Boeing has revealed it refused to pay a $200 million ransom demand from ransomware hackers who stole a tranche of sensitive data in 2023.
The US Department of Justice recently unsealed an indictment against one Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, who is being accused of being the one to develop and maintain the dreaded LockBit ransomware, a piece of malicious software that was used in numerous hacking attacks with devastating consequences.
In the unsealed indictment, among the mentioned victims was an unnamed multinational aeronautical and defense corporation that was asked for $200 million, a figure described as “extremely large”. Boeing later confirmed being that company to CyberScoop, but declined to answer any additional questions.
Testing the waters
The company suffered a ransomware attack in November 2023, and at the time, said that the incident impacted elements of its parts and distribution business, but that flight safety was not compromised.
LockBit’s affiliates walked away with 43 gigabytes of data, for which they later demanded an obscene amount of money.
The data seemed to be backups from different company systems and included configuration backups for IT management software and logs for monitoring and auditing tools.
While hackers targeting major corporations are no strangers to enormous ransom demand, in this case they most likely took a blind shot.
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The indictment against Khoroshev labels him as LockBitSupp, the persona that administers the LockBit encryptor. This person subsequently left a message on the RaaS’ messaging platform, saying the law enforcement had the wrong person. They did, however, confirm that Boeing was the compromised company.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sparked debate this week when he took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal that any Model Y built over the “past several months” is capable of an electric range in excess of the stated 260 miles, but unlocking this could come at a cost.
“The “260 mile” range Model Y’s built over the past several months actually have more range that can be unlocked for $1,500 to $2,000 (gains 40 to 60 miles of range), depending on which battery cells you have,” Musk posted.
That’s an equivalent of around £1,195 or AUS$2,270, although the upgrade hasn’t been confirmed for any other markets.
In fact, Musk added “working through regulatory approvals to enable this,” to caveat the fact that the possibility of a one-time-purchase to unlock the full potential of the onboard battery packs has yet to be officially signed off.
The Model Y Musk refers to has actually now been phased out, with a 320-mile version replacing it, which came with a $2,000 price hike but offered around 60 additional miles between Supercharger stops for the money.
But Musk’s social media post suggests that customers of the older Model Y will be able to experience similar range estimates, so long as they are prepared to pay for an over-the-air update.
Predictably, it has caused arguments among internet commentators and owners of the 260-mile Model Y, with some suggesting that offering additional range is a good thing, while others vehemently disagree.
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“What gets at me is that if you aren’t paying for the extended range, you are still lugging around all of that unusable capacity everywhere you go, and the weight associated with it. So you are paying for the downsides of the feature (increased weight and thus charging cost) without any of the upsides,” one comment on The Verge‘s website read in response to the story.
However, this isn’t the first time Tesla has employed this strategy, as owners of the updated Model S, released in 2016, could pay to unlock an additional 5kWh from the onboard battery packs. The fee back then was $3,250 (around £2,590 / AU$4,910).
(Image credit: Tesla)
Analysis: Paywalls proving tricky for automakers
You’ve probably heard the phrase “Software Defined Vehicle” (SDV) banded around a lot lately, as today’s automakers are desperately trying to turn modern cars – particularly electric vehicles – into rolling smartphones on wheels.
Part of the reason is more convenient servicing schedule reminders, the chance to update vehicle settings over-the-air, and delivering new infotainment features. But the other reason is to create a fresh flow of revenue from subscription-based services.
Both Mercedes-Benz and Polestar offered their EV customers the chance to unlock additional horsepower for a fee, while BMW famously decided to lock heated seat functionality behind a paywall, only to reverse the decision after customer backlash.
It’s a tricky line to toe, as most automotive customers are used to paying for the trim and specification level at point of sale, not digging deep later on to unlock features that the car in question is already capable of.
But producing just one variation on the production line is a far savvier business decision, as it saves time and additional expense, not to mention the fact that the big automotive players can ensure a regular revenue stream from users subscribing to higher levels of infotainment or increased power outputs.
