Month: December 2020

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Microsoft was hacked by the same group that compromised the networks of software maker SolarWinds and multiple federal agencies, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Citing the same people, the news service said that Microsoft’s own products were then used in follow-on hacks against others. It wasn’t immediately clear how many Microsoft users were affected or what Microsoft products were used. Microsoft representatives weren’t immediately available for comment.

Microsoft is just one of the recent additions to a rapidly growing list of victims in the wide-ranging and advanced hack that reportedly had the backing of the Russian government. Politico reported that the US Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration had evidence the same hackers accessed their networks. Bloomberg News said that three unidentified US states were hacked in the same campaign. The Intercept, meanwhile, said the hackers had been inside the city of Austin, Texas, for months.

Enlarge / This unassuming building in Massachusetts has taken on remarkable significance in recent weeks. (credit: JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Getty Images)

Earlier this week, the FDA released documents that summarized the data on a second SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, this one from a company called Moderna. That document was the background for a meeting of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which would consider whether the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its potential risks. That question is one of the key considerations for the agency as it decides whether to grant an emergency use authorization similar to the one it gave the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

After an all-day meeting that frequently focused on other topics, the committee was near unanimous: 20 votes for approval, none against, and one abstention.

Emergency use authorizations have a number of requirements once a health emergency has been declared. There must be no alternatives that have achieved full FDA approval, there must be reasons to think that the treatment will be effective, and its benefits are considered likely to outweigh its risks. It's that final question—the risk versus benefit balance—that the advisory committee was called to address.

Jeremy Bulloch, the original actor behind the role of famed Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett, has passed away at the age of 75, his family confirmed via a Facebook post. Though the post is currently labeled "private," the information was publicly confirmed on Thursday by Daniel Logan, arguably best known as the child actor who portrayed Boba in the Star Wars prequel films.

The Facebook post, as reviewed by Deadline, includes statements from his family pointing to "health complications, including several years of living with Parkinson's disease." It also stated that Bulloch died close to his longtime home in South London. Logan's Instagram post on the matter said he would "never forget all you've taught me" and "may the force be with you always."

Bulloch's acting history, mostly in the UK, established a certain nerd cred well before becoming Star Wars' popular, mysterious semi-villain. He had recurring roles in the James Bond series (as the Q Branch staffer Smithers in Octopussy and For Your Eyes Only) and as multiple characters through Doctor Who's many, many seasons on BBC1.

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Two separate coalitions of states have filed massive antitrust lawsuits against Google in the past 24 hours, alleging that the company abuses its extensive power to force would-be competitors out of the marketplace and harms consumers in the process.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spearheaded the first suit, which nine other states also signed onto. The second suit is led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, and an additional 36 states and territories signed on.

Antitrust law isn't just about a company being an illegal monopoly or even about being the dominant firm in its market sector. Although being a literal monopoly, with no available competition of any kind, can put you on the fast track to investigation, the law has broader concerns. Primarily, antitrust investigations are about anticompetitive behavior—in short, how a company uses its power. If you're a big company because everyone likes your stuff best, well, you're a big company, congratulations. But if you got to be the dominant company by cheating somehow—strong-arming other firms in the supply chain; targeting anticompetitive acquisitions; colluding with other firms to manipulate market conditions, and so on—that's a problem.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty / Tesla)

Customers who were hoping to put a radio-controlled Hot Wheels Cybertruck under the Christmas tree will be disappointed this holiday season. Mattel has begun telling customers that the hotly anticipated toy won't ship in time for Christmas due to "unexpected challenges," according to Bloomberg. Mattel is now aiming to ship them by May 1.

Mattel unveiled the toy in February, offering two versions: a 1/64 scale model for $20 and a 1/10 scale model for $400. The larger model, which is slated to have working headlights and taillights, sold out within hours. The smaller model is now sold out as well.

This will be a familiar story for many customers who have preordered Tesla's full-sized vehicles. The Model S and Model X both shipped long after their original launch dates. The Model 3 shipped in 2017 as originally promised but did not reach significant volume until 2018.

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The supply chain attack used to breach federal agencies and at least one private company poses a “grave risk” to the United States, in part because the attackers likely used means other than just the SolarWinds backdoor to penetrate networks of interest, federal officials said on Thursday. One of those networks belongs to the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is responsible for the Los Alamos and Sandia labs, according to a report from Politico.

“This adversary has demonstrated an ability to exploit software supply chains and shown significant knowledge of Windows networks,” officials with the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency wrote in an alert. “It is likely that the adversary has additional initial access vectors and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that have not yet been discovered.” CISA, as the agency is abbreviated, is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

Elsewhere, officials wrote: “CISA has determined that this threat poses a grave risk to the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations.”

Enlarge / Ever notice that nobody talks about the procedure to replace the glass after the emergency is over? (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

With the worst of a storm of misinformation—and disinformation—about the 2020 US presidential election behind us, both Facebook and Twitter are relaxing some emergency measures put in place to limit its spread.

Twitter brings back one-click retweets

The most obvious changes taking place are on Twitter, which is getting rid of a measure it put in place in October to encourage quote tweeting (QT) instead of simple retweeting (RT). The intent was to encourage users to add thoughtful commentary and perhaps to actually read original content prior to amplifying it based on a headline alone.

Our goal with prompting QTs (instead of Retweets) was to encourage more thoughtful amplification. We don’t believe that this happened, in practice. The use of Quote Tweets increased, but 45% of them included single-word affirmations and 70% had less than 25 characters. The increase in Quote Tweets was also offset by an overall 20% decrease in sharing through both Retweets and Quote Tweets. Considering this, we'll no longer prompt Quote Tweets from the Retweet icon.

Twitter verification is coming back in 2021

The company is also relaunching its somewhat-controversial verification process—the measure by which one gets a blue checkmark next to one's username on each tweet. The company put the verification process on hold in November 2017, acknowledging issues with perception of verified accounts as endorsed by Twitter. Since then, already-verified accounts have kept the blue check, but few if any new accounts—even those meeting earlier criteria for verification—have been accepted.