DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ X users in Brazil temporarily regained access. Elon Musk's company says it was accidental.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewElon Musk's X says it accidentally restored temporary access to the social media platform in Brazil on Wednesday, just weeks after it was banned in the country. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. This made "blocking the app much more complicated," the country's trade group for internet service providers added. In response, Musk closed X's Brazil offices and refused to comply with an order to name a legal representative in the country. X didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Persons: —, Elon Musk's, ABRINT, Basílio Rodriguez Pérez, Pérez, Musk, Alexandre de Moraes, X, Moraes, X didn't Organizations: Service, Global Government Affairs, Business, Brazilian Association of Internet, Telecommunications Providers, BBC, AFP, New York Times Locations: Brazil, Brazilian, Moraes

☆ China's Huawei is reportedly set to release new AI chip to challenge Nvidia amid U.S. sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-14 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Chinese technology giant Huawei is set to challenge Nvidia with a new artificial intelligence chip amid U.S. sanctions that had sought to curb the Chinese tech giant's technological progress, according to a Wall Street Journal report. U.S. regulators in 2022 had slapped restrictions on Nvidia to stop the firm from selling AI chips, including the H100, in China, citing national security concerns. Huawei has been at the center of U.S. sanctions aimed at securing U.S. networks and supply chains. Huawei was then placed on a U.S. trade blacklist in 2019, which banned U.S. firms from selling technology — including 5G chips — to the Chinese tech giant. In 2020, the U.S. tightened chip restrictions on Huawei, requiring foreign manufacturers using American chipmaking equipment to obtain a license to sell semiconductors to Huawei.

Organizations: Huawei, IFA, Nvidia, Wall, Nvidia's, Baidu, China Mobile, Apple, U.S, Intel, Qualcomm Locations: BERLIN, GERMANY, U.S, China

The White House is pressing Congress to extend a subsidy program that helps one in six U.S. families afford internet and represents a key element of President Joe Biden's promise to deliver reliable broadband service to every American household. “It seems to be a bipartisan issue — internet access and the importance of it,” Johnson said. Biden has likened his promise of affordable internet for all American households to the New Deal-era effort to provide electricity to much of rural America. He traveled to North Carolina last month to tout its potential benefits, especially in wide swaths of the country that currently lack access to reliable, affordable internet service. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Biden, ”, Tom Perez, “, ” Perez, Gary Johnson, Paul, ” Johnson, ___ Harjai Organizations: Paul Bunyan Communications, Republican, Democratic, New, ACP, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: Minnesota, America, North Carolina, Los Angeles

It said the same highly skilled Russian hacking team behind the SolarWinds breach was responsible. “A very small percentage” of Microsoft corporate accounts were accessed, the company said, and some emails and attached documents were stolen. A company spokesperson said Microsoft had no immediate comment on which or how many members of its senior leadership had their email accounts breached. In a regulatory filing Friday, Microsoft said it was able to remove the hackers' access from the compromised accounts on or about Jan. 13. After gaining a foothold, they used the account's permissions to access the accounts of the senior leadership team and others.

Persons: “ Organizations: BOSTON, —, Microsoft, . Securities, Exchange, SEC, Google, Cozy, Justice, Treasury Locations: — State, Russian, Redmond , Washington, U.S, Europe

☆ Australia to investigate Optus internet and phone outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Renju Jose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Australia said on Thursday it would launch an investigation into a 12-hour national outage at telco Optus that cut off internet and phone connections to nearly half of its population, hitting critical services including payments, transport and hospitals. The federal government would undertake a post-incident review into the outage, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said, describing its impacts as "particularly concerning." Australia's media regulator will conduct a separate review into the outage after emergency triple zero ("000") calls went down on Optus landlines, Rowland added. Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), has not given the cause for the unprecedented outage, one of the biggest the country has witnessed. The outage happened 14 months after Optus was hit by one of Australia's biggest cyber breaches.

Persons: telco, Michelle Rowland, Rowland, Renju Jose, Jamie Freed Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Optus landlines, Singapore Telecommunications, Telstra, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Thomson Locations: Australia, Sydney

U.S. regulators on Monday sued SolarWinds, a Texas-based technology company whose software was breached in a massive 2020 Russian cyberespionage campaign, for fraud for failing to disclose security deficiencies ahead of the stunning hack. Detected in December 2020, the SolarWinds hack penetrated U.S. government agencies including the Justice and Homeland Security departments, and more than 100 private companies and think tanks. Koch added that “we look forward to defending his reputation and correcting the inaccuracies in the SEC’s complaint." Brown's current title at SolarWinds is chief information security officer. Capitalizing on the supply-chain hack, the Russian cyber operators then stealthily penetrated select targets including about a dozen U.S. government agencies and prominent software and telecommunications providers.

