FBI arrests 21-year-old suspected of leaking Pentagon docs / Russia accuses NATO of over 5,000 cyberattacks/ Europol makes arrests to take down group that stole $98M

Plus: Hyundai's customers in France and Italy exposed to data breach

Inside.com Part of   Network April 14, 2023

The FBI has arrested a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member suspected of leaking secret Pentagon documents. The male individual is named Jack Teixeira. More: Teixeira was arrested at his mother's residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts. At the moment of the arrest, Teixeira was reportedly seen reading a book and did not resist the arrest. The 21-year-old had been a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard since 2019, working as a Cyber Transport Systems journeyman. Teixeira allegedly leaked documents on Ukraine's military plans in the war against the Russian invasion, collaborating with a group of other individuals on Discord. As a result of the controversy surrounding this event, the Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs. Everyone previously on the email list had the proper clearance, but many did not have "need-to-know." Many experts and regular citizens questioned whether a 21-year-old should have had access to such highly classified information. Some of the classified information that was leaked includes data on the weapons that Ukraine may soon run out of, who is training Ukrainian troops, how many weapons the Ukrainian army has, etc. According to initial investigation reports, Teixeria did not show signs of having hatred against the U.S., its government, or any of its allies. Therefore, the motive behind his sharing of military details on Discord remains unknown. Only time will tell what effect this will have on the U.S.'s ability to gather information in the future.

Russia is claiming that NATO has launched over 5,000 cyberattacks since 2022 with the purpose of disrupting its national digital infrastructure. Russian cybersecurity companies claim that China- and North Korea-backed groups have attacked the country the most. More: According to the Russian FSB, many of the cyberattacks that were credited to the IT Army of Ukraine were, in fact, launched by pro-west hacker groups such as: Anonymous, Sailens, Goast clan, Ji-En-Ji, SquadZOZ, etc. The cyberattacks were allegedly deployed from Ukraine. Russia's accusations come only a day after Poland's Military Counterintelligence Service stated that Russia, through its state-backed hacker groups, is targeting multiple EU and NATO countries with cyberattacks. While the Russian government stated that NATO had conducted the most cyberattacks against the country, Russian company Rostelecom published a report which says the opposite. This report claims that the four most active hacker groups that have cyberattacked Russia are: Lazarus Group (North Korea-backed), APT27 (China-backed), APT41 (China-backed), and APT10 (China-backed).

Europol has made five arrests in an effort to take down a group that stole $98M through fraudulent activity. The group stole money from over 33,000 people globally. More: The scammers created legitimate-looking website advertising and social media campaigns, encouraging users to make investments of up to $500 through a fake online investment platform. Call center workers then called the individuals, tricking them with fake statistics that showed large profits. The users then were convinced to invest more money so that they could earn even bigger returns. During the simultaneous operations, police authorities seized assets such as: electronic equipment, cash, Bitcoin, luxury watches, credit cards, etc. This operation was conducted in Germany, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, and Georgia.

Hyundai's customers in France and Italy have been exposed to a data breach, according to a company announcement. The responsible threat actor is unknown at this point. More: According to researchers, hackers were able to steal data such as: E-mail addresses Physical addresses Telephone numbers Vehicle chassis numbers, etc. Reports, however, claim that data financial data or identification numbers have remained safe. Hyundai has contacted the affected victims, informing them of the breach and warning them to be cautious with unsolicited e-mails and SMS texts claiming to originate from them, as they could be phishing and social engineering attempts. Hyundai sells over 500,000 vehicles per year in Europe. Zoom Out: Hyundai has suffered from several cybersecurity issues recently. In February 2023, the company was forced to release a security patch for several car models. The patch fixed a USB cable hack that enabled thieves to steal the vehicles. In December 2022, the company tracked a security bug in the Hyundai app that allowed remote attackers to unlock the cars.

Cyfirma has raised a $5.5M Series B funding round to help companies predict cyberattacks. The company works with companies such as Toshiba and Mitsubishi. More: OurCrowd offers predictive cybersecurity intelligence software that aims to help companies predict and avoid being hacked. The company claims to have helped its clients avoid $2.5B in damages. OurCrowd led the funding round, while Indian company L&T Innovation Fund also participated in the funding. This funding round will be used for product development and market expansion in North America, Europe, and MENA region. Cyfirma has offices in The U.S., Germany, Singapore, India, and Japan.

Quick Hits: These robots are knee-deep in a $19.4B joint surgery market potential. Invest in Monogram ahead of their planned Nasdaq listing.* The hackers who breached Western Digital are demanding an eight-figure ransom, claiming they have terabytes of stolen company data. A hacker group believed to be tied to Russia managed to take down the website of Israel's national mail service and several banks. Open-source media player software provider Kodi has confirmed a data breach that affects over 400,000 users. A new report claims that the education sector in the U.K. is affected more by ransomware than in any other country. Vince Ransomware gang is considered the threat actor responsible for the rise in the number of cyberattacks that hit this sector in the country. Eliminate application bottlenecks by bringing the performance and data portability of open-source, lightweight SQL close to your users with low overhead.* *This is sponsored content.

