Toyota to build $1.29B US battery plant employing 1,750
DETROIT -- Toyota plans to build a new $1.29 billion factory in the U.S. to manufacture batteries for gas-electric hybrid and fully electric vehicles.
The move comes amid a flurry of global announcements about shoring up production of batteries for electric vehicles. Most automakers are working to transition away from internal combustion engines to zero emission battery vehicles.
The Toyota plant location wasn't announced, but the company said it eventually will employ 1,750 people and start making batteries in 2025, gradually expanding through 2031.
The plant is part of $3.4 billion that Toyota plans to spend in the U.S. on automotive batteries during the next decade. It didn't detail where the remaining $2.1 billion would be spent, but part of that likely will go for another battery factory.
Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, and LG Energy Solution said Monday that they plan to build a battery manufacturing facility to help the automaker get 40% of its U.S. sales from vehicles that run at least partly on electricity by 2030. They didn't say where the plant would be.
Also Monday, the Taiwanese company that makes smartphones for Apple and others, Foxconn Technology Group, said it would produce electric cars and buses for auto brands in China, North America, Europe and other markets.
Volvo Cars on Monday unveiled more details of its initial public offering that will fund its ambitious plan to transform into an all-electric vehicle company by 2030. The Swedish auto brand, owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, said the IPO would value the company at 163-200 billion kronor ($18.8-$23 billion) when shares start trading Oct. 28.
And Ford Motor Co. announced that it will turn a transmission factory in northwest England into a plant that will make electric power units for cars and trucks sold throughout Europe.
Toyota joins Ford and General Motors in announcing recent large investments in U.S. battery factories. GM plans to build battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee, while Ford has plans for plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Toyota will form a new company to run its new U.S. battery plant with Toyota Tsusho, a subsidiary that now makes an array of parts for the automaker. The company also will help Toyota expand its U.S. supply chain, as well as increase its knowledge of lithium-ion auto batteries, Toyota said Monday.
“Today's commitment to electrification is about achieving long-term sustainability for the environment, American jobs and consumers,” Ted Ogawa, Toyota's North American CEO, said in a statement.
The new plant would likely be near one of the company's U.S. assembly plants in Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama or Texas.
Toyota plans to sell 2 million zero emission hydrogen and battery electric vehicles worldwide per year by 2030. In the U.S., Toyota plans to sell 1.5 million to 1.8 million vehicles by 2030 in the U.S. that are at least partially electrified.
Now in the U.S., it offers hydrogen vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids that can travel a relatively short distance on electricity before switching to a gas-electric hybrid powertrain. Toyota says vehicles that operate at least partially on electricity now account for about a quarter of its U.S. sales, and it plans for that to rise to nearly 70% by 2030.
The company says it will have 15 battery electric vehicles for sale globally by 2025.
Source - ABC
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell dies from Covid complications
WASHINGTON — Colin Powell, the former general who was the country's first Black secretary of state and its first chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, died Monday due to complications from Covid-19, his family said in a statement on Facebook.
Powell, 84, was fully vaccinated from Covid-19, his family said, and had been treated at Walter Reed National Medical Center.
"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," the family said.
Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of a type of white blood cell. It’s unclear what complications he experienced from Covid-19 or when he tested positive for the disease. The family also did not say when he was vaccinated or if he had received a booster shot.
Powell became the first Black secretary of state under President George W. Bush. As the nation’s chief diplomat, Powell delivered a well-known speech to the United Nations Security Council in February 2003 laying out the White House argument for invading Iraq and stating that there was intelligence that the country had weapons of mass destruction. U.S. troops launched an invasion the following month. The evidence he presented about Iraq having biological weapons was later proven to be incorrect. Powell left the administration shortly after Bush’s re-election in 2004.
Bush said in a statement Monday that he and former first lady Laura Bush were “deeply saddened” by Powell’s death.
“He was a great public servant, starting with his time as a soldier during Vietnam," Bush said. "Many presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel and experience. He was such a favorite of presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend."
Bush added that he and his wife sent Powell's widow, Alma, and their children "our sincere condolences as they remember the life of a great man."
After rising through the military ranks, Powell became a four-star general and then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. He had served as U.S. national security adviser and deputy national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Powell served twice in Vietnam — during the first tour, he was wounded in action and on the second tour, he received the Soldier's Medal for rescuing several men from a burning helicopter.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised Powell's life of national service and counsel in brief remarks to reporters Monday morning.
