Daily Tech Digest - June 09, 2025


Quote for the day:

"Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there." -- Zig Ziglar


Architecting Human-AI Relationships: Governance Frameworks for Emotional AI Integration

The talent retention implications prove equally compelling, particularly as organizations compete for digitally native workforce demographics who view AI collaboration as a natural extension of professional relationships. ... Perhaps most significantly, healthy human-AI collaboration frameworks unleash innovation potential that traditional technology deployment approaches consistently fail to achieve. When teams feel psychologically safe in their AI partnerships—confident that transitions will be managed thoughtfully and that their emotional investment in digital collaborators is acknowledged and supported—they demonstrate a remarkable willingness to explore advanced AI capabilities, experiment with novel applications, and push the boundaries of what artificial intelligence can accomplish within organizational contexts. ... The ultimate result is organizational resilience that extends far beyond technical robustness. Comprehensive governance approaches that address technical performance and psychological factors create AI ecosystems that adapt gracefully to technological change, maintain continuity through system transitions, and sustain collaborative effectiveness across the inevitable evolution of artificial intelligence capabilities.


CISOs reposition their roles for business leadership

“The CISOs of the present and the future need to get out of being just technologists and build their influence muscle as well as their communication muscle,” Kapil says. They need to be able to “relay the technology and cyber messaging in words and meanings where a non-technologist actually understands why we’re doing what we’re doing.” ... “CISOs who are enablers can have the greatest impact on the business because they understand the business objectives,” LeMaire explains. “I like to say we don’t do cybersecurity for cybersecurity’s sake. … Ultimately, we do cybersecurity to contribute to the goals, missions, and objectives of the greater organization. When you’re an enabler that’s what you’re doing.” ... The BISO role emerged to bridge the gap between business objectives and cybersecurity oversight that has existed in many companies, Petrik says. “By acting as a liaison between business, technology, and cybersecurity teams, the BISO ensures that security measures are aligned with business strategies and integrated effectively,” he says. Digital transformation, emerging technologies, and rapid innovation are business mandates, and security teams add value and manage risk better when they are involved before a platform is selected or implemented, he says.


Balancing Safety and Security in Software-Defined Vehicles

Features such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular networks improve user convenience but create multiple attack vectors. For example, infotainment systems, because of their connectivity, are prime targets on software-defined vehicles. The recent Nissan LEAF hack revealed exactly this vulnerability, with researchers using the vehicle’s infotainment system as an entry point to access critical vehicle controls, including the steering. Not only can attackers gain access to data and location information, they can use vulnerable infotainment systems as an on-ramp to access other critical vehicle systems, like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), CAN-Bus, or key engine control units. ... Real-Time Operating Systems play a key role in the functionality of software-defined vehicles, as they enable precise, time-critical operations for systems like Electronic Control Units (ECUs). ECUs are primarily programmed in C and C++ due to the need for efficiency and performance in resource-constrained environments. ... Memory-based vulnerabilities, inherent to C/C++ programming, can be exploited to enable remote code execution, potentially compromising critical safety and performance systems. This creates serious cybersecurity and reliability concerns for vehicles. As RTOS suppliers manage numerous processes, any vulnerability in their codebase can be a gateway for attackers, increasing the likelihood of malicious exploits across the interconnected vehicle ecosystem.


The agile blueprint for simplifying performance management: Rethinking reviews for real impact

Understanding performance has a psychological side to it. Recognising this effect on performance frameworks, Rashmi suggested that imposter syndrome can be mitigated by making progress visible. “When you see your results in real time, you can’t keep criticising yourself.” The panellists encouraged managers to have personal discussions with their team members, which would help them build bonds. Rashmi highlighted this aspect, which can be leveraged through AI. “If AI says that there has been no potential feedback for the employee in the last month, then let the technology help the manager remind.” She also added, “Scaling up makes the quarterly reviews an exercise; hence, spontaneous quarterly check-ins are important.” Rashmi also advocated for weekly, human-centred check-ins, features that are integrated in HRStop, where it won’t be just about tracking project status, but to understand employees as people. “Treat it like a family discussion,” Rashmi recommended. “A touch of personal conversation builds deeper rapport.” Another aspect that came up in the discussion was coaching. Vimal emphasised that coaching must happen at all levels—from CXOs to interns. “It’s this cultural consistency that builds trust, retention, and performance”, he added.


Is this the perfect use case for police facial recognition?

First, as the judge noted, “fortunately the technology available prevented physical contact going further”. Availability is important here, not just in terms of the equipment being accessible; it has a specific legal element too. Where the technological means to prevent inhumane or degrading treatment are reasonably available to the police, the law in England and Wales may not just permit the use of remote biometric technology, it may even require it. I’m unaware of anyone relying on this human rights argument yet and we won’t know if these conditions would have met that threshold. ... Second, the person was on the watchlist because he was subject to a court order. This was not the public under ‘general surveillance’: a court had been satisfied on the evidence presented that an order was necessary to protect the public from sexual harm from him. He breached that order by insinuating himself into the life of a 6-year-old girl and was found alone with her. He was accurately matched with the watchlist image. The third feature is that the technology did its job. It would be easy to celebrate this as a case of ‘thank goodness nothing happened’ but that would underestimate its significance and miss the legal areas where FRT will be challenged. 


