Archive for October 28, 2025

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Leaseweb Expands GPU Acceleration in Public Cloud with NVIDIA L4 to U.S. and Canada

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

 Leaseweb today announced the availability of NVIDIA L4 GPUs in its Public Cloud platform in the United States and Canada. Already available in Europe, this marks the expansion of GPU acceleration to Leaseweb’s sovereign cloud infrastructure across North America, extending its AI-ready cloud beyond dedicated servers and empowering organizations to run demanding workloads with greater performance, as well as more flexibility and cost efficiency.

The NVIDIA L4 is a versatile GPU that accelerates processing for AI inference, machine learning (ML), video rendering, graphics, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). By introducing L4 GPUs across its North American public cloud, Leaseweb enables customers to scale their GPU usage as needed for variable or short-term projects, while continuing to offer transparent pricing and flexible pay-per-use billing models.

Customers can choose instances with between one and four GPUs, paired with multiple CPU and disk configurations. With 99.99 percent availability and no vendor lock-in, Leaseweb’s GPU-enabled public cloud gives businesses the ability to scale usage on demand – offering a familiar instance structure at a cost that Leaseweb estimates to be up to 30 percent lower than comparable hyperscaler solutions.

Leaseweb Canada will showcase its new NVIDIA L4 GPU-powered public cloud capabilities at SAAS NORTH 2025, taking place November 5–6 at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa, Canada. As Canada’s premier SaaS event – where the fastest-growing SaaS founders, executives, investors, and innovators come to learn, connect, and scale – SAAS NORTH offers the perfect stage to demonstrate how Leaseweb is delivering sovereign, high-performance AI infrastructure built for Canadian innovators. Attendees can meet the Leaseweb team in Booth #C150.

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Cobalt Helps Organizations Embed Security Into Operations and Reduce Risk Faster

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

Cobalt has undergone a large-scale expansion of its Cobalt Offensive Security Platform to transform offensive security from ad-hoc tests into a continuous, centrally managed program. The human led, AI-powered platform provides the visibility, control, and efficiency needed to secure organizations—from code to company—at scale.

According to the 2025 Gartner® Innovation Insight: Penetration Testing as a Service report, “by 2029, organizations adopting PTaaS will perform penetration testing up to five times more frequently than those relying solely on traditional methods.” 1

Traditional pentesting is fundamentally slow and inflexible, relying on fixed scopes and delivering findings via static PDFs long after testing concludes. This leaves development teams operating in the dark and provides only a point-in-time snapshot, lacking the scale and strategic value modern enterprises demand. This limitation is precisely why Cobalt built the Cobalt Platform: to replace the legacy model with a unified, strategic, and continuous offensive security program.

Cobalt helps organizations transform their pentesting program from a series of manual, disconnected tests into a single, optimized program. It provides the enterprise-grade controls, automation, and visibility businesses need to centralize their offensive security, from initial setup to final reporting. It includes:

  • Pentest Planning and Calendar View: Efficiently schedules pentests to align with each company’s needs, providing the ability to plan the assets they want to test and when.
  • Integrations: Seamlessly integrates with existing workflows. The native integrations or workflow builder automatically connects with 50+ tools.
  • Ability to Create and Manage In-House Pentests: Organizations can launch and manage in-house pentests within the Cobalt Platform. They can set up a pentest, invite their own pentesters, and analyze results in one place.
  • Insights and Benchmarks: Tracks progress over time, benchmarks against peers, and identifies actionable steps to strengthen security posture.

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Hammerspace Unveils AI Data Platform Solution to Transform Enterprise Data for the Agentic AI Anywhere Era  

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

Hammerspace, the high-performance data platform for AI Anywhere, today unveiled its solution designed to streamline enterprise data access for agentic AI applications. Aligned with the NVIDIA AI Data Platform reference design, this innovative new solution eliminates the need for costly infrastructure overhauls or new storage silos, enabling enterprises to seamlessly harness their existing data for accelerated AI computing. 

