Facebook says it has not found any evidence “so far” that its attackers accessed third-party sites through Facebook Login.

It’s a sliver of good news about a massive data breach that the company first disclosed last week. Attackers accessed as many as 50 million accounts in the largest such breach of Facebook’s network.

“We have now analyzed our logs for all third-party apps installed or logged during the attack we discovered last week. That investigation has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login.” said Facebook’s Guy Rosen in a statement.

On Friday, Facebook (FB) announced unknown attackers had exploited a vulnerability to access the accounts. They were able to view other people’s Facebook profiles as if they were the accounts’ owners. For example, they could see friends’ profiles and updates.

Facebook says it closed the loophole on Thursday night, but 90 million users were forcefully logged out of their accounts as a precaution.

The attackers stole Facebook “access tokens,” which keep a person logged into their Facebook account over long periods. Facebook reset all 50 million tokens, as well as tokens for an additional 40 million people who had used the “view as” feature in the past year as a precautionary step.

During a call about the hack last week, Rosen said the attackers would have also been able to access third-party sites using Facebook Login, but the company had found no evidence of them doing so.

Hundreds of sites and apps including Tinder, Spotify and Airbnb use Facebook Login, which lets people access the services with their Facebook username and password. Early this week, developers were confused about whether their services had been exposed in the Facebook hack.

The company says partners following Facebook “best practices” were automatically protected. Some developers might not have followed those rules, and they could have put their users at risk.

“We’re sorry that this attack happened — and we’ll continue to update people as we find out more,” Rosen said.

— CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (San Francisco ) First published October 2, 2018: 7:13 PM ET

Western brands are having to work harder to win over customers in China.

Where American or European companies could once expect to find an enormous market hungry for their products, changing tastes and the challenge from new Chinese rivals are forcing them to adopt new strategies to succeed in the world’s second biggest economy.

The sterner challenge facing big names such as Starbucks (SBUX) and Apple (AAPL) has nothing to do with the trade war. At least, not yet. It’s about new competition and increased wealth.

“It doesn’t work to just show up anymore,” said Benjamin Cavender, a Shanghai-based analyst at consulting firm China Market Research Group, referring to brands that are household names in the West. “Chinese consumer tastes are evolving rapidly.”

Coca-Cola (CCE) is one of the top companies that’s having to adapt to this new reality.

“We’ve seen a tremendous change in the consumption patterns,” Curtis Ferguson, the company’s China CEO, told CNN at last week’s World Economic Forum in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

Coke has launched more than 30 new drink brands in China in the past six months and now has about 275 in total, Ferguson said. They range from regular Coke to more exotic varieties with flavorings like yellow bean and apple fiber. Coke even has its own line of teas in China.

That’s a big change from the Atlanta-based company’s previous approach of relying on the strength of its brand.

The philosophy was “let them drink Coke,” Ferguson said. He argued Western companies can’t afford to treat their brands as sacrosanct.

“Either you destroy your own brand in China, or someone else is going to do it for you,” he said.

Starbucks learned the difficulties of shifting Chinese consumer habits the hard way.

The coffee chain has about 3,000 stores in the country, making it one of its top markets. But in June, the company reported a sudden slowdown in growth in China, just weeks after it had announced plans for rapid expansion there.

That’s partly because it faces growing competition from an upstart local competitor. Luckin Coffee opened its first store in China less than a year ago. Now it has more than 500. Many of its customers order coffees online for delivery or takeout. Chinese consumers are also increasingly turning to delivery apps, like Meituan Dianping, for food or drinks.

“Starbucks has always been slow adopting technology in China,” Cavender said. Its customers “were tired of waiting in line to place orders.”

The global coffee giant is now trying to correct course. In August, it teamed up with Alibaba (BABA), China’s largest e-commerce company, to launch delivery services.

Global carmakers are also scrambling to keep pace with changes in China’s auto market, the world’s biggest. It’s being shaken up by the rapid spread of electric vehicles, which have been promoted through government subsidies, resulting in a crowded market.

Francois Provost, Asia-Pacific chairman of Renault (RNLSY), said the French carmaker is now fighting competition from both traditional rivals and new upstarts in China. Local player Nio (NIO), for example, sells an SUV in China that costs about half the price of Tesla’s (TSLA) Model X.