"The world lost one of the greatest leaders that we have ever witnessed," Austin said. "Alma lost a great husband, and the family lost a tremendous father, and I lost a tremendous personal friend and mentor. He has been my mentor for a number of years. He always made time for me and I could always go to him with tough issues. He always had great counsel. We will certainly miss him. I feel as if I have a hole in my heart just learning of this."
Despite serving Republican presidents, Powell said days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that he could no longer call himself a Republican.
“I'm not a fellow of anything right now," he said in an interview on CNN. "I'm just a citizen who has voted Republican, voted Democrat throughout my entire career. And right now I'm just watching my country and not concerned with parties.”
Powell was a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump. In 2016, it was revealed in leaked emails that Powell called the then-GOP presidential candidate a “national disgrace.” In June 2020, Powell and other retired military leaders blasted Trump for threatening to use military force against protesters. Powell said in an interview on CNN that Trump had turned away from the Constitution and that he was a habitual liar.
“We have a Constitution. We have to follow that Constitution. And the president's drifted away from it,” said Powell, who made clear that, like in 2016, he would not vote for Trump for president and instead planned to vote for Joe Biden.
Powell was born in 1937 in Harlem, New York, to immigrants from Jamaica and grew up in the South Bronx, going on to get a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York.
He is survived by his wife, Alma Powell, 83, and their three children.
Source - Yahoo! News
Global Handwashing Day
Global Handwashing Day has been celebrated annually on October 15th since 2008, as an opportunity to increase awareness and highlight the importance of handwashing with soap and clean running water at home, in the community and around the world. Handwashing with soap and “running” water is an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.
The theme for Global Hand Washing Day 2021 is “Our Future is at Hand—Let’s Move Forward Together.” This theme calls for coordinated action as we actively work toward universal hand hygiene. It is an important reminder that we must include everyone when addressing handwashing irregularities. Inequalities in handwashing facilities and effective handwashing promotion programs, can put individuals at higher risk for diseases that impact their health, education, and economic outcomes. The World Health Organization and CDC have responded to the global outbreak and community transmission of COVID-19 by instructing the public to wash their hands more regularly to reduce the spread of the virus. Handwashing is the first line of defense against COVID-19. However, in some countries, a lack of access to safe water continues to be a major issue.
Global Handwashing Day is endorsed by governments, schools, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies, individuals, and more. This year, the Ministry of Health and Human Services team will visit the Eliza Simons, Faith Preparatory, and the Ona Glinton Primary schools in Grand Turk, to demonstrate proper hand hygiene technique. Subsequent demonstrations will be conducted throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Handwashing with soap removes germs from hands. This helps prevent infections because:
- People frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. Germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth and make us sick e.g. COVID-19 disease.
- Germs from unwashed hands can get into food and drinks while people prepare or consume them. Germs can multiply in some types of foods or drinks, under certain conditions, and make people sick.
- Germs from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects, like handrails, table tops, or toys, and then transferred to another person’s hands.
- Removing germs through handwashing therefore helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may even help prevent skin and eye infections.
To help beat the COVID-19 virus and ensure better health outcomes beyond the pandemic, handwashing with soap and water must be a priority now and in the future. It is important to make handwashing into a habit.
As a reminder, we are currently in the flu season. Let us make every effort to encourage healthy behaviors such as: washing our hands after coughing, blowing our nose and before serving or handling food or eating and after using the toilet.
Lashana Lynch on making history as 007 in 'No Time to Die'
NEW YORK -- Lashana Lynch was in stunt training when she found out she was going to play a 00 agent in the James Bond film “No Time to Die.”
Lynch had already been cast by director Cary Joji Fukunaga and the producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. But who she was to play had remained a mystery to her. She was doing her best to prep for an undetermined but apparently butt-kicking role.
“Nothing made sense. I’m plunged into stunts and they’re teaching me everything under the sun,” Lynch said in an interview. “And I’m like: Why are you teaching me this? What does it mean?”
Instead, Lynch just heard bits and pieces as she went. It felt, she says, like a TV series that carefully reveals a little each episode. Only when she was in the midst of summersaulting and firing fake guns did the full reveal come. Lynch would be the first Black woman to play a 00 agent in the six decades of James Bond movies.
