DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Google is in a weird place right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google Bard VS OpenAI ChatGPT displayed on Mobile with Openai and Google logo on screen seen in this photo illustration. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesGoogle is in a weird place right now. After Microsoft announced integration of ChatGPT with Bing, all eyes were on Google to do something. It's currently only open to "trusted testers," and my teammate writes that "trusted" is the key word, since Google doesn't trust you. Yet, in this crucial moment, Google seems to only be able to react with fear, Hasan writes.

☆ Exclusive: The FBI's McGonigal labyrinth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

She never saw McGonigal pay. "The notion that Mr. Deripaska is some proxy for the Russian state is a blatant lie," Ruben Bunyatyan, a spokesperson for Deripaska, told Insider by email. McGonigal was not charged with espionage, and although there is currently no evidence that McGonigal committed espionage, an FBI source told Insider that the investigation is ongoing. At the FBI, McGonigal racked up a string of big cases and promotions. "He said he needed to make more money," Guerriero told Insider.

☆ 'Phishing-as-a-service' kits are driving an uptick in theft: What you can learn from one business owner's story
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Dawn Giel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

While Christmas shopping for his young daughter, he received a call from a person claiming to be from the Chase fraud department and asking to verify a suspicious transaction. Unfortunately, for victim of these schemes, the bank isn't always required to repay the stolen funds. CNBC has reviewed Mullenaux's cellular records, bank account information, as well as images of the text message and link he was sent. He immediately drove to his local Chase bank branch where he was told he had likely been the victim of fraud. Legally, banks do not have to reimburse stolen funds when a customer is tricked into sending money to a cybercriminal.

Companies Exelon Corp FollowWASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The FBI arrested two people, including a neo-Nazi leader, before they could attack Baltimore's power grid, officials said on Monday. The suspects, Brandon Russell and Sarah Clendaniel, were taken into custody last week, officials said in a briefing on Monday. The FBI said the plot was racially motivated but did not provide details. Russel provided instruction and location information for the planned attack while Clendaniel felt the plot "will lay this city to waste," Sobocinski told reporters. Baltimore Gas and Electric, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (EXC.O), which owns the targeted substations, said there was no damage to any of its equipment or outages.

☆ Property documents for a London apartment suggest wanted 'crypto-queen' is alive after allegedly vanishing in 2017 with $4 billion from investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Wanted fugitive Ruja Ignatova hasn't been seen since October 2017. A recent property listing hints that Ignatova is alive and still on the run, reports say. Bulgarian-born Ignatova, 42, is wanted by the FBI for allegedly scamming investors out of $4 billion between 2014 and 2016 in a Ponzi scheme using her now-defunct company OneCoin. In October 2017, she vanished until documents related to a penthouse apartment in London seemingly pointed to her whereabouts, the New York Post reported. "It suggests she is still alive, and there are documents out there somewhere which contain vital clues as to her recent whereabouts," Bartlett said.

☆ Former VP Mike Pence says he takes 'full responsibility' for classified documents found at his Indiana residence: 'Mistakes were made'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mike Pence on Friday said he took "full responsibility" for classified documents found at his home. Classified files were also discovered in the ex-DC office and Wilmington home of President Biden. CNN first reported on Tuesday that an attorney for Pence discovered roughly a dozen classified files at the former vice president's residence in Carmel, Indiana. On Friday, Pence said a "small number of documents marked classified or sensitive interspersed in my personal papers" were found, and that he and his attorney "immediately" secured the files. "And while I was not aware that those classified documents were in our personal residence, let me be clear: Those classified documents should not have been in my personal residence.

☆ Exclusive: Inside the extramarital affair and cash-fueled double life of Charles McGonigal, the FBI spy-hunter indicted for allegedly taking Russian money
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

She had dated federal law enforcement officials before. "Charlie McGonigal knew everybody in the national security and law enforcement world," Guerriero said, in an exclusive interview with Insider. One law enforcement source estimated that McGonigal stood to make roughly $300,000 to $350,000 a year, including annual bonuses. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom she knew from law enforcement circles, let her stay in a guest bedroom. During her relationship with McGonigal, Guerriero says, they never talked about politics.

☆ Woman found in a canvas sack in 1971 ID’d through community-funded DNA testing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Law enforcement in Arizona are finally able to identify a woman found dead in 1971 after community members rallied together to help fund crucial DNA testing. Authorities contributed $1,000 to the DNA testing and asked the public for help with the remaining $6,5000. Through the use of Forensic Genetic Genealogy, the victim has been identified as Colleen Audrey Rice," the sheriff's office said. "DNA testing of a relative confirmed this after countless hours of investigation into her family tree and contact with distant family relatives." A post published on DNASolves.com said that detectives had pursued numerous leads in trying to identify Rice.

