Tag: Technology issues

EU warns Musk to beef up Twitter controls ahead of new rules

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LONDON — A top European Union official warned Elon Musk on Wednesday that Twitter needs to beef up measures to protect users from hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content to avoid violating new rules that threaten tech giants with big fines or even a ban in the 27-nation bloc.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for digital policy, told the billionaire Tesla CEO that the social media platform will have to significantly increase efforts to comply with the new rules, known as the Digital Services Act, set to take effect next year.

The two held a video call to discuss Twitter’s preparedness for the law, which will require tech companies to better police their platforms for material that, for instance, promotes terrorism, child sexual abuse, hate speech and commercial scams.

It’s part of a new digital rulebook that has made Europe the global leader in the push to rein in the power of social media companies, potentially setting up a clash with Musk’s vision for a more unfettered Twitter. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said Wednesday that an investigation into Musk’s $44 billion purchase was not off the table.

Breton said he was pleased to hear that Musk considers the EU rules “a sensible approach to implement on a worldwide basis.”

“But let’s also be clear that there is still huge work ahead,” Musk said, according to a readout of the call released by Breton’s office. “Twitter will have to implement transparent user policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech, tackle disinformation with resolve, and limit targeted advertising.”

After Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” bought Twitter a month ago, groups that monitor the platform for racist, antisemitic and other toxic speech, such the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto digital public square.

Musk has signaled an interest in rolling back many of Twitter’s previous rules meant to combat misinformation, most recently by abandoning enforcement of its COVID-19 misinformation policy. He already reinstated some high-profile accounts that had violated Twitter’s content rules and had promised a “general amnesty” restoring most suspended accounts starting this week.

Twitter didn’t respond to an email request for comment. In a separate blog post Wednesday, the company said “human safety” is its top priority and that its trust and safety team “continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter’s rules.”

Musk, however, has laid off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce, along with an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation. Many others have resigned, including the company’s head of trust and safety.

In the call Wednesday, Musk agreed to let the EU’s executive Commission carry out a “stress test” at Twitter’s headquarters early next year to help the platform comply with the new rules ahead of schedule, the readout said.

That will also help the company prepare for an “extensive independent audit” as required by the new law, which is aimed at protecting internet users from illegal content and reducing the spread of harmful but legal material.

Violations could result in huge fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual global revenue or even a ban on operating in the European Union’s single market.

Along with European regulators, Musk risks running afoul of Apple and Google, which power most of the world’s smartphones. Both have stringent policies against misinformation, hate speech and other misconduct, previously enforced to boot apps like the social media platform Parler from their devices. Apps must also meet certain data security, privacy and performance standards.

Musk tweeted without providing evidence this week that Apple “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.” Apple hasn’t commented.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen walked back her statements about whether Musk’s purchase of Twitter warrants government review.

“I misspoke,” she said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, referring to a CBS interview this month where she said there was “no basis” to review the Twitter purchase.

The Treasury secretary oversees the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency committee that investigates the national security risks from foreign investments in American firms.

“If there are such risks, it would be appropriate for the Treasury to have a look,” Yellen told The New York Times.

She declined to confirm whether CFIUS is currently investigating Musk’s Twitter purchase.

Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is, through his investment company, Twitter’s biggest shareholder after Musk.

———

Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in Washington and Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed.

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November 30, 2022
EU warns Musk to beef up Twitter controls ahead of new rules

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LONDON — A top European Union official warned Elon Musk on Wednesday that Twitter needs to beef up measures to protect users from hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content to avoid violating new rules that threaten tech giants with big fines or even a ban in the 27-nation bloc.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for digital policy, told the billionaire Tesla CEO that the social media platform will have to significantly increase efforts to comply with the new rules, known as the Digital Services Act, set to take effect next year.

The two held a video call to discuss Twitter’s preparedness for the law, which will require tech companies to better police their platforms for material that, for instance, promotes terrorism, child sexual abuse, hate speech and commercial scams.

It’s part of a new digital rulebook that has made Europe the global leader in the push to rein in the power of social media companies, potentially setting up a clash with Musk’s vision for a more unfettered Twitter. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said Wednesday that an investigation into Musk’s $44 billion purchase was not off the table.

Breton said he was pleased to hear that Musk considers the EU rules “a sensible approach to implement on a worldwide basis.”

“But let’s also be clear that there is still huge work ahead,” Musk said, according to a readout of the call released by Breton’s office. “Twitter will have to implement transparent user policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech, tackle disinformation with resolve, and limit targeted advertising.”

After Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” bought Twitter a month ago, groups that monitor the platform for racist, antisemitic and other toxic speech, such the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto digital public square.

Musk has signaled an interest in rolling back many of Twitter’s previous rules meant to combat misinformation, most recently by abandoning enforcement of its COVID-19 misinformation policy. He already reinstated some high-profile accounts that had violated Twitter’s content rules and had promised a “general amnesty” restoring most suspended accounts starting this week.

Twitter didn’t respond to an email request for comment. In a separate blog post Wednesday, the company said “human safety” is its top priority and that its trust and safety team “continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter’s rules.”

Musk, however, has laid off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce, along with an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation. Many others have resigned, including the company’s head of trust and safety.

In the call Wednesday, Musk agreed to let the EU’s executive Commission carry out a “stress test” at Twitter’s headquarters early next year to help the platform comply with the new rules ahead of schedule, the readout said.

That will also help the company prepare for an “extensive independent audit” as required by the new law, which is aimed at protecting internet users from illegal content and reducing the spread of harmful but legal material.

Violations could result in huge fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual global revenue or even a ban on operating in the European Union’s single market.

Along with European regulators, Musk risks running afoul of Apple and Google, which power most of the world’s smartphones. Both have stringent policies against misinformation, hate speech and other misconduct, previously enforced to boot apps like the social media platform Parler from their devices. Apps must also meet certain data security, privacy and performance standards.

Musk tweeted without providing evidence this week that Apple “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.” Apple hasn’t commented.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen walked back her statements about whether Musk’s purchase of Twitter warrants government review.

“I misspoke,” she said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, referring to a CBS interview this month where she said there was “no basis” to review the Twitter purchase.

The Treasury secretary oversees the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency committee that investigates the national security risks from foreign investments in American firms.

“If there are such risks, it would be appropriate for the Treasury to have a look,” Yellen told The New York Times.

She declined to confirm whether CFIUS is currently investigating Musk’s Twitter purchase.

Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is, through his investment company, Twitter’s biggest shareholder after Musk.

———

Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in Washington and Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island contributed.

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November 30, 2022
Musk says granting ‘amnesty’ to suspended Twitter accounts

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SAN FRANCISCO — New Twitter owner Elon Musk said Thursday that he is granting “amnesty” for suspended accounts, which online safety experts predict will spur a rise in harassment, hate speech and misinformation.

The billionaire’s announcement came after he asked in a poll posted to his timeline to vote on reinstatements for accounts that have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” The yes vote was 72%.

“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”

Musk used the same Latin phrase after posting a similar poll last last weekend before reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump, which Twitter had banned for encouraging the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Trump has said he won’t return to Twitter but has not deleted his account.

Such online polls are anything but scientific and can easily be influenced by bots.

In the month since Musk took over Twitter, groups that monitor the platform for racist, anti-Semitic and other toxic speech say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto public square. That has included a surge in racist abuse of World Cup soccer players that Twitter is allegedly failing to act on.

The uptick in harmful content is in large part due to the disorder following Musk’s decision to lay off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce, fire top executives, and then institute a series of ultimatums that prompted hundreds more to quit. Also let go were an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation. Among those resigning over a lack of faith in Musk’s willingness to keep Twitter from devolving into a chaos of uncontrolled speech were Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth.

Major advertisers have also abandoned the platform.

On Oct. 28, the day after he took control, Musk tweeted that no suspended accounts would be reinstated until Twitter formed a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints that would consider the cases.

On Tuesday, he said he was reneging on that promise because he’d agreed to at the insistence of “a large coalition of political-social activists groups” who later ”broke the deal” by urging that advertisers at least temporarily stop giving Twitter their business.

A day earlier, Twitter reinstated the personal account of far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which was banned in January for violating the platform’s COVID misinformation policies.

Musk, meanwhile, has been getting increasingly chummy on Twitter with right-wing figures. Before this month’s U.S. midterm elections he urged “independent-minded” people to vote Republican.

A report from the European Union published Thursday said Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it this year compared with 2021. The report was based on data collected over the spring — before Musk acquired Twitter — as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms’ compliance with the bloc’s code of conduct on disinformation. It found that Twitter assessed just over half of the notifications it received about illegal hate speech within 24 hours, down from 82% in 2021.

