Security News
Israeli spyware maker NSO Group has rubbished Facebook's claim it can be sued in California because it allegedly uses American IT services and has a business presence in the US. Last October, Facebook and its WhatsApp subsidiary sued the software developer and its affiliate Q Cyber Technologies in California, claiming that the firms made, distributed, and operated surveillance software known as Pegasus that remotely infects, hijacks, and extracts data from the smartphones of WhatsApp users. WhatsApp security manager Claudiu Gheorghe in a previous filing identified 720 malicious attacks on WhatsApp from the IP address 104.223.76.220, a server in California provided by QuadraNet and allegedly run by NSO. QuadraNet did not immediately respond to The Register's request to clarify the account holder for that IP address.
The United States threatened Thursday to cut off Beijing-controlled China Telecom from serving the US market because of legal and security risks, the Justice Department announced Thursday. The agencies making the recommendation - which also included the Justice Department, the Commerce Department, and the US Trade Representative - said China Telecom is vulnerable to "Exploitation, influence and control" by the Chinese government.
The FBI has not followed internal rules when applying to spy on US citizens for at least five years, according to an extraordinary report [PDF] by the Department of Justice's inspector general. The failure to follow so-called Woods Procedures, designed to make sure the FBI's submissions for secret spying are correct, puts a question mark over more than 700 approved applications to intercept and log every phone call and email made by named individuals.
Social distancing has affected consumer shopping patterns, and a TransUnion survey found that 22% of Americans said they've been targeted by digital fraud related to COVID-19. Consumers are greatly reliant on online retailers during the coronavirus pandemic, and businesses must be armed to combat fraud, while making sure the company's web and mobile platforms are bug-free.
As of March 5, the map lists 176 cases in the US. A United Nations aviation agency built the 3DFX Dispersion map, which shows the movement of the coronavirus around the world via air traffic routes from its origin in Wuhan, China. The geographic information system map displays multiple layers of data, including deaths, confirmed cases, and cases by country.
A report from Atlas VPN finds that one in three Americans worries about identity theft, while only 20% are concerned about becoming a murder victim. Along with being concerned about identity theft, 72% say they are worried about having personal information stolen by hackers.
The controversial surveillance program that gave the NSA access to the phone call records of millions of Americans has cost US taxpayers $100m - and resulted in just one useful lead over four years. It is perhaps no wonder that the NSA and the FBI has spent years stalling and refusing to hand over any information about the program.
Most Americans are worried about how companies and governments will use technology like facial recognition and encryption, and how it will affect their data and security, according to a new survey from VPN provider ExpressVPN. The survey of 1,200 adults revealed Americans' deep concern for online privacy, and who do not support the encryption backdoors required by the US government. If they found out their personal information had been sold to a third party, 92% of Americans would delete a regularly used app.
Four members of the Chinese military have been charged with breaking into the networks of the Equifax credit reporting agency and stealing the personal information of tens of millions of Americans, the Justice Department said Monday, blaming Beijing for one of the largest hacks in history to target consumer data. The case is the latest Justice Department accusation against Chinese hackers suspected of breaching networks of American corporations.
The United States today announced criminal charges against four Chinese Army soldiers who, it is claimed, are the hackers who stole 145 million Americans' personal data from credit scorer Equifax. Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Ke, and Liu Lei, are all said to have been members of the People's Liberation Army's 54th Research Institute hacking team, and are accused of illegally accessed Equifax's customer databases.