John Edwards, Technology Journalist & AuthorMay 16, 20255 Min ReadSkorzewiak via Alamy Stock PhotoA great IT idea is as good as gold. That's why an unscrupulous consultant may decide to take one of your organization's original methods or practices to another client -- perhaps even a rival -- without first asking for permission. While most consultants play fair, issues do sometimes come up, observes John Pennypacker, a vice president at AI technology firm Deep Cognition. "Someone working at your office learns your methods on Monday -- by Tuesday those same tricks might help another client," he says in an online interview. Tech companies face the biggest danger. "Your special formula or unique program code gives you your market advantage." Most consultants are professionals who play by the rules, but idea theft still happens, says Adhiran Thirmal, senior solutions engineer at security service and technology provider Security Compass. "Some consultants work across multiple companies in the same industry, and the temptation to reuse a good idea is real," he warns in an online discussion. "It's not always malicious -- sometimes they don't even realize they're crossing a line." That's why ensuring legal protection and building clear communication channels upfront are important. Proving Originality It’s all about holding onto detailed documentation, Thirmal says. "Keep track of emails, meeting minutes, whiteboard sketches -- anything that shows when and where the idea was created," he advises in an email interview. If it's a major innovation, consider filing for a patent, copyright, or trademark to establish official ownership. "Even small things, such as internal Slack messages or version histories, can serve as proof, if needed." Related:Before engaging a consultant, be sure to put protections into place, recommends Iliyan Paskalev, founder of MyHumanoid, a robotics and humanoids information website. "Clearly define within the contract that all ideas, strategies, and materials shared remain the property of your organization," he notes in an online interview. Paskalev also suggests closing any loopholes by using work-for-hire agreements explicitly stating that any contributions made by the consultant belong to your company. Preventive Steps The best defense is a good offense, Thirmal says. Before sharing any sensitive information, get the consultant to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and, if needed, a non-compete agreement. "These legal documents set clear boundaries on what can and can't do with your ideas." He also recommends retaining records -- meeting notes, emails, and timestamps -- to provide documented proof of when and where the idea in question was discussed. "If possible, develop key parts of the idea internally first before bringing in outside help." Related:Control what the consultant can see, Pennypacker advises. "Share only what they must know to do their job," he says. Document everything. "Keep emails, notes from meetings, and early drafts -- they prove where ideas started." Pay close attention to what the consultant or consulting team do daily. "Make sure they follow the rules you set." Move fast when you see your ideas being stolen, Pennypacker says. "Look for certain danger signs." Has a product like yours appeared after your project ended? Did your methods show up in competitors' offerings? Has the consultant broken the secrecy agreement? These signs all indicate it may be time to consult a lawyer. Remediation Actions If a consultant takes an idea and commercializes it, or shares it with a competitor, it's time to consult legal counsel, Paskalev says. The legal case's strength will hinge on the exact wording within contracts and documentation. "Sometimes, a well-crafted cease-and-desist letter is enough; other times, litigation is required." If you suspect a consultant has taken your idea and used it elsewhere, gather all of the evidence -- emails, agreements, and meeting records, Thirmal recommends. Then, try to address the matter informally. "If that doesn’t work, and the stakes are high -- such as lost revenue or competitive advantage -- it’s time to bring in a lawyer," he suggests. "If they broke an NDA or misused proprietary information, you may have legal grounds for action." Related:Compensation depends on the amount of damage inflicted. "If the theft results in a loss of market advantage, organizations can demand licensing fees, royalties, or outright financial damages," Paskalev says. "In some cases, businesses have successfully negotiated settlements or forced a buyout of their stolen IP rights." Last Thoughts The best way to protect ideas isn't through contracts -- it's by being proactive, Thirmal advises. "Train your team to be careful about what they share, work with consultants who have strong reputations, and document everything," he states. "Protecting innovation isn’t just a legal issue -- it's a strategic one." Innovation is an IT leader's greatest asset, but it's also highly vulnerable, Paskalev says. "By proactively structuring consultant agreements, meticulously documenting every stage of idea development, and being ready to enforce protection, organizations can ensure their competitive edge." Pennypacker has one final bit of advice: "Guard your company's thinking like you would guard its bank account." About the AuthorJohn EdwardsTechnology Journalist & AuthorJohn Edwards is a veteran business technology journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous business and technology publications, including Computerworld, CFO Magazine, IBM Data Management Magazine, RFID Journal, and Electronic Design. He has also written columns for The Economist's Business Intelligence Unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Communications Direct. John has authored several books on business technology topics. His work began appearing online as early as 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, he wrote daily news and feature articles for both the CompuServe and Prodigy online services. His "Behind the Screens" commentaries made him the world's first known professional blogger.See more from John EdwardsWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

