Hackers who sabotaged the Olympic games return for more mischief

Olympic Destroyer gang may be planning new destructive hacks, researchers say.

Enlarge (credit: National Archives Archeological Site)

The advanced hacking group that sabotaged the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February has struck again, this time in attacks that targeted financial institutions in Russia and chemical- and biological-threat prevention labs in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, researchers said.

The new campaigns began last month with spear-phishing emails that were designed to infect targeted companies with malware that collected detailed information about their computers and networks. One of the malicious Word documents referred to Spiez Convergence, a biochemical threat conference that’s organized by the Spiez Laboratory, which played a key role in the investigation of the poisoning in March of a former Russian spy in the UK. UK government officials have said Russia was behind the poisoning. A second document targeted health and veterinary control authorities in Ukraine.

Researchers from Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab said that documents in the phishing emails closely resemble those used to infect organizers, suppliers, and partners of the Winter Olympic Games in the months preceding the February Pyeongchang attack. These initial infections allowed the attackers to spend months developing detailed knowledge of the networks supporting the games. One of the key reasons the malware dubbed Olympic Destroyer was so successful in disrupting the Olympics was it used this knowledge to sabotage the networks. The discovery of a new phishing campaign by the same group raises the possibility they are intended to support new sabotage hacks.

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Project Debater: KI von IBM gewinnt Debatte gegen einen Menschen

Politiker und Anwälte aufgepasst: Der Computer könnte bald überzeugender sein. IBM hat ein KI-System entwickelt, das eine Debatte führen kann. Ein erster Test Mensch gegen Maschine verlief 1:1 unentschieden. (IBM, KI)

Politiker und Anwälte aufgepasst: Der Computer könnte bald überzeugender sein. IBM hat ein KI-System entwickelt, das eine Debatte führen kann. Ein erster Test Mensch gegen Maschine verlief 1:1 unentschieden. (IBM, KI)

Handelskrieg: US-Senat stimmt gegen Einigung mit ZTE

ZTE ist wieder von US-Technologien ausgeschlossen. Das haben die Senatoren im US-Kongress entschieden. Es wird erwartet, dass Trump dagegen aktiv wird. (ZTE, Wirtschaft)

ZTE ist wieder von US-Technologien ausgeschlossen. Das haben die Senatoren im US-Kongress entschieden. Es wird erwartet, dass Trump dagegen aktiv wird. (ZTE, Wirtschaft)

Lieferflatrate Otto Up: Otto ist chancenlos gegen Ebay und Amazon

Der Versandhändler Otto bietet neuerdings eine Lieferflatrate an und will so mit Amazon und Ebay mithalten. Die Otto Up genannte Option enttäuscht uns aber mit zu vielen Einschränkungen. Eine Analyse von Ingo Pakalski (Otto, Amazon)

Der Versandhändler Otto bietet neuerdings eine Lieferflatrate an und will so mit Amazon und Ebay mithalten. Die Otto Up genannte Option enttäuscht uns aber mit zu vielen Einschränkungen. Eine Analyse von Ingo Pakalski (Otto, Amazon)

Amazon-Aktionäre: Amazon soll Rekognition nicht an die Polizei verkaufen

Rekognition soll für Strafverfolger tabu sein: Aktionäre des Onlinehändlers Amazon haben dessen Chef Jeff Bezos aufgefordert, das Gesichtserkennungssystem nicht mehr an staatliche Stellen zu verkaufen. Sie befürchten Überwachung und Willkür. (Jeff Bezo…

Rekognition soll für Strafverfolger tabu sein: Aktionäre des Onlinehändlers Amazon haben dessen Chef Jeff Bezos aufgefordert, das Gesichtserkennungssystem nicht mehr an staatliche Stellen zu verkaufen. Sie befürchten Überwachung und Willkür. (Jeff Bezos, Amazon)

Man who allegedly gave Vault 7 cache to WikiLeaks busted by poor opsec

FBI used passwords used on suspect’s cellphone to also get into his computer.

Enlarge / A man crosses the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) seal in the lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on August 14, 2008. (credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

A federal grand jury has formally indicted Joshua Adam Schulte, a former CIA employee, who prosecutors say was behind the Vault 7 trove of the agency’s hacking tools, which were sent to WikiLeaks.

Schulte, who had previously been prosecuted for possession of child pornography, has been expected to be indicted on the leaking charges for some time now. The New York-based engineer was arrested in August 2017.

