Infosec pros watch in horror as a group of rioters supporting Trump storm into the offices at Capitol Hill, potentially compromising IT systems, Elon Musk becomes the world’s wealthiest person, and the good times keep rolling for Bitcoin as it hovers around $35,000.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday, January 8, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
IT professionals quickly chimed in on Twitter as images of rioters filled TV screens yesterday, including one sitting behind the desk of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Every computer, every piece of data in the Capitol should now be considered compromised. In terms of national security,” tweeted one tech worker. The biggest concern, of course, is the potential for any malicious actor to walk in there in the middle of the chaos with a thumb drive and access a computer. “Every system in there will have to be checked,” warned Frank Downs, a former U.S. National Security Agency offensive threat analyst. As of this recording, local authorities confirmed that four people died after a mob of Trump supporters entered the Capitol building and engaged with riot police on Wednesday afternoon as Congress held a joint session to count the 2020 Electoral College votes.
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Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, passing Jeff Bezos this morning with a net worth of $185 billion. from technology
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Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world. An increase in Tesla’s stock price on Thursday pushed the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX past the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s wealthiest people. Musk’s net worth as of Thursday morning: $188.5 billion, $1.5 billion more than that of Bezos.
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And lastly, a story by The Economist has social media buzzing about the trajectory of Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s most recent ascent has been a roller coaster ride, having tripled in three months its price is now over $35,000. The story by the economist goes on to say that the digital coin’s popularity is fueled the fact that some of Wall Street’s most prominent have joined the bandwagon. The piece refers to Larry Fink of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said in December that bitcoin could become a “global market”. A lot of tech and economic experts posted comments suggesting that cryptocurrency might justify a high price and that the upward momentum is likely to continue, but its future as a legitimate part of the global finance market is very unclear.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. And remember, during the rest of this week, we want you to tell us what you think was last year’s biggest Canadian tech story. Let us know on Twitter @ITWorldCa, or leave a comment on the show notes for this episode at ITWorldCanada.com. Respondents will be entered into a draw for a chance to win an IT World Canada mug! I’m Baneet Braich, thanks for listening!