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Sophos patched three flaws it found in its firewall, including two critical issues.

Sophos says it found, and patched, three flaws in its firewall product
The flaws allowed for RCE and privilege escalation
Those unable to apply the patch can use a workaround

Sophos has recently discovered, and patched, three bugs in its Firewall product, and given the severity, has urged users to apply the fixes as soon as possible. Those that cannot do that are advised to at least apply the suggested mitigation workarounds.

A security advisory from the company notes the three vulnerabilities can be abused for remote code execution, privileged system access, and more. Two of the flaws were given a critical severity score (9.8), with the third one being high-severity (8.8).

Multiple versions of the Sophos Firewall were said to be affected, although different versions seem to be susceptible to different flaws. Still, the company urges all users to bring their endpoints to the latest version and avoid getting targeted.

Workaround possible

Patching also differs, depending on the vulnerability in question. For CVE-2024-12727 users should launch Device Management, navigate to Advanced Shell from the Sophos Firewall console, and run the command “cat /conf/nest_hotfix_status”.

For the remaining two flaws, users should launch Device Console from the Sophos Firewall console, and run the command “system diagnostic show version-info”.

Users that cannot apply the patch should at least apply the suggested workaround, which includes restricting SSH access to only the dedicated HA link that is physically separate. Furthermore, users should reconfigure HA using a sufficiently long and random custom passphrase.

Finally, they can disable WAN access via SSH, and make sure that the User Portal and Webadmin are not exposed to WAN.

Further details about the bugs, including the CVEs, can be found on this link.

Firewalls are major targets in cyberattacks because they act as the primary gatekeepers between internal networks and external threats, making them critical points of defense for sensitive data and systems.

Compromising a firewall can grant attackers privileged access to a network, bypassing security controls and exposing the entire system to further exploitation. Additionally, firewalls often hold valuable configuration data and access credentials, which attackers can leverage to escalate their attacks or maintain persistent access.

Via The Hacker News

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Fresh speculation on the performance of the claimed RX 9070 XT might disappoint PC gamers, though.

AMD is supposedly launching RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 next-gen GPUs
Previous rumors suggested these would be the RX 8000 series
Performance is rumored to be a bit slower than previous chatter from the grapevine

Rumors around AMD’s next-gen GPUs have gone into overdrive this past weekend, and we’ve learned that these RDNA 4 graphics cards may not be the RX 8000 series as previously thought – and we’ve been treated to further speculation on price and performance, too.

So, the theory now is that AMD is going to launch an RX 9070 XT, as first flagged up by an editor on Chiphell, which was pointed out by HXL on X. This will supposedly be the top RDNA 4 GPU, previously rumored to be the RX 8800 XT.

It’ll come alongside a vanilla RX 9070 as a lower-tier offering, if another presence on X – All The Watts, a name we’re not familiar with in the rumor scene – is correct. They believe that the RX 9070 XT will be slightly slower than the current 7900 XT, and that the plain RX 9070 will be about equivalent to the performance of the 7800 XT.

All The Watts spilled some purported price ranges, too, and it seems AMD is looking at around $449 to $649 (in the US) for the Navi 48 graphics cards, which will put the RX 9070 XT at that $650 or so level, and the plain RX 9070 perhaps at $550 to $600. It all feels very vague, though – we’re also told that dropping down a chip, Navi 44 GPUs will range in price from $179 to $349 (RX 9060 models and downwards, presumably).

Another regular rumor peddler on X, Hoang Anh Phu, also shared that the RX 9070 XT is coming at CES 2025, where AMD is rumored to be revealing RDNA 4 – and that FSR 4 will debut alongside it (plus a whole bunch of other stuff, too, in theory).

Finally, Hoang Anh Phu also claimed that a render of a GPU that cropped up in an official AMD advert is supposedly a reference design for one of the next-gen graphics cards from AMD. Season that, and all of this chatter, liberally, of course.

It’s worth further noting that All The Watts reckons there’ll be mobile 9070 variants too, which would be no surprise, but that we may also get some new GPUs for the current RDNA 3 range, namely the RX 7750 and 7650. The latter in particular might be an interesting addition for more affordable GPUs (hopefully).

