Total invasion of Russia of Ukraine has been going on for more than 150 days, with no end to the conflict. While the Ukrainian military is achieving some success with counterattacks in the south of the country, the war is having lasting effects on freedom of expression and online censorship.
This week, we documented how a series of more than half a dozen new Russian laws, all proposed or passed in recent months, will help separate Russia from the global internet. The move, if successful, could derail the very idea of a free and open internet with ramifications across the globe. But it’s not all bad news. Russia’s efforts to block and censor people’s online lives are facing a number of obstacles: blocking Tor anonymous service is down.
Last month, Joe Biden signed the contract Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun law passed in years. However, the senators lacked any actual government data on gun violence when they drafted the legislation, in part because until 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been banned for several years. decades of research on gun violence in America. Therefore, much of the data used to announce the Act coming from elsewhere. We also look at whether states can legally blocking abortion seekers from crossing state boundaries do so after the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Elsewhere, we’ve also put together a guide on how you can securely lend your phone to others, whether with a friend who wants to see your vacation photos or a stranger who needs an urgent call. A few simple tweaks to your iPhone or Android settings can quickly help secure your data.
And much more than that. Each week, we compile news that we don’t break or cover in depth. Click on the title to read the full story. And it’s safe out there!
Every year, the list of companies hacked or suffered a data breach keep growing. These problems are often the result of enterprise technical misconfigurations or poor security practices. While each incident is different, there’s no denying that a data breach can have a huge impact on those affected: individuals, for example, have their data leaked and companies have to deal with it. face reputational and financial damage. This week, a IBM report revealed that the cost of a data breach in 2022 has reached an “all-time high,” averaging $4.35 million. That’s a 2.6% increase from last year.
Perhaps more prominent, according to IBM data, are companies hit their customers at the cost of a data breach. The company surveyed 550 organizations that experienced a data breach between March 2021 and March 2022, and 60% of them said they raised prices due to the breach. No specific examples are given in the report. And it’s unclear whether the companies that bear the cost of cybersecurity incidents are investing that extra income in better protecting their customer data in the future. However, according to IBM, only 17% of the 550 companies surveyed said this was the first data breach they have suffered.
Another week, another batch of spyware bombs. This week Reuters revealed that the European Union has found evidence that its employees’ phones have been targeted with Pegasus, the powerful hacking tool of the Israeli company NSO Group. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has apparently been informed by Apple that his iPhone may have been hacked in 2021. An ongoing EU investigation, according to Reuters, has found signs of a breach. violations on some devices. After officials announced that 14 EU member states had purchased Pegasus in the past.
That’s not the only spyware reveal this week. The leader of Greece’s opposition political party makes a complaint Allegedly his phone was targeted by Israeli manufacture Spyware Predator, developed by Cytrox. Microsoft also links spyware, called Subzero, with the European company DSIRF. The detailspublished to coincide with a House Intelligence Committee spyware hearing, claimed Subzero was used to target banks and consulting firms in Austria, the UK and Panama.
If tech companies want to operate in China and sell their products to a market of more than a billion people, they will have to follow the rules. Companies are required to store data locally and as Apple learned, may have to compromise the security safeguards they put in place around people’s data. Like video games Roblox preparing to launch in China in 2017 and 2018, its developers were well aware of the potential consequences.
Based on Roblox material obtained by BEHAVIOR BEHAVIOR, the company believes it can be hacked if it enters China, and competitors will create their own versions of the game. “Hopefully the hacking has begun,” said an internal presentation in 2017. The docs also show how Roblox apply China’s censorship laws—“illegal content” includes falsifying historical facts and misrepresenting Chinese territory on maps—and other local laws, such as collecting real names of the player. Roblox finally launched the Chinese app LuoBuLesi in July 2021, but closed at the beginning of this year.
For years, Apple’s Safari browser and Mozilla’s Firefox have limited how third-party cookies can track you across the web. These small pieces of code, saved to your device when you visit websites, can track your browsing history and show you ads based on what you’ve seen. They are considered a privacy nightmare. So when Google announced, in January 2020, that Chrome would finally get rid of the dreaded third-party cookies in 2022, Moving is a big deal. In practice, however, Google has struggled to make the change. This week, Google announced their plans have been delayed for the second time. Third-party cookies have been kept enforced until at least the backend of 2024, when they will begin to be phased out. So far, Google’s efforts to replace third-party cookies have been mixed, with privacy advocates claiming the replacements are worse than cookies and the advertising industry says they will reduce competition.
