Central Banks See DeFi Decentralization as ‘Illusion’

Banking regulators may be able to address the vulnerabilities of decentralized finance even though it does not operate through traditional middlemen such as banks and exchanges, according to the Bank for International Settlements.In a report, the umbrella group for central banks said that “the ma...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 9, 2021

U.K. Regulator Orders Facebook to Sell Giphy

In what appears to be an unprecedented decision, the British government has ruled that Facebook parent Meta must undo its acquisition of Giphy to protect social media users and promote competition in the animated image market.Facebook bought Giphy for $315 million in May 2020 to integrate the sea...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 1, 2021

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The CFO Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence’s impact on the office of the CFO continues to evolve, and finance chiefs must be aware of the opportunities it will create for growth. 

By CFO.com staff

HashiCorp IPO Could Value Startup at $13B

Cloud infrastructure startup HashiCorp has set terms for the latest initial public offering to test investor enthusiasm for high-growth software companies.In an updated prospectus, HashiCorp said Monday that it would sell 15.3 million shares at $68 to $72 each, giving it a valuation of up to $13 ...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 30, 2021

Expensify Shares Pop 52% in Market Debut

Expense management software firm Expensify made a big splash on Wall Street in its trading debut after raising $262.7 million in another big tech IPO.The Portland, Ore.-based startup sold 9.73 million shares priced at $27 each in its initial public offering. In trading Wednesday, the stock opened...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 17, 2021

The ABCs of CPM Software

This is the first of two columns on corporate performance management tools. The second article, Dispelling the Myths About CPM Implementations, was published on November 15.Finance chiefs are under pressure to leverage more sophisticated technologies to professionalize and modernize their operati...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Nov. 10, 2021

IBM Spinoff Kyndryl Launches With Cloud Hopes

IT services provider Kyndryl made its stock market debut on Thursday amid hopes that its separation from IBM will enable it to reverse a decline in revenue.A day after IBM completed the long-planned spinoff, Kyndryl shares fell 6.6% to $26.38. IBM shareholders received one share of Kyndryl for ev...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 5, 2021

Regulators Urge Tougher Oversight of Stablecoins

The federal government’s top financial regulators have called for stricter oversight of stablecoins, citing concerns over market integrity, investor protection and illicit finance.In a much-awaited report released on Monday, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) said stablecoin...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 2, 2021

Microsoft Warns Against Russian Hackers

Microsoft admitted the Russian nation-state actor Nobelium, the hacking group infamous for the SolarWinds hack, has engaged in jeopardizing global networks by targeting the tech supply chain, including resellers and providers of cloud technology.Microsoft informed over 140 technology service prov...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 25, 2021

Tesla and Square Are Up On Their Bitcoin Purchases

Electric vehicle giant Tesla made headlines in February when it was unveiled the company bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin.With Bitcoin hitting all-time highs Wednesday, here’s a look at how much Tesla’s Bitcoin purchase is up.What Happened: Tesla announced a $1.5 billion purchase of Bitcoin in the ...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 21, 2021

How to Survive a Ransomware Attack

What should a company do when cyber criminals attack its systems and demand a ransom? Unfortunately, the increase in ransomware incidents forces a growing number of businesses to answer that question.How organizations handle the minutes, hours, and days following a ransomware attack determines ho...

By Bob Violino • Oct. 19, 2021

SeatGeek Going Public Via SPAC

A leading ticketing marketplace announced a SPAC merger Wednesday.SeatGeek announced a SPAC merger with RedBall Acquisition (RBAC). The deal gives the company an enterprise value of $1.35 billion.Executives involved in the deal have experience across all four major U.S. professional sports — the ...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 14, 2021

Massive Outage Dents Facebook Shares, Revenue

Facebook took a hit to its share price and advertising revenue on Monday as a massive outage shut down the social media platform for about six hours.The Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp apps went dark around noon Eastern Daylight Time, in what website monitoring group Downdetector said was the l...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 5, 2021

