Amazon has quietly acquired Harvest.ai security startup

Big tech companies acquire startups quite often, with some purchases being more publicized than others depending on the stakes of the transaction or the popularity of the companies involve. The newest acquisition in the tech industry comes from Amazon which seeks to increase its protection systems through the Harvest.ai security startup.

Although the acquisition was not publicly revealed, Techcrunch was able to obtain some of the details of the deal.  According to them, Amazon acquired the Harvest.ai security startup for $19 million, which is considerably more than the $2.3 million that the company managed to attract as seed funding.

The startup was initially based in San Diego, and was funded in 2014 by a team which includes even two former NSA employees, and has a total of 12 employees, which will be relocating to Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. Before the acquisition, Harvest.ai used artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in order to analyze the behavior of users in correlation with a company’s key IP as a way to identify and stop attacks before manage to steal customer data.

Although neither Amazon nor Harvest.ai issued any statements or comments on the acquisition, refusing to answer any of Techcrunch’s inquiries, there are considerable signs that the deal has been already finalized, such as information posted by employees and third-party companies regarding the status of the startup.

Harvest.ai’s main AI product still has a patent pending and its known as MACIE Analytics. It mainly uses AI system to monitor how a company’s intellectual property is accessed by customers in real-time. The AI is able to determine what every user is accessing, moving, or copying specific documents. It can even determine where and when they are doing this kind of operations. These AI systems are meant to identify suspicious behavior in order to prevent data breaches and leaks.

The MACIE Analytics is able to integrate with both cloud as well as on-premise system, where it starts to examine various patterns of logins, access to documents and overall data, and remote network access to determine any possible sources of attacks. Thus, it is very likely that Harvest.ai will be tasked with increasing the security of Amazon’s cloud platform.

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WhatsApp users should be wary of Excel malware files.

Android is the most versatile mobile operating system as it is able to run any type of file users might need. However, this very functionality can pose a security risk. This was the case where several WhatsApp users received malware files on the platform.

The malware files come in the form of fake Microsoft Excel documents which seem to be issued by the National Defense Agency or the National Investigation Agency. These organizations are part of the Indian government. If downloaded and opened on a user’s device, the documents trigger the installation of a malware.

This hidden malware is then able to collect all sort of user info like various app privileges and information, thus gaining control of the user’s device. From there, it’s even able to collect banking information as well as your passwords, depending on the type of activities you have used your phone for and what apps you have installed.

The recent reports which revealed the existence of this new exploit also stated that the two fake files are most commonly titled as “NIA-selection-order.xls” and “NDA-ranked-8th-toughest-College-in-the-world-to-get-into.xls”. Keep a look out for these names or any other suspicious and unrelated Excel files or anything that you didn’t expect to receive.

It’s also important to remember that the malware activates and begins to steal information as soon as you click the files in order to either download them, view them or edit them in any manner. This cannot be avoided no matter in what app you are trying to open the specified files. Many users have speculated that the malware files were intended for individuals who are actually part of the military or the government, or even those interested in international relations. However, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

The malware has already been reported to government officials, but it’s very likely to continue to spread to unsuspecting WhatsApp users. Security experts also issued a warning stating that in these types of cases, other hackers could develop copycat malware which has the same function and be transmitted through the same method. As such, it’s recommended to maintain a state of permanent vigilance regarding the files you get, if you’re not keen on installing an antivirus app.

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Hyundai’s next-gen fuel cell SUV will have a range of 348 miles.

The auto industry’s efforts in creating more ecologically-friendly cars are focused on the development and improvement of either full electric cars or that of the hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Although many companies have fully embraced the development of better electric cars and their batteries, other companies placed their bets on the success of hydrogen fuel cells.

One such company is Hyundai, which released its first hydrogen-powered car back in 2014, equipped with the Hyundai Tucson Fuell Cell.  Although it was a commendable effort by the company, the range of the car was eclipsed by other similar offers from Honda or Toyota. However, it seems instead of calling it quits, Hyundai has been hard at work developing their next generation of hydrogen fuel cell.

According to a new report from Motor Trend, the company is currently in the process of completing a new generation of fuel cells for SUVs, which will be capable of increasing the range of the company’s car by up to 30 percent. This translates into a max range of 348 miles on single charge.

