Yahoo hit in worst hack ever, 500 million accounts swiped

Yahoo

Telephost - The internet company, being bought by Verizon, says a state-sponsored actor stole email addresses, passwords and birth dates. Change your passwords. Now.

Hackers swiped personal information associated with at least a half billion Yahoo accounts, the internet giant said Thursday, marking the biggest data breach in history.

The hack, which took place in 2014, revealed names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and, in some cases, security questions and answers, Yahoo said in a press release. Encrypted passwords, which are jumbled so only a person with the right passcode can read them, were also taken.

The internet pioneer, which is in the process of selling itself to Verizon, said it's "working closelydanquot; with law enforcement. It called the hackers a "state-sponsored actor," though it didn't identify a country behind the breach.

Yahoo urged users to change their passwords if they haven't since 2014. The company has 1 billion monthly active users for all its internet services, which span finance, online shopping and fantasy football. Its mail service alone has about 225 million monthly active users, Yahoo told CNET in June.

The hack serves as a reminder of how widespread hacking is and highlights the vulnerability of passwords. Cybersecurity specialists recommend using a different password for each account you have on the internet. Other experts are working on alternatives to passwords, such as biometrics like your fingerprint or retina.

"Cybercriminals know that consumers use the same passwords across websites and applications, which is why these millions of leaked password credentials are so useful for perpetuating fraud," said Brett McDowell, executive director of the FIDO Alliance, an organization that vets the security of password alternatives. "We need to take that ability away from criminals, and the only way to do that is to stop relying on passwords altogether."

Verizon, which is paying $4.83 billion for Yahoo, said it was notified of the massive breach within the last two days. The telecommunications giant had "limited information and understanding of the impact," according to a statement.

"We will evaluate, as the investigation continues, through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities," Verizon said.

B. Riley & Co. analyst Sameet Sinha told The Wall Street Journal the breach was unlikely to affect the sale to Verizon.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a member of the newly formed Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, criticized Yahoo for not discovering the breach when it originally happened in 2014.

"While we have seen more and more data breaches in the private sector in recent years, many of them affecting millions of consumers, the seriousness of this breach at Yahoo is huge," Warner said.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit organization that tracks cybersecurity breaches, said the hack was the largest-ever publicly disclosed breach.

Yahoo has taken steps to protect its users, including invalidating security questions and answers, but the real risk lies in hackers using the passwords on other websites.

"We typically see a 0.1 percent to 2 percent log-in success rate from credential stuffing attacks, meaning that a cybercriminal using 500 million passwords to attempt to take over accounts on another website would be able to take over tens of thousands of accounts on most websites," said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google's former click-fraud czar and CTO of Shape Security.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account was hacked using a similar method after the passwords of more than 100 million LinkedIn members were leaked.

It will take Yahoo at least several months before it starts regaining users' trust, according to research from Alertsec. The encryption provider did a study that found about 97 percent of Americans lose trust in companies like Yahoo after massive data breaches.

"When a company has allowed their customers' data to fall into the hands of criminals, the resulting lack of trust is difficult to repair," CEO Ebba Blitz said in a statement.

On August 1, a hacker named "Peace" claimed to have breached 200 million Yahoo usernames and passwords from a hack in 2012, and offered to sell them on the dark web after trying to do the same with MySpace and LinkedIn accounts.

A person familiar with the situation said Peace's assertion prompted Yahoo to initiate an internal investigation. That investigation found no evidence that substantiated Peace's claim, but the investigating team found indications that a state-sponsored actor had stolen data in 2014.

Former Yahoo information security officer Jeremiah Grossman, now chief of security strategy at SentinelOne, said that internet companies, especially giants like Yahoo, face challenges protecting enormous computer networks because the networks offer so many points of entry to attackers.

"It's unsurprising when breaches, even of this magnitude, take place," Grossman said. "Yahoo certainly isn't the first. And they won't be the last."

Iceland opts out of FIFA 17 game after cash row with EA

Marketing experts fear Iceland may have scored an own goal with the move.