(VideoCardz spotted all these various posts, by the way, so a hefty four hat tips goes their way – 1, 2, 3, 4).

(Image credit: MSI)

Analysis: Turning it up to 9070?

There’s been a lot of spillage in a very short time around AMD’s next-gen GPUs, and it seems that the RX 9070 XT and 9070 might really be happening. The story is that this was a late switch from AMD in terms of next-gen naming, as until recently, Team Red was going to run with RX 8000 as had been claimed via the rumor mill.

Why switch the name? Well, in some ways, the change to RX 9070 performs that trick of making it seem ‘better’ than Nvidia’s xx70 class graphics card, which this time round will be the RTX 5070 (and 5070 Ti, apparently). So, your mid-range choices early next year could be the RTX 5070 (Ti) or RX 9070 (XT), so the bigger number must be better, right?

It’s that kind of Spinal Tap (turning it up to 11) marketing thinking, we assume (if it happens) – and it’s interesting to note that rather than the 9700 XT, it’s the 9070 XT. (Although that’ll help avoid confusion with AMD’s Ryzen CPU names, to be fair, and the Ryzen 9700X – but it does seem angling very much towards ‘outplaying’ Nvidia too).

The other reason could be that – again, according to rumors – AMD is looking to switch away from the RDNA brand entirely after this next generation of graphics cards. We won’t have RDNA 5, in other words, but UDNA, the ‘U’ meaning unified as this architecture will supposedly bring together CDNA (data center) and RDNA (gaming) under one umbrella.

If that happens, then AMD’s likely to head off the RX x000 naming path entirely, which would make sense rather than go with RX 10000 – which doesn’t work after RX 9000, of course. In other words, the move to UDNA effectively frees up the RX 9000 name for this generation – so why not use it now? We’re just engaging in pure speculation here, mind, but this makes us think it’s perhaps a bit more likely that UDNA, not RDNA 5, comes next on AMD’s GPU roadmap.

As for the performance levels mentioned above for the RX 9070 XT and 9070, they’ll probably come as a bit of a disappointment. The previous hope was that the RDNA 4 top dog GPU could be a bit faster than the 7900 XT, and it’s seemingly slightly slower according to All The Watts – but be particularly skeptical there.

Furthermore, we assume that this is talking about rasterization (non-ray tracing performance), and for ray-traced graphics, AMD supposedly has a much bigger leap in frame rates ready for us, or so other rumors have suggested.

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FlowerStorm has significant overlaps with the defunct Rockstar2FA, warns Sophos.

Researchers said that Rockstar2FA went quiet in November 2024
But a new PaaS emerged soon afterwards, with partly overlapping infrastructure
The new PaaS is called FlowerStorm, and it targets Microsoft365 accounts

Cybersecurity researchers from Sophos have warned a new Phishing-as-a-Service (PaaS) tool has emerged, allowing threat actors to easily hunt for people’s Microsoft 365 credentials.

This tool is called FlowerStorm, and it might have emerged from the (defunct) Rockstar2FA, the company revealed, noting how in November, detections for Rockstar2FA have “suddenly gone quiet”.

The organization’s infrastructure was taken offline, at least partly, for reasons yet unknown – but the researchers don’t think this was the work of law enforcement, though.

Long live FlowerStorm?

Rockstar2FA was a PaaS platform designed to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA), primarily targeting Microsoft 365 accounts. It worked by intercepting login processes to steal session cookies, allowing attackers to access accounts without needing credentials or verification codes. Through a simple interface and Telegram integration, threat actors that purchased a license could manage their campaigns in real time.

The new platform, which emerged in the weeks after Rockstar2FA went quiet, was dubbed FlowerStorm by the researchers. Apparently, much of its tools and features overlap with that of Rockstar2FA, which is why Sophos speculates that it could be its (spiritual) successor.

The vast majority of the targets chosen by FlowerStorm users (84%) are located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy, Sophos added.

Companies in the States were most frequently targeted (60%), followed by Canada (8.96%). Overall, almost all (94%) of FlowerStorm targets were either in North America or Europe, with the rest falling on Singapore, India, Israel, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates.

