cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10061950

Security researchers from the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) have exposed critical vulnerabilities in Hoymiles solar inverters that allow attackers to remotely control, manipulate, or destroy hundreds of thousands of solar installations across Europe. The Chinese manufacturer holds roughly 20 percent of the European microinverter market, making the security flaw a widespread threat to balcony power plants and small rooftop solar systems.

…

During experimental tests, a modified handheld scanner located two dozen foreign inverters and their identification numbers within 20 minutes. In Augsburg, Hunz identified 42 hackable systems within just one hour. The radio signals can travel several hundred meters, making it feasible to mount attack equipment on drones for systematic scanning of residential areas.

Once attackers have the serial numbers, they can switch inverters on or off, alter power limits, and inject malware through an unprotected firmware update command. Tampering with sensitive network parameters or erasing bootloader memory could lead to fires, electrical accidents, or device destruction requiring physical repair.

…

The CCC informed Hoymiles [which is headquartered in China] about the vulnerability in February but received no initial response. Only after the German Federal Office for Information Security contacted the Chinese authority CNCERT did Hoymiles react at the end of June. The company announced a security update for mid-October.

…

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10041431

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced on Saturday a major research partnership with a prominent European nanoelectronics research institute. The collaboration will focus on developing advanced 3D integrated circuit (IC) packaging technologies to meet the demands of next-generation high-performance computing and artificial intelligence chips.

The joint research program will utilize the European institute’s specialized cleanroom facilities and TSMC’s state-of-the-art silicon fabrication expertise. By stacking semiconductor layers vertically, 3D packaging technology allows for significantly faster data transmission speeds, reduced power consumption, and increased transistor density compared to traditional flat, 2D chip layouts.

This partnership comes as major semiconductor manufacturers race to overcome the physical limitations of traditional silicon scaling. Advanced packaging has emerged as a critical technological frontier, with major tech firms investing heavily in proprietary architectures to support complex, multi-layered chip designs required for hyperscale data centers.

…

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10041321

Infineon Technologies has opened its Smart Power Fab in Dresden, Germany, months ahead of schedule, bringing the world’s largest manufacturing facility for intelligent power semiconductors and analog/mixed-signal technologies into operation.

The facility represents a €5 billion (about $5.7 billion) investment, the largest in the company’s history. It creates 1,000 direct jobs and doubles Infineon’s manufacturing capacity in Dresden.

The factory will produce chips that improve how electricity is converted and managed. Those devices will support AI data centers. They will also help power electricity grids and software-defined vehicles.

…

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/7315022

In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a Spanish court has labeled VPN services as “technological intermediaries,” ordering them to actively block IP addresses that host illegal LaLiga matches. The “dynamic” injunction compels NordVPN and ProtonVPN to intervene, similar to local ISPs. But with both companies operating outside EU jurisdiction with privacy-centric business models, it remains unclear if and how the order will actually be enforced.

Archive

Archived link

China-linked hackers have been using misconfigured Cisco security products to deploy backdoors on target networks for at least the past several weeks.

The hacker group, which Cisco tracks as UAT-9686, has been taking advantage of an insecure setting in Cisco’s AsyncOS software, which powers the company’s email and web security devices and virtual platforms, Cisco said in a … security advisory.

…