Technology

Traditional security testing often provides only a static snapshot of an organization's defenses, relying primarily on hypothetical scenarios and vulnerability scanners to identify potential weaknesses. While these methods offer some value, they often fall short in simulating the dynamic and evolving tactics employed by real-world adversaries.

Threat emulation, on the other hand, takes a realistic approach to assessing an organization's security posture. This advanced testing methodology goes beyond identifying vulnerabilities to evaluate the effectiveness of an organization's overall defense strategy. By emulating attacker behaviors, security teams can prioritize mitigation efforts, optimize resource allocation, and make more informed decisions about cybersecurity investments. In essence, threat emulation empowers organizations to close the gap between their current security posture and the level of protection required to thwart modern cyberattacks.

Achieving a threat-informed defense

Threat emulation is a core component of threat-informed defense, a proactive cybersecurity strategy focused on helping security teams prepare for the threats that matter most, and on developing granular visibility into their security program's effectiveness. Unlike static vulnerability scans, threat emulation actively mimics attacker behaviors to expose vulnerabilities and potential exploitation paths. This provides a comprehensive view of an organization's security posture, akin to a cybersecurity audit focused on attacker tactics.

By emulating real-world attacker techniques, including those employed by prolific ransomware groups like LockBit and BlackCat, organizations gain critical knowledge to prioritize defenses, optimize resource allocation, and make informed security decisions. This proactive approach empowers organizations to anticipate and counter evolving threats.

Threat emulation also facilitates a continuous learning cycle. By regularly testing the organization’s defenses against simulated attacks, security teams can identify gaps, refine their response capabilities, and stay ahead of emerging threats. This iterative process ensures that the organization's defense mechanisms remain aligned with the evolving threat landscape.

Threat emulation can be enhanced through the use of attack graphs. These visual representations of potential attack paths provide a structured approach to understanding and emulating complex attack scenarios. By incorporating attack graphs into threat emulation programs, organizations can gain deeper insights into adversary tactics, identify critical dependencies, and prioritize mitigation efforts more effectively.

Bridging the gap

Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their methods, making it imperative for organizations to stay ahead of the curve. Threat emulation helps bridge the gap between reactive incident response and proactive threat prevention. By regularly testing defenses against emulated attacks, organizations can identify weaknesses, refine their security controls, and reduce the likelihood of a successful breach.

Moreover, threat emulation offers a tangible return on investment (ROI) for security initiatives. By quantifying the effectiveness of security controls against real-world threats, organizations can make data-driven decisions about resource allocation and investment priorities. This ability to demonstrate the value of security controls in concrete terms is particularly valuable when communicating with non-technical stakeholders, such as executives and board members.

Threat emulation is not a standalone solution but an integral component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. By simulating real-world attacks and providing actionable intelligence, it empowers security teams to make informed decisions, prioritize mitigation efforts, and ultimately reduce the risk of a successful cyberattack. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, threat emulation will become increasingly critical for organizations of all sizes and industries. By embracing threat emulation, organizations can take a significant step toward building a more resilient and secure environment.

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Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,234 for Nov. 4.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 512 for Nov. 4.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections: Sports Edition No. 42 for Nov. 4.

Here are some hints, and the answers, for the Nov. 4 Strands puzzle, No. 246.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 4.

Amazon's first ever color ereader has only just gone on sale and users who've received their early orders are already unhappy, with some returning the Kindle Colorsoft or exchanging it for a new one.

As first reported by The Verge, a strip of yellow is marring the bottom of the Kindle Colorsoft display for some users, leading to a rather dismal 2.6 star rating (at the time of writing) on the Amazon listing page in the US.

In fact, the discoloration isn't uniform for all users. As per the Reddit thread on this problem, some users are also seeing the discoloration along a vertical edge as well as along the bottom. Others aren't too bothered by the yellowing, but they have returned their device due to "a corner speckled with dead pixels".