John Edwards, Technology Journalist & AuthorMay 16, 20255 Min ReadSkorzewiak via Alamy Stock PhotoA great IT idea is as good as gold. That's why an unscrupulous consultant may decide to take one of your organization's original methods or practices to another client -- perhaps even a rival -- without first asking for permission. While most consultants play fair, issues do sometimes come up, observes John Pennypacker, a vice president at AI technology firm Deep Cognition. "Someone working at your office learns your methods on Monday -- by Tuesday those same tricks might help another client," he says in an online interview. Tech companies face the biggest danger. "Your special formula or unique program code gives you your market advantage." Most consultants are professionals who play by the rules, but idea theft still happens, says Adhiran Thirmal, senior solutions engineer at security service and technology provider Security Compass. "Some consultants work across multiple companies in the same industry, and the temptation to reuse a good idea is real," he warns in an online discussion. "It's not always malicious -- sometimes they don't even realize they're crossing a line." That's why ensuring legal protection and building clear communication channels upfront are important. Proving Originality It’s all about holding onto detailed documentation, Thirmal says. "Keep track of emails, meeting minutes, whiteboard sketches -- anything that shows when and where the idea was created," he advises in an email interview. If it's a major innovation, consider filing for a patent, copyright, or trademark to establish official ownership. "Even small things, such as internal Slack messages or version histories, can serve as proof, if needed." Related:Before engaging a consultant, be sure to put protections into place, recommends Iliyan Paskalev, founder of MyHumanoid, a robotics and humanoids information website. "Clearly define within the contract that all ideas, strategies, and materials shared remain the property of your organization," he notes in an online interview. Paskalev also suggests closing any loopholes by using work-for-hire agreements explicitly stating that any contributions made by the consultant belong to your company. Preventive Steps The best defense is a good offense, Thirmal says. Before sharing any sensitive information, get the consultant to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and, if needed, a non-compete agreement. "These legal documents set clear boundaries on what can and can't do with your ideas." He also recommends retaining records -- meeting notes, emails, and timestamps -- to provide documented proof of when and where the idea in question was discussed. "If possible, develop key parts of the idea internally first before bringing in outside help." Related:Control what the consultant can see, Pennypacker advises. "Share only what they must know to do their job," he says. Document everything. "Keep emails, notes from meetings, and early drafts -- they prove where ideas started." Pay close attention to what the consultant or consulting team do daily. "Make sure they follow the rules you set." Move fast when you see your ideas being stolen, Pennypacker says. "Look for certain danger signs." Has a product like yours appeared after your project ended? Did your methods show up in competitors' offerings? Has the consultant broken the secrecy agreement? These signs all indicate it may be time to consult a lawyer. Remediation Actions If a consultant takes an idea and commercializes it, or shares it with a competitor, it's time to consult legal counsel, Paskalev says. The legal case's strength will hinge on the exact wording within contracts and documentation. "Sometimes, a well-crafted cease-and-desist letter is enough; other times, litigation is required." If you suspect a consultant has taken your idea and used it elsewhere, gather all of the evidence -- emails, agreements, and meeting records, Thirmal recommends. Then, try to address the matter informally. "If that doesn’t work, and the stakes are high -- such as lost revenue or competitive advantage -- it’s time to bring in a lawyer," he suggests. "If they broke an NDA or misused proprietary information, you may have legal grounds for action." Related:Compensation depends on the amount of damage inflicted. "If the theft results in a loss of market advantage, organizations can demand licensing fees, royalties, or outright financial damages," Paskalev says. "In some cases, businesses have successfully negotiated settlements or forced a buyout of their stolen IP rights." Last Thoughts The best way to protect ideas isn't through contracts -- it's by being proactive, Thirmal advises. "Train your team to be careful about what they share, work with consultants who have strong reputations, and document everything," he states. "Protecting innovation isn’t just a legal issue -- it's a strategic one." Innovation is an IT leader's greatest asset, but it's also highly vulnerable, Paskalev says. "By proactively structuring consultant agreements, meticulously documenting every stage of idea development, and being ready to enforce protection, organizations can ensure their competitive edge." Pennypacker has one final bit of advice: "Guard your company's thinking like you would guard its bank account." About the AuthorJohn EdwardsTechnology Journalist & AuthorJohn Edwards is a veteran business technology journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous business and technology publications, including Computerworld, CFO Magazine, IBM Data Management Magazine, RFID Journal, and Electronic Design. He has also written columns for The Economist's Business Intelligence Unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Communications Direct. John has authored several books on business technology topics. His work began appearing online as early as 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, he wrote daily news and feature articles for both the CompuServe and Prodigy online services. His "Behind the Screens" commentaries made him the world's first known professional blogger.See more from John EdwardsWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

