Tech Nuggets with the Technology

Thursday, January 30, 2020

IBM names India-born Arvind Krishna as CEO

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India clocks over 5.5 billion hours on TikTok in 2019

TikTok outstripped growth of rival Facebook in the key battleground market for global user domination. https://ift.tt/3aQ8vHw https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Small is secure in cyber space

Big firms are turning to cyber security startups dotting India as they look for niche solutions as against end-to-end management offered by transnationals https://ift.tt/36D3grj https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Microsoft will now pay up to $20k for Xbox Live security exploits

Think you’ve found a glaring security hole in Xbox Live? Microsoft is interested.

The company announced a new bug bounty program today, focused specifically on its Xbox Live network and services. Depending on how serious the exploit is and how complete your report is, they’re paying up to $20,000.

Like most bug bounty programs, Microsoft is looking for pretty specific/serious security flaws here. Found a way to execute unauthorized code on Microsoft’s servers? They’ll pay for that. Keep getting disconnected from Live when you play as a certain legend in Apex? Not quite the kind of bug they’re looking for.

Microsoft also specifically rules out a few types of vulnerabilities as out-of-scope, including DDoS attacks, anything that involves phishing Microsoft employees or Xbox customers, or getting servers to cough up basic info like server name or internal IP. You can find the full breakdown here.

This is by no means Microsoft’s first foray into bounty programs; they’ve got similar programs for the Microsoft Edge browser, their “Windows Insider” preview builds, Office 365, and plenty of other categories. The biggest bounties they offer are on their cloud computing service, Azure, where the bounty for a super specific bug (gaining admin access to an Azure Security Lab account, which are closely controlled) can net up to $300,000.

Tax social media giants, ecommerce firms: SJM

SJM is an influential RSS affiliate whose imprint is increasingly found on a number of government decisions. https://ift.tt/2GDGu8j https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Facebook to pay $550 million in biometric privacy accord

Facebook will pay $550 million to resolve claims it collected user biometric data without consent in one of the largest consumer privacy settlements in US history. https://ift.tt/2OcbRuX https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Sources: FBI has probed Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group for its possible role in hacks of US residents, companies and intel gathering on governments since 2017 (Reuters)

Reuters:
Sources: FBI has probed Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group for its possible role in hacks of US residents, companies and intel gathering on governments since 2017 — (Reuters) - The FBI is investigating the role of Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group Technologies in possible hacks on American residents …

Mobile exports will continue to get 4% incentive

The directorate on December 7 last year had reduced this export incentive from 4% to 2% for all exports except garments and made-ups on December 31. https://ift.tt/37Imz3R https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The EU Parliament overwhelmingly passes measure pushing for adoption of a common charging standard for mobile devices, which Apple said would stifle innovation (AppleInsider)

AppleInsider:
The EU Parliament overwhelmingly passes measure pushing for adoption of a common charging standard for mobile devices, which Apple said would stifle innovation — The European Parliament in a landslide vote on Thursday called on the EU Commission to adopt rules that would establish …

9 future ecosystems reimagined through technology

In the next two decades, technology will connect people, the physical world, information, and collective intelligence, according to Tata Consultancy.

3 industries that won't exist in 20 years

Insurance, transportation, and retail will be absorbed into broader, horizontal ecosystems, says Tata Consultancy Services.

Apple, Broadcom ordered to pay $1.1 billion for patent infringement

Apple was ordered to pay $837 million and Broadcom must pay $270 million to the California Institute of Technology. https://ift.tt/2UcMwVA https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Flipkart scouts for land to develop campus to house all its businesses

One of Bengaluru’s oldest realtors said he was given a brief by Flipkart through an international realtor to find land for the ecommerce company. https://ift.tt/2Ob2gEI https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Amazon reports big earnings, crosses $1 trillion in value

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc.

Amazon delivered its final quarterly earnings report for the 2019 fiscal year today, and investor response to a largely positive report describing big holiday sales and AWS performance drove the company's market cap above $1 trillion.

Amazon told investors that it achieved $87.4 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter of its fiscal-year 2019.

This quarter included the holiday shopping frenzy, and Amazon impressed investors with a 21 percent increase in sales compared to the same quarter last year. Amazon executives said that the company quadrupled same-day and one-day shipping over last year's figures, and it credited part of the holiday success to the company's ability to offer expedient shipping. Achieving those speedy deliveries brought Amazon's shipping expenditures in the quarter up to $12.9 billion, more than 40 percent more than last year.

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