Tootfinder

Before you head out for the weekend, don't miss today's Metacurity for the crucial cybersecurity developments you should know, including
--A database with 149 million usernames and passwords was exposed on the internet,
--Venezuelan nationals who stole cash from ATMs using malware will be deported from US,
--FBI asked Microsoft to unlock encrypted laptops,
--Under Armour is investigating massive data breach,
--Tech investors want the US government to prob…

A database with 149 million usernames and passwords was exposed on the internet
Venezuelan nationals who stole cash from ATMs using malware will be deported from US, FBI asked Microsoft to unlock encrypted laptops, Under Armour is investigating massive data breach, Tech investors want the US government to probe S. Korea's treatment of Coupang following data breach, much more

Sequoia, a16z, and other VC firms invested $1.2B into police and public safety tech startups over the past year, following the success of Palantir and others (Abram Brown/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/a

Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Add to $1.2 Billion Funding Boom for Police Tech Startups
Over the past year, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and many of Silicon Valley’s other top venture capital firms have funneled at least $1.2 billion in funding to startups selling technology to city police departments and local public safety agencies. Those companies illustrate the technology industry’s growing enthusiasm for making software and hardware for the government and law

A judge blocks US government officials from examining devices seized from reporter Hannah Natanson's home until the judge can review and rule on access issues (Perry Stein/Washington Post)

Judge blocks government from searching data seized from Post reporter
Government officials may not examine electronic devices seized from a Post reporter until litigation stemming from the search of her home is settled, a judge rules.

Trump’s IRS chief reorganizes tax agency days before filing season
The Internal Revenue Service will reorganize its senior ranks
days before this year’s tax filing season opens
and try to use technology to become more efficient,
the Trump administration’s IRS leader Frank Bisignano told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Administration officials named Bisignano the IRS’s chief executive,
a role that does not formally exist in the agency’s governing structur…

Trump’s IRS chief reorganizes tax agency days before filing season
The Trump administration’s IRS chief, Frank Bisignano, is reorganizing the tax agency ahead of the upcoming tax filing season.

WaPo files a court motion, demanding the return of two phones, two laptops, a Garmin watch, and other devices seized from reporter Hannah Natanson's home (Perry Stein/Washington Post)

Washington Post demands government return materials seized from reporter
The Post demanded in a court filing Wednesday that federal law enforcement officials return electronic devices the government seized from a staff reporter’s home.

"Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland."
#GiftArticle #USPolitics
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/trump-letter-to-norway/685676/?gift=E9o0y7Rlfcfv2OQ1sSVCEm2HqWTlvBG_uUPQ_7tcOpI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

openAIs watchlist reversed, wonderful #OSINT and wonderful website: https://vmfunc.re/blog/persona

Trump promised Iranians the U.S. would rescue them.
They were betrayed.
Reeling from a crackdown on protesters in Iran that left thousands dead,
Iranians are now grappling with feelings of betrayal, confusion and uncertainty
after Donald Trump repeatedly promised to intervene on their behalf
and then declined to do so.

Some Iranians said in interviews that Trump’s words of support had added to their determination to resist the Iranian government
aft…

Trump promised Iranians the U.S. would rescue them. Some feel betrayed.
In the midst of the mass uprising in Iran, President Trump vowed the U.S. would intervene if the Iranian government killed protesters. Thousands are dead.

Sources: Pinduoduo and Temu owner PDD fires dozens following a fistfight between employees and Chinese officials probing fraudulent deliveries on its platform (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-17/pd…

PDD Fires Dozens of Workers After Fistfight With China Officials
PDD Holdings Inc. fired a government relations team in Shanghai following a fistfight between employees and Chinese regulators who were performing checks at the e-commerce company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s intensifying standoff with European leaders over the fate of Greenland
prompted a sharp response from investors Tuesday morning,
with the value of U.S. stocks, dollar and government bonds all falling.
The S&P 500 dropped over 1 percent
as investors reacted to Trump’s increasing threat of higher tariffs on European allies unless they supported his plans for America to take control of Greenland.
Tuesday morning’s decline was first time the index has st…

Stocks and Bonds Fall on Trump’s Greenland Threats
The S&P 500 dropped over 1 percent Tuesday morning, its lowest decline at the start of the trading day since April, when President Trump first announced his sweeping tariffs.