US Issues Warning After Microsoft Says China Hacked Its Mail Server Program

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: The U.S. has issued an emergency warning after Microsoft said it caught China hacking into its mail and calendar server program, called Exchange. The perpetrator, Microsoft said in a blog post, is a hacker group that the company has “high confidence” is working for the Chinese government and primarily spies on American…

Did ‘Tens of Thousands’ of Bot Accounts Hype GameStop’s Stock and Dogecoin?

Reuters reports: Bots on major social media platforms have been hyping up GameStop Corp and other “meme” stocks, according to an analysis by Massachusetts-based cyber security company PiiQ Media, suggesting organized economic or foreign actors may have played a role in the Reddit-driven trading frenzy… it is unclear how influential they were in the overall saga… PiiQ said it identified very…

What’s the coldest Earth has ever been?

Our planet’s history includes episodes of cold so extreme that glaciers reached sea level in equatorial regions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/whats-coldest-earth-has-ever-been…

Coinbase Says Entire Crypto Market Could Destabilize if Bitcoin’s Creator is Ever Revealed or Sells Their $30 Billion Stake

Coinbase on Thursday released documents for its public debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange via a direct listing. In the filing, the digital trading platform cited as a risk factor Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto — the pseudonym used by the person or group of people who created bitcoin. From a report: If the identity of the creator was revealed, it could…

Microsoft Says SolarWinds Hackers Downloaded Some Azure, Exchange, and Intune Source Code

Microsoft’s security team said today it has formally completed its investigation into its SolarWinds-related breach and found no evidence that hackers abused its internal systems or official products to pivot and attack end-users and business customers. From a report: The OS maker began investigating the breach in mid-December after it was discovered that Russian-linked hackers breached software vendor SolarWinds and inserted…

New York Sues To Shut Down ‘Fraudulent’ Coinseed Crypto Platform

New York’s attorney general filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to shut down the cryptocurrency platform Coinseed for allegedly defrauding thousands of investors, including by charging hidden trading fees and selling “worthless” digital tokens. From a report: Attorney General Letitia James said Coinseed traded cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin without registering as a broker-dealer, and sold “CSD” tokens without authorization to raise money…

Fake Amazon Reviews ‘Being Sold in Bulk’ Online

Fake reviews for products sold on Amazon’s Marketplace are being sold online “in bulk”, according to Which? The consumer group found 10 websites selling fake reviews from $7 each and incentivising positive reviews in exchange for payment or free products. From a report: It suggested the firm was facing an “uphill struggle” against a “widespread fake reviews industry”. An Amazon spokesman…

270 Addresses Are Responsible for 55% of All Cryptocurrency Money Laundering

Criminals who keep their funds in cryptocurrency tend to launder funds through a small cluster of online services, blockchain investigations firm Chainalysis said in a report last week. From a report: This includes services like high-risk (low-reputation) crypto-exchange portals, online gambling platforms, cryptocurrency mixing services, and financial services that support cryptocurrency operations headquartered in high-risk jurisdictions. Criminal activity studied in this…

‘We Need to Inflict Pain’: Mark Zuckerberg’s War on Apple

When Tim Cook told an interviewer that Apple wouldn’t get in a Facebook-style data-collection controversy, “Mr. Zuckerberg shot back that Mr. Cook’s comments were ‘extremely glib’ and ‘not at all aligned with the truth,'” reports the Wall Street Journal. But “In private, Mr. Zuckerberg was even harsher. ‘We need to inflict pain,’ he told his team, for treating the company so…

Canadian Regulator Clears Launch of World’s First Bitcoin ETF

Canada’s main securities regulator has cleared the launch of the world’s first bitcoin exchange traded fund, an investment manager said on Friday, providing investors greater access to the cryptocurrency that has sparked an explosion in trading interest. Reuters reports: The Ontario Securities Commission has approved the launch of Purpose Bitcoin ETF, Toronto-based asset management company Purpose Investments Inc. said in a…