• Kaspersky uncovered iOS vulnerabilities in ‘Operation Triangulation’, reported to Apple, but was refused bounty payment
  • Apple’s Security Bounty Program offers rewards up to $1 million for discovering vulnerabilities to prevent them from being sold on the dark web
  • Apple’s refusal to pay Kaspersky could be due to restrictions on financial transactions with companies in sanctioned countries like Russia.
  • cbarrick@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Apple Security Bounty awards may not be paid to you if you are in any U.S. embargoed countries or on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals, the U.S. Department of Commerce Denied Person’s List or Entity List, or any other restricted party lists.

    Kaspersky can whine all they want. Russia is embargoed. They’re not getting their money.

    Kaspersky is a good company doing good work in the cyber security space. Unfortunately, because of the embargo, they may have to turn to the black market to sell future exploits. Or maybe not; I’m not totally sure what kind of ethical standards they have.

      • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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        5 months ago

        Apple could have tried to work with them and said something like “We’ll pay when the embargo ends”, since now Kapersky has every reason to sell their next apple exploit on the black market.

        They’ve just turned a department of people successfully working to make apple more secure into a department of people working to make it less secure.

        • mindlight@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Apple could have tried to work with them and said something like “We’ll pay when the embargo ends”

          …aaaaand that would most likely be trying to circumvent the sanctions by essentially receiving credit from Kaspersky on delivered services.

          Not saying the situation is optional, but the sanctions would be extremely toothless if it was that easy to circumvent.

          • ours@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            How is holding the money until (and if) the sanctions are lifted, “circumventing”?

            However unlikely it would be, if the sanctions are lifted (maybe Russia gets a new, sane Government, calls off its invasion, stops its international shenanigans), wouldn’t it be OK to pay this company then?

            • mindlight@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              In many cases it’s doing business and not just the payment!/compansation that the sanctions is about.

            • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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              5 months ago

              It would still probably count as some sort of trade (even when delayed), which is what would violate the sanctions.

              • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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                5 months ago

                It could be argued that such delayed trade should be encouraged. Let Apple’s debt to Kaspersky build up, with interest, but it’ll only be paid once sanctions end which will only happen once pre-determined conditions are met. It’s basically an increasing incentive to change course in a way that will result in sanctions being lifted.

                There are probably some pretty severe downsides to this approach though.

              • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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                5 months ago

                If the point of the embargo is to pressure affected parties to enact change on the governments policies, offering the reward after sanctions are lifted would be an added incentive.

                It should be allowed or even encouraged to help the power of the sanctions.

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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            5 months ago

            They are extremely toothless in the sense of making continuation of the war less interesting.

            Russian oil\gas\etc revenues have grown.

            What the sanctions have hurt are mostly many smaller businesses and individuals. Well, big companies too, but that just makes them more dependent on state support. Which is a win for the Russian government.

            Kaspersky is definitely an FSB-friendly company.

            But still, most people hurt by sanctions are innocent. Well, less guilty than European politicians profiting from cooperation with Russia both before and after 2022, and remember how all those “free democratic” countries claimed Russian elections were legit when having Putin in Russia seemed to have no downsides, despite mass protests.

              • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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                5 months ago

                Huge growth!

                Since many of the sanctions also apply to things that are expected to fail over time, like electronics and industrial equipment, I’m sure the losses will continue to rise. Something to look forward to.

                • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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                  5 months ago

                  Exactly. These sanctions take some time to be felt. Russia is also very selective in what economic numbers it publishes. They are also artificially keeping up the exchange rate of the ruble.

                  These are all things that you can only keep doing for so long and it makes the crash afterwards even worse. Basically: they can pretend everything is all-right in the short term, but they have to screw themselves over in the long term to do so.

                  • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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                    5 months ago

                    Is that a falsifiable prediction?

                    When is it gonna hit? If it goes beyond that period, are you gonna revise your model or insist you were only off by a year, and surely it will collapse next year?

