1Password Reveals US$100M Funding Round

Password management platform 1Password has revealed it has raised funding worth US$100m. Business is booming thanks to new at-home and hybrid working arrangements, VentureBeat reported.

According to 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner, while multiple factors have aligned to drive demand for password management tools, the single biggest change since its last fundraise has been society’s rapid transition from offices to remote or hybrid working. “Businesses — both large and small — were forced overnight to adopt a remote way of working,” Shiner told VentureBeat. “That switch meant that companies, most of whom were used to a centralized office, suddenly needed to support employees using their own devices, at home on their own potentially insecure networks. With the remote-hybrid shift came a proliferation of SaaS tools to help keep people and teams productive. Many of these tools are brought in to help specific teams solve specific problems, which means that across an organization, there can be hundreds of different software products — all requiring unique logins and access.” Helping workers stay on top of all their login credentials is where 1Password comes into play.

Hackers Increasingly Using Discord to Spread Malware

Researchers found that hackers are turning to Discord to spread malware, such as password-hijacking and Discord chat bot APIs.

But the greatest percentage of the malware we found have a focus on credential and personal information theft, a wide variety of stealer malware as well as more versatile RATs. The threat actors behind these operations employed social engineering to spread credential-stealing malware, then use the victims’ harvested Discord credentials to target additional Discord users.

Apple Wallet Supports Australian Health Insurance Cards Via HICAPS App

Australians are now able to add digital health insurance cards to their Apple Wallet via the Health Industry Claims and Payments Service (HICAPS) app. 9to5Mac has a good explainer of how it all works.

In Australia, when you pay a visit to an Extras provider, the receptionist provides you with a bill and asks if you have health coverage. At that point, you can hand them your HIF membership card and they’ll swipe it through an electronic claiming terminal known as a HICAPS machine. Now, with the Apple Wallet integration, users can just double click the side button on their iPhone with Face ID or double click the Touch ID button to view the health insurance card on the Wallet. Then, they just have to select their health fund membership card from Apple Wallet and hold the iPhone or Apple Watch near the terminal reader.

Oil Producer ‘Wesco’ Uses Excess Natural Gas to Mine Bitcoin

Utah-based oil company Wesco Operating Co. is using excess gas (natural, not Ethereum) to power a Bitcoin mining operation.

Rather than being “flared,” or burned, to eliminate it, the natural gas is burned to run electrical generators, which in turn power two mobile data centers that process Bitcoin transactions, Wesco representative Steve Degenfelder explained.

The company has connected with a Chicago-based firm, EZ Blockchain, to acquire the two Bitcoin “miners,” portable data processors tied to the Internet.

Learn iPhone Filmmaking Techniques

Apple shared a new video on Monday that showed how various filmmaking techniques can be achieved on the iPhone. They use the Ultra Wide Lens, create a DIY crane shot, and spooky blue light effect with relatively few resources. It’s a fascinating insight into what can be achieved with a handheld device.