Wednesday, May 20, 2026

in-security: GitHub VS Code Extension hacked

 GitHub Breached — Employee Device Hack Led to Exfiltration of 3,800+ Internal Repos @Hacker News

Here is a highly condensed breakdown of the GitHub breach:

  • The Incident: Threat actor TeamPCP listed GitHub's internal source code for sale on a cybercrime forum for $50,000, claiming to have stolen roughly 4,000 repositories.

  • The Cause: A single employee's device was compromised via a poisoned Microsoft Visual Studio Code extension.

  • The Impact: GitHub confirmed the exfiltration of ~3,800 internal repositories but stated there is no evidence of impact to customer data or external infrastructure.

  • The Worm Campaign: The breach is linked to TeamPCP's broader "Mini Shai-Hulud" malware campaign. The group used stolen GitHub secrets to hijack Microsoft's official Python package durabletask on PyPI, turning it into a Linux infostealer that automatically propagates across AWS and Kubernetes environments.

I'm getting tired... - YouTube by MaxS
GitHub hacked


Tesla Giga Solar Factory @ TX

Tesla's Giant Solar Factory Is Real & The Scale Is Hard to Believe - YouTube by The Electric Viking

Tesla is building what could become the world's largest solar panel factory in Brookshire, Texas, near Houston. The project is remarkably ambitious, targeting an annual production capacity of 100 gigawatts, which is vastly larger than existing domestic competitors and represents a significant increase over Tesla's previous, much smaller solar efforts in Buffalo, New York.

Key takeaways regarding this expansion include:

  • Vertical Integration: The facility is designed for full-scale, integrated production, covering everything from ingot growth and wafer slicing to photovoltaic cell production and final panel assembly.
  • Strategic Collocation: The plant is being built at the same site as Tesla's existing "Mega Pack" factory. This allows Tesla to produce solar panels and energy storage batteries side-by-side, which the company views as a major operational advantage for its sustainable energy ecosystem.
  • Significant Investment: Unlike previous projects that relied heavily on government subsidies, this factory is funded by billions of dollars of Tesla's own capital, including massive investments in manufacturing equipment sourced from China.
  • Impact on Industry: Even if the project only reaches a fraction of its 100-gigawatt goal, it would still represent an unprecedented shift in domestic solar manufacturing capacity and could fundamentally change the global renewable energy market.

Tesla's stated goal of 100 gigawatts of annual production is staggeringly ambitious compared to the current US solar landscape:

  • Domestic Context: The largest domestic manufacturer, First Solar, is projected to reach about 17.7 gigawatts of capacity by 2027. Tesla’s goal is nearly six times that amount from a single facility.
  • National Scale: In 2023, the entire United States saw approximately 32 gigawatts of total solar installations. Tesla aims to manufacture more than three times the country's entire annual installation volume every single year from its new Texas plant.


Battery Costs Just Plunged 70% — This Changes Everything - YouTube

Battery storage costs have plummeted by approximately 70% over the last two years, fundamentally transforming the global energy landscape. This massive price drop has shifted battery storage from a niche technology to essential core infrastructure.
  • Key takeaways include:Market Reset: Batteries are now effectively replacing traditional baseload power and competing directly with gas peaker plants by providing flexible, reliable energy.

  • Rapid Deployment: Unlike traditional power plants, battery projects can be built and deployed extremely quickly to meet rising electricity demand from AI, data centers, and electrification.

  • Technological Shift: The industry has overwhelmingly adopted Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) chemistry for stationary storage due to its superior durability, safety, and cost-effectiveness.

  • Exponential Growth: Global storage capacity is scaling rapidly, with projections suggesting a massive increase in installed capacity over the next decade, further solidifying renewables as the backbone of the grid.




OpenAI API Prompt guidance

Prompt guidance | OpenAI API

"GPT-5.5 works best when prompts define the outcome and leave room for the model to choose an efficient solution path. Compared with earlier models, you can often use shorter, more outcome-oriented prompts: describe what good looks like, what constraints matter, what evidence is available, and what the final answer should contain.

Avoid carrying over every instruction from an older prompt stack. Legacy prompts often over-specify the process because earlier models needed more help staying on track. With GPT-5.5, that can add noise, narrow the model’s search space, or lead to overly mechanical answers."



 

Virtual Private Servers (VPS) for AI tools


what is VPS - Google Search
A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a virtualized, isolated server environment hosted on a physical machine by a provider. It acts as a dedicated, private space with its own operating system, RAM, and CPU, offering more power and control than shared hosting but at a lower cost than a full dedicated server.

Key Aspects of VPS:

  • Virtualization:
    A software layer (hypervisor) divides one physical server
    into multiple isolated virtual machines.

  • Dedicated Resources:
    Unlike shared hosting, you have reserved CPU and RAM,
    providing consistent performance.

  • Root Access:
    Users typically have full administrative control (root access),
    allowing customization of software and security.

  • Scalability:
    Resources can be adjusted easily
    as a website or application grows.

VPS Essentials - The Practical Guide | Academind
Learn how to configure, harden and use a VPS -
no matter if for web app hosting, utility workflows, recurring tasks or AI agents like OpenClaw.


A beginner-friendly but practical guide to provisioning, hardening, and using a Linux VPS for web app hosting, recurring jobs, and AI agent workflows, including SSH, Tailscale, Docker, reverse proxies, and TLS.