                    I have zero faith in Russia, but every time someone’s told me <enemy of the west> is about to collapse or overthrow the government because of sanctions, and all evidence to the contrary is fabricated, they’ve been wrong. There’s journalists and economists who’ve spent 30+ years saying that about China, Cuba, and Iran, who still somehow have jobs.

                • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                  5 months ago

                  They will continue to rise in the areas less important for war effort. Which means that the balance of power in Russia will keep getting worse.

              • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                5 months ago

                That would be good news, but I’ve been kinda saturated with such since 2022.

                  • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                    5 months ago

                    That’s impolite. I’m almost certain you yourself don’t speak any language other than English, like some boor.

                    If you really want to know “what”, then I meant that when every day every weak for a few months you hear how Russian economy is going to crumble after a few months of Ukrainian resistance, even from some professors, and it just doesn’t, and it still hasn’t, - you stop believing that.

            • mindlight@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              They are extremely toothless in the sense of making continuation of the war less interesting.

              If it was “toothless”, Putin and his propaganda machinery wouldn’t bother commenting on it so often.

              • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                5 months ago

                I don’t watch TV, but I’ve gotten the impression that for the last 2 years or so they’ve been talking less and less about sanctions. Which would make your idea of how this works consistent in a wrong fucking way.

                • mindlight@lemm.ee
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                  5 months ago

                  You have an impression about what they don’t talk about on TV based on that you don’t watch TV?

                  • ripcord@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    Based on the fact that they’ve accomplished almost nothing tells me they are toothless, personally.

                    Ratchet them way the fuck up.

                  • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                    5 months ago

                    Google the word “sample”.

                    Also we live in the society, don’t you know? When some old lady repeats stuff about Zelensky being a drug addict or a dumb joke about democracy in Ukraine, you know it’s not her own thoughts.

                    Point being - last time I heard anybody talk about sanctions like that, out of nowhere with bullshit mixed in, was more than a year ago.

            • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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              5 months ago

              [many citations needed]

              Also, you seem to be putting the actions of Putin (and the consequences of allowing him to get the country to this state) on to Europe and NATO. The fact is that these sanctions would not be in place if Putin didn’t invade a neighboring country for illegal annexation (specifically, Russia violated United Nations Charter Article 2, paragraph 4).

              I’m sorry to tell you that mass protests aren’t enough. As long as the Russian people are complicit (for example, by continuing to contribute to war efforts at their oil refinery jobs) and continue to allow Putin to govern, they will suffer.

              • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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                5 months ago

                Also, you seem to be putting the actions of Putin (and the consequences of allowing him to get the country to this state) on to Europe and NATO.

                I’m definitely putting it on Europe and NATO to act like some protector of democracy and then confirm Putin’s “elections” while there were widespread protests ongoing, and now when that criminal unelected regime they criminally supported invades another country, to blame people who’ve done their part to prevent it.

                I’m sorry to tell you that mass protests aren’t enough. As long as the Russian people are complicit (for example, by continuing to contribute to war efforts at their oil refinery jobs) and continue to allow Putin to govern, they will suffer.

                No, victims are not complicit in crimes even if being exploited to help those. You should be sorry for being a cheat.

                Also I still expect your justification or apology for western governments which confirmed Putin’s “elections”. Until then any word of a westerner on this matter is worth less than a bowl of piss.

                • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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                  5 months ago

                  Only the Russian people can fix the elections. NATO and the EU have nothing to do with that, so I’m not sure why you’re blaming them for “confirming” it when the only people that “confirmed” it were the Russian people who rolled over for yet another false election.

                  So you are owed no apology from NATO, and I certainly don’t owe you one.

    • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      5 months ago

      It would be very very bad for world if the folks at Kaspersky turned to black hat activity

    • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 months ago

      Kaspersky also has a bunch of US-based subsidiaries or partners they’re selling their software through. Or Apple could have just escrowed their reward until the embargo was over.