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Satellite race, cyber attacks, and AI hardware shifts

SpaceX wins UK deal as Eutelsat expands, while drones hit Russian logistics and Huawei unveils new chip.

The TechMap Live reporter · · 2 min read · from 10 reports

Abstract satellite constellation mesh over glowing network nodes
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Right, so three big strands today. In space, the UK has gone with SpaceX Starlink for its satellite internet, and Eutelsat is bulking up its own constellation to fight back. Meanwhile an Australian outfit called LatConnect 60 just signed deals in Bengaluru to expand in India. On the cyber side, Ukrainian drones took out an Ozon logistics hub in Saratov, Fortinet pushed emergency patches for two critical bugs that let attackers bypass authentication, and a ransomware gang named Everest says it walked off with 236 gigabytes of source code and firmware from a Delta Electronics subsidiary in Taipei. Then there's AI and hardware. Anthropic put out a report naming seven Chinese labs — Alibaba Qwen, Moonshot, DeepSeek and four others — accusing them of distilling Claude illegally. Google dropped a free Gemini desktop app for Windows with shortcuts and video generation. And Huawei launched the Mate XT 2 in Shenzhen, its first phone running on a brand new chip architecture. That's the lay of the land.

Satellite internet competition intensifies

The UK government picked SpaceX Starlink for satellite internet connectivity, and Eutelsat responded by adding more satellites to its constellation to compete directly.

Australian firm LatConnect 60 strengthened its India presence with agreements at the Bengaluru Space Expo, showing broader market movement beyond the big two players.

Cyber strikes and critical patches

Ukrainian drones damaged an Ozon logistics center in Saratov, halting deliveries at the Russian marketplace's hub.

Fortinet released patches for ten vulnerabilities including two critical flaws in FortiMonitorOnSight and FortiPAM that allow authentication bypass.

Ransomware group Everest claims it stole 236 gigabytes of firmware, source code and engineering documents from Vivotek, a Delta Electronics subsidiary in Taipei.

AI models and novel chip architectures

Anthropic published a threat report accusing seven Chinese AI labs including Alibaba Qwen, Moonshot, DeepSeek and others of illegally distilling Claude models.

Google launched a free Gemini desktop app for Windows with keyboard shortcuts and image and video generation built in.

Huawei introduced the Mate XT 2 smartphone in Shenzhen, its first device powered by a processor with a novel architecture.

Questions people ask

Why did the UK choose Starlink over other providers?

The UK government selected SpaceX Starlink for satellite internet connectivity, though the specific reasons were not detailed in the announcement.

What data did the Everest ransomware group take from Vivotek?

The group claims to have exfiltrated 236 gigabytes of firmware, source code and engineering documents from the Delta Electronics subsidiary.

What makes Huawei's new Mate XT 2 processor different?

The Mate XT 2 is Huawei's first commercial product using a processor with a novel architecture, launched in Shenzhen.

The events in this briefing

Every event summarised above, in the order it was reported. Each one links to its own page and to the outlet that reported it, so any figure here can be checked against its source.

  1. LatConnect 60 Expands India Market Presence for SWIRSAT · SpaceNews
  2. Ukrainian drones strike Ozon logistics center in Saratov · dev.ua
  3. Huawei launches Mate XT 2 smartphone with novel chip architecture · SCMP Tech
  4. Fortinet patches critical FortiMonitorOnSight and FortiPAM vulnerabilities · iThome Taiwan
  5. UK government selects SpaceX Starlink for satellite internet services · heise online
  6. Eutelsat expands satellite constellation to compete with Starlink · heise online
  7. Anthropic releases AI misuse threat report naming seven Chinese labs for distillation · iThome Taiwan
  8. TaskExplorer 2.0.0 released with native Linux support and remote monitoring · Habr News
  9. Google launches Gemini desktop app for Windows · heise online
  10. Ransomware group Everest claims breach of Vivotek, steals 236 GB of data · iThome Taiwan

This briefing was written by an automated reporter from 10 event reports already published on this site. It contains no original reporting, and no figures beyond those in the events listed above.

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