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Some Americans continue to use Kaspersky antivirus despite the US government’s ban

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A Kaspersky logo on the top of a building.

In late September, Kaspersky forcibly uninstalled and replaced a brand new antivirus program called UltraAV on the computers of roughly a million Americans, lots of whom were surprised and dismayed that that they had not been asked to consent to the change. The move was the final result of the US government’s ban on all sales of Kaspersky software in the country and – at the very least in theory – spelled the end of Kaspersky in America.

But not everyone in the US has given up on Russian antivirus. TechCrunch has learned that some Americans have found ways to circumvent the ban and continue to use Kaspersky’s antivirus program.

Several people living in the US claimed in Reddit posts that they were claiming to be Kaspersky customers. When TechCrunch asked them about their motivations, their reasons ranged from skepticism about why they were banned or had already paid for the product, to simply preferring the product over competitors.

“It is widely referred to as the best (antivirus) in the world and has an extended history. There isn’t any actual evidence that that is ‘spyware’ and I am unable to just blindly consider in something that has no evidence of it,” a US-based Reddit user going by the username Blippyz told TechCrunch in a direct message.

Another Reddit user named YouKnowWho_13, who still uses antivirus software from New York-based Kaspersky, said they weren’t concerned about allegations that Kaspersky abused access to some Americans’ computers to send sensitive data back to the Russian government.

“Hey, I’m just a cashier…” they told TechCrunch, suggesting they weren’t an interesting goal for cyber spies. adding that the ban on the sale of Kaspersky products was “a little too harsh” and unnecessary. “(I) have been used to this for 10 years. Force of habit haha. It’s a nice product.”

The way these users circumvent the sales ban is two-fold. First, they purchased a license or key before the ban was implemented, which suggests they didn’t violate the sales ban or sanctions by sending money to the Moscow-based cybersecurity company. Secondly, they’re using a VPN or have manually added a non-US server to the update server list, which suggests that in Kaspersky’s eyes they will not be actually US users.

Kaspersky didn’t respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Avi Fleischer, a longtime Kaspersky user who lives in Brooklyn, New York, told TechCrunch that he still uses the software on his home computer. Fleischer explained that after the ban got here into force “Kaspersky Security Network” – service “designed to receive and process complex global cyber threat data” — became unavailable, but was still able to obtain virus definition updates by pointing the update server to a server outside the United States.

“Now it can automatically update virus definitions,” Fleischer said, adding that he doesn’t use a VPN.

YouKnowWho_13 said he purchased a global license key on eBay. Like others, they said they added an update server positioned outside the United States to the Kaspersky app to continue receiving security updates.

Once the license key expires, YouKnowWho_13 said it might switch to competing antivirus software ESET or Bitdefender.

Another Reddit user, Das1996, told TechCrunch that he uses a VPN to download updates and has a license key that expires in about three or 4 months. Once this happens, they are saying, they may determine what to do next. But “if the VPN option works well, I will continue to use it,” Das1996 said.

Domingothegamer, Reddit user who searched for assistance on the website after they couldn’t update their Kaspersky software, he said he still had a three-year license with two years left, for 10 devices. For them, leaving Kaspersky “seems like a big loss just because of the ban.”

They said they didn’t even need to use a VPN and that apart from adding latest servers to get updates, “it’s just a regular service.”

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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How the digital “you” can withstand your torturous online conference calls

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Now you can appear like you are on a Zoom call in your office, even whilst you’re sipping a margarita in a hammock far, far-off. Courtesy of a several-month-old startup called Marinadethe premise is easy: upload a five-minute training video of you creating an avatar, and 24 hours later you may seemingly be able to go. Do you ought to call from your automotive? This can be your secret. Too lazy to get away from bed? No problem. At the beach club? You’re probably pushing it, although judging by the demo video, that is not the only problem that should be solved. (The service is currently available in Basic, Standard and Professional versions, with prices starting from $300 to $1,150 per yr.)

The technology, backed by Los Angeles-based Krew Capital, currently only works with macOS, Pickle says, but a Windows version is anticipated next month. As for the conferencing apps that customers can pick from, they include Zoom, Google Meet and Teams, in keeping with Pickle. However, you should have to attend to make use of them. According to the website, “due to high demand, clone generation is currently delayed.”

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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‘Wolves’ sequel canceled because director ‘no longer trusted’ Apple

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It could also be hard to recollect, but George Clooney and Brad Pitt starred together within the movie “Wolves,” which Apple released just two months ago.

