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Hydra Market: German Authorities Shut Down The World’s Largest Marketplace On The Dark Web

Government Authorities arrested cybercriminal

According to German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the world’s largest marketplace on the dark web, the Russian-language Hydra Market, has been completely shut down

During the operation, the German authorities were able to seize 543 bitcoins (about $25 million at the current exchange rate) from the criminals. In total, at least three data centers were destroyed, which included more than 500 servers.

An investigation is underway against as yet unknown operators and administrators of the site; it is reported further. They are suspected of trafficking in illegal drugs, forged documents and illegally obtained information.

At the time of the closure, Hydra had about 19,000 registered seller accounts, serving at least 17,000,000 customers worldwide, according to law enforcement officials. At the same time, the Hydra Market turnover in 2020 is estimated by the authorities at 1.35 billion US dollars, which made the site the largest trading platform on the dark web.

Currently, on the main page of Hydra Market, you can see a special notice that says that the site is closed by law enforcement agencies as part of an international operation.

German Authorities Shut Down Hydra Market

As the BKA announced, the seizure was preceded by extensive investigations that have been conducted by the BKA and the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) since August 2021 and in which several US authorities were also involved.

The Must-Have Tech Toolkit for the Frequent Traveler

Tech Toolkit

Having access to essential equipment is critical for frequent travelers when exploring an unfamiliar place. If you’re a travel enthusiast in the making and are looking for a list of tech must-haves to bring on your next big expedition, read on for a few nomad-approved options. 

A virtual mailbox 

First up on your tech toolkit should be setting up a virtual mailbox to track and manage deliveries while you’re across the globe sunbathing on a beach. As long as you have access to WiFi, you can log onto your online account to view, forward, and discard virtual mail from anywhere in the world. Additionally, travelers vacationing for an extended period can evade package theft and damage by sending all deliveries to an off-site P.O. box. 

A good backpack 

When traveling, packing smart is critical to avoid lugging extra weight around from destination to destination. Once you’ve narrowed down a necessities-only list, you’ll want to invest in quality carry-on luggage—specifically a backpack. By investing in a sturdy, travel-friendly bag, you can keep your belongings organized and accessible, avoiding airport hold-ups and misplaced items. 

A portable battery charger 

portable battery charger is a must-have for any traveler with a cell phone or computer. When exploring, outlets and charging stations can be few and far between, leaving you stuck in a foreign place with a low battery. To ensure you have enough juice to last through any day-to-day adventures, pack a portable charging accessory (or two) and a cable to fill up on the go.

A universal travel adapter 

An often-overlooked item to add to your handy tech toolkit is a set of universal outlet adapters. Often, vacationers jet off to a foreign country, charging ports in hand, without realizing an adapter is necessary to plug into the electrical system. Thankfully, most convenient stores sell port accessories—though picking up an adapter or two beforehand is your safest bet.

A virtual private network (VPN) 

A VPN can be beneficial for those accessing public WiFi on their travels. Unfortunately, unsecured internet access can lead to cyberattacks and data breaches that can cost you money and peace of mind while out traveling the world. However, with a VPN, you can secure your connection and bypass site restrictions, enabling you to browse the world wide web risk-free.

An e-reader 

For avid readers, investing in a portable e-reader can be a perfect alternative to lugging heavy books from destination to destination. Not only will you save luggage space, but you can also download hundreds of books, allowing you to keep up with your reading goals while away from home. 

Noise cancellation earbuds

Although traveling comes with limitless excitement and new experiences, it can also be a strenuous, unpredictable pursuit. Though you may not be able to eliminate all stress, you can minimize any anxiety with a pair of noise-canceling earbuds, perfect for times when you need to tune out the world around you. Simply put on your favorite playlist or podcast and feel the stress leave your body.

Language translation apps

Having a language translation application can be a lifesaver if you’re traveling to a country where you don’t speak the language. In addition to scanning features that can survey physical signage, you can also speak directly into many apps for an instant, audible translation. 

Before you jet off

Though your travel must-haves will include additional items, the list above is an excellent place to start for routine travelers. Just make sure you limit your belongings, take your specific destination into account, and have a few portable chargers at the ready, and you’ll be on your way to frequent-flyer status. 

Elon Musk Joins Twitter’s Board Of Directors

Elon Musk Joins Twitter Board Of Directors

After joining Twitter as the largest shareholder, Elon Musk apparently has more influence on the strategy of the social network than expected. Now tech billionaire is also moving into Twitter’s board of directors.

