Malware goes commercial. Last year, Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked after he received a message on WhatsApp containing a line of malware code. The incident has shed light on the malware, aka spyware, industry. Companies sell spyware to a wide range of consumers, simpler versions costing just $10. – NYT and WSJ

Whistleblowers in medicine. A New York university and its affiliated teaching hospital terminated two surgeons after they raised concerns about the university’s management of its heart-surgery and organ-transplant programs. The surgeons have sued seeking reinstatement of their jobs and lost compensation. – WSJ

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) suggests a “co-regulation” of artificial intelligence, “where government and industry work together to come up with a set of rules that then have some teeth.” Tech rules will vary between countries and specific technologies, which is part of the reason IBM released its recommendations. – WSJ and Bloomberg

The world of finance has begun to apply quantitative analysis, or quants, to decipher a particular company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score, even when such data is scarce. – Bloomberg

The slow to move interest rates set by the U.S. Federal Reserve have depressed macro traders’ returns for the last few years. Moving forward macro traders, such as Ray Dalio, will need to either weather the storm or take greater risk by exploring opportunities in foreign markets. – Bloomberg

Tesla becomes the world’s “[second] most valuable auto maker,” overtaking Volkswagen AG. If the company’s valuation holds, it could trigger a $346 million payday for Elon Musk. – WSJ and Bloomberg

Update from the 2020 Davos Forum: U.S. Commerce Secretary said the U.S. doesn’t plan on eliminating car tariffs; Europe plans to tax pollution and technology companies; and former U.S. Senator John Kerry waned that the window to address climate change is quickly closing. – Bloomberg

Crude prices fall due to concerns over the coronavirus potentially impacting the demand for oil and jet fuel. – WSJ 

Crude is the not only victim of the bug; global markets have also been negatively impacted. – WSJ

Kids are taking prank calls to a new level; we now live in the “SWATTing” culture. Forums on the public internet and dark web allow individuals to prank call 911 and have police deploy SWATT teams to what the police believe to be a hostage situation. Sometimes it takes the police hours to learn the entire situation was a hoax. – NYT