‑proof video content, and flexible payment options....
Know Before You Share: Be Mindful of Data Aggregation Risks
Financial data aggregators consolidate accounts into a single dashboard, using either APIs or screen‑scraping to retrieve information. While APIs provide scoped, credential‑free access, many providers still rely on screen‑scraping, which requires users to share login details. The article highlights privacy,...
Advance-Fee Frauds Keep Dropping the FINRA Name—Don’t Fall for “Regulator” Imposter Ploys
Fraudsters are increasingly impersonating FINRA and its executives, using authentic‑looking logos, signatures, and fake email domains to lure victims into advance‑fee scams. The scams typically demand payment for alleged regulatory or tax charges tied to worthless securities or nonexistent inheritances,...
Following the Crowd: Investing and Social Media
Investors, especially those under 35, are turning to social media for investment ideas, with 60% of young investors citing it as an information source. The article presents five practical tips—evaluate sources, keep emotions out of decisions, understand day‑trader, margin and...
Teradata Tops Expectations on Public Cloud Momentum and Its Stock Surges
Teradata reported fourth‑quarter earnings of $0.74 per share, well above the $0.54 consensus, and revenue of $421 million, a 3% year‑over‑year increase. Recurring revenue now represents 87% of total sales, while public‑cloud annual recurring revenue jumped 15% to $701 million. The company...
Singapore Beats Estimates with 5% GDP Growth in 2025 Amid AI Challenges
Singapore’s economy expanded 5% in 2025, surpassing the 4.8% forecast, largely thanks to a surge in AI‑driven manufacturing output. Global demand for artificial‑intelligence‑enabled products lifted factory orders and export volumes. While the growth outperformed expectations, policymakers warned that rapid AI...
Fujitsu to Boost Server Production in Japan, Eyeing Sovereign AI Demand
Fujitsu announced it will begin manufacturing artificial‑intelligence servers at its Ishikawa plant in March 2026, expanding domestic production capacity. The new line emphasizes component‑origin tracking to guard against data‑leak risks, a feature aimed at sovereign AI deployments. This move aligns...
PROPTECH-X : Why Proptechs Fail to Raise Funding
Proptech startups face a steep funding gap, with 96% failing to secure Series A capital. The article attributes this to market oversaturation, weak unit economics, and regulatory hurdles that impede scaling. Investors are increasingly demanding clear revenue traction and defensible...
Cisco Looses Splunk to Probe and Tame Its Growing Agentic Menagerie
Cisco announced an AI Agent Monitoring tool for Splunk Observability Cloud, visualising LLM and agent workflows while tracking performance, cost, and behaviour. The tool integrates with Cisco's AI Defense suite, which just became generally available and now includes Model Context...
EDSAFE AI Alliance Says AI Companions Necessitate New Policies
EDSAFE AI Alliance released the *S.A.F.E. By Design* report warning that AI companions—chatbots that simulate friendship and emotional support—are infiltrating K‑12 devices and blurring the line between educational tools and social entities. The report highlights how anthropomorphic design fuels addictive,...
Amazon One Medical Introduces Health Insights to Help Patients Better Understand Their Lab Results
Amazon One Medical launched Health Insights, a beta tool that converts routine bloodwork into personalized health information. Developed with Lifeforce, the feature evaluates over 50 biomarkers and delivers a wellness score, domain‑specific analysis, and evidence‑based lifestyle recommendations at no extra...
AI Disrupts Financials. Bad Data Misleads On Economy.
Altruist, a wealth‑management startup, rolled out AI‑driven tax‑planning tools, prompting a sharp sell‑off in legacy financial firms such as Charles Schwab, LPL Financial and Morgan Stanley. The reaction reflects investor anxiety that AI could erode traditional advisory revenue streams. Despite...
AI Accounts for Just 7% of January Layoffs
🔴AI is NOT the reason for job market LAYOFFS: Artificial Intelligence (AI) was cited in 7,624 of 108,435 layoffs announced in January, representing 7% of all cuts that month. Since 2023, AI has been referenced in just 3% of all job cuts...