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November 24, 2022
Tesla recalls 300K vehicles over taillight software glitch

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Tesla is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles in the U.S. because a software glitch can make taillights go off intermittently, increasing the risk of a collision

LOS ANGELES — Tesla is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles in the U.S. because a software glitch can make taillights go off intermittently, increasing the risk of a collision.

Tesla said in documents posted Saturday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the glitch may affect one or both taillights on certain Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Brake lamps, backup lamps and turn signal lamps are not affected by the software problem, the company said.

The automaker said it is releasing an online software update that will fix the problem.

The recall covers certain 2020 to 2023 Model Y SUVs and 2023 Model 3 sedans. That amounts to potentially 321,628 vehicles.

Tesla became aware of the problem last month after receiving complaints, primarily from customers outside the U.S., that their vehicle taillamps were not illuminating. The company completed an investigation into the problem earlier this month.

Owners will be notified by letter starting Jan. 14. The company says in documents that vehicles in production and those set for delivery got the update starting Nov. 6.

As of Nov. 14, Tesla had received three warranty claims due to the problem, but was not aware of any related crashes or injuries related to the glitch, according to the documents.

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November 19, 2022
40 states settle Google location-tracking charges for $392M

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HARTFORD, Conn. — Search giant Google has agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states to resolve an investigation into how the company tracked users’ locations, state attorneys general announced Monday.

The states’ investigation was sparked by a 2018 Associated Press story, which found that Google continued to track people’s location data even after they opted out of such tracking by disabling a feature the company called “location history.”

The attorneys general called the settlement a historic win for consumers, and the largest multistate settlement in U.S history dealing with privacy.

It comes at a time of mounting unease over privacy and surveillance by tech companies that has drawn growing outrage from politicians and scrutiny by regulators. The Supreme Court’s ruling in June ending the constitutional protections for abortion raised potential privacy concerns for women seeking the procedure or related information online.

“This $391.5 million settlement is a historic win for consumers in an era of increasing reliance on technology,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. “Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects, and there are so many reasons why a consumer may opt-out of tracking.”

Google, based in Mountain View, California, said it fixed the problems several years ago.

“Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this investigation, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” company spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement.

Location tracking can help tech companies sell digital ads to marketers looking to connect with consumers within their vicinity. It’s another tool in a data-gathering toolkit that generates more than $200 billion in annual ad revenue for Google, accounting for most of the profits pouring into the coffers of its corporate parent, Alphabet — which has a market value of $1.2 trillion.

In its 2018 story, The AP reported that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store users’ location data even if they’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so. Computer-science researchers at Princeton confirmed these findings at the AP’s request.

Storing such data carries privacy risks and has been used by police to determine the location of suspects.

The AP reported that the privacy issue with location tracking affected some 2 billion users of devices that run Google’s Android operating software and hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on Google for maps or search.

The attorneys general who investigated Google said a key part of the company’s digital advertising business is location data, which they called the most sensitive and valuable personal data the company collects. Even a small amount of location data can reveal a person’s identity and routines, they said.

Google uses the location information to target consumers with ads by its customers, the state officials said.

The attorneys general said Google misled users about its location tracking practices since at least 2014, violating state consumer protection laws.

As part of the settlement, Google also agreed to make those practices more transparent to users. That includes showing them more information when they turn location account settings on and off and keeping a webpage that gives users information about the data Google collects.

The shadowy surveillance brought to light by The AP troubled even some Google engineers, who recognized the company might be confronting a massive legal headache after the story was published, according to internal documents that have subsequently surfaced in consumer-fraud lawsuits.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed the first state action against Google in May 2020, alleging that the company had defrauded its users by misleading them into believing they could keep their whereabouts private by turning off location tracking in the settings of their software.

Arizona settled its case with Google for $85 million last month, but by then attorneys general in several other states and the District of Columbia had also pounced on the company with their own lawsuits seeking to hold Google accountable for its alleged deception.

———

Gordon reported from Washington, D.C. AP Technology writer Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California, contributed to this report.

———

This story has been updated to reflect that the Supreme Court ruling on abortion was issued in June, not last month.

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November 14, 2022
UK politicians demand probe into Liz Truss phone hack claim

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LONDON — The British government insisted Sunday it has robust cybersecurity for government officials, after a newspaper reported that former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ phone was hacked while she was U.K. foreign minister.

The Mail on Sunday said that the hack was discovered when Truss was running to become Conservative Party leader and prime minister in the summer. It said the security breach was kept secret by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the head of the civil service.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said Russian spies were suspected of the hack.

