Only half of the Fortune 500 use DMARC for email security

When Homeland Security told all federal government departments last year to roll out a new email security policy to cut down on incoming spam and phishing emails, three-quarters of all federal domains were compliant by the time of their deadline just a few weeks ago.

That’s far more than what the Fortune 500 accomplished in the same period.

New data from Agari shows that just half of the Fortune 500 have deployed DMARC — or domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance policy. Email systems use DMARC policies to verify the identity of an email sender, ensuring that it’s not impersonating another domain. Depending on the DMARC settings, an email system can either monitor, quarantine or entirely reject spoofed emails, helping to cut down on the number of phishing emails that land in your corporate inbox.

The data shows 51 percent of the Fortune 500 — the world’s wealthiest companies — are now using DMARC. That’s an improvement from about one-third a year ago, but it still trails behind the federal government’s DMARC adoption.

But only 13 percent of those companies are employing a quarantine or reject policy — which actively intercepts spoofed emails and marks them as spam or bounces them from a user’s inbox altogether.

According to Agari’s breakdown: Aetna, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Facebook, Fedex, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, UPS and Wells Fargo ranked among the companies with the strongest DMARC policy.

Boeing, CBS, Discovery, Exxon Mobil, Frontier, JetBlue, NetApp, Time Warner Cable (Spectrum), Prudential, Viacom and Xerox are some of the worst contenders with no record whatsoever.

Agari, which has a commercial stake in the email security business, said that having a well-configured DMARC policy “cannot be overstated.”

Scammers often use spoofed emails to try to trick companies into sending back sensitive taxpayer information or other corporate secrets. Known as the “W-2 phishing scam,” legitimate-looking emails try to obtain W-2 tax forms of employees so that the scammers can file fraudulent forms during tax season in order to obtain hefty refunds. The FBI says these scams cost businesses $12 billion a year.

But DMARC is meant to weed out the bulk of those spoofed emails. According to Agari, one of its customers — a global e-commerce firm — was getting millions of impersonated emails per day, spoofing the company’s “from” domain to make it look like the real deal. After the company implemented its new DMARC policy to reject spoofed emails, the number went down by 99 percent.

“The damage from these attacks has ballooned into billions of dollars annually—however the real cost is the erosion of trust in digital business,” said Agari’s Armen Najarian.

CIA, NSA and the Pentagon still aren’t using a basic email security feature

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vivo Y93 is official with a big battery and affordable price

Another day, another vivo midranger goes official. The new phone is called vivo Y93 and is the first smartphone with a Snapdragon 439 chipset, built on the 12 nm FinFET process. There is also a massive battery, screen with a waterdrop notch and dual cameras. The vivo Y93 packs a 6.2" LCD with HD+ resolution and 19:9 ratio. There are 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage, but the official website is keeping mum on microSD availability. The new chipset arrives with eight Cortex-A53 cores, clocked at 1.95 GHz and an Adreno 505 GPU. It supports cameras up to 21 MP, but vivo equipped the Y93...

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Don’t miss out on tickets to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018

On December 11, just slightly more than a month away, up to 15 exceptional startups will arrive in Lagos, Nigeria to compete in Startup Battlefield Africa 2018. Don’t miss your opportunity to watch founders of Africa’s best early-stage tech startups as they launch on a global stage to vie for a cash infusion, investor attention and serious bragging rights.

We have a limited number of spectator tickets, and they’re selling fast, so be sure to grab yours while you still can. Buy your ticket here today for just $10 + VAT.

The price of admission provides a full day packed with action. We’re interspersing three rounds of Startup Battlefield competition with an amazing roster of speakers and panel discussions addressing the continent’s rapidly expanding startup scene.

You’ll hear from speakers like Marième Diop, an investor at Orange Digital Ventures Africa. Diop focuses on early-stage African startups (like a $16 million round for South African fintech startup, Yoco, and an $8.6 million round to business enterprise software startup, Africa’s Talking), and she’ll discuss venture capital in Africa.

We also have on tap Shikoh Gitau, the head of product at Safaricom’s Alpha incubator. Gitau led a Pan-African and global search for candidates to form the incubator team, and she’ll share her perspective on the talent and innovation within Africa’s expanding startup landscape. She’ll also talk about repatriating entrepreneurs.