Not only that, Lynch’s character, Nomi, takes the codename 007, with Daniel Craig’s James Bond AWOL and out of the British Secret Service.
“Auditioning for a mysterious film and a mysterious character turned into a possible Bond film and mysterious character,” Lynch recalls. “That turned into definite Bond film and the possibility of someone entering and creating a really beautiful storm.”
“No Time to Die,” which opened in U.S. theaters on Friday, is Craig’s fifth and final performance as the super spy. But the film, perhaps more than any previous Bond movie, derives much of its punch from its women. That includes Léa Seydoux, as Bond’s most lasting romance and a character with her own complicated history, and Ana de Armas, in a brief but action-packed appearance.
Lynch’s role, though, is a landmark in the franchise. With that history has come a brighter spotlight than ever before on the 33-year-old British Jamaican actor, who played a single-mother fighter pilot in “Captain Marvel.” Lynch has been widely celebrated for expanding the historically homogenous world of Bond in a role that — like others who have brought wider representation to decades-old franchises — has also brought online hostility. When news first leaked in 2019 that Lynch would be 007, her Instagram lit up with racist and misogynistic comments.
“I was reminded of the institution that I was walking into and the world that doesn’t support people like me, necessarily,” Lynch says. “Once I got through that initial reaction, I plunged straight into work. I turned that energy into stunts, into filming, into spending time with family and also reevaluating how I use my phone. I now put them in cupboards. I take two-hour breaks.”
“It’s something that should always be brought up,” she adds of the response. “Young people need to hear it.”
Lynch first caught Broccoli's attention in Debbie Tucker Green's “Ear for Eye,” a play at the Royal Court that Broccoli produced. Lynch was part of a largely Black ensemble that give individual testimonies of bias they experience in their lives.
"I was just blown away by her," says Broccoli, who also produced an upcoming film adaptation of “Ear for Eye," co-starring Lynch, premiering Oct. 16 at the London Film Festival. “She’s an extraordinary, beautiful, talented actor. She seemed an obvious choice for Nomi, the 00 character. I think she’s a big star.”
Before Craig took over Bond, Lynch says, she had had little relationship to the Bond films. But being invited to audition, she says, made her feel she was maybe entering the franchise at the right time.
“As a Black Londoner, I didn’t have the opportunity to be able to connect to James Bond in a way that made sense," says Lynch. "Now, Daniel Craig entering the franchise and making him raw and dark and dangerous — I questioned his trauma for the first time — it really got me intrigued about how the new characters in the franchise respond to him.”
In “No Time to Die,” Bond eventually returns to the service where he's surprised to learn his trademark number has been taken. What follows between him and Nomi is part rivalry, part partnership. Nomi asserts herself, with proud confidence and moments of uncertainty. Bond adapts to her. To Lynch, she's most proud of how Nomi's strength doesn't also come with vulnerability.
"Like a lot of us, it’s always a front. It’s a front just to be in the world," Lynch says of Nomi's posture. “I want there to be a really natural, realistic and easy influence on our young people in that when talking about ‘strong Black women,’ we don’t just assume that their strength fell out of the sky and landed in their brain.”
Tina Turner sells music catalog going back 60 years to BMG
London (CNN Business) Tina Turner has sold the rights to her music catalog spanning six decades — including songs "What's Love Got to Do With It" and "The Best" — to music publishing company BMG.
The legendary singer has also sold the artist's share of her recordings, her music publishing writer's share, neighboring rights and name, image and likeness as part of the deal, according to BMG, which did not disclose financial terms.
Industry experts estimate the deal is worth more than $50 million, specialist publication Music Business Worldwide reports.
"Tina Turner's musical journey has inspired hundreds of millions of people around the world and continues to reach new audiences. We are honored to take on the job of managing Tina Turner's musical and commercial interests," BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said in a statement. "It is a responsibility we take seriously and will pursue diligently."
Turner, now aged 81, was the first Black artist and the first female artist to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone, BMG said. Her solo works include 10 studio albums, two live albums, two soundtracks and five compilations, which in total have sold more than 100 million records.
At the end of this month, she will be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame for a second time.