According to the new superseding indictment, which was made public on Monday, Schulte faces numerous charges, including illegal gathering of national defense information, transmission of this information, obstruction of justice, among others.

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BitTorrent Is Reportedly Selling for $140 Million

BitTorrent Inc, the parent company behind the popular file-sharing client uTorrent, recently made a deal to sell to Justin Sun, the founder of cryptocurrency TRON. According to new information, Sun has agreed to pay $140 million for the company. While no details have yet been confirmed, a shareholder notes that BitTorrent will in part be used to “legitimize” TRON’s business.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Last month, TF broke the news that Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the popular cryptocurrency TRON, was in the process of acquiring BitTorrent Inc.

The San-Francisco based file-sharing company confirmed the interest from Sun and last week sources added that details of the sale had been finalized.

One of the questions that remained unanswered is how much the company is worth. This gap has now been filled by TechCrunch, which reports that TRON’s founder agreed to pay $140 million to acquire the company.

According to the report, there are still some outstanding issues regarding the terms of the deal. More than one person claims to have introduced Sun to BitTorrent, which guarantees an extra payout. This has yet to be resolved.

It is unclear what Sun’s plans are for BitTorrent but the existing products, including uTorrent, are not expected to go away. According to a shareholder quoted by TechCrunch, one of the plans is to use the acquisition to “legitimize” TRON’s business, which currently has a controversial reputation.

This is an interesting goal, as BitTorrent itself has also dealt with some controversy of its own. The company was previously asked to do more to combat piracy and a few weeks ago, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas launched an investigation into the links between uTorrent usage and images of child exploitation.

While the final details are worked out, BitTorrent – or Rainberry as it’s called now – has begun hiring new personnel. The company is currently looking for a recruiter to hire new talent as well as several developers, including a senior iOS Engineer.

BitTorrent is currently working on a new iOS app which will allow users to play videos on their mobile devices. When completed, it will be released on Apple’s App Store.

The $140 million acquisition follows a turbulent time for BitTorrent during which the company was nearly destroyed due to questionable management practices. At the same time, none of the new products, services, and business models it developed managed to surpass the early success it had with uTorrent.

Whether the deal with TRON’s founder is a turning point has yet to be seen. TorrentFreak reached out to the company to find out more about its future plans but, at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Alte gegen neue Model M: Wenn die Knickfedern wohlig klackern

Seit 1999 gibt es keine Model-M-Tastaturen mit IBM-Logo mehr – das bedeutet aber nicht, dass man keine neuen Keyboards mit dem legendären Tippgefühl bekommt: Unicomp baut die Geräte weiterhin. Wir haben eines der neuen Modelle mit einer Model M von 199…

Seit 1999 gibt es keine Model-M-Tastaturen mit IBM-Logo mehr - das bedeutet aber nicht, dass man keine neuen Keyboards mit dem legendären Tippgefühl bekommt: Unicomp baut die Geräte weiterhin. Wir haben eines der neuen Modelle mit einer Model M von 1992 verglichen. Ein Test von Tobias Költzsch (Tastatur, IBM)

Elektroauto: Elon Musk berichtet über Sabotageversuch eines Mitarbeiters

Tesla-Chef Elon Musk teilt in einer E-Mail allen Angestellten mit, dass es einen schwerwiegenden Sabotageversuch in der Tesla-Fabrik gab. Ein Mitarbeiter sei erwischt worden, Code-Änderungen vorgenommen und Daten geschmuggelt zu haben. (Tesla, Technolo…

Tesla-Chef Elon Musk teilt in einer E-Mail allen Angestellten mit, dass es einen schwerwiegenden Sabotageversuch in der Tesla-Fabrik gab. Ein Mitarbeiter sei erwischt worden, Code-Änderungen vorgenommen und Daten geschmuggelt zu haben. (Tesla, Technologie)

Deutsche Post: Streetscooter wird vorerst weiter gebaut

Nachdem Vorstandsmitglied Jürgen Gerdes bei der Deutschen Post ausscheiden wird, ist die Zukunft der Elektromobile unter dem Namen Streetscooter ungewiss. Zwar will Vorstandschef Frank Appel die Fahrzeuge weiter produzieren, aber nicht auf Dauer. (Stre…

Nachdem Vorstandsmitglied Jürgen Gerdes bei der Deutschen Post ausscheiden wird, ist die Zukunft der Elektromobile unter dem Namen Streetscooter ungewiss. Zwar will Vorstandschef Frank Appel die Fahrzeuge weiter produzieren, aber nicht auf Dauer. (Streetscooter, Technologie)