The FBI and international partners have at least temporarily dismantled the network of a prolific ransomware gang they infiltrated last year, saving victims including hospitals and school districts a potential 130 million dollars (€119 million) in ransom payments, US officials announced. “Simply put, using lawful means we hacked the hackers,” deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco […]
WhatsApp has been fined more than five million euro by Ireland’s data watchdog over data protection breaches. The 5.5 million euro fine was imposed on WhatsApp Ireland by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) for breaches of the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The penalty was described as “administrative” and is relatively low in comparison […]
Facebook and Instagram are to tighten restrictions around the data available to firms to target ads at teenage users, the platforms’ parent company Meta has said. From February, advertisers will no longer be able see a user’s gender or the type of posts they have engaged with as a way of targeting adverts to them. […]
The US Supreme Court has rejected an Israeli spyware maker’s bid to derail a high-profile legal case filed by the WhatsApp messaging service. The justices left in place lower court rulings against the Israeli firm, NSO Group. WhatsApp claims NSO targeted 1,400 users of the encrypted messaging service with highly sophisticated spyware. WhatsApp’s parent Facebook, […]
Men are around twice as likely as women to have had their identity stolen, a survey suggests. More than one in 10 (11%) women said their identity had been stolen, with nearly a quarter (23%) of men also saying this, Nationwide Building Society found. Of those who said their identity was stolen, a third (33%) […]
Ireland’s data watchdog has fined Facebook’s parent company Meta Ireland 390 million euro as a row erupted over whether further investigation of the use of people’s data is warranted. Meta Ireland was fined 210 million euro for breaches of EU data privacy rules relating to Facebook, and 180 million euro for breaches on Instagram. Meta […]
WhatsApp will allow users to connect to the messaging app via proxy servers for the first time to allow users to stay online even when an internet shutdown or block is in place. The Meta-owned site said it had taken the decision in response to internet shutdowns seen in countries such as Iran in recent […]
After a turbulent year in 2022, the global tech sector will be hoping for calmer times in 2023 – but that might be wishful thinking. Elon Musk’s controversial ownership of Twitter remains unpredictable and uncertain, with a new chief executive supposedly to be parachuted in; the Online Safety Bill is still to complete its passage […]
Twitter’s subscription service that will allow users to pay to be verified on the platform is relaunching on Monday after a failed rollout last month. Twitter Blue will give users who sign up a blue tick badge, the ability to edit tweets and a range of other features in exchange for the eight dollar (£6.50) […]
Google has to delete search results about people in Europe if they can prove the information is clearly wrong, the European Union’s top court said. The European Court of Justice ruled search engines must “dereference information” if the person making the request can demonstrate the material is “manifestly inaccurate”. People in Europe have the right […]
