Catch up quick

@ D.C.

🇨🇳 The FBI said its ongoing investigation of the China-linked telecommunications hacks has revealed a "broad and significant" cyberespionage campaign mostly targeting government officials. (Associated Press)

🏛️ Trump has tapped former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has no formal intelligence experience, to lead the intelligence community — stunning even members of Congress. (Politico)

☁️ The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch an investigation into anticompetitive practices at Microsoft's cloud computing business. (Financial Times)

@ Industry

👀 Microsoft's $150 million promise to the U.S. government for free cyber assistance in 2021 actually deepened agencies' reliance on a single vendor and made it harder for them to work with other cyber vendors. (ProPublica)

🤝 Bitsight is acquiring threat intelligence firm Cybersixgill in a $115 million deal. (CyberScoop)

🍎 Apple says that iOS 18 has a new security feature that reboots a phone if it hasn't been unlocked for 72 hours, making it harder for thieves — and law enforcement — to access it. (TechCrunch)

@ Hackers and hacks

🪙 Ilya Lichtenstein — one half of the husband-and-wife hacker duo who pled guilty last year to charges related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack — was sentenced to five years in prison. (Axios)

🚔 An Idaho man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing personal information about more than 132,000 people and extorting a Florida health care provider in exchange for stolen records. (Dark Reading)

📮 Scammers have been sending malware via actual physical letters to people in Switzerland, local government officials warned. (The Record)