Neowin®

An international task force has nabbed two actors involved with the LockBit ransomware that has been causing a major headache for companies around the world since 2019. Infrastructure was seized too.

Ukrainian intelligence confirmed that Russians are using Starlink at the front line in Ukraine. SpaceX denies a possibility that the Russian military obtained its terminals legally.

Google was fined after failing to remove an alleged fake news video about the Russia-Ukraine conflict from YouTube, a Russian district court ruled after the company broke its administrative laws.

Following sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, gaming piracy levels have rocketed. Research has found that 7 in 10 gamers have engaged in game piracy over the last year.

The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Binance for helping Russians skirt the US sanctions. This is not the first time Binance has come under fire for violating sanctions.

Finish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat leaking the Ukraine war atrocities to Russians through a secret room. It created a map for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with a hidden underground room.

The CERT Ukraine has warned about a new malicious campaign that is targeting Ukrainian officials. The campaign is essentially distributing fake Windows updates via Outlook domain mails.

American technology giant Microsoft Corporation sent out letters to around 1,000 Russian companies that are not under sanctions to renew their licenses of its software amidst the ongoing crisis.

Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee has given its approval for Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, even as the UK's regulatory authority rejected the deal earlier this week.

Xiaomi has hit back at Ukraine's assertion that it's an international sponsor of war. The Chinese company said that the phones it sells in Russia are for civilian and commercial use only.

In response to allegations, Meta has shared some details about its content moderation mechanism to deny claims that its review process censors Ukrainian content while allowing Russian propaganda.

Russian courts have recently issued a $57,000 fine to Amazon-owned Twitch for failing to remove content about its military campaign in Ukraine which it reportedly says is falsified.

Ever since Intel and Microsoft withdrew from Russian markets following the invasion of Ukraine, citizens who wanted to download drivers and other software have faced difficulty until today.

Google has rolled out tools to Search to help people in Europe with the ongoing energy crisis. It includes news on the matter, local guidance, and steps you can take to cut usage and save money.

Microsoft is pledging continued support for Ukraine since its conflict with Russia started in late February. The software giant will provide additional technology aid valued at roughly $100 million.

A newly discovered ransomware strain is framing cybersecurity experts by claiming that they are the ones behind the attacks. However, the people blamed are not associated in any way with the malware.

Germany has sacked its chief of cybersecurity after media allegations that the executive has close ties to a Russian firm with links to president Vladimir Putin. An investigation is underway.

After SpaceX wrote to the Pentagon asking to fund Starlink in Ukraine and withdrawing the request the next day, the EU fears Elon Musk might wake up one day and cut off Ukraine's internet.

Elon Musk has said that SpaceX will continue funding Starlink's operations in Ukraine indefinitely. This comes after SpaceX wrote a letter to the Pentagon asking to pick up the tab for its operations.

SpaceX has wrote to the Pentagon asking to fund Starlink's services in Ukraine. The company said that it is "not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals."

Apple has removed the apps owned by Russia's biggest social network, VK, from the App Store citing recent sanctions by the UK. The Russian firm's developer accounts have been revoked too.

Dell is on the verge of fully exiting Russia. The company already closed all its offices in the country a few days ago and is expected to lay off all employees operating in the region soon.

Ukraine has just sold a donated CryptoPunks NFT for a huge 90 ETH - about $100,000 at the time of sale. The country will use the proceeds to buy more equipment for its war effort to repel Russia.

Google's Russian subsidiary has announced that it will be filing for bankruptcy after authorities seized its bank account making it impossible for the company to pay for salaries and other expenses.

Google has announced that paid apps in the Play Store can't be downloaded or updated in Russia anymore. This is apparently being done due to "compliance" efforts but free apps are exempt.

Microsoft has revealed its latest efforts to tackle cyber attacks by a hacking entity linked to Russia called Strontium. It took over several of the entity's domains to help keep users safe.

Epic Games managed to raise $144 million for Ukraine between March 21 and April 3. The money will be donated to a range of charities including UNICEF, UNHCR, Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen.

Apple has slashed iPhone SE production by 20% due to several factors that make the company believe it will sell fewer devices. Concerning Apple are inflation levels and the Russo-Ukrainian war.

ZALA Aero's deadly drone, which can autonomously identify and destroy its target, was spotted in Ukraine. It is possible that the target of the KUB-BLA was Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Following the week where Russian cosmonauts gave tacit support to Ukraine, we have just one rocket launch, a Roscosmos Soyuz 2.1a that will be carrying Meridian-M satellites for the MoD.

Mozilla has removed Yandex and Mail.ru as the default search engine options in its latest Firefox release. It's currently unclear if this is due to an anti-Russia stance or something else entirely.

Translation and language learning app downloads have spiked among Ukrainians as they flee the war and try to settle in other countries. Translation app downloads were up 71% month-over-month.

In its latest effort to help Ukrainian users, Microsoft announced free Skype calls to landline and mobile numbers in Ukraine. Also, Skype now supports more languages for translating to/from Ukrainian.

This week, SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 carrying more than 45 Starlink satellites into orbit to strengthen the Starlink internet network. OneWeb has also stopped launches from Baikonur.

This was an extremely busy week in the Microsoft-verse with news items spread across multiple domains including sanctions on Russia, a surprising loss for Defender, and a bunch of web enhancements.

Russia has banned access to Facebook, according to the digital regulator Roskomnadzor. It comes after Facebook restricted some Russian news pages in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.