Microsoft Introduces AI-Powered Cybersecurity Assistant

In this July 3, 2014, file photo, the Microsoft Corp. logo is displayed outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. (AP)
In this July 3, 2014, file photo, the Microsoft Corp. logo is displayed outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. (AP)
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Microsoft Introduces AI-Powered Cybersecurity Assistant

In this July 3, 2014, file photo, the Microsoft Corp. logo is displayed outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. (AP)
In this July 3, 2014, file photo, the Microsoft Corp. logo is displayed outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. (AP)

Microsoft Corp on Tuesday launched a tool to help cybersecurity professionals identify breaches, threat signals and better analyze data, using OpenAI's latest GPT-4 generative artificial intelligence model.

The tool, named “Security Copilot”, is a simple prompt box that will help security analysts with tasks like summarizing incidents, analyzing vulnerabilities and sharing information with co-workers on a pinboard.

The assistant will use Microsoft's security-specific model, which the company described as “a growing set of security-specific skills” that is fed with more than 65 trillion signals every day.

The launch comes amid a flurry of announcements from Microsoft to integrate the AI into its most popular offerings.

The company has sought to outpace peers through multi-billion dollar investments in ChatGPT owner OpenAI, which recently released GPT-4 to perform a range of tasks from creating a real website through a hand-drawn mock up to helping individuals calculate their taxes.



Apple and Google Face UK Investigation into Mobile Browser Dominance

The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Apple and Google Face UK Investigation into Mobile Browser Dominance

The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new UK digital rules taking effect next year.

The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said, The AP reported.

“This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices,” the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on “mobile ecosystems.”

The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers “the clearest or easiest option.”

And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two US Big Tech companies “significantly reduces their financial incentives” to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.

Both companies said they will “engage constructively” with the CMA.

Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.

Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system “has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's “committed to open platforms that empower consumers.”

It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the dominance of Big Tech companies. US federal prosecutors this week unveiled their proposals to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser as they target its monopoly in online search.

The CMA's final report is due by March. The watchdog indicated it would recommend using the UK's new digital competition rulebook set to take effect next year, which includes new powers to rein in tech companies, to prioritize further investigation into Apple’s and Google’s “activities in mobile ecosystems."