Tag Archives: Microsoft

Microsoft: Russian Hackers Accessed Corporate Emails

Via press release from Microsoft: The Microsoft security team detected a nation-state attack on our corporate systems on January 12, 2024, and immediately activated our response process to investigate, disrupt malicious activity, mitigate the attack, and deny the threat actor further access. Microsoft has identified the threat actor as Midnight Blizzard, the Russian state-sponsored actor also known as Nobelium. As …

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NYT Sues OpenAI And Microsoft Over Copyright Issues

The New York Times reports: The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement on Wednesday, opening a new front in the increasingly intense legal battle over the unauthorized use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies. The Times is the first major American media organization to sue the companies, the creators of ChatGPT and other popular …

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OOPS: Microsoft Owns “X” Trademark For Their Xbox

The Messenger reports: Elon Musk’s sudden move to rebrand Twitter as X may run into the unyielding wall of trademark law — but not because its logo looks suspiciously familiar to a variety of typeface fonts. Instead, the problem may be in the X brand itself, legal experts told The Messenger. Microsoft’s trademark application on the brand mark ‘X’ was …

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Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft Over Data Usage

The Verge reports: Elon Musk is threatening to take legal action against Microsoft over claims that the company “trained illegally using Twitter data.” The billionaire’s statement came in response to a tweet noting that Microsoft’s advertising platform announced it would stop supporting Twitter, reportedly due to Twitter’s changes requiring payment to access its API. Musk’s threat is vague but appears …

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Microsoft To Shut Down Internet Explorer After 27 Years

People Magazine reports: After first announcing the decision last year, Microsoft will shut down Internet Explorer on Wednesday. The move comes about 27 years after the company first debuted the browser. Starting Wednesday, most people who try to open the application will be directed to Microsoft Edge — the company’s newer browser. Although the browser is nowhere near as popular …

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Microsoft Reports “Ongoing” Attack By Russian Hackers

The New York Times reports: Russia’s premier intelligence agency has launched another campaign to pierce thousands of U.S. government, corporate and think-tank computer networks, Microsoft officials and cybersecurity experts warned on Sunday, only months after President Biden imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to a series of sophisticated spy operations it had conducted around the world. The new effort is …

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Free Upgrades To Windows 11 To Begin October 5th

The Verge reports: Microsoft is announcing that Windows 11 will be released on October 5th. The new operating system will be available as a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 PCs, or on new hardware that ships with Windows 11 pre-loaded. The free upgrade to Windows 11 will start rolling out on October 5th, but like many Windows upgrades in …

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MS Warns Major Companies Of Exposed Databases

Reuters reports: Microsoft on Thursday warned thousands of its cloud computing customers, including some of the world’s largest companies, that intruders could have the ability to read, change or even delete their main databases, according to a copy of the email and a cyber security researcher. The vulnerability is in Microsoft Azure’s flagship Cosmos database. A research team at security …

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White House Blames China For Microsoft Email Hack

The Associated Press reports: The Biden administration on Monday blamed China for a hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software that compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world earlier this year. The administration and allied nations also disclosed a broad range of other cyberthreats from Beijing, including ransomware attacks from government-affiliated hackers that have targeted companies with demands …

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Pentagon Axes $10B MS Contract In Win For Amazon

Axios reports: The Department of Defense announced Tuesday it was canceling the massive cloud contract awarded to Microsoft in 2019, saying it “no longer meets its needs.” The JEDI contract was the largest-ever of its kind, with an estimated value of roughly $10 billion over a 10-year stretch. The deal, initially intended to modernize the Pentagon’s IT operations, was the …

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Windows 11 “Preview” Now Available To Download

The Verge reports: Microsoft is releasing its first Windows 11 preview build today. Windows Insiders can download the Windows 11 preview (build 22000.51) right now, which includes access to the new Start menu, multitasking features, and overhauled Microsoft Store. Unlike the previous Windows 11 leak, this official preview also features an updated File Explorer that replaces the ribbon with a …

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Microsoft Unveils Details Of Coming Windows 11

The Verge reports: Microsoft is officially confirming the name for the next release of Windows today: Windows 11. After months of teases, hints of the number 11, and a giant Windows 11 leak, Microsoft’s new operating system is official. The big focus for Windows 11 is a simplification of the Windows user interface, a new Windows store, and improvements to …

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Microsoft To Force Removal Of Flash From Windows 10

The Verge reports: Microsoft will start fully removing Adobe Flash from Windows 10 this summer. The Windows 10 “Update for Removal of Adobe Flash Player,” which permanently removes Flash as a component of the operating system, will become mandatory starting in July. Updating to Windows 10 version 21H1, expected to start rolling out this month, will also remove the software. …

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Bill And Melinda Gates To Divorce After 27 Years

CNN Business reports: Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their marriage after 27 years, the pair announced in a statement on their verified Twitter accounts. “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the statement reads. The couple founded their philanthropic organization, the Bill and …

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MS Email Hack Hits 30,000 US Orgs, Cities, Businesses

Krebs On Security reports: At least 30,000 organizations across the United States — including a significant number of small businesses, towns, cities and local governments — have over the past few days been hacked by an unusually aggressive Chinese cyber espionage unit that’s focused on stealing email from victim organizations, multiple sources tell KrebsOnSecurity. The espionage group is exploiting four …

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Microsoft Ends Donations To GOP Insurrectionists

The Verge reports: Microsoft has announced that it will suspend all donations for the upcoming 2022 election cycle for any members of Congress, state officials, and organizations that voted to object to the certification of electors in the 2020 election or supported attempting to overturn the election. The company temporarily suspended all political contributions after the January 6th attack on …

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MS Patent: Chat With Your Deceased Loved Ones

The Independent reports: Microsoft has been granted a patent that would allow the company to make a chatbot using the personal information of deceased people. The patent describes creating a bot based on the “images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages”, and more personal information. “The specific person [who the chat bot represents] may correspond to a past or …

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Walmart Teams With Microsoft In Bid To Buy TikTok

Yahoo Finance reports: Retail giant Walmart said Thursday it had teamed with Microsoft to buy TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app that has come under fire from the administration of President Donald Trump. The app has been at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing since Trump signed an executive order on August 6 giving Americans 45 …

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Microsoft In Talks To Buy TikTok As Trump Threatens

The New York Times reports: Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions, as President Trump said on Friday that he was considering taking steps that would effectively ban the app from the United States. It’s unclear how advanced the talks between Microsoft and TikTok are, but any …

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Gates Funds Launch Of Coronavirus Home Testing Kits

The Seattle Times reports: Testing for the novel coronavirus in the Seattle area will get a huge boost in the coming weeks as a project funded by Bill Gates and his foundation begins offering home-testing kits that will allow people who fear they may be infected to swab their noses and send the samples back for analysis. Results, which should …

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