Sticker price is crucial in China, Provost said, as most customers are first-time buyers. But drivers are also demanding electric vehicles with longer battery life as networks of charging stations are still being built out across the country.

“The big challenge is increasing the efficiency of the range and reducing user costs at the same time,” Provost said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum. That will be tough for automakers, he predicts: “I can’t honestly say we have full visibility on this.”

Apple (AAPL) has lost market share in China to local rivals over the past two years. The iPhone accounts for less than 10% of smartphone sales in the country, analysts estimate. In the United States, it accounts for about 40%.

Apple is facing fierce competition from Chinese players such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.

“In recent years, Apple has slid quite a lot in the Chinese market,” said Canalys researcher Mo Jia. “The very aggressive tech innovation from Chinese brands is changing the high-end landscape.”

The US company’s latest models, the XS and XS Max, include features that could boost their appeal in the Chinese market, like dual SIM cards and a larger screen. But analysts are skeptical these will make much difference.

“Apple is fighting a bit of a losing battle,” Cavender said.

— Sherisse Pham and Rishi Iyengar contributed to this report.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published September 25, 2018: 10:23 PM ET

CNN
 — 

It’s time for investors to start making safer bets.

That’s what Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital, told CNNMoney editor-at-large Richard Quest on “Markets Now” on Wednesday.

“Defense is more important than offense” right now, said Marks, the author of “Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side.”

Investors should consider taking a stake in utilities, and decreasing their investments in more volatile tech stocks, he said.

Defense is the name of the game for a few reasons.

Though stocks have been soaring, Marks warned that we may be nearing the end of the bull cycle.

“I’m not saying get out,” he said. “I think that being out of the market is pretty dangerous today, and I think it would be a mistake to raise cash.” But more reliable stocks can protect investors from big losses if the climate changes.

Marks also pointed to the trade war with China as another reason for investors to tread carefully.

“We have a trade battle with China, it’s probably going to get solved, but it may go off the rails,” he said. “And if it goes off the rails, it has very serious consequences for the world economy.”

“Markets Now” streams live from the New York Stock Exchange every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET. Hosted by CNNMoney’s business correspondents, the 15-minute program features incisive commentary from experts.

You can watch “Markets Now” at CNNMoney.com/MarketsNow from your desk or on your phone or tablet. If you can’t catch the show live, check out highlights online and through the Markets Now newsletter, delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

Facebook says it has not found any evidence “so far” that its attackers accessed third-party sites through Facebook Login.

It’s a sliver of good news about a massive data breach that the company first disclosed last week. Attackers accessed as many as 50 million accounts in the largest such breach of Facebook’s network.

“We have now analyzed our logs for all third-party apps installed or logged during the attack we discovered last week. That investigation has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login.” said Facebook’s Guy Rosen in a statement.

On Friday, Facebook (FB) announced unknown attackers had exploited a vulnerability to access the accounts. They were able to view other people’s Facebook profiles as if they were the accounts’ owners. For example, they could see friends’ profiles and updates.

Facebook says it closed the loophole on Thursday night, but 90 million users were forcefully logged out of their accounts as a precaution.

The attackers stole Facebook “access tokens,” which keep a person logged into their Facebook account over long periods. Facebook reset all 50 million tokens, as well as tokens for an additional 40 million people who had used the “view as” feature in the past year as a precautionary step.

During a call about the hack last week, Rosen said the attackers would have also been able to access third-party sites using Facebook Login, but the company had found no evidence of them doing so.

Hundreds of sites and apps including Tinder, Spotify and Airbnb use Facebook Login, which lets people access the services with their Facebook username and password. Early this week, developers were confused about whether their services had been exposed in the Facebook hack.

The company says partners following Facebook “best practices” were automatically protected. Some developers might not have followed those rules, and they could have put their users at risk.

“We’re sorry that this attack happened — and we’ll continue to update people as we find out more,” Rosen said.

— CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (San Francisco ) First published October 2, 2018: 7:13 PM ET

Western brands are having to work harder to win over customers in China.

Where American or European companies could once expect to find an enormous market hungry for their products, changing tastes and the challenge from new Chinese rivals are forcing them to adopt new strategies to succeed in the world’s second biggest economy.

The sterner challenge facing big names such as Starbucks (SBUX) and Apple (AAPL) has nothing to do with the trade war. At least, not yet. It’s about new competition and increased wealth.

