Technology

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | ljhimages)

AT-T has told employees that hiring President Trump's personal lawyer was a "big mistake." AT-T is also reportedly forcing its chief lobbyist to retire.

"Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged," AT-T CEO Randall Stephenson told employees in an internal memo Friday. "There is no other way to say it—AT-T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake."

The memo was published by The Washington Post.The memo said that chief lobbyist Bob Quinn is retiring, "but a person familiar with the matter said Mr. Quinn was being forced to leave," according to The Wall Street Journal.

Enlarge / On the left, a legitimate Chrome extension. On the right, one of seven recently discovered malicious Chrome extensions impersonating it. (credit: Radware)

Criminals infected more than 100,000 computers with browser extensions that stole login credentials, surreptitiously mined cryptocurrencies, and engaged in click fraud. The malicious extensions were hosted in Googleofficial Chrome Web Store.

The scam was active since at least March with seven malicious extensions known so far, researchers with security firm Radware reported Thursday. Google's security team removed five of the extensions on its own and removed two more after Radware reported them. In all, the malicious add-ons infected more than 100,000 users, at least one of which was inside a "well-protected network" of an unnamed global manufacturing firm, Radware said.

Secure browser, weak link

Over the past eight months, malicious Chrome extensions have proved to be an Achilles' heel for the Internet's most widely used and arguably most secure browser. Last August, lax rules for securing extension-developer accounts led to the compromise of two extensions installed on millions of computers. In two separate incidents in January, researchers found at least five malicious extensions installed more than 500,000 times. Two weeks ago, Trend Micro documented the return of FacexWorm, a malicious extension that was first spotted seven months earlier.

Enlarge / Michael Cohen, longtime personal lawyer and confidant for President Donald Trump, arrives at the United States District Court Southern District of New York on April 26, 2018 in New York City. (credit: Getty Images | Spencer Platt )

Congressional Democrats are asking US regulators for information on whether AT-T payments to President Trump's personal lawyer were made in order to influence the government's review of AT-T's merger with Time Warner Inc.

AT-T paid $600,000 to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's shell company, Essential Consultants, "the same vehicle he used in October 2016 to direct $130,000 to the adult-film actress known professionally as Stormy Daniels to stay silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006," The Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) yesterday asked the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division for answers.