Microsoft released an urgent security update for Office last month to address a critical vulnerability, CVE-2026-21509, which was quickly exploited by Russian-state hackers, according to researchers at Ars Technica. The threat group, known as APT28, Fancy Bear, Sednit, Forest Blizzard, and Sofacy, targeted diplomatic, maritime, and transport organizations in more than half a dozen countries.
The hackers wasted no time in leveraging the vulnerability, compromising devices less than 48 hours after the patch was released. According to Ars Technica, the group reverse-engineered the patch and developed an advanced exploit that installed previously unseen backdoors.
In other tech news, Michael Lewis, author of "The Big Short" and "Moneyball," revealed he has a verbal agreement with Sam Altman to write a biography of the OpenAI leader. Lewis stated that he would begin the project when ChatGPT is capable of writing a competing draft, according to Fortune. Lewis shared this detail at a live recording of SoFi's "The Important Part" podcast in New York City.
Meanwhile, Lawhive, a British startup utilizing AI to transform the legal services model for individuals and small businesses, secured $60 million in Series B funding, Fortune reported. The funding round was led by Mitch Rales, cofounder of Danaher Corporation, with participation from TQ Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Balderton Capital, and Jigsaw. This follows a $40 million Series A round less than a year prior. Lawhive employs a network of human lawyers assisted by its technology platform, enabling the firm to provide routine legal work.
The AI community continues to monitor the development of AI capabilities, particularly with the release of new large language models from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. MIT Technology Review highlighted the importance of METR, an AI research nonprofit, and its graph that tracks the exponential development of certain AI capabilities. The graph has become a key element in AI discussions since its release in March of last year.
Furthermore, the increasing sophistication of AI agents has prompted discussions around security and governance. MIT Technology Review emphasized the need for CEOs to treat agents like powerful, semi-autonomous users, enforcing rules at the boundaries where they interact with identity, tools, data, and outputs. An actionable eight-step plan was proposed, focusing on governing agentic systems at the boundary.
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