Times Applaud

Microsoft has taken control of domains used by APT28, a state-sponsored hacking outfit, to target institutions in Ukraine. These institutions include media outlets as well as state agencies and think tanks involved in foreign policy in the United States and Europe. Microsoft was able to seize domains used by APT28, a state-sponsored outfit run by Russian military intelligence that targeted Ukrainian institutions. Strontium — Microsoft's moniker for APT28 or "Fancy Bear," a hacking group linked to Russia's GRU — used the domains to target multiple Ukrainian institutions, including media organisations, as well as government institutions and think tanks involved in foreign policy in the United States and Europe, according to a blog post published on Thursday. "We think Strontium's goal was to establish long-term access to its targets' systems, provide tactical support for the physical invasion, and exfiltrate crucial information," said To...

Microsoft will support thousands of African startups through partnerships across the regions. The company will also collaborate with venture capital investors to boost funding access for African startups. Microsoft announced today intentions to promote 10,000 African businesses over the next five years through a number of programmes that would include relationships with accelerators and incubators across the continent. It also announced plans to collaborate with venture capitalists to expand funding access for African entrepreneurs by releasing $500 million in "possible" investment. Microsoft has already announced collaborations with Banque Misr, Global Venture Capital, and Get Funded Capital. These projects will be carried out by Microsoft's newly founded Africa Transformation Office (ATO), which will drive Microsoft's strategic goals in Africa through collaborating with public and private organisations. ATO startups lead Gerald Maithya, state...

In 1975, at a time when most Americans used typewriters, Bill Gates and Paul Allen found the world's largest software company. This article contains key facts about Microsoft as well as its brief history. On April 4, 1975, Bill Gates and his boyhood buddy Paul Allen launched Microsoft (a portmanteau of "microcomputer software") to create and market BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. MS-DOS enabled Microsoft to dominate the personal computer operating system industry during the mid-1980s Paul Allen, a Honeywell programmer, was walking around Harvard Square in late 1974 when he came upon the cover of the January 1975 edition of Popular Electronics, which featured the Altair 8800, the first microcomputer. Allen purchased the magazine and hurried to Harvard College's Currier House to present it to his high school classmate Bill Gates. They spotted the opportunity to create a BASIC implementation for the system. Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation an...