Research Database Manager and Senior Analyst at @ICARDA interested in #DataScience, #AI, #RStats, #PHP and #Arabic Language. Views are my own.

Cairo, Egypt
Joined April 2009
Wrapping up the year grateful for an inspiring work environment and an incredible global team. Learning every day from colleagues across Chile, Mexico, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Senegal, India, and beyond. Different cultures, one shared purpose. Onward to an even stronger year ahead
5
1,292
This may be the 1st wave of AI impact on our existing systems at scale. Vulnerabilities can be found faster than systems can be patched and hardened. Whether that leads to stronger security in the long run or serious disruption along the way, I am not sure 😩
Everyday is zero-day these days
1
69
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
The Palestinian people continue to endure immense suffering. Israeli restrictions on humanitarian assistance must be lifted. The obstacles to implementation of the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict endorsed by the Security Council must be removed. Civilians must be protected. And international law must be respected. The two-State solution remains the only viable path: Israel & Palestine living side-by-side in peace & security.
744
1,273
94
4,182
133,397
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
I’m deeply alarmed by Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank. Settlements are expanding, evictions are unrelenting with Palestinians driven from their lands, settler violence is surging, Palestinian families are being assaulted.  We are seeing an increasingly coercive environment, with the spectre of ethnic cleansing looming ever larger.  This must end.  There can be no durable peace in the Middle East without the realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
1,731
3,252
244
9,922
372,116
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
I left Washington just after Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. When I arrived in the U.K., the debate was whether Britain should follow. Today, Britain has recognised the State of Palestine and imposed sanctions on Israel. If change is possible in the U.K., it is possible in the U.S., and it's happening.
21
146
4
363
11,646
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
كمان ساعة ان شاء الله اتعملك Hack ولا لسه؟ في حلقة جديدة من بودكاست الويك اند بنتكلم عن الـ Security، والـ Hacks والـ Critical Vulnerabilities اللي بنسمع عنها كل شوية، حتى في أكبر الشركات. ليه المشاكل دي بتحصل؟ وهل إحنا كـ Software Engineers بنستهين بالـ Security؟ وإيه اللي المفروض نغيره في طريقة بناء الـ Software عشان نقلل المشاكل دي؟
2
5
72
3,977
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
#StoriesOf2025 A story from 2025 that holds a special place in our hearts. ❤️ Syria is where ICARDA’s story began. After years of conflict took a heavy toll on agriculture, a new chapter is taking shape focused on restoring local agricultural systems and building resilience. 🌱 Explore how ICARDA is working with the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture to support this new chapter. Read our 2025 Annual Report: annual-report.icarda.org/202…
4
7
521
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
حتى لو مش هتبني نموذج معرفة الكلام ده مهم و ان شاء الله يكون بداية خير، مجهود اكثر من رائع 👏👏👏
نكمل رحلتنا مع مشروع (الجبرتي) المشروع التعليمي الوحيد باللغة العربية اللي هدفه يساعد الناس أن تتمكن من صنع نماذج لغوية, بنفس الطريقة التي تحدث في أكبر المختبرات العالمية كيف تطور نموذج لغوي, من الصفر بإستخدام PyTorch حلقتنا الجديدة مع Embeddings youtu.be/LoiwWHreksA ..
1
4
220
6,352
We believe voice is the most natural way to interact with intelligence, so we created Dessa, the most authentic full-duplex speech model ever built. Talking with it feels like talking with a person…full of emotion, nuance, pauses, and a natural cadence. block.xyz/dessa
1
88
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
Set session.upload_progress.enabled=0 till next PHP release to block an unlikely RCE vector (CVE-2026-115560). Already recommended for CVE-2026-109619 Wed, keep disabled. Only apps with non-default serialize_handler switching it to "php" at runtime can be affected. #php #phpc
50
902
151
2,848
406,495
Cancelling a subscription shouldn't be this hard. If you can sign up with a click, you must be able to cancel with one. Head to nyc.gov/click-to-cancel to file a complaint against any business that makes it hard to cancel a subscription.
