Elon Musk subpoenas Jack Dorsey / Intel signs $30B deal with Brookfield / Zoom's growth slowed in Q2

Plus, hedge fund manager Julian Robertson passes away at 90.

Inside.com Part of   Network August 23, 2022

Elon Musk’s lawyers have subpoenaed Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, seeking documents related to spam/bot accounts on the platform. Musk is also seeking information on Twitter’s mDAUs and any other metric the social media platform uses to describe user or advertiser engagement. More: The move comes as Musk and Twitter are preparing for a five-day trial in October in Delaware Chancery Court, following Musk’s attempt to pull out of the deal. The subpoena sent to Dorsey was dated Aug. 19 and made public on Monday. Both sides have sent out subpoenas recently, including some sent by Twitter to members of Musk’s inner circle and financial backers. Earlier this year, Dorsey tweeted his support of Musk’s bid to take the social media company private for $44B. Dorsey resigned from the CEO role in Nov. 2021 and stepped down from Twitter’s board in May 2022 at the end of his term.

Intel has signed a $30B funding partnership with Canadian asset management firm Brookfield Asset Management to finance its chip factory projects. The move is part of Intel’s push to become a leading global contract semiconductor manufacturer and regain its manufacturing advantage over rivals in Taiwan and South Korea. More: Under the terms of the deal, Intel would fund 51% of the building costs for chip manufacturing plants in Chandler, Arizona, and will have a controlling stake in the financing vehicle that would own the new factories. Brookfield would fund the remaining 49% of the building costs and own the equity. Both companies would split the revenue the facilities generate. The deal is considered a first of its kind within the chip industry. Analysts expect the global chip industry to generate annual sales of up to $1T by the end of the decade.

Twitter's former head of security, Peiter Zatko, filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC last month, claiming Twitter executives deceived federal regulators and its board. Zatko claims executives misled the company's board of directors about deficiencies with the platform, leaving its 238 million daily users, including government agencies, heads of state, and other influential public figures, vulnerable. More: Zatko claims that Twitter violated the terms of an 11-year-old settlement with the Federal Trade Commission by falsely claiming that it had a solid security plan. Zatko said he warned his Twitter colleagues that half the company's servers were running out-of-date software and were vulnerable. Zatko noted that Twitter's executives withheld facts about the number of breaches and lack of protection for user data on the platform from the board and instead presented rosy charts. He alleges that Twitter prioritized user growth over reducing spam/bots on the platform, adding that the unwanted spam/bot accounts worsened the user experience.  Zatko is a hacker and cybersecurity expert known as "Mudge." He joined Twitter in 2020 at the request of former CEO Jack Dorsey and was fired in January by Twitter's new CEO, Parag Agrawal.

Zoom released its Q2 earnings on Monday, reporting an 8% revenue growth YoY, down from 12% reported in the prior quarter. The video communications company generated $1.1B in total revenue. Net income came in at $45.7M, or $1.05 a share, down from $316.9M reported the prior year. More: Zoom pointed to the strong U.S. dollar and performance in the company’s online business and sales for the slowed quarter. The company ended the quarter with about 204,100 enterprise customers, from 198,900 reported in the prior quarter. Zoom expects Q3 revenue between $1.095B and $1.1B and expects earnings in the range of 82 cents to 83 cents per share. Zoom’s stock fell more than 16% on Tuesday, closing at $81.32 a share. The company is down over 50% YTD.

California's Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has denied Tesla's petition to determine whether the Department of Civil Rights (DCR) had adopted "underground regulations" that ignore requirements it must meet before suing employers. The DCR is suing the EV maker for alleged race bias at its Fremont, California, assembly plant. More: Tesla's petition with the OAL was an attempt to limit the department's authority to pursue discrimination cases by forcing it to take additional steps before it could sue. Tesla's petition would have required the department to provide businesses with detailed explanations of alleged legal violations and provided an opportunity for an out-of-court settlement. The OAL, which reviews state agency regulations and can recommend changes, did not give a reason for the denial and said Tesla can still pursue its claims in court. The lawsuit is one of several pending in California courts that accuse Tesla of tolerating discrimination and sexual harassment at its factories.

Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the SPAC set to merge with Donald Trump's Trump Media and Technology Group, warned that the former President's waning popularity could hurt the company. DWAC has arranged a meeting to vote on delaying the deadline for completing the merger with the Trump media organization. More: In a filing with regulators, DWAC has set a shareholder meeting for Sept. 6 to determine whether to delay the deadline for completing the merger with TMTG. The deadline for the merger is currently set for Sept. 8, 2022.; DWAC is looking to extend it to Sept. 8, 2023. DWAC said it is concerned that the deal's value could be affected by the former President's damaged reputation. DWAC said it could liquidate if the merger isn't consummated.

Quick Hits Top companies are planning their holiday gifting now. Here’s why their gifts are sure to be a success.* Apple plans to make its new iPhone in India months earlier than it did for previous models. The tech giant has been divesting different product line production from China recently amid COVID-19-related shutdowns and rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Julian Robertson, hedge fund manager and founder of Tiger Management, passed away at the age of 90. Robertson trained several prominent fund managers, including Tiger Globe’s founder Chase Coleman III, known as Tiger Cubs. According to Citigroup, inflation in the U.K. is expected to reach 18.6% by next year. The increase is driven by record-high gas prices in the country and is expected to be the highest among western economies. President Biden is expected to announce his plans for dealing with student loans on Wednesday. Biden had previously suggested canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year. Five ways you can use content and data to create a cycle of unforgettable customer experiences.* *This is sponsored content.

Upcoming Events August 24 - AMA with Matt Mahar (CEO at Cana) (Register Here) August 30 - An overview of simulation and cloud tools in embedded software (Register Here) * August 31 - AMA with Sophia Amoruso (CEO at Business Class) (Register Here) September 07 - AMA with Andrew Gazdecki (Founder of MicroAcquire) (Register Here) September 09 - AMA with Jay Ryan (U.S. Federal Government Program Manager at Security Compass) (Register Here) September 14 - AMA with Brian Dean (Founder of Backlinko) (Register Here) September 21 - AMA with Kristen Ruby (Founder of Ruby Media Group) (Register Here) September 28 - Free Access to the Semantic Layer Summit with 30+ Enterprise Data Leaders (Register Here) * September 28 - AMA with Leigh-Ann Buchanan (Founder of aīre ventures) (Register Here) October 12 - AMA with Bill Glenn (Executive Chairman at Crenshaw Associates) (Register Here) October 25 - Meet Our Fund 4, an Inside.com Summit (Register Here) *This is a sponsored listing.

Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling.  Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com Editor Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords.

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Ex-Twitter head of security claims employees may work for foreign intelligence / CEO of NSO resigns / FBI warns of hackers abusing IP addresses

Plus: Google tracks malware that steals data from users' emails

Inside.com Part of   Network August 23, 2022

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Twitter's former head of security has claimed that some Twitter employees may work for foreign intelligence and that the company has serious security issues. The former executive also stated that numerous employees access sensitive data without any monitoring. More: The former head of Twitter's security, Peter Zatko, claims that the company has misled its board to believe that the situation is much better than it is in reality. Zatko claims that Twitter does not delete customer data even after users delete their accounts. Furthermore, the company allegedly has lied about doing so to government regulators. According to him, he was fired in January because he presented technical security flaws in front of Twitter board members. Twitter, on the other hand, claims that he was fired due to poor performance. Alex Spiro, Elon Musk's lawyer, has stated that Zatko has been subpoenaed.

The CEO of Israeli spyware maker NSO Group has resigned. Shalev Hulio will be replaced by the company's current COO. More: NSO is an Israeli cybersecurity company that is best known for creating the Pegasus spyware. Another 100 positions will be restructured and cut in the company as part of a new management plan. Pegasus spyware made headlines after reports that NSO had sold the software to multiple governments so that they could spy on private conversations. NSO was added to the U.S. export blacklist in 2021, while companies such as WhatsApp have also accused the company of tapping into private conversations. The spyware was even used to spy on high-ranking officials such as the Spanish prime minister and EU commissioners.

