Author: TechBrunch

A Russian telecommunications company that develops technology that allows phone and internet companies to monitor and censor the web has been hacked, its website defaced and data stolen from its servers, TechCrunch has learned. Founded in Russia, Prorei makes telecommunications systems for telephone and internet providers in dozens of countries, including Bahrain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan and much of Central Africa. The company, currently headquartered in Jordan, sells video conferencing technology and internet connectivity solutions, as well as web filtering products such as surveillance equipment and deep packet inspection systems. It's unclear exactly when and how Prorei was hacked, but…

According to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), $580 billion will be spent on AI data centers worldwide in 2025 alone. That's $40 billion more than would be spent on new oil supplies, leading to the conclusion that data centers are the new oil field. But is this a net positive for the environment, or just another type of resource drain? On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Kolosek, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Beran dig into what this spending shift means for the energy grid, climate technology, and whether taxpayers should pay for Big Tech's infrastructure ambitions. Listen to…

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that five people have pleaded guilty to aiding North Korea in defrauding U.S. companies by posing as remote IT workers. The five are suspected of working as “middlemen'' who helped North Koreans find jobs by providing their real identities or the false and stolen identities of more than a dozen Americans. The intermediaries also placed company-issued laptops in homes across the United States to make it appear that the North Korean workers lived locally, according to a Justice Department press release. These measures affected 136 U.S. companies and generated $2.2 million in revenue…

If there's one thing VCs agree on when backing AI startups, it's that AI requires a different investment approach than previous technology changes. “These are funky times,” said Eileen Lee, founder and managing partner of Cowboy Ventures, on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The longtime venture capitalist said some AI companies have gone from “zero to $100 million in revenue in a year,” and the rules for investing have changed dramatically. But Lee also pointed out that, based on her firm's research, Series A investors aren't just looking for rapid revenue growth. “It's an algorithm with different variables and different…

In the debut episode of the Build Mode podcast, host Isabel Johannessen speaks with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI, to uncover what it really takes to build a company that lasts, with and for your customers, from day one. Build Mode is TechCrunch's new podcast, a messy, tactical, real-talk version that pulls back the curtain on how startups are actually built. Season 1: Product, Meet Market goes beyond product-market fit to consider all aspects of getting your product into the hands of your customers, from finding the right users and gaining their trust to turning initial traction into lasting…

Last June, the hosts of the popular podcast “All In” launched their own tequila brand at a star-studded party, and 750 bottles of the $1,200 spirit quickly sold out. But getting these bottles into customers' hands proved more difficult than expected. Jason Calacanis, one of the podcast's hosts, told TechCrunch that bottles of the long-awaited Besties All-In Tequila began shipping to customers last week, ending a nearly five-month wait. Karacanis said it was the unusual bottle that was at issue. “The handcrafted bottles took a little longer to create than expected, but the bottles started shipping last week.” The bottles…

An international coalition of law enforcement agencies coordinated by Europol has targeted and crushed three cybercrime operations in the latest round, which authorities are calling “Operation Endgame.” Europol said in a press release that the police operation targeted the information-stealing malware Rhadamanthys, the Elysium botnet and the VenomRAT remote access Trojan. Authorities say all three “played significant roles in international cybercrime.” Police seized more than 1,000 servers as part of the operation. Europol announced that police arrested the unnamed “key suspect” behind VenomRAT in Greece on November 3. “The dismantled malware infrastructure consisted of hundreds of thousands of infected computers…

Early-stage venture fund Betaworks has announced the latest 10 companies to rise from its prestigious Camp program, a twice-yearly 13-week residency program launched in 2016 that has given way to names such as Hugging Face and Grey's Social. The theme of this year's camp is interfaces, as well as companies designing products that impact the way users experience AI. (Previous camp themes focused on application layers and agents). Applications opened in June, camp began in August, and DemoDay was November 4th. The companies participating in the 13th BetaWorks Camp are: Nora — A browser extension that tracks shopping habits, founded…

US cybersecurity agency CISA said federal government departments are not sufficiently patching Cisco firewalls to protect against active hacking activity targeting them. In an updated advisory released Wednesday, CISA said it is now “actively tracking the exploitation” of two security flaws in Cisco's Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software, which hardens a variety of enterprise-grade firewalls used by major companies and government agencies to protect networks from malicious outsiders. CISA said the flaw has been being exploited by a “sophisticated” but as-yet-unnamed attacker since September, prompting CISA to issue its third emergency directive this year ordering government agencies to patch affected…

Deepwatch, a cybersecurity company that develops an AI-powered detection and response platform, on Wednesday laid off dozens of employees, citing AI in part. Deepwatch CEO John DiLullo told TechCrunch in an email that the company is “aligning our organization to accelerate our significant investments in AI and automation.” A current DeepWatch employee, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch that the layoffs affected between 60 and 80 of the company's approximately 250 employees. A Linkedin post by the person who said he was fired also mentioned 80 people. “They're doing things with…