Hammerspace — a member of the NVIDIA Inception program — unifies unstructured enterprise data across diverse storage architectures, geographies, and protocols, enabling organizations to convert raw data into AI-ready intelligence with unprecedented speed. By leveraging existing infrastructure and scaling seamlessly with growing needs, the platform delivers a robust foundation for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), complex agentic workflows, and the emerging era of physical AI. With Hammerspace, enterprises achieve AI-driven outcomes faster, driving innovation and competitive advantage. 

Simplify the Data Estate Without Adding Another Storage Silo  

Traditional AI storage infrastructure requires moving or duplicating massive datasets to specialized silos, creating fragmentation between users, applications, and storage systems.  Hammerspace eliminates this challenge by providing a single global namespace that spans on-premises and cloud resources.  

Using Hammerspace’s automated data objectives and tight integration with AI agents, data is intelligently tagged, tiered, and placed in the right location at the right time — optimizing both performance and cost. This automation ensures that training and inference workloads always have immediate access to the data they need, without manual data movement or complex integration layers, enhancing and accelerating AI queries.  

Multi-protocol support for pNFS, NFS, SMB, and S3, with POSIX-compliant file access, ensures compatibility with existing enterprise applications, while maintaining instant access for users and AI systems alike.  

Accelerate and Transform Enterprise Data for the Agentic Era  

The Hammerspace Data Platform leverages the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform and integrates with NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA networking to deliver unmatched performance and scalability:   

At the core of the architecture, Hammerspace Tier 0 delivers better than line-rate performance by unifying NVMe inside GPU nodes to accelerate processing and maximize resource utilization. The integrated Milvus vector database and Model Context Protocol (MCP) services transform unstructured enterprise data into searchable embeddings and create seamless agents and business data. This combination enables real-time access, reasoning, and retrieval for AI agents operating across the enterprise data estate.  

Streamlined and Scalable AI Data Platform Packaging  

The Hammerspace Data Platform for AI Anywhere is delivered as a validated, easy-to-deploy solution aligned with the NVIDIA AI Data Platform reference design. It enables customers to begin with a small, project-based configuration and scale linearly as AI workloads expand.  

  • Start small: Validate AI initiatives and pilot projects.  
  • Scale linearly: Expand seamlessly to multi-site or global architectures.  
  • Channel-first: Available exclusively through strategic Hammerspace channel partners, ensuring enterprise-class deployment, support, and lifecycle services.  

Availability

The Hammerspace reference design for the NVIDIA AI Data Platform will be showcased at NVIDIA GTC in Washington, D.C. and will be available through authorized Hammerspace partners in late 2025.  

To learn more:  

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NordStellar introduces brand protection to help companies combat fraud and impersonation at large

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

Bad actors use fraud and impersonation tactics to trick customers into handing over their money or sensitive data while posing as trusted brands. NordStellar has introduced its new brand protection service that monitors the web, social media, and app stores for fraudulent activity, providing brands with actionable insights into fraud and impersonation cases to safeguard their reputation and protect their customers.

Earlier this year, NordStellar introduced its cybersquatting detection feature to help companies combat bad actors that use fake domain names to profit from trademarks belonging to legitimate businesses. The brand protection service takes it a step further by monitoring the publicly available internet to detect fraudulent websites and phishing sites, fake profiles and impersonators on social media platforms, as well as cloned or malicious apps on app stores. Once an incident of fraud or impersonation is detected, NordStellar initiates takedown processes to remove the threats.

How it works:

  • Continuously monitors the web, social media, and app stores for any fraudulent activity.
  • Analyzes the available data to detect anomalies, suspicious activity, or inputs from unauthorized sources.
  • Initiates takedown processes for detected fake websites, social media scams, app store counterfeits, and other forms of brand abuse.
  • Offers detailed monthly performance reports that provide businesses with a complete summary of all detected, resolved, and removed threats.