“It doesn’t work to just show up anymore,” said Benjamin Cavender, a Shanghai-based analyst at consulting firm China Market Research Group, referring to brands that are household names in the West. “Chinese consumer tastes are evolving rapidly.”

Coca-Cola (CCE) is one of the top companies that’s having to adapt to this new reality.

“We’ve seen a tremendous change in the consumption patterns,” Curtis Ferguson, the company’s China CEO, told CNN at last week’s World Economic Forum in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

Coke has launched more than 30 new drink brands in China in the past six months and now has about 275 in total, Ferguson said. They range from regular Coke to more exotic varieties with flavorings like yellow bean and apple fiber. Coke even has its own line of teas in China.

That’s a big change from the Atlanta-based company’s previous approach of relying on the strength of its brand.

The philosophy was “let them drink Coke,” Ferguson said. He argued Western companies can’t afford to treat their brands as sacrosanct.

“Either you destroy your own brand in China, or someone else is going to do it for you,” he said.

Starbucks learned the difficulties of shifting Chinese consumer habits the hard way.

The coffee chain has about 3,000 stores in the country, making it one of its top markets. But in June, the company reported a sudden slowdown in growth in China, just weeks after it had announced plans for rapid expansion there.

That’s partly because it faces growing competition from an upstart local competitor. Luckin Coffee opened its first store in China less than a year ago. Now it has more than 500. Many of its customers order coffees online for delivery or takeout. Chinese consumers are also increasingly turning to delivery apps, like Meituan Dianping, for food or drinks.

“Starbucks has always been slow adopting technology in China,” Cavender said. Its customers “were tired of waiting in line to place orders.”

The global coffee giant is now trying to correct course. In August, it teamed up with Alibaba (BABA), China’s largest e-commerce company, to launch delivery services.

Global carmakers are also scrambling to keep pace with changes in China’s auto market, the world’s biggest. It’s being shaken up by the rapid spread of electric vehicles, which have been promoted through government subsidies, resulting in a crowded market.

Francois Provost, Asia-Pacific chairman of Renault (RNLSY), said the French carmaker is now fighting competition from both traditional rivals and new upstarts in China. Local player Nio (NIO), for example, sells an SUV in China that costs about half the price of Tesla’s (TSLA) Model X.

Sticker price is crucial in China, Provost said, as most customers are first-time buyers. But drivers are also demanding electric vehicles with longer battery life as networks of charging stations are still being built out across the country.

“The big challenge is increasing the efficiency of the range and reducing user costs at the same time,” Provost said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum. That will be tough for automakers, he predicts: “I can’t honestly say we have full visibility on this.”

Apple (AAPL) has lost market share in China to local rivals over the past two years. The iPhone accounts for less than 10% of smartphone sales in the country, analysts estimate. In the United States, it accounts for about 40%.

Apple is facing fierce competition from Chinese players such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.

“In recent years, Apple has slid quite a lot in the Chinese market,” said Canalys researcher Mo Jia. “The very aggressive tech innovation from Chinese brands is changing the high-end landscape.”

The US company’s latest models, the XS and XS Max, include features that could boost their appeal in the Chinese market, like dual SIM cards and a larger screen. But analysts are skeptical these will make much difference.

“Apple is fighting a bit of a losing battle,” Cavender said.

— Sherisse Pham and Rishi Iyengar contributed to this report.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published September 25, 2018: 10:23 PM ET

CNN
 — 

It’s time for investors to start making safer bets.

That’s what Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital, told CNNMoney editor-at-large Richard Quest on “Markets Now” on Wednesday.

“Defense is more important than offense” right now, said Marks, the author of “Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side.”

Investors should consider taking a stake in utilities, and decreasing their investments in more volatile tech stocks, he said.

Defense is the name of the game for a few reasons.

Though stocks have been soaring, Marks warned that we may be nearing the end of the bull cycle.

“I’m not saying get out,” he said. “I think that being out of the market is pretty dangerous today, and I think it would be a mistake to raise cash.” But more reliable stocks can protect investors from big losses if the climate changes.

Marks also pointed to the trade war with China as another reason for investors to tread carefully.

“We have a trade battle with China, it’s probably going to get solved, but it may go off the rails,” he said. “And if it goes off the rails, it has very serious consequences for the world economy.”

