Huawei isn’t waiting around for the AI chip race to slow down. At a company event in Shanghai on Thursday, rotating chairman David Wang confirmed that two new AI chips are on the way in 2027, the 960DT and the Ascend 960PR, as the company keeps expanding its AI computing business to go after Nvidia, as Reuters reported. The 960DT is expected in the first quarter of 2027, followed by the Ascend 960PR in the third quarter.

Why does connecting chips matter so much?

Here’s the thing about AI workloads: even the most powerful single chip usually can’t handle the biggest AI programs on its own. That’s why Huawei is leaning so heavily on its UnifiedBus technology, which strings together huge numbers of AI chips so they can operate as a single, much larger computing system.

Wang said Huawei has already built 11 semiconductors around UnifiedBus, and the company’s largest connected setups, known as superclusters, can reportedly handle up to a million AI processors working together. On a smaller scale, Huawei says it has already delivered over 1,000 of these linked systems, called supernodes, to more than 370 customers worldwide. Wang stopped short of saying how many chips a single supernode can hold, who any of the customers are, or how the shipment numbers break down.

Can Huawei actually catch up to Nvidia?

US export controls have limited China’s access to the most advanced chips and manufacturing equipment, and that’s actually worked out well for Huawei, pushing it to the front of China’s domestic AI chip supply. Still, Nvidia remains the one to beat, with its chips and software used by developers everywhere.

Hardware alone won’t close that gap, though. Huawei also needs developers actually building on its chips, and Wang shared that its AI chip ecosystem currently counts 5,270 monthly active developers. That number will need to keep climbing if Huawei wants to be seen as a real Nvidia alternative and not just a backup option.

Either way, the US and China’s chip rivalry shows no signs of slowing down, and Huawei just made it clear it intends to be a major part of it straight through 2027.

Big Tech does not decide rules, Ursula von der Leyen says, announcing plans to restrict social media usage for minors.

In her State of the Union speech today (16 September), European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU Kids Act, a legislative proposal that intends to ban social media for children under 13.

The law takes a tiered approach to social media and video sharing platforms for minors in the bloc, proposing fully guardian-controlled accounts for children between 13 and 15, and a mandatory safe design for all accounts for under-18s.

“What we are witnessing is a great capture of our children. A capture of their attention, their focus, their minds. This is depriving children of their childhood,” von der Leyen said.

Child safety on social media has taken centre stage in recent years as parents and lawmakers grapple with the reality of an increasingly dangerous online landscape, worsened by the proliferation of technology and services such as generative AI and online prediction markets.

Governments across the world are banning popular platforms for younger minors in a bid to shield underage users from their provable harms.

Australia became the first one to ban social media for under-16s last December, though a recent study showed that eight in 10 Australian teens and preteens continued to use social media despite the complete prohibition by their government.

Meanwhile, Brazil rolled out a new law that mandates parentally-controlled accounts for under-16s, and several more countries, including Greece, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia and Canada, are debating their own restrictions.

Last month, France’s top court blocked a proposed bill that would have banned social media for under-15s, arguing that the legislation was too broad and could infringe upon young people’s freedom of expression.

With the EU Kids Act, the Commission also wants to standardise access to social media across the bloc as part of a major government overhaul aimed at cutting red tape. If the act is passed, France’s under-15s, for example, would still be able to use these platforms.

Limiting access to social media, meanwhile, is only a part of the problem. “Children are pulled ever deeper into feeds designed to keep them scrolling,” von der Leyen said, calling algorithms the “great capture of our children”.

She added: “We do not have to accept addictive features. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls have their photos used for AI-generated sexualised images.”

Earlier this year, the bloc greenlit a provisional deal to ban AI systems that generate non-consensual sexually explicit and intimate content or child sexual abuse material.

“Platforms will have to prove that they are safe. Because it is not about our minors accessing social media. It is about when and how do we allow social media to access minors,” von der Leyen continued.

