Senator Questions White House Plans for Coronavirus Surveillance System

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) pressed the White House on reports that it is in talks to create a national coronavirus surveillance system. "The Trump administration has not given me or the American people any confidence that it is capable of creating or maintaining a massive health data network in a manner that doesn’t undermine our fundamental right to privacy," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.

U.S., U.K. Cybersecurity Officials Warn of Coronavirus-Related Hackers

American and British cybersecurity officials are warning that state-backed hackers and online criminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak to further their operations, echoing concerns from digital safety experts. A joint advisory published by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency and Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre said that while the overall volume of malicious activity does not appear to have changed, hackers of all varieties were leveraging anxiety around the disease outbreak to push people into clicking links and downloading attachments.

Microsoft Buys 'corp.com' Domain Name to Protect Internal Networks

Security researcher Brian Krebs reported that Microsoft has purchased the dangerous domain corp.com to keep it out of the hands of the bad guys. The reason the domain has become problematic is it could provide the owner with passwords, email and other sensitive data from Windows PCs in companies where admins used a generic domain name (corp.com) to represent the idea of any domain when setting up Active Directory.

DHS Cybersecurity Agency Says Zoom Responsive to Security Concerns

Video conferencing company Zoom has been responsive to concerns over its software, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a memo recently distributed to top government cybersecurity officials and seen by Reuters. The memo — drafted by DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, which screens software used by government bodies — sounded a positive note about the teleworking solution, which has been beset by security worries since the coronavirus outbreak drew in a flood of new stay-at-home users.

China Filed Most International Patent Applications in 2019, WIPO Says

China was the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world last year, pushing the United States out of the top spot it has held since the global system was set up more than 40 years ago, the U.N. patent agency said. The World Intellectual Property Organization, which oversees a system for countries to share recognition of patents, said 58,990 applications were filed from China last year, beating out the United States which filed 57,840.

Coronavirus Prompts Increase in Misleading Domain Names

Scammers are focusing more attention on people looking to stream content from Netflix during what has quickly become the stay-at-home era. Researchers at the cybersecurity security firm Check Point recently released a study noting a substantial rise in the number of cyberattacks performed by websites posing as the streaming giant in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

YouTube to Reduce Spread of Videos Linking Coronavirus to 5G Technology

YouTube will take steps to reduce the spread of videos falsely tying the spread of the novel coronavirus to fifth-generation wireless technologies (5G), a conspiracy theory that has gained traction in recent weeks in some parts of the internet. An official for the video streaming giant told The Hill that it has started reducing how often such videos, or what they define as "borderline content," show up in user recommendations.

Facebook to Survey Users About Coronavirus to Create 'Heat Maps'

Facebook Inc. said it would start surveying some U.S. users about their health as part of a Carnegie Mellon University research project aimed at generating “heat maps” of self-reported coronavirus infections. The social media giant will display a link at the top of users’ News Feeds directing them to the survey, which the researchers say will help them predict where medical resources are needed.

Thousands of Recorded Zoom Videos Left Exposed Online

Thousands of personal Zoom videos have been left viewable on the open Web, highlighting the privacy risks to millions of Americans as they shift many of their personal interactions to video calls in an age of social distancing. Videos viewed by The Washington Post included one-on-one therapy sessions; a training orientation for workers doing telehealth calls that included people’s names and phone numbers; small-business meetings that included private company financial statements; and elementary school classes, in which children’s faces, voices and personal details were exposed.

Twitter Removes 20,000 Fake Accounts Tied to Governments Including Saudi Arabia

Twitter removed 20,000 fake accounts tied to the governments of several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Serbia, for violating company policy. Government-linked accounts of Honduras and Indonesia were also removed after Twitter determined the posts from all five governments were an "attempt to undermine the public conversation," according to The Guardian.

Amazon Bans Sale of Coronavirus Medical Supplies to General Public

Amazon began banning the purchase of N95 and surgical masks by the general public on April 1, saying it would restrict the sale of those goods and other medical supplies to hospitals and government organizations combating the Covid-19 coronavirus. In a notice posted on a forum for Amazon sellers, the company said the ban would also include “facial shields, surgical gowns, surgical gloves, and large-volume sanitizers.”

Zoom to Focus on Increasing Video Service's Security, Privacy

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan says the video conferencing service will forego work on any new features over the next 90 days to focus on upgrading and bolstering the online platform's security and privacy protections. The San Jose, California-headquartered online video provider has seen usage skyrocket as tens of millions across the globe have used Zoom to connect with co-workers, family and friends during the coronavirus crisis.

Antitrust Officials Studying Deal Between Internet Content-Recommendation Firms

Justice Department antitrust officials are looking to find out if a deal to combine the Internet’s two largest content-recommendation firms would suppress competition in a market that has provided a steady stream of revenue to online publishers. The department has been interviewing clients and rivals of Taboola Ltd. and Outbrain Inc., asking detailed questions about whether their combination could be harmful for publishers and online ad networks, according to people familiar with the matter.

EU Justice Chief Criticizes U.S. Tech Firms for Profits from Fake Virus News

EU justice chief Vera Jourova criticized U.S. tech giants such as Google and Facebook for making money off coronavirus-related fake news instead of putting in more efforts to stop the deluge. With millions of people confined to their homes due to lockdowns to counter the spread of the virus, social media and online platforms have seen the volume of news on their sites and user traffic soar.

Microsoft Warns Hospitals About VPN-Related Ransomware Threats

Roughly four out of five Americans are on government-mandated lockdowns, forcing many of them to work from home to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus. Many of these people use technology to access their work called virtual private networks, or VPNs. And now Microsoft says those companies -- specifically health care workers -- need to be on the lookout for a different breed of threats that come from VPNs.

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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.