SquareX to Uncover Data Splicing Attacks at BSides San Francisco, A Major DLP Flaw that Compromises Data Security of Millions

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Palo Alto, California, April 16th, 2025, CyberNewsWire

SquareX researchers Jeswin Mathai and Audrey Adeline will be disclosing a new class of data exfiltration techniques at BSides San Francisco 2025. Titled “Data Splicing Attacks: Breaking Enterprise DLP from the Inside Out”, the talk will demonstrate multiple data splicing techniques that will allow attackers to exfiltrate any sensitive file or clipboard data, completely bypassing major Data Loss Protection (DLP) vendors listed by Gartner by exploiting architectural vulnerabilities in the browser. 

DLP is a core pillar of every enterprise security stack. Data breaches can result in severe consequences including IP loss, regulatory violations, fines, and severe reputational damage. With over 60% of corporate data being stored in the cloud, browsers have become the primary way for employees to create, access, and share data. Consequently, the browser has become a particularly attractive target for external attackers and insider threats alike. Yet, existing endpoint and cloud DLP solutions have limited telemetry and control over how employees interact with data on the browser. 

Additionally, there are several unique challenges when it comes to maintaining data lineage in the browser. This includes managing multiple personal and professional identities, the wide landscape of sanctioned and shadow SaaS apps, and the numerous pathways in which sensitive data can flow between these apps. Unlike managed devices where enterprises have full control over what can be installed on the device, employees can easily sign up for various SaaS services without the IT team’s knowledge or oversight. 

SquareX researcher Audrey Adeline says, “Data splicing attacks are a complete game changer for insider threats and attackers that are seeking to steal information from enterprises. They exploit newer browser features that were invented long after existing DLP solutions and thus the data exfiltrated using these techniques are completely uninspected, resulting in full bypasses. With today’s workforce heavily relying on SaaS apps and cloud storage services, any organization that uses the browser is vulnerable to data splicing attacks.”

As part of the talk, they will also be releasing an open-source toolkit, “Angry Magpie”, which will allow pentesters and red teams to test their existing DLP stack and better understand their organization’s vulnerability to Data Splicing Attacks. SquareX hopes that the research will highlight the severe threats that browsers pose on data loss and serve as a call to action for enterprises and vendors alike to re-think their data loss protection strategies. 

Upon the completion of BSides San Francisco, the SquareX team will also be presenting at RSAC 2025 and will be available at Booth S-2361, South Expo for further discussions on the research.

Talk Details:

Title: Data Splicing Attacks: Breaking Enterprise DLP from the Inside Out

Speakers: Jeswin Mathai and Audrey Adeline

Event: BSides San Francisco 2025

Location: San Francisco, CA

Toolkit Release: Angry Magpie (Open Source)

About the Speakers

Jeswin Mathai, Chief Architect, SquareX

Jeswin Mathai serves as the Chief Architect at SquareX, where he leads the design and implementation of the company’s infrastructure. A seasoned speaker and researcher, Jeswin has showcased his work at prestigious international stages such as DEF CON US, DEF CON China, RootCon, Blackhat Arsenal, Recon Village, and Demo Labs at DEFCON. He has also imparted his knowledge globally, training in-classroom sessions at Black Hat US, Asia, HITB, RootCon, and OWASP NZ Day. He is also the creator of popular open-source projects such as AWSGoat, AzureGoat, and PAToolkit.

Audrey Adeline, Researcher

Audrey currently leads the Year of Browser Bugs (YOBB) project at SquareX which has disclosed multiple major architectural browser vulnerabilities to date. She is also a published author of The Browser Security Field Manual. Key discoveries from YOBB include Polymorphic Extensions, Browser Ransomware and Browser Syncjacking, all of which have been covered by major publications such as Forbes, Bleeping Computer and Mashable. She is passionate about furthering cybersecurity education and has run multiple workshops with Stanford University and Women in Security and Privacy (WISP). Prior to SquareX, Audrey was a cybersecurity investor at Sequoia Capital and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Natural Sciences.

About SquareX

SquareX’s industry-first Browser Detection and Response (BDR) helps organizations detect, mitigate, and threat-hunt client-side web attacks targeting employees happening against their users in real-time. This includes defending against identity attacks, malicious extensions, spearphishing, browser data loss, and insider threats. 

