Microsoft
Microsoft fixes cloud platform vulnerability after warning
Microsoft says it has fixed a flaw in its cloud computing platform that cybersecurity researchers warned could have enabled hackers to take over a cloud-based database product used by many big companies.
The company said Friday there’s no evidence the potential opening was exploited by malicious actors or that any customer data was exposed.
The cybersecurity firm Wiz, led by former Microsoft employees, said it discovered what it called an “unprecedented critical vulnerability” in Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and notified the tech giant earlier in August. Microsoft paid the firm a bounty for the discovery and said it immediately fixed the problem.
If exploited, the flaw could have affected “thousands of organizations, including numerous Fortune 500 companies,” according to a blog post from Wiz, which is based in Israel and California. Microsoft said Friday it affected only a subset of customers using the product.
Microsoft has already been in the hot seat over the hack of its Exchange email servers disclosed in March and blamed on Chinese spies. Its code was also abused to rifle through the emails of U.S. officials in an earlier hack pinned on Russian intelligence agents and more commonly associated with the software company SolarWinds.
READ: Microsoft unveils Windows 11 operating system
The cloud platform vulnerability disclosed this week, while apparently causing no harm, raised concerns about the security of cloud services provided by the tech industry, which businesses and governments increasingly rely on.
After a White House cybersecurity summit Thursday, Microsoft pledged it would invest $20 billion in cybersecurity over the next five years and make available $150 million in technical services to help local governments upgrade their defenses.
READ: Microsoft buying speech recognition firm Nuance in $16B deal
Federal lawmakers earlier in the year insisted that Microsoft swiftly upgrade security to what they say it should have provided in the first place, and without fleecing taxpayers.
Pentagon cancels disputed JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft
The Pentagon said it canceled a disputed cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion. It will instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon and possibly other cloud service providers.
“With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD’s capability gaps,” the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement did not directly mention that the Pentagon faced extended legal challenges by Amazon to the original $1 million contract awarded to Microsoft. Amazon argued that the Microsoft award was tainted by politics, particularly then-President Donald Trump’s antagonism toward Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, who stepped down Monday as the company’s chief executive officer. Bezos owns The Washington Post, a newspaper often criticized by Trump.
The Pentagon’s chief information officer, John Sherman, told reporters Tuesday that during the lengthy legal fight with Amazon, “the landscape has evolved” with new possibilities for large-scale cloud computing services. Thus it was decided, he said, to start over and seek multiple vendors.
Read:Microsoft unveils Windows 11 operating system
Sherman said JEDI will be replaced by a new program called Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability, and that both Amazon and Microsoft “likely” will be awarded parts of the business, although neither is guaranteed. Sherman said the three other large cloud service providers — Google, IBM and Oracle — might qualify, too.
Microsoft said in response to the Pentagon announcement, “We understand the DoD s rationale, and we support them and every military member who needs the mission-critical 21st century technology JEDI would have provided. The DoD faced a difficult choice: Continue with what could be a years-long litigation battle or find another path forward.”
Amazon said it understands and agrees with the Pentagon’s decision. In a statement, the company reiterated its view that the 2019 contract award was not based on the merits of the competing proposals “and instead was the result of outside influence that has no place in government procurement.”
Oracle, which had earlier sought the JEDI contact but didn’t make it to the final round, declined comment Tuesday. In separate statements, IBM said it was evaluating the new Pentagon approach and Google said it looked forward to discussing it with Pentagon officials.
Read: Sanctioned Russian IT firm was partner with Microsoft, IBM
The JEDI project began with the $1 million contract award for Microsoft, meant as an initial step in a 10-year deal that could have reached $10 billion in value. The project that will replace it is a five-year program; Sherman said no exact contract value has been set but that it will be “in the billions.” Sherman said the government will negotiate the amount Microsoft will be paid for having its 2019 deal terminated.
