Senators Question Verily About Privacy in Coronavirus Screening Website

A group of Democratic U.S. senators grilled Verily, the life sciences arm of Google parent Alphabet, over privacy issues related to the company's coronavirus screening website. The website, which launched two weeks ago, has people take a screener survey to see if they should go to testing stations for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

  • Read the article: CNET

FBI Issues Warning About Hijacking of Video Conferences

As video teleconferencing for work and school has become the norm, the FBI has seen a rise in reports of “Zoom-bombing” — the hijacking of conferences by disruptive outsiders. “The FBI has received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language,” said a warning from the agency’s Boston division.

Marriott Says Breach Disclosed Data on 5.2 Million Hotel Guests

Marriott International Inc. said information of about 5.2 million hotel guests was breached, the second such incident for the hotel operator in less than two years. It said the breached information, including contact details, loyalty account information and additional personal details such as gender and birthdays, may have been accessed using the login credentials of two employees at a franchise property.

Trump Discusses Network Status with Internet, Mobile Phone Providers

President Donald Trump spoke with the biggest U.S. Internet and mobile phone providers to talk about how the networks are holding up as tens of millions of Americans work from home. The Federal Communications Commission has said U.S. networks are performing well and has granted temporary access to additional spectrum blocks to help providers manage traffic.

Report Questions Zoom's Claims of End-to-End Encryption

Zoom, the video conferencing service whose use has spiked amid the Covid-19 pandemic, claims to implement end-to-end encryption, widely understood as the most private form of internet communication, protecting conversations from all outside parties. In fact, Zoom is using its own definition of the term, one that lets Zoom itself access unencrypted video and audio from meetings.

Authors Criticize Internet Archive's Free Copies of Scanned Books

Internet Archive, a nonprofit group, announced that it would drop the access restrictions for its scanned books to make them widely available to readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Some early positive coverage of the project noted that it was filling a void, making books accessible at a time when many libraries and bookstores across the country have closed. But authors quickly began criticizing the effort, calling it piracy masquerading as public service.

N.Y. Attorney General Asks Zoom About Security Measures Amid High Demand

Zoom, the videoconferencing app whose traffic has surged during the coronavirus pandemic, is under scrutiny by the office of New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, for its data privacy and security practices. The office sent Zoom a letter asking what, if any, new security measures the company has put in place to handle increased traffic on its network and to detect hackers, according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times.

Google Bans Infowars App for Questioning Coronavirus Measures

Google has banned the Infowars Android app from the Google Play store, the company confirmed to Wired. The app was apparently removed because of a video posted by radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that, according to Wired, “disputed the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine efforts meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.”

Lawmaker Wants U.S. to Stop China from Spreading Coronavirus Misinformation

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to take steps to limit the spread of online Chinese misinformation around the coronavirus pandemic. McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Pompeo requesting that Pompeo intensify efforts to counter disinformation around the coronavirus spread by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Cyber-Security Report Shows Links Between Russian Hacking, Military

Booz Allen Hamilton, the largest private contractor for the U.S. intelligence community, has published a comprehensive report detailing 15 years (2004 to 2019) of cyber operations carried out by Russia's military hackers. The report is a rarity in the cyber-security community because it focuses on the bigger picture of how Russia's military uses its hacking units to support its foreign policy all over the globe.

Google's Warnings for Government-Backed Hacking Drop 25 Percent

Google’s threat analysis group, which counters targeted and government-backed hacking against the company and its users, sent account holders almost 40,000 warnings in 2019, with government officials, journalists, dissidents, and geopolitical rivals being the most targeted, team members said. The number of warnings declined almost 25 percent from 2018, in part because of new protections designed to curb cyberattacks on Google properties.

Quarantines Increase Demand for Internet, Creating Slower Speeds

Quarantines around the world have made people more reliant on the internet to communicate, work, learn and stay entertained. But as the use of YouTube, Netflix, Zoom videoconferencing, Facebook calls and videogaming has surged to new highs, the stress on internet infrastructure is starting to show in Europe and the United States — and the traffic is probably far from its peak.

FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center Warns of Coronavirus Relief Scams

Hackers and scammers online have ramped up attacks to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic, and that could mean targeting the US' COVID-19 relief effort next, the FBI has warned. In a warning from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, the agency explained that the US government would never send an email out asking for people's personal information to get federal aid.

  • Read the article: CNET

European Governments Track Coronavirus, Raising Privacy Concerns

Governments across Europe are turning to technology to track the spread of the coronavirus and monitor people under quarantine, an approach that seeks to learn from Asia but is also putting the region’s privacy rules to the test. From Helsinki to Madrid, applications are being developed for people to report their symptoms to doctors and researchers; to trace and model the spread of the flu-like virus; and ensure that those under quarantine stay at home.

Facebook Removes Accounts for Northwest Front Supremacist Group

Facebook Inc. has removed dozens of user accounts plus other Pages and Groups on its social network associated with the Northwest Front, a group pushing for a white nation-state in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The company doesn’t allow groups that “proclaim hateful and violent missions,” according to a statement on Wednesday from Brian Fishman, Facebook’s policy director for counter-terrorism and dangerous organizations.

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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.