Colorsoft has yellow tinge to bottom of display from r/kindle

Not everyone seems to be miffed by their purchase however – other Kindle Colorsoft customers seem really happy with their new ereader and the user reviews on Amazon are mixed.

kindle from r/kindle/comments/1ggrajr/my_color_soft_arrived_what_is_everyone_talking

It's as yet unclear whether the discoloration is due to a software or hardware problem but, as per a post on the original Reddit thread, Amazon says it's aware of the problem and is working on a fix. That could indicate it's just a software glitch, but if the lighting on the screen isn't even, it's likely more due to faulty hardware and a firmware update may not help.

We haven't yet received a review sample of the Kindle Colorsoft here at TechRadar, so we haven't experienced this for ourselves, and the short time we spent with the device at its media launch in October showed no such problem.

The Verge, however, says the "discoloration is more obvious in pictures than in real life" and their reviewer wouldn't have picked up on the problem if users weren't complaining about it as much.

A part of me is now a little glad that I won't get to see the Kindle Colorsoft in person until 2025 as that's when it releases in Australia (where I am based). By then Amazon would have fixed the issue and I'll probably receive what could actually end up being the best Kindle ereader ever made (we'll see). For the early adopters, though, it's a real shame that a popular device that costs around $300 is shipping with a flaw.

You might also like...

• Find better options in our guide for the best ereaders money can buy
• Check out our first impressions of the new Kindle Paperwhite (2024) and the new Kindle (2024)
• The Kindle Colorsoft is too late to the party – I'm firmly in camp Kobo now

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1015) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 2*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1015) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1015) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1015) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1015) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• C

• T

• G

• P

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1015) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1015, are…

• CHILL
• TACKY
• GRAPH
• PLAZA

It's not often that you get a Quordle with only two different vowels, but that's what we have today: TACKY and GRAPH contain only one A, PLAZA has two of them, and CHILL has one I. Given that vowels are generally much easier to find, that's one factor that might complicate today's game, while the two repeated letters, and the presence of Z, are others.

None of the words are particularly obscure, though, so I'd say this is of moderate difficulty rather than being super-hard. Then again, everyone's experience with Quordle will be slightly different depending on which words you play early on, and on your strategy, so it's often hard for me to judge how tough a game is for others. I didn't find it too bad at all, as it happens – though I did need some guesswork to complete the set.

The Daily Sequence, meanwhile, was objectively difficult due to the final word being GOLLY, a word that is part of the -OLLY trap. This has at least possible solutions – POLLY, LOLLY, JOLLY, HOLLY, GOLLY, FOLLY and DOLLY and requires more care to solve than I gave it today.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #1015) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1015, are…

• STOOP
• BUYER
• PINKY
• GOLLY

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1014, Sunday 3 November: QUIRK, HEART, ELBOW, KNOWN
• Quordle #1013, Saturday 2 November: SWUNG, FLOOR, PARER, CRUST
• Quordle #1012, Friday 1 November: FIFTY, GULCH, RECUT, TWEET
• Quordle #1011, Thursday 31 October: TWINE, RIGID, BELCH, AMEND
• Quordle #1010, Wednesday 30 October: SLOOP, BRINE, BROOD, FLUID
• Quordle #1009, Tuesday 29 October: CLIFF, BURNT, SNAKY, POLYP
• Quordle #1008, Monday 28 October: MACAW, LIEGE, GOUGE, CARGO
• Quordle #1007, Sunday 27 October: STUNG, CLOUT, SOWER, BASIS
• Quordle #1006, Saturday 26 October: DUCHY, CANNY, BLOCK, SMART
• Quordle #1005, Friday 25 October: PRANK, EXIST, RUDDY, PICKY
• Quordle #1004, Thursday 24 October: DAIRY, RALLY, CURLY, LABEL
• Quordle #1003, Wednesday 23 October: DROSS, ANNEX, GRAVE, BROKE
• Quordle #1002, Tuesday 22 October: ADORE, SMITH, AFOOT, LUCID
• Quordle #1001, Monday 21 October: TREAD, NINTH, GRIEF, UNSET
• Quordle #1000, Sunday 20 October: CORAL, WHOSE, HEIST, SOAPY
• Quordle #999, Saturday 19 October: GUSTY, BROKE, ENJOY, HAZEL
• Quordle #998, Friday 18 October: PUPIL, MOCHA, EGRET, NATAL
• Quordle #997, Thursday 17 October: BUILD, BIRTH, LURCH, SASSY
• Quordle #996, Wednesday 16 October: EERIE, SMIRK, HUNCH, EMBED
• Quordle #995, Tuesday 15 October: UMBRA, BRIEF, GRAVY, TORUS