May 15, 2025The Hacker NewsRansomware Defense / Business Continuity Ransomware has evolved into a deceptive, highly coordinated and dangerously sophisticated threat capable of crippling organizations of any size. Cybercriminals now exploit even legitimate IT tools to infiltrate networks and launch ransomware attacks. In a chilling example, Microsoft recently disclosed how threat actors misused its Quick Assist remote assistance tool to deploy the destructive Black Basta ransomware strain. And what’s worse? Innovations like Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) are lowering the bar for entry, making ransomware attacks more frequent and far-reaching than ever before. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, by 2031, a new ransomware attack is expected every 2 seconds, with projected damages hitting an astronomical $275 billion annually. No organization is immune to ransomware, and building a strong recovery strategy is equally, if not even more, important than attempting to prevent all attacks in the first place. A solid business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategy can be your last and most critical line of defense when ransomware breaks through, allowing you to bounce back quickly from the attack, resume operations and avoid paying ransom. Notably, the cost of investing in BCDR is negligible compared to the devastation that prolonged downtime or data loss can cause. In this article, we’ll break down the five essential BCDR capabilities you should have in place to effectively recover from ransomware. These strategies can mean the difference between swift recovery and business failure after an attack. Let’s explore what every organization must do before it’s too late. Follow the 3-2-1 (and then some!) backup rule The 3-2-1 backup rule has long been the gold standard: keep three copies of your data, store them on two different media and keep one copy off-site. But in the age of ransomware, that’s no longer enough. Experts now recommend the 3-2-1-1-0 strategy. The extra 1 stands for one immutable copy — a backup that can’t be changed or deleted. The 0 represents zero doubt in your ability to recover, with verified, tested recovery points. Why the upgrade? Ransomware doesn’t just target production systems anymore. It actively seeks and encrypts backups as well. That’s why isolation, immutability and verification are key. Cloud-based and air-gapped backup storage provide essential layers of protection, keeping backups out of reach from threats that even use stolen admin credentials. Having such immutable backups ensures recovery points remain untampered, no matter what. They’re your safety net when everything else is compromised. Plus, this level of data protection helps meet rising cyber insurance standards and compliance obligations. Bonus tip: Look for solutions offering a hardened Linux architecture to camouflage and isolate backups outside of the common Windows attack surface. Automate and monitor backups continuously Automation is powerful, but without active monitoring, it can become your biggest blind spot. While scheduling backups and automating verification saves time, it’s just as important to ensure that those backups are actually happening and that they’re usable. Use built-in tools or custom scripting to monitor backup jobs, trigger alerts on failures and verify the integrity of your recovery points. It’s simple: either monitor continuously or risk finding out too late that your backups never had your back. Regularly testing and validating the recovery points is the only way to trust your recovery plan. Bonus tip: Choose solutions that integrate with professional services automation (PSA) ticketing systems to automatically raise alerts and tickets for any backup hiccups. Protect your backup infrastructure from ransomware and internal threats Your backup infrastructure must be isolated, hardened and tightly controlled to prevent unauthorized access or tampering. You must: Lock down your backup network environment. Host your backup server in a secure local area network (LAN) segment with no inbound internet access. Allow outbound communication from the backup server only to approved vendor networks. Block all unapproved outbound traffic using strict firewall rules. Permit communication only between protected systems and the backup server. Use firewalls and port-based access control lists (ACLs) on network switches to enforce granular access control. Apply agent-level encryption so data is protected at rest, using keys generated from a secure passphrase only you control. Enforce strict access controls and authentication. Implement role-based access control (RBAC) with least-privilege roles for Tier 1 techs. Ensure multifactor authentication (MFA) for all access to the backup management console. Monitor audit logs continuously for privilege escalations or unauthorized role changes. Ensure audit logs are immutable. Review regularly for: Security-related events like failed logins, privilege escalations, deletion of backups and device removal. Administrative actions such as changes to backup schedules, changes to retention settings, new user creation and changes to user roles. Backup and backup copy (replication) success/failure rates and backup verification success/failure rates. Stay alert to serious risks. Configure automatic alerts for policy violations and high-severity security events, such as an unauthorized change to backup retention policies. Test restores regularly and include them in your DR plan Backups mean nothing if you can’t restore from them quickly and completely, and that’s why regular testing is essential. Recovery drills must be scheduled and integrated into your disaster recovery (DR) plan. The goal is to build muscle memory, reveal weaknesses and confirm that your recovery plan actually works under pressure. Start by defining the recovery time objective (RTO) and the recovery point objective (RPO) for every system. These determine how fast and how recent your recoverable data needs to be. Testing against those targets helps ensure your strategy aligns with business expectations. Importantly, don’t limit testing to one