Farm Services Provider Takes Systems Offline After Cybersecurity Incident

Iowa-based farm services provider NEW Cooperative Inc said its systems were offline to contain a "cybersecurity" incident just as the U.S. farm belt gears up for harvest. The cooperative operates grain storage elevators in the top U.S. corn producing state, buys crops from farmers, sells fertilizer and other chemicals needed to grow crops and owns technology platforms for farmers that provide agronomic advice on the way to maximize their harvests.

Walgreens Exposed Personal Data on Customers of COVID Tests

If you got a Covid-19 test at Walgreens, your personal data — including your name, date of birth, gender identity, phone number, address, and email — was left on the open web for potentially anyone to see and for the multiple ad trackers on Walgreens’ site to collect. Multiple security experts told Recode that the vulnerabilities found on the site are basic issues that the website of one of the largest pharmacy chains in the United States should have known to avoid.

Amazon Permanently Bans 600 Chinese Brands for Violating Policies

Amazon has now permanently banned over 600 Chinese brands across 3,000 different seller accounts, the company confirms to The Verge. Amazon says that’s the grand tally after five months of its global crackdown, and it’s no longer being shy about why: a spokesperson tells us these 600 brands were banned for knowingly, repeatedly and significantly violating Amazon’s policies, especially the ones around review abuse.

U.S. Prepares Actions to Limit Cryptocurrency for Ransomware

The Biden administration is preparing an array of actions, including sanctions, to make it harder for hackers to use digital currency to profit from ransomware attacks, according to people familiar with the matter. The government hopes to choke off access to a form of payment that has supported a booming criminal industry and a rising national security threat.

Apple, Google Remove App Coordinating Protest Voting in Russian Elections

Apple and Google removed an app meant to coordinate protest voting in Russian elections from the country, a blow to the opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin and a display of Silicon Valley’s limits when it comes to resisting crackdowns on dissent around the world. The decisions came after Russian authorities, who claim the app is illegal, threatened to prosecute local employees of Apple and Google — a sharp escalation in the Kremlin’s campaign to rein in the country’s largely uncensored internet.

Ireland's Data Privacy Regulator Questions Facebook Over Smart Glasses

Ireland's data privacy regulator said it had asked Facebook to demonstrate that an LED indicator light on the social media giant's newly launched smart glasses is "an effective means" to let people know they are being filmed or photographed. Ireland's Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) is the lead regulator of Facebook under the European Union's strict data privacy laws as the firm's European headquarters are based in Dublin.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission Probes TikTok Over Child Data

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) says it will investigate social media platform TikTok over its handling of children’s personal data and the transfer of data to China. “The first inquiry will examine TikTok’s compliance with the GDPR’s data protection by design and default requirements as they relate to the processing of personal data in the context of platform settings for users under age 18 and age verification measures for persons under 13,” the DPC said in a statement, referring to General Data Protection Regulation, a 2016 European Union privacy law.

Facebook Removes Accounts Linked to Anti-COVID Restrictions in Germany

Facebook has removed a network of accounts linked to an anti-COVID restrictions movement in Germany as it announced a new crackdown on coordinated campaigns of real users that cause harm on and off its platforms. Reuters exclusively reported that Facebook's security teams were expanding the tactics used to take down influence operations using fake accounts to do more wholesale shutdowns of coordinated groups of real-user accounts causing harm, through mass reporting or brigading.

FTC Staff Reports on Small Acquisitions by Five Big Tech Companies

U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff presented data on small acquisitions by five big technology companies, and the agency scrapped guidelines on vertical mergers which combine a company with a supplier -- both steps indicating plans to be tougher on deals. Following a study begun during the Trump administration, the FTC staff found that Facebook, Alphabet's Google, Amazon.com, Apple and Microsoft together had 616 acquisitions from 2010 to 2019 that were above $1 million but too small to be reported to antitrust agencies, among other findings.

Senators Launch Facebook Probe After Report About Instagram's Harm

Two top lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee’s panel over consumer protection said they were launching a probe into Facebook after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was aware of the harm Instagram can cause to teenage girls. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced their investigation into Facebook in a statement.

South Korea Fines Google $177 Million for Obstructing Android Rivals

South Korea fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google around $177 million for obstructing other companies from developing rival versions of the Android operating system, the latest challenge to the U.S. technology giant’s dominance in mobile software. Google abused its market position by thwarting efforts that could have spawned competing mobile operating systems and delayed the release of new products and services, the Korea Fair Trade Commission said.

Ex-American Intelligence Officers Admit to Hacking for United Arab Emirates

Three former American intelligence officers hired by the United Arab Emirates to carry out sophisticated cyberoperations admitted to hacking crimes and to violating U.S. export laws that restrict the transfer of military technology to foreign governments, according to court documents. The documents detail a conspiracy by the three men to furnish the Emirates with advanced technology and to assist Emirati intelligence operatives in breaches aimed at damaging the perceived enemies of the small but powerful Persian Gulf nation.

Cyber Crime Reports Rose 13% in Australia, with Hackers Exploiting COVID

Australia saw a 13% jump in cyber crime reports in the past year, the government said, with about one incident in four targeting critical infrastructure and essential services as many work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) received one cybercrime report every eight minutes over the 12 months to June 30, 2021, with a record number of Australians working remotely online during the pandemic, it said in its annual report.

D.C. Attorney General Widens Scope of Price-Fixing Suit Against Amazon

D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine sued Amazon in May over allegations it fixes prices online by preventing the third-party sellers that use its marketplace from offering their products at lower prices elsewhere. Now the Democratic attorney general is widening the scope of the suit, accusing the tech giant of maintaining its monopoly by locking the wholesalers that provide the company with goods into anti-competitive agreements.

Biden to Nominate Georgetown University Law Professor for FTC Post

President Biden will nominate Georgetown University law professor Alvaro Bedoya to be a Democratic commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, people familiar with the matter told Axios. Bedoya, founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown, will bring a bevy of experience on privacy issues to the FTC's work on tech.

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.