The U.K. government spokesperson declined to comment on security arrangements, but said it had “robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats,” including regular security briefings for ministers.

Opposition parties demanded an independent investigation into the hack, and into the leak of the information to a newspaper.

“Was Liz Truss’s phone hacked by Russia, was there a news blackout and if so why?” said Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran. “If it turns out this information was withheld from the public to protect Liz Truss’ leadership bid, that would be unforgivable.”

Labour Party law-and-order spokesperson Yvette Cooper said “the story raises issues around cybersecurity.”

“It’s why cybersecurity has to be taken so seriously by everyone across government, the role of hostile states,” she told Sky News. “But also the allegations about whether a Cabinet minister has been using a personal phone for serious government business, and serious questions about why this information or this story has been leaked or briefed right now.”

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October 30, 2022
Hard-drive maker Seagate Tech faces China sanctions warning

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BEIJING — Seagate Technology said Thursday the U.S. Department of Commerce has warned it may charge the computer hard-drive maker with violating restrictions on exports of high-tech products to China.

The company said in an SEC filing that it rejected the allegations. It says its hard disc-drives are not subject to U.S. Export Administration regulations, but troubles over the issue could affect its business.

“Seagate believes it has complied with all relevant export control laws and regulations,” it said.

Seagate said the allegation is over sales between August 2020 and September 2021 to “a customer and its affiliates.” It did not name the customer, however, Seagate is a major supplier of hard drives to telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies, a major target of U.S. export controls.

The other major supplier, Western Digital, stopped sales to Huawei in 2019, not long after it had signed a strategic partnership with the Chinese company, the biggest maker of network gear for phone and internet carriers.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In reporting lower profit and revenues for its fiscal first quarter, Seagate said it was reducing its headcount by 3,000 people as part of a restructuring. It cited global uncertainties and slower demand.

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October 27, 2022
Australian health insurer says data of all customers hacked

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CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s largest health insurer said on Wednesday a cybercriminal had hacked the personal data of all its 4 million customers, as the government introduced legislation that would increase penalties for companies that fail to protect clients’ private information.

Medibank said “significant amounts of health claims data” had also been accessed in the breach, which was reported to police a week ago when trade in the company’s shares was halted.

The thief has demanded ransom and has reportedly threatened to expose the diagnoses and treatments of high-profile customers.

Medibank said its priority was to discover the specific data stolen in relation to each customer and to share that information with those customers.

The company had previously said the breach was thought to be limited to its subsidiary AHM and foreign students.

“Our investigation has now established that this criminal has accessed all our private health insurance customers’ personal data and significant amounts of their health claims data,” Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This is a terrible crime – this is a crime designed to cause maximum harm to the most vulnerable members of our community,” Koczkar added, with an apology to customers.

The government has been planning urgent legislative reforms on cybersecurity regulation since a hacker stole the personal data of almost 10 million current and former customers of Optus, Australia’s second-largest wireless telecommunications carrier.

Optus became aware on Sept. 21 that personal data of more than one-third of Australia’s population of 26 million had been stolen.

In introducing amendments to the Privacy Act to Parliament on Wednesday, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus mentioned both companies and MyDeal, an online retail intermediary that lost the data of 2.2 million customers in a hack revealed two weeks ago.

“As the Optus, Medibank and MyDeal cyberattacks have recently highlighted, data breaches have the potential to cause serious financial and emotional harm to Australians, and this is unacceptable,” Dreyfus told Parliament.

“Governments, businesses and other organizations have an obligation to protect Australians’ personal data, not to treat it as a commercial asset,” Dreyfus added.

The government is critical of companies that amass more customer data than necessary to make money from it in ways unrelated to the services for which the information was provided.

The penalties for serious breaches of the Privacy Act would increase from 2.2 million Australian dollars ($1.4 million) now to AU$50 million ($32 million) under the proposed amendments.

A company could also be fined the value of 30% of its revenues over a defined period if that amount exceeded AU$50 million ($32 million).

Medibank said on Wednesday it did not have cyber insurance and estimated the hack would reduce its earnings by between AU$25 million ($16 million) and AU$35 million ($22 million) by early next year.

The Medicare trading halt was lifted on Wednesday and shares slid more than 14% in early trading.

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October 25, 2022
Drizly agrees to tighten data security after alleged breach

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WASHINGTON — Alcohol delivery app Drizly has agreed to tighten its data security and limit data collection to resolve federal regulators’ allegations that its security failures exposed the personal information of some 2.5 million customers.

