Open Source: Can’t pay the ransom

Hey all! In this week’s Open Source, the curious case of the $100 million New Jersey deli has Triangle connections and another local tech company requires its staff to come back to the office. But first, a look at the unique way North Carolina responds to ransomware.

No way to pay

Last November, North Carolina became the first state to bar local governments and state agencies from paying, or even communicating with, ransomware attackers. For North Carolina leaders, the policy’s logic is pretty straightforward: If hackers can’t get paid for attacking local governments, K-12 districts, and public universities, they won’t attack them.

But ransomware experts argue this approach has been ill-advised.

In retrospect, something was suspicious

How did a deli in New Jersey become worth more than $100 million? Through fraud, U.S. prosecutors say, one spearheaded by three men with connections to the Triangle business community.

Come back soon

Lenovo is the latest major Triangle tech employer to require workers return to the office, announcing a three-days-a-week expectation starting on Halloween.

Quantum Leap

Here’s my dive into how Triangle researchers are contributing to the great quantum computing race.

Durham’s Black Founders Exchange week

Black entrepreneurs gathered in downtown Durham this week for the Black Founders Exchange. The program, sponsored by Google, offers startup founders mentorship, networking and feedback from business experts who help them hone their pitches.

National Tech Happenings

• The Supreme Court said it will hear a case that could significantly alter Section 230, the law granting social media companies like Twitter, Google and Meta the ability to remove content from their platforms without being held liable as the publishers of those sites. This could transform how these companies operate. Google, which owns YouTube, and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have growing presences in the Triangle.

• The interminable Elon Musk-Twitter drama slogs on. On Thursday, a Delaware judge gave the eccentric gazillionaire until Oct. 28 to either complete his purchase of Twitter or face a trial.

• The Biden administration doesn’t want China to obtain advanced American-made semiconductors and is planning additional trade restrictions as a result.

Podcast Pick of the Week

Care to hear more about how North Carolina’s ransomware payment ban came to be? Late last year, The Extortion Economy podcast from MIT Technology Review spoke with North Carolina State Representative Jake Johnson on the ban he cosponsored.

Thanks for reading!

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.

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