Uber hacked? The company says it is investigating a cyber security incident
Slack, a business messaging platform, was deactivated for an Uber employee after a hacker said that the ride-hailing giant had a data breach. Uber apparently had to shut down many internal communications and engineering systems as a result of the suspected intrusion. The hacker was able to access other internal company systems in addition to sending messages to the staff. He posted an explicit picture of an internal information page "I declare that I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach. Slack has been stolen..." the hacker wrote on Slack.
Uber acknowledged the data breach in a tweet and stated that the incident is still being investigated. "We are in contact with law enforcement and will share any updates here as they become available," the company said.
Bitcoin holds above $20,000, Ethereum volatile after ‘Merge’ upgrade
After Ethereum's much-expected "Merge" update, cryptocurrencies remained unchanged on Thursday. While Ethereum, the second-largest crypto by market cap, was trading with a drop of 0.68%, Bitcoin fell by roughly 1.17%. In a rough session, Ethereum Classic was up by more than 4% at $38.48.
The m-cap of all cryptocurrencies fell by roughly 8% in the last day to $88.47 billion, while volumes barely increased by 0.1% to $990.61 billion as the investing community remained mostly sceptical of the ambitious software upgrade.
According to a Coindesk article, traders of futures tracking the two tokens suffered total losses of over $80 million, with $67 million of those losses coming from liquidations of Ether futures.
Ratan Tata, and others join as trustees of PM CARES Fund
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund. It was discussed that the initiative has a larger vision of effectively responding to emergency and distress situations and a presentation was made on initiatives undertaken with this including the PM CARES for Children scheme which supports 4,345 children.
Newly nominated trustees included Justice K T Thomas, former Supreme Court judge; Kariya Munda and Ratan Tata, Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus. Rajiv Mehrishi, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India; Sudha Murty, former Chairperson, Infosys Foundation; Anand Shah, Co-founder of Teach for India and former CEO of Indicorps and Piramal Foundation.
Lack of short-term US visa availability impacting tech companies
The lack of appointments for short-term B1/B2 US visas is affecting software firms, limiting their ability to meet with clients and pursue new business in their largest market.
As of Monday, the earliest appointment for a short-term US visa was available after more than 700 days in Mumbai and Delhi. B1/B2 visa holders are not permitted to work in the United States, however, these permits are used for personal or business travel, such as client meetings and attending events and conferences. Nasscom, the industry body, said it had raised the issue with the Indian government and the US Embassy in India and had been promised that things will be resolved shortly.
Nasscom's Singh stated that the industry body had held more events in Canada than in the US, citing ease of travel as a major factor. "A lot of momentum shifts, not due to a lack of interest, but due to practical challenges."
Supply-chain digitalization startup Dltledgers raises $8.5 million in funding
Dltledgers (Distributed Ledgers Technology Pte Ltd), a blockchain-based multi-enterprise supply-chain business network (MESCBN) platform, announced a $8.5 million funding round led by Tata Group and Centrum, valued at more than $100 million. The funds will be used to extend its operations to North America, increase its engineering and growth teams, and develop on the platform with Corda, Accenture, SAP, and Microsoft.
"It is a tough position for fundraising since the global market is in flux and investors are highly choosy." It's a true credit to our platform and its multiplier impact that our series was oversubscribed. "The world requires a MESCBN platform that can link supply chains across companies, beginning with a supplier or distributor structure," stated Dltledgers founder Samir Neji.
