The U.S. government has blacklisted 28 Chinese tech companies for alleged human rights violations. The companies blacklisted primarily are involved in facial recognition and artificial intelligence. Some of the companies banned include Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., as well as SenseTime Group Ltd., the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, Bloomberg reported today. As ...

A hacking group tied to the Iranian government has been attempting to break into the re-election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump. Detailed Friday by security researchers at Microsoft Corp. and linked directly to the Trump campaign by Reuters, the Phosphorus campaign was first detected in August. Those behind it made more than 2,700 attempts to identify consumer ...

PayPal Holdings Inc. has become the first company to withdraw from Facebook Inc.’s Libra Association, the body set up to oversee the proposed cryptocurrency. Reports that major companies backing Libra were about to walk away over regulatory concerns was reported by The Wall Street Journal Oct. 1. Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. were two companies named as ...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has published a public service announcement warning that high-impact ransomware attacks are threatening U.S. businesses and organizations. The PSA, published Wednesday, runs through what ransomware is and how it infects its victims. But where it gets interesting is in its advice to victims of ransomware attacks. “The FBI does not ...

A newly discovered vulnerability in popular Facebook Inc.-owned messaging service WhatsApp allows an attacker to obtain access and steal data by doing nothing more than sending a malicious GIF to a user. The vulnerability was discovered and publicized Wednesday by a security researcher who goes by the name of Awakened on GitHub. Described as a “double-free bug,” it ...

Uber Technologies Inc. today launched a new on-demand labor hiring app that matches people looking for shift work with companies that need temporary employees. First reported a year ago, Uber Works debuts in Chicago Friday and has been designed to provide “more clarity” in a market by allowing workers to see all relevant and available ...

Electric scooter and moped hire startup Bird Rides Inc. today revealed that it has raised $275 million in new funding on a $2.5 billion valuation for ongoing vehicle research and development in hopes of getting closer to profitability. The Series D round, led by CDPQ and Sequoia Capital was announced by Bird Chief Executive Officer and Founder Travis VanderZanden ...

Palo Alto Network Inc.’s Unit 42 threat intelligence team has detailed a new Chinese-linked cyberespionage group that’s targeting countries primarily in Southeast Asia. Dubbed “PKPLUG,” the threat actor group, or possibly groups, uses the tactic of delivering PlugX malware inside ZIP archive files as part of a DLL side-loading package. The ZIP file format contains PK ...

Three hospitals in Alabama were closed to all but critical patients Wednesday after a ransomware attack crippled their computer systems. The form of ransomware used in the attack on the hospitals, all run by a nonprofit firm called DCH Health System, is not currently known. “A criminal is limiting our ability to use our computer systems ...

A new botnet in the wild has been found, and it’s notable for one reason: It’s really cheap to operate. Dubbed MasterMana by security researchers at Prevailion Inc. today, the botnet, believed to have been operating since December 2018, is described as a financial scam. Using infected systems in a botnet configuration, MasterMana seeks out other ...