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Analysis

  • Cut the Bull Shitake

    (H/T to Guy Kawasaki) Some refreshing comments from the business world on how not to do things. “Escape from Cubicle Nation” – doesn’t get much better than that. Could be used in individual agency management, or reform writ large, if anyone cares to listen. Of course take out all the references to “money” and “profit”…

  • Higher Learning

    Likely to be lost in the FLAILCON 2 environment surrounding the nomination of Gen Hayden for DCIA: U.S. intelligence czar John Negroponte this week announced the appointment of a new chancellor for the National Intelligence University. Carson K. Eoyang’s started work May 1, said a statement Monday from the office of the director of national…

  • What is in Store II

    Prize-winner Dana Priest points out what some expect Hayden’s strategy to be: Former and current intelligence officers say Goss never had a strategic plan for improving spying on terrorist networks. [former DDO Stephen] Kappes, on the other hand, had slowly begun to put his ideas, gained through 23 years of experience around the world, into…

  • What is in Store?

    Most reports on intel reform over the last few days center on the perceived ills that face the CIA if a military man takes charge. I’ve already pointed out that the DCIA doesn’t report to the SECDEF and with four stars Hayden doesn’t owe Rumsfeld anything except the time of day. Just as he was…

  • DCIA Selection: Some Clarity

    I’m obliged for a number of unrelated reasons to like many of the people behind the voices that are coming out against Gen Hayden for DCIA. I’m obliged to like them, but I’m not obliged to avoid criticizing them when due. The laundry list grows by the day, but for the life of me I…

  • Place your bets

    Former colleague L.K. keeps her pimp-hand strong: I thought you were the one who hated pussy-footing around? Not making picks is “a nice way to never be wrong,” Mr. Make the Hard Calls. Yes, dear, you are right. So without further ado here are Mike “The Greek” Tanji’s DCIA pics: 3:1 General Hayden. Easy enough…

  • Goss Departure

    Not unexpected though I would have thought he had a few more months. He was never in it for the long term, so victory cries from the old guard are misplaced and premature. Contrary to popular belief; an appointment isn’t the be-all, end-all job and leaving before your boss’s tenure is up is fairly common.…

  • Vaya Con Dios

    DCIA Goss resigns this afternoon per various news outlets. Will wait for the flailing to settle down before weighing in. Sneak peek: Probably not the negative many think it is but also not the “victory” others were hoping for.

  • Keep Discounting DOCEX

    ABC News has obtained a document seized by U.S. and British Special Forces during a recent raid of an alleged Zarqawi safe house about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad in the town of Yusufiyah. This was the raid where the military believes it narrowly missed capturing Zarqawi himself. The five-page document appears to sketch out…

  • Accidental Info Op

    You’re an Iraqi soldier under Saddam. A plain grunt. You get some rudimentary training, a well-used rifle, barely serviceable uniform and in the face of the world’s most powerful military are abandoned by your superiors in a desperate attempt to save their own skins. You’re taken prisoner, quickly debriefed and just as quickly demobilized. A…

  • Juries

    In grad school it was driven into our heads that your average juror was only going to have the equivalent of an eight-grade education and we had to consider that heavily when preparing testimony. Clever but simple analogies worked well because they were things almost anyone could “get.” What to make then of the mental…

  • Don’t forget to vote

    Update: Really, really last chance . . . Before the sentence comes down hit the GroupIntel forums and help predict the fallout from the Moussaoui trial. Sign up if you are not already a member (use an alias if you like, we don’t spam or sell or otherwise abuse your trust). Help prove that none…

  • Testifying on Domestic Intel

    Former DDI Gannon provides testimony to Congress about domestic intel issues. An important recommendation: […] if the FBI is to remain the agency of choice in developing a domestic intelligence capability, it will need much stronger and clearer direction and much closer oversight from the Executive and Legislative branches on the much bigger and faster…

  • Keller: Deaf, Blind*

    I learned of NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller’s WSJ letter on the radio this afternoon. Not to sound like a broken record, but I am left (almost) speechless that this is what passes for an argument on national security issues. Mr. Keller laments that anyone would call the actions of his kind political. I’ll leave…