Elon Musk has in his possession 9.2% of the total shares of said company. If we convert that percentage into a number, we find that Elon Musk has about 73.5 million shares of Twitter, which gives a value of 2.9 billion dollars. This valuation has been obtained based on the unit price per share that the company registered last Friday, which means that it is up to date. Musk himself has not yet commented on what he intends to do with his investment.

Now Musk officially gets more influence on Twitter’s strategy. Twitter boss Parag Agrawal wrote on April 5, 2022. “That’s exactly what we need” so that Twitter can become stronger in the long term.

It is not yet known to what extent Musk wants to be involved in the work of the board of directors. Only recently, in a Twitter post, Musk had a vote on whether the service strictly adheres to the principle of free speech.

And just in the past few hours, Musk, shortly after revealing that he owns 9.2% of the company, posted a poll on Twitter asking the public if he wanted the introduction of an edit button for posts, proposing the answers “yes” and “no” to emphasize how effective such a change would be. The poll was relayed by Twitter CEO Agrawal, stating: “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”

RealityScan: Epic Games Launches An App For Creating 3D Models Using The iPhone Camera

RealityScan

Epic Games has released an app for iOS called RealityScan that allows users to capture all sorts of everyday objects as a 3D asset using their smartphone. RealityScan captures images of an object from multiple angles and then processes them to build a 3D object that you can use in your projects.

In the video, Epic Games presents the technology with a leather armchair that is filmed from all sides. The RealityScan then turns these 2D images into a grid model that can be embedded in a game, for example, via the Scetchfab platform, which is involved in the project.

On average, to create a 3D image, you need to take at least 20 photos from various angles. This is best done indoors with good light and plain walls.

According to Epic Games, the app allows you to speed up the work of recreating 3D models if you compare RealityScan with other similar tools.

RealityScan is currently only available for iOS in a beta via Testflight. The program based on first-come, first-served basis to 10,000 users has already been exhausted. It will be expanded later, and a version for Android is also planned.

Nvidia presented a similar technology at the end of March 2022 at its in-house GPU Technology Conference. There the system is called NeRF —- which stands for Neural Radiance Field.

Elon Musk Becomes Twitter’s Largest Shareholder

Elon Musk Becomes Twitter Largest Shareholder

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become Twitter’s largest shareholder. The tech billionaire now holds a 9.2% stake in Twitter for a value of 2,890 million dollars — based on the value of the share after the close of the market last Friday.

The news is learned after the filing of the 13G documentation to the SEC, in compliance with market regulations that require any individual or group of individuals to disclose a stake of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of a company.

In this way, Elon Musk becomes the largest shareholder of Twitter, ahead of the Vanguard group (8.79%) or Morgan Stanley (8.76%). Following this announcement, Twitter shares have increased their value by 26%.

With a good 80 million subscribers, Musk is one of the best-known Twitter users. Musk keeps attracting attention with his sometimes erratic tweets.

The news comes quite unexpected, especially after Musk had publicly criticized Twitter’s approach to the delicate issue of free speech, publishing a poll on the same social network last March 25, with which he asked his followers to express themselves on the subject.

Elon Musk has also been strongly criticizing Twitter’s current CEO, Parag Agrawal, for a few months now. In December, he posted a meme comparing him to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Jack Dorsey (founder and ex-CEO) as Nikolai Yezhov, the Soviet chief of police being thrown into the river.

Musk is by far the richest person in the world. The financial service Bloomberg estimates his fortune at $273 billion — mainly thanks to the shares in the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the space company SpaceX. The stock market value of Twitter was a good 31 billion dollars.

4 Technology Trends to Follow in 2022

Modern technology

Each day, technology is influencing and changing the way we live. It’s present in our homes, workplaces, and virtually everywhere we go. In many ways, all the advancements in technology made our lives easy and still continue to do so. New trends are appearing daily, and if you fail to look in the right direction for a second, you might miss them.

