Welcome to the April 30, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• France Blames Russia for Years of Cyberattacks
• IBM to Invest $150 Billion in U.S. Over Five Years
• Brazil to Use Tax Breaks to Lure Datacenter Investment
• Armenia Working Toward a Silicon Valley in the Caucasus
• Robot Vacuum Cleaners Reprogrammed for Other Chores
• Congress Passes Bill to Fight NCII
• China's Xi Calls for Self-Sufficiency in AI Development
• Hackers Could 'Vandalize' Quantum Computers Without People Noticing
• A New Way to Optimize Complex Coordinated Systems
• UWaterloo Withholds Coding Competition Results over Suspected AI Cheating
• Chattanooga, EPB to Launch Nation's First Quantum Tech Center
• Fiber-Sensing Technology Can Provide Early Warning for Volcanic Eruptions
• Chatbots Can Hide Secret Messages in Seemingly Normal Conversations

France Blames Russia for Years of Cyberattacks

France on Tuesday accused Russian military intelligence of orchestrating nearly a decade of cyberattacks against its government ministries, defense contractors, media outlets, and even the 2024 Paris Olympics with the aim of gathering intelligence and sowing division. France's cybersecurity agency said Russian hackers were behind more than a dozen attacks in France since 2021. France’s Foreign Ministry directly linked the hackers with Russia’s GRU military intelligence organization and blamed the Kremlin for their attacks.
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IBM to Invest $150 Billion in U.S. Over Five Years

IBM said it will invest $150 billion over the next five years in the U.S., including more than $30 billion for research and development of mainframes and quantum computers. Said CEO Arvind Krishna, “We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago, and with this investment and manufacturing commitment we are ensuring that IBM remains the epicenter of the world’s most advanced computing and AI capabilities."
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Brazil to Use Tax Breaks to Lure Datacenter Investment

During a trip to the U.S. later this week, Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad (pictured) is expected to dangle tax breaks as an incentive to build datacenters in his country. Haddad's schedule includes a May 6 breakfast with tech executives in Palo Alto, CA, where he will promote Brazil as a sustainable infrastructure hub, leveraging the country's abundant supply of renewable energy, according to sources.
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Armenia Working Toward a Silicon Valley in the Caucasus

Several initiatives have been undertaken in recent years in Armenia to transform the nation into a technology powerhouse. The Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises rolled out the Armath program in 2014 to provide classes on technology topics to young students. Armenia currently hosts 650 Armath labs, with the goal of having 5,000 students annually decide to become engineers. Venture capital firm SmartGate, meanwhile, helps Armenian entrepreneurs establish U.S. operations, with many startups testing their products in Armenia first.
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Robot Vacuum Cleaners Reprogrammed for Other Chores

Researchers at the U.K.'s University of Bath and Canada's University of Calgary demonstrated that robot vacuum cleaners can be reprogrammed to perform other household tasks during idle periods. The researchers turned a Roomba into a mobile wireless charger, a workout projector, a home monitor, and a work-status signpost. They also determined that adding bases of different heights, extendable arms, and attachable carts could expand the number of tasks the device could perform.
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Congress Passes Bill to Fight NCII

The bipartisan Take It Down Act is expected to be signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump after passing the U.S. Senate in February and the U.S. House on April 28. The legislation makes the publication of nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII), including AI-generated deepfake images of real people, a federal crime. Additionally, the law will require the removal of NCII from online platforms within 48 hours of being reported.
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China's Xi Calls for Self-Sufficiency in AI Development

During an April 25 Politburo meeting study session, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China's AI development will involve "self-reliance and self-strengthening." According to the official Xinhua news agency, Xi said, "We must recognize the gaps and redouble our efforts to comprehensively advance technological innovation, industrial development, and AI-empowered applications," with policy support provided in government procurement, intellectual property rights, research, and talent cultivation, among other areas.
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Hackers Could 'Vandalize' Quantum Computers Without People Noticing

University of Texas at Austin researchers identified a technique that could enable hackers to interfere with the results of various programs run by different users on the same quantum computer. The attack depends on interference in the microwave signals used to control qubits, with one qubit possibly picking up a signal intended for another. The researchers tested the proof-of-principle attack on five IBM cloud-based quantum computers, and found it altered other users' outputs 40% of the time.
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A New Way to Optimize Complex Coordinated Systems

A method developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers allows simple diagrams to be used to improve software optimization in deep learning models. Based on category theory, the technique facilitates coordination of complex interactive systems by enabling diagrams to "both represent a function and then reveal how to optimally executive it on a GPU," said MIT's Vincent Abbott.
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UWaterloo Withholds Coding Competition Results over Suspected AI Cheating

The co-chairs of the University of Waterloo's (UWaterloo) Canadian Computing Competition said this year's scores would not be published because "It is clear that many students submitted code that they did not write themselves, relying instead on forbidden external help." A university spokesperson said participants are prohibited from using "AI and other external tools" in the competition, but did not indicate how many competitors violated the rules or what tools were used.
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Chattanooga, EPB to Launch Nation's First Quantum Tech Center

Tennessee-based telecommunications company EPB and global quantum computing firm IonQ have partnered to build the first quantum technology center in the U.S. offering commercial access to quantum computing and networking. The EPB Quantum Center, slated to be fully operational by early next year, will provide tools to researchers, developers, and businesses to build real-world quantum applications. The center will feature IonQ's Forte Enterprise Quantum Computer, access to which will be sold to other companies.
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Fiber-Sensing Technology Can Provide Early Warning for Volcanic Eruptions

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Iceland's Reykjavik University installed distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology in Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula to study volcanic activity and develop an early-warning system for eruptions. The DAS system, installed along a 100-km fiber cable, measures phase changes in laser light as vibrations pass through the cable in real time. The data captured was used to build a preliminary early-warning system that can alert the public from 30 minutes to several hours prior to an eruption.
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Chatbots Can Hide Secret Messages in Seemingly Normal Conversations

A system developed by researchers at Norway's University of Oslo could allow people to conceal secret messages within chatbot conversations and share the text though any messaging platform without detection. The researchers altered a large language model to embed the next character of an encrypted message in generated text at specific intervals. The AI will backtrack and try again if it cannot insert the next character while ensuring the sentence sounds like normal conversation.
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