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TECHNOLOGY

MS to Buy Discord for More Than $10 Bn

This July 3, 2014 photo shows Microsoft Corp. signage outside the Microsoft Visitor Center in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft on Thursday, July 17, 2014 announced it will lay off up to 18,000 workers over the next year. (AP Photo Ted S. Warren)

Microsoft Corp is in talks to acquire Discord Inc, a video-game chat community, for more than $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Discord reached out to potential buyers, and Microsoft is in the running, but no deal is imminent, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Discord is more likely to go public than sell itself, one person said. Representatives for Microsoft and Discord declined to comment.

Thousands of Microsoft Exchange servers are still compromised by hackers even after applying fixes, a top U.S. cybersecurity official said Monday, citing data from cybersecurity companies. Brandon Wales, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said owners of the email servers that were compromised before Microsoft Corp issued a patch nearly three weeks ago must take additional measures to remove the hackers from their networks. Microsoft has previously warned that patching won’t evict a hacker who has already compromised a server.

“We remain committed to supporting our customers against these attacks, to innovating on our security approach, and to partnering closely with governments and the security industry to help keep our customers and communities secure,” a Microsoft spokesperson said on Monday.

Last week, Microsoft released a tool that allows owners of on-premise Exchange servers to patch the security flaws with one click. But hackers may have already breached those servers and can sit inside computer networks even after the fix is applied. Microsoft has said the attack started with a Chinese government-backed hacking group that was accused of exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s widely used Exchange business email software.

About 45 per cent of the vulnerable systems had been patched over the past week, a National Security Council spokesperson said. There are now fewer than 10,000 vulnerable systems remaining in the US, down from at least 120,000 at the start.

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