"Like any artist, the protection of my life's work, my musical inheritance, is something personal," Turner said in a statement. "I am confident that with BMG and Warner Music my work is in professional and reliable hands," she added.
Warner Music continues to be Turner's record company, BMG said.
Music publishing has become increasingly lucrative in recent years, especially in the light of the coronavirus pandemic, which has halted and disrupted live performances worldwide.
Last year, Bob Dylan sold his entire song catalog, encompassing more than 600 songs over 60 years, in a "landmark agreement" with Universal Music Publishing Group.
And this year, folk-rock superstar Neil Young sold a 50% stake in his song catalog to investment company Hipgnosis for an estimated $150 million.
Microsoft begins rollout of Windows 11
(CNN Business) Microsoft is rolling out its first major Windows update in six years. But not everyone will be able to get it right away.
Starting Tuesday, Windows 11 will be available as a free download to existing Windows users depending on the hardware and age of their PC device. Microsoft (MSFT) previously said its "phased and measured" approach to introducing the new operating system will begin with Windows 10 PCs and PCs that come preloaded with Windows. Users will be notified when they're eligible for the update from now through mid-2022.
While the update isn't quite the substantial change from Windows 8 to Windows 10 that came out in 2015, Windows 11 features a handful of notable design changes, including a new interface that is intended to bring "a sense of calm and ease." A new Start menu shows recently opened files, regardless of which device was used. And a new personalized Widgets feed, powered by artificial intelligence, promises to provide a faster way to access apps.
Other updates are geared toward providing more flexibility, such as more multitasking tools, support for Android mobile apps in its new app store, and an integration with Microsoft Teams, its workplace chat and videoconferencing app.
Unlike Apple (APLE), which unveils a new operating system for its Mac computers each year, Microsoft (MSFT) takes a staggered approach.
Geoff Blaber, CEO of market research firm CCS Insight, said the latest update won't be "revolutionary," but he believes it'll do enough to please its massive user base. (Windows 10 runs on about 1.3 billion devices worldwide, according to Microsoft.)
"Windows 11 is an iterative release that pinpoints where Windows needs greater ambition rather than introducing the sweeping changes seen with its predecessor," he said. "Microsoft is making adjustments to areas that have potential to move the needle on user experience, engagement and the ever-expanding reach of Office 365 apps."
It could also increase hardware sales as it gets closer to the end of Windows 10 support in 2025.
At a livestreamed media event last month, Microsoft also showed off updates to its Surface line that'll ship with Windows 11. Its flagship announcement was a $1,599 Surface Laptop Studio that can change from laptop mode to a position better for streaming TV shows and another for drawing or sketching. The device, which took nearly five years to develop, was designed specifically alongside the development of Windows 11.
Facebook will now ban the sale of protected Amazon rainforest land on Marketplace
(CNN Business) Facebook is cracking down on the ability of people to use its e-commerce platforms to sell large parcels of land in the protected Amazon rainforest.
"Today, we are announcing measures to curb attempts to sell land in ecological conservation areas within the Amazon rainforest on Facebook (FB) Marketplace," the company said in a blog post Friday, adding that it will update its commerce policies to "explicitly prohibit" the sale or purchase of land on its platforms (including Instagram and WhatsApp) that is earmarked for ecological conservation. Land is among the many products available on Marketplace, with everything from furniture to used cars also on sale.
The announcement comes months after an investigation by the BBC found large parcels of land, including some that cover hundreds of acres within national forests, available for purchase on Facebook Marketplace.
CNN has not independently verified the Marketplace listings.
Facebook said Friday that it will check listings against an "authoritative database of protected areas" from the United Nations Environment Program to confirm whether they violate its new policy.
"We are announcing this today, and enforcement will now begin to ramp up," the company said. "Over time, we will observe how this process works and make improvements as appropriate."
The announcement comes at the end of a particularly difficult week for Facebook, with the company facing intense scrutiny from lawmakers after whistleblower Frances Haugen's testimony in the Senate about the harms its platforms cause and a massive outage of its major services on Monday.
'He should resign': Fired justice minister calls for Haiti PM to quit over murder investigation
(CNN) Until just a few weeks ago, Rockfeller Vincent was the ultimate insider in the investigation into the still-unsolved assassination of Haiti's former president Jovenel Moise, who was brutally gunned down in his bedroom in July.
