Kronos
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Ransomware attack hits major payroll company right before Christmas
Major payroll provider Kronos has been hit with a ransomware attack, jeopardizing paychecks right before Christmas.
'WannaCry hero' Marcus Hutchins sentenced to supervised release
Marcus Hutchins' efforts to stop the spread of WannaCry malware just helped him avoid prison time. Judge JP Stadtmueller has sentenced Hutchins to a year of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to creating and distributing Kronos banking malware. He was a teen when he committed the offenses, according to the judge, and he was "turning a corner" before he faced charges. Hutchins acknowledged that he'd made "bad decisions" and that he had "no desire" to slip back into a life of online crime.
'MalwareTech' security researcher pleads guilty
In 2017, Marcus Hutchins went from being a relatively unknown 23-year-old, to being a worldwide hero, to facing criminal charges all in a span of a few months. After he shut down the rapidly spreading WannaCry malware by finding a killswitch domain in the software, UK tabloids exposed his real name. Then in August of that year, just as he was about to leave Las Vegas after the Defcon event there, US authorities arrested Hutchins, claiming he'd played a part in creating a different type of malware, Kronos, years earlier. Today he pleaded guilty to a pair of charges related to the malware, for which he faces up to ten years in prison. In a statement posted on his personal website, he said: As you may be aware, I've pleaded guilty to two charges related to writing malware in the years prior to my career in security. I regret these actions and accept full responsibility for my mistakes. Having grown up, I've since been using the same skills that I misused several years ago for constructive purposes. I will continue to devote my time to keeping people safe from malware attacks. As described in court documents published by ZDNet, the government's case was that Hutchins developed the malware, known both as UPAS Kit and Kronos, to collect info, while targeting banking information. He worked with partners to distribute and sell the malware to others who made use of the tools. At the time of his arrest, Engadget columnist Violet Blue described the chilling effect this prosecution could have on security research. To get the experience needed to shut down malware that threatened computers worldwide one might follow a career that includes some steps outside the lines, and this may make fighting for legitimacy even tougher.
'WannaCry hero' faces more federal malware charges
Marcus Hutchins, the cybersecurity researcher credited with helping stop last year's WannaCry virus, is facing four new charges related to malware he allegedly created to steal financial information. Now, the FBI says Hutchins lied about creating the malware called Kronos, and that he conspired with others to promote it online, including via YouTube.
UK cybersecurity researcher pleads not guilty to malware charges
Marcus Hutchins, the British cyber security researcher who won attention for helping to halt the spread of the WannaCry malware program earlier this year, has just entered a plea of not guilty for a set of unrelated charges. Hutchins was arrested by the FBI at the Def Con security conference in Las Vegas and was due for arraignment in a Milwaukee court last Friday. The arraignment was postponed until Monday, August 14th, which is when Hutchins entered his plea.
Prosecutors claim Marcus Hutchins admitted writing Kronos malware
Just a couple of days after the FBI arrested Marcus Hutchins (aka MalwareTech) he made an appearance in a Las Vegas federal courthouse to have his bail conditions set ahead of his full arraignment. KSNV News 3 Las Vegas reporter Christy Wilcox reported from the scene, tweeting that prosecutors claim Hutchins admitted to writing malware code (update: per The Telegraph, prosecutor Dan Cowhig told the court "He admitted he was the author of the code of Kronos malware and indicated he sold it.")
FBI arrests UK security researcher who stopped WannaCry outbreak (updated)
Marcus Hutchins, the 23-year-old security researcher who is credited with halting the spread of the WannaCry malware program earlier this year has been arrested by the FBI while attending the Def Con security conference in Las Vegas, Motherboard reports.
EVE Evolved: Features coming in Oceanus and beyond
It's been almost four months since EVE Online switched from publishing two major expansions per year to releasing ten smaller updates, and so far it looks like the new schedule has been a huge success. Rather than forcing the industry overhaul out the door in Kronos before it was ready, CCP was able to push it forward to the Crius release window seven weeks later and the extra development time meant the feature launched in a very polished state. It may be too early to tell if the new schedule's success can be seen in the concurrent player graph for Tranquility, but the numbers have remained steady for the past few months in what is typically the annual low-point for player activity. The Oceanus update is scheduled to go live in just two day's time, adding several graphical upgrades, more difficult burner missions, an experimental new notification feature, and other small improvements. The scale of the update seems to be on par with the recent Hyperion release, consisting of mostly small features and minor iterations on gameplay. While we're told that CCP is still working on large projects behind the scenes, the new release schedule means they won't be rushed out the door and so we may not see them for some time. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I summarise everything we know about Tuesday's Oceanus update, and take a look at what's to come in further releases.
EVE Evolved: Has the industry revamp worked?
