Biometric bypass sees researchers use fake wax hand to trick vein authentication system
TECHNOLOGY POWERING BUSINESS
December 2018
US Newspapers Hit By Cyber-Attack
Printing and distribution of major US newspapers disrupted at the weekend after cyber-attack
Dell Returns To Public Trading With NYSE Listing
Five years after going private in a bitter battle, Michael Dell braves public trading once again
IT Life: Hiren Parekh, OVH
OVH's director of cloud Hiren Parekh talks about the challenges of large-scale data processing, why he likes to keep different technologies in the mix and how the BBC Micro helped launch his career
Regulators Release Guidelines On GDPR’s Geographic Scope
European Data Protection Board seeks comments on its guidance as firms expect the GDPR's impact to make itself felt in the coming year
Alexa Urges User To ‘Kill Foster Parents’ In Unsettling Incident
Amazon's use of experimental chatbots on its Alexa AI platform has led to some disturbing conversations and a security breach, a report finds
SpaceX Starts Construction Of Mars Rocket Prototype
The company also launched its first navigation satellite for the US military, in a win against Boeing and Lockheed-Martin
UK Security Firm Uncovers Hot Tub Remote Hack Flaw
The lack of security means tens of thousands of hot tubs could be remotely controlled by attackers from anywhere in the world
BT To Remove Huawei Gear From Next-Gen Emergency Network
BT said it would swap out the Chinese vendor's equipment at its own cost and that the process wouldn't mean further delays to the troubled project
Government ‘Can Now Deploy Drone Detection Systems Throughout The UK’
Ministers say unidentified systems have been readied to prevent further chaos of the kind that struck Gatwick last week
IT Life: Giorgio Regni, Scality
Scality chief technology officer Giorgio Regni talks about cloud apps, collaborative development and the surprising way he found to improve his smartphone's battery life
US Files Charges Against Two ‘Chinese Government Hackers’
Two Chinese men belonging to Advanced Persistent Threat 10 hacking group are charged by US authorities
Drone Shutdown Of Gatwick Airport Ends As Runway Reopens
Chaos at UK's second busiest airport eases as Gatwick reopens runaway after prolific drone disruption
US Ballistic Missile System Riddled With Cyber Vulnerabilities
Hackable ICBMs? America's ballistic missile system is poor secured and includes an unpatched vulnerability from 1990
Facebook Defends Sharing User Data With ‘Partners’
Did you consent? Social network shared people's data with Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Spotify etc
NASA Staff Data Stolen In Server Hack
Houston, we have a problem. Server breach at American agency sees data stolen from past and current staff
Drones Halt Flights At Gatwick Airport
Sightings of drones at airfield halts flights at Gatwick airport, causing significant disruption and delays
Former NASA Engineer Tricks Parcel Thieves With High-Tech Glitter Bomb
The engineer's practical joke comes as Amazon invests heavily into improving the security of parcel deliveries
Ofcom Finds Rural Areas ‘Poorly Served’ By Broadband, Mobile
'Decent' broadband now more widely available, but hundreds of thousands of premises in rural areas still only have access to poor services
UK Tech Sector ‘Unicorn’ Goes Into Administration
Blippar, which pioneered AR software for linking information and adverts to real-life objects and even people's faces, is to be sold off following a funding dispute
Google To Splash Out $1bn On New Manhattan Campus
The search and advertising giant is looking to double its staff in the city to around 14,000
Critical ‘Magellan’ Bug Hits Google Chrome, SQLite
SQLite is broadly used in most mobile and desktop operating systems, browsers and other software, meaning the code execution flaw has a broad scope
Czech Cyber-Security Agency Warns Of Huawei, ZTE ‘Security Risk’
But Huawei's momentum on 5G in developing economies has remained largely unaffected by US pressure
Police Trialling Face Recognition In Central London This Week
Police said officers would only scan people's faces by invitation, but activists say the tech turns people into 'walking ID cards'
Delivery Robot Bursts Into Flames In California
The KiwiBot food delivery robot was dramatically consumed by fire after a defective battery was erroneously installed in it
Uber Welcomes Government Reforms That Preserve ‘Gig Economy’
The government's plans stop short of tightening controls on the zero-hour employment practices used by Uber and Deliveroo
Win tickets for the RSA Conference 2019
‘High-Tech’ Russian Robot Turns Out To Be Man In Suit
State television reported it as a high-tech robot, but the android was in fact only an elaborate costume
Google Shifts European Data Seat To Dublin
Google has officially designated its Irish subsidiary as being legally responsible for users' data under the GDPR, as impact of new regulations continues to make itself felt