The Federal Trade Commission announced the action Monday against Drizly, a Boston-based subsidiary of Uber that delivers beer, wine and spirits in states where it’s legal, and partners with retailers in hundreds of cities around the US. The proposed consent agreement with the FTC also names Drizly CEO James Cory Rellas. The regulators allege that the company and Rellas were alerted to security problems two years before the 2020 breach yet failed to act to protect consumers’ data.

Drizly agreed to put in a comprehensive data security program and establish security safeguards, and to limit future data collection or storage to that which is necessary for specific purposes. It will also destroy unnecessary data.

“Our proposed order against Drizly not only restricts what the company can retain and collect going forward but also ensures the CEO faces consequences for the company’s carelessness,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, said in a statement. “CEOs who take shortcuts on security should take note.”

Drizly collects and stores on Amazon Web Services cloud-computing service a wide range of personal data from customers such as email and postal addresses, phone numbers, geolocation information and data purchased from third parties, according to the FTC.

“We take consumer privacy and security very seriously at Drizly, and are happy to put this 2020 event behind us,” the company said in a statement.

The proposed consent agreement will be opened to public comment for 30 days, after which the FTC will decide whether to make it final.

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October 24, 2022
Australia flags new corporate penalties for privacy breaches

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CANBERRA, Australia — Australia on Saturday proposed tougher penalties for companies that fail to protect customers’ personal data after two major cybersecurity breaches left millions vulnerable to criminals.

The penalties for serious breaches of the Privacy Act would increase from 2.2 million Australian dollars ($1.4 million) now to AU$50 million ($32 million) under amendments to be introduced to Parliament next week, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.

A company could also be fined the value of 30% of its revenues over a defined period if that amount exceeded AU$50 million ($32 million).

Dreyfus said “big companies could face penalties up to hundreds of millions of dollars” under the new law.

“It is a very, very substantial increase in the penalties,” Dreyfus told reporters.

“It’s designed to make companies think. It’s designed to be a deterrent so that companies will protect the data of Australians,” he added.

Parliament resumes on Tuesday for the first time since mid-September.

Since Parliament last sat, unknown hackers stole personal data from 9.8 million customers of Optus, Australia’s second-largest wireless telecommunications carrier. The theft has left more than one-third of Australia’s population at heightened risk of identity theft and fraud.

Unknown cybercriminals this week demanded ransom from Australia’s largest health insurer, Medibank, after claiming to have stolen 200 gigabytes of customers’ data including medical diagnoses and treatments. Medibank has 3.7 million customers. The company said the hackers had proved they hold the personal records of at least 100.

The thieves have reportedly threatened to make public medical conditions of high-profile Medibank customers.

Dreyfus said both breaches had shown “existing safeguards are inadequate.”

As well as failing to protect personal information, the government is concerned that companies are unnecessarily holding too much customer data for too long in the hope of monetizing that information.

“We need to make sure that when a data breach occurs the penalty is large enough, that it’s a really serious penalty on the company and can’t just be disregarded or ignored or just paid as a part of a cost of doing business,” Dreyfus said.

Dreyfus hopes the proposed amendments will become law in the final four weeks that Parliament will sit this year.

Any new penalties will not be retroactive and will not effect Optus or Medibank.

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October 21, 2022
Millions in federal grants awarded for rural Alaska internet

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — More than $100 million in grants have been announced by the federal government as part of a major effort to close the digital divide in parts of rural Alaska.

The projects will improve upon an existing system of internet service that is a series of microwave transmitters with limited data transmission and vulnerability to bad weather, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The grants include $73 million for a partnership between the Alaska Native village corporation for Bethel, Bethel Native Corporation, and telecommunications company GCI. That partnership, announced Monday, is aimed at delivering fiber cable to 10 villages and more than 10,000 people. The project has been dubbed the Airraq Network, with Airraq translating to “string that tells the story,” according to a press release.

The project includes $42 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to build a fiber network to the regional hub community of Bethel and villages of Eek, Oscarville, Napaskiak and Platinum, according to the statement. A $31 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service program will bring fiber service to the villages of Atmautluak, Kasigluk, Nunapitchuk, Quinhagak and Tuntutuliak.

The statement said the project would bring “2 gigabit internet speeds and affordable plans to more than 10,000 Alaskans.”

Separately, another telecommunications company, Alaska Communications and Calista Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation for much of southwest Alaska, will receive a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to bring high-speed fiber internet to more than 2,300 Alaskans in seven other villages in the Bethel region, the organizations announced recently. Those communities are Lower Kalskag, Upper Kalskag, Tuluksak, Akiak, Akiachak, Kwethluk and Napakiak.

