Companies Pushing to Narrow Legislation on Reporting Cyberattacks

Companies are pushing to narrow legislation that would require them to report cyberattacks to the U.S. government, as a series of hacks has added momentum to a nearly decadelong effort in Congress to approve such a law. Emerging proposals in the House and Senate offer competing visions for how businesses operating most U.S. critical infrastructure would feed information to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which could then share it across the public and private sectors.

84,000 Illicit Entertainment Sites Generate $1.3 Billion in Revenue, Study Says

Websites and apps featuring pirated movies and TV shows make about $1.3 billion from advertising each year, including from major companies like Amazon.com Inc., according to a study. The piracy operations are also a key source of malware, and some ads placed on the sites contain links that hackers use to steal personal information or conduct ransomware attacks, according to the online safety nonprofit Digital Citizens Alliance and the anti-piracy firm White Bullet Solutions Ltd.

Hackers Return $260 Million of Funds in $613 Million Cryptocurrency Heist

Hackers behind one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency heists have returned more than a third of $613 million in digital coins they stole, the company at the center of the hack said. Poly Network, a decentralized finance platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, said on Twitter that $260 million of the stolen funds had been returned but that $353 million was outstanding.

Ransomware Gang Threatens to Publish Accenture's Encrypted Files

Accenture, the global consulting firm, has been hit by the LockBit ransomware gang, according to the cybercriminal group’s website. Accenture’s encrypted files will be published by the group on the dark web unless the company pays the ransom, LockBit claimed, according to screenshots of the website reviewed by CNN Business and Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm.

  • Read the article: CNN

Bipartisan Senate Legislation Would Regulate Google's, Apple's App Stores

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to regulate Google and Apple’s app stores, in the latest signal of the growing political will to loosen large tech companies’ grip on smaller developers. The Open App Markets Act would fundamentally alter the way smartphone apps function by requiring companies running large app stores, like Apple and Google, to allow people to download apps out side of stores and grant users the ability to install alternative app stores.

YouTube Suspends Rand Paul for Video Disputing Effectiveness of Masks

YouTube removed a video by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky for the second time and suspended him from publishing for a week after he posted a video that disputed the effectiveness of wearing masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus. A YouTube representative said the Republican senator’s claims in the three-minute video had violated the company’s policy on Covid-19 medical misinformation.

Facebook Removes Accounts from Russia Pushing Anti-Vaccine Content

Facebook said it had removed a network of accounts from Russia that it linked to a marketing firm which aimed to enlist influencers to push anti-vaccine content about the COVID-19 jabs. The social media company said it had banned accounts connected to Fazze, a subsidiary of UK-registered marketing firm AdNow, which primarily conducted its operations from Russia, for violating its policy against foreign interference.

Approved Senate Infrastructure Package Includes $1.9 Billion for Cybersecurity

The Senate included more than $1.9 billion in cybersecurity funds as part of the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that was approved. The funds will go toward securing critical infrastructure against attacks, helping vulnerable organizations defend themselves and providing funding for a key federal cyber office, among other initiatives.

Amazon to Pay Customers Up to $1,000 for Dangerous Defective Products

Amazon will pay customers up to $1,000 for defective products sold on its marketplace by third-party merchants that cause property damage or personal injury, after facing lawsuits in which it has argued that it bears no responsibility for those claims. And the e-commerce giant said it might also cover claims above $1,000 if the third-party seller “is unresponsive or rejects a claim we believe to be valid.”

Coronavirus Misinformation Surges Online Along with Spread of Delta Variant

Coronavirus misinformation has spiked online in recent weeks, misinformation experts say, as people who peddle in falsehoods have seized on the surge of cases from the Delta variant to spread new and recycled unsubstantiated narratives. Mentions of some phrases prone to vaccine misinformation in July jumped as much as five times the June rate, according to Zignal Labs, which tracks mentions on social media, on cable television and in print and online outlets.

'Decentralized Finance' Losses Rise While Overall Cryptocurrency Losses Drop

Losses from theft, hacks, and fraud in "decentralized finance" or DeFi, a thriving segment in the cryptocurrency sector, hit an all-time high in the first seven months of the year, a report from crypto intelligence company CipherTrace showed. But losses from crime in the overall cryptocurrency market dropped sharply to $681 million at the end of July, compared to $1.9 billion for the whole of 2020 and $4.5 billion in 2019.

Twitter Again Suspends Marjorie Taylor Greene for Coronavirus Misinformation

Twitter suspended Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, from its service for seven days after she posted that the Food and Drug Administration should not approve the coronavirus vaccines and that the vaccines were “failing.” The company said that this was Ms. Greene’s fourth “strike,” which means that under the company’s rules she could be permanently barred if she violated Twitter’s coronavirus misinformation policy again.

Indian Supreme Court Orders Antitrust Probe for Amazon, Flipkart

Amazon.com Inc and Walmart's Flipkart must face antitrust investigations ordered against them in India, the country's Supreme Court ruled, in a blow to the leading e-commerce giants which had urged judges to quash the inquiries. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered the investigation against the companies last year for allegedly promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and using business practices that stifle competition.

Amazon Sellers Push Customers to Revise Negative Reviews, Violating Terms

Some Amazon sellers are reaching out to unhappy buyers to revise or delete their negative reviews, in exchange for refunds or gift cards. Sellers who ship products via Amazon aren’t supposed to reach out to customers outside of Amazon’s official channel — in fact, it’s a violation of the terms they agree to on the retail platform.

Apple Defends Plan to Scan Photos for Illegal Child Sex Abuse

Apple defended its new system that will scan iCloud for illegal child sexual abuse materials, or CSAM, amid a controversy over whether the system reduces Apple user privacy and could be used by governments to surveil citizens. Last week, Apple announced it has started testing a system that uses sophisticated cryptography to identify when users upload collections of known child pornography to its cloud storage service.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Judge Dismisses $308.5 Million Patent Verdict Against Apple

Apple Inc. persuaded a federal judge to throw out a $308.5 million jury verdict it lost to a privately-held licensing firm for infringing a patent associated with digital rights management. In a decision, U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap said Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC) intentionally delayed filing its application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, hoping to obtain a larger payout.

Record Labels Sue Charter Communications for Copyright Infringement

A group of major record labels has filed a new lawsuit against Charter Communications alleging that the company has failed to address its subscribers’ copyright infringement of musical works. And it’s not the first time the labels have sued Charter for its subscribers’ alleged behavior. In a complaint filed in US District Court in Colorado July 26th, Universal Music, EMI, Sony Music, and Warner Music, along with several subsidiaries, claim that Charter, which provides internet services as Spectrum, “has insisted on doing nothing despite receiving thousands of notices that detailed the illegal activity of its subscribers, despite its clear legal obligation to address the widespread, illegal downloading of copyrighted works on its Internet services, and despite being sued previously by Plaintiffs for similar conduct.”

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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.