U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence told SolarWind hack affected 60 Microsoft customers

During a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Microsoft Corp’s president Brad Smith stated, the company has notified 60 customers that their data was most likely compromised by hackers during a hacking campaign revolving around Texas-based software firm SolarWinds Corp. In prepared remarks, Smith told members of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that…

SolarWinds hack was the largest and most sophisticated cyber attack to date: Microsoft president

In a statement, Microsoft Corp’s President Brad Smith said, the SolarWinds hacking campaign that used the U.S. tech company as a springboard to compromise many U.S. government agencies is “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen”. The hacking campaign, identified in December 2020, was allegedly orchestrated by China and Russia, had…

Department of Energy launches $100 million tech funding in push towards clean energy

In a statement the Biden Administration announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will “offer $100 million in funding to support low-carbon energy technologies”; it will also create a working group to aid their development and sale. The announcement was made by National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy at the White House’s first meeting of the…

Trump directs federal agencies to assess security risks from Chinese-made drones

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing U.S agencies to assess security risks linked to Chinese-made drones used by American government fleets, prioritizing their removal. The executive order directs all U.S. agencies to outline the security risks posed to the existing government drone fleet from drones built by Chinese companies or by…

PayPal Holdings blocks Christian crowdfunding site linked to alleged Trump supporter

In a statement PayPal Holdings Inc said it has blocked GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding site which helped raise funds for people who attended last week’s event in Washington after supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, visited en mass at the Capitol. PayPal confirmed that it has closed an account held by Ali Alexander, one of…

Elon Musk to spin off SpaceX IPO once revenue growth becomes steady, predictable

Elon Musk, Tesla Inc’s CEO plans on listing his space internet venture, Starlink, in the years ahead when revenue growth is predictable and smooth. “Public market does *not* like erratic cash flow haha,” tweeted Musk. In 2019, Musk said Starlink was an important new revenue stream for Space Exploration Technologies, SpaceX. In February 2020, SpaceX’s…

Trump does not want ByteDance to have controlling stake in TikTok: senior administration official

According to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, regardless of how China’s ByteDance positions the divestment of its short video sharing app TikTok, U.S. President Donald Trump does not want it to have a controlling stake in TikTok, since it will place Americans’ personal information at risk. Despite China’s bravado…

Trump issues executive orders to ban TikTok and WeChat in 45 days

In a significant development, U.S. President Donald Trump stated, the United States will ban China-owned ByteDance’s TikTok video-sharing app, and Tencent’s WeChat app, in 45 days. The development comes in the wake of the Trump administration stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” apps, including Chinese ones, from its digital networks citing “significant threats” posed by…