The brand protection service is now available to all NordStellar users. More information here.

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Nikon Releases Firmware Version 3.00 for the Nikon Z f

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

Today, Nikon Canada Inc. announced the release of firmware version 3.00 for the full-frame/FX-format Z f camera. This latest firmware update adds the new in-camera Film Grain feature, perfectly complementing the camera’s iconic heritage design. This update is available at no cost for users of both the original Nikon Z f and new silver edition Z f. 

The new Film Grain feature adds a natural-looking grain effect to photos and videos with image processing in the camera, simulating the fun feel and vibe of shooting with an analogue film camera. This feature is customizable, letting the user fine-tune the size and intensity of the grain, while the appearance of grain changes with each shot for a truly unique aesthetic in every frame. This feature can also be used in combination with Imaging Recipes from Nikon Imaging Cloud as well as in-camera Picture Controls to create a distinct feel.

There are more than 20 additional upgrades and enhancements in this firmware. Focusing and composing is easier when using manual focus with either NIKKOR Z or legacy NIKKOR lenses with enhancements to peaking and gridlines. Additional improvements to operability and functionality support creators with the overall shooting and workflow experience.

Nikon has simplified firmware updates with the Nikon Imaging Cloud. With your Nikon Z f connected to this free service, your camera can automatically retrieve and install firmware updates from the cloud, with no computer or memory cards needed. Nikon Imaging Cloud also gives you access to a world of Imaging Recipes, which are custom-curated colour presets that can be used in camera, and in conjunction with the new Film Grain feature. Learn more about Nikon Imaging Cloud here and sign up for free.

Film Grain feature for unique imaging expression

  • The Film Grain feature allows users to enjoy a film-like feel by adding a grainy effect to photos and videos with image processing. Users will be able to achieve more creative imaging expression in accordance with the scene and their intent by adjusting grain size (3 options) and intensity (6 options). As there is no pattern to the combinations of grain position and shape, the grain effect appears differently with each shot, enabling a unique, film-like shooting experience. In addition, combining this feature with free downloadable Imaging Recipes allows users to easily create unique effects with a simple press of the shutter-release button.

Equipped with features that enable more accurate focusing and framing

  • An [Only during zoom] option has been added to [Focus peaking]. When selected, focus peaking is displayed only when enlarging the view for more precise manual focusing, and peaking is not displayed at other times. This makes it easier to check both your focus and composition. What’s more, a [Maximum aperture Lv] item that makes it easier to determine the focus peak with manual focusing has been added. New [Grid type] options, [4:3] for still-image live view and [9:16] for video live view, have also been added. These enable you to capture scenes with the ideal composition for social media use.

Other functions

  • An [Automatic monitor display switch] item has been added. Selecting the [On (when monitor docked)] option prevents unintentional eye-sensor activation of the viewfinder by fingers, body, or straps when the vari-angle monitor is open, allowing for a more comfortable shooting experience.
  • The electronic shutter sound can be turned on for high-speed frame capture + and Pixel Shift shooting.
  • The [Record camera orientation] feature now includes a [Video] option, allowing videos recorded in portrait orientation to be played back and edited in portrait orientation on the importing device.
  • The registration flow of Imaging Recipes in Nikon Imaging Cloud has been simplified with an automatic confirmation dialog on the camera monitor.

For more information about the latest Nikon products, including the wide collection of NIKKOR Z lenses and the entire line of Z series cameras, please visit www.nikon.ca.

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Flashpoint Digs Deep Into Evolution of Data Extortion

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

Flashpoint’s has a new report about the Evolution of Data Extortion that was just released along with a blog post explaining the research.

Flashpoint’s report provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of data extortion groups, tracing their trajectory from fragmented, low-sophistication criminal activity in 2015 to a professionalized, cloud-centric, and human-operated threat landscape by 2025. It examines the operational arcs of key threat actors, including “The Dark Overlord,” “LAPSUS$,” and “ShinyHunters,” and documents a fundamental shift in their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). The focus has moved away from brute-force technical exploits toward sophisticated social engineering and supply chain attacks.
 
