security

“Snowflake Customers’ Data Reportedly Breached by Hackers, According to Mandiant”

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It’s the first time that the number of affected Snowflake customers has been disclosed since the account hacks began in April. So far, only Ticketmaster and LendingTree have confirmed data thefts where their stolen data was hosted on Snowflake. Several other Snowflake customers say they are currently investigating possible data thefts from their Snowflake environments. Mandiant said the threat campaign is “ongoing,” suggesting the number of Snowflake corporate customers reporting data thefts may rise. Last week, TechCrunch found circulating online hundreds of Snowflake customer credentials stolen by malware that infected the computers of staffers who have access to their employer’s Snowflake environment.

New Wix Tool Utilizes AI Technology to Produce Smartphone Apps

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Set to arrive in Wix’s app builder tool this week, the capability guides users through a chatbot-like interface to understand the goals, intent and aesthetic of their app. But reviews of Wix’s AI site builder aren’t exactly glowing, with early adopters reporting bugs and generic-looking finished products. So — given that the under-the-hood tech is similar, outside a few upgraded generative AI models — why should people expect Wix’s AI app builder to be any better? Image Credits: WixAbrahami admitted that the AI app builder — like all generative AI tools — might make mistakes. On Fiverr, a cursory search yields a long list of highly-rated app developers, some of whom charge around the same price as a subscription to Wix’s AI app builder.

Potential Acquisition: Wiz in Discussions to Purchase Lacework for $150-200 Million, Valued at $8.3 Billion

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Sources tell us that Lacework — a cloud security startup that was valued at $8.3 billion post-money in its last funding round — is in talks to be acquired by another security player, Wiz, for a price of just $150–$200 million. Wiz — valued at around $10 billion — is one of them. The company is positioning itself as a one-stop-shop for all things cloud security en route to its IPO. Earlier this month Wiz acquired Gem Security for $350 million, and it sounds like the M&A will not end with Laceworks. We are always exploring compelling M&A opportunities that will enhance both our technological capabilities and business expansion, as we strive to build the world’s leading cloud security platform.”

“Cape Rakes in $61M from A16Z and Beyond for Privacy-Focused Mobile Service”

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That’s privacy by design.”The funding is notable in part because Cape appeal to users is not yet proven. The latest round is being co-led by A* and Andreessen Horowitz, with XYZ Ventures, ex/ante, Costanoa Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Forward Deployed VC, and Karman Ventures also participating. Those jobs may exposed him to users (government departments) who treated the security of personal information and privacy around data usage as essential. (Cape today also announced a partnership with USCellular — which itself provides a MNVO covering 12 cellular networks, and Doyle said that it’s talking with other telcos, too). Although payments for this might be anonymous, a user’s data is still routed through the network infrastructure of the underlying carrier, making a users movements and usage observable.

“Huge Stolen Sanctions and Financial Crimes Watchlist at Risk: Hackers Vow to Expose”

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Hackers are threatening to publish a huge stolen sanctions and financial crimes watchlist The stolen World-Check database contains 5.3 million recordsA financially motivated hacking group says it has stolen a confidential database containing millions of records that companies use for screening potential customers for links to sanctions and financial crime. The hackers, which call themselves GhostR, said they stole 5.3 million records from the World-Check screening database in March and are threatening to publish the data online. A portion of the stolen data, which the hackers shared with TechCrunch, includes individuals who were sanctioned as recently as this year. The incident involves a third party’s data set, which includes a copy of the World-Check data file. Banking giant HSBC shut down bank accounts belonging to several prominent British Muslims after the World-Check database branded them with “terrorism” tags.

Thousands of Companies Face Fresh Disaster as Firewall Bug Plagues Palo Alto Networks

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Palo Alto Networks urged companies this week to patch against a newly discovered zero-day vulnerability in one of its widely used security products, after malicious hackers began exploiting the bug to break into corporate networks. Because the vulnerability allows hackers to gain complete control of an affected firewall over the internet without authentication, Palo Alto gave the bug a maximum severity rating. The ease with which hackers can remotely exploit the bug puts thousands of companies that rely on the firewalls at risk from intrusions. Adding another complication, Palo Alto initially suggested disabling telemetry to mitigate the vulnerability, but said this week that disabling telemetry does not prevent exploitation. Security firm Volexity, which first discovered and reported the vulnerability to Palo Alto, said it found evidence of malicious exploitation going back to March 26, some two weeks before Palo Alto released fixes.

Evolution Equity Partners Secures $1.1 Billion for Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity and AI Fund

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It’s against this backdrop that Evolution Equity Partners, a growth capital investment firm based in NYC, on Tuesday launched a $1.1 billion cybersecurity and AI fund, the third such fund in Evolution’s history. The fund, called Evolution Technology Fund III, was oversubscribed, with participation from existing and new endowments, sovereign investors, insurance companies, foundations, fund of funds, family offices and angels. “The Evolution Technology Fund III has already backed fifteen leading cybersecurity companies, initiating its investment period over 12 months ago,” Seewald said. “We believe that provides private markets investors with diversified exposure to cybersecurity opportunities.”ESG will be another factor, according to Seewald. Evolution’s 30-person teams manages around $2 billion in assets and has backed 60 companies to date; its previous fund was $400 million.

“Pricing Plunge: Tesla, Llama 3’s Arrival Confirmed by Meta, & Apple Embraces Emulators in App Store”

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Tesla drops prices, Meta confirms Llama 3 release, and Apple allows emulators in the App StoreHeya, folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter that recaps the past few days in tech. Google’s annual enterprise-focused dev conference, Google Cloud Next, dominated the headlines — and we had plenty of coverage from the event. Lorenzo wrote about how hackers stole over ~340,000 Social Security numbers from government consulting firm Greylock McKinnon Associates (GMA). Elsewhere, Sarah had the story on Spotify’s personalized AI playlists, which lets users create a playlist based on written prompts. Emulators in the store: Apple updated its App Store rules to globally allow emulators for retro console games an option for downloading titles.

“Nearing a $500M Agreement: Noname Security, the API Startup, to be Acquired by Akamai”

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Noname Security, a cybersecurity startup that protects APIs, is in advanced talks with Akamai Technologies to sell itself for $500 million, according to a person familiar with the deal. Noname was co-founded in 2020 by Oz Galan and Shay Levi and is headquartered in Palo Alto but has Israeli roots. The startup raised $220 million from venture investors and was last valued at $1 billion in December 2021 when it raised $135 million in a Series C led by Georgian and Lightspeed. While the sale price is a significant discount from that valuation, the deal as it currently stands would be for cash, the person said. In February, Israeli news outlet Calcalist reported that Noname was in negotiations with several potential buyers, including Akamai.