governments

Mon
18
Mar
John Lister's picture

Security Experts Call for Ransomware Payment Ban

A former cyber security chief says governments should ban organizations from paying money to ransomware gangs. Ciaran Martin likened such payment to bans on paying terrorist kidnappers. The call has had a mixed response, with critics calling it an ... unfair constraint on business freedoms. Martin was the first head of the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre. That's an organization overseen by the country's intelligence services that advises businesses and the public on cyber security threats. Ransomware has become a business worth an estimated $20 billion a year to criminals who gain ... (view more)

Tue
23
Aug
John Lister's picture

Tech Giants May Pay For Broadband Expansion

Three national governments say major tech companies should pay some of the costs of expanding broadband networks. Critics argue such a move could have negative knock-on effects. The idea is highlighted in a leaked document from governments in ... France, Italy and Spain. They were responding to EU regulators who are exploring the idea of big companies paying some of the costs of upgrading telecommunications infrastructure. The document notes that just six companies, including Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook) and Netflix make up the majority of all Internet traffic. (Source: reuters.com ) 'Free ... (view more)

Tue
16
Nov
John Lister's picture

US Blacklists Israeli 'Spyware' Maker

The US government has blacklisted an Israeli company that made spyware used by national governments. NSO Group's tools have reportedly been used against diplomats, journalists and political activists. The move is as much a political signal as a ... practical measure. NSO being added to the group means US businesses must apply for a license to supply it, which will likely be refused. This would primarily affect cyber researchers who sell it information about known vulnerabilities. Although there's no immediate ban on US organizations using NSO's services, it's now clearly frowned upon. Threat To ... (view more)

Wed
18
Jan
John Lister's picture

Squirrels Dubbed Major Security Threat

Squirrels pose more of a threat to infrastructure than cyber terrorists - or, at least that's what one researcher's project implies. Cris Thomas says he found nearly five million people have been affected by power cuts caused by animals since 2013. ... According to Thomas, that's vastly more damaging than deliberate human actions to disrupt power and communications networks. The surprising claim came at a security conference in Washington and attracted attention given many speeches at such events concentrate on the actions of human hackers, terrorists and state governments in ... (view more)

Fri
28
Feb
John Lister's picture

$473 Million Lost In Online Currency Scandal

One of the largest businesses that allowed people buy the online currency Bitcoin is filing for bankruptcy protection. The collapse means customers have almost certainly lost nearly half a billion US dollars in "real money." Mt Gox is a Tokyo-based ... business founded in 2009 as a trading card exchange (Source: wikipedia.org ). It has recently filed for bankruptcy protection because it has debt worth $63.6 million, but assets worth only just half over that. Customers had a total of around 750,000 Bitcoins stored in the Mt Gox equivalent of a bank account, which translates to around $ ... (view more)

Fri
16
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

Government Snooping Increasing, Google Says

Google says that national governments are demanding access to its user data more than ever before. The search giant also says governments are making more requests for it to take controversial information offline. These revelations come in the latest ... edition of Google's Transparency Index, a semi-annual report designed to shed light on the state of online censorship. It takes Google several months to compile the data, so the new information covers 20,939 requests for user data and other demands made only between January and June 2012. Compare that to Google's 2009 Transparency Index, which ... (view more)

Wed
07
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Gov'ts Using Cellphone Spyware, Warns WikiLeaks

The controversial Wikileaks site has published documents that appear to show national governments using malicious software to carry out surveillance. The documents flesh out claims by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that private companies are ... profiting by selling the software to governments. Wikileaks has published a total of 287 files used by 160 commercial firms. It says this is only part of a larger collection that will be published, going forward. The most worrying aspect of the products detailed is that they are intentionally designed to bypass the type of security software available to ... (view more)

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