  • Gobsmacked II

    I, ah . . . heh heh, yeah . . . I don’t know what to say about this. Reads like yellow rag, but as many former colleagues like to say: “I don’t believe in coincidences.” Innocent until proven guilty and all that, but if a quarter of it is true, we’re in a world…

Briefs

  • France Fines Microsoft $64m for Imposing Ad Cookies to its Bing Users

    The Commission Nationale de L’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France’s digital privacy regulator, announced last week that it had fined US tech giant Microsoft roughly $64 million for violating regulations on advertising cookies. The CNIL found the Microsoft’s Bing search engine was operating with a system that did not allow users to easily opt out…

  • President Biden Signs Quantum Cybersecurity Preparedness Act into Law

    US President Joe Biden signed the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act into law last week. The legislation is designed to secure the federal government’s systems and data against quantum-enabled data breaches. The law aims to get ahead of the trend before quantum computing reaches the point in which they are able to break existing cryptographic…

  • TikTok’s Parent Company Admits Using the Platform’s Data to Track Journalists

    TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has confirmed that it used data collected by the popular social media platform to track journalists. ByteDance stated that it accessed data from the app to track reporters from the Financial Times and Buzzfeed in an attempt to identify the source of leaks to the media. ByteDance’s general counsel Eric Andersen…

  • Zerobot Botnet Devs Add New Functionality

    Microsoft has identified a prolific botnet called Zerobot that is spread through IoT and web application vulnerabilities. The botnet has reportedly added new capabilities and exploits to its skillset, Microsoft states. Zerobot is sold on underground cybercrime forums as a malware-as-a-service model, meaning that its authors can update its functionality regularly. The botnet is comprised…

  • Robocallers have upped their scam game and they’re after your crypto

    Professional scam organizations are targeting cryptocurrency users following the collapse of FTX, initiating millions of automated calls and text messages in an attempt to swindle information and funds. Clayton LiaBraaten, senior executive adviser at Truecaller — an app that helps identify scam callers and messages — spoke to Cointelegraph, scammers often closely follow crypto news to…

  • North Korea-linked NFT Phishing Campaign Targets OpenSea, X2Y2, Rarible Users

    Researchers have unearthed a new phishing campaign involving North Korea-linked hackers targeting NFT users purchasing tokens on platforms such as OpenSea, X2Y2, and Rarible. Users would first purchase legitimate-looking NFTs on these websites, and these NFTs would then direct the buyer to fraudulent NFT-related websites to complete the minting process. However, as per a report…

  • Defrost Finance Says Hacked Funds Have Been Returned

    Defrost Finance, which on Sunday said its V1 and V2 products had been exploited, said the hacker in the larger V1 attack has returned the funds. “We will soon start scanning the data on-chain to find out who owned what prior to the hack in order to return them to the rightful owners. As different…

  • Caroline Ellison ‘Knew That It Was Wrong,’ Implicates Sam Bankman Fried

    Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of collapsed algorithmic trading firm Alameda, told a judge that she agreed with disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in providing “materially misleading financial statements to Alameda’s lenders.” According to a transcript of her courtroom allocution, delivered on Dec. 19 but kept sealed until Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million…

  • Beware the ‘pig butchering’ crypto scam sweeping across America

    The FBI says America has a “pig butchering” problem. And it’s costing victims millions of dollars. “We’re not talking about what’s going on at farms,” said Frank Fisher, public affairs specialist at the bureau’s Albuquerque division. “We’re talking about a cryptocurrency investment scam that is sweeping the country.” The term pig butchering refers to an…

  • Serbia puts troops on high alert over rising tensions

    The Serbian army says it is at its highest level of readiness due to weeks of increasing tensions between Serbia and Kosovo. President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, says he will protect the Serbian people and preserve the country.  There are some media claims in Serbia that Pristina is preparing an attack on ethnic Serb areas…

  • Hackers drain $8M in assets from Bitkeep wallets in latest DeFi exploit

    While many are still enjoying the holiday season, hackers are hard at work, draining around $8 million in an ongoing BitKeep wallet exploit. On Dec. 26, some users of the multichain crypto wallet BitKeep reported that their funds were being drained and transferred while they were not using their wallets. In their official Telegram group, the…