The majority of the victims are in the service industry, namely firms providing engineering, construction, real estate, and legal services and consulting.

Defending against FlowerStorm is the same as against any other phishing attack – using common sense and being careful with incoming emails.

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More than five million people had sensitive data exposed, including healthcare and payment info.

Ascension was struck by ransomware attack in May 2024
It has now concluded its investigation into the attack
Sensitive data on almost 5.6 million people was stolen

Hackers that struck Ascension with ransomware managed to steal a whole treasure trove of sensitive customer information, with medical information, personally identifiable information, payment data, and more all compromised.

The US healthcare giant has now released new details about the ransomware attack, and filed a new form with the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

The cyberattack occurred on May 7 and 8, leading to significant disruptions in clinical operations. Employees were unable to access electronic health records and patient portals, and some facilities were even forced to divert ambulances, and elective care was paused in the aftermath.

Disrupting healthcare

In the filing, the firm said exactly 5,599,699 people were affected by the incident, and in the update, it added that the information crooks took included:

medical information (medical record number, date of service, types of lab tests, or procedure codes)
payment information (credit card information or bank account number)
insurance information (Medicaid/Medicare ID, policy number, or insurance claim)
government identification (Social Security number, tax identification number, driver’s license number, or passport number)
and other personal information (date of birth or address).

While the attack seems enormous, putting millions at risk of identity theft, wire fraud, phishing and social engineering attacks, Ascension is keeping a positive outlook.

“Although patient data was involved, importantly, there remains no evidence that data was taken from our Electronic Health Records (EHR) and other clinical systems, where our full patient records are securely stored,” it said.

The company said it will now start notifying affected individuals, and expects the job to be done within three weeks.

At press time, no threat actors took responsibility for the attack, and we don’t know if Ascension paid any ransom in exchange for the data – although it did say the attack hurt its ability to recover from the previous financial year.

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Trick your ears into hearing more speakers

Two 15W drivers in a very small cube-style case
Digital signal processing adjusts speaker output to emulate distance
Available from Japan for roughly $255

One of the key things about stereo sound is that to get it, you need decently spaced stereo speakers. And that’s a problem for small devices where you can’t space the speakers out enough to get a large stereo sound stage. Manufacturers have come up with lots of tricks to make small speakers sound bigger, but to the best of my knowledge Pavé’s little speaker is unique: it’s got a gyroscope inside.

The Cear Pavé is an exceptionally small speaker, just over three and a half inches in each dimension, that promises to sound much bigger, with a stereo image close to what you’d hear from a traditional twin-speaker setup. And to do that, it uses clever technology to mess with your brain.

Pychoacoustics, qu’est-ce que c’est?

According to Notebookcheck.net, The speaker uses a combination of digital signal processing and what’s known as psychoacoustics, which is the study of how we perceive sound.

We don’t just hear sound directly. We hear its reflections and its vibrations too, and with a bit of technological trickery, you can adjust the output of speakers to emulate that – so for example by slightly adjusting the timing of certain frequencies to your speaker drivers you can replicate the short delay that would come from having a speaker placed a little further away from you.

In this speaker the processing is carried out by a Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 chip and then delivered via twin 15-watt drivers to deliver a much larger-sounding stereo sound than you’d expect from such a small speaker.

The Pavé isn’t the only speaker to do this, of course: Sony’s Reality Audio, and similar systems from other firms, also use digital signal processing to make their speakers sound bigger. But it also contains the aforementioned gyroscope to detect the movement and positioning of the speaker and to adjust its stereo effect accordingly.

Here’s how it works, according to Cear’s patent: Its “sound processing device includes an equalizer that tunes the frequency characteristic so that a frequency characteristic of the sound wave listened in a second environment replicates the frequency characteristic of a sound wave listened in a first environment.” So there you have it. Qualcomm has a good explainer on its developer blog too.

I haven’t heard this particular speaker but I’d like to: we’ve come a long way from the frankly crap “virtual stereo” and “virtual surround” of early Bluetooth speakers and soundbars; when it’s done well, digital signal processing can produce quite startling results.

