Israel

Kaltura acquires eSelf, founded by creator of Snap’s AI, in $27M deal

Startups /

Kaltura, a New York-headquartered AI video platform company, is acquiring eSelf.ai, an Israel-based startup behind conversational avatars — AI-generated digital humans that can talk with users — for about $27 million. Kaltura announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire eSelf, a platform supporting more than 30 languages and featuring a user-friendly […]

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Microsoft cuts cloud services to Israeli military unit over Palestinian surveillance

AI /

Microsoft has cut off the Israel Ministry of Defense’s access to some of its tech and services after an internal investigation found the organization appeared to be using its tech to store surveillance data on phone calls made by Palestinians.   The tech giant announced on Thursday that it made the decision to “cease and disable” certain subscriptions from the Israeli military. This affects subscriptions to Azure cloud storage and certain AI

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Israel announces seizure of $1.5 million from crypto wallets tied to Iran

Security /

Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that it was ordering the seizure of 187 crypto wallets that allegedly belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.  In a document detailing the seizure order, the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) said it was “convinced that the cryptocurrency wallets” in the list

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AIR lands $23M to bring its eVTOLs to the US

Transportation /

The combined forces of escalating geopolitical tensions and rising defense budgets are spurring many electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) makers to take a two-pronged approach to building their aircraft: crewed vehicles for personal or commercial taxi use, and uncrewed vehicles meant for logistics and defense purposes. AIR, an Israel-based startup developing eVTOLs, thought it

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Iran’s government says it shut down internet to protect against cyberattacks

Security /

Earlier this week, virtually everyone in Iran lost access to the internet in what was called a “near-total national internet blackout.”  At the time, it was unclear what happened or who was responsible for the shutdown, which has severely limited Iranians’ means to get information about the ongoing war with Israel, as well as their

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Internet collapses across Iran, say web monitoring firms

Security /

Internet connectivity in Iran almost completely disappeared on Wednesday, according to web monitoring firms, as war with Israel enters its sixth day. NetBlocks, a firm that tracks internet access across the world, wrote on X that Iran is “now in the midst of a near-total national internet blackout.” The firm’s assessment was confirmed by other

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Pro-Israel hacktivist group claims reponsibility for alleged Iranian bank hack

Security /

The pro-Israeli hacktivist group Predatory Sparrow claimed on Tuesday to have hacked and taken down Iran’s Bank Sepah.  The group, which is also known for its Persian name Gonjeshke Darande, claimed responsibility for the hack on X.  “We, ‘Gonjeshke Darande,’ conducted cyberattacks which destroyed the data of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ‘Bank Sepah,’” the

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Pro-Israel hacktivist group claims responsibility for alleged Iranian bank hack

Security /

The pro-Israeli hacktivist group Predatory Sparrow claimed on Tuesday to have hacked and taken down Iran’s Bank Sepah.  The group, which is also known by its Persian name Gonjeshke Darande, claimed responsibility for the hack on X.  “We, ‘Gonjeshke Darande,’ conducted cyberattacks which destroyed the data of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ‘Bank Sepah,’” the

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Paragon says it canceled contracts with Italy over government’s refusal to investigate spyware attack on journalist

Security /

Spyware maker Paragon accused the Italian government of refusing its help in investigating whether a journalist was spied on with its technology, according to a statement on Monday.  In the statement first reported by Haaretz, Paragon claimed it was this refusal that prompted the company to cut ties with its Italian government customers.  “The company

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Court document reveals locations of WhatsApp victims targeted by NSO spyware

Security /

NSO Group’s notorious spyware Pegasus was used to target 1,223 WhatsApp users in 51 different countries during a 2019 hacking campaign, according to a new court document.  The document was published on Friday as part of the lawsuit that Meta-owned WhatsApp filed against NSO Group in 2019, accusing the surveillance tech maker of exploiting a

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