The ALPHV ransomware group has claimed responsibility for an attack on Amazon’s security camera company, Ring, and is threatening to leak their data. This came to light because of this Tweet:
ALPHV is known for using the BlackCat malware in their attacks. The ALPHV group operates a ransomware-as-a-service platform. The group also has a searchable database of its victims who deny paying the ransom on the site.
The fact that someone might have pwned Amazon is plausible. Last December Brian Krebs carried a story on two US teens that were busted for taking control of RING camera’s and then Swatting the home owners and recording the police raid. The RING system is just one more IoT device that is attractive, and apparently vulnerable, to malicious hackers.
David Maynor, Senior Director of Threat Intelligence, Cybrary had this comment:
“The exploitation of IOT devices that consumers rely on continues to march towards every dystopian movie plot. Attackers have moved from ransoming devices to ransoming companies. These attacks continue to have an increasing impact on the daily life of users.”
We’ll know soon enough if this threat to leak data is real or not. If it is real, I assure you, any company who plays in this space will be freaking out. And so will their customers.
Amazon To Slash 9000 More Jobs
Posted in Commentary with tags Amazon on March 20, 2023 by itnerdOn top of downsizing 18,000 of employees, it’s now making the news that 9000 more jobs are being slashed at Amazon:
Amazon will lay off 9,000 more employees in the coming weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff on Monday.
The cuts are on top of the previously announced layoffsthat began in November and extended into January. That round totaled more than 18,000 employees, and primarily affected staffers in its retail, devices, recruiting and human resources groups.
Amazon made the decision to lay off more employees as it looks to streamline costs. It took into account the economy, as well as the “uncertainty that exists in the near future,” Jassy said. The company just wrapped up the second phase of its annual budgeting process, referred to internally as “OP2.”
“The overriding tenet of our annual planning this year was to be leaner while doing so in a way that enables us to still invest robustly in the key long-term customer experiences that we believe can meaningfully improve customers’ lives and Amazon as a whole,” Jassy said.
This also follows up Facebook/Meta doing a version of the same thing. Which doesn’t bode well for the tech sector as this may spur other companies to do the same thing. We’ll have to see what happens on that front, but I suspect that the next few weeks and months ahead will be very bumpy.
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