Iceberg's New API Validates DuckDB's Catalog Metadata Claim
The fact that iceberg has introduced a scan planning api is a tacit admission that ducklake is right and the metadata should just live in the catalog. https://t.co/PgsOWxx1v0
UK to Lead Multinational Cyber Defence Exercise From Singapore.
Britain will lead the Defence Cyber Marvel 2026 exercise, bringing together more than 2,500 personnel from 29 nations in Singapore. The week‑long drill simulates real‑world cyber attacks, pitting blue and red teams against each other while integrating military, government and...
AI‑Driven Sell‑Off Sparks Tech Opportunities on Bloomberg TV
Look forward to discussing this AI driven sell-off and the opportunities in tech on @BloombergTV at 9:40 am with @mattmiller1973 and @daniburgz 🔥🍿📺🐂🏆🎯
Top CI Metrics Platform Engineering Leaders Should Track
Platform engineering leaders are urged to adopt a focused set of CI metrics—build duration (p50/p95), queue time, success rate, cost per build, flaky‑test rate, and artifact integrity—to turn raw pipeline data into actionable insight. By automating collection and visualizing these...
Building a Trusted Audience Is Ultimate Leverage
Is there a higher leverage activity than building an audience of people who know and trust you? I can't think of one.
Former Canva Exec’s Product Mapping Startup, Adora, Designs $9.9 Million Seed Round
Adora, an AI‑powered journey‑mapping platform co‑founded by former Canva product head Omar Salem, closed a $7 million seed round led by Blackbird Ventures. The tool automatically captures screens, interactions and user paths, turning them into live visual maps enriched with analytics...
Shorooq, PayLater Sign MOU to Explore Institutional Credit Facility
UAE‑based investment firm Shorooq has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Qatar’s first QCB‑licensed, Sharia‑compliant BNPL provider PayLater to explore a scalable, institutional‑grade credit facility. The proposed financing would be non‑dilutive and aligned with Sharia principles, giving PayLater capital to...
Shorooq Deepens Doha Roots as Snoonu Founder Backs Its Growth and AI Funds
UAE‑based Shorooq announced that Hamad Al‑Hajri, founder of delivery platform Snoonu, will invest in both its newly launched late‑stage growth fund and its global AI fund. The growth vehicle is backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, while the AI strategy...
SpaceX's Next-Gen Super Heavy Booster Aces Four Days of "Cryoproof" Testing
SpaceX announced that its upgraded Super Heavy V3 booster successfully completed a four‑day cryogenic proof‑test campaign at Texas’ Massey Test Site. The test involved multiple liquid‑nitrogen fills and pressure cycles that mimic the ultra‑cold methane and liquid‑oxygen loads planned for...
UAE Startup ThrowMeNot Secures $550k Pre-Seed
UAE‑based ThrowMeNot closed a $550,000 pre‑seed round led by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mana Al Maktoum. The startup, founded in 2025 by Archie Rudyuk, operates a marketplace for near‑expiry and surplus food, offering discounts up to 90% and currently lists over 2,700...
Saudi Fintech SiFi Raises $20 Million Series A Led by Ra’ed Ventures
Saudi fintech Simplified Financial Solutions Company (SiFi) secured a $20 million Series A round led by Ra’ed Ventures, with participation from QED Investors, Breyer Capital, MEVP and several local backers. The financing follows a $10 million seed round, bringing total capital raised to...
A Profile of Anthropic and Its Key Executives Like Chris Olah, and a Look at Project Vend, an Internal "Claudius"...
Anthropic, the AI safety‑focused startup behind the Claude series, is profiled in a New Yorker feature that spotlights executives such as former Google researcher Chris Olah. The piece delves into the company’s internal “Project Vend,” a Claudius‑branded experiment that tasked...
