Image by Roy Luck, from Wikimedia Commons

US Oil Giant Halliburton Targeted in Cyberattack

• Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
• Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor

After two days of speculation, Halliburton, a leading oil drilling and fracking company, confirmed it shut down some internal systems following a cyberattack earlier this week, according to CNN .

In a statement filed with government regulators on Thursday, Halliburton disclosed that unauthorized access to its systems was detected on Wednesday.

The cyberattack, first reported by Reuters , appears to have impacted business operations at Halliburton’s north Houston campus and some global connectivity networks.

To prevent further complications, the company has advised employees to avoid connecting to internal networks. Halliburton’s response included restoring affected systems and assessing the full impact of the breach.

TechCrunch notes that such measures are common following cyberattacks, aiming to prevent intruders from gaining further access.

On Thursday, CNN reported that the Energy Department indicated there were no signs of disruption to energy services.

However, cybersecurity experts have expressed concern about the attack’s severity. Jackie Singh, a cybersecurity researcher, told CNN that Halliburton’s decision to take systems offline suggests a severe ransomware attack involving potentially virulent malware.

Reuters noted that hackers typically offer victims a key in return for cryptocurrency payments, which can reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. If the victim resists, hackers may threaten to leak confidential data to increase pressure.

Halliburton has declined to provide details about the attack, leaving the extent of its impact unclear.

SC Magazine reports that cybersecurity expert Richard Caralli warns that the Halliburton cyberattack likely exploited basic security oversights, not advanced hacking techniques. He noted that the attackers probably took advantage of simple, preventable errors due to lapses in fundamental security practices.

“These attacks often succeed not because of advanced technology, but because of mistakes, misconfigurations, and a lack of continuous evaluation,” Caralli said.

Photo by Adarsh Chauhan on Unsplash

Google DeepMind Workers Urge Company to Drop Military Contracts

• Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
• Fact-Checked by

Around 200 Google DeepMind workers signed a letter urging the tech giant to drop military contracts with multiple organizations earlier this year. The information has been revealed by TIME magazine in an exclusive with more details of the dispute.

TIME had access to the internal document, dated May 16th, and confirmed that multiple talents in the AI labs are “concerned by recent reports of Google’s contracts with military organizations.” The document also clarifies that it is not addressed to any particular conflict or current geopolitical situation.

In April , TIME revealed that Google has a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defense for a program called Project Nimbus to supply AI and cloud computing services.

“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles,” wrote the workers in the letter.

The machine learning talents that signed the petition represent only 5% of Google’s DeepMind workforce but reveal important internal differences and approaches towards how Google’s AI technology has been evolving.

According to the magazine, Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 and it had kept its autonomy and original principles until recent years. In 2021 the lab leaders tried to regain autonomy to get a more independent legal structure but the request was denied , and instead, Google merged Google Brain—its other AI team—with DeepMind.

“While DeepMind may have been unhappy to work on military AI or defense contracts in the past, I do think this isn’t really our decision anymore,” said a DeepMind worker to TIME.

Google has published its AI principles and assured that Project Nimbus is not “directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”

However, a worker from DeepMind told TIME that the company’s response doesn’t confirm if it can enable violence and other negative developments, and it “is so specifically unspecific that we are all none the wiser on what it actually means.”

Since the letter began circulating in May, Google hasn’t put any of the suggestions into force, four people with knowledge of the situation told TIME. “We have received no meaningful response from leadership, and we are growing increasingly frustrated,” one of them said.