If you haven’t ever experienced a Startup Battlefield, you’re in for a huge adrenaline rush. The competing founders have been honing their pitch skills with coaching help from seasoned TechCrunch editors, and they’ll be fired up and ready to make their case. Here’s how the Battlefield works.

Startup Battlefield consists of three preliminary rounds with up to five startups in each round. Startup teams get six minutes to pitch and present a live demo to a panel of judges consisting of top tech founders and VCs. Those judges then have six minutes to question each team thoroughly.

No more than five teams move to the finals for another round of pitches and more challenging questions. Only one startup will claim the auspicious title of Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 champion.

The winning founders receive US$25,000 in no-equity cash, plus a trip for two to compete in Startup Battlefield in San Francisco at TechCrunch Disrupt 2019 (assuming the company still qualifies to compete at the time).

Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 takes place December 11 in Lagos, Nigeria, and spectator tickets are limited and going fast. Buy your tickets now and join us for an exciting day focused on the very best that Africa’s startup ecosystem has to offer.

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Faraday Future loses the last of its founding executive team as problems deepen

There were five. And now, there are none.

Faraday Future, the once-buzzy Chinese electric vehicle startup that has delivered lots of promises and fanfare, but has struggled to deliver an actual product, suffered back-to-back departures this week of the remaining five founding members of its executive team. Nick Sampson, a co-founder and senior vice president of product strategy, and Dag Reckhorn, the company’s senior vice president of global manufacturing, resigned this week.

The departures were first reported by The Verge, which has closely followed the company’s numerous problems. Sampson confirmed his resignation to TechCrunch. Faraday Future has not responded to a request for comment. (We’ll update if that happens).

Faraday Future initially launched with the backing of Jia Yueting, who co-founded the company with Sampson, a former Tesla director, and Tony Nie, a former Lotus executive. Nie left earlier this year. The founding executive team included Reckhorn, Sampson, Richard Kim as well as two other Tesla veterans Alan Cherry and Tom Wessner.

Sampson and Reckhorn were the last of the founding executive team. Only Jia Yueting, the company’s initial backer, co-founder and CEO, remains.

It’s been more than four years of drama for the company that has been trying to begin production of an ultra luxury electric SUV called the FF91 by the end of the year.

It’s most recent setback may sound the death knell for Faraday Future.  The company is quickly running out of money, a problem that accelerated during a fight with its main financial backer, Chinese real estate giant Evergrande Group. Evergrande came to Faraday’s rescue just as it was running out of cash in 2017 and took a 45 percent stake in the company for $2 billion.

That relationship has since soured. Faraday had spent $800 million by July 2018 as it pushed to complete a pre-production version of the FF91 vehicle at its Hanford, California factory. Evergrande has denied an advance of any more capital and accused Jia of trying to back out of its investor deal. The case went to arbitration and Faraday Future is allowed to seek up to $500 million in new investment — if it can find a willing investor. Even then, Evergrande must still approve any deal.

Now, as Faraday Future seeks other investments, the company has laid off employees, cut salaries and most recently shut down some operations at its Hanford factory and Gardena, California headquarters.

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Rafal Modrzewski to talk about launching microsatellites at Disrupt Berlin

ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski is obsessed with SAR satellites. He’s so obsessed that his company plans to launch dozens of satellites into space. According to him, ICEYE satellites should be much better than existing SAR satellites — call it the Tesla or satellites if you want. That’s why I’m excited to announce that Modrzewski is coming to TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin to speak.

SAR stands for synthetic-aperture radar. There are already many SAR satellites around the earth, observing the surface of the planet. But they weigh hundreds of kilograms and cost a small fortune to put into space.

While consumer electronics have greatly benefited from miniaturization, the same can’t be said about space. But ICEYE thinks it’s time to make satellites smaller.

The company’s SAR satellites only weigh around 70 to 80 kilograms. It’s a cost-effective solution, which means it’s much cheaper to build a complete constellation. The company is aiming for 18 fully operational satellites around the planet.

In many ways, ICEYE is a tech achievement. And the fact that the company operates like a startup makes the venture even more interesting.

If you want to hear Modrzewski tell you more about what they’ve been working on, you should come to Disrupt Berlin. The conference will take place on November 29-30 and you can buy your ticket right now.