Amazon Web Services, a market leader in providing cloud computing services, had long been considered a leading candidate to run the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, known as JEDI. The project was meant to store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the U.S. military to improve communications with soldiers on the battlefield and use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.
The JEDI contract became mired in legal challenges almost as soon as it was awarded to Microsoft in October 2019. The losing bidder, Amazon Web Services, went to court arguing that the Pentagon’s process was flawed and unfair, including that it was improperly influenced by politics.
This year the Pentagon had been hinting that it might scrap the contract, saying in May that it felt compelled to reconsider its options after a federal judge in April rejected a Pentagon move to have key parts of Amazon’s lawsuit dismissed.
Read:Microsoft buying speech recognition firm Nuance in $16B deal
The JEDI saga has been unusual for the political dimension linked to Trump. In April 2020, the Defense Department inspector general’s office concluded that the contracting process was in line with legal and government purchasing standards. The inspector general found no evidence of White House interference in the contract award process, but that review also said investigators could not fully review the matter because the White House would not allow unfettered access to witnesses.
Five months later, the Pentagon reaffirmed Microsoft as winner of the contract, but work remained stalled by Amazon’s legal challenge.
In its April 2020 report, the inspector general’s office did not draw a conclusion about whether the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. was appropriately declared the winner. Rather, it looked at whether the decision-making process was proper and legal. It also examined allegations of unethical behavior by Pentagon officials involved in the matter and generally determined that any ethical lapses did not influence the outcome.
That review did not find evidence of White House pressure for the Pentagon to favor the Microsoft bid, but it also said it could not definitely determine the full extent of White House interactions with the Pentagon’s decision makers.
Bill Gates’ Ex-Girlfriend and the Billion Dollar Worth Love Story
Bill Gates’ ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad allowed him to propose to Melinda French. Following the break up of Bill and Ann in 1987, Bill married Melinda in 1994. Then after 27 years’ time span, Mr. and Mrs. Gates finally ended their marriage on May 03, 2021. They already began to split their $130 billion fortune among themselves.
However, their divorce won’t affect their charitable foundation. Even they will continue their work together. Despite all of the facts, this high-profile separation has raised many buzzes. After all, a life-turning decision of the overachievers is quite enough to make history. Let’s unfold the background of this incident.
Who is Bill Gates’ Ex-Girlfriend
Ann Winblad is a software entrepreneur and a co-founder of a venture capital software firm. She was also a tech consultant from IBM and Microsoft. Even she invested in Microsoft as well.
In 1984, she got introduced to Bill Gates at Ben Rosen-Esther Dyson computer conference. Later they dated even though she was five years older than Bill. Due to this age gap, they broke up in 1987. But it hadn’t any impact on their friendship.
However, Ann started a family with Alex Kline, a San Francisco private investigator. Subsequently, her venture capital firm successfully launched 16 startups. In 2000, Fortune magazine added her to the small business Hall of Fame.
The Chemistry between Bill and Ann
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Melinda French had a mutual agreement during their wedding. Every year he will spend a long weekend with Ann.
Ann Winblad has a beach cottage on the outer banks of North Carolina. She rode dune buggies, hung-glide, and walked on the beach with Bill. They shared their thoughts about the world and themselves. They wonder about how they were on a quest on the fringes of a little-known industry and ended up at the center of the universe.
Prior to the marriage with Melinda, Bill used to go to Brazil with Ann for a vacation, where they studied bioengineering together. They used to go to the beach on each trip for bonfires and games. And, most importantly, they used to go there with other couples for a tradition named the sing-down. Each couple would take a word and sing with it. So after the marriage, Bill and Ann made a deal with Melinda to take an annual vacation to continue the tradition.
Whether it is a justification of the agreement or not, Bill Gates’ ex-girlfriend Ann had undeniable platonic love for him.
When Bill couldn’t make up his mind for marrying Melinda, he came to Ann for approval. She told him to go for it by stating Melinda is good for him as she has intellectual stamina.