  • BTC.com parent BIT Mining hacked, $3 million in assets taken

    BTC.com parent company BIT Mining Limited said it was hacked earlier this month, with about $700,000 in client assets and $2.3 million in company assets stolen. The publicly-traded firm said it was hit by a cyberattack on Dec. 3. It reported the incident to law enforcement authorities in Shenzhen, and some of BTC.com’s digital assets…

  • Are White Hat hackers the answer to growing exploits in the crypto market

    Since its establishment in 2020, Immunefi, a prominent site for bug bounties in the cryptocurrency sector, distributed $65 million to white hat hackers. These “ethical hackers” look for weaknesses in blockchain and smart contract projects and are compensated for reporting them to Immunefi. This aids in protecting users’ assets and deters criminals from stealing money.…

  • These Crypto Founders And Bitcoin Moguls Lost $116 Billion In 2022

    In January 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried was riding high. His Bahamas-based FTX had just raised $400 million from prominent venture capitalists at a $32 billion valuation. A few weeks later, when Forbes published its annual World’s Billionaires list, SBF, as he’s known, was crypto’s second-wealthiest person, worth $24 billion. Now, Bankman-Fried is likely broke, and awaiting trial.…

  • New NFT private auction scam threatens OpenSea users

    As nonfungible tokens (NFTs) became more popular, bad actors who constantly try to exploit users within the space have become more active. Now, a new hack involving a feature on the NFT marketplace OpenSea threatens NFT holders through phishing sites. In an announcement, anti-theft project Harpie warned NFT users of a new hack involving gasless sales…

  • 3Commas API Dispute Highlights Risks of Algorithmic Trading

    Despite the bear market, cryptocurrency day traders still see opportunities to strike it rich. Many seek out an edge by employing algorithmic trading bots that automatically execute trades at a moment’s notice. There are risks in letting code make snap decisions, however. A group of investors organizing on Telegram say that they have been the…

  • Top DeFi hacks and exploits of 2022

    The collapse of centralized crypto firms became the biggest news stories in 2022, with Celsius and FTX dominating mainstream coverage. CeFi also experienced its share of hacks, such as exchanges Crypto.com, Deribit and the more than $400 million from FTX during its chaotic implosion last month. DeFi has taken a hammering, too. CeFi’s failures can…

  • Vitalik Buterin: Cryptocurrency Is ‘Better Equipped’ To Survive As An International Currency

    There are structural reasons why cryptocurrency is better equipped to survive as an international currency than traditional fiat currencies, according to Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin. He believes in its ability to make cross-border payments easier, faster, and cheaper all over the world. Modern solutions like PayPal, Wise, WorldRemit, and Western Union may have made it convenient…

  • Binance puts up a brave face even as investors pulled US$6 billion in 3 days from the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange

    Traders withdrew US$6 billion in three days from Binance, according to the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, as it assured investors who have been spooked by FTX’s collapse that it has enough capital to sustain its operations. The mass withdrawals from December 12 to 14 were all honoured, Binance said in a Chinese-language blog post on…

  • Chile plans to open embassy in occupied Palestinian territories

    Chile plans to open an embassy in the occupied territories in Palestine, a move that the Palestinian foreign ministry has welcomed. Chile’s foreign minister, Atonia Urrejola, confirmed the plan on Thursday, but did not announce a timeline. The announcement on Thursday also stated that Chile continues to recognize both Israel and Palestine as legitimate states. …

  • North Korea sold arms to Russia’s Wagner group, US says

    The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for use in Ukraine. The White House said the shipment, allegedly containing battlefield missiles and rockets, violated UN Security Council resolutions. The US also stated it would announce further sanctions on Wagner. Fighters from Wagner have increased from 1,000…

  • NASA and Russia weigh options for astronaut return after spacecraft leak

    Officials at Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, and officials at NASA are determining how ot bring home several people at the International Space Station after a Russian Soyuz spacecraft developed a leak last week. None of the seven people on board the ISS were in any danger as a result of the leak, but it is…

  • Flashpoint Year In Review: 2022 Cryptocurrency Threat Landscape

    Bitcoin remained the most-discussed crypto in the threat actor community and the most-used crypto for accepting illicit payments this year. Flashpoint analysts identified over 50,000 unique Bitcoin addresses circulating in Flashpoint collections in 2022. Flashpoint observed 125,513 mentions of Bitcoin addresses within our collections since January 1, with 54,629 distinct addresses. These addresses have transacted…

