News From Around the Web
#10 Supreme Court Action Already Upending January 6 Rioter Sentencings, Being Looked at by Trump Defense - Katelyn Polantz for CNN
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to take a case challenging how the Justice Department prosecutes January 6 rioters has already put on hold several rioters’ sentencings and could affect hundreds more cases — including Donald Trump’s. If the challenge is successful, the Supreme Court could potentially wipe away two of the four counts that special counsel Jack Smith has brought against the former president in his federal election interference case, and upend felony convictions for dozens of January 6 rioters...
#9 FBI: Androxgh0st Malware Botnet Steals AWS, Microsoft Credentials - Sergiu Gatlan for Bleeping Computer
CISA and the FBI warned today that threat actors using Androxgh0st malware are building a botnet focused on cloud credential theft and using the stolen information to deliver additional malicious payloads. This botnet was first spotted by Lacework Labs in 2022 and was controlling over 40,000 devices almost one year ago, according to Fortiguard Labs data...
#8 A Flaw in Millions of Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm GPUs Could Expose AI Data - Lily Hay Newman and Matt Burgess for Wired
“There is a broader security concern about these GPUs not being as secure as they should be and leaking a significant amount of data,” Heidy Khlaaf, Trail of Bits’ engineering director for AI and machine learning assurance tells WIRED. “We’re looking at anywhere from 5 megabytes to 180 megabytes. In the CPU world, even a bit is too much to reveal.” To exploit the vulnerability, which the researchers call LeftoverLocals, attackers would need to already have established some amount of operating system access on a target’s device. An Apple spokesperson acknowledged LeftoverLocals and noted that the company shipped fixes with its latest M3 and A17 processors, which it unveiled at the end of 2023. They found that Apple’s M2 MacBook Air was still vulnerable, but the iPad Air 3rd generation A12 appeared to have been patched. AMD released a security advisory on Wednesday detailing its plans to offer fixes for LeftoverLocals. The protections will be “optional mitigations” released in March. For its part, Google says in a statement that it “is aware of this vulnerability impacting AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm GPUs. Google has released fixes for ChromeOS devices with impacted AMD and Qualcomm GPUs.”
#7 Trump Owes His Supporters Answers to These 6 Questions - Daniel Horowitz for Blaze Media
With the election 10 months away, voters need to know how a second term will be different — and more effective — than the first before the former president locks up the Republican nomination...
#6 Agitated Trump Says 'I Would Love It' After Judge Threatens to Boot Him From E. Jean Carroll Defamation Trial - Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian for NBC News
The judge presiding over E. Jean Carroll's damages trial in New York federal court warned former President Donald Trump on Wednesday that he might bar him from the courtroom for grousing loudly and animatedly to his lawyer during Carroll's testimony about how he repeatedly defamed her. "Mr. Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive" and "if he disregards court orders," U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told Trump and his attorney after the jury had left the courtroom. "Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial. I understand you are very eager for me to do that," Kaplan said."I would love it. I would love it," Trump responded. "I know you would because you just can’t control yourself in this circumstance, apparently. You just can't," Kaplan shot back before an exasperated Trump threw his hands in the air. "Neither can you," Trump said...
#5 CNN Scraps Republican Debate Scheduled Before New Hampshire Primary - Rachel Looker for USA Today
The second Republican primary debate scheduled before New Hampshire voters decide which candidate will be on the presidential ticket has been canceled. CNN scrapped its debate scheduled for Sunday, just two days before the state's primaries, citing a lack of participation. Among the three Republican top contenders − former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley − DeSantis was the only candidate to accept the invitation to take the debate stage. CNN will instead hold candidate town halls this week with DeSantis and Haley, according to a spokesperson from the network...
#4 Vivek Ramaswamy Urges DeSantis and Haley to Drop Out of Race - Timothy H.J. Nerozzi for Fox News
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is urging two of the three remaining GOP hopefuls to drop out and endorse former President Donald Trump. Ramaswamy made the remarks during an interview with Fox News's Jesse Watters on Tuesday following his own decision to drop out and back the former president. "I think Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley would actually, at this point, do this country and this party a service by stepping aside to make sure that we’re focused on not only nominating Donald Trump but getting this country back and reviving those founding revolutionary ideals,"
#3 JP Morgan Says Attempts by Hackers are on the Rise, and it's Spending $15 Billion Partly to Defend Against Cybercrime - Phil Rosen for Business Insider
Hackers are getting smarter and increasingly keen on infiltrating JPMorgan, according to Mary Callahan Erdoes, the bank's asset and wealth management chief. In a Wednesday panel at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, the executive said the observed activity collected from internal monitoring has ramped up significantly. Erdoes said that the bank spends $15 billion on technology and employs 62,000 technologists as part of the effort to keep its systems safe from hackers. "The fraudsters get smarter, savvier, quicker, more devious, more mischievous," she said. "It's so hard, and it's going to become increasingly harder, and that's why staying one step ahead of it is really the job of each and every one of us."
