Techmeme: A look at 2022's worst breaches, leaks, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored hacking campaigns, and digital takeovers, including at least two Twilio breaches (Lily Hay Newman/Wired)

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December 31, 2022, 9:30 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Sam Bankman-Fried will likely plead not guilty to fraud and other charges at a January 3 hearing; SBF returns to Twitter to deny he moved Alameda funds — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is likely to plead not guilty to eight counts of fraud at a hearing next week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

More: Bloomberg, Reuters, Cointelegraph, Insider, CoinGape, Cryptonews, The Block, Decrypt, Forbes, Investing.com, Yahoo News, CryptoSlate, The Information, Decrypt, and Bloomberg

Mastodon: @MikeElgan@mastodon.social and @davidgerard@circumstances.run

Tweets: @sbf_ftx, @cryptomanran, @pixelatedboat, @gerberkawasaki, @trengriffin, @renato_mariotti, @bitfinexed, @lukewearechange, @marcslove, @iansherr, @danprimack, @cgasparino, @mikeelgan, @bitboy_crypto, @teddyschleifer, and @laurashin

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

A look at 2022's worst breaches, leaks, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored hacking campaigns, and digital takeovers, including at least two Twilio breaches — The year was marked by sinister new twists on cybersecurity classics, including phishing, breaches, and ransomware attacks.

More: Wall Street Journal, Department of Homeland …, Healthcare IT News, Security Intelligence, WeLiveSecurity, Techaeris, Krebs on Security, and HotHardware

Anton Shilov / Tom's Hardware:

Report: AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and others are slashing their TSMC orders, which could reduce the contract manufacturer's Q1 2023 sales by an estimated 15% QoQ — Large customers revise orders to TSMC due to the economy slowdown. — Being the world's No. 1 foundry, TSMC was almost immune …

More: TechSpot, Appuals.com, and Neowin

Tweets: @vadimyuryev and @vettechtrader

Reuters:

The Bahamas' Securities Commission says it is holding FTX assets worth $3.5B temporarily and plans to deliver them to customers and creditors who own them — The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said on Thursday that it is holding FTX assets worth $3.5 billion based on market pricing …

Nathan Crooks / The Block:

FTX plans to ask the Bahamas to return its crypto, which it says was worth ~$296M when moved on November 12 but is now worth ~$167M, to its Chapter 11 estates

More: FTX, Reuters, Crypto Daily, CoinJournal, CryptoSlate, and Bitcoin News

Brian Merchant / The Atlantic:

Meta's dramatic implosion, Elon Musk's Twitter train wreck, and Amazon's labor uprising show that 2022 was not just a disastrous year, but a reckoning for tech — The companies that define our digital lives have hit a wall. — The dramatic, multidimensional implosion of Meta …

More: The Ringer, CNN, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Beyond Search, and CrimsonRock

Tweets: @davemcclure, @carnage4life, @ringer, @alexhuds, @pt, @greg_doucette, @mpawlo, @neilturkewitz, @bcmerchant, @nc_renic, @dlberes, @dwallacewells, @bcmerchant, @estherkeziat, @techwontsaveus, @adriennelaf, and @dlberes

Washington Post:

Sources: Meta is struggling to move hardware manufacturing out of China; after abandoning its smartwatch plans, the company is still working on a wrist wearable — The company needs China's factories as it pushes to become a hardware producer — SAN FRANCISCO — For more than a year …

Tweets: @lizzadwoskin and @geoffreyfowler

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:

Meta acquires Netherlands-based Luxexcel, which 3D prints prescription lenses for smart glasses; Meta and Luxexcel reportedly worked together on Project Aria — As Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisition of VR fitness developers Within, the tech giant is making another acquisition.

More: The Verge, The Brussels Times, Engadget, Appuals.com, Metaverse Post, Road to VR, and SiliconANGLE

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:

Crypto created a toy financial system and had a toy financial crisis; in order to work in the long run, crypto must prove its real usefulness outside of finance — On Oct. 25, Bloomberg Businessweek published “The Crypto Story,” a cover-to-cover issue of the magazine that I wrote about what crypto is and what it all might mean.

More: TheStreet

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. Tweets: @hrushb, @smdiehl, @mdudas, @nathanbenaich, @tomi, @danrothenberg, @carnage4life, @joelwebershow, and @ccatalini

Sandali Handagama / CoinDesk:

Italy's parliament approves a 26% tax on gains of €2,000+ from crypto trading per tax period and offers incentives for declaring crypto profits for tax purposes — Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's new bill also includes an incentive for those declaring crypto for tax purposes.

