AT&T Sues Ex-Employees, IT Firm for Installing Malware

AT&T has brought a lawsuit against three of its former employees and an Anaheim-based IT company, alleging that the group conspired to install malware on company computers that would illicitly generate unlock codes for customer phones. According to the suit, Anaheim's Swift Locks company worked with customer service reps in AT&T's Bothell, Washington center to nab unlock codes for phones that were still under contract (and therefore not eligible to be moved to another carrier's network) and then sell them for a profit.

Defense Department Evaluating Its Computer Vulnerabilities

The U.S. Defense Department is building a massive, electronic system to provide an overview of the vulnerabilities of the military's computer networks, weapons systems, and installations, and help officials prioritize how to fix them, the deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command said. Air Force Lieutenant General Kevin McLaughlin told Reuters officials should reach agreement on a framework within months, with a goal of turning the system into an automated "scorecard" in coming years.

Bitcoin Processor Loses $1.8 Million in Phishing Scam

Atlanta's Bitpay Inc. got hacked for more than $1.8 million in bitcoins. According to a lawsuit filed Sept. 15 in federal court in Atlanta, in December 2014, Bryan Krohn, Bitpay's chief financial officer, got an email from someone purporting to be with a digital currency publication asking Krohn to comment on a bitcoin industry document.

Apple Wants Supreme Court to Review E-Books Pricing Case

Defying the expectations and desires of some -- who thought it might be time to move on -- Apple will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal judge’s finding that it conspired to fix the prices of ebooks when it launched its original iPad and iBook store in January 2010. “This case... presents issues of surpassing importance to the United States economy,” the company argues in papers filed with the high court.

Second Russian Pleads Guilty in Payment-Processor Hacking

A second Russian man admitted to conspiring to steal more than 160 million credit and debit cards and other personal information by hacking Nasdaq Inc. and other companies in what the authorities have called the largest such scheme prosecuted in the U.S. The crime spree, which authorities said ran for about seven years, targeted some of the largest payment-processing companies, retailers and financial institutions around the world and resulted in more than $300 million in losses.

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.

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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.