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TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 dates you need to know:Application deadline: January 10 at 11:59 p.m. PTAudience Choice finalists notified: January 24.
TechCrunch Early Stage 2024 takes place on April 25, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts.
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The first is when your friends won’t stop talking about it.
The second is when your friends want you to stop talking about it.
But in the last decade or so, blockchain-based technology has managed to not go away.
All that in hand, I think that 2024 is going be a good year for blockchain-based products and services, but not because I expect that 2021-era venture enthusiasm to rear its head again.
Bullish 2024 signals for cryptoFully anticipating texts from friends who are crypto-negative in response to this story, I think it’s important to write down here that I do not hold any material crypto assets.
The cybersecurity sector was once largely untouched by the vast headcount reductions taking place across the wider industry, but 2023 shows no sector is immune.
But it’s clear that cybersecurity firms are no longer exempt from layoffs, despite a strong workforce and an ever-increasing number of cyberattacks and breaches.
According to data from layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi, more than 110 cybersecurity companies have made cuts since the beginning of 2023.
The layoffs came almost exactly a year after Malwarebytes eliminated 14% of its global workforce.
While many cybersecurity firms blamed economic headwinds for reductions in headcount, Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski told TechCrunch that the layoffs were an exercise in rationalizing expenditures.
Bangladesh thanked a security researcher for citizen data leak discoveryWhen a security researcher found that a Bangladeshi government website was leaking the personal information of its citizens, clearly something was amiss.
TechCrunch verified that the Bangladeshi government website was leaking data, but efforts to alert the government department were initially met with silence.
The data was so sensitive, TechCrunch could not say which government department was leaking the data, as this might expose the data further.
Florida’s Lee County took the heavy-handed (and self-owning) position of threatening the security researcher with Florida’s anti-hacking laws.
Several state CISOs and officials responsible for court records systems across the U.S. saw the disclosure as an opportunity to inspect their own court record systems for vulnerabilities.
We’ve also included some surveys that we feel serve as important reminders of the things that went wrong in 2023.
And if you’re curious about how investors are preparing for 2024, we’ve got you covered with this survey of more than 40 investors.
We spoke to both investors and founders of fusion energy startups to see how much closer we are to running our lives off fusion power.
We spoke to founders about how they’re handling their workforce and the expectations they’re setting.
We spoke to founders about the nature of events they attend, how many events they cross out on their calendars, and how beneficial they’ve been.
It’s round two of our Pub Quiz!
If you didn’t do too well on our first one, no worries — New Year’s Eve is around the corner, so we’ve created a second game to help you kick off the night.
Good luck, and Happy New Year!
(P.S: Remember to click the box and scroll.)
Here we go again: 2023’s badly handled data breaches Delays, silence and unanswered questions follow these organizations into the new yearLast year, we compiled a list of 2022’s most poorly handled data breaches looking back at the bad behavior of corporate giants when faced with hacks and breaches.
That included everything from downplaying the real-world impact of spills of personal information and failing to answer basic questions.
Samsung won’t say how many customers hit by year-long data breachSamsung has once again made it onto our badly handled breaches list.
Lyca Mobile later admitted a data breach, in which unnamed attackers had accessed “at least some of the personal information held in our system” during the hack.
Data leaked by the gang, and reviewed by TechCrunch, included the personal data of thousands of CommScope employees, including full names, postal addresses, email addresses, personal numbers, Social Security numbers, passport scans and bank account information.
According to DocSend data, investors aren’t scouring pitch decks as earnestly as they were in the past.
“For founders now, perfecting the pitch, having an efficient sales strategy, and scoping the product with urgency will create a strong foundation for success that attracts investors.”Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
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“The drier funding climate of 2023 only served to weed out the weaker businesses that had managed to secure capital in 2021,” she writes.
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Worldcoin is no longer offering its Orb-verification service in India, Brazil, and France, just months after the crypto startup expanded the helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device to those markets.
The Orb, a five-pound chromatic sphere, scans an individual’s eyeballs and verifies their identity.
“The multi-city tour kicked off in Tokyo in April 2023 and marked the first time people in many locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia were able to experience the Orb.
Individuals can download World App, the startup’s protocol-compatible wallet software, and visit an Orb, the startup’s helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device, to receive their World ID.
More to follow…