“Markets Now” streams live from the New York Stock Exchange every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET. Hosted by CNNMoney’s business correspondents, the 15-minute program features incisive commentary from experts.

You can watch “Markets Now” at CNNMoney.com/MarketsNow from your desk or on your phone or tablet. If you can’t catch the show live, check out highlights online and through the Markets Now newsletter, delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

Facebook says it has not found any evidence “so far” that its attackers accessed third-party sites through Facebook Login.

It’s a sliver of good news about a massive data breach that the company first disclosed last week. Attackers accessed as many as 50 million accounts in the largest such breach of Facebook’s network.

“We have now analyzed our logs for all third-party apps installed or logged during the attack we discovered last week. That investigation has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login.” said Facebook’s Guy Rosen in a statement.

On Friday, Facebook (FB) announced unknown attackers had exploited a vulnerability to access the accounts. They were able to view other people’s Facebook profiles as if they were the accounts’ owners. For example, they could see friends’ profiles and updates.

Facebook says it closed the loophole on Thursday night, but 90 million users were forcefully logged out of their accounts as a precaution.

The attackers stole Facebook “access tokens,” which keep a person logged into their Facebook account over long periods. Facebook reset all 50 million tokens, as well as tokens for an additional 40 million people who had used the “view as” feature in the past year as a precautionary step.

During a call about the hack last week, Rosen said the attackers would have also been able to access third-party sites using Facebook Login, but the company had found no evidence of them doing so.

Hundreds of sites and apps including Tinder, Spotify and Airbnb use Facebook Login, which lets people access the services with their Facebook username and password. Early this week, developers were confused about whether their services had been exposed in the Facebook hack.

The company says partners following Facebook “best practices” were automatically protected. Some developers might not have followed those rules, and they could have put their users at risk.

“We’re sorry that this attack happened — and we’ll continue to update people as we find out more,” Rosen said.

— CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (San Francisco ) First published October 2, 2018: 7:13 PM ET

Western brands are having to work harder to win over customers in China.

Where American or European companies could once expect to find an enormous market hungry for their products, changing tastes and the challenge from new Chinese rivals are forcing them to adopt new strategies to succeed in the world’s second biggest economy.

The sterner challenge facing big names such as Starbucks (SBUX) and Apple (AAPL) has nothing to do with the trade war. At least, not yet. It’s about new competition and increased wealth.

“It doesn’t work to just show up anymore,” said Benjamin Cavender, a Shanghai-based analyst at consulting firm China Market Research Group, referring to brands that are household names in the West. “Chinese consumer tastes are evolving rapidly.”

Coca-Cola (CCE) is one of the top companies that’s having to adapt to this new reality.

“We’ve seen a tremendous change in the consumption patterns,” Curtis Ferguson, the company’s China CEO, told CNN at last week’s World Economic Forum in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

Coke has launched more than 30 new drink brands in China in the past six months and now has about 275 in total, Ferguson said. They range from regular Coke to more exotic varieties with flavorings like yellow bean and apple fiber. Coke even has its own line of teas in China.

That’s a big change from the Atlanta-based company’s previous approach of relying on the strength of its brand.

The philosophy was “let them drink Coke,” Ferguson said. He argued Western companies can’t afford to treat their brands as sacrosanct.

“Either you destroy your own brand in China, or someone else is going to do it for you,” he said.

Starbucks learned the difficulties of shifting Chinese consumer habits the hard way.

The coffee chain has about 3,000 stores in the country, making it one of its top markets. But in June, the company reported a sudden slowdown in growth in China, just weeks after it had announced plans for rapid expansion there.

That’s partly because it faces growing competition from an upstart local competitor. Luckin Coffee opened its first store in China less than a year ago. Now it has more than 500. Many of its customers order coffees online for delivery or takeout. Chinese consumers are also increasingly turning to delivery apps, like Meituan Dianping, for food or drinks.

“Starbucks has always been slow adopting technology in China,” Cavender said. Its customers “were tired of waiting in line to place orders.”

The global coffee giant is now trying to correct course. In August, it teamed up with Alibaba (BABA), China’s largest e-commerce company, to launch delivery services.

Global carmakers are also scrambling to keep pace with changes in China’s auto market, the world’s biggest. It’s being shaken up by the rapid spread of electric vehicles, which have been promoted through government subsidies, resulting in a crowded market.