The bloc is also introducing a new Digital Fairness Act this autumn that will aim to tackle addictive features on platforms.

“I am aware that many perceive the power of Big Tech as overwhelming and impossible to roll back. I disagree,” the president said. “Europe has the power to act. It is we who decide our rules, not Big Tech.”

US president Donald Trump, an avid critic of the EU’s strict rules, reportedly considered imposing sanctions on the EU for using its Digital Services Act against US technology heavyweights.

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If you’re a fan of Amazon’s ecosystem, whether that’s asking your Alexa speaker to tell you about the weather or compulsively checking the video feed from your Ring doorbell, then it makes sense to expand and build onto the system. It’s always easier to keep to one ecosystem as much as you can with smart home gear, letting you stick to a single app and single subscription if you decide to invest in one.

While we’ve liked Ring’s cameras and home security products fine enough, they’re hard to recommend at the top of our guides since Ring is reintroducing a policy to enable local law enforcement to request footage directly from Ring users. It’s up to you if that’s something you want to invest in, and if you already have Ring products, it might make the most sense to continue adding onto that ecosystem than diving into a new one.

No matter the reason, if you’re looking to add a Ring product to your home, don’t get one without using our Ring coupon codes to get it for a better price.

Ring Promo Code: 50% Off Ring Cameras, Doorbells, and Outdoor Cameras

Ring is running a deal all month long with up to 50% off different products and bundles. You can get all kinds of Ring cameras and security accessories for a variety of discounts, from Ring’s video doorbell to indoor and outdoor cameras.

The Outdoor Smart Home Gear I’ll Always Recommend

These locks, lights, and other smart home upgrades let you add automation without messing up your home’s vibe.

Save $150 on Wired Doorbell Pro and Floodlight Cam

If you’re looking for an outdoor combination, you can get both Ring’s Starter Pro Kit, which includes the Wired Doorbell Pro and Floodlight Cam, for $150 off the set. It’s a great option if you want to get a camera feed both at your doorstep and over your garage.

Ring

Spotlight Cam Pro Battery

Bundle and Save on Ring Whole Home Basic Kit

Looking to deck out your whole home? Ring’s Whole Home Basic Kit is also discounted for $59 off. It includes Ring’s Outdoor Cam Plus Battery, Battery Doorbell, and the Alarm Security Kit, so you can get everything from video surveillance around the outside of your home and sensors to pair with the alarm system for inside of it.

Ring has a variety of subscription plans, which you’ll want since there’s no option to locally store your video footage. That means in order to play any video back to see what set off the camera or who was at the door, you’ll need one of these plans. Here’s a quick breakdown. Basic Ring Plan: Get the basics with video event playback and smart notifications for one camera. $5 per month or $50 per year. Standard Plan: All the core Ring experience with enhanced features for all your devices. $10 per month, or $100 per year. Premium Plan: Ring home the best of the best with our most advanced AI and recording features. $20 per month or $200 per year.

Ring Coupons: $29 Off Pet Basic Kit + Pet Tag

Ring has a pet package you can get for a discount, too. You’ll get both Ring’s Indoor Cam and the Pet Tag, which has a QR code that lets anyone who finds your pet scan it and get your information to contact you. It’s 50% off right now, so if you’re looking for new tags and a camera to keep an eye on your favorite furry companion, this is your moment.

Get $40 Off the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus Battery + Battery Doorbell

If you’ve been looking to upgrade your home security system, now’s a great time to invest in the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus Battery + Battery Doorbell for $30 off (now $160). This discounted Ring bundle includes the Outdoor Cam, plus Battery, Battery Doorbell, and a free 30-day trial of Ring Protect2. With this enhanced Ring bundle, you’ll be able to see all around your home as well as welcome your guests without needing to get up from the couch.

