Russian Cyberattacks, Twitter’s ‘Poison Pill’ Defense, Microsoft Partners with Software Company

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2022 — In the most recent episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes,” government officials warned the private sector about potential Russian cyberattacks.

In the Sunday news program, Lisa Monaco, deputy attorney general, and Jen Easterly, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security agency director, warned companies to secure their virtual security systems, as there has been an uptick in Russian officials scanning and probing American companies in an effort to attack.

“Think of it as a burglar going around trying to jiggle the lock in your house door to see if it’s open, and we’re seeing that,” Monaco said.

The interview with Monaco and Easterly is just one of the many efforts the U.S. Government has made in order to protect companies from potential Russian cyberattacks. Along with warnings, lawmakers have passed legislation including the Better Cybercrime Metrics Act and the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022. Other government officials, including people from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and President Joe Biden himself, have also publicly warned citizens about the danger of Russian cyberattacks.

Twitter adopts defense mechanism against Elon Musk takeover possibility

Twitter announced Friday that its board of directors chose a “poison pill” defense against Elon Musk’s possible purchase of Twitter.

Twitter’s “poison pill” approach will allow for Twitter shareholders, except for Musk, to buy more shares at a discounted rate. The hope is that an uptick in other shareholders’ holdings will lead to Musk’s stake in the company being diluted.

The company’s defense would take hold only if Musk’s ownership of the platform reaches or exceeds 15 percent.

The announcement came only a day after the billionaire and Tesla head openly proposed his plan to buy Twitter outright at $54.20 per share. The proposal itself came just a week after news emerged that Musk purchased a 9.2 percent stake in the company.  That same week, Twitter’s board extended a seat to Musk with the catch that he couldn’t exceed a certain purchasing threshold. He declined the seat.

Microsoft and Ribbon Communications partner up

Microsoft announced Tuesday a partnership with Ribbon Communications Inc., a communications software company that provides network solutions to service providers around the world.

Ribbon will connect with Microsoft Teams’ new Operator Connect Accelerator to ensure that Microsoft Teams runs more efficiently at a faster rate.

“Partners like Ribbon are key to enabling the program as they offer several benefits including strong existing relationships with service providers, a deep understanding of Microsoft’s stringent architecture and quality assurance requirements, and have invested in the integration and automation tool sets that make Operator Connect Accelerator so compelling,” said Taimoor Husain, modern workplace strategy and Google tag manager lead at Microsoft.

“Our Ribbon Connect offering helps remove many common IT and billing integration issues and eases the on-boarding process to Operator Connect, enabling our service provider customers to realize faster ROI from their Teams investments,” said Tony Scarfo, general manager of Ribbon’s cloud and edge business unit. “By offering API integration and automation tools, along with enhanced sales enablement mechanisms, Ribbon Connect enables service providers to reach their customers more quickly and efficiently.”