In addition to fireside chats and panels, like this one, new startups will participate in the Startup Battlefield Europe to win the highly coveted Battlefield cup.

Rafal Modrzewski

Co-founder & CEO, ICEYE

Rafal Modrzewski is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of ICEYE. ICEYE aims to launch and operate a constellation of micro-SAR satellites providing access to timely and reliable Earth observation data. ICEYE is the first company that has successfully miniaturized a SAR satellite, creating a unit that is 100x more cost-effective than traditional counterparts. With its 18 satellite constellation, ICEYE offers its partners a set of unprecedented satellite imaging capabilities, accessing any area of interest faster, more frequently and at lower cost.

Since co-founding the project in 2012, which became the company in 2014, with Pekka Laurila, Modrzewski is responsible for overseeing the organization’s growth and implementing ICEYE’s overall vision. Modrzewski brings with him deep domain expertise in SAR engineering, and he has received the 2018 Forbes 30 under 30 Technology award based on the world-first achievements of ICEYE.

Prior to co-founding ICEYE, Modrzewski researched innovative products at VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) in the RFID and wireless sensing group. He attended Warsaw University of Technology in Poland, where he studied Electrical Engineering and co-founded the Multimedia Technologies Science Group. Modrzewski continued his studies in Radio Science and Engineering at Aalto University where he led the on-board data handling team working on Aalto-1, Finland’s flagship satellite project.

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48 hours left to save on early-bird tickets to Disrupt Berlin 2018

Do you thrive on looming deadlines? Do you make your best decisions at the last minute? Hey, we don’t judge. We just want to make sure you’re clear that you have only 48 hours left to score early-bird tickets to Disrupt Berlin 2018. Buy your pass before the 2 November deadline and you’ll save up to €500.

Every startupper worthy of that title knows Disrupt Berlin 2018 is the place to be if you want to showcase your ideas, products and company to top influencers in the European and international startup scene. Last year in Berlin, we hosted 2,600 attendees and 416 exhibitors from more than 50 countries.

Disrupt events drive opportunity and deliver outstanding ROI — at least that’s what our attendees tell us. Founders like Luke Heron of TestCard, who first joined us in Berlin last year where he established relationships with several investors. He emailed us recently after attending Disrupt San Francisco 2018.

“It’s great to be back at TechCrunch Disrupt again this year. We have just closed $1.7m in funding, thanks to you and your team! You guys are fantastic — the lifeblood of the startup scene.”

Caleb John, CEO of Cedar Robotics, came to Disrupt San Francisco 2018 as a TechCrunch Top Pick. From what he tells us, it’s an experience he won’t soon forget.

“Disrupt blew away my expectations. The ROI was amazing. The number of people we met, the connections we made and the amount of media exposure we received is worth its weight in gold.”

Amber Hopkins Grow, a marketing consultant with Loji, said Team Loji’s experience competing in Startup Battlefield helped them see new possibilities for Loji’s technology.

“Come to Disrupt with an open mind and listen to advice about your product and your startup. Don’t get stuck in what you think your product does, because these people know what they’re talking about. Take advantage of the access to their fresh eyes and experience. It’s invaluable.”

There’s plenty more on tap, including world-class networking in Startup Alley; a slate of speakers featuring the brightest tech luminaries, business moguls, founders and investors; Q&A Sessions; Startup Battlefield and wicked-killer after parties.

There’s no lack of opportunity at Disrupt Berlin 2018. And the ROI potential is off the hook. Buy your ticket before the 2 November deadline, save up to €500 and get your ROI party started.

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New iPad Pro obliterates competition on Geekbench

Apple introduced its new iPads with an A12X chipset two days ago and the first benchmarks already started popping. Two listings on Geekbench revealed that the smaller iPad Pro will have 4 GB RAM, while the bigger will sport 6 GB RAM, but what is more impressive is the multi-core score that is around 18,000. JRGRAPH_EXPANDABLE_VERSION = false; GeekBench 4.1 (single-core) Higher is better Apple iPad Pro 12.9" 5020 Apple iPad Pro 11" 4987 Apple iPhone XS 4823 Apple iPhone XS Max 4777 Apple iPhone X 4256 The iPad Pro...

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