Telephost - The country's football association is accusing EA of "bad treatment" following on from the team's success during Euro 2016. Iceland has opted out of the latest FIFA video game following a row over money with Electronic Arts.

The manufacturer was willing to pay about two million Icelandic krona (?13,315) in exchange for the team featuring on the long-awaited FIFA 17 game.

But the Icelandic Football Association (KSI) accused EA of showing a lack of respect given their sensational quarter-final finish in Euro 2016.

KSI president Geir Thorsteinsson said: "We don't accept bad treatment. We made them a counter-offer, which they did not accept."

Icelandic marketing consultants have said they are dismayed with the decision - claiming KSI has missed a golden opportunity for exposure as smaller, cult teams are popular with players.

Their squad gained an enthusiastic following during the European Championships, humiliating England with a dua-1 defeat in the last 16.

France even copied Iceland's "Viking Thunderclap" on their journey to the tournament's final.

FIFA 17 is slated for release on 27 September in the US, and will go worldwide two days later.

Twitter shares surge 21% on reports that it is in takeover talks

Twitter illustration.

Telephost - The social media company is said to have held talks with companies including Google over a possible bid by the end of the year. Twitter shares have surged by a fifth after reports that it was the target of a possible takeover.

Google and cloud computing company Salesforce were among those in talks with the social media company, according to US broadcaster CNBC.

The report said Twitter could receive a formal bid by the end of the year.

It comes as the business grapples with its slowest revenue growth since going public three years ago and a sluggish rise in users.

Reuters quoted sources confirming that the company had started talks with several technology companies to explore a sale.

Shares climbed as much as 21%, giving the company a market value of close to $16bn (?12bn).

It was the biggest rise since Twitter's stock market launch in 2013.

There was no immediate comment from any of the companies.

Twitter has been the focus of much takeover speculation amid disappointing results.

In its latest earnings statement, for the second quarter, revenues rose 20% to $602m (?464m) but fell short of Wall Street estimates.

It added three million users, just 1% up on the first quarter.

Twitter's co-founder, Jack Dorsey, returned to the company as chief executive last year.

It faces a battle for users and advertisers with rivals such as Instagram and Snapchat.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg pledges $3bn to wipe out 'all disease'

Zuckerberg pledges funds to battle diseases.

Telephost - The tech billionaire and wife Priscilla say the goal is to "cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children's lifetime". Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have pledged more than $3bn towards an ambitious plan to rid the world of disease.

The Facebook founder and his wife, paediatrician Priscilla Chan, said the goal was to "cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children's lifetime".

Investment will go towards research into cancer and infectious disease as well as heart and neurological disease, the couple said.

The plans were revealed during an event in San Francisco for their philanthropic group, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, on Wednesday.

Dr Chan said they had launched the initiative following the birth of daughter Max last year, with the goal of dramatically improving the lives of all other children in her generation.

She recalled experiences of telling parents their child had an incurable disease or could not be revived, and said she hoped to spare parents the pain she had seen while delivering difficult news in her role as a pediatrician.

She explained: "In those moments and in many others we're at the limit of what we understand about the human body and disease, the science behind medicine, the limit of our ability to alleviate suffering. We want to push back that boundary."

Her role as a doctor, she said, had made her determined to work with scientists to help save lives.

Zuckerberg said the funding would bring scientists and engineers together, build tools and technology needed to help fight disease and also grow the movement to fund science.

The tech billionaire said 50 times more is spent on treating people who are ill than finding cures.

"We can do better than that," he said.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative mission statement states: "We want every child to grow up in a better world. "Our hopes for the future centre on two ideas: advancing human potential and promoting equality.

"We'll focus first on personalised learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.

"We will make long-term investments over 25, 50 or even 100 years because our greatest challenges require time to solve."

The couple announced in December 2015 that they planned to give away 99% of their Facebook shares to fund good causes.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, of global charitable foundation the Wellcome Trust, said later: "I'd like to congratulate Mark and Priscilla for starting such an ambitious venture to understand health and disease, which resonates strongly with Wellcome's mission.

"Science and research are critical to the challenge of better health, and need the support and stimulus that philanthropic initiatives like this bring.

