AI Summarized Hacker News

Front-page articles summarized hourly.

The one interview question that will protect you from North Korean fake workers

CrowdStrike warns North Korean infiltrators use fake profiles, AI, and remote laptop farms to steal IP and exfiltrate data. An effective interview question identifying such workers is asking about Kim Jong Un's physique, which triggers instant termination. These spies often blend into companies, perform hidden IP exfiltration, and may plant malware. Tactics are evolving, making detection harder; companies are advised to verify via in-person meetings and coding tests. Authorities urge immediate reporting of suspicions to the FBI.

US defense secretary circumvents the official communications equipment

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth uses a private internet-connected computer to send Signal messages, bypassing secure DoD communications systems. He initially accessed Wi-Fi in his office but later installed an unapproved line directly connecting to the public internet, raising security concerns. Despite having dedicated secure communication centers, Hegseth sought alternative, unsecured methods to communicate with White House officials, indicating circumvention of official protocols.

All four major web browsers are about to lose 80% of their funding

Major web browsers rely heavily on Google funding, with over 80% of their development supported by Google payments. The US Department of Justice aims to force Google to divest Chrome and end search-engine deals, which would drastically reduce funding for browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Safari. This could destabilize browser development and overall web access, as Google’s influence and financial support are central to the ecosystem.

Milwaukee police trade: 2.5M mugshots for free facial recognition access

Milwaukee police consider trading 2.5 million mugshots for free facial recognition technology from Biometrica to improve crime solving, but face community concerns over privacy, bias, and federal access. Officials emphasize regulation and transparency, with oversight bodies expressing skepticism. Critics cite risks of increased surveillance, bias against minorities, and lack of clear protections. The proposal follows other surveillance initiatives like drone programs and license plate readers. Public and civil liberties groups demand caution and community input before adoption.

Show HN: Convert Large CSV/XLSX to JSON or XML in Browser

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Company built its own rail terminal in NYC to avoid relying on trucks

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108B Pixel Scan of Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring

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Windows RDP lets you log-in using revoked passwords. Microsoft is ok with that

Microsoft's Windows RDP allows persistent login using revoked passwords due to credential caching, enabling access even after password changes. This behavior, intended to prevent lockouts, bypasses online verification and multi-factor authentication, posing security risks, especially if accounts are compromised. Microsoft considers this a design choice, not a vulnerability, and has no plans to change it. Users and admins are advised to configure RDP to authenticate locally only to mitigate risks.

Phi-4 Reasoning Models

Microsoft introduced new small language models (SLMs)—Phi-4-reasoning, Phi-4-reasoning-plus, and Phi-4-mini-reasoning—advancing AI reasoning capabilities. These models rival larger models in complex tasks like mathematical reasoning, scientific questions, and multi-step inference, while being optimized for low-latency and resource-limited environments. They are integrated into Windows 11 devices and applications like Outlook, emphasizing responsible AI with safety and fairness. The models demonstrate significant performance improvements, including outperforming larger models on reasoning benchmarks, and are available through Azure AI Foundry and HuggingFace.

Stockhausen: Sounds in Space

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Julia Parsons, U.S. Navy Code Breaker During World War II, Dies at 104

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I Found Malware in a BeamNG Mod

A BeamNG.drive mod was infected with malicious JavaScript exploiting a Chromium vulnerability to write shellcode into memory, which downloads a DLL that steals passwords and personal data. The author used antivirus alerts, Process Monitor, and WinDbg to reverse engineer the malware, revealing the exploit and payload. The infected mod was removed, but over 3,500 users had already downloaded it. Recommendations include updating Chromium, removing the --no-sandbox flag, and scanning for malware. The post highlights the importance of security in game modding.

GroMo (YC W21) Is Hiring

GroMo, a Y Combinator-backed fintech startup in India, is hosting the FinArva AI Hackathon 2025 to develop AI solutions addressing financial distribution challenges for Bharat's next billion users. Participants can win prizes, secure mentorship, and potentially earn high-paying interviews. The hackathon involves idea submission, team building, and an in-person build sprint. GroMo empowers agents to sell financial products using technology, aiming to revolutionize India's $300B+ financial market.

Office is too slow, so Microsoft is making it load at Windows startup

Microsoft is adding a "Startup Boost" feature to make Office load at Windows startup, improving launch times for apps like Word and Excel but potentially slowing overall system performance. Initially limited to Word and available in mid-May, the feature can be disabled by users. The move aims to address Office's slow loading times, despite some criticism that better efficiency would be preferable.

Pwning the Ladybird Browser

The article details a security analysis of the Ladybird browser engine from SerenityOS. It explores its LibJS JavaScript engine, identifying multiple bugs via fuzzing, including a notable use-after-free (UAF) in the interpreter’s argument buffer triggered by proxy objects. The author explains exploiting this UAF to leak addresses, craft fake objects, and achieve arbitrary read/write. Ultimately, they demonstrate controlling the renderer and executing code via stack manipulation and ROP chains, showcasing potential vulnerabilities in Ladybird’s architecture.

Apple Violated Antitrust Ruling, Judge Finds

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The Group Chat from Hell Has Been Exposed

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Espressif's ESP32-C5 Is Now in Mass Production

Espressif's ESP32-C5, the first RISC-V SoC supporting Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, and Zigbee/Thread, is now in mass production. It features a 32-bit single-core processor up to 240 MHz, 384 KB SRAM, external PSRAM, up to 29 GPIOs, high-speed interfaces, security features, and an LP-CPU for low power applications. Software support includes ESP-IDF v5.5. Development boards are available.

Home washing machines fail to remove important pathogens from textiles

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The best – but not good – way to limit string length

String length measurement and limiting are complex due to Unicode encoding, grapheme clusters, normalization, and platform differences. Counting methods include UTF-8 bytes, UTF-16 code units, Unicode code points, and grapheme clusters, each with pros and cons. Inconsistencies across system layers can cause bugs and user issues. The best approach is to count normalized Unicode code points, but hybrid methods may offer better accuracy. Overall, understanding encoding details is crucial for robust string length management.

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