type of restore. Simulate file-level recoveries, full bare-metal restores and full-scale cloud failovers. Each scenario uncovers different vulnerabilities, such as time delays, compatibility issues or infrastructure gaps. Also, recovery is more than a technical task. Involve stakeholders across departments to test communication protocols, role responsibilities and customer-facing impacts. Who talks to clients? Who triggers the internal chain of command? Everyone should know their role when every second counts. Detect threats early with backup-level visibility When it comes to ransomware, speed of detection is everything. While endpoint and network tools often get the spotlight, your backup layer is also a powerful, often overlooked line of defense. Monitoring backup data for anomalies can reveal early signs of ransomware activity, giving you a critical head start before widespread damage occurs. Backup-level visibility allows you to detect telltale signs like sudden encryption, mass deletions or abnormal file modifications. For example, if a process begins overwriting file contents with random data while leaving all modified timestamps intact, that’s a major red flag. No legitimate program behaves that way. With smart detection at the backup layer, you can catch these behaviors and get alerted immediately. This capability doesn’t replace your endpoint detection and response (EDR) or antivirus (AV) solutions; it supercharges them. It speeds up triage, helps isolate compromised systems faster and reduces an attack’s overall blast radius. For maximum impact, choose backup solutions that offer real-time anomaly detection and support integration with your security information and event management (SIEM) or centralized logging systems. The faster you see the threat, the faster you can act — and that can be the difference between a minor disruption and a major disaster. Bonus tip: Train end users to recognize and report suspicious activity early If BCDR is your last line of defense, your end users are the first. Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting end users today. According to Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024, threat actors are trying to access user credentials through various methods, such as phishing, malware and brute-force/password spray attacks. Over the last year, around 7,000 password attacks were blocked per second in Entra ID alone. In fact, ransomware attacks often begin with a single click, usually via phishing emails or compromised credentials. Regular security training — especially simulated phishing exercises — helps build awareness of red flags and risky behaviors. Equip your team with the knowledge to spot ransomware warning signs, recognize unsafe data practices and respond appropriately. Encourage immediate reporting of anything that seems off. Foster a culture of enablement, not blame. When people feel safe to speak up, they’re more likely to take action. You can even take it further by launching internal programs that reward vigilance, such as a Cybersecurity Hero initiative to recognize and celebrate early reporters of potential threats. Final thoughts Ransomware doesn’t have to be feared; it has to be planned for. The five BCDR capabilities we discussed above will equip you to withstand even the most advanced ransomware threats and ensure your organization can recover quickly, completely and confidently. To seamlessly implement these strategies, consider Datto BCDR, a unified platform that integrates all these capabilities. It’s built to help you stay resilient, no matter what happens. Don’t wait for a ransom note to discover that your backups weren’t enough. Explore how Datto can strengthen your ransomware resilience. Get custom Datto BCDR pricing today. Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. 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Macworld Users are often reluctant to switch from one music-streaming service to another, even if they find the price, features, algorithm, curation, or song library more appealing. And that’s because of playlists. A huge part of the streaming experience is being able to create cross-device playlists of songs for studying, working out, driving, sleeping, parties, and so on. There are ways to take these playlists with you when you move from Spotify to Apple Music, for example, but for many it represents enough of a hassle to keep them with the original service. It’s enough of a problem, in fact, that Apple is releasing a tool to migrate playlists for you. A support document published this week (spotted by MacRumors) reveals the existence of a new “Transfer Music from Other Music Services” function in Apple Music. At the time of writing, it appears to be undergoing testing in Australia and New Zealand only, but we’d expect it to roll out elsewhere if it proves popular. The way it works is appealingly simple. You go into the settings for Music on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device (or access Apple Music on the web), select the transfer function, choose the service you want to transfer from and what you want to transfer, then tap Add To Library. The software will flag up anything that isn’t available in Apple Music and suggest a similar track, but other than that, the process should be complete without further input. In the support document Apple is coy about who does the work, saying only that “Transferring music to Apple Music is provided by a third-party [sic].” That third party is SongShift, as we knew as long ago as February last year, when Apple’s plan leaked in an Android beta. In other words, the essential functionality isn’t new. But bringing this within Apple’s Music app reduces the friction of the process and is likely to make customers significantly happier to trust that their data won’t be misused. And anything that makes it easier to switch to Apple Music from Spotify (or Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, and so on) is good news for the company’s all-important services revenue.