Microsoft Corp. has acquired virtual reality social platform startup AltspaceVR Inc., the companies announced today The price of the deal was not disclosed, but it’s likely to have come at a discount on the $15.7 million AltspaceVR had previously raised, given the company had ceased operations in early August thanks to financial difficulties. Founded in 2013, AltspaceVR brings two-dimensional ...

Verizon Communications Inc. has disclosed that the hack of Yahoo in August 2013 did not involve the compromise of 1 billion accounts as reported in December. Instead, it was all 3 billion Yahoo accounts, making it the largest data breach in history. The data stolen in the hack included the “names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed ...

The website for Etherparty, an initial coin offering selling tokens for a blockchain-based smart contract tool, has been hacked, as the address for sending funds to buy tokens was changed to one controlled by the hackers. The hack took place on the first day of Etherparty’s ICO, occurring 45 minutes after the Oct. 1 launch. The ...

Researchers at Google LLC have issued a warning over seven serious flaws in Dnsmasq, a Domain Name System forwarder and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server that is installed with Linux distributions, Android and Google’s Kubernetes container software. The longstanding flaws include three remote code execution vulnerabilities, three denial of service vulnerabilities and an information leakage issue. “We discovered seven distinct ...

Indian ride-hailing firm Ola has raised $2 billion in a round led by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., with an aim to expand its operations to beat back U.S. rival Uber Technologies Inc. The round included RNT Capital Advisors and a number of unnamed U.S. institutional investors, according to a report from Bloomberg. News that ...

“Internet of things”-focused cybersecurity firm ForeScout Inc. is going public. The company announced Monday that it had filed its paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered in the IPO and their price are described as having “not yet been determined,” though the company did say ...

Japan’s Financial Services Agency has officially licensed 11 bitcoin exchanges as part of the government’s move to bring cryptocurrency trading under supervision following its decision to legalize bitcoin as a legal payment method in April. According to reports, the licensed bitcoin exchanges will have to comply with a range of requirements, including building a strong computer system, segregating ...

Drone operators can no longer fly their unmanned aerial vehicles near certain national landmarks under a new ban implemented by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The new restrictions, which take effect Oct. 5, ban drone flights within 400 feet of national monuments, including the Statue of Liberty; Boston National Historical Park, Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, ...

Hackers linked to the Chinese government are being blamed for the theft of data from consumer credit reporting agency Equifax Inc. but strangely not for the initial hack, according to a newly published report. Bloomberg, quoting insider sources, claimed the initial hack took place in March by a group of hackers who were taking advantage ...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has finally taken its first serious action against dubious initial coin offerings by charging an operator behind two startups promoting coins linked to diamonds and real estate. Maksim Zaslavskiy, whose location remains unclear, but according to his LinkedIn profile is running at least one of the initial coin offerings in ...