With that being said, if you want to ensure that you’re staying on top of the most significant technology trends that you should watch out for in 2022, read the article below. It will discuss everything that has changed, ranging from artificial intelligence to robotics, cloud computing, or cryptocurrencies. Things aren’t slowing down, so you might need to pick up the pace and learn more below.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies have been around for quite a while now. Bitcoin, the first type of cryptocurrency, appeared back in 2009, but it had to wait till 2017 to really take off. That’s when its price skyrocketed, making it a valuable currency on today’s market.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that are generated as a reward for solving complex computational problems and verified by blockchain encryption. There are no governments or central banks that control them, and they can be used for different online transactions. When you make a transaction using crypto, it’s made directly from one part to another, meaning no banks or other intermediaries are involved.

If you want to buy or sell crypto, you can do so through various online exchanges. Some people also choose to invest in initial coin offerings, but others regard it to be too risky. There are also websites such as mintnft.com that can be used to invest in non-fungible tokens, also known as NFTs, which are one of the latest trends in the world of cryptocurrencies.

Overall, investing in crypto assets is deemed quite risky, but it can also be highly profitable. In 2022, cryptocurrency will be a good investment. However, there’s also a safer but potentially less lucrative alternative: buying the stocks of companies with exposure to cryptocurrency. The choice is up to you.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is a vast field, which can be explained as a combination of computer hardware and software designed to mimic certain functions of the human mind. In other words, it enables machines to learn from what they’re exposed to and improve the way they perform.

In 2022, AI can be applied to various areas, ranging from self-driving cars to healthcare and video games. Some of the most common ways that it’s used include machine learning systems and virtual assistants. Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, or Google Assistant became a part of many people’s daily life, and their popularity is only expected to grow.

The numbers speak for themselves, as in the U.S. alone, there are over 110 million virtual assistant users. They managed to become an essential component of the smart device industry and are integral to the way consumers interact with their devices.

Cloud Computing

If you tried to explain cloud computing to someone who hasn’t had much experience with it, the easiest way to describe this extremely useful innovation is by saying that it’s all about working on data stored on servers rather than on computers. It allows for incredibly efficient collaboration between organizations or individuals, as its infrastructure is accessible over the internet, and you can work with the data you need from virtually anywhere. All you need is a stable internet connection.

Cloud computing is used by many organizations and businesses to store massive amounts of data that different people need to work on. In fields such as healthcare, it can be used for storing patient records, and in education, it can allow people to share materials and work together on school projects easily. In 2022 and the next few years, cloud computing is expected to increase its storage capacity, improve security, and need even less hardware than it uses for now.

Robotics

So far, robotics have been used to help humans perform better in many tasks, ranging from household chores to even exploring space. They’re vital for the healthcare industry as robots can perform many complex medical procedures with great precision. They’re also constantly developing to become even more advanced and do much more.

In 2022, the future of robotics is looking bright. Tech specialists are developing prototypes of robots that can deliver food or do daily chores with little to no human assistance. Robots are also learning new skills with the help of artificial intelligence. Their capabilities are growing, and we can expect many significant changes in the future.

The Bottom Line

To sum up, the future of technology looks very promising and exciting, and there’s no shortage of trends that are worth following. What is more, they’re undergoing constant changes and improvements, meaning that we all can expect to see better and smarter solutions in both 2022 and the years to come.

The trends mentioned above include cryptocurrencies, AI, cloud computing, and robotics, but of course, these are not the only ones worth your attention. There’s still plenty of room for other advancements, so make sure to keep your eyes open, so you don’t miss out on anything!

Applications and Services That Will Help Grow Your Business Faster

business website growsth

These days, operating a business requires you to always be on top of things. To properly compete with the rivals in your industry and to satisfy the ever-growing needs of customers, you need to employ the newest strategies and technology available. The latter is especially vital to the prosperity of your business. To help you grow your business faster, we’ve prepared a shortlist of useful applications and services that you might invest in to get an edge over everyone else.

One of the key services that you should consider is cloud computing. It’s also good to make your company known on business-oriented social media sites like LinkedIn. Moreover, you might want to try out communication apps like Slack or Google Workspace. Finally, you should try using appointment scheduling software. Read on and learn what to utilize to improve the growth of your company!

Cloud Computing: A Simple Solution to Manage Your Business Efficiently

Cloud computing is a method of storing, accessing, and sharing data online. The concept has been around since the 1990s, but major corporations didn’t start using it until the mid-2000s when Google, Amazon, and Microsoft launched their services. Now, it’s practically an industry standard that allows storing a large amount of information with solutions such as HPC manufacturing.

First of all, cloud computing can help you organize your business data and store important information in one place. This will make the whole process of running your enterprise much easier and more efficient since you won’t have to waste time looking for a file or for a specific piece of information that you need at the moment.