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning carries the weight of a meaningful farewell but lacks the courage to commit. The eighth film in the series begins with a sincere American president (Angela Bassett) entreating IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to take one last mission to save the world. This time, he must defeat a scheming AI called the Entity, which is hell-bent on wiping humans off the face of the earth through computer hacking and nuclear war. As fans have come to expect of this espionage franchise, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will deliver globe-trekking, tense twists, jaw-dropping action sequences that make grown-ups feel like kids again, the unrelenting star power of Tom Cruise, and a sentimental belief in the righteousness of one noble man playing by his own rules. But amid these treasures, The Final Reckoning is a film at war with itself. Rather than a fitting send-off to a film series rich in stunts and thrills, it feels like an exquisite corpse of warring artistic goals that is incredible to behold, but never really comes together. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning delivers a plot that refuses to make sense. Ethan is still on the mission from Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.not to capture this AI wonder and hand it over to any government. He wants to destroy it, even though stern American counselors to the president insist that killing the Entity would mean destroying cyberspace. How? Despite much, much exposition dropping in brow-furrowing war room scenes, that's never remotely clear. You May Also Like Actually, the script by Christopher McQuarrie (who also directs) and Erik Jendresen makes a lot of declarations about the Entity's intentions, powers, and drawbacks without giving much sense of how any of it is possible. This has the effect of making the movie feel less like a sci-fi espionage thriller and more like flat-out fantasy adventure. The Entity becomes effectively an evil spirit that must be captured to end its reign of terror and its influence on the power-hungry or weak-minded. Final Reckoning even offers a doomsday cult devoted to the Entity to unfurl a thin thread. At 2 hours and 49 minutes, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning takes off running with the plot line from Dead Reckoning, but runs it into the ground by losing sense of what made audiences so excited about the last installment. This fuzzy focus on AI as some vague but almost inescapable demon makes many of the decisions by Ethan and his crew hard to follow if not impossible. Worse yet, McQuarrie and Jendresen's overstuffed plot forces too many of Ethan's allies into a dull box, where they become tools of the plot over engaging characters. Tom Cruise is in top form, but Hayley Atwell is criminally misused in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Cruise is a producer and star of this movie, and that's clear even without the title card announcing "A Tom Cruise Production." In Final Reckoning, he is an American action star in full, able to drop a powerful glower to underscore a dramatic moment better than any orchestra swell. He can perform a complicated and astonishing stunt with seeming ease. And truly, no one in cinema history can run as intensely as Cruise; his every speedy step seems to propel the iconic Mission: Impossible theme. At 62, his latest mission pulls him into the depths of the ocean and into a sky-high dogfight. Whether pummeling cronies with his bare hands or leaping from one in-flight plane to another, Cruise (and his stunt team) make Ethan a one-of-a-kind hero, capable of anything, yet able to express keenly his own morality through a powerful glance. This works even amid Final Reckoning's meandering plotting. Unfortunately, all the Ethan-centered heroics leave little room for his expansive crew to shine. Reprising their roles as IMF agents Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg have little screen time, but solid impact. They've mastered the art of making the most of these brotherly supporting roles. But more recent additions — like Hayley Atwell as pickpocket turned agent Grace and Pom Klementieff as assassin turned ally Paris — have achingly little to do. Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! Klementieff gets a fun opening fight scene and a tender sequence in the third act. But frankly, that finale feels in conflict with her chilly character, as everywhere in between her dialogue is the same one-note joke of being apathetic, in French. Atwell, who was established as Cruise's next love interest in Dead Reckoning, becomes an unrecognizable nag in Final Reckoning. Her spirited banter and self-assurance has been swapped for tedious dialogue filled with worry or bizarrely out-of-character proclamations, like that Ethan should take over Entity and effectively rule the world! A collection of critically heralded actors, from Academy-Award winner Bassett to Emmy-winner Nick Offerman to Morales, Hannah Waddingham, Shea Whigham, and Janet McTeer, are similarly underused in scenes that involve a lot of furrowed brow-talking, but too little logic. Their intensity might have better sold the absurdity if McQuarrie didn't linger so long in these preposterous war room discussions. Tramell Tillman steals Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The underwhelming dialogue, which veers from exposition dumping to near-religious proclamations, proves a stumbling block for much of the Final Reckoning ensemble. Even Cruise struggles with comically dramatic lines like, "We can deceive the Lord of Lies!" But Severance star Tramell Tillman strides where others stumble. It's not that he gets better dialogue. Many of his lines are unremarkable, like, "Oh, OK" in response to some intense Ethan declaration. But Tillman builds a world with his curious delivery. Playing a smooth submarine captain, Tillman delivers every line as if he is welcoming Ethan into an exclusive resort. There's an almost seductive attitude to Tillman's captain, who moves suavely in the tight confines of the submarine and addresses his crew with a magnanimous warmth. As if he had not a concern in the world, he oozes charisma, which is reflected by his invitingly smirking crewmate Kodiak, played by Love Lies Bleeding's Katy O'Brian. Together they weave an underwater