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SetMe is a remote support solution for businesses of all sizes that allows IT teams to easily secure a connection to remote computers, allowing for ad-hoc or unattended support that was designed with years of experience in remote support software from the team behind FixMe.IT.

Remote work has dramatically changed how we conduct business in recent years, opening our businesses up to a scale where the best employees could be a hemisphere away. But with remote work comes a need for technical support that can span the globe. How do we address a need to provide technical support to remote workers without compromising the integrity of their computer systems? SetMe fulfills this need with an easy-to-setup, easier-to-use expert control panel that connects support teams with remote clients.

Developed by the knowledgeable teams behind FixMe.IT, SetMe is built upon more than 17 years of experience in the remote desktop and support field. Despite the rise in remote work scenarios, the remote desktop software market has stagnated with outdated technology that can be risky for your team to use. The team behind SetMe’s experience sets this software apart because they built it with modern technology that can keep your client’s system secure while still delivering faster, better, more reliable performance compared to the tech support software of yesteryear.

(Image credit: Techinline)

Connecting with SetMe to a remote computer is a simple three-step process. Start by requesting the remote client to download and install the SetMe Client app, from which they will be assigned a randomly generated Client ID. From the expert console, click New Connection and enter the remote user’s Client ID to allow SetMe to connect. From there, tech support teams can then remotely control the desktop. It doesn’t matter if your team is running on a fleet of Macs, Windows PCs, or a combination of the two – SetMe works flawlessly with both systems to allow your tech teams to control as if they were the ones sitting at the keyboard.

A connection via SetMe is safe, reliable, and secure with end-to-end encryption technology that allows your team to access data between remote devices, even if those devices are unattended by another user. Remote work can often mean your team is scattered across multiple time zones, but you don’t need to worry about scheduling conflicts and availability with SetMe. Systems can even stay connected via SetMe through reboots, shut-downs, and when the remote computer is in sleep mode.

(Image credit: Techinline)

Security and productivity are important with remote work, and SetMe can make it easy to track your team’s connectivity and login history. This allows you to make more accurate, data-driven decisions for your business without compromising the privacy or workflow of remote team members. Systems with SetMe can be locked down for strict private access rules with consent filters, or more freely available with single-click connections of unattended machines. The SetMe Expert Console is flexible and reliable for a variety of remote tech support scenarios.

All of this connectivity and support is powered by a robust toolset designed to meet the needs of today’s remote workforce. Users can effectively multitask in different windows across multiple connected computers, synchronize clipboard data for easier sharing, transfer files, and run software or other applications as the admin on the client computer. You can even manage multiple machines from one system at one time, making it easy to push updates to clients for hardware or transfer sensitive files simultaneously across your team.

SetMe’s robust tools for supporting remote clients can fulfill a multitude of needs for businesses, but that doesn’t mean the team behind the software is done with innovation. New features are always in the works to further improve the way your team can function, no matter where in the world they may be. SetMe takes feedback from its users to heart, allowing the team to further develop functionality and tools that can make remote tech support better for all of us who rely on the technology.

Sign up now for a 15-day free trial to see if SetMe works for you. If you like having easy, reliable, and secure access to remote systems then you can take advantage of one of SetMe’s two pricing plans: Solo pricing starts at just $33 per month and is ideal for the needs of single techies or small businesses. Professional starts at $41 per seat per month, and provides all the remote tools at your fingertips with the freedom to manage an unlimited number of unattended computers. No matter how big or small your remote tech support needs are, SetMe has the features and reliability you need for your team.

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The Apple HomePod could soon be joined by a smart home lock and doorbell with Face ID.

Apple could launch smart home security tech
Its smart doorbell could boast Face ID, and use iCloud for video storage
Don’t expect it until late 2025 or 2026

We’ve recently heard rumors that Apple wants to launch a smart home hub with a screen – what’s been described as an Apple HomePod with a display – but the company’s smart home visions reportedly don’t stop there. We could also see it release gadgets like an Apple video doorbell, smart lock, and security camera; so while the Apple Car concept might be dead (another rumored excursion into a previously unexplored product territory), the Apple Home might be about to take off.

