At the Slush 2014 event, there was a lot of evidence that Supercell is giving back. Paananen said he is proud to pay his taxes to the Finnish government, which funded Supercell in the beginning via its Tekes investment entity. Supercell is now the fourth-largest taxpayer in Finland. And Supercell was a major sponsor for the event, providing the money for a giant after-party on Wednesday evening.
Cybersecurity at Slush 2014
In July 2014, the king endorsed a military-backed interim constitution. It amnestied the coup-makers and bestowed far-reaching powers upon the junta leader (Article 44). Prayuth meanwhile appointed several law-making bodies to put together a new constitution that would pave the way for a new general election. This was to take place in late 2015; it has, however, been repeatedly postponed. Currently, the date for the next general election is sometime in late 2016. Self-appointed as prime minister in August while also remaining junta chief, Prayuth announced several objectives for his administration, and quickly increased the size of the military budget.[5]
As happened following the 2006 coup, several countries have rightly condemned the 2014 putsch and the continuation of military governance, particularly the United States and the European Union. Washington also cut military aid and diminished its involvement in the annual Thai-U.S. military exercise, Operation Cobra Gold. Prayuth responded by increasing defense and economic linkages with China, which has not criticized the coup. The Thai dictatorship has also appealed for foreign governments to extradite political fugitives back to Thailand.[7]
The expo runs alongside 11 business summits[5] and features the latest in cloud computing, data analysis, mobility and collaboration, wearable tech, cybersecurity, devices, drones and network infrastructure.[6] The nature of the summits evolve on a yearly basis as the digital environment changes, and include The Next Big Thing Summit, Connected Government Summit, Connected Entertainment Summit, Connected Education Summit, Enterprise Mobility Summit, Big data Summit, M2M Summit, Future Health Summit,[1] the Internet of Things Summit,[7] and Slush Down Under.[8]
Connect Expo premiered in 2014. Keynote speakers included Ray Kurzweil, Chris Anderson, and David Gump.[9] Vendors in 2014 included NBN Co, Hewlett-Packard, iiNet, BlackBerry, AirWatch, D-Link, AppSense, KORE Wireless, Alloy, Tunstall, Fujitsu, and other sponsors and exhibitors.[1]
But what does the acceptance and adoption of digital currencies have to do with online threats? A lot, actually. As cryptocurrencies like bitcoin gain real-world traction, so will cybercriminal threats that abuse it. But how, exactly? What does this mean to businesses and everyday users?
Unfortunately, the same apparent profitability, convenience, and pseudonymity of cryptocurrencies also made them ideal for cybercriminals, as ransomware operators showed. The increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies coincide with the incidences of malware that infect systems and devices, turning them into armies of cryptocurrency-mining machines.
In the first half of this year, cybersecurity strongholds were surrounded by cybercriminals waiting to pounce at the sight of even the slightest crack in defenses to ravage valuable assets.View the report
2014 was a rollercoaster ride; we set up a total of 71 international events in 43 different countries. Building a concrete international image while branding the Nordic countries was our starting point.
In March 2014, Zagreb County Court found Sanader guilty of abuse of office and corruption, along with two other officials from the HDZ, for unlawfully pumping 10.4 million euros of public funds into the Fimi Media company. The verdict that sentenced Sanader to nine years in prison was overturned in 2015.
In this most-recent action against Oracle, the SEC alleges that, between 2014 and 2019, employees of Oracle subsidiaries based in India, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used discount schemes and sham marketing reimbursement payments to finance slush funds held at Oracle's channel partners in those markets.1 The slush funds were used "both to (i) bribe foreign officials, and/or (ii) provide other benefits such as paying for foreign officials to attend technology conferences around the world in violation of Oracle's internal policies."2
Unfortunately, the landscape of international crime and fraud has changed dramatically in the last quarter century. Shell companies aren't just for big tax evaders anymore. If your organization is engaging in any type of transaction in today's economy, shell companies should be a concern. They're the financial and deception vehicle of choice for some of the most corrupt, dangerous and ruthless individuals and entities in the world. Arms dealers, drug cartels, corrupt politicians, scammers, terrorists and cybercriminals are just a few of the frequent users of shells. Saddam Hussein, Iran, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are, or were, some of the fans of shell companies. (See Web of Shell Companies Veils Trade by Iran's Ships by Jo Becker, New York Times, June 7, 2010.) Not to be outdone, legitimate business entities are getting into the international shell game, and some are unfortunately proving to be very good at it.
In April of 2014, Hewlett-Packard agreed to pay more than $100 million in criminal and regulatory penalties to the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz, "Hewlett-Packard subsidiaries created a slush fund for bribe payments, set up an intricate web of shell companies and bank accounts to launder money, employed two sets of books to track bribe recipients, and used anonymous e-mail accounts and prepaid mobile telephones to arrange covert meetings to hand over bags of cash." (See the April 9, 2014, U.S. Department of Justice release, Hewlett-Packard Russia Agrees to Plead Guilty to Foreign Bribery.)
These nominee directors are the linchpins to linking and disguising international criminal organizations and operatives. Their use is so widespread that within a few searches among entities, these nominee directors cross paths. Some are even listed as directors for the same entities. In early 2014, The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published a graphical interface of the incorporation records of shell companies, directors and addresses that were leaked to them on two shell incorporators. Their database illustrates the extent of some shell company networks and how many companies, individuals and nominee directors are linked together. (Search the ICIJ offshore leaks database.)
Hundreds of Whois websites are available. One site, whoisology.com, provides linkage analytics by linking all websites in its database based on characteristics, names and fields. Want to know how many websites are located at the shell incorporation hot spot address of "103 Sham Peng Tong Plaza?" As of April 2014, Whoisology reports that there are more than 900.
Watch Rachel Wilson, head of cybersecurity at Morgan Stanley, discuss cybercriminal syndicates and how they use malware to infiltrate mobile device security at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. View the video.
Takes place within the November MindTreck 2014 forum on tech, knowledge and media in Tampere, Finland. The competition is open to all designers, computer scientists, artists, economists, and engineers who can combine ubiquitous computing and media. Prizes are in cash. Call is currently open until 31 August. 2ff7e9595c
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