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| Hackers steal South Korean credit card data to aid forgeries Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 08:49 PM PDT Hackers stole the personal information of about 200,000 South Korean credit card users, using some to make fake cards and rack up fraudulent charges of about 120 million won ($115,400), an official of the country's financial regulator said on Friday. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement several suspects had late last year hacked into a server of a firm managing card payment processing terminals, and extracted data such as numbers, expiry dates and passwords for a point-amassing loyalty card. The suspects exploited the fact that some users had the same pin number or password for both credit cards and the loyalty card to create fake cards and charge items earlier this year, an official with direct knowledge of the investigation said. South Korean police, who are leading the investigation, have so far identified 268 separate cases of wrongful charges, said the official, who declined to be identified as the probe is still underway. Full Story | Top |
| Former Maker Studios CEO sues to block Disney purchase: WSJ Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 05:42 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The co-founder and former chief executive of Maker Studios, Danny Zappin, filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing a shareholder vote on a takeover offer from Walt Disney Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Zappin and three other former Maker executives asked a California court to issue a temporary restraining order to delay an April 15 vote by Maker shareholders, the Journal said. Disney agreed in March to buy Maker Studios, one of YouTube's largest networks, for $500 million. A Disney spokeswoman had no comment. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine. Editing by Andre Grenon) Full Story | Top |
| 'Heartbleed' computer bug threat spreads to firewalls and beyond Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 04:03 PM PDT  By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - Hackers could crack email systems, security firewalls and possibly mobile phones through the "Heartbleed" computer bug, according to security experts who warned on Thursday that the risks extended beyond just Internet Web servers. Developers rushed out patches to fix affected web servers when they disclosed the problem, which affected companies from Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc to Yahoo Inc. Yet pieces of vulnerable OpenSSL code can be found inside plenty of other places, including email servers, ordinary PCs, phones and even security products such as firewalls. Def Con's network uses an enterprise firewall from McAfee, which is owned by Intel Corp's security division. Full Story | Top |
| Zynga names former Best Buy executive chief financial officer Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 02:53 PM PDT  By Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc appointed former Best Buy executive David Lee its chief financial officer as Zynga continued reshuffling its ranks to try to return the "Farmville" creator to growth. Lee, 42, will step into the role on April 14 and replace current Chief Financial Officer Mark Vranesh, who has decided to leave the company, the games publisher said in a regulator filing late last week. Zynga has sought to revive its business by overhauling top management, trimming staff and introducing titles that can be played on smartphones and tablets. Lee was previously the senior vice president of corporate finance, treasury, mergers and acquisitions and corporate strategy at retail giant Best Buy. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. regulators tell banks to address 'Heartbleed' risk Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 02:26 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. financial regulators on Thursday told banks to upgrade their systems as soon as possible if they are vulnerable to the recently uncovered "Heartbleed" bug, which exposes data to hackers. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, an interagency group that includes the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, said banks also should set up temporary patches for any systems using the Web encryption program known as OpenSSL and warn their outside service providers to take action. ... Full Story | Top |
| Google to sell Glass to public next week Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 02:03 PM PDT  Google Inc will take online orders for its Glass wearable gadget on April 15, in its biggest push to get the $1,500 wraparound Web-ready glasses out to the U.S. public. For a limited time starting Tuesday, Google will make the wearable device available to more than just the select group of users such as apps developers in its Glass Explorer program. In a blogpost, Google did not say how many pairs it would sell, just that the quantity would be limited. Google has run campaigns in the past to drum up public involvement, including inviting people to tweet under the hashtag #ifihadglass for a chance to buy a pair of the glasses. Full Story | Top |
| Amazon to buy digital comic book publisher comiXology Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 01:52 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc will buy New York-based digital comic book publisher comiXology for an undisclosed sum to beef up its entertainment content. The deal, announced on Thursday, is expected to close in the second quarter. ComiXology, which makes one of the top grossing apps for Apple Inc's iPad tablet, was founded in 2007. The acquisition comes as e-commerce company expands its slate of scripted shows and video games. Last week, it launched the Fire TV video streaming device. (Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) Full Story | Top |
| Icahn backs down from demand that eBay spin off PayPal Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 01:17 PM PDT  By Deepa Seetharaman, Phil Wahba and Nadia Damouni SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carl Icahn backed off calls for eBay Inc to spin out its fast-growing PayPal payments unit on Thursday, after the billionaire investor failed to drum up support from the e-commerce company's major shareholders. Icahn withdrew his two nominees to eBay's board ahead of the company's annual meeting in May. But in a concession to the famously pugnacious activist investor, eBay added David Dorman, a founding partner of investment firm Centerview Capital Technology, as a 10th independent director. ... Full Story | Top |