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The FBI revealed on Thursday it had secretly hacked and disrupted a prolific ransomware gang called Hive, a maneuver that allowed the bureau to thwart the group from collecting more than $130 million in ransomware demands from more than 300 victims. They were then able to alert victims in advance so they could take steps to protect their systems before Hive demanded the payments. In that case, the Justice Department seized some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom after the company had already paid the hackers. The Justice Department said that over the years, Hive has targeted more than 1,500 victims in 80 different countries, and has collected more than $100 million in ransomware payments. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI's operation helped a wide range of victims, including a Texas school district.

☆ Prosecutor appointed by Trump Justice Department used claims from Russian intelligence to obtain emails from a George Soros aide: NYT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

John Durham used Russian intelligence claims to obtain a US citizen's emails, per The New York Times. Durham was appointed by former Attorney General Bill Barr to examine the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. But Durham pursued a dubious claim from Russia involving Hillary Clinton and an aide to George Soros. They "were said to make demonstrably inconsistent, inaccurate or exaggerated claims," the Times reported, "and some US analysts believed Russia may have deliberately seeded them with disinformation." As Russian intelligence analysts themselves had told it, Moscow had hacked Leonard Benardo, executive vice president of Soros' Open Society Foundations, and in doing so uncovered a plot at the highest level to sway the 2016 election.

☆ 2 Memphis fire department personnel 'relieved of duty' in connection to Tyre Nichols' death
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Two Memphis, Tennessee, fire department personnel were "relieved of duty" while an internal investigation was conducted into the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who died days after a traffic stop. Memphis Fire Department spokesperson Qwanesha Ward said the employees were "involved in the initial patient care" of Nichols but did not provide further details. Nichols, 29, was stopped by Memphis police on Jan. 7 for reckless driving, the department said. In addition to the fire department personnel who were relieved of duty, five police officers involved in the traffic stop were fired after an administrative investigation found they violated department policies, Police Chief C.J. The Department of Justice and FBI's Memphis field office also announced a civil rights investigation into the traffic stop.

☆ Welcome to post-layoff Google — starting with a tense, all-hands meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But still, I would say that I work to live instead of living to work. A tense meeting at post-layoff Google. Google hosted an internal all-hands meeting on Monday — the first day back to work after cutting 12,000 people. This career coach helped Amazon and Google employees through layoffs. More than half of Alisa Cohen's clients work at Big Tech companies — some of them were laid off recently.

☆ Former top FBI counterintelligence agent Charles McGonigal charged with violating Russia sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

That other person later became an FBI source in a criminal probe of foreign political lobbying, which McGonigal was supervising, authorities said. The former top FBI agent in New York for counterintelligence was arrested with an ex-Russian diplomat and charged with violating U.S. sanctions on Russia after he left the FBI by trying to help the oligarch Oleg Deripaska get off the sanctions list, federal prosecutors said Monday. McGonigal and Shestakov, 69, who also was arrested Saturday evening, are due to appear in court in Manhattan later Monday. McGonigal previously had investigated Deripaska, who made his fortune in Russia's aluminum industry, while at the FBI. McGonigal agreed to help, and told an FBI supervisor who worked for him that he wanted to recruit the Deripaska employee, the indictment says.

☆ A bored hacktivist browsing an unsecured airline server stumbled upon national security secrets including the FBI's 'no-fly' list. She says what she found reveals a 'perverse outgrowth of the surveill
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

A Swiss hacker says she found a copy of the FBI's "no-fly" list on an unsecured server. "The ever-expanding scope of these lists are due to the revelations of people in the course of investigations," Gray told Insider. When looking at the list, crimew told Insider, "you start to notice just how young some of the people are." crimew told Insider. "I just hope they maybe learned their lesson the second time," crimew told Insider.

☆ How 'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova ended up as the only woman on the FBI's most-wanted list
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Ruja Ignatova is one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives -- the only woman currently on that list. FBIShe is now one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives, alongside accused gang leaders and murderers, and is the only woman currently on that list. The bureau declined to provide additional details to CNN beyond court documents from the US Department of Justice, which did not list an attorney for Ignatova. “The cryptocurrency OneCoin was established for the sole purpose of defrauding investors,” IRS Special Agent John R. Tafur said in a statement. Less than two weeks later, on October 25, 2017, she boarded a commercial flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, court documents said.

☆ A bored hacktivist browsing an unsecured airline server stumbled upon national security secrets including the FBI's 'no fly' list. She says what she found reveals a 'perverse outgrowth of the surveill
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Easily accessible secretsCrimew told Insider it took just minutes for her to access the server and find credentials that allowed her to see the database. When looking at the list, Crimew told Insider, "you start to notice just how young some of the people are." crimew told Insider. The outcome of the 2021 case is still pending, crimew told Insider. And that really just shows like where the priorities lie," crimew told Insider: "I just hope they maybe learned their lesson the second time."