When I was first introduced to EVE Online back in 2004, a big part of the attraction for me was the promise of a huge player-run economy in which the only real laws were those of supply and demand. With only a handful of tech 1 ships and modules available to build and everything made out of the same basic minerals, science and industry were pretty easy for new players to figure out. Over the years, more complexity has slowly been added to industry via features like Starbases, Salvaging, Capital Ships, Tech 2 Invention, Planetary Interaction and Tech 3 Reverse Engineering. Today's industrialists have to contend with hundreds of different items that are often arranged in sprawling component manufacturing chains, which can make it hard to figure out exactly how to make a profit. The recent industry revamp attempted to solve this problem with a full user interface overhaul and a revamp of material costs and manufacturing prices. All of the relevant information for using a blueprint was packed into a slick new combined Industry UI, allowing new players to find the info they're looking for in-game rather than through websites or opening dozens of item info windows. It's now been almost two months since the industry revamp went live, and while the market for many items is still going to take several months to fully stabilise, the dust has finally begun to settle. So what's the verdict? Has the industry revamp worked? In this edition of EVE Evolved, I consider whether the industry revamp has been successful, how easy it is to make a profit in the new system, and whether it's worth setting up your own industrial starbase.
U.S. Patent office refuses to grant Apple's "Touch ID" trademark
The term "Touch ID" is now synonymous with Apple's flagship iPhone, but don't tell that to the United States Patent & Trademark Office. In a letter published on Sunday, the agency ruled that granting Apple the trademark would lead to a "likelihood of confusion" among consumers due to an existing "Touch ID" trademark held by enterprise management company Kronos. Among its other offerings, Kronos manufactures biometric terminals for large companies. These terminals function as time clocks for employees, letting workers sign in with a scan of their finger. The company refers to these as "Touch ID terminals," and it has held the trademark since 2003, long before Apple dreamt up a fingerprint-scanning home button. At this point, Apple has another six months to decide its next course of action. It can either change the feature's name -- unlikely -- or buy the trademark off Kronos for whatever figure the two companies agree on. The latter seems like a no-brainer, given that Apple has already built Touch ID into its own sub-brand thanks to TV ads and plenty of boasting. Oh, and Apple has a lot of money, so the actual "purchasing" part shouldn't be a problem, either.
EVE: Kronos preparing 1.2 patch for tomorrow
EVE Online is prepping a batch of fixes and tweaks for the recently released Kronos expansion. The new 1.2 patch will fix broken exploration sights, allow players to limit the sound engine voice count, and improve loading for kill reports. Kronos 1.2 is scheduled for tomorrow, but you can read the patch notes today. It's like seeing into the future! Amazing!
EVE Online: Kronos goes live
EVE Online deployed the Kronos content update-slash-expansion today, and CCP is calling on all pilots to get out there and kick some major pirate booty. Er, butts. Heinies. Kronos includes new pirate ships, a mess of ship rebalancing, more exploration sites, and plenty of improved visuals. The hefty 1.2 GB patch comes with equally impressive notes to peruse while you update the game. Kronos represents the first update on CCP's accelerated six-week cycle.
EVE Online: Kronos brings the fight to uppity pirates
EVE Online: Kronos is on deck for next Tuesday's release, which means that CCP Games is going into overdrive to inform the community as to what to expect with the newest expansion. As such, today we have a pair of lengthy posts talking about new exploration sites and ship/module balancing. In the expansion, players will be tasked with hunting down a particular sect of pirates, the Guristas, by hunting through a null-sec system for the prized data. CCP will be dangling eight new ship skins as potential rewards for a successful search. Kronos will also include a rebalance of 38 ships, a "heap" of modules, and a total overhaul of the drone weapon system. CCP stated that the two themes of the expansion's balancing are the ascendancy of pirates and mercenaries and advancements in industrial technology. CCP also just posted the patch notes from Kronos, so give them a look!
Here's what else is coming in EVE's Kronos
Last week CCP shared what EVE Online players can expect with June 3rd's Kronos release. Today, the firm has published another lengthy dev blog with even more internet spaceship goodness. There's an improved Typhoon model, new low-sec contraband sites, low slots on freighters and jump freighters, and improved visuals on EVE's Mac client (as well as improved Mac-specific customer service).
EVE Online posts training session schedule
Are you a terrible EVE Online player? Shh, it's all right, there's no shaming here. Everyone starts somewhere. That's why the development team is hosting a series of new player training sessions, designed to help novices or clueless veterans figure out how to play in the sprawling spaceship spreadsheet sandbox. The newest schedule has just been posted for several exploration-themed training sessions in anticipation of the game's next expansion, starting with "How to Scan" on May 28th. Data, Relic, and Ghost Sites are covered on May 31st, Ore, Gas, and Ice get the spotlight on June 4th, and Combat Sites and Escalation are getting covered on June 7th. From there it's a tour through wormholes on June 11th and a conclusion with the developer-led exploration fleet on June 14th. For more details on how to join in on training sessions, there's a handy guide available; if you want the exact times for these sessions to check your own schedule, check out the full posting.