Tesla has often been a trail-blazer in this respect and, by and large, its tech-savvy early adopters have embraced subscribing to things like Autopilot or Full Self-Driving technology. That’s not to say the remainder of the car-buying public will be so willing.
The FTC has ordered Razer to pay over $1.1 million in refunds to those who purchased the Razer Zephyr RGB mask which was supposedly “N95-grade”. It wasn’t.
First reported by IGN, The Federal Trade Commission has said that the $1.1 million total must be returned to users due to its misrepresentation of the Razer Zephyr mask. The company claimed its face masks were N95-grade (which are commonly found in surgical applications) but no such official certification was ever passed, and the company changed the fine print on its website to reflect that back in 2022.
FTC Director of Bureau of Consumer Protection Sam Levine said: “These businesses falsely claimed, in the midst of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of an N95 certified respirator” and that Razer only “stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims”. Scathing words indeed.
The Razer Zephyr was available for $100, which means that roughly 11,000 consumers are owed their money back for the purchase of the ill-fated COVID-era face mask. It was available in the US online and through its three physical stores as well as the country’s native Singapore while supposedly selling out almost instantly.
While the filters were not the grade promised, you did get a fair amount of them in the box. The starter pack included 30 filters which would last you around three days apiece, so you would be covered for 90 days before needing to invest in filter packs for $10 a pop, but by that point, the product was quietly pulled from stores. Any mention of the Razer Zephyr has been scrubbed on its website.
When contacted by TechRadar for comment, Razer told us: “We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. It was never our intention to mislead anyone, and we chose to settle this matter to avoid the distraction and disruption of litigation and continue our focus on creating great products for gamers. Razer cares deeply about our community and is always looking to deliver technology in new and relevant ways.”
“The Razer Zephyr was conceived to offer a different and innovative face-covering option for the community,” the Razer spokesperson continued. “The FTC’s claims against Razer concerned limited portions of some of the statements relating to the Zephyr. More than two years ago, Razer proactively notified customers that the Zephyr was not an N95 mask, stopped sales, and refunded customers.”
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The mask was originally announced at CES 2021 as a proof of concept known as Project Hazel before it was made official to the world to purchase later that year. While it didn’t feature an N95 respiration system, it did have RGB lighting and swappable filters. A Zephyr Pro, complete with voice modulation, was announced a year later but never materialized.
Academic workers walk a picket line at the University of California, Los Angeles.Credit: Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty
Amid a reckoning over poor job prospects and stagnating wages for early career scientists, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said it will raise the salaries of thousands of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students who receive a prestigious NIH research fellowship. The move could boost pay for other scientists as well, because academic institutions often follow guidelines set by the NIH.
Beginning immediately, postdocs who hold one of the agency’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) will now earn at least $61,008 per year — an 8% increase and the largest year-over-year increase the NIH has implemented since 2017. Postdocs’ salaries, which are adjusted for years of experience, are capped at $74,088 per year. Graduate students’ yearly salaries will rise by $1,000, amounting to a minimum annual salary of $28,224.
“This is a major step in the right direction and something that the majority will agree is widely needed to retain talent in the biomedical and academic research sectors,” says Francisca Maria Acosta, a biomedical engineer and postdoc at UT Health San Antonio in Texas who is herself funded through an NRSA.
The NIH agreed that a salary increase is indeed needed for the more than 17,000 research trainees covered by the NRSAs. The agency will also provide an extra $500 in subsidies for childcare and $200 for training-related expenses. In this week’s announcement, the agency acknowledged that this increase falls short of the council’s recommendation, and cited its tight budget in recent years.