"Wellcome aims to spend ?5bn over the next five years on our mission of improving health by helping great ideas to thrive, and welcome the fresh impetus to science and research that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will bring."

Ledek CEO Apple, Trump Lebih Suka iPhone dengan Home Button

Donald Trump mencuit

Jakarta - Presiden Amerika Serikat, Donald Trump mencuit di akun Twitter miliknya. Ia mengeluhkan soal pengalaman menggunakan ponsel iPhone yang lebih suka dengan fitur tombol beranda atau home botton ketimbang keluaran terbaru yang sepenuhnya touch screen.

Perubahan Apple yang sudah ajeg dengan karakteristik khas tombol home itu juga dirasakan poly konsumennya, termasuk Trump.

Cuitan itu ditujukan kepada CEO Apple Inc, Tim Cook. Dalam beberapa kesempatan, keduanya pula memang seringkali melakukan pertemuan & makan malam beserta terkait kasus bisnis Apple.

"Kepada Tim: tombol pada iPhone [dengan home button] jauh lebih baik daripada menggesek layar [swipe]!" cuit Trump, Jumat (26/10/2019).

Tetapi, seperti diberitakan Reuters, Apple tidak memberikan respons atas cuitan Trump tadi.

Sejak pertama kali diluncurkan 12 tahun silam, ponsel buatan Apple Inc ini memang telah meniadakan fitur home button dalam 2017 silam melalui iPhone X. Ponsel ini menandai revolusi 10 tahun Apple.

Selain berfungsi buat membuka kunci perangkat atau balik ke layar beranda, tombol home jua mampu melakukan konfirmasi pembayaran di toko digital iTunes melalui pindaian sidik jari penggunanya.

Semenjak meniadakan fitur home button, Apple menggantikannya menggunakan menerapkan teknologi pengenalan paras (face ID) buat membuka kunci perangkat.

Jeff Bezos Bukan Lagi Orang Terkaya di Dunia?

CEO Amazon Jeff Bezos

Jakarta - Pendiri dan CEO Amazon Jeff Bezos dikabarkan sempat tidak lagi menjadi orang terkaya di dunia. Namun hal itu hanya terjadi sehari saja.

Pasalnya, dia kehilangan US$ 6,9 miliar atau sekitar Rp 97 triliun (estimasi kurs Rp 14.000/dolar) dalam semalam. Kerugian itu dialaminya dampak harga saham Amazon anjlok sebesar 9% dalam perdagangan after hours setelah perusahaan melaporkan keuntungan kuartal ketiga yang dinilai mengecewakan sang para investor, Kamis kemarin.

Pada pukul 18:00 ketika setempat, harga saham tercatat turun 6,6%, atau diperdagangkan US$ 118 per saham. Bezos memiliki 57.610.359 saham Amazon, dari pengarsipan modern Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Apabila penurunan harga saham Amazon berlanjut seperti itu, Bezos terancam kehilangan gelar sebagai orang terkaya di dunia & digantikan oleh co-founder Microsoft Bill Gates, berdasarkan Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Tetapi sayangnya, penurunan posisi itu hanya terjadi sehari. Jumat (25/20/1019), Bezos dikabarkan berhasil pulang menduduki tahta menjadi orang terkaya pada global.

Pada Jumat, meskipun masih turun, saham Amazon nir serontok sehari sebelumnya. Turunnya saham Amazon hingga 1% ke US$ 1,760,78 menciptakan kekayaan Bezos berada pada kisaran US$ 109,9 miliar.

Ia pun kembali menjadi orang terkaya di global. Sementara 'rivalnya' Bill Gates hanya mempunyai kekayaan sebesar US$ 105,8 miliar.

Ini Daftar Hujan Meteor dan Peristiwa Langit sepanjang November

Ilustrasi hujan meteor

Jakarta - Sejumlah fenomena astronomi akan menghiasi langit sepanjang November ini. Mulai dari hujan meteor hingga sejumlah peristiwa konjungsi planet.

Tetapi, hujan meteor yg terjadi dalam bulan-bulan menjelang akhir tahun dari Peneliti sains antariksa LAPAN Rhorom Priyatikanto nir terlalu gampang diamati.

