Australia Bars Huawei, ZTE from Supporting Telecom Networks

The fog of cyberespionage concerns surrounding Huawei has for years kept the Chinese technology giant largely out of the United States. Now it has cost the company potentially lucrative business in another country: Australia. Huawei said that the Australian government had barred it and another Chinese company, ZTE, from providing equipment to support the country’s new telecommunications networks. 

DNC Says Reported Hacking Attack Was Only a Simulation

The Democratic National Committee said that what it had earlier feared was the beginning of a sophisticated attempt to hack into its voter database, was, in fact, an unauthorized "simulated phishing test" and not an actual attempt to hack into its systems by an adversary. The Democratic Party of Michigan confirmed to CNN on  that it had made a "misstep" and was responsible for the scare.

  • Read the article: CNN

Russian Bill Would Require Foreign Internet Firms to Help Pay for Storage

Russian telecoms operators have proposed legislation that would oblige foreign Internet companies to share the financial burden of a new law on storing data in the country, a draft bill seen by Reuters shows. If adopted, the legislation would allow Russian telecoms companies to claim compensation from foreign Internet companies, including social media and messenger services such as Google and Facebook, for compliance with the data storage rules that come into effect from October.

Security Audit Finds Many Passwords Contain Word 'Password'

A security audit of the Western Australian government released by the state’s auditor general found that 26 percent of its officials had weak, common passwords -- including more than 5,000 including the word “password” out of 234,000 in 17 government agencies. The legions of lazy passwords were exactly what you -- or a thrilled hacker -- would expect: 1,464 people went for “Password123” and 813 used “password1.”

Facebook, Twitter Take Action Against Accounts Linked to Iranian State Media

Facebook said it had removed hundreds of Iran-based pages, groups and accounts, alleging that they formed a network linked to Iranian state media that covertly spread political content to people on four continents including in the U.S. Facebook said in a blog post that the 652 pages, groups and accounts were in violation of its terms of service because they were engaged in "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

Democratic National Committee Alerts FBI to Attempted Hacking

The Democratic National Committee contacted the FBI after it detected what it believes was the beginning of a sophisticated attempt to hack into its voter database, a Democratic source tells CNN. The DNC was alerted in the early hours of Tuesday morning by a cloud service provider and a security research firm that a fake login page had been created in an attempt to gather usernames and passwords that would allow access to the party's database, the source said.
 

  • Read the article: CNN

After More Russian Hacking Disclosed, Senators Seek New Sanctions

Faced with new evidence that Russian hackers are targeting conservative American research groups and the Senate’s own web pages, key lawmakers from both parties signaled that they were ready to move forward with punishing new sanctions legislation capable of crippling the Russian economy. And in three separate hearings on Capitol Hill, senators prodded the Trump administration to do more with its existing authorities to deter Russia and protect American political infrastructure.

State Attorneys General Ask Appeals Court to Reinstate Net Neutrality

A group of 22 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate the Obama administration's 2015 landmark net neutrality rules and reject the Trump administration's efforts to preempt states from imposing their own rules guaranteeing an open Internet. The states, led by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, filed a lawsuit in January after the Federal Communications Commission voted in December along party lines to reverse rules that barred internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization.

  • Read the article: CNBC

WhatsApp Assures India It Will Develop Tools to Fight Fake Messages

India said Facebook-owned WhatsApp had pledged to develop tools that would combat fake messages, to help the country crack down on people whipping up public anger through mass message forwards on social media. WhatsApp chief executive officer Chris Daniels gave the assurance to India’s information technology minister during a meeting in New Delhi.

Russian-Linked Operation Targeted U.S. Senate, Microsoft Says

Parts of an operation linked to Russian military intelligence targeting the U.S. Senate and conservative think tanks were thwarted last week, Microsoft announced. The company said it executed a court order giving it control of six websites created by a group known as Fancy Bear, which was behind the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee and directed by the GRU, the Russian military intelligence unit, according to cybersecurity firms.

  • Read the article: CNN

Tariffs Could Cost Electronics Consumers Up to $3.2 Billion

Additional tariffs being considered on imports from China could cause consumers to pay between $1.6 billion and $3.2 billion more in 2019 for electronic products such as smart speakers, smartwatches and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, according to a new study published Friday by the Consumer Technology Association. Last month, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, and another $16 billion worth are set to take effect next week.

Google Faces Potential Class-Action Suit for Tracking Phone Users

Anyone who owns an iPhone or Android phone and has turned off location tracking will be eligible to join a lawsuit that claims Google has created “near perfect surveillance” -- if a judge grants class-action status. The Mountain View search and digital advertising giant is in hot water over revelations that it continues to track users who turn off the location-history function on their mobile phones.

Apple Deletes Thousands of Gambling Apps from Chinese Store

Apple Inc. pulled thousands of gambling apps from its Chinese store after the nation’s state-run broadcaster accused the smartphone maker of dragging its feet on cleaning up banned content. Government-controlled media including China Central Television attacked Apple this month for hosting illegal and fake lottery-ticket apps, which they said resulted in massive losses for hoodwinked users. 

Google Revises Description of How 'Location History' Setting Works

Google has revised an erroneous description on its website of how its “Location History” setting works, clarifying that it continues to track users even if they’ve disabled the setting. The change came three days after an Associated Press investigation revealed that several Google apps and websites store user location even if users have turned off Location History. Google has not changed its location-tracking practice in that regard.

Google CEO Says Company 'Not Close to Launching' Search in China

Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai defended to employees the Internet giant’s controversial push to do more business in China but said the company is “not close to launching a search product” in the country, according to a person briefed on the comments. Mr. Pichai, speaking at a weekly all-hands meeting in Mountain View, Calif., was responding to criticism from employees, human rights groups and others who in recent days have voiced concerns over the Alphabet Inc. unit’s work with the Chinese government.

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.