Francois Provost, Asia-Pacific chairman of Renault (RNLSY), said the French carmaker is now fighting competition from both traditional rivals and new upstarts in China. Local player Nio (NIO), for example, sells an SUV in China that costs about half the price of Tesla’s (TSLA) Model X.

Sticker price is crucial in China, Provost said, as most customers are first-time buyers. But drivers are also demanding electric vehicles with longer battery life as networks of charging stations are still being built out across the country.

“The big challenge is increasing the efficiency of the range and reducing user costs at the same time,” Provost said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum. That will be tough for automakers, he predicts: “I can’t honestly say we have full visibility on this.”

Apple (AAPL) has lost market share in China to local rivals over the past two years. The iPhone accounts for less than 10% of smartphone sales in the country, analysts estimate. In the United States, it accounts for about 40%.

Apple is facing fierce competition from Chinese players such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.

“In recent years, Apple has slid quite a lot in the Chinese market,” said Canalys researcher Mo Jia. “The very aggressive tech innovation from Chinese brands is changing the high-end landscape.”

The US company’s latest models, the XS and XS Max, include features that could boost their appeal in the Chinese market, like dual SIM cards and a larger screen. But analysts are skeptical these will make much difference.

“Apple is fighting a bit of a losing battle,” Cavender said.

— Sherisse Pham and Rishi Iyengar contributed to this report.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published September 25, 2018: 10:23 PM ET

CNN
 — 

It’s time for investors to start making safer bets.

That’s what Howard Marks, co-chairman of Oaktree Capital, told CNNMoney editor-at-large Richard Quest on “Markets Now” on Wednesday.

“Defense is more important than offense” right now, said Marks, the author of “Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side.”

Investors should consider taking a stake in utilities, and decreasing their investments in more volatile tech stocks, he said.

Defense is the name of the game for a few reasons.

Though stocks have been soaring, Marks warned that we may be nearing the end of the bull cycle.

“I’m not saying get out,” he said. “I think that being out of the market is pretty dangerous today, and I think it would be a mistake to raise cash.” But more reliable stocks can protect investors from big losses if the climate changes.

Marks also pointed to the trade war with China as another reason for investors to tread carefully.

“We have a trade battle with China, it’s probably going to get solved, but it may go off the rails,” he said. “And if it goes off the rails, it has very serious consequences for the world economy.”

“Markets Now” streams live from the New York Stock Exchange every Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET. Hosted by CNNMoney’s business correspondents, the 15-minute program features incisive commentary from experts.

You can watch “Markets Now” at CNNMoney.com/MarketsNow from your desk or on your phone or tablet. If you can’t catch the show live, check out highlights online and through the Markets Now newsletter, delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

Facebook says it has not found any evidence “so far” that its attackers accessed third-party sites through Facebook Login.

It’s a sliver of good news about a massive data breach that the company first disclosed last week. Attackers accessed as many as 50 million accounts in the largest such breach of Facebook’s network.

“We have now analyzed our logs for all third-party apps installed or logged during the attack we discovered last week. That investigation has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login.” said Facebook’s Guy Rosen in a statement.

On Friday, Facebook (FB) announced unknown attackers had exploited a vulnerability to access the accounts. They were able to view other people’s Facebook profiles as if they were the accounts’ owners. For example, they could see friends’ profiles and updates.

Facebook says it closed the loophole on Thursday night, but 90 million users were forcefully logged out of their accounts as a precaution.

The attackers stole Facebook “access tokens,” which keep a person logged into their Facebook account over long periods. Facebook reset all 50 million tokens, as well as tokens for an additional 40 million people who had used the “view as” feature in the past year as a precautionary step.

During a call about the hack last week, Rosen said the attackers would have also been able to access third-party sites using Facebook Login, but the company had found no evidence of them doing so.

Hundreds of sites and apps including Tinder, Spotify and Airbnb use Facebook Login, which lets people access the services with their Facebook username and password. Early this week, developers were confused about whether their services had been exposed in the Facebook hack.

The company says partners following Facebook “best practices” were automatically protected. Some developers might not have followed those rules, and they could have put their users at risk.

“We’re sorry that this attack happened — and we’ll continue to update people as we find out more,” Rosen said.

— CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (San Francisco ) First published October 2, 2018: 7:13 PM ET