SquareX takes a research and attack-focused approach to browser security. SquareX’s dedicated research team was the first to discover and disclose multiple pivotal attacks, including Last Mile Reassembly Attacks, Browser Syncjacking, Polymorphic Extensions, and Browser-Native Ransomware. As part of the Year of Browser Bugs (YOBB) project, SquareX commits to continue disclosing at least one major architectural browser vulnerability every month.  

Contact

Head of PR
Junice Liew
SquareX
junice@sqrx.com

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From Third-Party Vendors to U.S. Tariffs: The New Cyber Risks Facing Supply Chains

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Introduction
Cyber threats targeting supply chains have become a growing concern for businesses across industries. As companies continue to expand their reliance on third-party vendors, cloud-based services, and global logistics networks, cybercriminals are exploiting vulnerabilities within these interconnected systems to launch attacks. By first infiltrating a third-party vendor with undetected

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What to Know about Compliance with India’s Emerging Digital Personal Data Protection Act

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With the rise of worldwide data threats and attacks, data privacy acts are springing up across the globe. It may be relatively unknown, but India for one has established a data privacy regulation called the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, passed back in 2023. Established to protect digital personal data and regulate its processing, the DPDP Act aligns with global privacy laws like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which we are all familiar with, yet it has its own unique set of rules and requirements.

 It’s important to understand the key aspects of the DPDP Act and what you should do to stay compliant. In short, if your organization handles the personal data of residents in India, you need to be prepared.

What is the DPDP Act?

The DPDP Act is India’s own regulation to address concerns over data privacy and security. It applies to organizations that store, collect, or process digitized personal data of individuals in India, regardless of where the company is based. The law emphasizes clear guidelines on data processing, user consent, and penalties for non-compliance.

 Some of the key highlights of DPDP you need to know about include:

  •  Data fiduciary responsibilities – Organizations handling personal data must implement robust security measures, restrict access based on need, and maintain data protection accountability. In some cases, they must also appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO).
  • Consent that is explicit – Before processing personal data, organizations must get clear, affirmative consent from individuals. Users must actively agree to data collection – pre-checked boxes or implied permissions won’t cut it.
  • Access and erasure rights – Individuals have the right to know what data an organization holds about them. They can request updates, corrections, or deletion of their data – essentially giving them the power to have control over their personal information.
  • Data transfer across borders – The Indian government has the authority to regulate the transfer of personal data outside of India to make sure that its residents’ data is not mishandled or exploited in countries with weaker privacy laws.
  • Strict penalties – Non-compliance can result in hefty fines, reaching up to INR 250 crore ($30 million USD). For businesses failing to obtain proper consent, mishandling data, or violating data security protocols, it likely will also mean big financial and reputational damages.

Comparing India’s DPDP Act to the EU’s GDPR

It’s clear there are major similarities between the DPDP Act and GDPR, since they both emphasize data rights, consent, and security. But there are also differences which reflect regional approaches to data protection and the specific needs of each jurisdiction. Understanding these distinctions is important for organizations operating within multiple regulatory frameworks.

Some of these differences include:

  • Scope of application – GDPR applies broadly to any organization handling EU citizens’ data, while DPDP is specific to Indian residents.
  • Data localization – While GDPR allows free movement of data across the EU, DPDP instills restrictions on transferring sensitive personal data outside of India.
  • Reporting of a breach – While DPDP’s reporting requirements are still evolving, GDPR establishes strict and specific breach notification timelines.

Why DPDP compliance matters

Pretending you don’t know the DPDP Act exists or ignoring it all together isn’t an option. With India’s skyrocketing digital economy, regulatory compliance is extremely important. Organizations that fail to comply will risk reputational damage, legal penalties, and the loss of consumer trust.

However, a well-structured data protection strategy can provide businesses with not only compliance, but a competitive advantage. By demonstrating a commitment to data privacy, they can build stronger relationships with customers and stakeholders. Proactive steps for compliance also minimize the risk of security breaches, ensuring long-term operational stability.