This comes via Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (behind a paywall) in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, who says Apple is focusing its efforts on robotics, AI, and smart home tech – with smart home being the one most likely to bear fruit somewhat soon in the form of security devices like video doorbells that can deadbolt your front door or in-home security cameras.

The doorbell may be particularly interesting as it would supposedly offer a form of Face ID for your home by automatically detecting if it’s you.

While this smart home pivot may seem a little odd considering how the HomePod has been treated. It seems forever in the background of presentations and announcements, never getting its own chance in the spotlight. Gurman notes, however, that Apple’s smart home shift comes from the company’s belief it has one edge over the competition: trust in its privacy.

Many people don’t want Amazon-made cameras in their homes, or cameras from most major tech companies for that matter, due to concerns over how their private data might be used even if there’s no evidence it’s being mishandled. But Apple has spent years cultivating a persona of being the best there is when it comes to privacy (it’s even a major component of its Apple Intelligence marketing, and wasn’t for other AI until Apple hit the scene), and so Gurman reports the company believes this perception will help it find success with home security tech.

He adds that it could also help Apple juice its iCloud subscription numbers as people would want to store their recordings in the cloud.

Learning from mistakes, or repeating them?

Ring and Blink had better watch out (Image credit: Cesci Angell / Future)

If you head to the Apple Store website you’ll see Apple already boasts a respectable smart home accessory lineup complete with smart locks, smart lights, motion detectors, smart doorbells, and more – but none are made by Apple.

Instead, it relies on third-party accessories which have varying quality according to some reviewers – with this $330 Level smart lock from a few years ago being labeled ineffective as it could be lockpicked with the simplest method known to pickers – but hopefully, Apple has learned from the better options amongst its third-part stock.

As with all leaks, we should take these latest ones with a pinch of salt, and even if Apple’s smart home tech is indeed on the way it could be some time before we see it in action. Mark Gurman says he’s been told not to expect to see anything until at least the end of 2025.

There’s also a non-zero chance Apple may abandon home security before it sees the light of day. One reason for it not continuing with the Apple Car was reportedly execs fearing the company would be associated with car accidents. The same fears – but this time for home security flaws – could be enough to put Apple off expanding into this area in the end.

We’ll have to wait and see what 2025 holds for us, but with reports Apple is developing a ring, and developing AR glasses in the background too, it might not be long before we see Apple’s next big hardware launch.

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Windows 11’s December update introduces visual glitches, problems that are torpedoing the Start menu, and a sprinkling of other bugs.

More bugs have been uncovered in Windows 11’s December update
They include some nasty problems with the Start menu falling over
There is a workaround for the Start menu problem most users are most likely to see, but only tech-savvy folks need apply

Microsoft’s December 2024 update for Windows 11 has reportedly introduced yet more frustrating issues for some users, including a bug that causes the Start menu to stop responding.

These problems, and some other glitches, have been reported for cumulative updates KB5048667 for Windows 11 24H2, and KB5048685 for Windows 11 23H2, according to Windows Latest.

There appears to be a few separate issues pertaining to Windows 11’s Start menu, the first of which is a visual glitch whereby the search theme for the menu is showing wrongly in white when the user has a dark theme in Windows.

As a dark theme user myself, I could see this being very annoying and obviously visually inconsistent, though it’s not certain this is a widespread bug by any means.

What’s more worrying is that there are seemingly bugs here which break the Start menu after applying the mentioned updates.

Windows Latest explains that the Start menu can stop working completely if Windows 11 detects that your system has an older version of a particular DLL file (MSVCP_140_APP.dll).

The tech site suggests a possible workaround that requires updating this package, but I would only recommend trying this if you’re really confident that you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, if you’re affected, the only other way out is to ditch the December 2024 update, or put up with a non-functional Start menu until Microsoft investigates this (and hopefully implements a fix).

There’s another bug in Windows 11 that seemingly causes the Start menu to fall over in a similar vein, but the average user won’t run into this, as it’s only affecting Citrix users (in businesses) who are using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). That one will be up to IT admins to resolve.

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Wasana Kunpol)

More bugginess in the latest Windows 11 update

There are other issues involving these Windows 11 patches for December that have been reported by individual users.

