Apple, Visa Sued Over Patent on Digital Payment Technology

A small Boston company, founded by the inventor of a popular corporate encryption technology called RSA SecurID, sued Apple and Visa, arguing that the Apple Pay digital payment technology violates its patents. The lawsuit, filed by Universal Secure Registry in Federal District Court in Delaware, says that its chief executive, Kenneth P. Weiss, received 13 patents for authentication systems that use a smartphone, biometric identification such as a fingerprint and the generation of secure one-time tokens to conduct financial transactions.

Companies Examine Insurance Policies to Cover Ransomware Attacks

Companies without cyber insurance are dusting off policies covering kidnap, ransom and extortion in the world's political hotspots to recoup losses caused by ransomware viruses such as "WannaCry", insurers say. Cyber insurance can be expensive to buy and is not widely used outside the United States, with one insurer previously describing the cost as $100,000 for $10 million in data breach insurance.

Judge Dismisses Suits Accusing Facebook of Supporting Terrorism

A federal judge dismissed two lawsuits accusing Facebook Inc. of supporting terrorist groups by letting them use its social media platform to further their aims, including violence against Jews. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn dismissed a lawsuit brought on behalf of roughly 20,000 Israeli citizens and a lawsuit by family members and the estates of victims of attacks by Hamas.

EU Fines Facebook $122 Million Over Misleading WhatsApp Information

European Union antitrust regulators fined Facebook 110 million euros ($122 million) for giving misleading information during a vetting of its deal to acquire messaging service WhatsApp in 2014. Calling it a "proportionate and deterrent fine", the European Commission, which acts as the EU's competition watchdog, said Facebook had said it could not automatically match user accounts on its namesake platform and WhatsApp but two years later launched a service that did exactly that.

EU Plans to Fine Facebook Over Misleading WhatsApp Data

U.S. social network Facebook is set to be penalized by EU antitrust regulators for allegedly providing misleading data related to its WhatsApp acquisition three years ago, a person familiar with the matter said. The move by the European Commission will come after a six-month investigation and is expected to be a stiff warning to other companies facing similar issues.

Ukraine Creates Sanctions to Block Russian Online Networks

Ukraine put in place new sanctions seeking to block Russian media and online networks from operating in the country, including VKontakte, the nation’s most popular social network. The decision, signed by President Petro Poroshenko, was announced in an updated sanctions list, which included the Russian search giant Yandex, social media sites like Odnoklassniki, and a number of Russian state and private television channels.

U.S. Senate Approves Use of Encrypted Messaging App Signal

Without any fanfare, the Senate Sergeant at Arms recently told Senate staffers that Signal, widely considered by security researchers and experts to be the most secure encrypted messaging app, has been approved for use. The news was revealed in a letter by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a staunch privacy and encryption advocate, who recognized the effort to allow the encrypted messaging app as one of many "important defensive cybersecurity" measures introduced in the chamber.

New Computer Attack, 'Adylkuzz,' Steals Processing Power

A new fast-spreading computer attack and a hacking group’s threat to release a fresh trove of stolen cyberweapons are fueling fears among businesses and security experts of another global technology assault. The new attack, called Adylkuzz, follows last week’s WannaCry outbreak, which crippled computers in more than 100 countries over the weekend. Unlike its predecessor, Adylkuzz doesn’t lock up computer screens, but slows down systems as it quietly steals processing power to generate a little-known digital currency called Monero.

North Korean Hackers Suspected in 'WannaCry' Ransomware Attacks

As evidence mounts that North Korean hackers may have links to the ransom assaults that destroyed more than 200,000 computers, their motives appear twofold: financial gain — which does not appear to be turning out so well — and proof that Pyongyang has the means to cause significant damage, with or without a nuclear weapon. Over the past year, the same North Korean hacking unit that hit Sony Pictures was linked to cyberattacks at banks in Vietnam and the Philippines, and to a breach at the Bangladesh Central Bank that resulted in the theft of $81 million.

Top EU Court to Hear Arguments on 'Right to be Forgotten' Law

The "right to be forgotten" -- or stopping certain web search results from appearing under searches for people's names -- will be debated at the European Union's top court after Alphabet Inc's Google refused requests from four individuals. In May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (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."

Thailand Pressures Facebook to Remove 131 Pages

Facebook came under increasing pressure from Thailand’s government to remove dozens of pages from its servers, a few weeks after a video that appears to show the country’s new king walking through a shopping mall in a crop top was widely shared on the site. The standoff is the latest sign of a clampdown on online speech by a military junta that seized power in a 2014 coup, and the latest test for Facebook, which has struggled to balance local laws and cultural expectations with its core identity as a network where people are free to share ideas and news.

Law Enforcement Seeks Hackers Behind 'WannaCry' Attack

The global WannaCry "ransomware" cyber attack slowed, with no major infections reported, as global law enforcement agencies shifted their attention to finding the hackers who unleashed it. The attack infected 300,000 machines in 150 countries, said Tom Bossert, U.S. President Donald Trump's homeland security adviser. That would make it one of the fastest-spreading online extortion campaigns in history.

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.