  • North Korea has hacked $1.2 billion in crypto and other assets for its economy

    North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets in the past five years, more than half of it this year alone, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday. Experts and officials say North Korea has turned to crypto hacking and other illicit cyber activities as a source…

  • Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Files for Bankruptcy, Expects Support From Some Debt Holders

    Core Scientific (CORZ), one of the largest bitcoin (BTC) miners by computing power, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday and reached a deal with some of its lenders to restructure its debt. The company filed for Chapter 11 at Southern District of Texas bankruptcy court as crypto winter continues to take its toll on the…

  • Still bullish: 40% of survey respondents plan to buy crypto in 2023

    Despite the gloom of the ongoing cryptocurrency winter, coupled with failures of crypto giants like FTX, the community appears to remain bullish about crypto, according to a new survey. Crypto markets saw a massive sell-off in 2022, with the total market cap plummeting nearly 70% since Bitcoin reached its all-time highs at $69,000 in November…

  • Associates of Sam Bankman-Fried plead guilty to fraud charges after FTX collapse

    Two associates of Sam Bankman-Fried have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and are helping investigators with their inquiries. News of the charges, guilty pleas and the pair’s cooperation with the investigation was only announced once the FTX co-founder was on a plane to the US from the…

  • Ransomware Attack Hits The Guardian Newspaper

    The Guardian, one of the world’s most prominent newspapers, has suffered from a serious ransomware attack that resulted in sending staff home. The attack occurred late Tuesday night and affected company infrastructure and services. The newspaper reported that its employees have been instructed to work from home for the remainder of the week. It appears…

  • Cyber-Incident Causes System Failures at Canadian Children’s Hospital

    A major Canadian pediatric hospital has suffered from a cyberattack that caused outages and several networks to go down. The hospital is based in Toronto, Canada and is known as SickKids. The hospital informed the public of the cyber incident earlier this week via Twitter and confirmed that the situation was ongoing. The hospital suffered…

  • Taliban arrest women protesting against university ban

    The Taliban has arrested five women that took part in a protest in the Afghan capital of Kabul against the ban on women attending universities. The Taliban also arrested three journalists. The protests also occurred in the Takhar province in addition to Kabul.  Hundreds of women were stopped from entering universities on Wednesday, a day…

  • New ‘RisePro’ Infostealer Increasingly Popular Among Cybercriminals

    Cyberthreat firm Flashpoint has reported that a recently identified information stealer known as RisePro is being distributed via pay-per-install malware downloader. The downloader service is known as ‘PrivateLoader.’ RisePro was first spotted on December 13 and is written in C++. The information stealer is designed to harvest potentially sensitive information from the targeted compromised machines.…

  • Kremlin warns of a ‘long’ war after Biden offers more support on Zelensky’s visit to US

    Moscow stated that Ukraine and its Western allies are set for a long confrontation with Russia after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington D.C. The war in Ukraine approaches its 10 month marks and Russia’s foreign ministry condemned “monstrous crimes” carried out by Kyiv after US President Joe Biden promised more military support to…

  • Adult Google Ad Fraud Campaign Garnered Millions of Impressions

    Malwarebytes has released an advisory detailing a fraudulent online ad campaign using Google Ads. The campaign leverages adult websites and advertising to entice victims into clicking on malicious links that made the operators behind the campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. Malwarebytes states that the scammers loaded a full blog as their popunder,…

  • Compromised Data Of 5.7M Gemini Crypto Exchange Users Given Away On Hacking Forums

    Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, published a blog post this week warning about phishing campaigns targeting its customers. These phishing campaigns are likely related to a previously undisclosed data breach that exposed the email addresses of the exchange’s 5.7 million customers. Gemini states that this security incident occurred at a third-party…

  • How Balancer DAO Achieved Peace With a Clever Whale Named Humpy

    If there’s a DAO, there’s a whale—and it’s probably vying for domination. In this case, Balancer has taken an interesting pivot against a crypto cetacean roaming its digital waters. After roughly eight months harvesting the popular DeFi project’s coin, Humpy has agreed to a peace treaty of sorts. Yes, Humpy is really the name the…

