Days after 159 people accepted Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg’s offer of six months of severance pay for employees who wanted to leave, the corporate late October 16 made a brand new offer of nine months of severance pay to anyone who would leave immediately. Employees had 4 hours to determine whether or not they wanted to join the contract.

In a Slack message seen by TechCrunch, Mullenweg wrote that those that accept the offer will lose access not only to Automattic but additionally to WordPress.org. This effectively means that folks leaving won’t give you the chance to contribute to the open source project – not less than under their existing ID. This would also mean that they’d be effectively banned from the WordPress community. The transaction was previously announced by, amongst others, 404 Media.

In addition to being the CEO of Automattic, Mullenweg also owns and controls the open source website WordPress.org.

Mullenweg gave him 4 hours’ notice and told him that those that wanted to accept the offer should send him a non-public message: “I am resigning and would like to take advantage of the 9-month buyout offer.”

“You don’t have to give any reason or anything. I will reply, “Thank you.” Automattic will accept your resignation, you can keep your office belongings and work on your laptop. You will lose access to Automattic and Worg,” Mullenweg said.

He said, “I think some people were sad that they missed the last window,” and that is why he introduced a brand new, short window.

Automattic didn’t comment on this story by press time. It is unclear whether any of the employees took advantage of the brand new offer. According to the corporate’s website, employment currently totals 1,731 people; a couple of hours ago it was 1732.

The WordPress co-founder’s first offer was addressed to individuals who didn’t agree with his views on Automattic’s fight against the hosting provider WP Engine. The first group of people to leave Automattic included several of the corporate’s top employees, including the pinnacle of WordPress.com (Automtic’s business WordPress hosting arm), Daniel Bachhuberhead of programs and co-creator of the experience Naoko Takanochief AI architect, Daniel Walmsleyand Executive Director of WordPress.org Joseph Haden Chomphosa.

The battle began almost a month ago when Mullenweg called WP Engine the “cancer of WordPress” and accused the independent company of not contributing enough to the WordPress open source project. Over the past few weeks, the fight has included stop-and-desist letters, Automattic accusing WP Engine of trademark infringement, a lawsuit filed by WP Engine, and WordPress.org blocking WP Engine’s access and seizing the plugin it maintains.

Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that Automattic was preparing to defend its trademarks by retaining “nice and not-so-nice” lawyers, according to an internal post published earlier this yr by the corporate’s then-chief legal officer.

Federal authorities announced the arrest of a man in Alabama on Thursday, accusing him of involvement in the hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account earlier this 12 months.

Eric Council Jr. was charged in reference to the January 9 hack of SEC , in response to the press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

According to the indictment against the Councilworked with other anonymous co-conspirators to perform a SIM swap on the phone account of a person who had access to SEC X’s account, identified only as “CL.” Authorities alleged that the Council received payments for SIM swaps just like the one which led to the SEC X account hack.

On January 9, the co-conspirator sent the Board instructions on methods to replace the SIM card in the phone of a person with access to X’s SEC account, in addition to that individual’s personal information. Council then went to an AT&T store with a fake CL ID card that he designed and printed himself and claimed to be an FBI agent who had broken his phone and needed a brand new SIM card.

Council bought a brand new iPhone to switch the SIM card, then used the phone to acquire a reset code for the @SECGov account on . At that time, Council returned the iPhone for money in Birmingham, Alabama, the indictment alleges.

In the indictment, prosecutors said Council conducted several Google searches, including “SECGOV hack,” “SIM swapping in Telegram,” “how can I be sure if the FBI is investigating” and “What are the signs you’re under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI, even if they have not contacted you” and “what are the signs that the FBI is after you.”

Council was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and device fraud.

Whitethe Israeli-founded, U.S.-based cybersecurity unicorn that uses artificial intelligence to create so-called data security posture management — a complete assessment and movie of where customer data was created, where it is stored and the way it is used — last yr has seen explosive growth, revitalizing business as breaches proceed to emerge across an increasing number of enterprises and other large organizations. Now Cyera is taking the subsequent steps in its expansion, making its first acquisition and raising major funding on the horizon.

The startup is acquiring Trail Security, a startup that was still operating within the shadows, constructing data loss prevention solutions — essentially technology that enhances posture management to assist secure data within the event of a breach. Cyera pays $162 million in money and stock for Trail, Cyera CEO and co-founder Yotam Segev told TechCrunch in an interview.

Cyera is constructing a powerful client list in major industries like health care, communications and financial services (they don’t desire to call one, but one particularly is an investor in AT&T), so that they generate revenue. He also still has some money within the bank’s wallet from previous fundraisers. Most recently, Cyera acquired a $300 million Series C in April 2024 at a $1.4 billion valuation.

But soon there might be increasingly of it. We have also confirmed with sources near the matter that Cyera is in the method of raising no less than $200 million at an initial valuation of roughly $3 billion. Cyera declined to comment on fundraising.

The transaction will help Cyera expand its offering to fulfill customer demands to service the longer process that follows an engagement in attitude management, namely offering a more complete suite of services in comparison with other firms in the sphere. Cyera’s competitors include CrowdStrike, Zscaler, Rubrik, Wiz, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet.

Trail is a relatively young company – it was only a yr old and still operating in stealth mode, as its results show rare site and the indisputable fact that Zohar Wittenberg, CEO and co-founder, didn’t even have the possibility to create the corporate “LinkedIn official.’ But in actual fact, it has already quietly raised $35 million in funding, Segev told me, including a Series A from Lightspeed, CRV and Cyberstarts — an early-stage backer that has invested in a wave of high-profile Israeli cybersecurity firms, including Wiz and Cyera.

It had some momentum, so why throw within the towel so quickly? Wittenberg told me this happens for two important reasons.

First, it is the state of the safety market, where buyers now favor platform games – with all-in-one offerings and point-of-care solutions.

“We think we’re building the best product in this category, but I think customers wanted to buy data loss protection and data security posture management as one platform,” Wittenberg said in an interview. “We can take the DSPM site and build it better.”

The second reason is that Segev and Wittenberg have known one another for years, since school, and it appeared to be a simple selection for either side in terms of cultural fit.

In the long run, Cyera will concentrate on further improving its own technology – artificial intelligence stands out as the startup’s instrument of selection for collecting and protecting data, but it surely is also the weapon of selection that many malicious hackers use to search out modern ways to network breaches – but in the long run it also intends make more acquisitions, Segev told TechCrunch, to fulfill growing customer demands.

“You have no idea how many times a month the CISO calls me with a subtle question about the time,” Segev told me in April. “Something is happening to me,” they are saying. I want you. How quickly are you able to scan my surroundings? This happens each time. And we jump on it. We send a unit they usually need to determine what data is included. Sometimes they do not even know what data has been compromised.”

Trail has 40 employees they usually all join Cyera.