Hackers Target Election Officials with Invoice-Themed Phishing Emails

Hackers are targeting U.S. election officials with invoice-themed phishing emails in an attempt to steal user names and passwords, the FBI said in a bulletin. Since October, election officials in nine states have received phony emails that would dupe users into handing over their login credentials. Some of the ruses contained similar file attachments, the FBI said, with names such as “invoice inquiry.pdf.”

FTC Sues Intuit for Offering 'Bogus' Free Tax Filings with TurboTax

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it was suing Intuit, the owner of TurboTax, for allegedly deceiving consumers with "bogus" advertisements pitching free tax filings that millions of Americans do not qualify for. The FTC is also asking a federal court to immediately halt "deceptive advertising" immediately, the agency said in a statement.

Russia Prepares False Information Cases Against YouTube

Russia's communications regulator said it had drawn up two administrative cases against Alphabet Inc.'s Google for failing to remove banned information from its YouTube video-sharing platform, accusing it of blatantly promoting false content. Roskomnadzor said Google could be fined up to 8 million roubles ($91,533), or as much as 20% of the company's annual revenue in Russia for repeat offences.

Justice Department Endorses American Innovation and Choice Online Act

The Justice Department endorsed legislation forbidding large digital platforms such as Amazon and Google from favoring their own products and services over competitors’, marking the Biden administration’s first full-throated support of the antitrust measure. “The Department views the rise of dominant platforms as presenting a threat to open markets and competition, with risks for consumers, businesses, innovation, resiliency, global competitiveness, and our democracy,” says a letter to bipartisan leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, signed by Peter Hyun, the Justice Department’s acting assistant attorney general for legislative affairs.

Ex-TikTok Moderators Sue Company for Not Protecting Them from Trauma

Two former TikTok moderators, Reece Young, have filed a federal lawsuit seeking class action status against the video-sharing app and its parent company, ByteDance. Their lawsuit accuses TikTok of negligence and says it broke California labor laws by allegedly not protecting Velez and Young from the emotional trauma caused by reviewing hundreds of "highly toxic and extremely disturbing" videos every week, including videos of animal cruelty, torture and even the execution of children.

  • Read the article: NPR

Lawmakers Seek Bipartisan Agreement on Broad Privacy Legislation

Democrats and Republicans are seeking to forge a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive privacy legislation, according to people familiar with the matter, pursuing a goal that has long eluded Congressional resolution. As a first step, aides to senior Democrats and Republicans on both the House and Senate Commerce committees are planning to meet in an effort to reach consensus on how legislation might be pieced together, according to the people.

FCC Adds Kaspersky Lab to List of Banned Telecom Providers

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added Russia's AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas) Corp and China Mobile International USA to its list of communications equipment and service providers deemed threats to U.S. national security. The regulator last year designated five Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. as the first firms on the list, which was mandated under a 2019 law.

U.S., EU Reach Preliminary Seal to Store Data on Europeans in United States

The U.S. and the European Union reached a preliminary deal to allow data about Europeans to be stored on U.S. soil, heading off a growing threat to thousands of companies’ trans-Atlantic operations. The deal, announced by President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, could if concluded resolve one of the thorniest outstanding issues between the two economic giants.

British Police Arrest Seven People for Ransomware Attack on Okta

Police in Britain have arrested seven people following a series of hacks by the Lapsus$ hacking group which targeted major firms including Okta Inc. and Microsoft Corp., City of London Police said. San Francisco-based Okta Inc, whose authentication services are used by some of the world's biggest companies to provide access to their networks, said it had been hit by hackers and some customers may have been affected.

Complaint Charges Two Men with Fraud, Money Laundering in NFT Scheme

U.S. government prosecutors have charged two men with fraud and money laundering over a cryptocurrency “rug pull” scheme. Ethan Nguyen and Andre Llacuna allegedly earned around $1.1 million by selling non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) based on cartoon-like characters called “Frosties.” After selling the NFTs, they shut down the project and transferred its funds to a series of separate crypto wallets, leaving Frosties owners bereft of promised rewards.

U.S. Indicts Four Russian Government Employees in Hacking Campaign

The U.S. Justice Department fired another legal salvo against Russia, announcing indictments against four Russian government employees for an alleged hacking campaign targeting the energy sector that lasted for years and targeted computers in 135 countries. An indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges that Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, who worked at a Russian Ministry of Defense research institute, conspired with others to damage critical infrastructure outside the United States, causing emergency shutdowns at one foreign facility.

EU Agrees to Digital Markets Act Imposing New Obligations on Tech Companies

The European Union agreed to one of the world’s most far-reaching laws to address the power of the biggest tech companies, potentially reshaping app stores, online advertising, e-commerce, messaging services and other everyday digital tools. The law, called the Digital Markets Act, is the most sweeping piece of digital policy since the bloc put the world’s toughest rules to protect people’s online data into effect in 2018.

Apple Asks Court to Reject Appeal from Epic Games in 'Fortnite' Case

Apple Inc. told appellate judges that video game maker Epic Games had failed to show any legal error that would justify them overturning a lower-court ruling that found key App Store policies do not break U.S. antitrust law. Epic, known for its "Fortnite" game, largely lost a trial last year over whether Apple's payment rules for apps were anticompetitive

Hobbyist Spies Use Social Media to Impact Ground War in Ukraine

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine has unfolded at a blistering pace over social media, it has swollen the ranks of hobbyist spies. Armed with day jobs or coursework, the self-proclaimed open source intelligence — or “OSINT” — community tracks every movement of the Russian and Ukrainian militaries online. Five weeks into the war, their findings are impacting strategy on the ground.

Tech, Children's Health Advocacy Groups Push for Law to Protect Kids Online

Tech and children’s health advocacy groups sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to pass legislation providing protections for kids and teens online. The letter follows President Biden’s call for social companies to be held accountable for their impact on kids’ safety during his first State of the Union address earlier this month and builds on bipartisan momentum in Congress to add additional regulations.

Report Says Facebook Allowed Ads Calling for Violence Against Rohingya

A new report has found that Facebook failed to detect blatant hate speech and calls to violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority years after such behavior was found to have played a determining role in the genocide against them. The report shared exclusively with The Associated Press showed the rights group Global Witness submitted eight paid ads for approval to Facebook, each including different versions of hate speech against Rohingya.

Authentication Services Provider Investigating Report of Breach

Authentication services provider Okta Inc. is investigating a report of a digital breach, the company said, after hackers posted screenshots showing what they claimed was its internal company environment. A hack at Okta could have major consequences because thousands of other companies, such as FedEx, Moody's and T-Mobile, rely on the San Francisco-based firm to manage access to their own networks and applications.

Subscribe

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.