How technology can help

Navigating data privacy regulations can feel overwhelming. However, approaches such as AI-driven data security governance can help businesses maintain compliance by:

  • Discovering and classifying structured and unstructured personal and sensitive data across cloud and on-premises repositories.
  • Monitoring and autonomously remediating data access and sharing to detect risky permissions, overexposed data, and unauthorized sharing.
  • Automating compliance monitoring to ensure your data practices align with the DPDP Act’s requirements.
  • Obtaining real-time insights to mitigate risks and prevent data breaches and unauthorized access.

India’s DPDP Act is a major step toward stronger data privacy and protection. With the proper intelligent data security solutions and practices in place, you can stay ahead of compliance challenges and keep data protected.  

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Navigating HIPAA In The Digital Age: How Marketing Teams Can Avoid Costly Violations

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In an era where data drives strategy and personalized outreach is key to consumer engagement, marketing teams face mounting pressure to deliver results, especially in healthcare. However, when marketing initiatives intersect with protected health information (PHI), the stakes are significantly higher. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) places strict limitations on how healthcare organizations collect, store, and share patient data. For cybersecurity professionals, ensuring compliance in this digital landscape means taking a proactive role in educating and guiding marketing departments. 

Understanding the HIPAA-Marketing Relationship 

HIPAA was enacted to protect sensitive patient information and to ensure privacy in healthcare transactions. While its relevance to clinicians and healthcare administrators is well-known, marketing teams often overlook their exposure to compliance risks, especially when campaigns target individuals based on health data or behavior. Whether through email campaigns, social media ads, or consumer lead lists, mishandling PHI can result in severe penalties, lawsuits, and long-term reputational damage. 

The challenge lies in the broad definition of PHI. Data points such as names, email addresses, medical conditions, appointment histories, and insurance information are all protected under HIPAA. Even indirect indicators — such as targeting people who downloaded a fertility app or visited a diabetes treatment page — can raise red flags if that data is not properly anonymized. 

Where Marketing Can Go Wrong 

One of the most common pitfalls involves using consumer lead lists that contain health-related information. Purchased or shared lists often lack clear data lineage or proper consent mechanisms. If a marketing team sends emails or digital ads to these contacts without verified HIPAA authorization, the organization could be found in violation even if the marketers were unaware of the regulations. 

Similarly, integrating PHI into customer relationship management (CRM) systems without proper encryption or access controls can create vulnerabilities. Misconfigured cloud storage, unsecured API integrations, and poor endpoint protection are other common weak spots. These missteps aren’t just technical flaws — they represent legal liabilities. 

Cybersecurity professionals must also watch for oversights during the handoff between departments. For example, a healthcare provider may collect patient feedback through a post-visit survey. If those responses are later used for testimonial marketing without HIPAA-compliant consent forms, the organization may unknowingly breach privacy regulations. 

Strategies for HIPAA-Compliant Marketing 

  1. Implement Access Controls: Ensure that only authorized personnel — such as HIPAA-trained marketers or legal advisors — can access data tied to individuals’ health information. 
  2. Audit Data Sources: Verify that all data used in campaigns is collected with proper consent and is HIPAA-compliant. This includes vetting third-party vendors and lead list providers for compliance documentation. 
  3. Use Deidentified Data When Possible: HIPAA permits the use of deidentified data for marketing, provided that all 18 identifiers outlined by the law are removed. Work with data privacy experts to confirm deidentification standards are met. 
  4. Secure Communication Channels: Any emails or digital communication involving PHI must be encrypted. Secure email platforms and SSL certificates are essential for any form of electronic outreach. 
  5. Train Marketing Teams: Regular training sessions on HIPAA and digital marketing ethics can help nontechnical team members understand how to handle data responsibly. Awareness is often the first line of defense. 
  6. Review Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): Ensure BAAs are in place with all marketing vendors who handle PHI. These agreements legally bind third parties to follow HIPAA rules. 

Cybersecurity’s Expanding Role 

For cybersecurity professionals, HIPAA compliance now extends beyond IT infrastructure. With the marketing department increasingly relying on data analytics and personalized targeting, cybersecurity must collaborate across departments. This includes helping select compliant martech tools, conducting risk assessments for marketing workflows, and establishing clear protocols for data segmentation and use. 

