Microsoft server hack has compromised 400 organizations, researchers say
The figure compares to 100 organizations cataloged over the weekend. Eye Security says the figure is likely an undercount.
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NASA says 20% of workforce to depart space agency
WASHINGTON :About 20 per cent of the employees at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration are set to depart the space agency, a NASA spokesperson said on Friday. Around 3,870 individuals are expected to depart, but that number may change in the coming days and weeks, the spokesperson said, adding that the remaining number of employees at the agency would be around 14,000.
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Microsoft probing if Chinese hackers learned SharePoint flaws through alert: Report
Microsoft is investigating whether a leak from its early alert system for cybersecurity companies allowed Chinese hackers to exploit flaws in its SharePoint service before they were patched, Bloomberg News reported on Friday (Jul 25). A security patch Microsoft released this month failed to fully fix a critical flaw in the US tech giant's SharePoint server software, opening the door to a sweeping global cyber espionage effort. In a blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft said two allegedly Chinese hacking groups, dubbed "Linen Typhoon" and "Violet Typhoon", were exploiting the weaknesses, along with a third, also based in China. The tech giant is probing if a leak from the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) led to the widespread exploitation of vulnerabilities in its SharePoint software globally over the past several days, the report said. Microsoft said in a statement provided to Reuters that the company continually evaluates "the efficacy and security of all of our partner programs and makes the necessary improvements as needed". A researcher with Vietnamese cybersecurity firm Viettel demonstrated the SharePoint vulnerability in May at the Pwn2Own cybersecurity conference in Berlin. The conference, put on by cybersecurity company Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, rewards researchers in the pursuit of ethically disclosing software vulnerabilities. The researcher, Dinh Ho Anh Khoa, was awarded US$100,000 and Microsoft issued an initial patch for the vulnerability in July, but members of the MAPP program were notified of the vulnerabilities on Jun 24, Jul 3 and Jul 7, Dustin Childs, head of threat awareness for the Zero Day Initiative at Trend Micro, told Reuters Friday. Microsoft first observed exploit attempts on Jul 7, the company said in the Tuesday blog post. Childs told Reuters that "the likeliest scenario is that someone in the MAPP program used that information to create the exploits". It's not clear which vendor was responsible, Childs said, "but since many of the exploit attempts come from China, it seems reasonable to speculate it was a company in that region". It would not be the first time that a leak from the MAPP program led to a security breach. More than a decade ago, Microsoft accused a Chinese firm, Hangzhou DPTech Technologies, of breaching its non-disclosure agreement and expelled it from the program. 'We recognise that there is the potential for vulnerability information to be misused,' Microsoft said in a 2012 blog post, around the time that information first leaked from the program. 'In order to limit this as much as possible, we have strong non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with our partners. Microsoft takes breaches of its NDAs very seriously.' Any confirmed leak from MAPP would be a blow to the program, which is meant to give cyber defenders the upper hand against hackers who race to parse Microsoft updates for clues on how to develop malicious software that can be used against still-vulnerable users. Launched in 2008, MAPP was meant to give trusted security vendors a head start against the hackers, for example, by supplying them with detailed technical information and, in some cases, 'proof of concept' software that mimics the operation of genuine malware.
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Wall Street gains, dollar firms ahead of a big week for market risk
NEW YORK :U.S. stocks and the dollar firmed on Friday as investors girded themselves for the week ahead, which includes a Federal Reserve policy meeting, crucial corporate results and U.S. President Donald Trump's August 1 deadline for negotiating trade deals. "There's increasing confidence that the economy won't be derailed by tariffs," said Thomas Martin, Senior Portfolio Manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta. "In the meantime, companies are reporting good earnings, the economic numbers are coming in within the range and people want to own stocks. They don't want to miss out." All three indexes were modestly green in early trading, and were on course for weekly gains. Gold lost some shine, pressured by the dollar as healthy risk appetites lured investors away from the safe-haven metal. With Trump's negotiating deadline just a week away, the U.S. and its trading partners are scrambling to reach trade agreements, with European negotiators heartened by the deal with Japan announced on Tuesday. Intel's shares INTC.O dropped 9.4 per cent after the chipmaker forecast steeper-than-expected quarterly losses and said it had halted or scrapped new factory projects in the U.S. and Europe. More than a third of the companies in the S&P 500 have posted results, 80 per cent of which have beaten estimates, according to LSEG data. Analysts now expect year-on-year second-quarter earnings growth of 7.7 per cent, compared with the 5.8 per cent estimate as of July 1. Four members of the Magnificent 7 group of Artificial Intelligence-related megacap stocks - Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft are on next week's earnings docket, and market participants will scrutinize the companies' conference calls for signs that AI expenditures are beginning to pay off and whether tariff-related uncertainties continue to weigh on forward guidance. U.S. economic data released on Friday showed an unexpected decline in new orders for core capital goods, as companies hold back on big ticket purchases amid the fog of ongoing trade talks. The Fed is expected to convene next week for a two-day monetary policy meeting, which is expected to culminate in a decision to let its federal funds target rate stand in the 4.25 per cent to 4.50 per cent range. The meeting comes at a moment in which Fed Chair Jerome Powell is facing criticism from Trump for not cutting rates. "The Fed is going to do what it's going to do and Powell is going to stay in his job," Martin added. "The economy is doing great, so they really don't need to lower short-term interest rates." "Inflation is still a question, so they're better off not lowering rates if they don't have to," Martin said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 227.98 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 44,921.89, the S&P 500 rose 30.79 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 6,394.14 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 84.09 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 21,141.65. European shares settled lower as market participants parsed mixed corporate earnings and awaited developments in the U.S.-EU trade negotiations. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 0.47 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 941.82. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.29 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 5.79 points, or 0.27 per cent Emerging market stocks fell 10.43 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 1,256.86. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 0.93 per cent, to 661.15, while Japan's Nikkei fell 370.11 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 41,456.23. U.S. Treasury yields drifted higher in a subdued trading as investors braced for a data-heavy week, updates on U.S. trade talks, and a Federal Reserve policy meeting. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 2.4 basis points to 4.384 per cent, from 4.408 per cent late on Thursday. The 30-year bond yield fell 2.3 basis points to 4.9265 per cent from 4.949 per cent late on Thursday. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 1 basis points to 3.915 per cent, from 3.925 per cent late on Thursday. The dollar gained strength but remained on course for its biggest drop in a month as investors focused on economic data, tariff negotiations and central bank meetings on the calendar for next week. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.25 per cent to 97.69, with the euro down 0.14 per cent at $1.1738. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.42 per cent to 147.62. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 1.94 per cent to $116,468.56. Ethereum declined 2.42 per cent to $3,649.42. Oil prices softened as investors mulled downbeat economic news and signs of growing supply, despite optimism that U.S. trade deals could boost global economic growth. U.S. crude fell 1.32 per cent to $65.16 per barrel, while Brent fell to $68.44 per barrel, down 1.07 per cent on the day. Gold prices dropped in opposition to the firming dollar, amid signs of progress in U.S.-EU trade talks. Spot gold fell 0.87 per cent to $3,338.54 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 1.24 per cent to $3,329.10 an ounce.
