Companies worldwide struggled to recover after a wave of powerful cyberattacks crippled computer systems in Europe, Asia and the United States with a virus similar to the global ransomware assault in May that infected computers. Researchers at Kaspersky Lab in Russia said that its preliminary findings suggest the malware is a new kind of ransomware not seen before, not a variant of the Petya ransomware, as other cybersecurity researchers had suggested.
A German regulator has suspended the launch of a law obliging German telecom companies to keep telephone and Internet data for up to 10 weeks to help fight crime, citing a court ruling.The data retention law, which had been due to come into effect on Saturday, requires companies to keep data on the timing and duration of telephone calls, as well as online traffic through IP addresses. Location data from mobile phones is to be stored for four weeks.
FBI agents paid visits to at least a dozen employees of Kaspersky Lab, a Russia-based cyber-security company, asking questions about that company’s operations as part of a counter-intelligence inquiry, multiple sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. In a classic FBI investigative tactic, agents visited the homes of the employees at the end of the work day at multiple locations on both the east and west coasts, the sources said.
The Trump administration threatened to ban laptops and other large electronic devices from any international flight coming to the United States unless the airline meets new security checks, including enhanced airport screening and improved passenger vetting. Under a policy announced in March, U.S.-bound passengers traveling from 10 airports in the Middle East must store large electronic devices, including tablets and cameras, in their checked luggage, as the Trump administration seeks to address terrorist threats.
Canadian courts can force Internet search leader Google to remove results worldwide, the country's top court ruled, drawing criticism from civil liberties groups arguing such a move sets a precedent for censorship on the Internet. In its 7-2 decision, Canada's Supreme Court found that a court in the country can grant an injunction preventing conduct anywhere in the world when it is necessary to ensure the injunction's effectiveness.
A Florida man was sentenced to 5-1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to operating an illegal bitcoin exchange suspected of laundering money for hackers and linked to a data breach at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Anthony Murgio, 33, of Tampa, pleaded guilty on Jan. 9 to three conspiracy counts, including bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
A U.S. federal judge ruled against Qualcomm's motion to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed by the FTC, the Wall Street Journal reported. The suit alleges that Qualcomm used its power and position in the industry to extract high royalties from phone manufacturers and to weaken rivals.
Global businesses, including shipping giant A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, advertising firm WPP Group PLC and Russian oil company PAO Rosneft, reported significant cyberattacks against their computer systems. It was unclear how, or if, the attacks were related, but they spread simultaneously across Europe -- with some early reports of affected companies in the U.S. -- on the heels of a global attack in May.
Google lost its biggest regulatory battle yet, getting a record 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fine from European Union enforcers who say the search-engine giant skewed results to thwart smaller shopping search services. Alphabet Inc.’s Google has 90 days to "stop its illegal conduct" and give equal treatment to rival price-comparison services, according to a binding order from the European Commission.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai unveiled new details about a reported cyberattack that came after comedian John Oliver urged his viewers to flood the agency with pro-net neutrality comments. In response to a series of questions about the incident from Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Pai said he was taking the issue seriously.
Social media giants Facebook, Google's YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft said they were forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from their platforms. Responding to pressure from governments in Europe and the United States after a spate of militant attacks, the companies said they will share technical solutions for removing terrorist content, commission research to inform their counter-speech efforts and work more with counter-terrorism experts.
Government websites in Ohio, Maryland and New York have been hacked with what appears to be pro-ISIS propaganda. Visitors to governor.ohio.gov were greeted with a black background and an Arabic symbol while an Islamic call to prayer played in the background.
Parliament has been hit by a “sustained and determined” cyber-attack by hackers attempting to gain access to MPs’ and their staffers’ email accounts. Both houses of parliament were targeted in an attack that sought to gain access to accounts protected by weak passwords. MPs said they were unable to access their emails after the attack began.
One of the world’s largest science publishers, Elsevier, won a default legal judgment against websites that provide illicit access to tens of millions of research papers and books. A New York district court awarded Elsevier $15 million in damages for copyright infringement by Sci-Hub, the Library of Genesis (LibGen) project and related sites.
Google is stopping one of the most controversial advertising formats: ads inside Gmail that scan users’ email contents. The decision didn’t come from Google’s ad team, but from its cloud unit, which is angling to sign up more corporate customers.
Western technology companies, including Cisco, IBM and SAP, are acceding to demands by Moscow for access to closely guarded product security secrets, at a time when Russia has been accused of a growing number of cyber attacks on the West, a Reuters investigation has found. Russian authorities are asking Western tech companies to allow them to review source code for security products such as firewalls, anti-virus applications and software containing encryption before permitting the products to be imported and sold in the country.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has quietly decided to scrub an entire category of online content -- personal medical records -- from its search results, a departure from its typically hands-off approach to policing the web. Google lists the information it removes from its search results on its policy page, which recently added the line: “confidential, personal medical records of private people.”
President Donald Trump said that expanded access to broadband internet service in rural areas will be part of the infrastructure plan he will submit to Congress, helping to bridge a digital divide that leaves small towns behind. "I will be including a provision in our infrastructure proposal -- $1 trillion proposal, you’ll be seeing it very shortly -- to promote and foster, enhance broadband access for rural America also," Trump said in remarks at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Facebook is introducing new privacy tools to users in India, adding further protection to a user's profile pictures, as women in that country have reported that others have repurposed their image without their permission. The problem of online impersonation is a big one — ask anyone who's ever been "catfished," or found that their face was being used to trick others into becoming "friends," or forming an online relationship with an impersonator.
The hacking of state and local election databases in 2016 was more extensive than previously reported, including at least one successful attempt to alter voter information, and the theft of thousands of voter records that contain private information like partial Social Security numbers, current and former officials tell Time. In one case, investigators found there had been a manipulation of voter data in a county database but the alterations were discovered and rectified, two sources familiar with the matter tell Time.
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The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online — against cybersquatters, counterfeiters, copyright infringers and other bad actors who use your trademarks and content for their own advantage, without your permission.