Additionally, incident response plans must now include potential marketing-related breaches. If an unauthorized ad campaign mistakenly reveals PHI, the fallout is both a privacy and PR crisis. Being prepared for such incidents is crucial. 

Prevention Over Penalties 

The digital transformation of healthcare marketing offers exciting opportunities but also introduces complex risks. For organizations navigating this evolving landscape, a unified approach between cybersecurity and marketing is essential. By identifying risks early and adopting HIPAA-compliant practices, cybersecurity professionals can play a pivotal role in preventing costly violations. 

Whether you’re working with consumer lead lists or developing targeted campaigns, remember: The goal is not just to market effectively — it’s to market ethically and legally. In the digital age, success is measured not only by clicks and conversions but by trust and compliance. 

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Author bio: Richard Bufkin is President of TargetLeads a division of Senior Direct Inc., a direct mail marketing company. With over 20 years of experience, he focuses on lead generation and growing the business. 

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Chinese espionage group leans on open-source tools to mask intrusions

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A Chinese state-sponsored hacking group has been observed using recently released open-source offensive security tools and other tactics in an effort to blend in with more common cybercriminal activity.

The group, UNC5174, is an espionage-minded hacking group that is believed to have ties to the Chinese government and targets Western governments, technology companies, research institutions and think tanks.

In a new campaign observed by researchers at Sysdig, the group was seen using VShell — an open-source Remote Access Trojan made by a Chinese developer and popular among Chinese cybercriminals — to carry out post-exploitation activity.

They were also spotted using WebSockets — a set of open-source communication protocols — to communicate with command-and-control infrastructure, masking much of its malicious traffic through encrypted transmissions.

This was apparently effective, as Sysdig threat research engineer Alessandra Rizzo noted that “our runtime capture confirms that, except for a few random words, we found nothing of note in the network traffic once the connection was upgraded to a WebSocket.”

The observed behavior aligns with a broader trend researchers are seeing, with more advanced and state-sponsored threat actors foregoing bespoke tooling in favor of open source or cheaper tools used by “script kiddies,” or lower technical cybercriminals.  

This approach “seems to hold especially true for this particular threat actor, who has been under the radar for the last year since being affiliated with the Chinese government,” Rizzo wrote. It’s also notable because “nearly all” of UNC5174’s tooling observed until the past year had been custom-built and “not easily-copied.”

UNC5174 was seen using both Vshell and WebSockets as recently as January, even as the group continued to rely on custom malware for post-exploitation while targeting Linux-based systems.

Indeed, one of the calling cards of UNC5174 is the use of SNOWLIGHT, a malware family first identified by researchers at Mandiant that acts in tandem with VShell to deploy fileless malware on victim systems.

In this latest campaign, the actors use a payload called “dnsloger” that is part of the SNOWLIGHT family. They took actions that reflected in-depth knowledge of Linux-based operating systems, including methods for maintaining persistence, defensive evasion, and injection techniques.

It’s not clear how UNC5174 is obtaining initial access to victim systems, but included among the artifacts discovered by Sysdig researchers are a number of command-and-control domains that suggest that typosquatted website domains and phishing tactics were used.

The findings align with other recently reported activity around UNC5174.

In 2024, the French Cybersecurity Agency ANSSI observed an attacker using the same tactics, techniques and procedures as UNC5174’s exploitation of vulnerabilities in Ivanti’s Cloud Service Appliance product, giving them remote code execution privileges on infected machines. That attack included the use of a zero-day flaw (CVE2024-8190) days before Ivanti published a security advisory.

But further investigation of infected victims by the agency found that the group had used “common intrusion set” to gain initial access, and suggested that UNC5174 may have been selling its access to the highest bidder.

“Moderately sophisticated and discreet, this intrusion set is characterised by the use of intrusion tools largely available as open source and by the — already publicly reported — use of a rootkit10 code,” the agency wrote. “Post-exploitation activities do nevertheless differ from one incident to the next, which supports the hypothesis of an intrusion set being used as a means to secure initial access points, to then be sold off or entrusted to other operators.”

Rizzo wrote that UNC5174’s use of open-source tools like VShell and WebSockets has likely helped the group mask its presence in other, yet-to-be discovered campaigns.

