Major global technology providers SAP, Symantec and McAfee have allowed Russian authorities to hunt for vulnerabilities in software deeply embedded across the U.S. government, a Reuters investigation has found. The practice potentially jeopardizes the security of computer networks in at least a dozen federal agencies, U.S. lawmakers and security experts said.
A provision in the newly revised U.S. tax code slashes the income tax companies pay on royalties from the overseas use of intellectual property or so-called intangible assets, such as licenses and patents. The new tax break, for what is dubbed foreign-derived intangible income, effectively reduces tax on foreign income from goods and services produced in the U.S. using patents and other intellectual property to 13.125% until the end of 2025, after which the rate rises to 16.4%.
The highest court in the European Union will decide whether an Austrian privacy activist can bring a class action lawsuit against Facebook for what he says are illegal violations of the privacy of users. Max Schrems, long a thorn in Facebook’s side, is claiming 500 euros ($620.55) in damages for each of more than 25,000 signatories to his lawsuit.
The European Commission announced that it would be fining the company €997 million, or $1.23 billion, for abusing its market position between 2011 and 2016, related to its relationship with Apple. Qualcomm says it will appeal the case and that the decision “does not relate to Qualcomm’s licensing business and has no impact on ongoing operations.”
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) will investigate the use of impersonation in public comments on the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality repeal. While the investigation request was spurred by widespread fraud in the FCC's net neutrality repeal docket, Democrats asked the GAO to also "examine whether this shady practice extends to other agency rulemaking processes."
President Donald Trump's pick for a top Commerce Department post privately assured Republican senators that he would look at reversing the Obama administration's decision to give up U.S. oversight of the internet, according to documents newly obtained by Politico. David Redl, now the head of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, made the pledge last summer to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), who had condemned the move to international control as a giveaway that could empower authoritarian governments.
YouTube has asked musicians to agree not to disparage the streaming-video service in exchange for promotional support, according to people familiar with the matter, a way to quell persistent criticism by artists. In recent months, YouTube has given a handful of musicians a couple hundred thousand dollars to produce videos and promoted their work on billboards, part of a larger campaign to improve the site’s relationship with the music industry.
EU antitrust regulators are expected to impose a multi-million euro fine on Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday for paying Apple Inc to use only its chips, according to a person familiar with the matter. The European Commission in 2015 accused the company of the anti-competitive behavior. The fine could in theory go as high as 10 percent of Qualcomm’s annual revenue, which was $22.2 billion for its most recent fiscal year.
Facebook is fessing up to what many people have known for a long time: The giant social network can be bad for democracy. The acknowledgment came as Facebook races against the clock to shut down Russian interference that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign before U.S. voters cast their ballots in hundreds of midterm elections.
More than 10 percent of funds raised through “initial coin offerings” are lost or stolen in hacker attacks, according to new research by Ernst & Young that delves into the risks of investing in cryptocurrency projects online. The professional services firm analyzed more than 372 ICOs, in which new digital currencies are distributed to buyers, and found that roughly $400 million of the total $3.7 billion funds raised to date had been stolen, according to research.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) signed an executive order requiring internet service providers with state contracts to abide by net neutrality principles. The order makes his state the first to push back on the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to repeal the open internet rules last month.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed charges against two companies for fraud involving the sale of and advice on cryptocurrency investments, the agency said. The CFTC charged Dillon Michael Dean and his company, The Entrepreneurs Headquarters, with fraud for running a Ponzi scheme that promised high returns for investing in a cryptocurrency pool.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he signed into law a bill renewing the National Security Agency’s warrantless Internet surveillance program, sealing a defeat for digital privacy advocates. The law renews for six years and with minimal changes the National Security Agency (NSA) program, which gathers information from foreigners overseas but incidentally collects an unknown amount of communications belonging to Americans.
OnePlus said credit card information belonging to up to 40,000 customers was captured by a malicious (and currently unknown) actor between November 2017 and mid-January 2018. As a result of the breach, OnePlus says it's continuing to work with law enforcement, and will offer a year of free credit monitoring to all affected users.
Read the article: Engadget
Instagram became the latest social network to sign up to the EU's code of conduct on fighting online hate speech. The social network joins Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft, which all signed the code back in 2016, in committing to countering the spread of illegal hate speech online.
A major hacking operation tied to one of the most powerful security and intelligence agencies in Lebanon has been exposed after careless spies left hundreds of gigabytes of intercepted data exposed to the open internet, according to a report. Mobile security firm Lookout, Inc. and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said the haul, which includes nearly half a million intercepted text messages, had simply been left online by hackers linked to Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security.
YouTube and Facebook are trying to stop the spread of the Tide Pod Challenge, a bizarre and dangerous phenomenon in which social media users eat laundry detergent packets on camera. YouTube, which is owned by Google, says it's taking down clips that show people taking bites of the pods. The videos have become an online craze among teenagers, prompting widespread health and safety warnings.
Digital currencies and the software developed to track them have become attractive targets for cybercriminals while also creating a lucrative new market for computer-security firms. In less than a decade, hackers have stolen $1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin and rival currency Ether, according to Lex Sokolin, global director of fintech strategy at Autonomous Research LLP.
Italy’s antitrust body said it had opened a probe into allegations that Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. used software updates to slow their mobile phones and push clients into buying new handsets. The watchdog said in a statement that the two companies had not told clients that the updates might have a negative impact on the performance of their phones.
Twitter is planning to notify users who may have been exposed to Russian propaganda during the 2016 presidential election, the company's head of public policy told a Senate panel. The initiative follows Facebook's move, announced last year, to create an online tool for people to learn whether they liked or followed Facebook and Instagram accounts generated by a Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
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