India Sets Rules for Apple to Open Stores Locally

India has said Apple Inc. must meet a rule obliging foreign retailers to sell at least 30 percent locally sourced goods if it wishes to open stores in the country, a senior government official told Reuters. Apple is hoping to expand its retail presence in India, one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone markets, at a time when sales in the United States and China have slowed.

Irish Privacy Watchdog Refers Facebook to EU Court

Data transfers to the United States by companies such as Facebook and Google face a renewed legal threat after the Irish privacy watchdog said it would refer Facebook's data transfer mechanisms to the top EU court. The move follows an Irish investigation into Facebook's transfer of European Union users' data to the United States to ensure that personal privacy is properly protected from U.S. government surveillance.

'Significant Shortfalls' Cited in FDIC's Cybersecurity Policies

An investigation by House lawmakers turned up “significant shortfalls” in a U.S. bank regulator’s cybersecurity policies, leaving it susceptible to stolen private information and regulatory data, House Republicans said. Following a subcommittee hearing on seven cybersecurity breaches at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., new information obtained by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology indicates the agency may have misrepresented cybersecurity policies, hid information from lawmakers, and has a culture of obstructing whistleblowers.

Huawei Sues Samsung for Infringement of 4G Patents

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said it has filed lawsuits against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. claiming infringement of smartphone patents, in the first such case by the Chinese firm against the world's biggest mobile maker. Huawei has filed lawsuits in the United States and China seeking compensation for what it said was unlicensed use of fourth-generation (4G) cellular communications technology, operating systems and user interface software in Samsung phones.

Tax Investigators Raid Google's French Headquarters

Dozens of tax investigators swooped into Google’s French headquarters in a surprise raid, escalating a tax dispute in which French authorities have sought more than €1 billion ($1.12 billion) from the search firm. France’s tax prosecutor said the raid is part of a newly disclosed probe, opened in June 2015, into aggravated tax evasion by the company, now a part of Alphabet Inc.

SWIFT Creates New Security Plan Amid Bank Heists

The SWIFT secure messaging service that underpins international banking said it plans to launch a new security program as it fights to rebuild its reputation in the wake of the Bangladesh Bank heist. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)’s chief executive, Gottfried Leibbrandt will tell a financial services conference in Brussels that SWIFT will launch a five-point plan.

Facebook Creates 'Safeguards' to Guard Against News Bias

Facebook said that an internal investigation found no evidence of systemic political bias in the selection of news presented in a section of its app called Trending Topics. Even so, the social network, which is making a tour of contrition after accusations that it actively suppresses conservative content, said it would make some changes to Trending Topics, including no longer referring to a list of national news sources -- like Fox News, The New York Times and BuzzFeed News -- to “boost” topics appearing on its Trending Topics.

Banks in Middle East Targeted by Hackers, Firm Says

Hackers are probing the defenses of banks in the Middle East, targeting employees with infected emails which gather information about the banks' network and user accounts, FireEye researchers said. FireEye, a U.S. cyber security company investigating the February attack on Bangladesh's central bank in which hackers stole $81 million, said there was no apparent connection with the heist or related attacks on banks in Ecuador and Vietnam.

Milwaukee Bucks Report 'Serious' E-mail Scam

After a security breach with the Milwaukee Bucks in which players’ financial documents were released, the franchise has involved the NBA and National Basketball Players Association to investigate the scam that compromised private information, league sources told The Vertical. In an email sent to Milwaukee players, the franchise termed the issue as a “serious security incident” and took responsibility for an employee distributing 2015 IRS W-2 documents in an email scam in which team president Peter Feigin was impersonated, sources said.

Microsoft to Delete Content That Incites Terrorism

Microsoft is officially prohibiting users from posting anything that incites terrorist acts on its services, including Xbox Live, Outlook consumer version and document-sharing website Docs. In a blog post, the tech giant explained that it's taking these steps, because it has "a responsibility to run [its] various internet services so that they are a tool to empower people, not to contribute, however indirectly, to terrible acts."

Ecuadorean Bank Says It Lost $12 Million to Cyber Criminals

Cyber-criminals stole about $12 million from an Ecuadorean bank in a 2015 heist that bears all the hallmarks of later attacks against Bangladesh’s central bank and a small Vietnamese lender. Banco del Austro SA said in a lawsuit filed in New York against Wells Fargo & Co. that hackers got access to the codes the bank uses to move money via Swift, the global interbank network, and used them to transfer funds from the U.S. bank.

French Jewish Youth Group Sues Twitter, Facebook, Google

A French Jewish youth group sued Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google over how they monitor hate speech on the web, highlighting the challenge -- and potential costs -- for Internet platforms to regulate user-generated content. The lawsuit filed at a Paris court by the Jewish youth group called UEJF is seeking more clarity on who moderates social network posts and how it’s conducted.

Bezos Says Amazon Committed to Privacy Protection

Amazon chief executive Jeffrey Bezos said his company is wholly aligned with Apple in its fight against government investigators who asked Apple to break its own encryption programs so they could gain access the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorists. Bezos said his company is also embracing that kind of technology that would make it difficult for government officials to gain access to any personal information on its devices — even when those authorities have a warrant.

Google Appeals French Order on 'Right to be Forgotten'

Alphabet Inc.'s Google appealed an order from the French data protection authority to remove certain web search results globally in response to a European privacy ruling, escalating a fight on the extra-territorial reach of EU law. In May 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that people could ask search engines, such as Google and Microsoft's Bing, to remove inadequate or irrelevant information from web results appearing under searches for people's names -- dubbed the "right to be forgotten."