“The lack of public documentation on VShell being employed by this threat actor is telling, as the evidence we have gathered shows that this campaign has been active since at least November 2024,” Rizzo noted.

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Tax Season’s Silent Threat: The Importance of Securing the Software Supply Chain

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In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a warning to five of the most popular tax preparation companies, stating they could face civil penalties if they used confidential data collected from consumers – for unrelated purposes. 

Two years after the warning was published, an even greater concern has emerged — the integrity of the tax prep companies’ software. Gartner predicts that by this year, 45% of organizations worldwide will have experienced attacks on their software supply chains. If compromised, for tax prep businesses and their customers, the consequences of a software supply chain attack could be devastating. The potential threats and damages would extend well beyond the April 15 tax deadline.  

The Hidden Risks in Tax Software 

Sensitive data within tax prep software includes anything from finances to personal details such as marital status and children, and even health details — all of which are a top target for cybercriminals. Adversaries can use this information to conduct identity theft, tax refund, and other forms of financial fraud, targeted phishing attacks, and even extortion and blackmail. 

One of the most common ways that adversaries attempt to penetrate tax prep companies’ networks is by exploiting vulnerabilities in their software. Tax software, like the overwhelming majority of all software today, is made up of open-source components. Unfortunately, these dependencies often bring a multitude of security weaknesses. 

Nearly all (95%) of security weaknesses originate within open-source packages, with half of these vulnerabilities, across all severity levels, having no known fixes. In addition, nearly three-fourths of open-source components are either poorly or no longer maintained. 

With the demand that tax season brings on these organizations’ developers, it is nearly impossible for them and security teams to keep up with software supply chain maintenance and governance needs, leaving wide open gaps for threat actors to infiltrate. Plus, the recent IRS reduction in force could also increase IT security threats and make it easier for cybercriminals to break in due to fewer employees, delayed security updates and patches, and diminished security threats and inquiries. 

Strengthening Tax Software from the Inside Out 

Fortunately, there are steps tax companies’ developers and security teams can take to stay secure all year long. 

  1. Get to Know What’s in Your Software: Developers and security teams don’t have X-Ray vision, so tax companies need to have a solution that can generate a comprehensive software bill of materials (SBOM). SBOMs can provide visibility into all open-source, third-party, and custom-developed software components, ensuring that even the deepest layers of dependencies meet the current compliance standards and don’t introduce risk. 
  2. Keep Your SBOMs Organized: Sometimes tax prep companies need to access an SBOM quickly to either verify the origin of software, provide it for a third-party, or pull information for other software. Tax prep companies need to have a secure channel to share SBOMs and security attestations when needed, all while maintaining confidentiality. 
  3. Hold Third-Parties to a High Security Standard: Tax prep companies work with a variety of third-party vendors, including e-filing and payment processors, identity verification and fraud prevention companies, cloud and hosting providers, and even marketing and analytics companies. Tax organizations must have the ability to verify the safety of third-party software and track, share, and manage SBOMs across multiple partners to ensure the integrity of the entire software ecosystem.
  4. Don’t Wait for a Vulnerability to Present a Problem: Identifying vulnerabilities is only half of the battle. Tax organizations also need to take action to fix them quickly, especially for open-source code that might not even have a patch available. Fortunately, there are solutions on the market that can help developers prioritize which vulnerabilities to address first and provide guidance on how to fix them. 

In order for tax companies to stay safe throughout the busy tax prep season, it’s imperative that they focus on proactive cybersecurity measures such as utilizing multi-factor authentication, ensuring that there are regular software updates, conducting strong encryption protocols, and providing security user education programs. 

While all of these measures certainly help, all of it is futile without a strong, secure software supply chain. Tax prep companies can protect user data year-round by maintaining SBOMs, holding partners accountable, and proactively managing vulnerabilities. 

 

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AWS Weekly Review: Amazon S3 Express One Zone price cuts, Pixtral Large on Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Nova Sonic, and more (April 14, 2025)

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The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit 2025 season launched this week, starting with the Paris Summit. These free events bring together the global cloud computing community for learning and collaboration. AWS Community Day Romania, held on April 11th, showcased how the local community creates opportunities for collective growth and inclusion.