The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Gates
Bill and Melinda have an amazing relationship even before their conjugal life. Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager. Then during a trade convention in New York, they met each other at a dinner party.
It didn’t take much time for them to get a realization about their marriage.
They both have a great sense of humor even in serious situations. Bill once listed out his advantages and shortcomings of marriage on a whiteboard. Bill actually wanted to get married but he doesn’t know its essence along with running Microsoft.
Also Read: Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are getting divorced
It was really surprising for them to express love to each other. Subsequently, Bill concludes by saying that they have to care a lot for each other and there were only two chances: either, breaking up or getting married.
That’s all this happy couple shared with Netflix’s docuseries in 2019.
Throughout more than two and a half-decade marital life, they got three children: Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe.
On Monday, May 03, 2021, the couple twitted their decision for the divorce. All they said is that they continue to share a belief in a mission. But they no longer believe they can grow together as a couple in this next stage of their lives.
The Climax in the Conjugal Love
Though Melinda decided to stay at home while Bill remained CEO of Microsoft, that they ensure an equal partnership. Melinda said that it just doesn’t make any sense. One can’t be the CEO and take all the hurdles. Somebody needs to be at home due to teach the children about social values. Otherwise, the children may be raised by somebody else.
It was absolutely an equal partnership. It’s necessary to make the world understand that we are leading this place together. The main focus is the joint values played out in the world. The partnership even included dividing some household chores.
That’s all the Gates couple shared with CBS' Sunday Morning in 2017.
Ann and Melinda talking about Bill Gates
Not as Bill Gates’ ex-girlfriend, she spoke for herself in a 2005 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Ann told that Gates wasn’t poising her as a big issue when she began to date him. There was a time when her net worth was even higher than Bill’s, and she had to pay for everything. It was a very short time, but it was not something to forget.
In a 2019 Instagram video, Melinda was up to express her relationship with Bill. While she came to knew that she was going to meet him at Microsoft, she said she never imagined things would go that way.
When she moved to Seattle to join Microsoft, she knew that meeting Bill is inevitable because the company was small. But she couldn’t think at all that she would fall in love with Bill or that they would get married.
Even when they were dating early on, she never had a single thought to get married. It was definitely a great surprise for her."
Summing up
Either Bill Gates’ ex-girlfriend or another overachiever, a billion-dollar love story can turn into both ways. Considering both the $65 billion-dollar worth, and 65 years old age, the fan buzz ultimately points to the 70 years old Ann Winblad. Apart from that, does Bill’s ex-relationship have to do with the divorce? This question is yet to reveal.
Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are getting divorced
Bill and Melinda Gates said Monday that they are divorcing but would keep working together at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the world.
In identical tweets, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said they had made the decision to end their marriage of 27 years.
“We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” they said in a statement. “We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
Bill Gates was formerly the world’s richest person and his fortune is estimated at well over $100 billion. How the couple end up settling their estate and any impact on the foundation will be closely watched, especially after another high-profile Seattle-area billionaire couple recently ended their marriage.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos finalized their divorce in 2019. MacKenzie Scott has since remarried and now focuses on her own philanthropy after receiving a 4% stake in Amazon, worth more than $36 billion.
The Gateses were married in 1994 in Hawaii. They met after she began working at Microsoft as a product manager in 1987.
In her 2019 memoir, “The Moment of Lift,” Melinda Gates wrote about her childhood, life and private struggles as the wife of a public icon and stay-at-home mom with three kids. She won Bill Gates’ heart after meeting at a work dinner, sharing a mutual love of puzzles and beating him at a math game.
She also detailed the ways they navigated imbalances in their marriage and parenting journey and noted how working together at the foundation made their relationship better.
“Bill and I are equal partners,” Melinda Gates said in a 2019 interview with The Associated Press. “Men and women should be equal at work.”
The Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the most influential private foundation in the world, with an endowment worth nearly $50 billion. It has focused on global health and development and U.S. education issues since incorporating in 2000.