world of camaraderie and personality that had me wishing Ethan would abandon his mission and just hang out there for a spell. This series has offered scads of compelling characters. But I was sad to see the plot plunge away from this submarine crew so soon. I'd follow Tillman's captain anywhere, just because of the beguiling way he says "OK." Related Stories Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is bloated but very fun. The final hour of Final Reckoning is jam-packed with suspense as action sequences between Ethan and his crew are cut across each other. Editor Eddie Hamilton masterfully creates tension while underlying how everything in the impossible plan to defeat the Entity must come together in "the blink of an eye." When the action scenes are hitting as they should, it's hard to imagine anything better to experience in a theater than a Mission: Impossible movie. Even Cruise's old-school sincerity is contagious, as Ethan throws his life on the line one more time for life, liberty, and an idealized American way. Very likely, you'll walk out of the cinema with a rush and joy, marveling over the stunts and heroics. But if you linger on the details of Final Reckoning, you begin to notice plot holes and dangling threads. You may get hung up on the tonal shifts that feel less like a flowing dance — as they did in Dead Reckoning — and more like a frenzied battle between ideas. In some ways, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning feels like the final chapter. Ethan's colleagues praise him so intensely that several scenes feel like a premature eulogy for the still (ass-)kicking agent. The title and the snarling threats of the antagonist Gabriel — who promises a "final reckoning" — suggest this is Ethan's last mission, should he choose to accept it. Cruise's drive to top himself with not one but two absolutely bonkers action set pieces feels like an encore before he retires the character for good. Plus, a reprisal of a character long forgotten in the franchise is not only a welcome surprise, but also suggests this story is coming to a comforting close. (Cheers to Rolf Saxon and Lucy Tulugarjuk, who are splendid scene partners.) However, McQuarrie also refuses to shut doors that seem to be closing. Without giving away third-act spoilers, I can say Final Reckoning pulls its punches, seemingly to allow for a IMF story to continue. Yet what might make for a happy ending isn't satisfyingly resolved either. Rather than providing a sense of resolution, McQuarrie ends the film with a sequence meant to speak to enduring connection, but it feels jarringly isolating because of how disjointedly it is presented. Essentially, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning feels like the filmmakers were both trying to make this the final movie in a successful franchise — and also leaving the door open for more. In waffling over that, they deliver a final chapter that is in turns thrilling and frustrating. Rather than going out with a bang, Mission: Impossible may go out with the fizzled whimper of a message self-destructing in a tape deck. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opens exclusively in theaters on May 23. Topics Film

"Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con. It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us. Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI. Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically. "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything. This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET. "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development. The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing. And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development. Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s. Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon. Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money. But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below. The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype. An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading. AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains. Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language. We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said. "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say. "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said. "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there. It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators. It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything. AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers. As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it. "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said. In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that. But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence. Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks. There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction. Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios. The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society. The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable. "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said. "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing. It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors. Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals. For better or worse, life is not science fiction. Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism. Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates. Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models. But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors. That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained. There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm. "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said. Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness. Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag. "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed. But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information. For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.