Intel pushes back its next-generation Xeon processor series, known as Sapphire Rapids, to Q2 of 2022; LinkedIn leaks data on 92% of users and My Books has been wiped clean in an exploit. We discuss these stories and more on this week’s Rundown.
Apple Ups Spending on Google Cloud
A report this week mentioned that Apple is increasing the amount of data being stored on Google Cloud. The Information released the report stating that Apple has stored 8 exabytes worth of data on Google Cloud and was on track to spend about $300 million on storage this year, which is up over 50% from their 2020 spending. The move raises questions about Apple’s ability to store iCloud data on their own hardware in their data centers as well as how quickly demand is growing for users to move to the cloud.
Illumio Rounds Up a $225m Funding Round
Zero trust is a hot commodity right now and Illumio is making the most of it. The security firm announced last week that they have secured a Series F funding round of $225 million led by Thoma Bravo. The valuation of the company came in at around $2.75 billion, making them a shiny unicorn in the security space. CEO Andrew Rubin deflected questions about the status of a future IPO during the call announcing the funding.
Ohio Ends Crusade to Ban Broadband
I’m not saying that Ohio is becoming the IT version of Florida, but this story makes you wonder. The Ohio legislature has dropped a controversial element of their state budget that would have limited local governments and their ability to offer broadband services. The budget amendment would have also forced municipalities to shut down any existing services and prevent them from being reformed. According to news reports the amendement was not discussed publicly and had a party-line vote in the Senate before being dropped in the reconciliation process.
Amazon Acquires Wickr for Encrypted Messaging
AWS announced last week that they’re getting into the encrypted messaging game with the pick up of Wickr. The acquisition comes as AWS is looking to expand their service offerings to organizations that need secure communications mediums, such as healthcare or legal work. One of the things that Wickr was very up front about in their previous messaging was their desire to work with government agencies to provide ways to lawfully decrypt communications when provided with a warrant to do so.
Security Pioneer John McAfee Dead at 75
The AP reported last week that John McAfee, the creator of the popular antivirus software that bears his name, was found dead in a Spanish prison. McAfee had been held in Barcelona since his arrest last October on charges stemming in Tennessee from tax evasion tied to cyrptocurrency promotional work and other ventures that he failed to pay taxes on. The judge in Spain had ruled that McAfee could be extradited to the US to face the charges the day before he was found in his jail cell. McAfee has been a polarizing figure in the US since he left his role at the security company, even going so far as to record a humorous video urging users to uninstall the software that bore his name.
Intel Sapphire Rapids Rushes Back to 2022
As many have suspected, Intel officially announced that the net-generation Xeon processor series, known as Sapphire Rapids, will appear in Q2 of 2022. This is a few months later than previously suggested, but it’s no surprise given the late introduction of Ice Lake this year and the fact that there’s so much new in Sapphire Rapids. What does this schedule change mean for Intel specifically and for the industry in general?
LinkedIn Leaks Data on 92% of Users
LinkedIn doesn’t want you to connect this latest data breach to anything. The career site was the target of a massive leak of user info. On June 22nd a user started advertising data from some 700 million users for sale. A sample of 1 million users was validated as current and accurate. When questioned about the breach the hacker claimed he exploited the LinkedIn API to harvest email addresses, phone numbers, and professional backgrounds for the affected parties. LinkedIn has responded with claims that some of the data collected wasn’t available via the API and must have been collected from other sources. They go on to say that this breach must have occurred elsewhere because scraping the API is a violation of their Terms of Service.
My Books Wiped Clean In Exploit
An exploit making the rounds is causing strife for users of Western Digital’s My Book Live storage system. The issue stems from two separate vulnerabilities. The first allowed attackers to gain full root access by modifying the language configuration files. This bug has been present since 2018, however since WD stopped supporting the unit in 2015 it was never patched. The newest zero day attack that was discovered allowed the drives to be reset to factory defaults without prompting with a remote script. Researchers believe that the first exploit was being used to compromise devices and turn them into a potential botnet. The second newer exploit is theorized to be a rival crew attempting to wipe out the work of the first by resetting all the progress back to square one. Regardless of the infighting this will reduce your stored data to nothing as well so you will need to remove the device from the Internet until a fix can be figured out.
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