The NSA May Be Deep in Your Hard Drive: Your Top Headlines for Tuesday

1) The US has managed to install spyware deep into the firmware of many hard drives and eavesdrop on computers the world over, according to cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab. David Swaddle breaks it down on LinkedIn:

How is this so clever? Simply, it attacks the computer before defences have a chance to kick-in. The firmware of the hard drive becomes active as it spins up, long before the computer boots the operating system or loads any security software. The stealthy nature of the attack means that it can potentially change anything on the hard drive without being noticed. ( Read the full post.)

The hack was pulled off by an entity Kaspersky calls the Equation Group, apparently a veiled reference to the NSA. Kaspersky found infected computers in more than 30 countries, but suspects the web spreads much wider than what it could find. Swaddle again:

Is it a great threat to your privacy? Probably not. The infections seem to be targeting high value industries in specific countries such as China, Russia, Iraq and Iran. But, there are reason to be concerned.
Obviously hackers will be looking at how they can exploit this vulnerability. Is there a way that they can hook into the exploit and add their own code?

You can also be concerned if you're a private citizen in those countries; a company in those countries who doesn't want its trade secrets handed off to a US competitor; or a US citizen who knows that once a technology exists, it can easily be turned against anyone – especially by an agency that doesn't have the best track record for self-control. You can also consider it's the price of security.

I won't even attempt to sum up the research here because I'd look a fool: here's a good place to start.

2) Negotiations between Athens and the EU are not going well. Greece's creditors set an ultimatum: agree by Friday to bailout conditions or don't count on us to save you from a default. That would mean Greece leaving the euro and having a very hard time borrowing money in the near future. The new government in Athens won the election on its promise to end austerity measures and doesn't want to renege: so far, looks like Athens is calling Berlin's and Paris' bluff.

3) An oil train derailed and exploded in West Virginia, causing a massive fire and a state of emergency to be declared. The train was 109 cars long: 27 derailed and at least 15 caught fire. The US administration is revising transport safety standards for the industry, after an oil train accident killed 47 people in Québec in 2013.

4) The latest victim of falling oil prices is Transocean CEO Steven Newman, who stepped down after the company cut its dividends by 80 percent. Newman led the company through the Deepwater Horizon fiasco.

5) $25 billion IPO or not, Jack Ma is not thrilled about Alibaba's results in 2014 and won't be distributing the traditional red envelopes of cash for the Chinese New Year. He wrote in a letter to employees:

The success of our IPO should not be seen as a surprise. It was the accumulated work of 15 years. Aside from going public, objectively speaking we are not so satisfied with our performance in 2014 that we should give out red envelopes.”

Ma could also be tightening the purse strings because of the scrutiny he's under from regulatory authorities. Better do everything by the book for a few months...

6) These guys are building the Hyperloop, Elon Musk's dream project of a superfast train – if you can call it that – along the California coast. The long-rumored Hyperloop Technologies Inc, the corporation in charge of making Musk's dream a reality, has done its coming out on the cover of Forbes. Investor and board member Peter Diamandis, a LinkedIn Influencer, calls it a moonshot. He explains his excitement:

Moonshots, by their definition, are goals that live in that gray area between audacious projects and pure science fiction. Instead of mere 10 percent gains, they aim for 10x (meaning ten times) improvements—that's a 1000 percent increase in performance. (...) Hyperloop, is for sure, a 10x improvement over today's transportation system. (Read the full post.)

6 1/2) By "these guys", I really meant "these guys." Out of 14 board members and execs on the project, one is a woman. That's 7% female leadership. I wish the Hyperloop total success, and I get that it must be hard finding a female supertrain engineer (or any supertrain engineer), but not even a VP of legal? Or a board member? Pretty please?!

7) Save this for your weekend read (I am): The New Yorker has a long and (I'm told) fascinating profile of Apple's lead designer Jonathan Ive. Among other things, you'll find out that, not content with iEverythings, he now also influences the design of lightsabers.

Every morning, we share the top headlines professionals need to know about right now. Share with your network, read and discuss — and let us know what we missed in the comments below.