Google DeepMind has discovered a way to create AI algorithms that run faster than those coded by humans, which could lead to more cost-effective software development and computing that is more efficient and sustainable, according to the Alphabet company. The breakthrough, detailed in the journal Nature, is called AlphaDev. It uses a form of machine learning called reinforcement that allows computers to build on their successes, honing strategies independent of human programmers. In this case, faster algorithms were developed for computer-science functions like sorting and hashing. Continue reading Google DeepMind’s AlphaDev Can Create Faster Algorithms

To combat data breaches, Google has created a Chrome extension to provide a “password checkup” that compares users’ passwords with a database of four billion unique usernames and passwords that have been compromised. The extension works in the background, only showing a warning if it finds a match. That’s all it does: it is not a password manager that determines how weak or strong passwords are. Google accounts, often the key to a user’s email address, are breached mainly because people reuse passwords on multiple sites. Continue reading Google Chrome Extension Alerts Users to Password Issues

Security researcher Troy Hunt, who offers a way to search if your email addresses or passwords have been breached, maintains Collection #1, the largest breach ever, which holds 772,904,991 unique emails and 21 million unique passwords, all of which have been recently posted to a hacking forum. Those numbers represent a “cleaned-up” version of the raw data, which comprise 2.7 billion rows of email addresses and passwords, including over one billion unique combinations of hacked emails and passwords. Continue reading Have You Been Hacked? Very Likely In Light of Mega-Breach