IMF Warns of Crypto Risks to Financial Stability

The International Monetary Fund has joined the chorus of concern over crypto assets, warning that their rapid growth and increasing adoption are a threat to financial stability.At a global level, “financial stability risks appear contained for now,” but with “limited or inadequate disclosure and ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 1, 2021

U.S. Slaps Crypto Exchange With Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday took the unprecedented step of sanctioning a cryptocurrency exchange, alleging Suex OTX helped launder money for ransomware attackers.According to Treasury, Suex facilitated transactions involving illicit proceeds from at least eight ransomware variants and...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 21, 2021

Data of 47 Microsoft Customers Exposed to Web

At least 47 organizations inadvertently exposed millions of people’s personal information to the public internet for months by misconfiguring Microsoft software, according to cybersecurity firm UpGuard.The data leak affected American Airlines, Maryland’s health department, and New York’s Metropol...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 25, 2021

T-Mobile Confirms Hackers Accessed ‘Some Data’

T-Mobile has confirmed that hackers broke into its internal servers in what could be one of the largest carrier data breaches ever.A day after Vice reported hackers were claiming to have stolen the personal data of 100 million T-Mobile USA customers, the company said Monday that “unauthorized acc...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 17, 2021

Nikola Wins Research Grant From DOE

Scandal-plagued electric truck maker Nikola announced Thursday that it won a $2 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department to develop hydrogen refueling technologies.The grant was formally awarded July 7 — three weeks before Nikola founder Trevor Milton was indicted on three counts of criminal...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 13, 2021

Crypto Hacker Returns Half of Stolen Assets

In a case of crypto crime apparently not paying, a hacker who stole some $600 million in digital assets from decentralized finance platform Poly Network has begun to return the ill-gotten gains.Poly Network disclosed Tuesday it was the target of one of the largest ever cryptocurrency heists and t...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 12, 2021

Hackers in Ransomware Attack Demand $70M

The group of Russian hackers who have claimed responsibility for what is being called the biggest ransomware attack ever have demanded $70 million to unlock computers affected by the breach.The REvil group made the demand late Sunday, offering in a posting on its dark web site a universal decrypt...

By Matthew Heller • July 6, 2021

Sunburst Hack Costs SolarWinds At Least $18M

SolarWinds disclosed Tuesday that it took a hit of at least $18 million from the massive Russian malware attack that compromised its flagship Orion technology management software. In releasing preliminary first-quarter results, SolarWinds said it spent $18 million to $19 million to “investigate a...

By Matthew Heller • April 14, 2021

Russia Hack Targeted Specific Microsoft Customers

The massive Russian malware attack targeted more than 40 Microsoft customers with “narrower and more focused” measures, the company said, calling it “a broad and successful espionage-based assault.”Investigators have traced the hack to updates of the Orion technology management software that were...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 18, 2020

Twitter to Shut Down Periscope Five Years After Launch

Twitter is shutting down Periscope as a separate live video streaming app after incorporating most of its core capabilities into the Twitter Live feature within the main app.Twitter said in a blog post Tuesday that it made the “difficult decision” to discontinue Periscope by March 2021 in part be...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 16, 2020

Hack of U.S. Agencies Tied to Software Updates

Hackers who breached the computer systems of U.S. government agencies including the Treasury Department appear to have hidden malicious code in the body of legitimate software updates, according to cybersecurity experts.Investigators have traced the hack — which one U.S. official said is “probabl...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 15, 2020

Nation-State Hackers Breach Cybersecurity Firm

Sophisticated hackers have turned the tables on FireEye, one of the world’s premier cybersecurity firms, stealing digital tools that it uses to test its customers’ cyber defenses.The New York Times said the “stunning theft,” which FireEye disclosed on Tuesday, was “akin to bank robbers who, havin...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 9, 2020

Cloud Security: A Work In Progress

Mountain View, Calif.-based Egnyte provides file sharing via the cloud to its customers, so its security practices have to be top-notch. But the company also has all of its internal finance applications in the cloud, including those handling employee expenses and payment processing for contractor...

By Bob Violino • Oct. 13, 2020