Although this new fuel cell will put Hyundai ahead of its competitors like Honda’s Clarity Fuel Cell which has a range of 366 miles or the Toyota Mirai offering 312 miles. The range of hydrogen-powered cars is more important than on electric cars due to its undeveloped infrastructure, an issue which electric car manufacturers have addressed over the years, at least in the United States, like Tesla’s network of Supercharger stations.

Despite the buzz generated by Hyundai’s new fuel cell, the report reveals that the technology will only be available starting with January 2018, with an official reveal to happen sometime in 2017, as well as details regarding its price and marketing. The report places the SUV equipped with the second-generation hydrogen fuel cell at around $50,000. However, it’s unclear whether or not the company will keep the leasing program it currently has in place for their Tucson SUV in the US.

Furthermore, as promising as Hyundai’s new fuel cell sounds, it could once again be eclipsed by its competitors, if they manage to develop similar improvements in their fuel cell technology. Especially so, if they will release it around the same period.

Image source: Wikimedia

Facebook is currently rolling out a new colored backgrounds feature for status updates.

Although Facebook believes that the future communication will be centered around video mediums, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the service is ready to completely abandon traditional text as a way to lets user express themselves. Quite the contrary, Facebook keeps adding various features for text messages in hopes of getting people to be more active on the platform.

For this purpose, Facebook latest feature is a new customization option which enables users to change the color of the background for status updates. This colored backgrounds feature was first spotted by TechCrunch and it was later confirmed by Facebook.

The colored backgrounds customization options will allow users to choose from several different colors so that their status update can be complemented by the feeling of the color they have chosen. Users can choose between yellow, red, purple, orange, a number of blue variations and more. Facebook also implemented some more advanced customization options for the feature such as a color gradient, which might seem more appealing than just the flat options.

Unfortunately, the new colored backgrounds feature won’t be available to everyone at the start. Facebook will gradually release them for Android users at first. However, the status updates with color backgrounds posted by Android users can be seen on both the desktop platform as well as on iOS.

The new feature seems to be a way for Facebook to incentivize sharing user-generated content with other users.  Earlier this year, an internal report revealed that the sharing of personal Facebook posts and content has gradually declined by 21 percent each year since mid-2015. Instead of personal posts, Facebook users have increasingly shared and posted links to a wide range of external content.

It is surprising to see a new feature for status updates, especially since Facebook has been mainly focused on promoting their Live video feature as well as prioritizing the new format of its News Feed. This lines up with Facebook’s estimates that by 2021, video content will generate around 70 percent of traffic on the platform across all devices.

Depending on how the new colored backgrounds feature is, Facebook may very well start implementing a new feature for text-based communication, instead of focusing all their efforts on video.

Image source: Pixabay

Pandora Premium has been announced for $10 a month.

It seems that the already crowded market of music streaming apps continues to grow. One year after Pandora bought what was left of Rdio, the company has recently unveiled their newest app, Pandora Premium. The company’s vision on what an on-demand music streaming service should be will be competing with apps like Spotify, Apple Music, which offer a similar service at the same price, but with more features.

Although the basic features of Pandora Premium such as ad-free streaming for an extensive library of music available anytime, and the option to save your music offline, can be found in all similar apps, Pandora Premium sets itself apart from competitors through personalization.

For example, one of the best features of Pandora’s app is the ability to automatically add similar songs to your playlist, just by tapping a button. Another great feature is the personalized search, which will provide results based on your listening history. It will take your preferences and music tastes more seriously than any other service. In the browse section as well as in the new release section, you will only find music tailored to your tastes.

A cool personalized feature of the intuitive, sleek and clean design of Pandora Premium is the ability to change the artwork based on what music you are playing. Additionally, the app will include all your prefer preferred music and radio stations familiar to the current Pandora users.

Pandora Premium will be available for both Android and iOS users during the early stages of 2017 and will feature a $10 per month subscription service. This is very similar to its competitors such as Apple Music, and Spotify. Despite the market being quite crowded, the company hopes to achieve a number of 11 million subscribers by 2020.

Pandora already has almost 80 million users on its ad-supported version and it hopes to convert at least 20 percent of those users to paying subscribers. Their estimates are cautious since Spotify manages to convert around 25 percent of its users. However, there have been companies who were not able to make a successful transition to a paid service, such as Soundcloud who had 125 million free users before.

Are you currently using Pandora? If so, are you planning on getting a subscription?

Image source: Google Play Store