Latest news with #JuliusČerniauskas
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OxyCon 2025 Announces Leading Speaker Line-Up to Converge on AI and Web Scraping
Oxylabs reveals the speakers joining OxyCon 2025, the go-to web scraping event that brings together data professionals worldwide. Experts from Turing, NielsenIQ and TEGOS Legal will come together with Oxylabs' own team for a free online day full of industry-leading conversations. This year's OxyCon theme is the role of AI in web intelligence, with talks on legal frameworks, real-life applications and how this affects a range of industries. VILNIUS, Lithuania, August 11, 2025 - Oxylabs, leading web intelligence platform and proxy provider, has revealed the 2025 agenda for the industry-renowned event OxyCon. This year's spotlight on AI-powered intelligence will feature experts from Turing, NielsenIQ and TEGOS Legal. These experts will come together to share insight on the role AI plays in web intelligence and provide actionable advice on how developers can start using this today. OxyCon annually brings together global industry leaders, technical experts, and data innovators. This year's event will explore how AI is transforming web scraping and vice versa - from smart automation and large-scale data extraction to legal insights and real-world case studies. Oxylabs CEO Julius Černiauskas said 'As AI continues to prove revolutionary across industries, access to data has become essential to power the boom.. Web scraping is an essential tool in the world of AI, and so it's more important than ever that we all come together and discuss how to access data in a fair and ethical way. I look forward to hearing from global experts on the role of web scraping in powering AI, now and in the future.' The announcement of 2025's agenda demonstrates the strength of those already committed to sharing thoughts. The sessions for this year's event include: Zia Ahmad, Data Scientist at Turing presenting the applications of Machine Learning (ML) for improving web scraping methods and the real-life applications of this he uses day-to-day in his role working on Google's Gemini. Fred de Villamil, CTO at NielsenIQ Digital Shelf giving a walkthrough of how e-commerce data can be scaled in a way that means organisations can perform data extraction on over 10 billion products per day. Denas Grybauskas, Chief Governance and Strategy Officer at Oxylabs and major voice within the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative leading a panel alongside partners from TEGOS Legal and Farella Braun + Martel on the complex legal landscape of AI and web scraping. A hands-on session with Rytis Ulys, Head of Data & Analytics at Oxylabs, on building AI-powered price comparison tools with only Cursor and Oxylabs' own AI Studio. Zia Ahmad, Data Scientist at Turing shared how timely his session will be: 'AI and web scraping can form a loop' Ahmad says. 'I'll explain how that loop could work, where data scraped from the web helps train AI models, and how those models, in turn, improve scraping. I'll cover both the benefits and the potential downsides of this feedback cycle. 'While not everything about it is practically feasible just yet, it's an exciting concept. I'll be discussing what's possible today, what might come in the future, what the blockers are, and how we might overcome them.' To find out more and claim a free space at the free virtual event held virtually on October 1st, visit the OxyCon 2025 website. Everyone interested will also be able to join the OxyCon Discord community, where they can engage with participants, speakers, and industry pros before, during, and after the event.-ENDS- About OxylabsEstablished in 2015, Oxylabs is a web intelligence platform and premium proxy provider, enabling companies of all sizes to utilise the power of big data. Constant innovation, an extensive patent portfolio, and a focus on ethics have allowed Oxylabs to become a global leader in the web intelligence collection industry and forge close ties with dozens of Fortune Global 500 companies. Oxylabs was named Europe's fastest-growing web intelligence acquisition company in the Financial Times FT 1000 list for several consecutive years. For more information, please visit: Media ContactsVytautas +370 655 34419Email: press@ in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
M&S cyber-attack linked to hacking group Scattered Spider
A major cyber-attack on Marks & Spencer has been linked to a hacking collective known as Scattered Spider, which is previously thought to have hit MGM Resorts and the US casino operator Caesars. The group, which has previously been found to include people in their 20s from the UK and the US – some of whom faced charges over attempts to steal cryptocurrency via phishing attacks in the US – are reported to have encrypted key M&S systems using ransomware, according to the technology specialist site BleepingComputer. The reports emerged as online sales at M&S – which account for an average £3.8m a day – were suspended for a fifth day. The disruption caused by the hack – and uncertainty over when it will end – has wiped more than £500m off the stock market value of M&S in the past week as experts said it had clearly suffered a cyber-attack on a huge scale. Industry insiders said it was rumoured that the attack had originated at one of M&S's service suppliers and it was not clear if the company had been directly targeted. M&S said: 'As you would expect, we cannot share the details of this cyber incident.' BleepingComputer reported the hackers had stolen M&S data as early as February that could have