One is the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ icon staying constantly on the taskbar, and a further isolated report claims that the display looks dull after installing Windows 11 23H2 KB5048685. That could be wrapped up in the HDR-related issues that Microsoft recently confirmed, perhaps.

It’s the Start menu issues which are especially worrying here, as that’s a crucial part of Windows 11 that’s hard to avoid altogether. With reports of many bugs in recent times, particularly with Windows 11 24H2, it seems like Microsoft needs to up its game and try to make cumulative updates more stable upon their release.

Hopefully, the company will be swift and on the ball when it comes to looking into, and subsequently fixing, this latest batch of reported glitches.

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Google is making it even easier for you to ditch Microsoft Teams with its chat migration service.

Google admins can now migrate Microsoft Teams channels data to Chat
Customization, including date ranges, is supported
It’s available to all Google Workspace subscribers now

Google has launched a new offensive in the online collaboration market with a new service making it easier to migrate Microsoft Teams conversations into its own Chat service.

“We’re expanding our data migration experience to include the ability for Google Workspace admins to migrate conversations from channels in Microsoft Teams to spaces in Google Chat,” the company noted in a Google Workspace updates blog post announcing the news.

The hope that that businesses can deploy Google Chat more easily by experiencing less downtime during the transition.

Teams-to-Chat migration is now even easier

Within the ‘Chat migration’ menu of Google Chat, admins can connect to opposing Microsoft accounts to import Teams data. Migration maps and identity maps can be uploaded as csv files, and admins will also have the option to enter the start date for messages to be migrated from.

“You can also run a delta migration, which will migrate any messages added to Teams channels since the primary migration. Messages that are already successfully migrated are skipped,” Google added.

Admins can also produce reports based on completed migrations to identify content that skipped, failed or had warnings.

Moreover, the feature requires those taking the action to be Google super admins and Microsoft Teams Global Administrators.

Google said the feature is available to all Google Workspace users now, however a screenshot of the process shared shows a ‘Beta’ icon next to the ‘Chat migration’ heading. TechRadar Pro asked Google to confirm if the feature is now generally available or whether it remains in beta, but we didn’t get a response immediately.

Although Microsoft has settled a complaint that its bundling of Teams into Microsoft 365 puts competitors at a disadvantage, the company still faces distrust if only by its competitors.

Companies that still need to use the two platforms (and/or others) should consider enabling Mio. Google announced its interoperability with Teams and Zoom using this third-party service earlier in 2024.

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After months of layoffs, Google is now slimming down its manager, director and VP headcount by 10%.

Google to lay off 10% of managers, directors, VPs
More than 1,300 Googlers have already lost their jobs in 2024
The company is facing threats from rivals and regulatory bodies

Google is reportedly planning to cut 10% of its manager, director and VP roles in an ongoing effort to boost efficiency and improve the running costs of the company.

The news (via Business Insider) comes at the end of a troubling year for the company – although layoffs have been nowhere near the 13,000+ plus seen during 2023, hundreds have lost their jobs at the company as part of several rounds of layoffs, including 1,000 at the start of 2024 and a further 300 in May (via layoffs.fyi).

The most recent change, announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a recent all-hands meeting, is hoped to simplify the organizational structure.

Google is laying off its own managers

Employees familiar with the matter shared some managerial roles were being cut altogether, while others would transform into non-managerial roles. This commonly used technique is designed to reduce layers in a company’s organizational structure in an effort to boost efficiency.

The reality is that this is just another move forming part of the company’s overall ambition to be more efficient. Pichai set a goal in September 2022 to become 20% more efficient – his next major round of layoffs, affecting 12,000 in one fell swoop, likely addressed a big portion of that.

However, this may not be enough for Google, which has come under threat in more than one area. Its artificial intelligence efforts have already been dampened by OpenAI’s immeasurable success with ChatGPT, and now, that tool is threatening the market dominance of Google.com. Separately, Google’s search market dominance has recently come under fire, with other areas of the business also open to potential regulatory action.

TechRadar Pro has asked Google to confirm its latest managerial layoffs and to offer further context, but we didn’t receive an immediate response.

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