Consumer Reports has found that millions of smart TVs can be controlled by hackers exploiting easy-to-find security flaws. We found that a relatively unsophisticated hacker could change channels, play offensive content, or crank up the volume, which might be deeply unsettling to someone who didn’t understand what was happening.
The U.S. charged 36 people in a take-down of an international cybercrime ring that prosecutors say used the slogan “In Fraud We Trust” and stole $530 million with the help of pilfered identities and malware.The Justice Department on Wednesday announced the racketeering conspiracy along with the arrest of 13 people, eight of whom the government will seek to extradite from Australia, the U.K., France, Italy, Kosovo and Serbia.
Two of the nation's top financial regulators said that Congress may need to grant them new powers if they are to protect consumers from fraud on cryptocurrency exchanges, the digital trading platforms where investors swap dollars for bitcoin or other virtual currencies. Asked by federal lawmakers whether they had enough authority to shield cryptocurrency investors from scams, market manipulation and abuse, top officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that the agencies were still consulting with other U.S. officials but that they may need more legislative authority.
Apple Inc.’s takeover of music-identification service Shazam may threaten competition and should be reviewed by the European Commission, the regulator said.Apple will be told to file to the Brussels-based antitrust authority. It was originally required to file only with Austria’s regulator, and didn’t have to involve the EU, which usually takes large deals that affect Europe.
Apple Inc. has seen “strong demand” for replacement iPhone batteries and may offer rebates for consumers who paid full price for new batteries, the company said in a Feb. 2 letter to U.S. lawmakers. In the letter, amid nagging allegations that it slowed down phones with older batteries as a way to push people into buying new phones, the company said it was considering issuing rebates to consumers who paid full price for replacement batteries.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order requiring that New Jersey establish its own net neutrality protections after the Federal Communications Commission repealed Obama-era regulations late last year. The order directs all internet service providers that do business with the state of New Jersey to follow the principles of net neutrality or lose the ability to do business with the state.
The Senate voted unanimously to confirm President Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Andrei Iancu. Iancu’s vote was met with no pushback from Democrats, even though some voiced opposition over another Trump tech nominee, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, last October.
Digital currencies such as bitcoin demand increased oversight and may require a new federal regulatory framework, the top U.S. markets regulators will tell lawmakers at a congressional hearing. Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will provide testimony to the Senate Banking Committee amid growing global concerns over the risks virtual currencies pose to investors and the financial system.
Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. have teamed up with insurer Allianz SE to offer discounts on cyber insurance to businesses that primarily use equipment from both technology companies, they said. The arrangement, which also includes insurance broker Aon Plc, will help businesses fortify their cyber security defenses and make them eligible to score more favorable terms for cyber coverage, such as lower or no deductibles, along with support services in the event of attack, the companies said.
Facebook has patented a new system that could help it estimate a user's socioeconomic status.The patent, according to CBInsights, shows a decision tree that collects data points on a user's education level, travel history, the number of devices they own, homeownership and where they live to guess the probability of them falling in a given socioeconomic class.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., the nation’s two largest banks, said they’re halting purchases of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their credit cards. JPMorgan doesn’t want the credit risk associated with the transactions, said Mary Jane Rogers, a spokeswoman for the firm.
YouTube will now add a label to videos that come from state-funded media outlets, the Google-owned company announced. A notice will appear under the videos for any outlets that received some level of government or public funding.
The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Police Department is warning Netflix's millions of subscribers of an email phishing scam that’s trying to gather their personal information. According to the post, the suspicious emails tell Netflix customers that their account has been deactivated because the company “could not validate billing information.”
Two senators are asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate a company that sells fake Twitter followers in the wake of a New York Times report that revealed that dozens of public figures purchased social media followings to inflate their prominence. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of a Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection, argue in a letter to acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen that Devumi, the company at the center of the Times report, has been deceiving consumers and stealing identities.
Bitcoin’s popularity and the emergence of about 1,500 other digital coins or tokens have drawn more hackers into the red-hot cryptocurrency space, expanding opportunities for crime and fraud, cybersecurity firm Digital Shadows warned in a report. “Cybercriminals follow the money and right now they see in the unregulated and largely unsecure world of digital currencies a huge opportunity to target people, businesses and exchanges and make money quickly and easily,” said Rick Holland, vice president of strategy at Digital Shadows.
Twitter says the number of users who may have interacted with Russian content intended to influence the election is now 1.4 million. The company provided the updated figure, more than double the 650,000 users the company notified initially.
Two senior U.S. Democratic lawmakers asked Facebook and Twitter to answer questions about potential Russian involvement in social media campaigns that urged release of a Republican memorandum alleging surveillance abuses at the FBI, saying the companies had provided insufficient responses so far. The letter was the latest effort by Democrats, in the minority in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, to press social media companies on whether the Kremlin has used their platforms to meddle in U.S. politics.
A California appeals court has sided with Allan Candelore, a man suing Tinder over the pricing for its premium service, Tinder Plus. Specifically, Candelore and his lawyers argued that by charging $9.99 per month if a user is under 30, versus $19.99 per month if you’re 30 or older, Tinder is discriminating based on age, in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Unfair Competition Law (those are both California laws).
Facebook is banning all ads that promote cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, in an effort to prevent people from advertising what the company is calling “financial products and services frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” That means no advertiser — even those that operate legal, legitimate businesses — will be able to promote things like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings — ICOs for short — or binary options, according to a Facebook blog post.
A group of child advocates are raising alarms about Facebook's Messenger Kids, saying young people should be shielded from these services until they're older. "Younger children are simply not ready to have social media accounts," Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based nonprofit advocacy group, said in a letter.
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