Moreover, it will also be much easier to share information within your organization or with employees from different departments. The data will be in one place and accessible to everyone who needs it.

Also, since all your information is constantly backed up, you can access it from any device. For example, you can access your company’s documents while on the go via your mobile phone. Finally, cloud computing also offers great security as you don’t have to worry about losing your files or your data being compromised by hackers – the data is protected by the company offering those services.

LinkedIn: A Great Place to Promote Your Company

LinkedIn is one of the world’s most popular social media sites that focuses on professional networking. It’s a great place to connect with other companies, potential customers, and business partners. There are two main ways you can use it to help your business grow faster.

Firstly, you can use LinkedIn for marketing purposes. You can advertise your company on the site by reaching out to the people in your target audience. For example, you can target companies that might be interested in your products or services. You can also contact possible customers and ask them to contact you directly.

Secondly, you can use LinkedIn to discover a talent pool that will drive the development of your company. LinkedIn is a great place to find new employees because it’s a professional networking site with millions of members who might be interested in working for your organization.

Moreover, you can also use LinkedIn to find new investors who might be willing to invest money into your company or even purchase a stake in it. For example, if you own an online store and want to expand your business, you can put up an ad on LinkedIn looking for potential investors or business partners. That way, you won’t have to spend time and money searching for investment opportunities alone!

Slack: Communicate With Employees Easily & Quickly

Slack is a powerful communication app designed specifically for businesses. It allows you to communicate easily and quickly with everyone in your company and helps make your workday much more productive.

You can use it to send messages or files to other people, organize meetings through the app, or schedule video calls with colleagues. Another great thing about Slack is that it offers integrations with third-party apps, including your cloud computing software, to optimize your operations further.

Appointment Scheduling Software: Avoid Overbooking Clients & Boost Sales

If appointment setting is crucial for your business strategy, you need to create a robust management system so that you don’t overbook clients. To avoid this problem, you should consider using an appointment scheduling service that allows you to manage all of your bookings in just one place. You won’t have to spend time making appointments manually or looking through dozens of emails asking when you’re available next.

Also, scheduling appointment software allows you to provide your customers with accurate information regarding your opening times and avoid having excessive staff on hand during slow periods of time (which costs money). Often, the service allows you to provide clients with a list of available time slots from which they can choose one themselves instead of having to wait until someone gets back to them with an appointment date and time.

In Conclusion

Running a business requires a lot of hard work and dedication. The competitiveness of the market is constantly increasing, so you have to do everything in your power to ensure that you’re able to compete and improve your business performance.

However, using the right technology and services can be extremely helpful in achieving that goal. You can use cloud computing to manage all your data in just one place, promote your company and hire new employees using LinkedIn, improve communication with staff using Slack, and easily organize appointments using schedule appointment software. With these apps and services, your business will grow faster, and you’ll be able to reach new heights! Good luck!

Apple And Meta Shared Their Users’ Data With Hackers Posing As Government Officials

online user data leak

Hackers related to the Lapsus$ group would have pretended to be government officials to request private data from Meta and Apple. According to Bloomberg, Apple and Meta were leaking user information to attackers who spoofed emergency data requests from government agencies.

One of the key suspects is the teenager who would currently lead Lapsus$, which has been on everyone’s lips after the attacks on Microsoft, Samsung or Nvidia, although at that time, he was part of another group of hackers.

Typically, requests from law enforcement are processed by companies on a warrant or document that is signed by a judge. However, The emergency data request (EDR) does not require a court decision. it is a kind of legal procedure that can be used by security agents in order to obtain the necessary information from a user to be able to carry out an investigation

According to Krebs On Security, the perpetrators used some emails, previously hacked, linked to legitimate law enforcement personnel, thus successfully tricking companies into handing over the data without further suspicion.

And it is not uncommon for companies like Apple and Facebook to receive requests of this type from law enforcement, even having teams entirely dedicated to responding to these requests.

It is only known that the attackers were associated with the Recursion Team hacker group. As of today, its activities have been suspended. But many of its members continue to carry out hacks under different names, including as part of Lapsus$.

The most striking thing is that neither Meta nor Apple would be the only companies affected by these attacks. In addition to them, companies like Snap, the owner of Snapchat, also received such requests. Another that did provide data was Discord, which provided information in response to one of these requests.