Now he's on the outside looking in -- and it's an ugly view. "The Haitian nation is living the worst political crisis of its history," Vincent told CNN.
As Haiti's justice minister, he oversaw the sprawling presidential murder investigation, which has implicated a Haitian-American pastor, dozens of Colombian hired soldiers, and members of Haiti's own police force.
Then, on September 14, the investigation reached sitting Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
The country's top prosecutor, Bed-Ford Claude, said he would ask for charges against the Prime Minister in connection with the killing, citing evidence of phone calls between Henry and one of the suspected masterminds on the night of the murder. He also requested that Henry come to his office for questioning.
That week, both Claude and Vincent were abruptly fired.
Speaking from an undisclosed location on Friday, Vincent -- who says he has gone into hiding since his firing -- told CNN he thought it should have been the other way around.
"In all serious countries, once you are implicated in such an affair, the Prime Minister should offer his resignation. He should resign. And we are still waiting for him to resign. Because on the night of the president's death, a few hours later ... he had phone conversations with the president's assassin," Vincent said.
Vincent accuses the Prime Minister of trying to "cover his tracks" with the firings.
"When you fire the prosecutor and the justice minister and you place in his position someone who knows nothing about justice ... what exactly are you trying to do?" he said.
Henry denies having anything to do with the killing. Speaking to CNN last week, he said he had "no recollection" of a phone call "or if it took place."
'The republic will be crushed'
Henry assumed the premiership with international backing a few weeks after Moise's death, after a brief standoff with the previous Prime Minister. In the absence of a president, he will now lead Haiti until its long-overdue elections -- which have been postponed again, until sometime next year.
The Prime Minister has often described solving the murder case as a personal mission. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No political maneuver, no media campaign, no distraction can deter me from this goal to bring justice for President Moise," Henry told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly last week.
According to Henry's office, both Vincent and Claude were fired for breaking the law, which forbids prosecuting top officials without permission from the head of state -- currently Henry himself.
But Vincent says he was sacked for refusing to fire Claude, which he describes as an ethically impossible demand given the ongoing investigation. "I told [Henry], 'This is not possible. We are going to have problems. The republic will be crushed if you dismiss the public prosecutor," Vincent said.
In the end, Haiti's Interior Minister Liszt Quitel stepped in to fire Claude.
Quitel, an engineer by training, was also given Vincent's job -- and is now doing double-duty as head of both Haiti's interior and justice ministries.
Speaking to CNN this weekend, Quitel dismissed the phone calls in question as insufficient for a warrant against the Prime Minister, and noted that the investigation under Vincent's leadership had led to no clear answers.
"I don't see what would be the motive to ask the Prime Minister to appear before a judge, just because he had a phone call," he said.
"This is obviously something that's politically motivated," he said -- a claim Vincent rejects.
A troubled investigation
The probe into Moise's death has long been troubled by allegations of obstruction and missing pieces.
In July, sources close to the case told CNN they were troubled by the fact that Justice Ministry staffers had not been given immediate access to crime scenes and key evidence, including surveillance footage from inside and around the president's mansion during the attack.
Clerks involved in the case also received death threats, forcing some to flee the capital.
At the time, Vincent did not respond to requests for comment. Now, however, he defends his oversight of the months-long probe, insisting investigators were free to work as they needed.
He says he too receives death threats from the armed groups that control large parts of Port-au-Prince.
The assassination probe is currently with an independent investigating judge, who has not publicly called for the Prime Minister's testimony.
Additional foreign support will also be needed to close the case, according to Henry and Vincent -- a rare point of agreement.
The US and Colombia did send investigative teams to assist in the early days of the investigation. But with fingers now pointing in all directions, potential foreign partners in Haiti's intrigue-plagued investigation may feel wary of getting involved.
Cuba lashes out after young baseball players defect in Mexico
Havana (CNN) - Cuba's state media on Sunday lashed out after nearly a dozen Cuban baseball players defected in Mexico -- believed to be one of the country's largest and most embarrassing known incidents of mass defection in years.
Eleven young baseball players defected from the national team during a tournament for players under the age of 23, which began last month. The remaining Cuban players on the team are due to return to the communist-run island on Monday.
A statement from Cuba's National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) slammed the missing players for "weak morals and ethics."
Cuban officials also blamed the US for restrictions that force Cuban players to defect in order to play in the Major Leagues.
