Sometimes the best way to fight fire is with fire. That's the idea between bug bounty programs using hackers to identify vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity systems of organizations. David Baker, Chief Security Officer at Bugcrowd, a bug bounty management company, explains how his company is exterminating cybersecurity threats.
Baker says the key to cybersecurity is transparency and adds that bug bounties are a way of fostering a relationship between hackers and companies. Uber's massive hack that impacted over 57 million people wasn't due to the absence of a bug bounty program because the ride-hailing company has a robust system in place, according to Baker. He says that from an ethical perspective, Uber's handling of the hack was bad and "they broke the law."
Bugcrowd is working to boost transparency in the cybersecurity space. To do so, it is launching a new tool, called Traffic Control, to give companies more insight and control of their bug bounty programs. The tool allows organizations to uncover additional return on investment from crowdsourced security testing with enhanced visibility into researcher activity, says Bugcrowd.
Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