| Facebook says WhatsApp deal cleared by FTC Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 01:12 PM PDT  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said U.S. regulators have cleared its $19 billion acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, even as the Federal Trade Commission warned the two Internet companies on Thursday that they must not backtrack on commitments to user privacy. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a letter to the two companies on Thursday, said WhatsApp must adhere to its current privacy practices after the merger, including a promise not to use WhatsApp users' personal data for targeted ads. "If the acquisition is completed and WhatsApp fails to honor these promises, both companies could be in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and, potentially, the FTC's order against Facebook," the letter from Jessica Rich, director of the consumer bureau, read. FTC spokesman Jay Mayfield said the agency does not comment on investigations. Full Story | Top |
| Sharing cyber threat details not antitrust violation, U.S. says Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 01:04 PM PDT  The U.S. government on Thursday urged companies to share information with each other about cyber threats and issued guidance making clear that doing so would not violate antitrust laws. Most recently, the "Heartbleed" bug was found to have exposed personal data to hackers, prompting Facebook Inc, Google and others to take steps to mitigate the impact on their users. "Legitimate cyber threat sharing can help secure the nation's networks," James Cole, the No. 2 official at the U.S. Justice Department, told reporters in a briefing on new guidance the agency issued along with the Federal Trade Commission. If companies don't discuss competitive information such as pricing or output when sharing cybersecurity details, they will not run afoul of antitrust laws, the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, Bill Baer, said. Full Story | Top |
| BlackBerry may consider exiting handsets, eyes investments Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 12:40 PM PDT  By Alastair Sharp and Nicola Leske NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd would consider exiting its handset business if it remains unprofitable, its chief executive officer said on Wednesday, as the technology company looks to expand its corporate reach with investments, acquisitions and partnerships. "If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the handset business," John Chen said in an interview, adding that the time frame for such a decision was short. At its peak, BlackBerry shipped 52.3 million devices in fiscal 2011, while it recorded revenue on less than 2 million last quarter. Chen, who took the helm of the struggling company in November, said BlackBerry was also looking to invest in or team up with other companies in regulated industries such as healthcare, and financial and legal services, all of which require highly secure communications. Full Story | Top |
| Icahn says he might buy more eBay shares Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 12:39 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn said in an interview on Thursday that eBay Inc stock is undervalued and that he might buy more shares. Icahn, who controls 2.15 percent of eBay shares, said he does not expect another proxy fight with eBay once his confidentiality agreement with the e-commerce company ends next year. Icahn on Thursday withdrew his nominees for the board, as well as his proposal that eBay sell off its PayPal unit. (Reporting by Nadia Damouni and Phil Wahba in New York) Full Story | Top |
| Cash America looking to spin off online lending business Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 09:35 AM PDT Payday lender Cash America International Inc is revisiting a plan to spin off its online lending business to focus on its storefront operations that includes pawn. The company's shares rose 15 percent as a spinoff would separate the fast-growing pawn business from the highly regulated online payday lending operations. Payday lenders such as Cash America provide small short-term loans at high interest rates to help a borrower get to the next paycheck. U.S. regulators in November ordered Cash America to refund consumers $14 million and pay a $5 million fine to settle civil allegations that it improperly pursued some customers' debt and overcharged military service members. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. start-ups raise $9.99 billion, hit outsized valuations in first-quarter Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 08:50 AM PDT  Venture capital funding for U.S. start-ups hit its highest mark since 2001 during the first three months of the year and 11 companies were valued at $1 billion or more, underscoring the increasingly pricey environment for entrepreneurs, according to a report on Thursday from consultancy CB Insights. Venture capitalists invested $9.99 billion across 880 deals in the first quarter of 2014. The technology companies that venture capitalists valued at over $1 billion last quarter include payments company Stripe, online home-furnishings company Wayfair and enterprise-data management company Cloudera. The CB Insights report (click http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/trends/venture-capital-funding-exits-q1-2014) tracks deals only if venture capitalists were involved in the funding rounds, it said. Full Story | Top |
| Aircraft suppliers woo with new tech in a tablet-toting world Thursday, Apr 10, 2014 05:13 AM PDT  A hologram to take you through your in-flight entertainment options? Exhibitors at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg demonstrated these ideas and more as they sought to win airline customers with new seats, lighting and entertainment systems. This may all seem like window dressing - but the commercial aircraft cabin interior market is estimated at almost $13 billion in annual sales in 2014 and expected to grow to over $17 billion in 2019, according to research by Markets and Markets. Germany-based Diehl Aerosystems demonstrated a new cabin management system, whereby passengers could scan their boarding cards on a screen as they stepped onto the plane. Full Story | Top |
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