Saturday, August 10, 2024

How a ransomware leader was doxed

By TechCrunch Staff

Friday, August 9, 2024

Hey, we made it to Friday! For your reading pleasure from the TechCrunch crew this afternoon, we explain how a ransomware leader was doxed, we take a look at Chinese autonomous vehicle startup WeRide's potential IPO, and we explore an X exodus that's turning out to be an X minimus. Read on for this and more, and of course, have a great weekend!

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Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

🧑‍💻 Doxing the doxer: In February, a group of law enforcement agencies took control of LockBit, a notorious ransomware gang, replacing the front page with a notice that the site was now under control of the authorities. In May, the page was updated again, alluding to the fact that the gang's leader would be revealed, leading cybersecurity researcher Jon DiMaggio to wonder: Do the cops have the same guy I have identified? Read more about how he did it

🚘 WeRide files to go public: The Chinese autonomous vehicle startup is prepping for a U.S. public debut. If and when WeRide goes public, it'll be the largest IPO by a Chinese company on the U.S. stock market since luxury EV startup Zeekr began selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange in May. Read more

🏃 An X exodus? Not quite. But you wouldn't know it by reading posts on Threads: Anecdotally it seems that a wave of X users has ditched Elon Musk's site and has moved on to greener pastures. But according to the data, that isn't necessarily so. Read more

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Toby Melville / POOL / AFP via Getty Image / Getty Images

🚨 The U.K. is rethinking tech regulation: In the wake of days of violence and unrest partially spurred by disinformation campaigns, the country will be reexamining its Online Safety Act regulating platforms hosting illegal content and messaging. Read more

📰 No newsletter? No problem: Substack is built upon newsletters and the community around them, but now anyone interested in posting to the platform can do so without setting up a newsletter. Read more

👩‍⚖️ Meet this year's Startup Battlefield judges! We're excited to reveal the first five VCs who will help decide the winner of this year's competition at TechCrunch Disrupt in October. And of course, there's still plenty of time to get a ticket to watch the grand reveal in person.

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Around the web

💥 An AI productivity boom … for hackers: This Wired report outlines the scale at which nefarious actors can now operate thanks to unintended uses of Microsoft's Copilot AI suite.

🪦 Another site bites the dust: Cartoon Network's site had a treasure trove of goodies, like full and free episodes of some of its most popular shows. But all good things eventually come to an end: This week Warner Bros. network pulled the entire site from the web, now redirecting people to a landing page on Max. Variety has more

🎣 Practical AI: A government agency is leading the AI charge in Indonesia. But because it's government run rather than led by private companies or Big Tech, the AI is meant to help people in the country with more specific and practical tasks. One of its latest apps uses machine learning to crunch satellite data and remote sensing to identify schools of fish, making it way more efficient for fishermen to, well, fish. Read more