IT leaders’ top 5 barriers to AI success

Data quality issues are a real concern and an actual barrier to AI adoption, but the problem is much larger than the traditional and typical discussion about data quality in transactional or analytical environments, says John Thompson, senior vice president and principal at AI consulting firm The Hackett Group. “With gen AI, literally 100% of an organization’s data, documents, videos, policies, procedures, and more are available for active use,” Thompson says. This is a much larger issue than data quality in systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM), he says. ... Organizations need the infrastructure in place to educate and train its employees to understand the capabilities and limitations of AI, Ally’s Muthukrishnan says. “Without the right training, adoption and utilization will not achieve the outcome you’re hoping for,” he adds. “While I believe AI is one of the largest tech transformations of our lifetime, integrating it into day-to-day processes is a huge change management undertaking.” ... “The skills gap is only going to grow,” Hackett Group’s Thompson says. “Now is the time to start. You can start with your team. Have them work on test cases. Have them work on personal projects. Have them work on passion projects. [Taking] time for everyone to take a class is just elongating the process to close the skills gap. ...”


Google’s Cloud IDP Could Replace Platform Engineering

Much of the work behind the Google Cloud IDP comes from Anna Berenberg, an engineering fellow with Google Cloud who has been with the company for 19 years. “She is the originator of a lot of these concepts overall … many of these ideas which I did not really understand the impact of until I saw it manifest itself,” said Seroter. “She had this vision that I did not even buy into three years ago. She saw a little further ahead from there, and she has built and published things. It is impressive to have such interesting engineering thought leadership, not just applied to how Google does platforms, but now turning that into how we can change … infrastructure to make it simpler. She is a pioneer of that.” In an interview with The New Stack, Berenberg said that her ideas on the IDP came to her when she looked at how this could all work using Google’s vast compute and services resources to reimagine how platform engineering could be improved. “The way it works is you have a cloud platform, and then on top of it is this thick layer of platform engineering stuff, right?” said Berenberg. “So, platform engineering teams are building a layer on top of infrastructure cloud to do an abstraction and workflows and whatever they need” to improve processes for developers. “It shrinks down because everything shifts down to the platform and now we are providing platform engineering. “


FakeCaptcha Infrastructure HelloTDS Infects Millions of Devices With Malware

The campaign’s cunning blend of social engineering and technical subterfuge has enabled threat actors to compromise systems across a vast array of regions, targeting unsuspecting users as they consume streaming media, download shared files, or even browse legitimate-appearing websites. Gendigital researchers first identified HelloTDS as an intricate Traffic Direction System (TDS) — a malicious decision engine that leverages device and network fingerprinting to select which visitors receive harmful payloads, ranging from infostealers like LummaC2 to fraudulent browser updates and tech support scams. Entry points for the menace include compromised or attacker-operated file-sharing portals, streaming sites, pornographic platforms, and even malvertising embedded in seemingly innocuous ad spots. The system’s filtering and redirection logic allows it to avoid obvious honeytraps such as virtual machines, VPNs, or known analyst environments, significantly complicating detection and takedown efforts. The scale of the campaign is staggering. Gen’s telemetry reported over 4.3 million attempted infections within just two months, with the highest impact in the United States, Brazil, India, Western Europe, and, proportionally, several Balkan and African countries.


Cutting-Edge ClickFix Tactics Snowball, Pushing Phishing Forward

ClickFix first came to light as an attack method last year when Proofpoint researchers observed compromised websites serving overlay error messages to visitors. The message claimed that a faulty browser update was causing problems, and asked the victim to open "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" (which will open a User Account Control (UAC) prompt) and then right-click to paste code that supposedly "fixed" the problem — hence the attack name. Instead of a fix, though, users were unwittingly installing malware — in that case, it was the Vidar stealer. ... "The goals of ClickFix campaigns vary depending on the attacker," says Nathaniel Jones, vice president of security and AI strategy at Darktrace. "The aim might be to infect as many systems as possible to build out a network of proxies to use later. Some attackers are trying to exfiltrate credentials or domain controller files and then sell to other threat actors for initial access. So there isn't one type of victim or one objective — the tactic is flexible and being used in different ways." ... The approach, and ClickFix in general, represents a significant innovation in the world of phishing, according to Jones, because unlike an email asking someone to click on a typosquatted link that can be easily checked, the entire attack takes place inside the browser.


Like humans, AI is forcing institutions to rethink their purpose

The institutions in place now were not designed for this moment. Most were forged in the Industrial Age and refined during the Digital Revolution. Their operating models reflect the logic of earlier cognitive regimes: stable processes, centralized expertise and the tacit assumption that human intelligence would remain preeminent. ... But the assumptions beneath these structures are under strain. AI systems now perform tasks once reserved for knowledge workers, including summarizing documents, analyzing data, writing legal briefs, performing research, creating lesson plans and teaching, coding applications and building and executing marketing campaigns. Beyond automation, a deeper disruption is underway: The people running these institutions are expected to defend their continued relevance in a world where knowledge itself is no longer as highly valued or even a uniquely human asset. ... This does not mean institutional collapse is inevitable. But it does suggest that the current paradigm of stable, slow-moving and authority-based structures may not endure. At a minimum, institutions are under intense pressure to change. If institutions are to remain relevant and play a vital role in the age of AI, they must become more adaptive, transparent and attuned to the values that cannot readily be encoded in algorithms: human dignity, ethical deliberation and long-term stewardship.

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