Author: Frank Salvato
A recently released Department of Justice document shows that a confidential informant told the FBI in 2017 that Jeffrey Epstein had a personal hacker in his employ who was highly skilled at finding zero-day software vulnerabilities and developing offensive cyber tools; according to the informant’s claims, the unnamed hacker was Italian, specialized in exploiting systems like iOS, BlackBerry, and Firefox, and allegedly sold exploits and tools to multiple governments and groups — including unnamed Western allies and, contentiously, Hezbollah — though the informant’s assertions are unverified and do not reflect official FBI findings. Sources https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/30/informant-told-fbi-that-jeffrey-epstein-had-a-personal-hacker/https://securityaffairs.com/187515/laws-and-regulations/doj-release-details-alleged-talented-hacker-working-for-jeffrey-epstein.htmlhttps://meidha.net/eng/bukvy/fbi-documents-reveal-jeffrey-epsteins-personal-hacker-and-cyber-exploits/amp/ Key Takeaways In-Depth In early…
Elon Musk’s social media platform X briefly went offline for thousands of users in the United States on Sunday before service was restored, outage-tracking site Downdetector reported, with more than 19,000 issue reports logging service errors; the disruption lasted about 45 minutes and was largely resolved by early afternoon without immediate comment or explanation from X, underscoring ongoing reliability challenges for the platform amid frequent technical interruptions. Sources https://www.theepochtimes.com/tech/x-back-up-after-brief-outage-hits-us-users-downdetector-shows-5979311https://www.reuters.com/business/x-down-thousands-us-users-downdetector-data-finds-2026-02-01/https://tech.yahoo.com/social-media/articles/x-down-thousands-us-users-164826220.html Key Takeaways • A significant interruption hit X on Sunday, with Downdetector recording more than 19,000 reports of outages in the U.S.• The platform was restored within about 45 minutes, with…
Apple has begun deploying a new privacy-focused setting in its iOS 26.3 update called Limit Precise Location, which—when enabled on supported devices—significantly reduces how accurately cellular networks can determine a user’s location by dropping the data shared with carriers from precise street-level information to more approximate, neighborhood-level coordinates. The setting does not interfere with emergency services or location sharing with apps and needs a compatible Apple-modem device (such as iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, or iPad Pro (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular) along with carrier support, which is currently limited to a handful of networks in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The…
Amazon is reportedly in advanced discussions to invest as much as $50 billion into OpenAI as part of a broader fund-raising round that could total up to $100 billion and value the AI company at roughly $830 billion. Chief Executive Andy Jassy is said to be personally leading negotiations with OpenAI’s Sam Altman, with the potential deal expanding existing arrangements for cloud-computing services and strategic collaboration. The talks are still in early stages and no definitive agreements have been announced, but the size of the potential investment reflects how intensely major tech companies are competing for influence in the rapidly…
Tesla’s energy storage business is emerging as the fastest-growing part of the company, with stationary battery systems like Megapack and Powerwall driving sharply increased revenue and profitability even as EV sales slow and overall company earnings face pressure. In 2025, Tesla deployed a record 46.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage products, up about 48% year-over-year, helping the company’s energy generation and storage revenues climb roughly 26.5% to $12.8 billion and contribute nearly a quarter of gross profit. Megapack alone generated about $1.1 billion of a $3.8 billion gross profit for the storage segment in its most profitable quarter, with gross margins…
A coalition of major music publishers, including Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO Music, has filed a new federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accusing AI company Anthropic of illegally downloading more than 20,000 copyrighted musical works — including sheet music, lyrics and compositions — via torrent and other pirate sources to train its Claude models and otherwise exploit the copyrighted material without authorization, seeking over $3 billion in statutory damages and alleging both copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations in what could become one of the largest non-class…
Tech industry leaders Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Sam Altman of OpenAI publicly condemned recent violence involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis following the fatal border enforcement shooting of two U.S. citizens, while simultaneously offering measured praise for President Donald Trump’s leadership and response; Amodei highlighted concerns about democratic values and affirmed no direct contracts with ICE during media remarks, and Altman in an internal Slack message described the enforcement actions as “going too far” yet called Trump “a very strong leader” whose engagement could help unify the country amid rising employee activism urging CEOs to demand…
Instagram is reportedly developing a feature that would allow users to remove themselves from someone else’s “Close Friends” list, a permission the platform has lacked since introducing the Close Friends tool in 2018. Close Friends lets a user share Stories, Reels, and posts with a select group, but until now there was no way for the people added to that list to opt out. According to a prototype spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, Meta may implement a user control that lets someone leave another person’s Close Friends list at will, though doing so would prevent them from seeing that…
Poland’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has revealed that suspected Russian government–linked hackers penetrated multiple segments of the nation’s energy infrastructure late last year, taking advantage of glaring cybersecurity weaknesses such as default usernames and passwords and the absence of multi-factor authentication, according to a newly released technical report. The attackers infiltrated systems at wind and solar farms and one heat-and-power plant, using wiper-type malware aimed at erasing critical control and monitoring systems. Although the assault did not cause a nationwide blackout or disrupt electricity delivery, some industrial control devices and communication systems were rendered inoperable. Cybersecurity firms ESET and…
SpaceX has filed a sweeping proposal with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission seeking permission to deploy as many as 1 million solar-powered satellites into low Earth orbit to serve as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers powered directly by solar energy—a plan it describes as a way to meet surging AI computing demand, tap near-constant solar power, and even frame as a step toward humanity harnessing the Sun’s full energy potential. According to multiple reports, the filing pitches this massive orbital network as offering cost and energy efficiencies compared with traditional ground-based data centers while relying on SpaceX’s advancing Starship launch…