Last week’s launches
Announcing up to 85% price reductions for Amazon S3 Express One Zone — S3 Express One Zone, a high-performance storage class, now has reduced storage prices by 31 percent, PUT request prices by 55 percent, and GET request prices by 85 percent. In addition, S3 Express One Zone has reduced the per-GB charges for data uploads and retrievals by 60 percent. These charges now apply to all bytes transferred rather than just portions of requests greater than 512 KB.

Here is a price reduction table in the US East (N. Virginia) AWS Region:

Price Previous New Price reduction
Storage
(per GB-Month)		 $0.16 $0.11 31%
Writes
(PUT requests)		 $0.0025 per 1,000 requests up to 512 KB $0.00113 per 1,000 requests 55%
Reads
(GET requests)		 $0.0002 per 1,000 requests up to 512 KB $0.00003 per 1,000 requests 85%
Data upload
(per GB)		 $0.008 $0.0032 60%
Data retrievals
(per GB)		 $0.0015 $0.0006 60%

AWS announces Pixtral Large 25.02 model in Amazon Bedrock serverless — The Pixtral Large 25.02, developed by Mistral AI, combines advanced vision and language understanding, boasting a 128K context window and multilingual capabilities. This agent-centric design simplifies integration with existing systems. Prompt adherence improves reliability when working with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) applications and large context scenarios.

Introducing Amazon Nova Sonic: Human-like voice conversations for generative AI applications — Amazon Nova Sonic, the newest addition to the Amazon Nova family of foundation models (FMs) is available in Amazon Bedrock to create human-like voice conversations for applications. It unifies speech and text processing into one model, reducing complexity and enhancing natural interactions. Start today with the Amazon Nova model cookbook repository.

Amazon Bedrock Guardrails enhances generative AI application safety with new capabilities — Amazon Bedrock Guardrails introduces new capabilities to enhance generative AI application safety, including multimodal toxicity detection, enhanced Personally Identifiable Information (PII) protection, AWS Identity and Access Management (AWS IAM) policy enforcement, selective guardrail application, and monitor mode for pre-deployment analysis.

AWS App Studio introduces a prebuilt solutions catalog and cross-instance Import and Export — This is a prebuilt solutions catalog with ready-to-use applications and patterns and cross-instance Import and Export functionality. These features help you streamline development applications, reducing setup time to under 15 minutes. Learn more about this in AWS App Studio introduces a prebuilt solutions catalog and cross-instance Import and Export blog.

Amazon Nova Reel 1.1: Featuring up to 2-minutes multi-shot videos — Amazon Nova Reel 1.1 enhances video generation through Amazon Bedrock with support for 2-minute multi-shot videos. You can now create content using either single prompts for automatic generation or custom prompts for individual shots, offering flexible options for marketing and social media content creation.

AWS IAM Identity Center now offers improved error messages and AWS CloudTrail logging for provisioning issues — AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Identity Center has enhanced its service with improved error messages and AWS CloudTrail logging capabilities. These updates help users better troubleshoot synchronization issues when managing workforce identities across AWS accounts and applications, while enabling automated monitoring and auditing of provisioning problems.

AWS WAF Console adds new top insights visualizations in additional regions — AWS WAF Console now offers enhanced traffic visualization features in AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. The all traffic dashboard includes new top insights based on Amazon CloudWatch logs, helping customers analyze traffic patterns, identify security threats, and optimize WAF configurations through detailed metrics.

AWS Step Functions expands data source and output options for Distributed Map — AWS Step Functions enhances Distributed Map with expanded data source support, including JSONL and various delimited file formats from Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). The update also adds new output transformation options, enabling more flexible parallel processing workflows and better integration with downstream systems.

Amazon CloudWatch now provides lock contention diagnostics for Aurora PostgreSQL — Amazon CloudWatch Database Insights introduces lock contention diagnostics for Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL in Advanced mode. The feature visualizes blocking and waiting sessions, helping users identify root causes of lock contention issues, with 15-month historical data retention for comprehensive troubleshooting.

Get updated with all the announcements of AWS announcements on the What’s New with AWS? page.

Other AWS blog posts
Reduce ML training costs with Amazon SageMaker HyperPod — Amazon SageMaker HyperPod addresses hardware failures in large-scale Machine Learning (ML) model training by automatically detecting and replacing faulty instances. The solution reduces downtime from 280 to 40 minutes per failure, potentially saving 32% of training time for large clusters. For a 10-million GPU-hour training job, this translates to $25.6M in cost savings.

