Apple Reverses Course, Allows Epic Games to Create App Store in Europe

Apple has reversed course under regulatory pressure and cleared the way for a nettlesome adversary, video game maker Epic Games, to set up an alternative store for iPhone apps in Europe. The about-face disclosed Friday is the latest twist in a bitter fight between Apple and Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, over the way iPhone apps are distributed and the fees for digital transactions that occur within them.

Appeals Court Upholds Texas Law Requiring Porn Sites to Verify Ages

A federal appeals court has upheld a Texas law mandating that pornography websites verify that their users are adults, though it struck down a part of the law requiring them to display health warnings about their content. The 2-1 decision, opens new tab from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling blocking the law, which had been challenged in court by pornography producers.

U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Hacked, Takes Systems Offline

A federal agency in charge of cybersecurity discovered it was hacked last month and was forced to take two key computer systems offline, an agency spokesperson and US officials familiar with the incident told CNN. One of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s affected systems runs a program that allows federal, state and local officials to share cyber and physical security assessment tools, according to the U.S. officials briefed on the matter.

  • Read the article: CNN

Russian State-Sponsored Hacking Group Still Using Microsoft Data

Microsoft said a Russian state-sponsored hacking group that stole information from its senior leadership team is still using that information to gain unauthorized access to its internal systems. The tech company disclosed in January that the threat actor, which it has identified as the group Midnight Blizzard, had extracted information from a small percentage of employee email accounts, including members of its senior leadership team and employees in its cybersecurity and legal teams.

States Push Meta to Take Action Against Facebook, Instagram Account Hijackers

Forty U.S. states and Washington, D.C. called on Meta Platforms to crack down on scammers who hijack Facebook and Instagram accounts, to address a "dramatic" surge in account takeovers. In a letter to Meta's chief lawyer, states led by New York Attorney General Letitia James said fraudsters are "winning the war and running rampant on Meta," after the company in November 2022 announced thousands of job cuts focused on security and privacy.

Treasury Department Bans Spyware Maker That Targeted Officials, Reporters

The Treasury Department banned the maker of spyware used to target government officials, reporters and activists, deploying “first-of-its-kind” sanctions against sellers of commercial spyware. The U.S. government deployed sanctions against Greece-based spyware vendor Intellexa on Tuesday and the company’s leadership after targeting U.S. officials.

Apple Blocks Epic Games Subsidiary from Using iPhone Software Tools

When the European Union passed a 2022 law to loosen Apple’s grip on the app economy, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, began planning to launch a competing app store for developers. But before that law could go into effect this week, Apple has blocked Epic’s European subsidiary from using iPhone software tools, making it impossible for the game developer to create the Epic Games Store.

U.S. Charges Chinese Citizen with Stealing AI Trade Secrets from Google

A Chinese citizen was charged with stealing trade secrets from Google about artificial intelligence technology, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced. Linwei Ding, who is also known as Leon Ding, was charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. Ding, 38, a resident of Newark, Calif., was arrested there and the indictment unsealed.

Ransomware Gang Behind Attack on UnitedHealth Says It Shut Down

A notorious ransomware gang said that it had shut down, but it left American prescription services in continued chaos after two weeks, showing the difficulty in trying to counter an enormous, shape-shifting criminal economy. ALPHV, the gang blamed for the massive Feb. 21 attack on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit, took in a ransomware payment of $22 million before shutting down and will probably reemerge under a new name, as its core group has done before, analysts said.

Bill Would Require ByteDance to Sell TikTok or Face Ban in United States

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation to give China's ByteDance about six months to divest popular short video app TikTok or face a U.S. ban, seeking to tackle national security concerns about its Chinese ownership. The bill is the first significant legislative move in nearly a year toward banning or forcing ByteDance to divest the popular app, after senate legislation to ban it stalled in Congress last year in the face of heavy lobbying by TikTok.

After Being Sued by Nintendo, Developers of Switch Emulator Shut Down

Just over a week ago, Nintendo sued the developers of the leading Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu, for “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale.” Now, it appears that Yuzu will give up without a fight — according to a joint filing, Tropic Haze has not only agreed to pay $2,400,000 to Nintendo but also says Yuzu is “primarily designed to circumvent and play Nintendo Switch games.”

Cyberattack on Health-Care Company Creating Widespread Problems

The fallout from the hack of a little-known but pivotal health-care company is inflicting pain on hospitals, doctor offices, pharmacies and millions of patients across the nation, with government and industry officials calling it one of the most serious attacks on the health-care system in U.S. history. The Feb. 21 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, has cut off many health-care organizations from the systems they rely on to transmit patients’ health-care claims and get paid.

EU Fines Apple Almost $2 Billion, Says App Store Violates Antitrust Rules

The European Union fined Apple almost $2 billion, saying the iPhone maker set unfair rules for developers of music-streaming apps, in what could be the start of a wider battle between the bloc’s antitrust watchdog and the tech giant. The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, said a yearslong investigation into Apple’s app-store practices found the company violated antitrust rules by restricting app developers from telling users about alternative ways to subscribe to music-streaming services.

Judge Seems Skeptical of Musk's Suit Against Center for Countering Digital Hate

A federal judge in San Francisco appears poised to toss a lawsuit brought by Elon's Musk's X against a nonprofit that found the platform allowed hate speech to spread on the site once known as Twitter. Last year, lawyers for X sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate, claiming the group improperly scraped X to prepare damning reports about the proliferation of hate speech on the site.

  • Read the article: NPR

Apple Says EU Government Agencies Concerned About iPhone App Stores

A number of government agencies in the European Union and elsewhere have voiced concerns about security risks as Apple opens up its iPhones and iPads to rival app stores to comply with EU tech rules, Apple said. Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), from March 7 Apple will be required to offer alternative app stores on iPhones and allow developers to opt out of using its in-app payment system, which charges fees of up to 30%.

U.S. Court Orders NSO Group to Disclose Code for Spyware Products

NSO Group, the maker of one the world’s most sophisticated cyber weapons, has been ordered by a U.S. court to hand its code for Pegasus and other spyware products to WhatsApp as part of the company’s ongoing litigation. The decision by Judge Phyllis Hamilton is a major legal victory for WhatsApp, the Meta-owned communication app which has been embroiled in a lawsuit against NSO since 2019, when it alleged that the Israeli company’s spyware had been used against 1,400 WhatsApp users over a two-week period.

Musk Sues OpenAI, Altman for Prioritizing Profits Over Humanity Benefits

Elon Musk sued OpenAI and its Chief Executive Sam Altman, alleging they broke the artificial-intelligence company’s founding agreement by giving priority to profit over the benefits to humanity. The lawsuit, filed in a San Francisco court, marks a dramatic escalation of a long-simmering feud between tech industry titans over the future of AI.

Cyberattack Disrupts Insurance Processing at Pharmacies

A week after a cyberattack disrupted insurance processing at pharmacies across the United States, health care professionals from Maryland to New York tell CNN that the hack continues to upend their businesses, potentially cutting into revenue. Raeya Disney, a psychotherapist who treats trauma victims in Maryland, said she worries she is “at risk of having to give up my office space” if the billing outage continues much longer.

  • Read the article: CNN

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.