Dominion Voting Systems Uses Firm That Was Hacked

Luckin Coffee to Pay $180 Million Penalty to Settle Accounting Fraud Charges: US SEC

China-based startup Luckin Coffee Inc. has agreed to pay a $180 million penalty to settle accounting fraud charges for “intentionally and materially” overstating its 2019 revenue and understating a net loss, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday. The U.S. Securities and Commission (SEC) fine on the China-based rival to Starbucks comes after it said earlier this year that much of its 2019 sales were fabricated, sending its shares plunging and sparking an investigation by China’s securities regulator and the SEC. The SEC said it found that Luckin “intentionally and materially overstated its reported revenue and expenses and materially understated its net loss in its publicly disclosed financial statements in 2019.” Luckin has not admitted or denied the charges, the SEC said. The company has agreed to pay the penalty, which may…

A company that provides voting systems in 28 states uses an internet technology firm that was recently hacked.

Dominion Voting Systems uses SolarWinds software, according to a Dominion web page.

SolarWinds does not list Dominion on its partial customer listing but says its products and services are used by more than 300,000 customers around the world, including all five branches of the U.S. military and more than 425 of the U.S. Fortune 500.

The situation with SolarWinds software enabled hackers to gain access to the U.S. Commerce Department and, reportedly, the Treasury Department.

SolarWinds聽Orion products are currently being exploited by malicious actors,聽the聽Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency (CISA) said. The tactic lets an attacker gain access to network traffic management systems.

The only known mitigation measure currently available is to disconnect affected devices, according to the agency.

SolarWinds recommended customers upgrade their Orion platform to a recent version. If customers aren’t able to upgrade immediately, they were urged to disable internet access for the platform and limit聽ports and connections to only what is necessary. A patch is expected on Tuesday.

Dominion didn’t respond to a request for comment, including whether it had followed the measures recommended by either CISA or SolarWinds. Dominion also didn’t return a voicemail.

According to FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, the hackers inserted malicious code into legitimate software updates for the SolarWinds Orion software. The code enabled an attacker to gain remote access to the victim’s systems.

Dominion Voting Systems Uses Firm That Was Hacked

The malware was designed in a way to not alert the victim to the intrusion, and attackers went to significant lengths to blend into normal activity.

The breaches date back to the spring, according to the firm, which has been in touch with SolarWinds, the FBI, and other key partners.

The activity is being probed by the FBI, the firm said. The bureau has told The Epoch Times that it doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations.

Dominion has been in the spotlight in recent weeks because of how widespread its systems and machines are in the United States. Witnesses have come forward to say that Dominion products were connected to the internet during the Nov. 3 election, raising concerns about security. Dominion machines were used in Antrim County, Michigan, where officials initially reported Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden winning before saying President Donald Trump actually won after discovering聽approximately 6,000 votes for Trump had somehow flipped to Biden.

Michigan and Dominion officials have insisted that what happened was due to human error but a forensic audit showed that it was actually a software issue, an attorney pressing a case against the county said last week.

A judge is slated to decide whether to approve an emergency motion seeking permission to make the audit public on Monday morning.

Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.

Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber

Focus News: Dominion Voting Systems Uses Firm That Was Hacked

Half of Australia’s Largest Chinese Media Outlets Linked to Beijing’s United Front: Report

A new report has confirmed long-standing concerns that Australia’s Chinese-language media landscape is dominated by outlets “friendly towards the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” “The influence environment” by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analysed the content, political stances, business ties, and management structures of 24 of the largest Chinese-language media (print and online), located mainly in the country’s capital cities. It found that executives from 12 media outlets have been members of organisations controlled by the United Front Work Department, Beijing’s foremost overseas infiltration organ. At the same time, four outlets were directly owned or received financial support from the CCP. One of the largest online Chinese language media is Sydney Today, who had an alleged 670,000 followers in 2019. The co-founder of Sydney Today, Stan Chen was also listed…