Today’s topics include reports that five individuals arrested on federal charges were involved in the hack of investment bank JPMorgan Chase, an update on when Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics will ship, companies aligning with Samsung in its patent fight with Apple and car markers in talks with Nokia to acquire its digital mapping division in cars.
The FBI is charging five individuals with criminal activities that might be linked to the massive cyber-attack against JPMorgan Chase in 2014.
The FBI’s public disclosures do not make a direct link to the JPMorgan attack, though media reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal cite unnamed U.S. officials alleging that the individuals charged are in some way linked to the JPMorgan incident.
Banking giant JPMorgan Chase publicly disclosed in October 2014 details of a cyber-attack against its infrastructure that was first reported the previous August. One of the indictments against the alleged JPMorgan attackers is related to the operations of an underground Bitcoin exchange.
Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics, currently in beta evaluation, will ship next month, the company announced July 22. Deployed on-premises, the product is based on Microsoft’s acquisition of Active Directory security specialist Aorato and its technology.
Linking with Active Directory, and combining machine learning, user behavioral analytics and a catalog of known threats, Advanced Threat Analytics alerts administrators to attacks and data breaches in real time. The software is designed to evolve along with the threat landscape.
Samsung has some unlikely allies in its ongoing patent fight with Apple as a coalition of some of the biggest Silicon Valley tech companies have filed a “friend of the court” brief that supports Samsung’s position in its court battle with Apple.
The friend of the court brief argues that if Apple wins the remaining legal issues in the case, it “opens the entire industry up to mass patent infringement lawsuits.” Google, eBay, HP, Dell and Facebook jointly filed the brief, according to a July 20 story by InsideSources.
Audi, BMW and Daimler AG are in talks with Nokia to acquire its Nokia Here digital mapping division to support the development of future in-vehicle navigation systems, including those for autonomous cars.
The rumored $2.71 billion deal is near completion, according to a July 21 story by The Wall Street Journal that is based on an unnamed source familiar with the talks.
In-vehicle mapping and navigation systems continue to expand, with automakers around the world adding connected mapping services to their vehicles, often even in less expensive car and truck lines, due to increasing consumer demand.