☆ The Department of Justice charged 2 men over helping to conceal Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg's ownership of a $90 million superyacht
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Richard Masters and Vladislav Osipov were charged by the Department of Justice for sanctions evasion. The US has accused the pair of trying to conceal a sanctioned oligarch's ownership of a superyacht. Masters, 52, used a fake name for Viktor Vekselberg's "Tango," calling it the "Fanta," per DoJ. Prosecutors said Vladislav Osipov and Richard Masters had facilitated the operation of Vekselberg's $90 million yacht that was seized by Spanish authorities last April. Osipov designed a "complicated ownership structure of shell companies" to mask Vekselberg's ownership of the boat, called "Tango," according to the DoJ.

The Department of Justice and FBI on Wednesday announced a civil rights inquiry into a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, that preceded the death of a Black man. Tyre Nichols, 29, died three days after being taken to a hospital in critical condition following the Jan. 7 stop. Nichols' family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and have demanded the public release of body camera and any other surveillance footage from the stop. Crump did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment regarding the civil rights investigation Wednesday. Sierra Rogers, holding her daughter Khloe Rogers, wipes away tears as she speaks during a memorial service for her friend Tyre Nichols on Tuesday.

☆ DeSantis bashes Biden for having 'two different rules' compared to Trump on classified documents that the president 'stashed behind his corvette'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

DeSantis weighed in on the classified documents revelations regarding Biden and Trump. Ron DeSantis of Florida came close to defending former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, when he accused the Biden administration of having a double standard on classified documents. Trump, meanwhile, kept hundreds of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. The White House did not immediately respond to Insider's inquiry seeking a response to the governor's comments. Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to review Biden's case, while US House Republicans also are launching investigations.

☆ How China planted an FBI mole who was discovered only after gutting the CIA's vast spy network
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( James Bamford | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

At the time, four years after the handover from Britain to China, much of Hong Kong remained a world of neon and noise. "Five years ago, everyone looked down on you if you spoke Mandarin," said a Beijing executive living in Hong Kong. As soon as the Hong Kong Arts Festival ended, the Hong Kong International Film Festival began. In February 2006, Alex Ma, China's mole in the FBI, sent David photos he received from his handlers of five suspected human sources. Born in Hong Kong like Alex, Lee grew up in Hawaii and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

☆ Biden's classified records bumbling is a gift for Trump, and some high-profile figures say it closes the door on an indictment for the former president
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Biden aides have discovered two batches of classified documents from when he was vice president. "When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? Over in the US House Republicans have already launched an investigation. Trump is the only person to have announced a 2024 campaign for the White House, but his campaign has been off to a slow start. Some commentators even predicted that the perception of a double standard around the Biden documents investigation would derail a potential Trump indictment.

☆ Biden's aides discovered a second batch of classified documents at another location, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Biden's aides discovered another batch of classified docs at a second location, NBC News reported. They've been conducting an exhaustive search for additional documents since first discovering what the White House described as a "small" batch at Biden's old office in November. Biden's team notified the National Archives and turned the documents over, and they're cooperating with a DOJ investigation into the matter, the White House said. "He takes classified documents very seriously." Fox News' Peter Doocy pointed to Biden calling Trump's retention of classified documents "totally irresponsible" and asked, "How can President Biden be trusted moving forward with America's secrets?"

☆ Biden's mishandling of classified records isn't as legally perilous as Trump's, but may pose serious national security risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Trump's former White House lawyer told Insider that AG Garland should appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Lausch has finished the initial part of his investigation and presented his preliminary findings to Garland. Still, he criticized the White House for waiting more than two months to disclose the existence of the inquiry. "It appears that at least two of the aggravating factors, obstruction and willfulness, are present in the Trump case, but absent in the Biden case." Cobb, Trump's former White House counsel, went further, saying that drawing a distinction between the two cases is akin to "putting lipstick on a pig."

While there is still much that is not known about the Biden documents, there are key differences between the two cases — as well as some similarities. Court papers show officials found classified documents in 14 of the 15 boxes, including 25 that were marked top secret. Justice Department investigationIn both cases, the Archives reported the discovery of classified documents to the Department of Justice. The FBI then learned Trump had not fully complied with the subpoena and still had more classified documents. McQuade posted on Twitter that the Justice Department prosecutes the mishandling of classified documents when there is an aggravating factor present.

☆ Trump calls on FBI to raid Biden over classified files, misleadingly comparing the situation to documents found at Mar-a-Lago
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The discovery of classified documents in a former Biden office set Trump on a Truth Social tear. The former president called for the FBI to raid Biden's home, as they did his Mar-a-Lago resort. The case appears to bear limited parallels to the one that sparked the FBI's raid on Trump's home. In Biden's case, per Sauber's statement, the documents were turned over as soon as they were located. GOP lawmakers also jumped on the bandwagon, with suggestions that the situation was equivalent to or worse than the case against Trump.

Search resuls for: "FBI's"

25 mentions found