Canadian science gets biggest boost to PhD and postdoc pay in 20 years
It added that “pending the availability of funds through future appropriations,” the agency would increase salaries to meet the recommended $70,000 target in the next three to five years, while also suggesting that NIH-funded institutions could supplement salaries in other ways. That presents a challenge, according to Sharona Gordon, a biophysicist at the University of Washington in Seattle, when the NIH’s modular R01 grants — one of the primary research awards given to PIs to fund their labs — have remained at $250,000 since they were introduced in 1998. Such grants cannot be used to supplement salaries, meaning lab heads have to pull money from other sources to increase trainees’ pay.
Even scientists who approve of the NIH’s move say it could have unintended consequences. “For institutions such as ours, which mandate that the postdoc minimum salary be set to the NIH minimum, there are some concerns that this increase in personnel costs could be a barrier for labs based on funding levels,” Acosta says.
For some, the five-year timeline for the increase feels insufficient. Haroon Popal, a cognitive science postdoc at the University of Maryland in College Park whose work is funded by the NIH, says that while he understands the pressures on the agency, the new salary will not be enough to support him as he assumes multiple caregiving responsibilities. Even with the boost, postdoc positions in academia fall far short of what researchers could make in government, industry, or nonprofit positions. “This is an issue of diversity and equity for me,” he says. “The new postdoc salary is not allowing people like me to be in academia, which is counter to the NIH’s, institutions’, and our scientific community’s goals of increased diversity.”
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau and finance minister Chrystia Freeland hold copies of the 2024 federal budget.Credit: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty
Researchers in Canada got most of what they were hoping for in the country’s 2024 federal budget, with a big boost in postgraduate pay and more funding for research and scientific infrastructure.
“We are investing over $5 billion in Canadian brainpower,” said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her budget speech on 16 April. “More funding for research and scholarships will help Canada attract the next generation of game-changing thinkers.”
Canadian PhD students and postgrads plan mass walkout over low pay
Postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers have been advocating for higher pay for the past two years through a campaign called Support Our Science. They requested an increase in the value, and number, of federal government scholarships, and got more than they asked for. Stipends for master’s students will rise from Can$17,500 (US$12,700) to $27,000 per year, PhDs stipends that ranged from $20,000 to $35,000 will be set to a uniform annual $40,000 and most postdoctoral-fellowship salaries will increase from $45,000 to $70,000 per annum. The number of scholarships and fellowships provided will also rise over time, building to around 1,720 more per year after five years.
“We’re very thrilled with this significant new investment, the largest investment in graduate students and postdocs in over 21 years,” says Kaitlin Kharas, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, Canada, and executive director of Support Our Science. “It will directly support the next generation of researchers.”
Although only a small proportion of students and postdoctoral fellows receive these federal scholarships, other funders tend to use them as a guide for their own stipends.
Many postgraduates said that low pay was forcing them to consider leaving Canada to pursue their scientific career, says Kharas, so this funding should help to retain talent in the country.
“This is going to move us from a searing brain drain to a brain gain, and position us to compete on the world stage,” says Chad Gaffield, chief executive of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, based in Ontario, which supported the campaign.
‘Determined to thrive’
The budget also includes marked boosts for basic research. There is an extra $1.8 billion over five years in core funding for the three federal grant-awarding research councils, as well as $400 million for upgrades to the TRIUMF particle accelerator in Vancouver, and more cash for several other large facilities and institutes across the country. There will also be more than $2 billion for the artificial-intelligence sector in Canada.
“[This budget] really emphasizes that Canada is determined to thrive in the twenty-first century based on science and research,” says Gaffield.
Canada announces new innovation agency — and it’s not modelled on DARPA
Others have pointed out that the vast majority of the money in the budget for the research councils is backloaded, with just $228 million coming in the next two years. This means that the gains will be slow, and could be vulnerable to changes in the political climate, says Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consultancy in Toronto. “Do not count on this money being there after an election,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). Canada’s next federal election is due in October 2025, and the opposition Conservative Party is campaigning on reigning in spending.
The budget also makes some changes to how science funding is organized. Instead of ten different programmes for scholarships and fellowships, with differing levels of support, there will now be a single programme with just three levels — master’s degrees, PhDs and postdoctoral fellowships. Kharas says that this should simplify the system.