There’s a reason these motion-activated, 1080p HD cameras have become ubiquitous: they’re super simple to setup and use. Just charge the battery, stick it by your door, and keep tabs on your place from wherever you are, day and night, through motion history or a live feed you can watch on an app. Two-way communication lets you chat with visitors or scare away porch pirates, while an optional subscription to Ring’s Protect Plan will let you share videos with your community. 

Secure Your Business With Ring

Having a security camera to protect your business is important. That’s where Ring Business Security Systems come into play. These security and alarm systems are tailored for your business needs, with options like Business Starter Kits, with curated options to fit your needs, and Inventory and Equipment Protection so you can keep an eye on all of your important merchandise and supplies, day or night. Plus, if you want to create your own solution specifically for your business’s needs, you can build your own custom system.

A banking malware operation active since mid-2025 has been using a toolkit named KREMLIN to install malicious Chrome and Edge extensions that steal credentials, session tokens, and sensitive data.

Researchers at Elastic Security Labs found that the malicious extensions bypass Chromium’s integrity mechanisms and load in browsers as if they had been approved by the user.

The infection chain starts after the target user opens a JavaScript file disguised as a bank receipt, invoice, payment record, or business document.

After passing anti-sandbox checks, the file triggers a fake error while simultaneously downloading Node.js, establishing persistence through a scheduled task, and retrieving the additional payload location from an Ethereum smart contract.

Despite the name, KREMLIN is linked to a Brazilian operation responsible for at least seven campaigns since May 2025 that use lures impersonating 12 banks.

Installing Chrome and Edge add-ons

A standout feature of KREMLIN is its capability to install extensions on Chrome and Edge browsers without asking the user to approve them.

It waits for the browser to close or terminates it when it detects idle status, and then copies the extension into the app’s profile directories. Next, it enables developer mode and adds the extension to Chromium’s Secure Preferences.

To hide its activity, the malware uses the encryption keys the browser uses to protect sensitive data and then recreates the integrity checks Chrome uses to detect changes in browser preferences.

This makes the malicious extension appear valid to the browser despite never being approved by the user, a documented but rarely used technique according to the researchers.

“KREMLIN uses a documented technique rarely observed in malware: it manually copies the extension into the browser’s profile directories and registers it in the Secure Preferences file,” Elastic explains.

“Because Chromium protects these entries with cryptographic integrity checks, the malware must retrieve the required keys and regenerate the associated HMACs and encrypted hashes.”

Once installed, the extension masquerades as AVSync and performs the following actions:

• Steals cookies, local storage, and session storage
• Keylogs text entered into forms, including passwords
• Captures screenshots and page source
• Enumerates open tabs and browsing history
• Intercepts HTTP request bodies and headers
• Injects attacker-controlled HTML into websites
• Redirects clicks to attacker-selected destinations
• Receives commands through a WebSocket connection

Apart from the malicious extension, the KREMLIN toolkit also acts as an info-stealer that can archive and exfiltrate browser databases, cookies, installed extensions, and the App-Bound cryptographic keys needed to decrypt protected data.

Disrupting the operation

Elastic Security Labs researchers found that KREMLIN malware campaigns use Ethereum smart contracts as dead-drop resolvers and also abuse the Internet Archive service to host payloads hidden inside JPEG images.

In more recent campaigns, the threat actor deployed the REMCOS remote access tool, but past operations pushed the Pulsar RAT. According to the researchers, the switch was likely due to REMCOS being more feature rich.

By connecting the dots through infrastructure analysis and code artifacts, the researchers found the Ethereum wallet that deployed and updated the smart contracts

According to the researchers, the wallet handled roughly 20,800 USDT (Tether) and 19,000 USDT in incoming and outgoing transfers, respectively. Elastic has confirmed 1,515 infected systems, almost all located in Brazil.

The security firm disrupted the current KREMLIN campaign by registering a domain that the malware used as an anti-sandbox canary, causing the loader to stop due to false flags on systems that would otherwise qualify for infection.

