Shall We Play a Game?

“Within three hours, Microsoft threw itself into the middle of a ground war in Europe — from 5,500 miles away. The threat center, north of Seattle, had been on high alert, and it quickly picked apart the malware, named it ‘FoxBlade’ and notified Ukraine’s top cyberdefense authority. Within three hours, Microsoft’s virus detection systems had been updated to block the code, which erases — ‘wipes’ — data on computers in a network. Then Tom Burt, the senior Microsoft executive who oversees the company’s effort to counter major cyberattacks, contacted Anne Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser for cyber- and emerging technologies. Neuberger asked if Microsoft would consider sharing details of the code with the Baltics, Poland and other European nations.” Tech giants are the new nation states, and they’re starting to act like it. David Sanger: As the Tanks Rolled into Ukraine, So Did Malware. Then Microsoft Entered the War. (They should force Putin to use IE 6…)

+ NYT (Gift Article): Ukraine War Tests the Power of Tech Giants.