EVE Evolved: Expansion names are important!
Since its launch in 2003, EVE Online has adhered to a rough schedule of releasing two free expansions per year, one at the game's peak play time in the summer and one to tide players over during the long winter lull in activity. Each expansion has had a particular theme and a descriptive name, launching with several major features and then being followed up with a series of smaller sub-releases. At EVE Fanfest 2014 we discovered that CCP plans to change that strategy and instead produce around ten smaller releases each year, aiming to release one every six weeks. Putting aside the mathematical impossibility of meeting that target with only 52 weeks in the year, the plan for smaller but more regular releases has been generally well-received. Players were very happy to hear that unfinished features will no longer be pushed out the door before they're ready just to meet an arbitrary expansion deadline, and it's great news that completed features and fixes will now wait a maximum of six weeks before deployment. There's no doubt that it's a great development strategy, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes as a media strategy. In this EVE Evolved opinion piece, I look at why expansion names are important, the problems with CCP's new development schedule, and what can be done to fix them.
EVE Evolved: Eleven years of EVE Online
It seems that every year another few MMOs have closed their doors or convert to free-to-play business models to stay afloat. EVE Online has always enjoyed a level of insulation from these market trends elsewhere in the genre, and just last week on May 6th it celebrated its 11th year of year-on-year subscription growth. Following on from my previous column celebrating the EVE Evolved column's sixth year of operation, this week I'll be summarising all the major EVE news stories throughout the year. It's been a big year for EVE fans, one that many of us can be proud to have been a part of. The EVE community turned its financial wizardry toward the real world and raised over $190,000 US in relief aid following a typhoon hitting the Philippines, and CCP even built a monument dedicated to the community. Several massive player battles once again put EVE on the global media's radars, and the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions revitalised the game for explorers and PvPers alike. But not everyone can hold his heads up high this year, with details of more cyberbullying within EVE coming to light and several players being banned for defacing the EVE monument in Reykjavik. In this anniversary retrospective, I summarise all the major EVE news from the year in one place and take a look at what the future may hold for the EVE universe.
EVE Fanfest 2014: EVE's Kronos expansion is an industrial revolution
The EVE Online keynote presentation finished just a few hours ago at EVE Fanfest 2014, and it looks as if there are big plans for the year ahead. This summer will bring us the Kronos expansion, which is scheduled for June 3rd and aims to revolutionise every aspect of industrial activity in EVE Online in terms of both gameplay and accessibility. The economy has become quite stagnant over the past year as players have long since worked out all the most efficient ways to manufacture and trade, so CCP has planned its very own industrial revolution with a complete overhaul of industrial gameplay. Kronos also marks another important milestone for CCP, as the company will be switching from releasing two major expansions per year to a more agile strategy of releasing 10 smaller updates each year. The Kronos release was originally planned as a full expansion before the changeover to a 10-release schedule, so it's as packed as a full expansion. In addition to a deluge of industry overhauls, we'll be getting a shiny new mining ship, major pirate faction ship revamps, an enhanced new player experience, and a cool new effect when players warp into or out of an area. Read on for a breakdown of the EVE keynote presentation and to find out why CCP is moving away from its usual two expansions per year.
Battle of the Immortals Titan update coming this Wednesday
Are you excited for Titan? No, not that one, we're talking about the new content update coming this week to Battle of the Immortals. That's right, Perfect World Entertainment has graced us with a release date to go along with the dev blogs we've been featuring over the past couple of weeks. The patch will hit the live servers on Wednesday, July 13th, and in case your anticipation isn't quite where it should be, PWE has just released a new Titan trailer to further whet your appetite. The one-minute clip is packed with in-game footage that includes glimpses of the new instances as well as some spiffy shots of the soul gear that's coming soon to every class. You'll also see some boss fights, including a brief look at the god-king Kronos. Sound good? Well, what are you waiting for? Check out the clip after the cut!
Massively Exclusive: Battle of the Immortals reveals two new instances
Sharpen your swords and fletch your arrows, because when the Titan update hits in Battle of the Immortals, it'll be time to dive into two of the fiercest dungeons known to mankind. While we've looked at some of the lore behind the Titan update last week, now it's time to get into the nitty-gritty details of what this patch will bring. Perfect World has created two new maps for players to explore -- and exploit -- in their efforts to become big, rich and powerful: Black Dragon Lair and Giants Kingdom. The update will also include the much-awaited Generation III pets, which can be bred with two Generation II pets of both genders. Generation IIIs feature faster attack speeds and higher damage output, so it's safe to say they'll be highly desired by players. Battle of the Immortals' Titan update is scheduled for a July release, but in the meanwhile you can read up on the new dungeons in an exclusive dev blog after the jump!
