A federal judge ruled that the transfer of internet domain systems oversight to an international governing body can move forward, overruling opposition from several state attorneys general and lawmakers. The complaint cited constitutional concerns and security risks of potentially losing the .mil and .gov domains for the military and government, respectively.
A Homeland Security official has confirmed that hackers have targeted the voter registration systems of more than 20 states, the Associated Press reports. That disclosure puts hard numbers on a similar statement made earlier in the week by FBI Director James Comey.
EU antitrust regulators plan to order Alphabet's Google to stop paying financial incentives to smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search exclusively on their devices and warned the company of a large fine, an EU document showed. The document, running to more than 150 pages, was sent to complainants last week for feedback. Google received a copy in April in which the European Commission accused it of using its dominant Android mobile operating system to shut out rivals.
Apple Inc. was told to pay $302.4 million to VirnetX Holding Corp. for infringing patents covering secure computer and mobile communications, following a federal jury trial in Texas. The jury in Tyler, Texas, said Apple infringed two patents related to its FaceTime calling feature.
German prosecutors are again considering whether to press charges against Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives for failing to staunch a tide of racist and threatening posts on the social network during an influx of migrants into Europe. Munich prosecutors said they had received a complaint filed by a German technology law firm two weeks ago alleging that Facebook broke strict national laws against hate speech, sedition and support for terrorist organizations.
Republican attorneys general are making a last-ditch bid to block the Obama administration from ceding U.S. oversight of the internet’s domain name system, filing suit in federal court ahead of an imminent deadline for the hand-off. The AGs from Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Nevada asked a judge to step in and stop the transition to an international oversight body, after GOP lawmakers failed to stall the move as part of a short-term spending bill.
Attackers used an army of hijacked security cameras and video recorders to launch several massive internet attacks last week, prompting fresh concern about the vulnerability of millions of “smart” devices in homes and businesses connected to the internet. The attackers used as many as one million Chinese-made security cameras, digital video recorders and other infected devices to generate webpage requests and data that knocked their targets offline, security experts said.
U.S. software company Salesforce called on EU regulators to investigate antitrust issues related to Microsoft's $26 billion bid for social network LinkedIn. Microsoft is expected to seek EU antitrust approval in the coming weeks for its largest ever deal.
Banks are tightening the security of their SWIFT messaging networks – used by the industry to shift trillions of dollars each day – following revelations that hackers are increasingly able to get into this system to steal money. Bankers at SWIFT's annual SIBOS conference in Geneva said they were adopting new security tools, reviewing procedures and pressing their counterparties to do the same.
An information-security firm says the hackers who stole at least 500 million records from Yahoo Inc. two years ago are criminals who are selling access to the database, and not a state-sponsored group as Yahoo contends. The firm, InfoArmor Inc., appears to have access to portions of the Yahoo database.
The typical image of Chinese hackers is of operatives working for or with the tacit approval of the government, targeting valuable or sensitive data at foreign companies or government agencies. While there are plenty of those, many in China -- like hackers elsewhere -- also target the laptop of their ex-boss or the smartphone of the guy in front of them at the coffee shop.
Facebook disabled several prominent Palestinian journalists’ accounts, following user reports that they were violating Facebook standards. Facebook later reinstated their accounts, blaming their removal on an error: “The pages were removed in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate,” a Facebook spokesperson said, using an excuse that didn’t need dusting off, since Facebook has offered variations of it at least four times in past six months.
A computer hacker sympathetic to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government pleaded guilty for his role as a middleman in an extortion scheme targeting U.S. media outlets and governments, the U.S. Department of Justice said. It said in a statement that Peter Romar, 37, was a member of the Syrian Electronic Army hacking group and had joined an operation to infiltrate computers of Assad's "perceived detractors" in the media, U.S. government and other governments.
The FBI director is telling states to make sure they are on top of their voter registration systems, saying would-be hackers are "poking around." While James Comey testified to Congress that there haven't been any additional successful hacks, there have been scans and attempts that indicate "bad actors" are trying to see where they can get in.
Donald Trump Jr.'s now-infamous "Skittles tweet" has been widely shared across the world and embedded on countless websites. Now, it appears that David Kittos, the British-based photographer who took the photo and who also left Cyprus as a refugee when he was 6 years old, has filed a copyright claim over the tweet, which has resulted in the photo's removal.
The world's biggest record labels are suing a website that allows users to download the audio from YouTube videos. Universal, Sony, Warner Bros and other labels launched legal action against the German operator of YouTube-mp3.org in a federal court in Los Angeles.
A group of Democratic U.S. senators demanded Yahoo explain why hackers' theft of user information for half a billion accounts two years ago only came to light last week and lambasted its handling of the breach as "unacceptable." The lawmakers said they were "disturbed" the 2014 intrusion, disclosed by the company on Thursday, was detected so long after the hack occurred.
The data protection commissioner in Hamburg, Germany, ordered Facebook to stop collecting and storing data on WhatsApp users in Germany, the first time a privacy watchdog has waded into the debate. The regulator also called on the social network to delete all information already forwarded from WhatsApp on roughly 35 million German users.
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation that requires certain entertainment sites, such as IMDb, to remove — or not post in the first place — an actor’s age or birthday upon request. The law, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 2017, applies to entertainment database sites that allow paid subscribers to post résumés, headshots or other information for prospective employers.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Yahoo and its senior executives fulfilled obligations to inform investors and the public about a hacking attack affecting 500 million user accounts. "Disclosure is the foundation of federal securities laws, and public companies are required to disclose material events that shareholders should know about," Warner said in a letter to SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White.
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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.