Alex Stamos, Facebook’s recently departed chief security officer, says it’s already too late to protect the 2018 U.S. midterm elections — Russia has not been deterred from attacking U.S. democracy using American technologies, and Iran is following in its footsteps. If the U.S. government stays on its current course, it risks allowing elections to become the World Cup of information warfare. But here’s how the U.S. can prepare for 2020. [Alex Stamos / Lawfare]
Recode Daily: Is it already too late to protect the 2018 U.S. midterm elections?
Plus, another big-deal business exec is leaving Facebook; check out the 132 startups pitching at Y Combinator’s Demo Days; the other reason people wear AirPods.
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The U.S. Democratic National Committee said it thwarted an attempted hack of its voter database. A cloud service provider reportedly alerted the DNC that a fake login page had been created in an attempt to gather usernames and passwords to access the voter database used by Democratic Party officials and campaigns across the country. The DNC contacted the FBI, but said it has no reason to believe its voter file was accessed or altered.[Donie O’Sullivan / CNN]
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issued a subpoena to Michael Cohen — President Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” — as part of its continuing probe into whether the Trump Foundation violated New York tax laws. The tax department subpoena comes a day after Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts — including tax fraud, false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations tied to his work for Trump. [Erica Orden and Sophie Tatum / CNN]
Dan Rose, one of Facebook’s most important business executives, is leaving the company. Rose, who joined Facebook in 2006, oversaw the business development team and was in charge of deals with partners like media companies, and distributors like Apple and Google. He also headed up Facebook’s mergers and acquisitions group. It’s the second big-deal Facebook departure this summer: Elliot Schrage, the longtime head of Facebook’s public policy and communications group, announced his departure in June. [Peter Kafka / Recode]
Facebook had to remove one of its apps, which was spying on its users, from Apple’s iOS App Store. The app, Onavo Protect, was a free VPN service that claimed to “keep you and your data safe.” But Facebook was collecting all the data — and using it to track its rivals. It’s the latest in Apple’s sometimes-tense back-and-forth with Facebook about user privacy.[Deepa Seetharaman / WSJ]
Here’s your first glimpse of the wannabe-a-star companies of the near future: At Y Combinator’s latest Demo Days, 132 early-stage startups showed their stuff, from “cheese 2.0” to connecting flights for satellites. B2B software and services was the biggest vertical represented; health-care-related startups were close behind with 28 percent. Check out all the pitches from Day 1 and Day 2. [TechCrunch]
The founders of two popular, digital-first consumer brands — custom frame maker Framebridge and luggage designer and seller Away — will appear onstage at our Code Commerce event on September 17 and 18 in New York City to dive deep into the evolution of their marketing strategies. Framebridge’s Susan Tynan and Away’s Jen Rubio will join an already impressive slate of industry leaders — including the CEOs of companies like Macy’s, Shopify, Chobani, Instacart and India’s Flipkart — in Recode’s signature unscripted interviews. Attendees will also get to choose from on-location experiences inside the storefronts and offices of brands like Macy’s, Casper and PayPal. Last year’s Code Commerce event sold out, and we expect this year’s will, too. Be smart — register today.
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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