helped them gain access to key systems. It said the hackers had then encrypted access to a server using software from the ransomware operator DragonForce last week. Tim Mitchell, a senior security researcher at Secureworks, said that while it was impossible for outsiders to confirm who the hackers were, the extent of the disruption caused to M&S indicated it had been subject to a ransomware attack. These attacks encrypt access to important systems and demand a ransom in return for a key to unlock them. He said Scattered Spider, also known as Octo Tempest, appeared to be 'quite unusual' as a hacking group in that they were largely English-speaking – unlike the majority of such groups, which are based in places such as Russia, where there is a more 'permissive environment' where they have more freedom to operate. He added: 'Their motivation appears to be as much about bragging rights on those channels [where they communicate] as about money.' He said the hackers could have used phishing emails, gained control of a company phone number or rung up help services pretending to be M&S employees to gain access to systems. Julius Černiauskas, the chief executive of the web intelligence experts Oxylabs, said: 'Following the M&S cyber-attack and the potential involvement of hacking group Scattered Spider, all major UK retailers will be seriously worried if they'll be tangled in the web next. The impact on the M&S share price shows the damage these attacks can do and will have many corporate retailers working day and night to ensure they do not suffer a similar fate. 'Ransomware gangs typically target companies like M&S with the aim of causing maximum disruption to force a quick payout. Their goal is simple: the greater the disruption, the greater the pressure on the company to pay the ransom.' Shoppers are still able to browse online and shop in M&S's physical stores using cash or cards, but some difficulties continue in stores, with gift cards not currently being accepted. Returning goods is only possible at tills in clothing and homeware stores or via post. Food stores are not currently able to accept returns.
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
M&S cyber-attack linked to hacking group Scattered Spider
A major cyber-attack on Marks & Spencer has been linked to a hacking collective known as Scattered Spider, which is previously thought to have hit MGM Resorts and the US casino operator Caesars. The group, which has previously been found to include people in their 20s from the UK and the US – some of whom faced charges over attempts to steal cryptocurrency via phishing attacks in the US – are reported to have encrypted key M&S systems using ransomware, according to the technology specialist site BleepingComputer. The reports emerged as online sales at M&S – which account for an average £3.8m a day – were suspended for a fifth day. The disruption caused by the hack – and uncertainty over when it will end – has wiped more than £500m off the stock market value of M&S in the past week as experts said it had clearly suffered a cyber-attack on a huge scale. Industry insiders said it was rumoured that the attack had originated at one of M&S's service suppliers and it was not clear if the company had been directly targeted. M&S said: 'As you would expect, we cannot share the details of this cyber incident.' BleepingComputer reported the hackers had stolen M&S data as early as February that could have helped them gain access to key systems. It said the hackers had then encrypted access to a server using software from the ransomware operator DragonForce last week. Tim Mitchell, a senior threat researcher at SecureWorks, said that while it was impossible for outsiders to confirm who the hackers were, the extent of the disruption caused to M&S indicated it had been subject to a ransomware attack. These attacks encrypt access to important systems and demand a ransom in return for a key to unlock them. He said Scattered Spider, also known as Octo Tempest, appeared to be 'quite unusual' as a hacking group in that they were largely English-speaking – unlike the majority of such groups, which are based in places such as Russia, where there is a more 'permissive environment' where they have more freedom to operate. He added: 'Their motivation appears to be as much about bragging rights on those channels [where they communicate] as about money.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion He said the hackers could have used phishing emails, gained control of a company phone number or rung up help services pretending to be M&S employees to gain access to systems. Julius Černiauskas, the chief executive of the web intelligence experts Oxylabs, added: 'Following the M&S cyber-attack and the potential involvement of hacking group, Scattered Spider, all major UK retailers will be seriously worried if they'll be tangled in the web next. The impact on the M&S share price shows the damage these attacks can do and will have many corporate retailers working day and night to ensure they do not suffer a similar fate. 'Ransomware gangs typically target companies like M&S with the aim of causing maximum disruption to force a quick payout. Their goal is simple: the greater the disruption, the greater the pressure on the company to pay the ransom.' Shoppers are still able to browse online and shop in M&S's physical stores using cash or cards, but some difficulties continue in stores, with gift cards not currently being accepted. Returning goods is only possible at tills in clothing and homeware stores or via post. Food stores are not currently able to accept returns.
