Author: TechBrunch
On Monday, researchers at cybersecurity giant Kaspersky Lab released a report identifying a new piece of spyware called Dante that they say is targeting Windows victims in Russia and neighboring Belarus. Dante spyware is made by Milan-based surveillance technology maker Memento Labs, which was founded in 2019 after earlier spyware maker Hacking Team was acquired and taken over by new owners, researchers said. Memento CEO Paolo Lezzi confirmed to TechCrunch that the spyware captured by Kaspersky was indeed Memento's. In the call, Lezzi accused one of his company's government customers of exposing Dante, saying that the customer was using an…
LG U+, one of South Korea's largest carriers, confirmed to TechCrunch that it had reported a suspected data breach to KISA, South Korea's national cybersecurity watchdog, but did not say when the findings of the investigation would be available. South Korea's three major telecommunications providers, SK Telecom, KT Telecom, and now LG U+, have all reported cybersecurity incidents in the past six months, pending confirmation from the South Korean government. South Korea's Ministry of Science, Information and Communications told TechCrunch that an investigation into KT and LG Uplus that began last month is still ongoing amid reports that the companies…
Indian auto giant Tata Motors has fixed a series of security flaws that exposed sensitive internal data including customer personal information, company reports and dealer-related data. Security researcher Eaton Zuber told TechCrunch that he discovered the flaw in Tata Motors' E-Dukaan division, an e-commerce portal for purchasing spare parts for Tata commercial vehicles. Tata Motors, headquartered in Mumbai, produces passenger cars as well as commercial and defense vehicles. The company has a presence in 125 countries and seven assembly facilities, according to its website. Zuber found that the portal's web source code contained private keys to access and modify data…
Companies using software often have to strike a difficult balance between patching systems as quickly as possible to prevent cyber-attacks, while also ensuring that updates do not break system operations. That's what startup CyDeploy wants to help you with. The company's founder, Tina Williams Koroma, explained to TechCrunch that the idea of CyDeploy is to use machine learning to observe and record the most critical systems that companies run, create replicas of them, and allow companies using CyDeploy to run tests on what she calls a “digital twin” before deploying to actual live systems. “We record how users use applications…
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 is coming! If you're still on the fence about attending in person, join us for the extensive schedule of speakers, networking opportunities, workshops, afterparties, and more available here. There's still plenty of time to get your tickets, and since there's only 2 days left, we're offering you a 50% discount. However, if you can't attend in person, checking out Disrupt Stage's livestream is the next best thing. The Disrupt Stage will feature some of the most prominent speakers and the highly anticipated Startup Battlefield 200 pitch competition. We're streaming via YouTube, so you can watch the embed…
This week on StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos speaks with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill President Lee Roberts to discuss their ambitious plans to make AI the university's north star during a tumultuous year. Roberts details his decision to combine UNC's Department of Data Science and Sociology with the Department of Information and Library Science, and explains why breaking down academic silos is essential as technology advances faster than at a typical university. He talked about the $38 million in federal research grants that have been discontinued, concentrated in areas such as public health, and why he is less…
Day 2 of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 has begun. That means San Francisco's Moscone West will once again be packed with speakers, workshops, networking opportunities, and after-parties for attendees. Please note that you can still register for tickets to join in the excitement. Another day has passed, so you can get tickets here for 50% off the standard walk-up price. Update our speaker lineup here or click the anchor links below to dig deeper into each stage, event, networking opportunity, and more. The most important thing is to have fun outside. If you want to join the conversation about Disrupt, post…
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Sequoia managing partner Roelof Botha argued that the venture industry is not an asset class and that pouring more money into Silicon Valley won't create better companies. “Investing in ventures is a risk with no return,” Botha said in an interview on the main stage at TechCrunch's Disrupt on Monday. “If you've ever studied capital asset pricing models, you know the joke. The reason I came up with this is because if you look at the history of venture capital, venture capital is an asset that is uncorrelated with other asset classes.” “So the thinking of…
Astro Teller, CEO of X, Alphabet's “moonshot factory” where the company develops nearly impossible things, shared what makes a moonshot and detailed the company's “fail fast” mantra at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Monday. Notable companies that started as moonshots from X's Moonshot factory include Waymo and Wing. Teller pointed out that Company X has a “2% hit rate,” which means most of what the company tries won't work, but that's OK. He said X defines a moonshot as having three specific components. The first is that we need to try to solve the world's big problems. Second, you…
In an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 on Monday, Sequoia Capital managing partner Roelof Botha defended fellow Sequoia partner Sean Maguire over Maguire's controversial comments earlier this year, saying the firm believes in its partners' right to “free speech.” In a July 4 post on X, Maguire attacked New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani, calling him an “Islamist” who “comes from a culture that lies about everything.” His comments sparked considerable backlash online and sparked a debate about the reputational risk for the VC firm, which has backed companies such as Airbnb, Google, Nvidia and Stripe. Immediately after the…