  • Who Lost the Least? Top Performing Crypto Assets of 2022

    What a year for the coins. Few could have predicted that Bitcoin’s bull run—which began at the end of 2020 and pulled the entire market up by its bootstraps—would have collapsed and annihilated virtually all of its gains. Still, in a year that saw an industry-wide liquidity crisis catalyzed by the collapses of Terra’s UST stablecoin, FTX’s…

  • Current infrastructure can’t support the metaverse, says Huawei report

    Chinese telecom giant Huawei doesn’t believe current telecom infrastructure is enough to cope with the needs of the metaverse, adding that 5G and 6G networks just might. The comments came from Huawei’s Middle East region’s chief expert on business and strategy consulting, Abhinav Purohit, who published a three-part blog series on Dec. 20 focused on the…

  • Was 2022 the year cryptocurrency died? Experts weigh in

    Cryptocurrency has always been volatile, says one economics expert who spoke with ABC News. But 2022 was a stomach-churning, roller-coaster ride for investors and major players in the market. The prices of popular cryptocurrencies plummeted throughout 2022. Moreover, some cryptocurrency companies and their founders are facing bankruptcy and even the threat of imprisonment. Some experts,…

  • Organizations Warned of New Attack Vector in Amazon Web Services

    Amazon Web Services has a new security threat, according to security researchers at Mitiga. The threat relates to an attack vector in AWS’ Amazon Virtual Private Cloud feature ‘Elastic IP transfer’ which was announced earlier this year and designed to enable an easier transfer of Elastic IP addresses between AWS accounts. Researchers believe that a…

  • Japan approves long-range weapons to counter growing threats from rivals

    Japan unveiled on Friday a new national security plan that will signal the country’s biggest military buildup since World War II. The buildup will double defense spending in the country in the face of growing threats from rivals in the region. In a televised address in Tokyo, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government approved…

  • Taliban release two detained Americans in ‘goodwill gesture’

    The Taliban have released two Americans that had been in detention in Afghanistan according to the state department on Tuesday. The Americans’ release came on the same day as the Taliban faced condemnation for banning women at universities.  The state department spokesperson said that the release of the prisoners was a gesture of goodwill and…

  • Can hardware wallets be hacked?

    Managing cryptocurrency assets can be done in a custodial or non-custodial way. Those who opt for the latter often use a hardware wallet, which provides many benefits but also has a steep learning curve. Even then, the question remains: are these devices 100% secure? There are many good reasons why so many crypto users rely on…

  • This Was the Worst Year for Crypto Hacks. Here’s How 2023 Can Be Better

    Over the past 12 months, crypto has seen a troubling flood of attacks and exploits. There have been too many to track – this is an issue that desperately needs to be addressed. Fortunately, there’s hope. Protocols can up their game when it comes to auditing code, monitoring network activity and setting clear attack response…

  • Coinbase CEO: Regulate centralized actors but leave DeFi alone

    Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has pushed for stricter regulations on centralized crypto actors but says decentralized protocols should be allowed to flourish given that open-source code and smart contracts are “the ultimate form of disclosure.” Armstrong shared his views on cryptocurrency regulation in a Dec. 20 Coinbase blog where he proposed how regulators can help…

  • 1,000 Cryptocurrency Tokens Met Their Demise in 2022

    The world of cryptocurrencies has seemingly gone on a massive diet through this bear market, as the number of active tokens has decreased by almost 1,000 – the biggest-ever annual decline, according to Statista. The reduction brought the number of active cryptocurrencies from its 2021 high of 10,397 down to a (still) overwhelming 9,310. Of…

  • Cryptocurrencies at crossroads after annus horribilis

    To borrow from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, 2022 is not a year on which the cryptocurrency world shall look back with undiluted pleasure. Crashes, contagion, collapses came in such quick succession that investors were, towards the end of the year, asking serious existential questions. After all, the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has not kept its head above…

  • Sophisticated DarkTortilla Malware Serves Imposter Cisco, Grammarly Pages

    Security researchers have identified two phishing threats impersonating Cisco and Grammarly. Both phishing operations consist of illegitimate webpages directing users to malware known to researchers as DarkTortilla. The .NET based malware can be configured to deliver various payloads and is known for its several functions that render it extremely stealthy and persistent on networks. Security…

  • Meta Takes Down Over 200 Covert Influence Operations Since 2017

    According to social media conglomerate Meta, it has taken down roughly 200 covert influence operations on its platforms since 2017. Meta owns social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and reported that networks operating on the platforms were disrupted for violating Meta’s Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) policy. Meta released a report stating that the…