While both are global figures, Melinda Gates has increasingly built her profile as a champion of women and girls. The former tech business executive launched her private Pivotal Ventures investment and incubation company in 2015 and recently partnered with Scott for a newly announced equity challenge.
David Callahan, founder of the Insider Philanthropy website and author of “The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age” says it’s too early to know how the divorce will affect the Gates foundation and the wider philanthropic community.
Although the couple say they will continue to work together at their foundation, Callahan suggests Melinda Gates could still pursue her own philanthropic work.
“You can imagine two separate tracks where they’re both working together at the foundation, and each is pursuing their own independent philanthropy outside the foundation,” Callahan said.
He said the possibility of Melinda Gates opening another philanthropic foundation would have a dramatic impact.
“Nobody knows what the terms are of their divorce agreement. But if Melinda Gates ends up with just some portion of that wealth and turns to creating her own foundation, it would be among one of the biggest foundations probably in America,” Callahan said.
As the public face of the foundation’s COVID-19 grants and advocacy work, Bill Gates has come under fire for being a staunch supporter of intellectual property rights for vaccine makers. While the tech icon says protecting the shots’ recipes will ensure incentives for research and development, critics claim that mentality hampers supply in favor of drug company profits.
Last year, Bill Gates said he was stepping down from Microsoft’s board to focus on philanthropy.
He was Microsoft’s CEO until 2000 and since then has gradually scaled back his involvement in the company he started with Paul Allen in 1975. He transitioned out of a day-to-day role in Microsoft in 2008 and served as chairman of the board until 2014.
Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are getting divorced
Bill and Melinda Gates announced Monday that they are divorcing.
The Microsoft co-founder and his wife, who launched the world’s largest charitable foundation, said they would continue to work together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In identical tweets, they said they had decided to end their marriage of 27 years.
“We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” they said in a statement. “We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
In her 2019 memoir, “The Moment of Lift,” Melinda Gates wrote about her childhood, life and private struggles as the wife of a public icon and stay-at-home mom with three kids. She won Gates’ heart after meeting at a work dinner, sharing a mutual love of puzzles and beating him at a math game.
The couple’s sprawling Seattle-based foundation is easily the most influential private foundation in the world, with an endowment worth nearly $50 billion. It has focused on global health and development and U.S. education issues since incorporating in 2000.
The couple were married in 1994 in Hawaii. They met after she began working at Microsoft as a product manager in 1987.
Last year, Bill Gates, formerly the world’s richest person, said he was stepping down from Microsoft’s board to focus on philanthropy.
Gates was Microsoft’s CEO until 2000 and since then has gradually scaled back his involvement in the company he started with Paul Allen in 1975. He transitioned out of a day-to-day role in Microsoft in 2008 and served as chairman of the board until 2014.
The Gateses will be the second high-profile Seattle-area billionaire couple to end their marriage in recent years.
Also read: Bill Gates says he is stepping down from Microsoft board
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos finalized their divorce in 2019. MacKenzie Scott has since remarried and now focuses on her philanthropy. She received a 4% stake in Amazon, worth more than $36 billion.
Sanctioned Russian IT firm was partner with Microsoft, IBM
The Treasury Department of US on Thursday slapped six Russian technology companies with sanctions for supporting Kremlin intelligence agencies engaged in “dangerous and disruptive cyber attacks.”
But only one of them stands out for its international footprint and partnerships with such IT heavyweights as Microsoft and IBM.
That company, Positive Technologies, claims more than 2,000 customers in 30 countries, including major European banks Societe Generale and ING, as well as Samsung, SK Telecom of South Korea and BT, the British telecommunications giant.
Also read: Microsoft server hack has victims hustling to stop intruders
Its clients also include the FSB, a successor to the KGB that “cultivates and co-opts criminal hackers” who carry out ransomware and phishing attacks, the Treasury Department said. The U.S. said big conventions hosted by Positive Technologies are “used as recruiting events” by the FSB and the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.