1,094
4,283
608
42,434
1,766,629
تصريح د. نزار حداد، المدير العام على هامش توقيع #الصندوق_الكويتي للتنمية اتفاقية منحة مع المركز الدولي للبحوث الزراعية في المناطق الجافة «إيكاردا»، للإسهام في تمويل مشروع تطوير ونشر الأصناف الزراعية المحسّنة وراثياً باستخدام الحلول الذكية. يهدف المشروع إلى تحديث وتسريع برامج التحسين الوراثي للمحاصيل الزراعية، من خلال تطوير أصناف محسّنة قادرة على التكيّف مع التغيرات المناخية والظروف البيئية في المناطق الجافة وشبه الجافة بالدول العربية. A statement by Dr. Nizar Haddad, Director-General of (ICARDA) on the sidelines of the grant agreement signing between#KuwaitFund for Development and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (@ICARDA ) to contribute to the financing of a smart solutions-based project for developing and disseminating genetically improved agricultural varieties. It aims to update and accelerate genetically improved agricultural crops programs through developing modified varieties capable of adapting to climate change and environmental conditions of dry and semi-dry regions in Arab states.
1
4
1
7
950
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
A major milestone for climate-resilient agriculture across the Arab region! ICARDA and @KuwaitFund have signed the Regional Breeding Modernization Project (BredMod 2.0), implemented with the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). Together, we aim to modernize crop breeding, accelerate the development of climate-resilient varieties, and strengthen food security across the Arab region. Read more: icarda.org/media/news/kfaed-…
1
3
1
13
963
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
OpenAI models helped researchers—operating as part of our Patch the Planet initiative—discover critical security flaws in PHP, an open-source programming language used to run an estimated 70% of websites. Over the past two months, we led a coalition of maintainers, researchers, and security providers to prepare fixes and protections ahead of disclosure. This duration was necessary because the fix was quite intricate and required a major change to the PHP engine. Every site using PHP can now safely upgrade their version to stay secure, in addition to applying mitigations from various security vendors. Due to the severity of these flaws and PHP’s widespread use, we consider this bug to be one of the most impactful vulnerabilities in recent memory. It also marks a new phase, where AI can find security bugs with internet-scale impact. This is an example of the Defender’s Window in action: to our knowledge, frontier AI was able to find this vulnerability ahead of attackers, giving defenders time to prepare. openai.com/index/coordinated…
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
‪OpenAI may claim a role in the coordinated response and patching process. But the initial discovery and exploit development, however, occurred several months earlier by an independent researcher.‬ ‪x.com/lcfr_hax/statu…‬
623
2,874
1,524
14,473
5,910,180
IF AN IMMEDIATE UPDATE IS NOT FEASIBLE, IT IS RECOMMEND THAT ORGANIZATIONS TAKE THE SYSTEM OFFLINE UNTIL IT CAN BE FULLY MITIGATED. 🤯 💣
Effective Immediately, all organizations using PHP for their systems are advised to be prepared for an update addressing two critical vulnerabilities. PHP is widely used for web applications. These vulnerabilities often provide a direct path to the server's file system or database. If an immediate update is not feasible, it is recommend that organizations take the system offline until it can be fully mitigated. NSA will follow up shortly with more specific guidance.
1
124
The minimal action if you don't want to take your system offline 🫣
Cloudflare has deployed default web application firewall (WAF) protections for newly disclosed PHP vulnerabilities before public disclosure. The rules use request and response signals to stop exploit attempts and prevent exposed data from reaching attackers. cfl.re/488w8dc
31
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
We have posted more information about today's security releases, including the sequence of events that led to the discovery, how the PHP security team is improving their processes, and what we need from you to continue this critical work. #php #security thephp.foundation/blog/2026/…
50
509
129
1,248
380,413
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
A new frontier for on-device speech. We're open-sourcing Phonon, a suite of TTS models under 50m parameters, setting a new standard for naturalness and accuracy across languages, with the broadest inference support to date. Phonon-31m is available under Apache 2.0. gradium.ai/phonon🧵
164
288
161
2,180
356,309
🚨 BREAKING: PHP is warning admins to prepare for emergency security updates tomorrow to fix two critical vulnerabilities rated CVSS 9.2. However, security researchers at @watchtowrcyber rate the flaws CVSS 10.0 and say they are RCE vulnerabilities affecting PHP 5 through 8. Information about the vulnerabilities has reportedly leaked ahead of disclosure. No known exploitation in the wild. 🔗 bleepingcomputer.com/news/se… bleepingcomputer.com/news/se…
87
Khaled Al-Shamaa retweeted
Now you can co-create Slide Decks & Video Overviews to make sure you're getting *exactly* what you want. Here's how it works: —Select a suggested focus topic from your sources (or type your own) —Select the format, length, language, and visual style —Review and edit the slide outline or video producer notes —Generate, voila! Available to all Pro and Ultra subscribers, try it out and let us know what you think!
52
151
57
1,253
111,195