Monday, August 24, 2020
At $0.09 per GB, India's data plans cheapest
Delhi HC seeks Centre, RBI response on plea alleging guidelines violation by Google Pay
Redmi Note 9 Pro to Go on Sale via Amazon, Mi.com at Noon Today
Realme Narzo 10 on Sale in India Today at 12pm via Flipkart, Realme.com
Poco M2 Pro to Go on Sale in India Today at 12 Noon via Flipkart
Oppo A53 2020 Launch in India Today: How to Watch Livestream
“DeathStalker” hackers are (likely) older and more prolific than we thought
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)
In 2018, researchers from security firm Kaspersky Lab began tracking “DeathStalker,” their name for a hacker-for-hire group that was employing simple but effective malware to do espionage on law firms and companies in the financial industry. Now, the researchers have linked the group to two other pieces of malware including one that dates back to at least 2012.
DeathStalker came to Kaspersky’s attention for its use of malware that a fellow researcher dubbed “Powersing”. The malware got its name for a 900-line PowerShell script that attackers went to great lengths to obfuscate from antivirus software.
Attacks started with spear-phishing emails with attachments that appeared to be documents but—through a sleight of hand involving LNK files—were actually malicious scripts. To keep targets from getting suspicious, Powersing displayed a decoy document as soon as targets clicked on the attachment.
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Palantir’s S-1 alludes to controversial work with ICE as a risk factor for its business
Palantir’s mysterious work and its founding origins with Trump ally and anti-press crusader Peter Thiel have inspired a number of controversies in recent years, none as divisive as its ongoing business with ICE. But with a direct listing around the corner, the famously secretive company is in for a lot more scrutiny.
In Palantir’s forthcoming S-1 filing, obtained by TechCrunch, the soon-to-be-public company addresses concerns about managing its brand reputation as some of its contracts attract unwanted attention. Palantir makes the fairly combative claim in the risks portion of the unpublished financial filing that its business could be harmed by “coverage that presents, or relies on, inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, or otherwise damaging information” about the company:
“As our business has grown and as interest in Palantir and the technology industry overall has increased, we have attracted, and may continue to attract, significant attention from news and social media outlets, including unfavorable coverage and coverage that is not directly attributable to statements authorized by our leadership, that incorrectly reports on statements made by our leadership or employees and the nature of our work, perpetuates unfounded speculation about company involvements, or that is otherwise misleading.”
The filing also states that the company has its hands tied in responding to these hypothetical misleading reports due to the “sensitive nature” of its contracts and confidentiality requirements.
Incomplete reporting is inevitable for a company that’s largely shrouded the nature of its business from the public eye. Historically, any information that trickles out about Palantir’s work with U.S. defense and law enforcement agencies comes from FOIAs, like one that recently produced a user manual for Palantir Gotham, the company’s signature software platform developed for defense and intelligence agencies.
Palantir acknowledges that activists and the press have taken a special interest in the company due to its work with “organizations whose products or activities are or are perceived to be harmful.” The S-1 of course doesn’t name Palantir’s work with ICE specifically, but that contract has attracted a swarm of scrutiny, both from outsider observers and employees within the company. The filing notes that unspecified relationships have resulted in public criticism and “unfavorable coverage” of the company.
Last year, The Washington Post reported that Palantir employees were reckoning with the company’s work for the aggressive U.S. immigration agency, “[debating] the ICE contracts in town hall meetings, office hallways, Slack channels and email threads.”
While other tech companies have yielded to critics of defense and law enforcement work, Palantir instead has grown its most controversial contracts over time. The company’s S-1 discusses that decision making process:
“Activists have also engaged in public protests at our properties. Activist criticism of our relationships with customers could potentially engender dissatisfaction among potential and existing customers, investors, and employees with how we address political and social concerns in our business activities.
Conversely, being perceived as yielding to activism targeted at certain customers could damage our relationships with certain customers, including governments and government agencies with which we do business, whose views may or may not be aligned with those of political and social activists.”