"Akhir tahun memang bukan menjadi masa yang baik buat menanti fenomena astronomis. Kondisi Indonesia paradoksal dengan tempat di belahan utara yg justru poly langit cerah saat animo dingin," jelasnya waktu dihubungi lewat pesan singkat, Rabu (30/10).

Langit Indonesia bagian barat jelang akhir tahun umumnya tertutup awan lantaran telah memasuki musim hujan. Berikut adalah jadwal fenomena yang bisa diamati di seluruh wilayah Indonesia.

5-6 November: Hujan Meteor Taurid

Awal November ini langit akan dihujani meteor taurid yang tergolong sebagai hujan meteor mini . Dalam sejamnya, hujan meteor ini hanya membuat lima sampai 10 meteor yang jatuh. Setiap tahunnya, hujan meteor taurid terjadi sejak 7 November hingga 10 Desember dan berpuncak pada lima November.

Namun berdasarkan penjelasan Peneliti LAPAN Rhorom Priyatikanto, fenomena ini akan sulit diamati pada Indonesia. Sebab, syarat lingkungan & jumlah meteor relatif mempengaruhi visibilitasnya.

"Hujan meteor Taurid tampaknya akan lewat begitu saja karena intensitas yang rendah & menuntut lokasi pengamatan yg ideal, yakni wilayah gelap jauh dari polusi cahaya," jelas Rhorom.

11 November: Transit Merkurius

Salah satu fenomena astronomis lainnya yg relatif jarang terjadi merupakan transit Merkurius. Planet merkurius akan melintasi bagian atas surya sehingga akan terlihat misalnya titik mini hitam pada matahari. Merkurius terakhir transit pada surya pada Mei 2016 & akan pulang pada November 2032.

Tetapi sayangnya kenyataan langka ini nir dapat disaksikan pada Indonesia. Rhorom menjelaskan bahwa disaat transit itu terjadi, letaknya telah nir mendekati Indonesia.

"Pada ketika itu, Matahari sudah berada pada bawah ufuk Indonesia. Demikian pula Merkurius."

12 November: Bulan Purnama

Pada waktu itu, bulan akan terletak pada sisi berlawanan dari Bumi ketika Matahari akan sepenuhnya diterangi. Bulan purnama akan terjaddi dalam pukul 20:36 WIB.

17-18 November: Hujan Meteor Leonid

Leonid diperkirakan akan menghujani langit semenjak 6 hingga 30 November. Namun puncaknya diperkirakan akan jatuh para 17-18 November. Rata-rata Leonid akan jatuh sebanyak 15 meteor per jam. Hujan meteor ini berasal menurut butiran debu komet Tempel-Turttle. Meteor ini jua memancar menurut konstelasi Leo.

24 November: Konjungsi Venus dan Jupiter

Pada fenomena ini, kedua planet tersebut akan terlihat berdekatan. Keduanya bisa dipandang sehabis matahari terbenam.

26 November: Bulan Baru

Bulan akan terletak di sisi Bumi yg sama menggunakan matahari & nir akan terlihat pada langit pada malam hari. Fenomena ini terjadi dalam 22:06 WIB.

26 November: Merkurius di Elongasi Barat Maksimum

Planet merkurius akan berada dalam elongasi barat maksimum sebanyak 20,1 derajat menurut surya. Fenomena ini bisa disaksikan sesaat sebelum mentari terbit.

Sumber: CNN Indonesia

Gaikindo Sebut LCGC Merosot Bukan karena Mobil China

Salah satu produk LCGC, Daihatsu Sigra.

Jakarta - Gabungan Industri Kendaraan Bermotor Indonesia (Gaikindo) menilai produk Low Cost Green Car (LCGC) masih diminati masyarakat kendati diakui penjualannya tengah merosot.

Mengutip data Gaikindo pada periode Januari-September 2019, total penjualan LCGC mencapai 156.642 unit atau menyumbang 20,8 persen menurut total penjualan otomotif nasional. Hasil itu mengecil bila dibandingkan periode sama pada tahun kemudian sebanyak 168.756 unit.

