Security News

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is adopting new rules that aim to protect consumers from cell phone account scams that make it possible for malicious actors to orchestrate...

If you plug your phone into a USB outlet that's provided by someone else, how can you be sure that it's only providing charging power, and not secretly trying to negotiate a data connection with your device at the same time? In the words of the FCC:. If your battery is running low, be aware that juicing up your electronic device at free USB port charging stations, such as those found in airports and hotel lobbies, might have unfortunate consequences.

In Brief The Federal Communications Commission plans to overhaul its security reporting rules for the telecom industry to, among other things, eliminate a mandatory seven-day wait for informing customers of stolen data and expand the definition of what constitutes an incident. In a unanimous 4-0 vote, the FCC published a notice of proposed rulemaking that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said is sorely overdue, as the current rules are more than 15 years old.

US regulators want to fine the operators of a claimed massive robocall operation almost $300 million that made more than 5 billion pre-recorded calls over three months early last year. Those five billion calls went to more than 500 million phone numbers between January and March 2021 in what the Federal Communications Commission called the largest robocall operation it has ever investigated.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission proposed today a record-breaking $300 million fine against an auto warranty robocall operation that made billions of calls to more than 550 million phones across the United States. Today's announcement follows previous action taken by the FCC in July when the federal government agency ordered 8 U.S.-based voice service providers to stop offering their services to the operation behind these auto warranty scam robocalls within 48 hours.

One of the commissioners of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has renewed calls asking for Apple and Google to boot the popular video-sharing platform TikTok from their app stores citing "Its pattern of surreptitious data practices." "It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing's apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data," Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the FCC, wrote in a letter to Apple and Google's chief executives.

FCC adds Kaspersky, Chinese companies to list of potential threats to national security. The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has added three companies to the list of communications equipment and services that pose a threat to national security through access to user information.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday moved to add Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to the "Covered List" of companies that pose an "Unacceptable risk to the national security" of the country. Also added alongside Kaspersky were China Telecom Corp and China Mobile International USA. The block list includes information security products, solutions, and services supplied, directly or indirectly, by the company or any of its predecessors, successors, parents, subsidiaries, or affiliates.

The US Federal Communications Commission today proposed the largest-ever fine against a robocaller for Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations. The Commission wants to hit Florida-based lead generator Interstate Brokers with a $45 million TCPA fine for making more than 500,000 unlawful robocalls without an emergency purpose or the consumers' prior express consent.

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed more rigorous data breach reporting requirements for telecom carriers in response to breaches that recently hit the telecommunications industry. "I look forward to having my colleagues join me in taking a fresh look at our data breach reporting rules to better protect consumers, increase security, and reduce the impact of future breaches."