Microsoft to retire its Internet Explorer browser, Colonial Pipeline CEO explains why the company paid ransom, and has Bill Gates ruined his public image?
It’s all the tech news that’s got people buzzing right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday, May 21st and I’m your host Alex Coop.
Get ready to say goodbye to Internet Explorer. Microsoft is pulling the plug on the venerable browser In June 2022. The desktop app will retire and will not support many versions of Windows 10. According to a Windows 10 blog post, Microsoft says the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge, the company’s newer browser. Microsoft Edge is a faster, more secure and modern browser compared to Internet Explorer.
Colonial Pipeline CEO explains why the company paid a $4.4 million ransom payment. Last week, the U.S. pipeline suffered a major attack by a Russian gang called DarkSide. The attack affected several systems, forcing the company to take them offline. Yesterday, CEO Joseph Blount said the ransom was paid because company executives were not sure what impact the malware attack had on the pipelines system or how long it would take to bring the pipeline back. After paying the ransom with bitcoin, the company received a decryption key. The key has not solved all the problems, but will be useful to help the company restore all the damage from the attack. [LinkedIn]
And lastly, has Bill Gates tainted his public image forever? In the wake of his divorce from Melinda Gates, a recent report from The Wall Street Journal claims that Microsoft’s board hired a law firm to investigate Gates in 2019 over allegations of an affair with an employee. The New York Times also reports that Gates tried to pursue several women who worked for him through the years. Many have also questioned his relationship with Jeffrey Epstien. Gates’ spokeswoman has shut down all of the allegations claiming they are rumours and untrue. However, Gate’s do-gooder image may not recover after the recent news.
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