Did you know about the allegedly murderous Silicon Valley cult? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 24, 2025 | Read online
# Biggest crypto heist ever, Apple pulls encrypted cloud hosting from UK and Aussie Tech trump tariff mention Did you know about the allegedly murderous Silicon Valley cult?
Issue 2277 - Monday 24 February, 2025
# In Today’s Issue
Biggest crypto theft ever Apple pulls encrypted cloud feature after UK backdoor request Australia mentioned in Trump tech tariff order Did you know there’s an allegedly murderous Silicon Valley cult? Plus deals on Meross HomeKit smart plugs, Boost pre-paid SIM plans, Samsung monitors, Obsidian Labs gaming PCs, Dyson vacuums, iPhones 16 Plus/e and more.
# The News
### Biggest crypto theft ever
Hackers have carried out the largest crypto theft in history by stealing AU$2.35 billion from Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange ByBit (The Guardian). The exchange is still solvent, it claims, but more than $6.28 billon in assets has left their books since the attack on 21 February as they reportedly received 350,000 requests to withdraw funds (CoinDesk). Apparently the heist took place when ByBit did a routine money moving between offline and online wallets and attackers — who had hacked into the devices of multiple people who needed to authorise the transactions — just diverted Ethereum to their own wallets. Oops! If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, this security firm’s write-up gives some important context re: crypto crime trends (Trail of Bits) and how the attack wasn’t a tech exploit but a sophisticated hack targeting humans. The context to this unfathomable crime is that the Trump administration is right now trying to get everyone into crypto. A former Biden financial regulator put it best: “These guys whose whole business is crypto, being smart about these issues, just lost [US]$1.5 billion. So how do we expect regular Americans who just want their debit card to work to safely use the products?” (NYT, $).
### Apple pulls encrypted cloud feature after UK backdoor request
Apple has pulled its new encrypted cloud storage feature from the UK after its government compelled the tech company to build it a global backdoor (The Verge). The company has stopped offering its Advanced Data Protection service to new customers and will end existing subscriptions in response to the UK Home Office’s “technical capability notice” — a legal request with an equivalent in Australia. While Apple can appeal the request, it was legally required to start working on the backdoor and is prohibited from talking about it. So it appears Apple will withdraw the product instead. Speaking of UK laws with Australian equivalents, Hacker News-like news aggregator lobste.rs is geoblocking UK users before their Online Safety Act comes into effect next month (lobste.rs) over similar rules to those from Australia’s Online Safety Act.
### Australia mentioned in Trump tech tariff order
Are your ears burning? That could be because Australia was the first country mentioned in the Trump administration’s executive order declaring foreign governments’ attempt to tax or otherwise burden tech companies will result in retaliatory tariffs (White House).
No idea the original source but I love it
If you want a sense for just how petty this gets, the order gets granular enough to even take aim at local content funding requirements for streaming services (RIP Heartbreak High Season 3). Sarah Hanson-Young told me that she’s still pushing for Australia to pass the media bargaining code 2.0 (Crikey, $) but, like covered last week, I give it a near 0% chance of happening before the election. Two other quick Aus tech policy things:
Telegram, the platform that’s long been home to conspiracy theorists and Nazis, says it’ll appeal a $957,000 fine from the eSafety Commissioner for being half a year late to report what it’s doing to deal with child abuse and terrorist material on its platform (The Guardian Australia). Federal government has quietly banned Kaspersky Lab products from its devices due to an “unacceptable security risks … of foreign interference, espionage and sabotage.” (Department of Home Affairs), following a US ban on all sale of its software last year (The Guardian Australia).
# Oh, Also
### Did you know there’s an allegedly murderous Silicon Valley cult?
It really sounds like a B-grade horror movie that you’d see on one of the lesser streaming services — Amazon Prime Video, maybe? — but there is actually a cult of Silicon Valley types who, inspired by an off-shoot of an online, tech philosophy movement that’s linked to Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, are now implicated in the murders and suicides of several people. They’re called the Zizians, and the group has received a surprisingly little amount of global attention until only recently. WIRED just released a long-read that you should set aside half an hour to read (WIRED, $). Come for the truly insane true crime story, stay for the fable about how people can convince themselves into thinking something very dumb because they have convinced they’re actually very smart.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
ASUS USB-AC53 Nano, AC1200 Dual-Band USB Wi-Fi Adapter - $16 at Amazon AU Meross Apple Homekit Smart Plug 4 Pk - $54.96 at Amazon AU Philips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip for PC (24-27” Monitor) - $59.99 at Amazon AU Soundcore Motion 300 Wireless Hi-Res 30W Portable Bluetooth Speaker (Black) - $99.99 at Amazon AU UGREEN 200W Nexode Power Bank 25000mAh - $125.99 at Amazon AU Samsung S10+ Book Tablet Cover with AI Key Keyboard, White - $279.88 at Amazon AU NEO2000 Portable Power Station 2000W 2073.6Wh - A$560 at DaranEner Dyson V15 Detect Absolute Cordless Vacuum Cleaner - $899 at MYER Bambu Lab P1S Combo, P1S 3D Printer and AMS - $1309 at Amazon AU LG C4 65" 4K OLED Smart TV (2024) - $2490 at Videopro but excluding WA, Tasmania and Northern Territory.
Computing
FENVI AX5400 WiFi 6E USB Network Adapter - $21.31 at AliExpress SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I Memory Card - $52.64 at Amazon US Firebat FB15 16" 1920x1080 IPS Portable Monitor - A$75.29 at AliExpress Samsung 24" S36GD 100Hz VA FHD Curved Monitor - $107 at Bing Lee Samsung Odyssey G55C 32" 165Hz QHD Gaming Monitor - $289 at Centre Com, Mwave, Scorptec, Umart Lenovo N27P 27" UHD 60hz 4ms USB-C Monitor - $297 at Officeworks Lenovo ThinkPad T480s 14" FHD Laptop i7-8650U 16GB Ram 256GB SSD W11Pro (USED) - $381.65 at eBay Western Digital Black SN850X 4TB PCIe Gen 4 M.2 2280 SSD - $441.21 at Amazon UK Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Wi-Fi 128GB Tablet - $521.55 at Samsung Acer Aspire Go 15 (i5-1235U, 8GB DDR5, 512GB SSD, 15.3" WUXGA IPS 300nits, 53W Battery) - $568 at Harvey Norman Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini Desktop Core i7 32GB/2TB - $1297 at Officeworks Acer Nitro V 15.6-inch i5-13420H/16GB/1TB SSD/RTX4060 8GB - $1398 at Harvey Norman MSI Cubi 5 Desktop Core i7 16GB/1TB Intel UHD Win11 Black - $897 at Officeworks Gaming PCs at Obsidian Labs Ryzen 7 7700, RX 7800XT - $1699, Ryzen 7 7700, RTX 4070 - $1899 at Obsidian Labs.
Mobile
$3 Bonus Cashback for Completing 1 Level in a Select Mobile Game (Activate in App) - Free at ShopBack Play 30% off All Travel eSIMs, 15 Days Free Unlimited Voice Pass to 50 Countries When You Spend $50 or more at Platinum Telecom Boost Mobile Prepaid SIM Kit 365-Day 265GB - $228 at Lucky Mobile Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus 256GB - $800, $0 Upfront with JB Mobile $99 Per Month Plan at JB Hi-Fi Apple iPhone 16e 128GB pre-order - $949.99 at Costco Apple iPhone 16 Plus 128GB - $1479.99 at Costco
# The End
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