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The FBI has warned of hackers taking over IP addresses to cover their tracks. Over 175,000 victims are believed to have been breached through credential stuffing. More: The FBI cooperated with the Australian Police in an operation that uncovered over 300,000 unique addresses that were affected by the hacking campaign. Hackers are believed to have made over $400,000 during this timespan. According to the statement, hackers are using the fact that security protocols do not automatically detect residential proxies as a threat to their advantage and that the combination of easy-to-access online tutorials combined with cracking tools has made credential stuffing hacking campaigns more common. Zoom Out: Researchers believe hackers attempted over 193 billion credential stuffing attacks in 2020.

Google has tracked a malicious tool that steals data from private email accounts. The tool is believed to have been created by a threat actor known as Charming Kitten. More: Charming Kitten is believed to be backed by the Iranian government. The group is also known as APT35, Cobalt Illusion, ITG18, Phosphorus, TA453, and Yellow Garuda This malware has been named Hyperscrape and is believed to have affected at least six victims since its inception in 2020. Hyperscrape is able to delete warning emails sent from Google and gather all customer data in a downloadable file. Victims are usually breached by clicking on a malicious link. Google has reportedly notified all of the victims regarding the breach. Zoom Out: Charming Kitten has used similar malware in the past. In 2019, the group was deploying Little Looter, malicious software that was able to breach cameras and microphones in mobile devices.

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CISA will receive $45M in government funding. The funds will be donated by the Department of Energy. More: The Department of Energy aims to fund 15 cybersecurity projects to increase defense capabilities in the U.S. energy industry. DOE officials stated that programs like this are important due to the rising number of cases where energy grid networks are attacked by foreign actors. Officials also referenced the Colonial Pipeline hack as an example of how important protecting energy resources is. The funding will be deployed in six areas: automated cyberattack prevention and mitigation, security and resiliency by design, the authentication mechanism for energy delivery systems, automated methods to discover and mitigate vulnerabilities, cybersecurity through advanced software solutions, and integration of new concepts and technologies with existing infrastructure.

Quick Hits: Top companies are planning their holiday gifting now. Here’s why their gifts are sure to be a success.* Iranian hackers are believed to have targeted numerous Israeli organizations with spyware, according to researchers. XCSSET malware operators have changed the variant yet again. This time, the malware is falsely presented as a notes app to the victims it targets. CISA has added a new security flaw to its list of vulnerabilities. The flaw is being tracked as CVE-2022-0028 and has a CVSS rating of 8.6. The flaw concerns a reflected amplification denial-of-service vulnerability in URL filtering. A new security flaw tracked as Gairoscope enables hackers to steal information through soundwaves, even if the computer is air-gapped. Five ways you can use content and data to create a cycle of unforgettable customer experiences.* *This is sponsored content.

Upcoming events at Inside: August 24 - AMA with Matt Mahar (CEO at Cana) (Register Here) August 30 - An overview of simulation and cloud tools in embedded software (Register Here) * August 31 - AMA with Sophia Amoruso (CEO at Business Class) (Register Here) September 07 - AMA with Andrew Gazdecki (Founder of MicroAcquire) (Register Here) September 09 - AMA with Jay Ryan (U.S. Federal Government Program Manager at Security Compass) (Register Here) September 14 - AMA with Brian Dean (Founder of Backlinko) (Register Here) September 21 - AMA with Kristen Ruby (Founder of Ruby Media Group) (Register Here) September 28 - Free Access to the Semantic Layer Summit with 30+ Enterprise Data Leaders (Register Here) * September 28 - AMA with Leigh-Ann Buchanan (Founder of aīre ventures) (Register Here) October 12 - AMA with Bill Glenn (Executive Chairman at Crenshaw Associates) (Register Here) October 25 - Meet Our Fund 4, an Inside.com Summit (Register Here) *This is a sponsored listing.

Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. Editor Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords.

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