Egypt’s Tactful AI Raises $1 Million Pre-Series A to Scale Agentic CX
Tactful AI, an Egyptian CX platform specializing in agentic AI, secured $1 million in a pre‑Series A round co‑led by Foras AI and M Empire. The funding will bolster growth in Egypt, validate expansion across EMEA, and accelerate R&D to enhance scalability...
Smart Bricks Closes $5 Million Pre-Seed to Automate Real Estate Investing
Smart Bricks, a Dubai‑based proptech startup, closed a $5 million pre‑seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z Speedrun, with participation from global funds and angels. The company is building an AI‑native infrastructure that automates the end‑to‑end real‑estate investment workflow, compressing a...
The Rise of Agentic AI in Universities
Australian universities are shifting from basic AI tools to agentic AI, autonomous systems that manage complex workflows with minimal human oversight. By embedding agentic AI into ERP platforms, institutions aim to reduce administrative overhead, improve decision‑making, and personalize student pathways...
Moderna Says FDA Refuses to Review Its Application for Experimental Flu Shot
Moderna announced that the FDA will not begin a review of its experimental mRNA‑1010 flu vaccine, citing concerns over the trial's comparator design rather than safety or efficacy. The decision triggered a roughly 7% drop in Moderna’s after‑hours share price....
The NAACP Is Fighting Back Against AI Data Centers
Elon Musk’s xAI faced a legal defeat after the EPA ruled its Colossus data‑center turbines in Memphis require air‑quality permits, validating the NAACP’s lawsuit over unpermitted methane‑gas turbines. The ruling highlighted elevated nitrogen‑oxide emissions threatening the predominantly Black Boxtown community....
Nissan Silent & Measured Path Toward Autonomous Public Transportation in Japan
Nissan is shifting from autonomous vehicle prototypes to full‑scale public transport services in Japan. After a driverless test with a Serena in Minatomirai (2025), the automaker launched a multi‑month pilot operating five Serena‑based shuttles on fixed routes in Yokohama. Parallel...
Why Consumers Are Choosing Liquid Assets Over Points – Loyalty in 2026
The episode explains how 2026 consumers are abandoning traditional points‑based loyalty programs in favor of liquid rewards like cashback, crypto, or universal digital currency. It highlights the friction of closed‑loop, expiring points—such as breakage, complex tiers, and opaque value—and shows...
Satellite Manufacturers See Emerging Market for ‘Mini-Constellations’
Small‑sat manufacturers are reporting a surge in interest for “mini‑constellations” ranging from a handful to a few hundred satellites, aimed at governments and enterprises that want tailored services without relying on megaconstellations like Starlink. Executives at the SmallSat Symposium highlighted...
Next Steps for Establishing a Bond Consolidated Tape Provider
The FCA has signed a contract with Etrading Software (ETS) to build a UK bond consolidated tape, aiming to deliver a high‑quality data stream for investors. The tape will improve price discovery, liquidity, and market transparency, supporting the UK’s competitive...
Emil the Seal Hijacks Waterloo Station to Warn Commuters About Investment Scams
The FCA staged a pop‑up ATM at London Waterloo featuring its mascot Emil the Seal to promote its new Firm Checker tool. The stunt highlighted that around 700,000 adults lost money to investment scams in the past year. The interactive...
AI Live Testing: How It Can Support Safe and Responsible AI Deployment
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened a second application window for its AI Live Testing programme, inviting firms to trial AI‑driven services in real‑world market conditions with regulatory oversight and technical support from Advai. The initiative targets companies...
The FCA’s Long Term Review Into AI and Retail Financial Services: Designing for the Unknown
Sheldon Mills announced that the FCA is undertaking a long‑term review of artificial intelligence in retail financial services, with findings to be presented to the board this summer. The review will explore how generative AI, multimodal models and autonomous agents...
Independent Assessment to Support Establishment of a Future Entity
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released a letter to trade associations announcing KPMG’s appointment to conduct an independent assessment of proposals for a Future Entity that would set standards for UK open‑banking APIs. The assessment will evaluate governance, technical...