The future of data extortion by these and similar groups will likely target software-as-a-service (SaaS) interdependencies and identity federation, requiring a strategic pivot in defensive postures from perimeter-based security toward proactive Cloud Security Posture Management (SSPM) and robust human defenses.
 
Contents of the 18-page report include:

  • Opportunistic Data Extortion: 2015–2018
  • Group Formalization and Attention Seeking: 2018–2020
  • Extortion Platform Consolidation: 2020–2023
  • Cloud Extortion and Identity Abuse: 2024–2025
  • Role of Specialized Communities

Here’s the link with more details: https://flashpoint.io/blog/data-extortion-ttps-exploiting-code-people/.

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Major crypto exchange leak exposes user wallets, passwords

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

The Cybernews research team has discovered an unprotected MongoDB database leaking massive amounts of sensitive information. The dataset, attributed to crypto trading platform NCX, revealed several data collections that, when combined, reveal over five million records.

Many businesses utilize MongoDB to handle large swaths of unstructured data. However, NCX appears to be plagued with a common issue: databases are left unprotected without authentication, often due to human error. 

The exposed information includes:

  • Full names, usernames, and dates of birth;
  • Email addresses; 
  • Links to user-uploaded identity documents (KYC);
  • Two-factor authentication (TFA) codes and URLs;
  • Internal API keys; 
  • IP addresses;
  • Hashed passwords;
  • Profile photo URLs;
  • Secret keys (obfuscated or encoded);
  • Wallet addresses and related blockchain transaction info;
  • Deposit/withdrawal history, currency types, block statuses;
  • Admin support logs and Help Center communications.

The Cybernews team responsibly disclosed the issue to the company immediately after discovering the leaky database. However, the company did not react to multiple attempts to reach out. 

For more information, here’s the full report: https://cybernews.com/security/ncx-exchange-data-leak-wallets-exposed/

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SellYourMac Expands to Canada

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

SellYourMac.com (SYM), a reCommerce and IT asset transition service company committed to reusing, repurposing, and recycling used Apple products, today announced the launch of SellYourMac Canada, now available at www.sellyourmac.ca. Canadian customers can now easily and securely sell their used Apple devices for top value while contributing to sustainability and responsible e-waste management.

Part of the Other World Computing family of companies, SYM Canada buys and sells used Apple computers, iPhones, iPads, and accessories. Its mission is to help reduce the amount of e-waste hitting landfills and dumps, and help individuals, schools, businesses, and other organizations offset the high costs of upgrading to newer electronic devices by purchasing their old ones. Because SYM deals solely with Apple products, it is more accurate than its competitors in assessing and pricing these products, enabling SYM to pay more than the competition.

Products purchased by SYM include Apple MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, Cinema Display, iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV. SYM no longer purchases pre-Intel-based Apple computers. However, SYM will responsibly recycle these devices with the help of its r2 and e-Stewards certified (zero-landfill) recycling partners. To learn more, please visit: https://www.sellyourmac.ca/. 

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DH2i Achieves Dual Red Hat Certifications for SQL Server High Availability Across RHEL 9.6 and OpenShift

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

 DH2i today announced two major Red Hat certifications that solidify its position as the gold standard for SQL Server high availability across hybrid infrastructure.

DxEnterprise Certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.6

DH2i’s flagship high availability (HA) platform DxEnterprise® is now officially certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.6, enabling organizations to deploy and cluster SQL Server across bare metal and virtual machines (VMs) with Red Hat-validated confidence.

