Is Your Data Held Hostage? There's a Ransomware Negotiator for That
By Chris Summers
August 10, 2025 Updated: August 10, 2025
Mark Lance's phone rings when a company's data is being held hostage. Often, the perpetrators are demanding a ransom to return sensitive information.
'The largest demand for one of our victims was $70 million,' said Lance, a ransomware negotiator with Virginia-based Guidepoint Security.
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- Yahoo
JBG Smith to convert 2 DC-area offices into apartments, hotel
This story was originally published on Multifamily Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Multifamily Dive newsletter. Arlington County, Virginia, has granted approval to Bethesda, Maryland-based REIT JBG Smith to repurpose more than 550,000 square feet of space in two out-of-service office buildings in Northern Virginia's National Landing neighborhood. The two buildings, at 2200 and 2100 Crystal Drive, will be adapted into a 195-unit apartment complex and a 344-room dual-branded hotel respectively, according to a news release shared with Multifamily Dive. The hotel will encompass both lifestyle and extended-stay brands. 'Arlington County staff were great partners in advancing a new, collaborative process that led to the streamlined approval of two transformative new uses in the National Landing neighborhood,' Matt Ginivan, co-head of development for JBG Smith, told Multifamily Dive. 'We expect the addition of 195 new homes and a hotel to revitalize the site of two former office buildings and significantly enhance the vibrancy of the neighborhood.' JBG Smith is taking advantage of a new initiative by the Arlington County Board aimed at transforming outdated office buildings into multi-use spaces. Passed in November 2024, the adaptive reuse policy seeks to address increasing office vacancy rates and declining property values while reshaping the future of commercial real estate. Unexpected existing conditions often present a challenge for converting older office stock to residential. However, with 2200 Crystal Drive, JBG Smith spent extensive time and effort surveying and documenting these conditions. 'That investment gave our design team the full picture they needed to develop smart solutions that minimize impacts,' Ginivan said. 'Adaptive reuse allows us to repurpose major components of the structure and building envelope, resulting in a 95% reduction of embodied carbon from the existing building enclosure and structure. In addition, we are designing the building to achieve LEED-Silver certification.' JBG Smith has seen strong demand for the nearly 1,600 new apartments it developed and leased in National Landing in 2024. To date, The Grace and Reva are each over 80% leased, while The Zoe and Valen have seen more than 170 apartments rented since leasing began earlier this year. Given the strong response to these properties, in designing 2200 Crystal Drive, JBG Smith found that the existing floorplate and column spacing naturally lends itself to larger units. 'On average, these units are 200 to 300 square feet larger than residences at our other recent high-rise deliveries,' Ginivan said. 'More than 50% of the units are planned to be two- and three-bedroom floorplans.' JBG Smith is approaching the final stages of design for the multifamily building and plans to begin construction by the end of 2025. The hotel will be developed by a third party, and further details are not available at this time. Both the hotel and residential projects sit above successful, existing street-level retail, which will remain open throughout construction, according to Ginivan. JBG Smith also has future plans to expand the adaptive reuse model to other underutilized office buildings in National Landing. 'Following the board's approval of 2100 and 2200 Crystal Drive, we are excited to propose 1800 and 1901 South Bell as candidates for adaptive reuse,' Ginivan said. 'The two buildings would add approximately 300 multifamily units to the National Landing neighborhood.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Michael Saylor's Latest Bitcoin Buy Is Strategy's Smallest in Months
Bitcoin treasury company Strategy announced another crypto buy on Monday, bringing the behemoth's total holdings to 628,946 BTC—or over $75.5 billion in digital coins at the current price. The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based firm announced that over the last week it bought 155 BTC for $18 million—a relatively small buy compared to previous purchases. The company has spent over $2 billion on Bitcoin in some past buys, including its last purchase on July 29, when it acquired 21,021 BTC at a price of nearly $2.5 billion. But the latest purchase, announced on the five-year anniversary of the company's first Bitcoin buy, was the smallest since March, when the company spent just $10.7 million on the asset. That purchase remains its lowest so far in 2025. Strategy—formerly MicroStrategy—started buying Bitcoin in August 2020 as a way to get better returns for its shareholders as inflation rocked the U.S. and world economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now the largest corporate holder of the asset and mostly works now to securitize Bitcoin: Its business model works so that investors can buy its shares to get exposure to the leading cryptocurrency. The company issues debt to fund its purchases, and since Strategy first bought Bitcoin exactly five years ago, its stock (Nasdaq: MSTR) has rocketed up by over 2,700%. MSTR was recently trading at $411 per share, while Bitcoin hit a price of $120,095 per coin on Monday morning New York time, according to CoinGecko data. Bitcoin Price Closes in on All-Time High as Traders Await Key Inflation Data The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is up 27% year-to-date. Its all-time high stands at $122,838. MSTR's record stock price stands at nearly $499 per share, from last November. A number of smaller publicly traded companies have adopted the Bitcoin treasury plan. But some experts have warned that the crypto play can't help every company, and is inherently risky. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Investcorp: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot
NEW YORK (AP) — NEW YORK (AP) — Investcorp Credit Management BDC, Inc. (ICMB) on Tuesday reported a loss of $434,000 in its fiscal fourth quarter. The New York-based company said it had a loss of 3 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, were 4 cents per share. The specialty finance company posted revenue of $4.5 million in the period.