Elastic Security Labs researchers shared the tactics and techniques used in KREMLIN attacks, as well as a set of indicators of compromise.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

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Apple is developing an enterprise server built on its own M8 Ultra chips and has discussed using Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion to connect them, aiming at AI developers, companies and governments from around 2029, The Information reported. The European Commission proposed its Cloud and AI Development Act in June, grading public cloud contracts by how far a provider sits outside third-country control.

Apple is working on an enterprise server built on its own chips and has discussed using Nvidia’s networking equipment, The Information reported. It would sell the machine to AI developers, companies and governments.

Two versions are described, one carrying two of Apple’s forthcoming M8 Ultra chips and a larger one carrying four. Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion would connect them, the interconnect it already licenses to Qualcomm, Arm, Fujitsu, Marvell and others.

Nothing would reach the market before 2029. The effort could be cancelled, or proceed without Nvidia’s technology at all. Shares in both companies barely moved on the report.

Apple already builds servers, for itself. Private Cloud Compute ran only on Apple silicon until June, when the company extended it to Google Cloud running on Nvidia GPUs and Intel processors.

It has not sold one since 2011, when the Xserve was discontinued after a run of nearly nine years.

Governments is the interesting word.

The Commission’s June proposal for a Cloud and AI Development Act would grade public contracts by tiers of sovereignty assurance. The highest tier, meant for defence and national security, requires a European cybersecurity certificate and effective control over every software component. No third country may control a provider’s design, development or maintenance.

Europe has already shown what it accepts in practice, and it is less absolute than that sounds.

A six-year, EUR 180M sovereign cloud framework went to four groups in April. One was a Proximus-led consortium including a Thales and Google venture, alongside Mistral AI. American infrastructure qualified.

Non-European technologies, operated within a strict and appropriate framework, can meet the minimum level of sovereignty required, the Commission said at the time. Bidders were judged against eight objectives, from legal exposure to supply chain transparency.

The distinction is between sovereign operation and sovereign technology. A machine a government owns and runs in its own building is an easier argument to make than a service somebody else runs.

The Act covers cloud services rather than hardware, so a server sale would sit outside it altogether. The procurement instinct behind it would not, and buyers write their own conditions.

Europe is short of the thing no regulation conjures. You cannot regulate your way to sovereignty, as Dan Toma argued here last month, when the silicon is American either way.

GIGABYTE has added two new models, the EAGLE 360 and the EAGLE 360 ICE AIO Liquid Coolers, to its family of PC coolers. These models feature a 360mm radiator and are designed for gaming and intensive creation work. They were designed to work with GIGABYTE EAGLE motherboards and GPUs. The EAGLE 360 is black, while the EAGLE 360 ICE is white. Both models also focus on easy installation and a clean-looking PC build.

Cooling Performance and Key Features

The GIGABYTE EAGLE 360 series uses a 3,200 RPM pump to handle CPU heat during heavy workloads. The pump is paired with three air-intensive PWM fans and a 360mm radiator, helping keep modern Intel and AMD CPUs consistently cool. In addition, the cooling solution simplifies PC assembly for the manufacturer. GIGABYTE pre-installs the fans on the radiator. Simplified cabling helps keep the inside of the PC cleaner.

The coolers also use simplified cabling to reduce clutter inside the PC. A single mounting bracket supports both Intel and AMD platforms. This means builders do not need separate mounting hardware for different supported sockets.

Design, RGB, and Availability

The EAGLE 360 series also focuses on design and customization. The pump features a magnetic EAGLE Accent Cover that users can easily remove and rotate. This lets users align the EAGLE logo with their PC build’s orientation. The pump and fans also feature subtle RGB lighting for added customization.

Users can adjust the lighting to their preference and sync it with other compatible devices. The black EAGLE 360 suits any standard PC build, while the EAGLE 360 ICE offers a white variant and is best for a white-themed PC build. Both models will be available through GIGABYTE’s authorized retailers. GIGABYTE has not yet announced pricing details for the new coolers.