The government will also create a new “capstone” research-funding organization to better coordinate the work of the three granting councils and “help to advance internationally collaborative, multi-disciplinary and mission-driven research”, the budget says. It will also create an advisory Council on Science and Innovation, comprised of leaders from academia, industry and the non-profit sector, which will develop a national science-and-innovation strategy to guide priority setting and increase the impact of federal investments. “This should help move us towards a more efficient, well-coordinated and nimble way of supporting research in Canada,” says Gaffield. “I look forward to working with the government to optimize it.”
Apple Pay’s Express Mode has rolled out to all TTC subway stations in Toronto, allowing riders to simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near the reader at the turnstile to pay for their fare. With Express Mode, payment can be completed without waking or unlocking the device, or authenticating with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode. Express Mode even works for up to five hours after an iPhone has run out of battery power.
As noted by Toronto resident Andrew Escobar, it is still not possible to add a PRESTO card to the Apple Wallet app, so Express Mode is limited to credit and debit cards added to the Wallet app for now. Public documents related to recent TTC meetings suggest that the PRESTO card will gain Apple Wallet support later this year.
To set up a credit or debit card for use with Apple Pay, open the Wallet app on the iPhone, tap the plus sign in the top-right corner, and follow the on-screen instructions. To set a payment card as the default option for Express Mode, open the Settings app on the iPhone, tap Wallet & Apple Pay, tap Express Transit Card, and select a card.
Some payment readers elsewhere in the TTC system already worked with Apple Pay’s Express Mode. Apple periodically updates a list of locations where Apple Pay’s Express Mode is available for transit on its iOS feature availability page.
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple’s password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they’ll respond favorably to social engineering. An…
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce…
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as “Instant Digital.” Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will…
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There’s also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who…
iOS 18 will allow iPhone users to place app icons anywhere on the Home Screen grid, according to sources familiar with development of the software update. This basic feature has long been available on Android smartphones. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, our sources said that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18….
Apple today added a “Why Upgrade” section to its website, which is aimed at encouraging customers with older iPhones to upgrade to a newer model. The website allows customers to compare the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max to the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max. Each comparison shows what new features someone with an older…
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new…
This item sold for a value that may set a new record for a business card with signature. Photo: RR Auction/Cult of Mac
Steve Jobs’ business card bearing the signature of the Apple cofounder himself sold at auction for an amazing value: over $180,000. This is supposedly the most ever paid for a signed business card.
A collection of other Apple memorabilia brought in big bucks at the same auction, a sign of the popularity of rare items from the iPhone-maker.
Steve Jobs signature brings top value
Anything Jobs signed is valuable, and not just because he was a cofounder of Apple and the face of the company for decades. He’s someone who didn’t sign many autographs, so there aren’t huge numbers of pieces of paper floating around with his signature.
And the business card is a stand out. It’s from circa 1983, the year before the release of the original Macintosh, and has the original Apple rainbow logo. It’s in near perfect condition, and was graded by PSA/DNA as GEM MT 10.
“The sale of the Steve Jobs-signed Apple business card for over $180,000 sets a new standard in autographed business cards. It’s a testament to the enduring legacy of Jobs and the profound impact of Apple on our modern world,” said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction, who handled the sale.
Other items bearing the signature of Apple’s co-founder have fetched large sums in the past. A check made out to a consulting firm in 1976 brought in $107,000 at auction last spring, while one made out to Radio Shack in that same year sold late last year for $46,000.
Other items included an Apple-1 Computer signed by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak that brought in $323,789. Additionally, a factory-sealed 4GB original 2007 iPhone sold for $147,286.
Jobs and Wozniak united to form Apple Computer in the 1970s, a collaboration that led to the Macintosh in 1984. Almost anything that bears the signature of one or both of them always does well at auction.
