Catch up on this month’s round-up of the latest hosting and tech news. Here’s what we’ve uncovered since our last edition.
Password Manager Attacks
New research shows that cybercriminals are intensifying their attacks on password managers, with a significant rise seen in malware being used to steal saved login credentials. The Picus Security Red Report 2025 indicates that in 2024, a quarter of all analysed malware was specifically targeted at password storage, marking a 300% increase from the previous year.
These results highlight a change of strategy by attackers, with credential theft from password managers now ranking among the top 10 techniques in the MITRE ATT&CK Framework for the first time. Indeed, there were 11.3 million exfiltration and stealth attacks detected in 2024.
Attacks on password managers use sophisticated methods to obtain credentials, including registry harvesting, memory scraping and the compromise of local and cloud-based password stores. They also use covert exfiltration methods, including encrypted communications and living-off-the-land techniques, where legitimate tools within a company’s own system are used to sustain an attack. This allows them to disguise malicious activity as legitimate traffic. At the same time, tactics like process injection and application layer protocols are used to allow attackers to steal data without triggering an alert.
Picus highlighted the critical need to protect digital vaults from increasingly advanced threats, emphasising that password managers should be used in tandem with multi-factor authentication, and that employees must never reuse a password, especially for their password manager.
£10bn Data Centre
Northumberland County Council has given the green light to a £10 billion project to establish one of the largest AI and cloud computing data centres in the UK, located on the former Britishvolt gigafactory site in Cambois. Supported by investment firm Blackstone, the project will cover 133 acres and feature 10 buildings, potentially generating over 1,600 jobs and thousands more in the surrounding area.
The site, purchased for £110 million, was initially designated for battery manufacturing before Britishvolt went out of business in 2023. Blackstone’s data division, QTS, anticipates that construction will start next year, transforming the area into a significant technology hub.
AI Policy School
The University of Cambridge is set to open the Bennett School of Public Policy later this year, the first major new department at the university this century. The innovative school will focus on exploring how artificial intelligence can contribute to economic growth. Researchers at the school will examine various applications of AI in both the public and private sectors, with the intention of understanding its potential impact on different areas of society.
Crucially, the University of Cambridge’s knowledge and expertise will be used to address urgent policy challenges that are currently facing the world, particularly those around the use of AI. This will see the school focus on cross-functional methods and promote collaboration across different fields. Projects will conduct research on how to apply AI technologies, develop regional strategies and update policymaking processes in the UK. This broad approach is designed to ensure the school becomes a leader in public policy research.
Quantum Speed Record
Chinese scientists have unveiled a prototype for a superconducting quantum computer, stating that it operates at a speed 1,000 trillion times faster than El Capitan, the world’s fastest traditional supercomputer, located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Developed by the University of Science and Technology of China, the Zuchongzhi-3 processor is not only faster than El Capitan; it also reportedly outperforms Google’s latest quantum experiment by a factor of one million when it comes to a specific target known as random circuit sampling.
This breakthrough marks a significant step forward in the race for quantum supremacy. Despite El Capitan being able to achieve 1.742 quintillion calculations per second, the Chinese researchers claim that it would need billions of years to complete the same task that their quantum computer can accomplish in seconds.
National Grid AI
National Grid Partners, the global venture investment and innovation arm of the UK’s National Grid plc, has pledged £77m to back startups in artificial intelligence which focus on improving the efficiency, resilience and adaptability of electricity networks.
With rising demand from data centres, electric vehicles and low-carbon heating, the grid is under increasing strain. AI is already being deployed by the grid to develop different operations and is expected to play a key role in creating a smarter and more energy-secure future.
National Grid Partners’ announcement comes as the latest forecasts indicate that global data centre energy consumption could double by 2026. The International Energy Agency has warned that electricity usage by the industry could exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours next year, equivalent to Japan’s total energy consumption.
The first investment from the program has gone to Amperon, a Texas-based company that uses AI-powered analytics and forecasting tools to boost grid stability, improve the integration of renewable energy and manage financial risks.
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