Microsoft is investigating reports that the Windows 11 KB5124008 security update is breaking domain trust relationships on some enterprise systems, preventing users from logging in with valid domain credentials.

Administrators report on Reddit and Microsoft’s Q&A forums that affected computers lose their secure channel with Active Directory after the Windows 11 update is installed and devices reboot.

Last week, Microsoft confirmed to BleepingComputer that it is aware of the reports and is investigating.

“Microsoft is aware of these reports and is investigating. We will share guidance as it becomes available,” Microsoft told BleepingComputer.

While Microsoft has not confirmed the root cause, reports indicate that the failures are linked to the Windows Machine Identity Isolation security feature, especially when it is enabled in audit or enforcement mode.

Domain trust breaks after installing KB5124008

In Windows Active Directory, domain-joined computers use machine account credentials to maintain a secure channel with domain controllers.

If those locally stored credentials no longer match what Active Directory expects, the secure channel can fail. This can cause users to receive domain trust errors or be told their username or password is incorrect even though their credentials are valid.

Alex Turner, a Windows administrator who reported the issue on Microsoft’s Q&A forums, said Windows 11 25H2 workstations worked normally before KB5124008 was installed. However, after installing the update, the devices started having domain login failures after a reboot.

Cached credentials continued to work while the systems were offline, indicating the problem was tied to domain authentication rather than the users’ passwords.

The administrator said testing showed the computer’s secure channel with Active Directory had broken and that the issue could be reproduced consistently. Uninstalling KB5124008 and repairing the domain relationship restored access, while reinstalling the update caused the failure to return.

Another administrator on Reddit reported that 11 Windows 11 25H2 Enterprise devices out of approximately 256 devices lost domain trust after being updated.

The administrator also found numerous Kerberos authentication failures followed by NTLM and Netlogon fallbacks on affected systems.

Another administrator said every Windows 11 25H2 workstation on their network began rejecting valid domain credentials after installing the updates.

Turner later linked the failures to a Windows security setting called “Machine Identity Isolation,” which he said was set to ‘2’, or enforcement mode, after KB5124008 was installed.

Another administrator investigating the issue reported seeing the same behavior, saying ‘MachineIdentityIsolation’ was set to ‘2’ after the update and that disabling the feature stopped Windows from discarding the machine account LSA secret without requiring KB5124008 to be removed.

The feature is part of Windows’ Virtualization-Based Security and Credential Guard configuration and isolates machine account credentials used by domain-joined computers to authenticate with Active Directory.

In enforcement mode, Windows moves the machine account secret into Credential Guard and removes the copy stored in LSA.

The setting can be controlled through the following registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"MachineIdentityIsolation"

Some administrators have restored affected systems by setting ‘MachineIdentityIsolation’ to ‘0’, rebooting, and then repairing the machine’s secure channel using PowerShell.

One administrator said the following PowerShell command, run as administrator, restored the secure channel after disabling the feature:

Test-ComputerSecureChannel -Repair -Credential(Get-Credential)

“After a reboot, I had to restore the secure channel by ‘Test-ComputerSecureChannel -Repair -Credential(Get-Credential)’. Since then, the computer is running without loosing the secure channel anymore,” explained Marcel Zehnder.

However, administrators should be careful about disabling Machine Identity Isolation as it could also cause similar problems.

Another administrator warned that changing the setting from audit or enforcement mode to disabled caused domain trust failures across their environment, including on systems that had never installed KB5124008.

Microsoft’s documentation also warns that if Machine Identity Isolation was previously enabled in enforcement mode, disabling it will break domain authentication and require the device to be unjoined and rejoined to the domain.

Microsoft has not yet confirmed that Machine Identity Isolation is the root cause of the KB5124008 failures and has not published an official workaround.

BleepingComputer will update the story when Microsoft provides additional information about its investigation.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

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