On Friday, the film’s author and director Jon Watts said Friday that the sequel is not any longer happening; IN one other interview for Deadlinehe explained that he “no longer trusts (Apple) as a creative partner.”

According to reports, the corporate limiting your film strategy. For example, “Wolfs” was imagined to have a giant theatrical release, but as an alternative it played in a limited variety of theaters for just per week before it landed on Apple TV+.

Watts, who also created the brand new Star Wars series “Skeleton Crew,” said Apple’s change “came as a complete surprise and was made without any explanation or discussion.”

“I was completely shocked and asked them not to tell me I was writing a sequel,” Watts said. “They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, apparently to put a positive spin on their streaming axis.”

As a result, Watts said he “quietly refunded the money they gave me to continue” and canceled the project.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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The Rise and Fall of the “Scattered Spider” Hackers.

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A statue of CrowdStrike’s action figure that represents the Scattered Spider cybercriminal group, seen at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in August 2024.

After greater than two years of evading capture following a hacking spree that targeted some of the world’s largest technology firms, U.S. authorities say they’ve finally caught a minimum of some of the hackers responsible.

In August 2022 security researchers made their information public with a warning that a bunch of hackers targeted greater than 130 organizations in a complicated phishing campaign that stole the credentials of nearly 10,000 employees. The hackers specifically targeted firms that use Okta, a single sign-on service provider that hundreds of firms around the world use to permit their employees to log in from home.

Due to its give attention to Okta, the hacker group was dubbed “0ktapus”. By now the group has been hacked Caesar’s entertainmentCoinbase, DoorDash, Mailchimp, Riot Games, Twilio (twice) and dozens more.

The most notable and severe cyber attack by hackers in terms of downtime and impact was the September 2023 breach of MGM Resorts, which reportedly cost the casino and hotel giant a minimum of $100 million. In this case, the hackers collaborated with the Russian-speaking ransomware gang ALPHV and demanded a ransom from MGM for the company to get better its files. The break-in was such a nuisance that MGM-owned casinos had problems with service delivery for several days.

Over the past two years, as law enforcement has closed in on hackers, people in the cybersecurity industry have been attempting to work out exactly tips on how to classify hackers and whether to place them in a single group or one other.

Techniques utilized by hackers similar to social engineering, email and SMS phishing, and SIM swapping are common and widespread. Some of the individual hackers were part of several groups chargeable for various data breaches. These circumstances make it obscure exactly who belongs to which group. Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike has dubbed this hacker group “Scattered Spider,” and researchers imagine it has some overlap with 0ktapus.

The group was so energetic and successful that the US cybersecurity agency CISA and the FBI issued a advice in late 2023 with detailed details about the group’s activities and techniques in an try and help organizations prepare for and defend against anticipated attacks.

Scattered Spider is a “cybercriminal group targeting large companies and their IT helpdesks,” CISA said in its advisory. The agency warned that the group “typically engaged in data theft for extortion purposes” and noted its known ties to ransomware gangs.

One thing that is comparatively certain is that hackers mostly speak English and are generally believed to be teenagers or early 20s, and are sometimes called “advanced, persistent teenagers.”

“A disproportionate number of minors are involved and this is because the group deliberately recruits minors due to the lenient legal environment in which these minors live, and they know that nothing will happen to them if the police catch the child” – Allison Nixon , director of research for Unit 221B, told TechCrunch at the time.

Over the past two years, some members of 0ktapus and Scattered Spider have been linked to a similarly nebulous group of cybercriminals generally known as “Com” People inside this broader cybercriminal community committed crimes that leaked into the real world. Some of them are chargeable for acts of violence similar to robberies, burglaries and bricklaying – hiring thugs to throw bricks at someone’s house or apartment; and swatting – when someone tricks authorities into believing that a violent crime has occurred, prompting the intervention of an armed police unit. Although born as a joke, the swat has fatal consequences.

After two years of hacking, authorities are finally starting to discover and prosecute Scattered Spider members.

in July This was confirmed by the British police arrest of a 17-year-old in reference to the MGM burglary.

In November, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had indicted five hackers: Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy, 23, of College Station, Texas; Noah Michael Urban, 20, from Palm Coast, Florida, arrested in January; Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, 20, of Dallas, Texas; Joel Martin Evans, 25, of Jacksonville, North Carolina; and Tyler Robert Buchanan, 22, from the UK, who was arrested in June in Spain.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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