Qualcomm Sues To Broaden iPhone Sales Block In China
The smartphone chip giant is reportedly moving to include Apple's latest iPhone models, the XS, XS Max and XR, in the scope of an injunction revealed earlier this week
Apple To Build New $1bn Campus In Austin
The expansion is part of a £277bn plan to create more US jobs, amidst pressure from President Trump
China Arrests Two Canadians Following Detention Of Huawei CFO
An entrepreneur and a former diplomat have been taken into custody in China on suspicion of 'endangering national security', amidst an increasingly bitter international trade conflict
RSA Conference Puts Politics, Data Protection In The Spotlight
RSA Conference 2019: Following a year of controversies around politics, misinformation, data leaks and massive security breaches, RSA Conference looks to shed light on the issues
UK’s Slowest Streets For Broadband Named And Shamed
Speed tests collected by uSwitch.com show small village near Wigan gets just 0.14Mbps download speed
President Trump Ready To Intervene In Huawei CFO Arrest
Canada frees Huawei CFO in exchange for $7.5m bail, strict curfew, as well as ankle monitor
‘No Plans’ For China Return, Says Google Boss
But Pichai tells the US Congress that Google continues to explore its options in that country
Android Clickfraud Apps Pose As iPhones To Make Extra Cash
Sophos identifies 22 malware-riddled Android apps that pose as Apple devices to earn extra money
One In Four NHS Trusts Spent No Money On Cybersecurity
WannaCry lessons? In the past year, a quarter of NHS spent absolutely nothing on cyber-security training
Google Plus To Be Retired Earlier Than Expected
Goodbye Facebook rival. Google decides to accelerate its “sunsetting” of Google+ after discovery of developer bug
Tesla’s Elon Musk Hits Out At US SEC
Telsa boss has “no respect” for the US Securities and Exchanges Commission after stepping down as chairman
Qualcomm Chinese Victory Sees iPhone Import Ban
Bitter legal spat continues, as iPhones running older iOS can no longer be imported into China after court ruling
China Threats Consequences Over Huawei CFO Arrest
Huawei CFO applies for bail citing medical issues, as US seeks extradition over alleged Iran sanction violations
Japanese Government To Ban Huawei, ZTE Kit – Report
More bad news for Chinese firms as Japan government reportedly plans to halt equipment purchases
Australia Passes Controversial Encryption Law
The day online privacy died, as Australia passes law to give police, security services access to encrypted messages
O2 Service Restored After Massive Data Outage
30 million customers affected by technical fault that included O2, Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile customers
Google Wing Drones To Begin European Testing in 2019
The drones are coming. Google to test drone delivery service in Finland, after Aussie trials
France To Press Ahead With Digital Tax In 2019
Tax on tech giants will begin in 2019 by individual nations if necessary, warns French finance minister
BT/EE Bans Huawei Kit For Core 5G Network
UK joins growing list of countries excluding 5G equipment from Chinese networking giant Huawei
‘London Blue’ Fraud Group Targets Financial Services Industry
The group is carrying out targeted financial scams on a large scale, with a hit list of 35,000 chief financial officers in the UK, the US and elsewhere
Quora Mega-Breach Could Open Users To Targeted Scams
The hack exposed personal data on 100 million users, as well as information from linked accounts such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn
France, Germany Abandon Plans For Broad EU Digital Tax
The latest proposal would see the likes of Google and Facebook pay a 3 percent tax on advertising revenues, while leaving the likes of Apple, Amazon and Airbnb in the clear
Tencent Music Aims To Raise $1.2bn In US Market Debut
The service aims for a valuation of $22bn to $31bn in New York, taking advantage of a temporary trade ceasefire between the US and China
Biggest NHS GP IT Supplier To Shift 40m Patient Records To Amazon Cloud
Emis Group, used by six in 10 GPs, plans to shift the back-end of its dominant web software to UK-based AWS servers
Google Chief Sundar Pichai Faces Congressional Hot Seat This Week
In a year of belligerent hearings targeting Facebook and Twitter, Google is now set to come in for its moment of hostile political scrutiny
Amazon Adds Apple Music To Echo Devices In Time For Christmas Season
Apple's popular music service, said to be neck-in-neck with Spotify in the US, debuts on Amazon's smart speakers in mid-December
Proposed EU Digital Tax Plans Face Defeat This Week
Ireland and Scandinavian countries oppose plans for an interim tax on the biggest digital companies, while troubles also beset a more recent compromise
Data Regulator Probes ‘Colossal’ Four-Year Marriott Breach
The hack exposed personal data and card information on up to 500m customers of Marriott's Starwood hotels dating back to 2014