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #512) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SHELL
• VANITY
• OUTFIT
• ID
• WARDROBE
• CANT
• CONSOLE
• EGO
• STOCK
• CHARACTER
• BEING
• CHEST
• SELF
• PROVISION
• WERE
• FURNISH

NYT Connections today (game #512) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Supply with
• Green: It's all about ME!
• Blue: You can put things in them
• Purple: Dont spell like this

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #512) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: EQUIP
• GREEN: INDIVIDUALITY
• BLUE: FURNITURE
• PURPLE: WORDS WITH APOSTROPHES REMOVED

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #512) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #512, are…

• YELLOW: EQUIP FURNISH, OUTFIT, PROVISION, STOCK
• GREEN: INDIVIDUALITY BEING, CHARACTER, EGO, SELF
• BLUE: FURNITURE CHEST, CONSOLE, VANITY, WARDROBE
• PURPLE: WORDS WITH APOSTROPHES REMOVED CANT, ID, SHELL, WERE

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 hint

A good strategy for Connections is (obviously) to focus on any words that have limited possible links to others. By which I mean that some have multiple possible connections; a word such as STOCK might go before MARKET or after BEEF; it might be grouped with other words that mean LINEAGE or BLOOD, or with words that mean TRUST. Or, as here, it might mean EQUIP and be grouped with PROVISION, OUTFIT and FURNISH.

CANT, on the other hand, is a relatively uncommon word that only really has a couple of very limited connections to anything. And by staring at it for a while it occurred to me that one of those was that it lacked an apostrophe. Once I considered that, I spotted SHELL (SHE'LL), WERE (WE'RE) and ID (I'D) and solved the purple group. The others followed fairly quickly after that toughest group was found.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, 3 November, game #511)

• YELLOW: HEARTWARMING MOVING, SWEET, TENDER, TOUCHING
• GREEN: SNEAKING SUSPICION FEELING, HUNCH, IMPRESSION, SENSE
• BLUE: LEGAL SESSION HEARING, INQUIRY, PROCEEDING, TRIAL
• PURPLE: EASY ___ CHAIR, LISTENING, MONEY, STREET

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #246) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… In a(n) ...

NYT Strands today (game #246) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• TOES
• DIAL
• FAIL
• TIME
• STAIN
• TOLL

NYT Strands today (game #246) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• It won't take long!

NYT Strands today (game #246) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: top, 3rd column

Last: bottom, 4th column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #246) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #246, are…

• TICK
• MINUTE
• JIFFY
• FLASH
• MOMENT
• SECOND
• MOMENT
• INSTANT
• SPANGRAM: SMALLTIME

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

The subtitle to this Strands puzzle could easily be "Words you use when you tell someone you're going to do something immediately but really you're just going to finish scrolling through social media/complete this video game boss fight/watch the end of this episode/fail to raise yourself off the couch". Or at least that's my experience, because I am always telling people – mainly my other half – that I will get that washing up done in a SECOND, or walk the dog in a MOMENT, when really it's more a long or at least medium amount of time, rather than SMALLTIME as the spangram would have it.

None of that made this game any harder to solve – it's a pretty simple one – but playing it did delay the household chores I was supposed to be doing in a JIFFY, so it was at least apt.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, 3 November, game #245)

• CLASS
• PHYLUM
• ORDER
• FAMILY
• SPECIES
• GENUS
• DOMAIN
• SPANGRAM: TAXONOMY

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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Steel and concrete, the traditional materials used in data center construction, are major carbon emittersm but in a move toward sustainability, Microsoft is testing fire-resistant cross-laminated timber (CLT) in its first wood-based data centers near a northern Virginia suburb.