Apple has agreed to pay $490 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that Apple CEO Tim Cook defrauded shareholders by concealing falling demand for iPhones in China, according to Reuters, which cited a court filing today. The proposed settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in California.
On a November 1, 2018 earnings call with analysts, Cook said Apple was facing pressure in emerging markets where local currencies were weakening, such as Turkey, India, Brazil, and Russia, but he did not include China in the list:
The emerging markets that we’re seeing pressure in are markets like Turkey, India, Brazil, Russia. These are markets where currencies have weakened over the recent period. In some cases, that resulted in us raising prices and those markets are not growing the way we would like to see.
Cook went on to say the following about China on the call:
In relation to China specifically, I would not put China in that category. Our business in China was very strong last quarter. We grew 16%, which we’re very happy with. iPhone in particular was very strong, very strong double-digit growth there. Our other products category was also stronger, in fact, a bit stronger than even the overall company number.
A few months later, in January 2019, Cook shared a letter to investors indicating that Apple’s revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018 would be around $84 billion, lower than its original guidance of between $89 billion and $93 billion in the quarter. Apple ended up reporting revenue of $84.3 billion in the quarter on January 29, 2019.
Apple’s share price dropped around 25% between November 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019.
In his letter, Cook said the Greater China region’s slowing economy was largely to blame for Apple’s revenue shortfall in the quarter:
While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad.
The letter added that lower-than-anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in Greater China, accounted for the entire revenue shortfall:
Lower than anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in Greater China, accounts for all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our entire year-over-year revenue decline.
Investors alleged that Cook knew that iPhone demand was falling in China at the time of the November 2018 earnings call, but failed to disclose it. Apple has denied these allegations and has not admitted to any wrongdoing. Apple only agreed to the proposed settlement to avoid additional costs and time involved with litigation, the filing says.
Journalists, creators and long-winded VCs on X now have a new way to be exhausting on main. X now allows verified organizations and Premium+ subscribers to “Articles.”
The feature adds a basic text-editing interface that includes embedded media and some text formatting options, like the ability to make bulleted lists. It also appears that articles can be longer than the 25,000-character limit currently in place for premium subscribers’ “longer posts” feature. According to my initial tests, I hit the character limit for articles at just over 100,000 characters or about 15,000 words.
Here’s what the editing interface looks like:
Screenshot via X
Notably, Twitter began working on longer form posts long before Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. The company showed off an early version, originally called “Notes”, as it looked to lure newsletter writers and other creators to the service. Musk confirmed that the publishing tools were still in the works.
The rollout of publishing tools is notable as Musk has often been hostile to journalists on his platform. Last year, Musk directed a change to X’s recommendation algorithm so that links to newsletter platform Substack would in users’ “For You” feeds, which has throttled many independent writers’ reach on the service. X also from news stories shared on the platform last fall (headlines eventually returned, in a much smaller font).
Apple has announced that it is bringing new features to Apple Pay in the UK, you can now connect your accounts for your debit and credit cards to your Apple Wallet. This will then show you your balance from these accounts in Apple Wallet.
In order for this to work your bank or credit card company will need to support the feature, you will then need to connect each individual credit card or debit card to your Apple Wallet, you can see more information below.
Once users select an eligible card, they’ll be taken to their financial provider’s app or website in order to authenticate their account. From there, they will follow the steps to enable the connection.
Before an account is connected, users will be shown what information will be made conveniently accessible to them in Wallet and need to provide consent — leveraging and adhering to Open Banking standards.
As part of the Open Banking initiative, Apple has been working closely with banks to make the feature available to multiple financial institutions in the U.K., including Barclays, Barclaycard, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, M&S Bank, Monzo, NatWest, and Royal Bank of Scotland.1
You can find out more details about this new Apple Pay feature and how you can connect your account to show balances and more over at Apple’s website at the link below, the feature is now live in the UK.
Source Apple
Filed Under: Apple, Apple iPhone
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