With this certification, now visible in the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog, organizations gain:

  • Certified HA automation across physical and virtual environments

Fully automatic failover, intelligent load balancing, and integrated monitoring

  • Built-in Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) with Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) tunneling

Eliminates the need for VPNs and locks down workloads at the application level

  • Freedom to mix SQL Server versions and OS platforms

Cluster Windows and RHEL-based SQL Server instances under one HA framework

DxOperator Now Certified for Red Hat OpenShift

DH2i’s DxOperator, its SQL Server operator bundled with DxEnterprise and preferred by Microsoft for Kubernetes deployments, is now officially certified for Red Hat OpenShift. You can find it in the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog here.

This certification enables customers to:

  • Streamline SQL Server container deployment on OpenShift within DxEnterprise’s HA framework

Including fully automated failover for SQL Server Availability Groups in OpenShift, a capability no other high availability solution delivers

  • Deploy SQL Server containers in a sidecar configuration (one container image for DxEnterprise, and a separate container image for SQL Server within the same pod) No custom image support headaches to deal with
  • Stretch SQL Server OpenShift clusters across clouds, regions, and sites using secure SDP tunnels

Unified HA Across Bare Metal, VMs, and Containers

With DxEnterprise certified for RHEL 9.6 and DxOperator certified for OpenShift, DH2i unlocks the unparalleled ability to mix and match instances, containers, platforms, and infrastructure for organizations.

In other words, Red Hat users leveraging DH2i’s technology can cluster RHEL 9.6 nodes alongside SQL Server containers in OpenShift – all within a single unified HA framework managed from one control plane.

Quick Start Resources

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Flamingo Launches from Stealth to Transform the $380B MSP Market with AI-Powered Open Source Platform

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 28, 2025 by itnerd

Flamingo, a Miami-based startup, today launched from stealth with OpenFrame, a platform combining AI automation with open-source infrastructure to rewrite the economics of managed service providers (MSPs), companies that provide IT support to small and medium-sized businesses. Over 1,000 MSPs have already joined Flamingo’s waitlist ahead of launch, representing roughly 3% of the managed services market, with more than 150 early adopters actively testing and collaborating through Flamingo’s Slack community.

The $380 billion MSP industry is stuck in a profit squeeze. Most providers operate on razor-thin 8–12% net margins, caught between steep vendor fees consuming 25–35% of revenue and labor costs eating another 25–35% for repetitive tasks like password resets, disk alerts, and troubleshooting. Flamingo built OpenFrame to flip that equation and empower MSPs to break free from vendor lock-in and scale profitably.

Traditional MSP platforms focus exclusively on either software infrastructure or automation, but can’t address the underlying economics. Legacy vendors provide comprehensive tooling but at steep costs that compress margins. Meanwhile, open-source alternatives exist but require significant technical expertise to deploy and integrate, making them inaccessible to most MSPs. The siloed nature of these approaches prevents MSPs from solving both the vendor cost problem and the labor efficiency problem simultaneously.

OpenFrame combines the freedom of open source with the efficiency of autonomous AI agents. Its duo, Fae and Mingo, automates both customer-facing and back-end operations, from password resets to threat detection, turning MSPs into lean, high-margin software-like businesses. Fae handles client-side tasks like password resets, low disk space warnings, and system patches, while Mingo manages MSP operations including threat detection, suspicious process monitoring, and routine maintenance. Unlike traditional AI assistants that only provide recommendations, these agents take action autonomously but require technician approval for sensitive operations, striking a balance between automation and oversight.

OpenFrame will be available in two deployment options: self-hosted for complete control at no cost, or managed services with per-device pricing. At launch, the platform will include:

  • Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)
  • Remote Access and Mobile Device Management (MDM)
  • Integrated SIEM
  • Free beta access through February 2026

Flamingo previously raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding led by Focal VC and Array VC. With this launch, the company will expand its team and grow its sales, support, and engineering operations to serve the growing waitlist of over 1,000 MSPs. The company’s community-driven approach, including its active Slack community of 150+ members and OpenMSP, the community platform launched in July 2025, has accelerated rapid adoption of its technology.

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