Typically only the players who are seen as most loyal to the government are selected to play abroad and are accompanied by government chaperones to prevent them from defecting.
Cuba has been hard hit economically during the pandemic with few tourists visiting and restrictions on international flights which has prevented many Cubans.
Microsoft: Russia behind 58% of detected state-backed hacks
BOSTON (AP) — Russia accounted for most state-sponsored hacking detected by Microsoft over the past year, with a 58% share, mostly targeting government agencies and think tanks in the United States, followed by Ukraine, Britain and European NATO members, the company said.
The devastating effectiveness of the long-undetected SolarWinds hack — it mainly breached information technology businesses including Microsoft — also boosted Russian state-backed hackers’ success rate to 32% in the year ending June 30, compared with 21% in the preceding 12 months.
China, meanwhile, accounted for fewer than 1 in 10 of the state-backed hacking attempts Microsoft detected but was successful 44% of the time in breaking into targeted networks, Microsoft said in its second annual Digital Defense Report, which covers July 2020 through June 2021.
While Russia’s prolific state-sponsored hacking is well known, Microsoft’s report offers unusually specific detail on how it stacks up against that by other U.S. adversaries.
The report also cited ransomware attacks as a serious and growing plague, with the United States by far the most targeted country, hit by more than triple the attacks of the next most targeted nation. Ransomware attacks are criminal and financially motivated.
By contrast, state-backed hacking is chiefly about intelligence gathering — whether for national security or commercial or strategic advantage — and thus generally tolerated by governments, with U.S. cyber operators among the most skilled. The report by Microsoft Corp., which works closely with Washington government agencies, does not address U.S. government hacking.
The SolarWinds hack was such an embarrassment to the U.S. government, however, that some Washington lawmakers demanded some sort of retaliation. President Joe Biden has had a difficult time drawing a red line for what cyberactivity is permissible. He has issued vague warnings to President Vladimir Putin to get him to crack down on ransomware criminals, but several top administration cybersecurity officials said this week that they have seen no evidence of that.
Overall, nation-state hacking has about a 10%-20% success rate, said Cristin Goodwin, who heads Microsoft’s Digital Security Unit, which is focused on nation-state actors. “It’s something that’s really important for us to try to stay ahead of — and keep driving that compromised number down — because the lower it gets, the better we’re doing,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin finds China’s “geopolitical goals” in its recent cyberespionage especially notable, including targeting foreign ministries in Central and South American countries where it is making Belt-and-Road-Initiative infrastructure investments and universities in Taiwan and Hong Kong where resistance to Beijing’s regional ambitions is strong. The findings further belie as obsolete any conventional wisdom that Chinese cyber spies’ interests are limited to pilfering intellectual property.
Russian hack attempts were up from 52% in the 2019-20 period as a share of global cyber-intrusion bids detected by the “nation-state notification service” that Microsoft employs to alert its customers. For the year ending June 30, North Korea was second as country of origin at 23%, up from less than 11% previously. China dipped to 8% from 12%.
But attempt volume and efficacy are different matters. North Korea’s failure rate on spear-phishing — targeting individuals, usually with booby-trapped emails — was 94% in the past year, Microsoft found.
Only 4% of all state-backed hacking that Microsoft detected targeted critical infrastructure, the Redmond, Washington-based company said, with Russian agents far less interested in it than Chinese or Iranian cyber-operatives.
After the SolarWinds hack was discovered in December, the Russians transitioned back to focus mostly on government agencies involved in foreign policy, defense and national security, followed by think tanks then health care, where they targeted organizations developing and testing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, India and Japan.
In the report, Microsoft said Russian state hackers’ recent greater efficacy “could portend more high-impact compromises in the year ahead.” Accounting for more 92% of the detected Russian activity was the elite hacking team in Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency best known as Cozy Bear.
Cozy Bear, which Microsoft calls Nobelium, was behind the SolarWinds hack, which went undetected for most of 2020 and whose discovery badly embarrassed Washington. Among badly compromised U.S. government agencies was the Department of Justice, from which the Russian cyber spies exfiltrated 80% of the email accounts used by the U.S. attorneys’ offices in New York.
Microsoft’s nation-state notifications, of which about 7,500 were issued globally in the period covered by the report, are by no means exhaustive. They only reflect what Microsoft detects.