Author: 5amResearch

Amazon targets Shein with fee cuts for cheap apparel sellers

SEATTLE – Amazon.com is sharply cutting fees for merchants selling clothing priced below US$20 (S$26.80), a sign it is hunkering down for a price war with Chinese fast-fashion upstart Shein. On Dec 5, Amazon announced it would reduce seller fees on clothing products priced below US$15 to 5 per cent beginning in January. The rates on clothing priced from US$15…

US senator: Govts spy on Apple, Google users via mobile notifications

A U.S. senator revealed today that government agencies worldwide demand mobile push notification records from Apple and Google users to spy on their customers. These revelations come after U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to the Department of Justice warning that various governments around the world have been requesting push notification data…

Pro-Russia Ukrainian MP Illia Kyva shot dead in Moscow suburb

A former Ukrainian MP regarded by Kyiv as a traitor has been shot dead in a park in suburban Moscow, in an attack attributed to Ukraine’s SBU security service. Illia Kyva was a pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but fled to Russia a month before the start of the war and frequently…

Nissan is investigating cyberattack and potential data breach

Japanese car maker Nissan is investigating a cyberattack that targeted its systems in Australia and New Zealand, which may have let hackers access personal information. Details of the attack have not been published but the company informed customers of its Nissan Oceania division of a potential data breach, warning them that there is a risk of scams in the upcoming days….

Bank of England warns on fallout from rate hikes

LONDON: The Bank of England on Wednesday said its multiple interest-rate hikes aimed at cooling high inflation would prolong a cost-of-living crisis but stressed UK retail banks could contain the fallout. The BoE’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) said in a report that almost five million UK homeowners would see mortgage repayments soar over the next three years. Retail banks tend…

EU Mulls Expansion of Geo-Blocking ‘Bans’ to Video Streaming Platforms

Consumers who want to watch movies or TV-shows online are limited to the content that they are permitted to see in their home country. This means that the Netflix or Amazon library in one country can be entirely different to those made available in a neighboring nation. This is a direct result of the territorial licensing deals the entertainment industry…

HTC Global Services confirms cyberattack after data leaked online

IT services and business consulting company HTC Global Services has confirmed that they suffered a cyberattack after the ALPHV ransomware gang began leaking screenshots of stolen data. HTC Global Services is a managed service provider offering technology and business services to the healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and financial industries. While HTC has not posted a statement to the company website, they…

Hackers breach US govt agencies using Adobe ColdFusion exploit

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning about hackers actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion identified as CVE-2023-26360 to gain initial access to government servers. The security issue allows executing arbitrary code on servers running  Adobe ColdFusion 2018 Update 15 and older, and 2021 Update 5 and earlier. It was exploited as a zero day before Adobe…

Crisis-hit CBI turns to Smith & Nephew’s Soames as next president

The crisis-hit CBI has turned to Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson to help steer it back from the brink of financial oblivion. The business lobbying group confirmed a Sky News report on Tuesday that Rupert Soames, the former boss of Aggreko and Serco, has been lined up to succeed Brian McBride as its next president. Mr Soames will take on the…

US examined Hindenburg of fraud allegations before giving loan to Adani

  WASHINGTON – The US government concluded that short-seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations of corporate fraud against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani weren’t relevant before extending his conglomerate as much as US$553 million (S740 million) for a container terminal in Sri Lanka, a senior US official said. Allegations in a scathing report by US-based Hindenburg Research, which erased around US$100 billion from…

Stealthier version of P2Pinfect malware targets MIPS devices

The latest variants of the P2Pinfect botnet are now focusing on infecting devices with 32-bit MIPS (Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipelined Stages) processors, such as routers and IoT devices. Due to their efficiency and compact design, MIPS chips are prevalent in embedded systems like routers, residential gateways, and video game consoles. P2Pinfect was discovered in July 2023 by Palo Alto Networks…

Russian hackers exploiting Outlook bug to hijack Exchange accounts

Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence team issued a warning earlier today about the Russian state-sponsored actor APT28 (aka “Fancybear” or “Strontium”) actively exploiting the CVE-2023-23397 Outlook flaw to hijack Microsoft Exchange accounts and steal sensitive information. The targeted entities include government, energy, transportation, and other key organizations in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The tech giant also highlighted the…

Tipalti investigates claims of data stolen by ransomware gang

Tipalti says they are investigating claims that the ALPHV ransomware gang breached its network and stole 256 GB of data, including data for Roblox and Twitch. Tipalti offers technology solutions for accounting, payment processing, eCommerce, and affiliate and influencer programs. The company has numerous well-known customers, including Twitch, Roblox, ZipRecruiter, Roku, GoDaddy, Canva, and X. “Over the past weekend, a…

Lapsed US chemical security programme leaves facilities at risk

There are continued warnings that the US has been without a chemical security programme since late July, leaving more than 3000 high-risk chemical facilities in the country vulnerable to terrorist, cyber- and physical attacks. The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) programme, which was authorised 17 years ago and is managed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is charged…

Rights organisations sue Netherlands over F-35 parts to Israel

HAGUE: A group of human rights organisations took the Dutch government to court on Monday, arguing its supply of parts for F-35 fighters contributes to violations of international law in Gaza. The case concerns US-owned F-35 parts stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements. Oxfam Novib, one of…

Spotify to cut nearly 20% of its workforce despite £55m profit

Note from Corruption Ledger Spotify is a publicly traded company headquartered in Luxembourg. Swedish founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon started Spotify as a small start-up in Stockholm, Sweden in 2006.  Job cuts don’t just affect those who are laid off. It creates a culture of fear for remaining employees, who must work additional hours and maneuver to adapt to…