China Wants U.S. Firms to Store Data in Country

The Chinese government, which has long used its country’s vast market as leverage over American technology companies, is now asking some of those firms to directly pledge their commitment to contentious policies that could require them to turn user data and intellectual property over to the government. The government distributed a document to some American tech companies earlier this summer, in which it asked the companies to promise they would not harm China’s national security and would store Chinese user data within the country, according to three people with knowledge of the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

White House Refuses Details on Chinese Sanctions for Spying

The White House would not give details on President Barack Obama's comments that the United States is preparing countervailing actions against China for engaging in industrial espionage and stealing trade secrets over the Internet. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama was "intentionally non-specific" in the comments but added that the economic sanctions the United States has used over cyber espionage have had a deterrent effect.

Judge Rules for GoDaddy in Oscars Cybersquatting Case

A U.S. judge has ruled in favor of domain name registrar GoDaddy in its cybersquatting dispute with the organizer of the annual Oscars ceremony. In a ruling handed down yesterday, September 10, Judge Andre Birotte at the US District Court for the Central District of California found that GoDaddy did not intend to profit in bad faith from domains using trademarks belonging to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Lawsuit Accuses Twitter of Eavesdropping on Direct Messages

A lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court alleges Twitter is "surreptitiously eavesdropping" on people who send private messages on the social media service in violation of federal and state privacy laws. The lawsuit alleges Twitter is "systematically intercepting, reading and altering" messages without the knowledge or consent of users.

Russian Pleads Guilty to Largest Hacking in United States

A Russian man pleaded guilty to involvement in what authorities called the largest computer hacking scheme ever prosecuted in the United States, compromising more than 160 million credit card numbers and causing more than $300 million of losses. Vladimir Drinkman, 34, admitted to conspiring to illegally access computers and conspiring to commit wire fraud before Chief Judge Jerome Simandle of the federal district court in Camden, New Jersey, federal prosecutors said.

Ga. Bureau of Investigation Suspends Agent with Ashley Madison Account

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation imposed a three-day suspension on an agent who admitted to using a government email address to create an account on the adultery website Ashley Madison. The agent, who is single, told investigators that he thought the website was for singles and that he unsubscribed from the service once he realized it was for married people.

Obama Administration Debates Cyberwarfare Sanctions Against China

An argument has broken out within the Obama administration over whether to invoke cyberwarfare sanctions now and risk a blowup with Beijing before the arrival of President Xi Jinping of China, or use the threat of them to try to extract something from the Chinese. The White House revealed that a high-level Communist Party envoy sent by Mr. Xi, Meng Jianzhu, spent four days in Washington meeting with intelligence and law enforcement officials in an effort to create some “rules of the road” for Internet actions between the United States and China before they derail an already fraught relationship.

Malware on Cisco Routers Called 'Ultimate Spying Tool'

Security researchers say they have uncovered clandestine attacks across three continents on the routers that direct traffic around the Internet, potentially allowing suspected cyberspies to harvest vast amounts of data while going undetected. In the attacks, a highly sophisticated form of malicious software, dubbed SYNful Knock, has been implanted in routers made by Cisco, the world's top supplier, U.S. security research firm FireEye said.

Refugees Prompt Facebook to Target Racist Posts in Germany

Facebook Inc. said it would step up efforts to target racist posts on its German website after the government called on the social network to crack down on a surge in xenophobic outbursts against refugees. The U.S. company said it would join forces with a Germany Internet watchdog, a non-profit group called Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers, to monitor suspected hate postings from users.

Russia Says Google Violated Competition Rules for Android

Russian antitrust authorities ruled that Google broke the country’s competition rules, adding to the regulatory headaches the search giant is facing worldwide. Russian officials said that Google had abused its dominant market position with Android, its mobile operating system, by favoring the company’s own services over those of rivals, including Yandex, a Russian competitor.

SEC Gets $30M Settlement for Hacking News Releases

Two defendants agreed to pay $30 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil insider trading charges over a scheme to hack into networks that distribute corporate news releases, the regulator said. Jaspen Capital Partners Ltd and Chief Executive Andriy Supranonok, both from Kiev, Ukraine, are the first of 34 defendants to settle SEC charges over allegations of the theft of more than 150,000 press releases from Business Wire, Marketwired and PR Newswire before the news became public.

Japan Charges MtGox Bitcoin Leader with Embezzlement

Japanese prosecutors said that they have charged the head of collapsed Bitcoin exchange MtGox with embezzlement, amid fraud allegations over the disappearance of hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-worth of the virtual currency. The indictment of France-born Mark Karpeles, 30, comes after he was taken into police custody in Tokyo last month over the affair.

Iranian Cyberattacks Decreasing, NSA Director Says

Cyberattacks against the U.S. by Iranian hackers have eased noticeably since nuclear talks intensified last year, but there is no sign that Iran’s leaders plan to scuttle their cyberweapons program, National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers said. At a House Intelligence Committee hearing, Adm. Rogers said there was “significant Iranian activity” related to cyberattacks against U.S. financial firms a couple of years ago.

Russia Restores Yahoo Page After Islamic State Video Removed

Russia removed a Yahoo! Inc. page from its registry of prohibited sites after the company took down an Islamic State video, the country’s communications watchdog said on Twitter. Roskomnadzor, as the regulator is known, had blocked the page, which was deemed extremist, after the company didn’t respond to requests to remove it, spokesman Vadim Ampelonskiy said.

China Wants U.S. to Stop 'Groundless Accusations' on Hacking

China reacted angrily following a call by America's top intelligence official for cyber security against China to be stepped up, and said the United States should stop "groundless accusations." Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the United States must beef up cyber security against Chinese hackers targeting a range of U.S. interests to raise the cost to China of engaging in such activities.

U.S. Intelligence Director Says China, Russia Pose Cyberthreats

Chinese cyber espionage continues to target a broad spectrum of U.S. interests, including national security information, sensitive economic data and intellectual property, America's spy chief said. Appearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Clapper listed out Russia and China as the two major countries posing a threat to U.S. cyber world.

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The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.