Persons: SolarWinds, Tim Brown, Brown, Alec Koch, Koch, Gurbir S, Grewal, “, ”, Biden, Chad Wolf Organizations: Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice and Homeland Security, SEC, Fortune, New, Homeland Locations: Texas, Russian, New York, SolarWinds, cyberattacks, Austin , Texas, North America, Europe, Asia

☆ In Antitrust Trial, Former Google Employee Details History of Search Deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( David Mccabe | More About David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Google has argued that its success in online search was the result of having a better product, not the default agreements. In opening statements on Tuesday, Google’s lawyer said it was easy for people to switch their search engine and that smartphone and browser makers promoted other search engines as well. On Wednesday, the Justice Department began the day in court by questioning Mr. Barton, who worked at Google forging agreements with mobile companies. Mr. Barton’s job had been to meet with executives from the telecom and smartphone makers, convince them to sign agreements to distribute Google search and see those agreements through to a final contract, he said. The goal was to “maximize the opportunity” for users to discover Google and start to use it regularly, he said.

Persons: Google’s, Meta, Mr, Barton, Barton’s Organizations: Google, The, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department

☆ FBI searched for name of US senator facing foreign threat in latest improper use of intelligence database
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The database, which was created under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows US intelligence agencies to conduct broad searches to identify threats and leads related to foreign intelligence missions. Analysts at multiple intelligence agencies can then search databases for leads related to foreign intelligence missions. Those instances, he wrote, include conducting improper searches for the names of a US senator, a state senator and a state judge. The filing revealed a US analyst had information last year that a “specific foreign intelligence service” was targeting the US senator as well as a state senator. This spring, US intelligence agencies released a report saying that the number of warrantless FBI searches of Americans’ electronic data under the intelligence program dropped sharply from millions of searches in 2021 to more than 100,000 last year.

Persons: Christopher Wray, Rudolph Contreras, “, Contreras didn’t, Paul Abbate, Contreras Organizations: CNN, FBI, Foreign Intelligence

CNN —The FBI improperly searched an intelligence database for information on suspects in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot and people arrested at 2020 protests after the police killing of George Floyd, according to a court opinion that was unsealed and released Friday. The new details about the database misuse are likely to complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to renew a key foreign surveillance program. The FBI searches were not “reasonably likely” to retrieve foreign intelligence information or evidence of a crime, Justice Department officials who reviewed the searches concluded, according to the opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees US spy agencies. Analysts at the FBI and other agencies can then search the data gathered for leads related to foreign intelligence missions. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said Friday that congressional action was needed to curb the privacy violations of Americans revealed by the court opinion.

☆ Signal President Meredith Whittaker learned what not to do from working at Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Meredith Whittaker, a former Google Manager who is now president at Signal. Whittaker has real-world reasons to be skeptical of for-profit companies and their use of data — she previously spent 13 years at Google . Signal app SignalAt Signal, Whittaker gets to focus on the mission without worrying about sales. Beyond just the confusing structure of OpenAI, Whittaker is out on the ChatGPT hype. And she definitely wants people to know that Signal has absolutely no plans to incorporate ChatGPT into its service.

☆ Chinese hackers stole millions worth of U.S. COVID relief money, Secret Service says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Chinese hackers have stolen tens of millions of dollars worth of U.S. COVID relief benefits since 2020, the Secret Service said on Monday. The Secret Service declined to provide any additional details but confirmed a report by NBC News that said the Chinese hacking team that is reportedly responsible is known within the security research community as APT41 or Winnti. APT41 is a prolific cybercriminal group that had conducted a mix of government-backed cyber intrusions and financially motivated data breaches, according to experts. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reporting by Christopher Bing; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Two Australian regulators open investigations into Optus after data breach
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Two Australian regulators said on Tuesday they have opened investigations into Optus, the country's No. 2 telecoms provider, after a breach of its systems resulted in the theft of personal data from up to 10 million accounts. The agency added that it finds there was a breach of Australian privacy law, it can seek civil penalties of up to A$2.2 million ($1.4 million) per contravention. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told a parliamentary hearing the regulator was receiving 600 calls a day from people concerned about the Optus breach, although few had been scammed as a result. ($1 = 1.5881 Australian dollars)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Australia flags privacy overhaul after huge cyber attack on Optus
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the Sydney Energy Forum in Sydney, Australia July 12, 2022. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAlbanese called the incident "a huge wake-up call" for the corporate sector, saying there were some state actors and criminal groups who wanted to access people's data. Optus said it would offer the most affected customers free credit monitoring and identity protection with credit agency Equifax Inc (EFX.N) for a year. The telco has now alerted all customers whose driving licences or passport numbers were stolen, it said in an emailed statement. ($1=A$1.5309)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Lewis Jackson, Renju Jose and Byron Kaye; Editing by Stephen Coates, Clarence Fernandez and Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Telecom workers in occupied parts of Ukraine destroyed software to avoid Russian control over data and communications
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-22 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainian telecom employees destroyed equipment in Russian-occupied areas to avoid Russian control. Ukrtelecom is the largest fixed-line operator in Ukraine, its CEO, Yuriy Kurmaz, told Bloomberg. During Russia's war in Ukraine, Kurmaz told Bloomberg that more than 30 of Ukrtelecom's facilities have been destroyed, and about 100 others have been damaged. Bloomberg reported that some smaller internet providers in occupied parts of Ukraine are operating under Russian control, but Ukrtelecom disconnected its networks in those parts of the country. "Our strong position is we will never collaborate," Kurmaz told Bloomberg.

Search resuls for: "Telecommunications Providers"

14 mentions found