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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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Zoom acquires Workvivo / Citi invests in Built Technologies / Respondology raises $11M

Plus: Betaworks launches 'camp' program to back AI startups

Inside.com Part of   Network April 14, 2023

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What the numbers say: M&A deal count declined for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q1 2023. 867 venture-backed European startups were involved in M&A transactions in Q1 2023. The deal count remained stable from the preceding quarter, declining just 1% from 877 deals in Q4 2022. However, the deal count declined significantly compared to the peak values of 1,077 from Q1 2022.  Why it matters: Enterprise communication platform Zoom defied the M&A drought trend by acquiring Irish employee engagement startup Workvivo for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition, Zoom's fifth yet to date, will help the firm provide additional services for the enterprise market.  Where to see the impact: M&A activity was initially expected to pick up this year as cash reserves dwindled at many startups. However, the continued downward trajectory of the M&A deal count indicates the organizations are probably waiting for the valuations of target startups, especially early-stage startups, to drop even further.

Citi invested an undisclosed amount in Built Technologies, a startup focusing on real estate and construction payments. The software enables administrators to manage construction loans. More: The company claims more than 250 asset managers and developers in North America. Built Technologies has a marketplace to automate inspections, project monitoring, and contractor management.  The company last raised $23.6M via private equity in July 2022.

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Respondology, a Colorado-based company that seeks to remove toxic or bot comments from apps, raised an $11M Series A. The startup claims to remove toxic comments in 22 languages in less than a second.  More: Respondology has 240 customers in sports, consumer brands, and entertainment. The startup's clients include the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Lions, NASCAR, and the Denver Broncos. The round included participation by Iron Gate Capital, SJF Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, Boulder Heavy Industries, and RLB Holdings, among others.

Startup studio and VC firm Betaworks is launching a new "camp" program to back early-stage AI startups. The firm will invest $500,000 in 10 startups. The program is supported by Mozilla Ventures and Greycroft.  More: Betaworks' program will run from mid-June to mid-September.  In addition to one-on-one mentorship and collaborative opportunities, the team will provide access to AI platforms developed by Hugging Face and Stability AI.  Betaworks CEO is bullish on the future prospects of AI, believing that it has "the potential to affect every sector, and every part of how we live, work, play and even die." He is confident that disputes over copyright, intellectual property, and attribution model ownership will be resolved over the next few years without hampering startups in the sector or their business models.

Whizz, a startup that works on e-bike subscriptions for last-mile deliveries, raised $3.4M. The company claims 2,000 delivery workers are using its e-bikes.  More: The round was led by Joint Journey and TMT Investments, with participation from s16vc. Whizz last raised a $1M pre-seed round with participation from TMT and Kontinuum. The New York-based startup claims $2M in annual recurring revenue. "We haven’t had any issues with demand, in fact, on the contrary, the challenge for us has been providing supply. However, if you try to blitz scale, you risk losing focus and efficiency," said the company's CEO, Mike Peregudov.

Maersk-backed B2B trucking startup Trella is exiting Pakistan, citing economic volatility in the nation. The Egyptian startup expanded into the country in 2020. Trella will retain some staff to assist its operations in Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.  More: Trella stopped taking orders on its platform last month.  Sources close to the matter informed Bloomberg that the recent macroeconomic volatility in Pakistan has made the business unsustainable.  The nation's currency lost a third of its value, and fuel prices doubled after a delay in its loan program from the International Monetary Fund. The firm has raked in $69.1M in total funding to date, $42M of which came through a venture round in 2021 from Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk. Zoom out: Trella follows in the footsteps of other startups that have exited Pakistan, including VavaCars and Swvl Holdings.  Meanwhile, Careem suspended delivery services, while Airlift went bust.

Quick Hits: These robots are knee-deep in a $19.4B joint surgery market potential. Invest in Monogram ahead of their planned Nasdaq listing.* NASA is launching a startup studio in collaboration with FedTech. The studio will help commercialize the use of NASA's climate-related technology. Reef.ai, a startup helping other startups track their annual recurring revenue, net revenue retention, and other metrics, secured $5.2M in funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from Startup Capital Ventures, Builders VC, and Dig Ventures.  500 Global launched a new accelerator program in Georgia to invest $100,000 in nearly 100 pre-seed startups across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Baltic region.  German stock photography startup EyeEm filed for bankruptcy.  Eliminate application bottlenecks by bringing the performance and data portability of open source, lightweight SQL close to your users with low overhead.* *This is sponsored content.

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Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.  Editor Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike.

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