Russia Blocks Access to Twitter, Which Vows to Keep Service Accessible

As the invasion of Ukraine enters its third day, Russia has blocked access to Twitter in an apparent effort to stifle the flow of information, according to a report from the internet monitoring group NetBlocks. NetBlocks saw failed or heavily throttled connections across every major Russian telecom provider, including Rostelecom, MTS, Beeline, and MegaFon.

Nvidia Investigating Incident Reported as Malicious Network Intrusion

U.S. chipmaker Nvidia has confirmed that it’s investigating a cyber incident that has reportedly downed the company’s developer tools and email systems. Nvidia told TechCrunch in a statement that the nature and scope of the incident are still being evaluated, adding that the company’s commercial activities have not been impacted as a result.

Russian Authorities Push Tech Companies to Comply with Censorship Law

As Russia attacks Ukraine, the authorities in Moscow are intensifying a censorship campaign at home by squeezing some of the world’s biggest tech companies. Russian authorities warned Google, Meta, Apple, Twitter, TikTok and others that they had until the end of this month to comply with a new law that requires them to set up legal entities in the country.

Meta, YouTube Bar Russian Media from Earning Revenue on Their Platforms

Social media platforms are preventing Russian-backed media from earning ad revenue as Russia continues its assault on Ukraine. The head of security policy at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that Russian state media would not be able to earn money from ads on the company's platforms. Following the move, YouTube said Russian channels, including state-owned network RT, would be barred from receiving money from ads on its platform, Reuters reported.

U.S. Officials Present Biden with Options for Cyberattacks Against Russia

President Joe Biden has been presented with a menu of options for the U.S. to carry out massive cyberattacks designed to disrupt Russia’s ability to sustain its military operations in Ukraine, four people familiar with the deliberations tell NBC News. Two U.S. intelligence officials, one Western intelligence official and another person briefed on the matter say no final decisions have been made, but they say U.S. intelligence and military cyber warriors are proposing the use of American cyberweapons on a scale never before contemplated.

Patreon Suspends Crowdfunding Page Supporting Ukraine's Military

Patreon says it’s suspended the crowdfunding page for “Come Back Alive,” a Ukrainian NGO that was collecting money to support the the country’s military in response to Russian aggression. In a statement given to CNBC, the platform said it “does not allow any campaigns involved in violence or purchasing of military equipment, regardless of their cause.” Come Back Alive’s page said that funds would be used to train soldiers, as well as provide technical equipment, according to Patreon’s blog post.

Governors Urge Congress to Finalize Semiconductor Subsidy Bill

A bipartisan group of 22 governors urged leaders in Congress to move quickly to finalize $52 billion in government funding to subsidize the production of semiconductor chips. A persistent industry-wide shortage of chips has disrupted production in the automotive and electronics industries, in particular, forcing some firms to scale back production.

Russian Could Use Cryptocurrency to Blunt Effects of U.S. Sanctions

The Biden administration enacted fresh sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, aiming to thwart its access to foreign capital. But Russian entities are preparing to blunt some of the worst effects by making deals with anyone around the world willing to work with them, experts said. And, they say, those entities can then use digital currencies to bypass the control points that governments rely on — mainly transfers of money by banks — to block deal execution.

Ukrainian Government Sites, Banks Taken Down by Denial of Service Attack

Multiple Ukrainian government websites went offline due to a mass distributed denial of service attack, according to the head of the Eastern European nation's Ministry of Digital Transformation. DDoS attacks cripple sites by overwhelming them with a flood of requests to serve up web pages. Some banking websites were down as well, Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram.

  • Read the article: CNET

More Online Romance Scams Linked to Cryptocurrency Theft

Romance scams — the term for online scams that involve feigning romantic interest to gain a victim’s trust — have increased in the pandemic. So have crypto prices. That has made crypto a useful entry point for criminals looking to part victims from their savings. About 56,000 romance scams, totaling $139 million in losses, were reported to the Federal Trade Commission last year, according to agency data.

Copyright Office Rejects Registration for AI-Created Image

The U.S. Copyright Office has rejected a request to let an AI copyright a work of art. A three-person board reviewed a 2019 ruling against Steven Thaler, who tried to copyright a picture on behalf of an algorithm he dubbed Creativity Machine. The board found that Thaler’s AI-created image didn’t include an element of “human authorship” — a necessary standard, it said, for protection.

FBI Warns of Potential for Russian Ransomware Attacks Amid Ukraine Crisis

Minutes after President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on Russian banks and elites, a senior FBI cyber official asked U.S. businesses and local governments to be mindful of the potential for ransomware attacks as the crisis between the Kremlin and Ukraine deepens. Russia is a "permissive operating environment" for cybercriminals -- one that "is not going to get any smaller" as Russia's confrontation with the West over Ukraine continues and further sanctions are announced, the FBI's David Ring said on a phone briefing with private executives and state and local officials, according to two people who were on the call.

  • Read the article: CNN

Father of Reporter Killed On-Air Creates NFT in Attempt to Stop Videos Online

Andy Parker, whose daughter was shot and killed on a routine TV news segment, has transformed the clip of the killings into an NFT, or non-fungible token, in a complex and potentially futile bid to claim ownership over the videos — a tactic to use copyright to force Big Tech’s hand. Parker does not own the copyright to the footage of his daughter’s murder that aired on CBS affiliate WDBJ in 2015. But in December, he created an NFT of that tape on Rarible, a marketplace that deals in crypto assets, in an attempt to claim copyright ownership of the clip.

NFT Marketplace OpenSea Investigating Thefts by Phishing Attacks

The co-founder of OpenSea said the non-fungible token marketplace is investigating a “phishing attack,” which doesn’t appear to be active. “We don’t believe it’s connected to the OpenSea website,” Devin Finzer, who is also its chief executive officer, said on Twitter. “It appears 32 users thus far have signed a malicious payload from an attacker, and some of their NFTs were stolen.”

Apple Facing Potential Legislation Aimed at Its App Store Operations

U.S. lawmakers in both parties are expressing concern with how Apple Inc. runs its App Store, leaving the company playing defense against legislation that would loosen its grip on the profitable business. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 20-2 this month to advance legislation that could erode the fees Apple collects on digital app revenues.

Whistleblower Complaints Allege Facebook Misled Investors on Climate, COVID

A pair of whistleblower complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this month allege Facebook misled investors about its efforts to combat climate change and covid-19 misinformation, according to redacted copies of the documents viewed by The Washington Post. Filed by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit representing former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, the complaints allege that the company made “material misrepresentations and omissions in statements to investors” about its efforts to combat misinformation.

Russian Hackers Blamed for Attacks Against Ukrainian Bank, Governments

Russian military hackers were behind a spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that briefly knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline, the United States and the United Kingdom said. U.S. deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger told journalists at the White House that Washington was seeking to hold Russia to account for its aggressive moves in cyberspace.

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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.