Ketua I Gaikindo Jongkie D Sugiarto berkata pesona LCGC belum sepenuhnya memudar. Produk LCGC seperti Daihatsu Sigra, Toyota Agya, & Honda Biro Satya disebut masih sebagai cara lain konsumen yg menginginkan membeli kendaraan beroda empat pada bawah Rp200 juta.

"LCGC itu terdapat pasarnya, bila tidak ya enggak bisa penjualan 20 % [pangsa pasar penjualan mobil]," istilah Jongkie ketika dihubungi Kamis (31/10).

Menurut Jongkie, dihitung menurut pendapatan rata-rata Indonesia ketika ini, mobil jenis apapun asalkan di bawah Rp200 juta niscaya laris pada pasaran.

Berdasarkan data Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) selama periode 2018 yg dirilis 2019, rata-homogen pendapatan per kapita Indonesia mencapai Rp56 juta per tahun. Itu berarti kurang lebih Rp4,6 juta per bulan.

"[Segmen mobil] yang paling besar pangsa pasarnya itu di bawah harga tadi. Soal bentuk mana atau city car, MPV, atau LCGC ya nir krusial. Jadi 50 % jualan, mobilnya di bawah Rp200 juta," istilah Jongkie.

Jongkie menekankan bila penjualan LCGC turun, hal tersebut lantaran daya beli masyarakat yang sedang lemah. Sebab ia melihat segmen kendaraan beroda empat lain jua ikut menyusut.

Jongkie menambahkan kehadiran produk China yang dikenal 'murah meriah' & loyal fitur tidak berkaitan dengan goyangnya penjualan LCGC.

"Dari jualan saja mobil China itu paling dua.000 unit sebulan, setahun berapa. Ini LCGC totalnya bisa 200 ribu unit setahun. Terus harga, LCGC poly di bawah Rp150 juta, jikalau kendaraan beroda empat China paling murah berapa coba," kata Jongkie.

Sumber: CNN Indonesia

Penjualan Huawei Meroket di China, Xiaomi dan Apple?

Ilustrasi SPG Huawei

Jakarta - Efek Amerika Serikat (AS) tampaknya tak berpengaruh pada pengiriman Huawei baik dari sisi jaringan maupun perangkat seluler di China.

Mengutip slashgear.com, berdasarkan laporan perusahaan analis pasar Canalys, angka pengiriman ponsel Huawei di China pada kuartal terakhir 2019 justru melejit. Bahkan bisa mengalahkan pengiriman ponsel Xiaomi dan Apple.

Meningkatnya pengiriman ponsel Huawei hingga mengalahkan kompetitor besar lainnya ini bahkan sudah terjadi sejak kuartal ketiga tahun ini. Pengiriman Huawei tercatat tumbuh sebanyak 66 persen yang membuatnya berhasil menguasai setengah dari pasar ponsel pintar Cina sebesar 42,4 persen.

Pengiriman Huawei ini berhasil mengalahkan perusahaan ponsel pintar asal Cina lainnya seperti Vivo, OPPO, dan Xiaomi. Bahkan pengiriman Samsung, yang kini tercatat sebagai pemimpin ponsel pintar global, juga semakin terkalahkan di Cina.

Fakta yang tak kalah menarik justru terjadi pada pengiriman perusahaan asal AS, yakni Apple di Cina. Tahun ini, pengiriman Iphone mengalami penurunan hingga 28 persen. Sementara iPhone hanya menguasai 5,2 persen pasar ponsel di China pada kuartal terakhir 2019.

Menariknya, 40 persen dari 5,1 juta pengiriman Apple sejak Juli hingga September 2019 hanya terdiri dari Iphone 11, yang hanya diluncurkan pada bulan September di China.

Canalys menyarankan agar Apple meningkatkan kualitas kamera pada iPhone untuk menarik pasar China terutama mengalahkan Huawei yang beberapa waktu belakangan semakin agresif melakukan kampanye pemasaran di tengah efek perang dagang China-AS.

Sumber: CNN Indonesia