The U.S. Department of Justice began dismantling the Cryptolocker and Gameover Zeus botnets this week, freeing up to 1 million computers from malware controlled by legendary Russian hacker "Slavik," real name Evgeniy Mikhailovitch Bogachev.
You can read the DOJ's press release here. Bogachev has been charged in a 14-count indictment with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.
USA Today has an enlightening story on the scale of Slavik's operations: His botnets took up to $100 million from their victims. Cryptolocker, for instance, would lock down users' files and render them inaccessible unless the owner paid a ransom fee. Gameover Zeus tempted users to click on an email link. That link would then surreptitiously install a keylogger on the machine, which Slavik would allegedly use to figure out your bank account numbers and passwords. In one operation, Slavik launched a denial-of-service attack (a massive number of fake traffic requests from his botnet) at PNC Bank. While PNC was scrambling to defend its websites from the attack, Slavik removed $198,000 from a single account, belonging to a plastics company in Pennsylvania.
The most frustrating part of all is that Slavik remains free, USA Today reports:
Bogachev, 30, who lives luxuriously in Anapa, Russia, a beautiful seaside resort town of 60,000 on the northern coast of the Black Sea, and often sails his yacht to various Black Sea ports, remains a fugitive.
Here's the FBI's wanted poster for him:
SEE ALSO: US Disrupts One Of The Biggest Hacking And Extortion Rings Ever — Russian Charged
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The center of U.S. car innovation may have shifted toward California lately (*ahem* Google, Tesla), but Michigan carmakers aren't giving up. The University of Michigan is building a test city and highway just for automated cars—a 30-acre facility complete with traffic lights, construction zones, and a "mechanical pedestrian."
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Coincidentally timed with Apple's WWDC HomeKit announcement, Samsung has revealed a new line of smart LED lightbulbs that communicate with your phone, and each other, using a mesh Bluetooth network they automatically create.
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There is a race underway on mobile to design a service that can anticipate users' needs and serve them the content they're looking for without them doing much more than swiping a finger.
Among the more advanced versions of this technology is the smart personal agent. The smart personal agent's work is ongoing, done autonomously in the background, and information is relayed intuitively and instantly.
And right now, the foremost smart personal agent on mobile is Google Now. The technology was first developed by Google as an addition to Android for the launch of version 4.1 Jelly Bean. About a year ago, the service was also made available on iOS devices.
In full, the report:
- Provides a taxonomy of common personalization services, including app launchers, task automators, and digital concierges.
- Quantifies the addressable markets for leading personalization products like Google Now, Apple's Siri, If This Then That (IFTTT), Aviate, and Cover.
- Addresses key reasons why consumers are taking to this technology, namely the opportunity they offer to streamline the smartphone experience.
- Discusses how marketers can effectively use the data and services offered through personalization services to serve the absolute most relevant content to users.
- Identifies specific mobile ad formats that can successfully integrate into personalization technology and services.
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Verizon denies that its the cause of poor streaming quality on Netflix, despite Netflix's claim to the contrary.
Tuesday night, Yuri Victor of Vox Media tweeted a screenshot from the Netflix app that claimed Verizon's internet service was causing poor streaming quality:
In a post on its public policy site Wednesday, Verizon called foul. In reality, Verizon says, Netflix's notification is just a PR stunt. Verizon blames congestion on Netflix's network instead:
The source of the problem is almost certainly NOT congestion in Verizon's network. Instead, the problem is most likely congestion on the connection that Netflix has chosen to use to reach Verizon's network. Of course, Netflix is solely responsible for choosing how their traffic is routed into any ISP's network.
So, who should you believe? That's tough to tell! We're in a bit of a he-said, she-said situation here.
On the other hand, Netflix did start paying some service providers for direct access to customers. The best example is Comcast. Since Netflix started paying Comcast for direct access to customers, streaming speeds actually increased. Netflix has a similar arrangement with Verizon.
Ironically, Verizon's public policy site wasn't loading very well Wednesday afternoon, so here's the full post:
Reports from this morning have suggested that Netflix is engaging in a PR stunt in an attempt to shift blame to ISPs for the buffering that some of its customers may be experiencing. According to one journalist's tweet from last night, Netflix is displaying a message on the screen for users who experience buffering which says: “The Verizon network is crowded right now.”
This claim is not only inaccurate, it is deliberately misleading.
The source of the problem is almost certainly NOT congestion in Verizon's network. Instead, the problem is most likely congestion on the connection that Netflix has chosen to use to reach Verizon's network. Of course, Netflix is solely responsible for choosing how their traffic is routed into any ISP's network.
Some reporters seem to have bought into Netflix's claims without question, and some have conflated this dispute with net neutrality. For those looking for more careful analysis, however, there is plenty of good material out there by technical experts (such as industry analyst Dan Rayburn) that set the record straight. One of the best stories is an informative piece by Maggie Reardon on CNET, which explains what is really -- For more information read the original article here.
Vevo, the music video service controlling much of YouTube's major music label videos, is about to be shopped around to potential buyers, and could be valued at as much as three times its gross revenue: close to $1 billion.
Earlier this year, Vevo hired Goldman Sachs and Raine Group, an M&A advisory firm, to begin talking to suitors interested in either a minority or controlling stake in the company, according to The Information.
Vevo is considered a hot commodity in the music industry — its major-label, artist-driven videos come with hefty advertising rates. This year, Vevo is projected to make about $350 million in revenue. It's consistently YouTube's most viewed channel by a long shot.
The company's potential buyers include Amazon, Yahoo, Dreamworks Animation, and Liberty Media. There are also interested financial investors — the Carlyle Group, which famously invested in Beats Electronics, and Peter Chernin, who has invested in AT&T.
Vevo's owners include two of the top music record labels: Universal Music Group, owned by Vivendi, and Sony Music Entertainment, in addition to Google and Abu Dhabi Media. Google's investment last year valued the business at $650 million, reports Quartz.
The Vevo news comes just after last week's $3 billion Beats purchase by Apple. A few weeks ago, rumors of Twitter purportedly considering buying SoundCloud surfaced, too. 2014 may be the year of corporate music industry purchases.
SEE ALSO: Yahoo will reportedly launch a YouTube rival this summer
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If you're interested in learning Apple's newly announced Swift programming language, Apple is giving you the chance with a free eBook on iTunes.
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-- For more information read the original article here.