Calista Corp. and Alaska Communications applied for about $52 million but a specific funding award had not been announced by the federal government as of Monday, said Thom Leonard, a Calista spokesperson.

Funding from last year’s federal infrastructure bill and other sources has been lauded by political leaders and officials with Alaska Native organizations and telecommunications companies as providing a unique opportunity to improve telecommunications in many parts of the state.

Earlier this year, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced a $50 million grant to provide fiber-optic cable to about 20 villages in Alaska’s Interior as part of a collaboration between Doyon Inc., an Alaska Native corporation, and Alaska Communications.

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October 11, 2022
Australian police make first arrest in Optus hack probe

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CANBERRA, Australia — A police investigation of a cyberattack on an Australian telecommunications company in which the personal data of more than one third of Australia’s population was stolen has resulted in its first arrest, investigators said Thursday.

Police launched Operation Hurricane in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau Investigation after Optus, Australia’s second-largest wireless carrier, lost the personal records of 9.8 million current and former customers on Sept. 21.

The hacker dumped the records of 10,000 of those customers on the dark web last week as part of an attempt to extort $1 million from Optus, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., also known as Singtel.

A 19-year-old Sydney man was arrested on Thursday and charged with using the dumped data in a text message blackmail scam, police said in a statement.

The man, who has not been identified publicly, has yet to appear in court on two charges that carry prison sentences of up to 10 and seven years.

Police allege he sent text messages to 93 Optus customers demanding 2,000 Australian dollars ($1,300) be deposed in a bank account or the data would be used in a financial crime. None of the targets paid.

One of the extortion targets, identified only as Belinda and described as a mother of a 5-year-old child with cancer, told Nine Network News last week, “To be honest, it’s just not what we need.”

“I guess they’re just trying to hopefully pressure people into paying,” she told Nine.

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said the investigation is continuing.

“The Hurricane investigation is a high priority for the AFP and we are aggressively pursuing all lines of inquiry to identify those behind the attack,” Gough said.

“Just because there has been one arrest does not mean there won’t be any more arrests,” she added.

The Australian government announced changes to its telecommunications law to protect vulnerable Optus customers.

The changes to the Telecommunications Regulations allow Optus and other providers to better coordinate with financial institutions and governments to detect and mitigate the risk of cybersecurity incidents, fraud, scams and other malicious cyber activities, a government statement said.

Optus ran full-page ads in Australian newspapers on Saturday under the headline, “We’re deeply sorry.”

The ad included a link to an Optus website that details actions that customers can take to avoid identity theft and fraud.

The government can change regulations without legislative approval. But the government hopes to pass changes to the Privacy Act in Parliament during the final four weeks of its 2022 session in response to the Optus breach.

The changes would include increased penalties for companies with lax cybersecurity protections and curbs on the quantities and types of customer data that businesses can amass, as well as the duration for which personal information can be kept.

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October 6, 2022
Australia updates law to protect data after Optus hack

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CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian government announced changes Thursday to its telecommunications law to protect vulnerable customers after personal details were stolen in a major cyberattack on the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier.

The changes to Telecommunications Regulations allow Optus and other providers to better coordinate with financial institutions and governments to detect and mitigate the risk of cybersecurity incidents, fraud, scams and other malicious cyber activities, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a joint statement.

“What this is all about is to try and reduce the impact of this data breach on Optus customers and to enable financial institutions to implement enhanced safeguards and monitoring,” Rowland told reporters.

More than one in three Australians had personal data stolen when Optus lost the records of 9.8 million current and former customers including passport, driver’s license and national health care identification numbers in a hack discovered on Sept. 21.

The hacker dumped the records of 10,000 of those customers on the dark web last week as part of an attempt to extort $1 million from Optus, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., also known as Singtel.

Optus ran full-page ads in Australian newspapers on Saturday under the headline: “We’re deeply sorry.”

The ad included a link to an Optus website that details actions customers can take to avoid identity theft and fraud.

The government can change regulations without reference to the Parliament. But the government hopes to pass changes to the Privacy Act through the Parliament during its final four sitting weeks of 2022 in response to the Optus breach.

The changes would include increased penalties for companies with lax cybersecurity protections and curbs on the quantities and types of customer data that businesses can amass, as well as the duration for which personal information can be kept.

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October 5, 2022