Tech News: Latest Updates from 2026-03-08

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March 8, 2026

On March 8, 2026

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Tech roundup for 2026-03-08.

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Indonesian Teacher Uses AI to Transform Pesantren Learning

According to news.microsoft.com, Hasan Basri, a teacher at Pondok Pesantren Cipasung in Tasikmalaya Regency, is using AI tools to enhance Quran recitation and Arabic language instruction. A dedicated educator since 2016, Hasan has taught Arabic Language and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) at both pesantren and university levels. His journey toward AI adoption was shaped by national-level training programs and the AI Teaching Power program, jointly developed by Microsoft Elevate and NUCare Global by LAZISNU.

By incorporating the Reading Progress feature within Microsoft Teams Learning Accelerators, Hasan now has access to deeper analysis supporting his assessment of pronunciation, tajwid accuracy, and reading structure. Using Microsoft Copilot as a teaching assistant, he can complete administrative tasks such as developing materials, designing assessments, and building structured Arabic language curricula far more efficiently. He reports that time once consumed by paperwork can now be redirected toward nurturing students’ character and moral development.

The shift has also changed how students learn. Through the AI Conversation Practice feature in Copilot, students can independently simulate Arabic conversations. Using Reading Progress and Speaking Progress, Hasan can comprehensively monitor each student’s reading ability — covering pronunciation, tajwid rules, punctuation, and language structure. Students access these tools through personal laptops or shared computers on campus. As the holy month of Ramadan approaches — when Quran study intensifies across pesantren — students can practice independently outside of class hours while Hasan continues to monitor their progress.

Amazon Redshift Adds Reusable Templates for COPY

According to aws.amazon.com, Amazon Redshift now supports templates for the COPY command, allowing users to store and reuse frequently used COPY parameters. This eliminates the need to manually specify parameters for each COPY operation.

Templates help maintain consistency across data ingestion operations that use the COPY command. Users can create standardized configurations for different file types and data sources, ensuring consistent parameter usage across teams and reducing the likelihood of errors caused by manual input.

When parameters need to be updated, changes to the template automatically apply to all future uses, simplifying maintenance and improving operational efficiency.

Support for templates for the COPY command is available in all AWS Regions, including the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions, where Amazon Redshift is available. Further details can be found in the documentation and on the AWS Blog.

Arm and Aston Martin F1 Team Mark IWD 2026

According to newsroom.arm.com, Arm and the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team are spotlighting their joint mentorship program to mark International Women’s Day (IWD) 2026. This year’s IWD, which takes place on March 8, reaches a milestone of 115 years of collective advocacy and progress. The theme for 2026 is “Give to Gain,” encouraging generosity and collaboration to advance gender equality.

The Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team and Arm Accelerate Women Mentor Program, launched last year, was created to foster a cross-company community where mentors and mentees connect regularly, exchange perspectives, and support one another through ongoing check-ins. Kim Sedgwick, Global Co-Chair of Women@Arm, stated that the partnership reflects a shared commitment to retaining and advancing women by creating tangible opportunities for career growth. Kim Willingham, inclusion and outreach lead at Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, highlighted the value of having a sounding board through the program.

On March 4, Arm and the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team hosted a joint event titled “Driving Change” at the AMR Technology Campus (AMRTC) in Silverstone. The fireside discussion included leaders from both organizations, including Andy Howard, Charlotte Eaton and Tamika Curry Smith from Arm, and Janet Wessels and Rob Bloom from the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, alongside Nike Folayan, founder of AFBE. The event emphasized practical outcomes such as toolkits, skills development, actionable behaviors, and follow-up sessions.

Ellie Bramer, engineering manager at Arm, said the program is driven by a passion to support young women in male-dominated work environments. Arm states that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are fundamental to its strategic ambitions, with diverse teams fostering stronger innovation, creativity, and collective problem-solving.

GitHub Security Lab Open-Sources AI Vulnerability Scanner

According to github.blog, the GitHub Security Lab has been using its Taskflow Agent along with new auditing taskflows that specialize in finding web security vulnerabilities in open source projects. The team reports having found more than 80 vulnerabilities so far, with approximately 20 already disclosed. The severity is described as uniformly high, including authorization bypasses and information disclosure vulnerabilities that could allow one user to login as somebody else or access private data of another user.

The framework, called seclab-taskflow-agent, is open source and available via the seclab-taskflows repository. A GitHub Copilot license is required, and the prompts use premium model requests. Users can start a codespace from the repository and run an audit script in the terminal. The scan might take an hour or two to finish on a medium-sized repository, after which results are displayed in an SQLite viewer where rows with a check-mark in the “has_vulnerability” column indicate findings.

Taskflows are YAML files describing a series of tasks for an LLM. The seclab-taskflow-agent runs tasks sequentially, passing results from one task to the next. For example, the framework first divides a repository into components by functionality, then collects information such as entry points, intended privilege, and purposes for each component. This approach is used instead of one large prompt because LLMs have limited context windows and complex, multi-step tasks are often not completed properly. The agent can also run the same task across many components asynchronously, using templated prompts with component-specific details.

Examples of high-impact vulnerabilities found include accessing personally identifiable information (PII) in shopping carts of ecommerce applications or signing in with any password into a chat application. The framework also works on private repos, though the codespace configuration needs to be modified to allow access.

Ransomware Attacks on Schools Surge Globally

According to Kaspersky, ransomware attacks on educational institutions are rising sharply as cybercriminals shift from demanding payment for decryption to extorting victims over stolen data disclosure. This change in tactics has put schools, colleges, and universities squarely in the crosshairs, as institutions face regulatory trouble, potential lawsuits, and reputational damage.

In February 2026, the Sapienza University of Rome suffered a ransomware attack that took internal systems down for three days, with attackers setting a 72 hours countdown for their demands to be met. At the end of 2025, a vocational training center in Treviso was also targeted, while in the UK, Blacon High School had to close for two days to restore its IT systems. A UK government study using 2025 data highlights the scale of the problem:

Institution type	Hit by cyberincidents
Secondary schools	60%
Colleges	85%
Universities	91%

American researchers also noted that ransomware attacks in the global education sector surged by 69% year on year in the first quarter of 2025. Kaspersky explains that phishing remains the primary attack vector, as cybersecurity training for staff and students was long neglected. USB flash drives used by students to hand in assignments also pose a risk, as infected drives can give attackers a foothold in a school’s internal network. To counter these threats, Kaspersky recommends a robust security solution such as Kaspersky Small Office Security, describing it as an affordable, set-it-and-forget-it solution.

Conclusion

Today’s tech news highlights how AI is being adopted across diverse fields—from transforming traditional education in Indonesian pesantren to powering open-source vulnerability scanning at GitHub. At the same time, the rising surge of ransomware attacks on schools worldwide underscores the urgent need for stronger cybersecurity in educational institutions.

FAQ

What Microsoft Teams feature does Hasan Basri use to assess Quran recitation?

He uses the Reading Progress feature within Microsoft Teams Learning Accelerators to analyze pronunciation, tajwid accuracy, and reading structure.

What benefit do the new COPY command templates in Amazon Redshift provide?

They allow users to store and reuse frequently used COPY parameters, ensuring consistency across data ingestion operations and reducing errors caused by manual input.

How many vulnerabilities has the GitHub Security Lab found using its Taskflow Agent?

The team reports having found more than 80 vulnerabilities so far, with approximately 20 already disclosed, including authorization bypasses and information disclosure issues.