Just when we thought the week plagued with hack attacks couldn’t get any worse, hackers stole nearly $100m in a crypto heist in Japan.
This week hackers stole the personal data, including first and last names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and driver’s license information of more than 40 million current and prospective T-Mobile customers. According to the Wall Street Journal the stolen data has already been offered for sale in online forums and could eventually be used to commit crimes such as identity theft and SIM swap fraud where hackers seize control of your cellphone and in many cases gain access to your bank account.
In reputation management blue print a crypto platform hit by a $600m heist offered the hacker a job as chief security advisor. The hacker did return most of the stolen money to Poly Network but in a bizarre twist is withholding more than $200m of the funds.
But it was home-grown Elon Musk who stole the show this week by announcing at Tesla’s AI Day recruiting event that the company is planning to unleash a five feet, eight inches tall, 125-pound humanoid, “intended to be friendly”, but designed at a “mechanical level” so that “you can run away from it, and most likely overpower it”. The robot’s code name is “Optimus” inside the company. Also seemingly spotted at the event was Tesla’s cyberpunk Cybertruck.
In the markets, the rand broke above the R15.20-mark against the US dollar overnight to last trade at R15.24 as the weak sentiment in emerging markets continued following the FOMC minutes of Wednesday and renewed fears that the Delta variant can cause renewed lockdowns, which will slow global growth.
Commodities have stabilised overnight from a sharp selloff after the US Fed’s taper talk spooked markets.
As we head into the weekend, EM currencies are looking fragile and could test a little weaker today, comments TreasuryONE.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
New Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana wants economic growth, not endless debate – Daily Maverick
British Airways, kulula.com confident of return to the SA skies in September – Fin24
Basic education dept says between 50% and 75% of learning was lost in 2020 – News24
Global Business
China passes tough new online privacy law – AFP
Adobe to buy Frame.io for $1.3bn in cash in video push – Bloomberg
Pandemic’s $16 trillion Bill will come due as debt surges: Fitch – Bloomberg
Markets
Asian markets mixed as Delta, Fed, China jolt recovery rally – AFP
Dollar up, remains near almost-ten month highs due to risk aversion – Investing.com
Amazon’s $267bn summer wipe-out tests Wall Street’s love – Bloomberg
Opinion
A tally of two cities: following the money in Joburg and Cape Town – Daily Maverick
The ANC is playing Russian roulette, but then DD was in the house – Sunday Times Daily
United Phosphorus Limited chemical disaster: A gaping legal loophole, or jaw-dropping negligence? – Daily Maverick
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