In 2018, as the tech industry grappled with the ethical implications of lucrative federal defense work, more than 200 employees wrote a letter to Palantir CEO Alex Karp expressing their concerns over its ICE contracts. Palantir has two current contracts with ICE, one for the agency’s Investigative Case Management (ICM) internal database and another for software known as FALCON. Combined, those contracts are worth as much as $92 million.
Palantir makes a sizable chunk of its revenue by selling U.S. agencies software that weaves together data streams to monitor individuals, but the company draws a thick line at helping China do the same.
“We do not work with the Chinese communist party and have chosen not to host our platforms in China, which may limit our growth prospects,” the S-1 states, calling work with China “inconsistent” with the company’s aims and culture.
“We do not consider any sales opportunities with the Chinese communist party, do not host our platforms in China, and impose limitations on access to our platforms in China in order to protect our intellectual property, to promote respect for and defend privacy and civil liberties protections, and to promote data security.”
Palantir’s anti-China stance isn’t necessarily surprising given Thiel’s penchant for ominous warnings about Chinese tech dominance — a position that also happens to bolster his relationship with a White House that’s since kicked off an unusual crusade against Chinese social media giant TikTok. Still, it’s strange, noteworthy and a sign of the times to see a refusal to do business with China articulated explicitly in a tech company’s S-1.
Facebook says it is planning legal action to challenge a recent Thai government request to block a 1M+ member Facebook group critical of the Thai monarchy (Rishi Iyengar/CNN)
Facebook says it is planning legal action to challenge a recent Thai government request to block a 1M+ member Facebook group critical of the Thai monarchy — (CNN Business)Facebook said it is planning legal action against Thailand's demand that forced the company to block a group deemed critical of the country's monarchy.
Alibaba has no role in Snapdeal's governance, ops: Co-founders Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal
Robert Pattinson is a broody Caped Crusader in first teaser for The Batman
Robert Pattinson is the latest actor to don the iconic mask and cape in The Batman.
Capping off a long day of sneak peeks, panels, and teaser trailers at DC FanDome this past weekend, Warner Bros. dropped the first teaser for The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson (of High Life and the Twilight franchise) in the title role. It's directed by Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes), and—surprise, surprise—it's another dark, gritty take on the classic superhero—this time with more of a film noir/detective story vibe.
There is a long and tangled backstory to this latest incarnation of the classic comic book superhero. We all know that Ben Affleck was cast as Batman for a three-film trilogy in the DCEU: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), and Justice League (2017), which had its own well-publicized production woes. Warner Bros. announced plans for a standalone Batman film in the fall of 2014, with Affleck set to reprise the role, as well as directing and co-writing the screenplay.
The original plan was to set the film within the DCEU, after the events of Justice League. But as Warner Bros. was rethinking the shared-universe model for its superhero films in favor of standalone films and franchises, Affleck announced he was stepping down as director, and the studio replaced him with Reeves. Affleck would eventually withdraw from the project altogether, following his divorce from Jennifer Garner and a stint in rehab for alcohol abuse.
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Judge in Epic vs Apple case is "inclined" to not let Apple block Epic from developing/offering Unreal Engine but feels the opposite about Fortnite removal (Bloomberg)
Judge in Epic vs Apple case is “inclined” to not let Apple block Epic from developing/offering Unreal Engine but feels the opposite about Fortnite removal — The judge hearing Apple Inc.'s fight with Epic Games Inc. said she's inclined to order Apple to temporarily stop limiting …
Moto G9 With Triple Rear Cameras, Snapdragon 662 SoC Launch in India
TikTok to Challenge Trump's Executive Order Banning Transactions With App
Anthropic cuts its list of unauthorized secondary market sellers from eight to four after the initial notice caused panic and pushback from investors (Yazhou Sun/Bloomberg)
Yazhou Sun / Bloomberg : Anthropic cuts its list of unauthorized secondary market sellers from eight to four after the initial notice cau...
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Sohee Kim / Bloomberg : South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang that exposed ~33.7M accounts; ...
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The first project we remember working on together was drawing scenes from the picture books that our mom brought with her when she immigrate...