The company says this project is part of an “all-hands-on-deck task” to meet the company’s ambitious climate targets: becoming carbon negative by 2030 and offsetting all emissions since its founding by 2050.

Although Microsoft has made progress towards this goal, data centers’ indirect emissions - stemming from materials extraction, manufacturing, and transport - rose by 30.9% over three years.

A market mover

Using CLT, alongside concrete and steel, in the hybrid design is projected to reduce embodied carbon emissions by 35% compared to traditional steel construction and 65% compared to standard concrete.

Microsoft’s decarbonization efforts extend beyond this project, supported by its $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund, which has so far invested $761 million in scalable environmental projects.

Microsoft is collaborating with green building material companies, including Sweden’s Stegra, which is developing a hydrogen-based steel process that emits water vapor instead of carbon, cutting emissions by up to 95%. Microsoft has also partnered with Boston Metal, which uses renewable electricity to produce steel while generating oxygen instead of carbon dioxide.

To lessen reliance on traditional cement, Microsoft has teamed up with companies like CarbonCure, which injects CO₂ into concrete, and Prometheus Materials, which creates zero-carbon cement using microalgae. Microsoft plans to pilot Prometheus’s cement in its Virginia data centers to test its durability.

“Microsoft is in a unique position just because they’re so large,” says Thomas Hooker of Thornton Tomasetti, a structural engineering firm working with Microsoft. “They can almost be like a market mover and to some extent actually push some of these technologies to more widespread use just because it’s a high priority for Microsoft.”

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• Data centers could be used as residual power generators
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Over 27 million tons of single-use polystyrene packaging are produced worldwide each year, yet only 12% is recycled - most ends up in landfills after its initial use.

Researchers at RMIT University and Riga Technical University have developed an innovative way to generate electricity using waste polystyrene, addressing both energy needs and the environmental impact of the ubiquitous packaging material.

The invention repurposes discarded polystyrene into a device that generates static electricity from motion, such as wind or airflow. The device is a thin patch, made from multiple layers of polystyrene, each around "one-tenth the thickness of a human hair," according to lead researcher Dr. Peter Sherrell, who went on to explain, “We can produce this static electricity just from air blowing on the surface of our clever patches, then harvest that energy.”

Producing electricity consistently

The patch, which can capture turbulent airflow from air conditioning units, could reduce energy demand by up to 5% and lower the carbon footprint of these systems. Tests show the device can reach up to 230 volts, comparable to household voltage but at a lower power level.

Sherrell noted, “The biggest numbers come from a compression and separation, where you've got faster speeds and bigger motion, while smaller motion generates less energy. This means that in addition to air conditioners, integrating our patches in high traffic areas such as underground walkways could supplement local energy supply without creating additional demand on the grid."

The device’s longevity stems from the same properties that make polystyrene slow to decompose. “The great thing here is the same reason that it takes 500 years for polystyrene to break down in landfill makes these devices really stable – and able to keep making electricity for a long time,” Sherrell said.

This process involves learning how to modify plastics to optimize their energy-generating potential: “We've studied which plastic generates more energy and how when you structure it differently – make it rough, make it smooth, make it really thin, make it really fat – how that changes all this charging phenomenon.”

This static electricity generation project is part of the team’s ongoing research into triboelectric nanogenerators, as published in Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research. RMIT has filed a provisional patent for its device and is now looking for industry partners to help develop the technology for commercial applications.

More from TechRadar Pro

• Researchers generate 500MWh a year by recycling wasted wind
• Micro nuclear reactors can deliver 5MW of power for up to 100 months
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Want to watch Detroit play Green Bay? Here's everything you need to stream Sunday's 4:25 p.m. ET game on Fox.

Want to watch Los Angeles play Seattle? Here's everything you need to stream Sunday's 4:25 p.m. ET game on Fox.

In-form Birds are aiming to make it four wins in a row as they host Jacksonville.