More: CryptoSlate, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, crypto.news, Watcher Guru, Cryptopolitan, and The Block. Tweets: @coindesk

Wall Street Journal:

Predictions for 2023: Apple's AR/VR headset debut, Big Tech belt tightening, Netflix password crackdown, AI in more tech tools, less talk of crypto, and more — Our tech columnists look ahead to an Apple headset, Netflix password crackdowns, the next DALL-E and more — Big layoffs at Meta, Amazon, Snap and others?

More: MacRumors

Mastodon: @mimsical@mastodon.social. Tweets: @anderscorr, @wsj, @cathyhackl, @joannastern, and @mims

Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak:

Leaked screener copies of big movies tend to surface at year's end, but didn't in 2022, probably due to more security, streaming, and shorter release windows — Screeners are advance copies of recent movies that are generally sent out to critics and awards voters for review.

Tweets: @martinsfp

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:30 PM ET, December 31, 2022.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Associated Press:

President Trump signed an EO on May 1 instructing CPB and other agencies to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS, alleging “bias” in the broadcasters' reporting

Washington Post:

After VOA director said staff can begin a “phased return”, an appeals court stays the preliminary injunction that allowed VOA and USAGM staffers to go back

Sean Burch / The Wrap:

The LA Times Guild says 14 of its members have been laid off, or 6% of its newsroom staff, the third round of newsroom layoffs at LAT in as many years

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More News

New York Times:

Employment in tech occupations grew 12% YoY to a record 6.39M in November 2022, as workers eye banking, retail, health care, and manufacturing amid tech layoffs

Tweets: @andrenaleen, @dialogcrm, @stevelohr, @scottlincicome, @nytimestech, @nytimestech, @nytimestech, @chiefmartec, and @stevelohr

Ari Levy / CNBC:

Ernst & Young: US tech IPO deal proceeds plummeted 94%, from $155.8B in 2021 to $8.6B in 2022; FactSet: no tech IPO raised $1B in 2022, compared to 15 in 2021

More: Bloomberg, EY, and John Battelle's Search Blog

Tweets: @davemcclure and @trengriffin

Ben Jiang / South China Morning Post:

Sources: founder Richard Liu Qiangdong berated JD.com executives for poor performance and remains the undisputed decision maker despite quitting frontline roles

More: TechNode and Tech in Asia

Ryan Broderick / Polygon:

A look at the disastrous 2022 for NFT-based games, after interest from EA, Ubisoft, Zynga, Niantic, and others, as the community grew more niche and scam-filled

Tweets: @starl3xx, @realjonahblake, @realjonahblake, @michaelcarusi, and @midimyers

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:

Google changes its appeals process for CSAM-flagged accounts; content deemed exploitative will still be removed and reported but users can plead their innocence

Mastodon: @ben@adida.net. Tweets: @kashhill and @kashhill

Earlier Picks

Ian Johnston / Financial Times:

Accounting software maker Sage threatens to turn off UK customers' single-payment licenses on security grounds, forcing them to buy costly monthly subscriptions

More: PYMNTS.com

Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg:

Tim Wu, who helped shape Joe Biden's antitrust agenda, plans to leave his adviser role on January 4 and return to teaching antitrust law at Columbia Law School

More: New York Times, Engadget, UPI, Axios, SiliconANGLE, Politico, and Slashdot

Tweets: @superwuster, @dmccabe, @tariqkrim, @samirunni, @samirunni, @patrick_spence, @robsmithonline, @alondranelson46, @zephyrteachout, and @pstasiatech

Shadine Taufik / Tech in Asia:

Hangzhou-based Freetech Intelligent Systems, which makes a full autonomous vehicle software and hardware stack, raised a ~$100M Series B led by Chaos Investment

Source: Nikkei Asia. Tweets: @vaactiveangels and @techinasia

Dan Strumpf / Wall Street Journal:

Huawei has exited “crisis mode” following US restrictions and expects ~$91.5B in 2022 revenue, unchanged from 2021, due to growing telecom infrastructure sales

More: Softpedia News, Gizchina, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, SamMobile, Firstpost Tech, Pandaily, South China Morning Post, TelecomLead, CHINAdaily, Tech Xplore, Associated Press, and Huawei Central

Tweets: @jchengwsj and @mattvvolf

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

After not paying rent, Twitter is reportedly closing its Seattle office, its second-largest engineering hub outside of San Francisco, and asking staff to WFH

More: Bloomberg, Livemint, Insider, Firstpost Tech, The Seattle Times, New York Post, CoinGape, San Francisco Business Journal, and New York Times

Mastodon: @cong@mastodon.social. Tweets: @zoeschiffer, @watcherguru, @jasonrantz, @unusual_whales, @wflbc, @techwontsaveus, @oalexanderdk, @drskyskull, and @carnage4life