  • 33 militants killed at Pakistan police station

    Pakistani security forces have retaken a previously captured police station and killed all 33 hostage-takers according to the defense minister. Islamist militants from the Pakistani Taliban seized the police station in the north-western Bannu district on Sunday.  Several people, including security officials were inside the station at the time of its capture. The defense minister…

  • Fortnite Dev to Pay $520m in Record-Breaking Settlement

    Epic Games, the gaming giant behind the hugely popular Fortnite game, will pay the FTC hundreds of millions of dollars to settle two blockbuster allegations. The allegations relate to children’s privacy and the company’s use of “dark patterns,” explained as shady billing practices. The payments are for reportedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act…

  • Ukraine’s Delta Military Intel System Hit by Attacks

    Ukrainian security authorities have confirmed that the country’s Delta military intelligence system was targeted by cyberattacks. The Delta system is used for key situational awareness and collecting information about enemy forces as well as coordinating of defense forces. The system is built to be compatible with NATO equipment. Over the weekend, CERT-UA became aware of…

  • Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably

    “A highly profitable trading strategy” was how hacker Avraham Eisenberg described his involvement in the Mango Markets exploit that occurred on Oct. 11. By manipulating the price of the decentralized finance protocol’s underlying collateral, MNGO, Eisenberg and his team took out infinite loans that drained $117 million from the Mango Markets Treasury. Desperate for the return of…

  • Worst crypto scams and ‘coverups’ of 2022

    Crypto markets are reeling after the implosion of the FTX exchange, now Yahoo Finance looks back over the past year in a young industry which was marred by corruption and fraudulent activity and asks how much they have dented investor’s faith. The combined market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies fell from a height of nearly $3tn…

  • What is the relationship between blockchain and Web3?

    Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are the building blocks of Web3. However, the decentralized web also relies on technologies like AR, VR, IoT and others unrelated to blockchain or digital currencies. The third generation of the internet, known as Web3, is based on blockchain technology. However, technologies like machine learning, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of…

  • Binance US to Acquire Bankrupt Voyager’s Assets for $1 Billion

    Binance’s American entity Binance.US has emerged as “the highest and best bid” for bankrupt Voyager’s assets. The total sum is roughly $1.022 billion, which includes the latter firm’s crypto portfolio (valued at an estimated $1.002 billion) and “additional consideration equal to $20 million in incremental value,” read the announcement. Voyager was a crypto broker that offered high-interest…

  • Sen. Sherrod Brown leaves possibility of crypto ban open as momentum builds for stronger regulation

    Cryptocurrency firms reeling from the epic collapse of FTX and its aftereffects received yet another unwelcome development on Sunday’s talk shows. Senator Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate banking committee, took questions on NBC’s Meet the Press today about how lawmakers should approach cryptocurrencies after the FTX debacle. Host Chuck Todd asked the lawmaker whether…

  • Social Blade Confirms Data Breach Exposing PII on the Dark Web

    Social Blade, a social media data analytics tool, has announced that it suffered from a data breach that occurred on December 14 and exposed personally identifiable information belonging to users. The data was identified for sale on the dark web, the company stated. Social Blade did not issue a public warning regarding the incident, but…

  • Malaysia PM Anwar Ibrahim wins motion of confidence in parliament

    Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s motion of confidence has passed in parliament. This is a major win for his premiership after the election last month returned a hung parliament. Parliament had been convened by Anwar on Monday to prove his majority after former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin cast doubt on his support.  The confidence motion…

  • Nations reach ‘historic’ deal to protect nature

    In a landmark deal aimed at protecting biodiversity, nations have agreed to protect a third of the planet for nature by 2030. Targets will also be set for protecting certain ecosystems and the rights of indigenous peoples. This agreement was made at the COP15 UN biodiversity summit in Montreal, Canada, on Monday morning.  The summit…

  • Web3 security opportunities and the lessons we must learn from Web2

    Even though much of the initial hype around the crypto economy hinged on its use of blockchain technology, more and more people in the last couple of years (especially following the decentralized finance boom of 2020) have begun to realize that the ongoing Web3 revolution is much broader than its underlying technology. To put it…