GRU agents are the swashbucklers of Russian intelligence. The agency stands accused of spearheading the hack-and-leak operation that interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to favor Donald Trump. Its agents also conducted the most damaging cyberattack on record, the runaway 2017 NotPetya virus that did more than $10 billion in global damage, its victims including the shipping giant Maersk and pharmaceutical company Merck.
The CEO of the software industry-supported Internet Research Institute in Moscow, Karen Kazaryan, said he was not familiar with most of the Russian IT companies sanctioned on Thursday. But Positive Tech is well-known in the industry for its annual Hack Days conference, which is scheduled for May 20-21 at a Moscow hotel.
Also read: Microsoft buying speech recognition firm Nuance in $16B deal
Former CIA analyst Michael van Landingham applauded the naming and sanctioning of Russian IT companies known to have aided and abetted malign government activity.
“Naming specific companies can create incentives for educated and skilled Russians who might be able to obtain jobs elsewhere where they don’t support Russian state hacking,” he said.
Positive Tech’s specialty is identifying vulnerabilities in popular software such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The world’s intelligence agencies regularly lean on companies like it not to disclose potent vulnerabilities publicly when they find them but to instead quietly share them for hacking adversaries’ networks.
The U.S. did not accuse Positive Technologies of any such behavior and the Treasury Department declined to answer questions about the company’s activities beyond a press release.
Microsoft helps 60,000-plus Bangladeshis gain digital skills amid Covid-19
Over 60,000 people in Bangladesh gained digital skills amid the pandemic with the support of Microsoft.
The company made the announcement in a media statement released on Thursday.
"From laid-off factory workers to retail associates and truck drivers, millions of people have turned to online learning courses from GitHub, LinkedIn, and Microsoft during the pandemic to help prepare for and secure the most in-demand roles, including customer service projects management and data analysis," it said.
Microsoft's announcement builds on the company's efforts to help people by extending free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications, that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs, throughout 2021.
Also read: Microsoft server hack has victims hustling to stop intruders
The next stage of the initiative sets a new foundation for a skills-based economy through a suite of new tools and platforms designed to connect skilled job seekers with employers.
"The pandemic has changed everything, and the post-pandemic world will be a lot different than what we knew of it," said Afif Mohamed Ali, country managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, and Nepal.
"We are standing on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which will fundamentally bring alchemical change and significantly impact all industries, including the job market It has become vital for individuals to learn and improve the skill set that will help them emerge stronger in the post-pandemic world."
"So, we have collaborated with LinkedIn to double our efforts to support the development of a more inclusive skill-based labour market, to create more alternatives, greater flexibility, and access learning paths to connect more people with new job opportunities," said Afif.
Also read: TikTok owner picks Oracle over Microsoft as US tech partner
LinkedIn plans to help 250,000 companies globally make skills-based hires this year through new and existing hiring products.
The company will provide both new ways for job seekers to demonstrate their skills and new tools for employers to connect to candidates based on their skill proficiencies including, LinkedIn Skills Path, LinkedIn profile features, and LinkedIn Skills Graph.
"More and more, we are seeing skills-based hiring becoming critical in our world of work. We've seen people across the globe express a desire to learn and build their skills, and organisations too, are hiring based on skills instead of traditional qualifications," said Olivier Legrand, managing director and vice-president of LinkedIn Asia Pacific and China.
"LinkedIn, together with Microsoft, are committed to helping everyone shift towards a skills-based economy. In 2021, we will continue our efforts to equip job seekers with the right resources to pick up new skills, and connect them to opportunities, as well as aim to help 250,000 organizations make a skills-based hire."
Read City Bank partners with Microsoft to enable its employees to work from home
Microsoft server hack has victims hustling to stop intruders
Victims of a massive global hack of Microsoft email server software — estimated in the tens of thousands by cybersecurity responders — hustled Monday to shore up infected systems and try to diminish chances that intruders might steal data or hobble their networks.