Kaspersky Labs has acquired a 15% stake in Motive Neuromorphic Technologies (Motive NT) for “ few dozens of millions or rubles” (hundreds of thousand USD), according to media reports last week. Established in 2017, this company processes visual information using deep neural networks. It creates software and hardware systems to recognize objects or people on …
Russia’s war on Ukraine and the subsequent western sanctions seem to have put the once-thriving Russian and Belarusian gaming industries in serious trouble. It took just weeks to Wargaming, the Belarusian-born, Cyprus-headquartered developer of World of Tanks and World of Warships, to react to the events. In early April, the company announced its decision to “leave Belarus and …
How Russian game developers have been hit by the shockwave of war Read More
Microsoft has blocked the installation of the Windows 10 and 11 operating systems in Russia from its official website, Russian users and media reported. Attempts to download the software resulted in a 404 error message, or diverted to a Microsoft Support contact page. Russian users using a VPN can still disguise their computer’s location and thus …
Microsoft blocks installation of Windows OS in Russia Read More
Earlier this month Rostec, a state corporation that comprises more than 700 enterprises in the fields of defense and technology, announced they have developed a blockchain platform to provide a “real alternative to SWIFT in international settlements.” Russian banks were excluded from the SWIFT system last February as part of the sanctions imposed by Western countries in response …
Russia’s Rostec develops blockchain system as “real alternative” to SWIFT Read More
VK Company, a Kremlin-controlled Russian Internet giant, is seeking to acquire the leading local classifieds platform Avito, which is owned by Naspers affiliate Prosus. Prosus could also sell its 25.7% stake in VK Company, reported the Russian media citing Bloomberg. Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin is also regarded as a potential acquirer of Avito, according to the …
VK Company and Vladimir Potanin eye Avito as Naspers seeks to sell Russian digital assets Read More
Webpages in the city of Kherson in south Ukraine stopped loading on people’s devices at 2:43 pm on May 30. For the next 59 minutes, anyone connecting to the internet with KhersonTelecom, known locally as SkyNet, couldn’t call loved ones, find out the latest news, or upload images to Instagram. They were stuck in a …
Russia is taking over the Internet in Ukraine’s occupied territories Read More
The Kremlin-backed cyberattack against satellite communications provider Viasat, which happened on Feb. 24 an hour before Russia invaded Ukraine, was “one of the biggest cyber events that we have seen, perhaps ever, and certainly in warfare,” according to Dmitri Alperovitch, a co-founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike and chair of security-centric think tank Silverado Policy …
Why Russia’s giant cyber attack on Ukraine on Feb. 24 had relatively little impact Read More
Last week Taiwan imposed a ban on the sale of modern chips to Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) published a list of strategic high-tech goods that are barred from export to Russia and Belarus, reported DigiTimes. The ministry stated exports of these high-tech commodities are …
Taiwan bans exports of all modern chips to Russia, Belarus Read More
Arkady Volozh, the founder and CEO of Yandex, has resigned from his company after being included in the EU’s latest package of sanctions on June 3, in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The EU points out Yandex’s responsibility in “promoting state media and narratives in its search results, and deranking and removing content critical of the Kremlin, …
Yet another Yandex woe: company founder and CEO resigns after falling under EU sanctions Read More
Weeks before tanks and soldiers marched on the cities of Ukraine, Russia carried out a series of successful cyberattacks against Ukraine, hitting critical infrastructure and financial institutions around the country with at least six unique strains of destructive wiper malware. Recent reporting confirms Russia’s GRU also carried out a massive cyberattack against Viasat, knocking its customers’ KA-SAT satellite …
Russian writer and artist Pavel Pepperstein and generative neural network ruGPT-3 have co-authored a story book called Trying to Wake Up. The book has just been published in Moscow by independent publisher Individuum. Trying to Wake Up is touted as “the world’s first collection of short stories resulting from the collaboration of a writer and a neural …
Russian writer and neural network team up to compose 24 short stories Read More
The decision of Visa and MasterCard in early March — followed by Chinese UnionCard — to back away from Russia has affected dozens of millions of card holders from this country. While Russia managed to keep their cards active for domestic transactions at least until they expire, Visa and MasterCard cards can no longer use …
How Russia pushes MIR card adoption in new countries Read More