Model customization, RAG, or both: A case study with Amazon Nova — A study comparing model customization with fine-tuning and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) approaches with Amazon Nova models. Key findings show combining both methods yields best results: RAG works well for dynamic data and domain insights, while fine-tuning excels in specialized tasks and latency reduction.

Generate user-personalized communication with Amazon Personalize and Amazon Bedrock — Amazon Personalize and Amazon Bedrock work together to create personalized marketing emails. Learn how to create personalized user communications by combining Amazon Personalize for movie recommendations with Amazon Bedrock for generating tailored email content based on user preferences and demographics.

Implement human-in-the-loop confirmation with Amazon Bedrock Agents — When implementing human validation in Amazon Bedrock Agents, developers have two primary frameworks at their disposal: user confirmation and return of control (ROC). Using an HR application example, user confirmation allows simple yes/no validation before executing actions, while ROC enables users to modify parameters before execution.

Multi-LLM routing strategies for generative AI applications on AWS — Learn how to implement multi-Large Language Model (LLM) routing strategies for AWS generative AI applications using static routing, dynamic routing with Amazon Bedrock, or custom solutions for optimal model selection and cost efficiency.

Here are my personal favorites posts from community.aws:

Building a RAG System for Video Content Search and Analysis — In this blog, I’ll show you how to build a RAG system that makes video content searchable and analyzable. Unlocking video content has never been more crucial in today’s digital landscape. Whether you’re managing educational materials, corporate training, or entertainment content, the ability to search and analyze video content efficiently can transform how we interact with multimedia resources.

Build Serverless GenAI Apps Faster with Amazon Q Developer CLI Agent — Amazon Q Developer CLI Agent enables rapid serverless GenAI app development. With one prompt, it generates infrastructure code, Lambda functions, and integrates with Claude 3 Haiku on Amazon Bedrock.

Speech-to-Speech AI: From Dr. Sbaitso to Amazon Nova Sonic — The evolution of speech-to-speech AI, from Dr. Sbaitso (1990s) to Amazon Nova Sonic. New AWS service enables real-time bidirectional conversations through Amazon Bedrock for more natural applications.

Setup Model Context Protocol (MCP) using Amazon Bedrock — A guide to setting up Model Context Protocol (MCP) desktop client with Amazon Bedrock models, enabling seamless integration between AI applications and external tools using Goose client.

Upcoming AWS events
Check your calendars and sign up for these upcoming AWS events:

AWS GenAI Lofts — GenAI Lofts available around the world, offer collaborative spaces and immersive experiences for startups and developers. You can join in-person GenAI Loft San Francisco events such as GenAI in EdTech: A Hands-On Workshop (April 15), and Unstructured Data Meetup SF (April 16). Find your nearest event at GenAI Lofts.

AWS Summits — Join free online and in-person events that bring the cloud computing community together to connect, collaborate, and learn about AWS. Register in your nearest city: Amsterdam (April 16), London (April 30), and Poland (May 5).

AWS re:Inforce — AWS re:Inforce (June 16–18) in Philadelphia, PA, is our annual learning event devoted to all things AWS cloud security. Registration is open. Be ready to join more than 5,000 security builders and leaders.

AWS Community Days — Join community-led conferences featuring technical discussions, workshops, and hands-on labs driven by expert AWS users and industry leaders from around the world. Upcoming AWS Community Days are scheduled for April 19 in Turkey, and on April 29 in Prague with Jeff Barr as Opening Keynote Speaker.

You can browse all upcoming in-person and virtual events.

Create your AWS Builder ID and reserve your alias. Builder ID is a universal login credential that gives you access—beyond the AWS Management Console—to AWS tools and resources, including over 600 free training courses, community features, and developer tools such as Amazon Q Developer.

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Weekly Roundup!

— Eli

Thanks to Andra Somesan for the AWS Community Romania photo and Thembile Martis for the AWS Paris Summit photo.

This post is part of our Weekly Roundup series. Check back each week for a quick roundup of interesting news and announcements from AWS!

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