News

US Senate kills reform amendment, Biden swiftly signs bill into law

US lawmakers on Saturday reauthorized a contentious warrantless surveillance tool for another two years — and added a whole bunch of people and organizations to the list of those who can be compelled to spy for Uncle Sam.…

Don't bore us, get to the chorus: You need less privacy so we can protect the children

Yet another international cop shop has come out swinging against end-to-end encryption - this time it's Europol which is urging an end to implementation of the tech for fear police investigations will be hampered by protected DMs.…

Prosecutors believe one frikkin' laser did make its way to Beijing

Germany has arrested three citizens who allegedly tried to transfer military technology to China, a violation of the country's export rules.…

Meta insists it's just misunderstood and it's safe to talk to citizens over FB

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) has warned that government organizations should not use Facebook to communicate with the country's citizens unless they can guarantee the privacy of data.…

Sadly no push to ban stupid TikTok dances, but ByteDance would have year to offload app Stateside

Fresh US legislation to force the sale of TikTok locally was passed in Washington over the weekend after an earlier version stalled in the Senate.…

Leaked draft report says stated goals still come up short

Google's Privacy Sandbox, which aspires to provide privacy-preserving ad targeting and analytics, still isn't sufficiently private.…

Facing down the triple threat of ransomware, data breaches and criminal extortion

Sponsored  On the face of it, there really isn't much of an upside for the current UK government after MPs described its response to attacks by cyber-espionage group APT31 as 'feeble, derisory and sadly insufficient.'…

What if it's not AI but the algorithm to blame?

Opinion  It was a bold claim by the richest and most famous tech founder: bold, precise and wrong. Laughably so. Twenty years ago, Bill Gates promised to rid the world of spam by 2006. How's that worked out for you?…

For once, Redmond's finest saved the day - by being rubbish in unexpectedly useful ways

Who, Me?  It's Monday once again, dear reader, and you know what that means: another dive into the Who, Me? confessional, to share stories of IT gone wrong that Reg readers managed to pretend had gone right.…

Two rounds of reports and patches may not have completely closed this hole

BLACK HAT ASIA  Researchers at US/Israeli infosec outfit SafeBreach last Friday discussed flaws in Microsoft and Kaspersky security products that can potentially allow the remote deletion of files. And, they asserted, the hole could remain exploitable – even after both vendors claim to have patched the problem.…

A day after FBI boss warns Beijing is poised to strike against US infrastructure

China last week reorganized its military to create an Information Support Force aimed at ensuring it can fight and win networked wars.…

PLUS: Akira ransomware resurgent; Telehealth outfit fined for data-sharing; This week's nastiest vulns

Infosec In Brief  In a cautionary tale that no one is immune from attack, the security org MITRE has admitted that it got pwned.…

Police say this appears to be a 'deliberate act.'

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) suffered hours of flight delays yesterday after what appears to be an intentional cutting of an AT&T internet cable serving the facility.…

Still available in Hong Kong and Macau, for now

Apple has removed four apps from its China-regional app store, including Meta's WhatsApp and Threads, after it was ordered to do so by Beijing for security reasons.…

It’s the second time the World-Check list has fallen into the wrong hands

The World-Check database used by businesses to verify the trustworthiness of users has fallen into the hands of cybercriminals.…

Apparently an attempt to damage Ukraine's war effort

Bavarian state police have arrested two German-Russian citizens on suspicion of being Russian spies and planning to bomb industrial and military facilities that participate in efforts to assist Ukraine defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.…

Source blames BlackSuit infection – as separately ISP Frontier confirms cyberattack

Octapharma Plasma has blamed IT "network issues" for the ongoing closure of its 150-plus centers across the US. It's feared a ransomware infection may be the root cause of the medical firm's ailment.…

'I want to buy a car. That's all'

Crooks are exploiting month-old OpenMetadata vulnerabilities in Kubernetes environments to mine cryptocurrency using victims' resources, according to Microsoft.…

Vote met strong opposition from Biden's office

A draft law to restrict the US government's ability to procure data on citizens through data brokers will progress to the Senate after being passed in the House of Representatives.…

Criminals make lucrative use of stolen credit cards

Speaking at Black Hat Asia on Thursday, a Korean researcher revealed how the discovery of one phishing website led to uncovering an operation whose activities leveraged second-hand shops and included using Apple’s "someone-else pickup" method to cash in.…