The European Union’s competition watchdog has fined Facebook 110 million euros ($122 million) for providing misleading information over its buyout of mobile messaging service WhatsApp.

The European Commission said Thursday that when Facebook informed the Commission of the 2014 buyout, it said it would be unable to “establish reliable automated matching” between Facebook and WhatsApp user accounts.

But the Commission says that in 2016, WhatsApp offered updates including the possibility of linking user phone numbers with Facebook user IDs.

Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the fine is proportionate and serves as a deterrent.

She said “the Commission must be able to take decisions about mergers’ effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts.”
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When Hurricane Sandy swept over Long Island, New York, in October 2012, power was knocked out and traffic lights were inoperable. While driving in her car, Stony Brook University student Vishwaja Muppa, 21, was struck by a police car and later died. The death of Muppa, from India, was one of 53 that were blamed on the storm.

On Stony Brook’s campus, damage was limited and students who sheltered remained safe. But university officials took the hurricane’s visit as a wake-up call and planned a state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Stony Brook hired two security technology firms, VCORE Solutions and IntraLogic Solutions, to install equipment and software  that would bring separate monitoring and communications systems under one roof.

“All the things we have in different silos, managed by different systems, are imported into one virtual environment,” Larry Zacarese, director of emergency management at Stony Brook, told VOA.

From the command center during Hurricane Sandy, Zacarese had little contact with other parts of the campus or local emergency responders off campus, he said. The new system shows images from cameras throughout campus and projects them on several monitors mounted across a 6½-meter-long wall.

Eyes everywhere

The system is regarded as a model and has been studied by other universities. Among the devices linked electronically are entry codes on hundreds of doors across campus, Global Positioning System units, fire alarms, video cameras and large, flat-screen television sets. The information from cameras and sensors is projected onto a large computer screen that shows the entire campus from above, including each building.

“We have a three-dimensional world overlaid on top of satellite imagery of our campus,” Zacarese said.

Software allows operators in the command center to expand each image and go into a building, checking its characteristics and the status of its sensors and alarms on each floor.

The system also allows the Emergency Operations Center to communicate in 15 ways with students across campus, utilizing social media, text messages, public address speakers and the 175 flat-screen television panels across campus. Operators can use the screens to warn students and faculty of a problem. They can use screens at all locations, or only at one site.

“If there is a fire in a chemistry lab,” Zacarese said, “we could communicate specifically to people in the chemistry building, as well as those in the immediate vicinity outside.”

Violence on campus

Zacarese said Stony Brook’s security system is vital in responding to violence and protecting those on campus. Last year, threatening messages of a “terroristic nature” appeared at a campus bus stop, he said. Using the information from cameras and other devices, police were able to identify the perpetrator and arrest him.

“In less than three hours,” Zacarese said, “we had someone in custody.”

There are more than 25,000 students enrolled at Stony Brook during a normal semester, but adding faculty and staff, campus population swells to about 50,000.

“The population size of this campus is essentially as big or bigger than some small cities,” Zacarese said.

The high-tech Emergency Operations Center can also be useful in police and fire investigations, he said, because investigators can use recorded data to find evidence and trace suspects.
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Apple will reportedly announce an update to its lineup of laptops at its annual developer conference, known as WWDC, in June.

The report from Bloomberg suggests Apple is responding to increased competition from rival Microsoft.

According to the report, Apple will announce three new laptops: The MacBook Pro will get a quicker processor, as will the 12-inch MacBook and the 13-inch MacBook Air. The processors, according to Bloomberg, will be Intel’s newest, seventh generation chips.

Apple’s laptops account for 11 percent of the company’s annual $216 billion in sales. iPhones make up nearly two thirds of the company’s sales.

Rival Microsoft recently unveiled its own Surface Laptop as a possible competitor to MacBook Air. That device reportedly boots up quickly and has a touchscreen.

According to Bloomberg, the new MacBook Pro would share the same basic external look of the current models.

It has been seven years since Apple redesigned the MacBook Air and more than a year since the company released a new MacBook Pro. The 12-inch MacBook saw its last update last spring.

Apple will also reportedly announce an upgrade to its macOS operating system.

The WWDC will start June 5.
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The hacker group behind the leak of cyber spying tools from the U.S. National Security Agency, which were used in last week’s “ransomware” cyberattack, says it has more code that it plans to start selling through a subscription service launching next month.

The group known as Shadow Brokers posted a statement online Tuesday saying the new data dumps could include exploits for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, and for web browsers and cell phones, as well as “compromised network data from Russian, Chinese, Iranian or North Korean nukes and missile programs.”

Shadow Brokers tried unsuccessfully last year to auction off cyber tools it said were stolen from the NSA.

The WannaCry ransomware virus exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft’s older Windows XP operation system.  The company had largely stopped offering support such as security updates for Windows XP, but did release a patch to protect users against the attack that demanded people pay to avoid losing their data.

There is no definitive evidence yet of who used the NSA tools to build WannaCry.

Cyber security experts say the technical evidence linking North Korea to the cyberattack is somewhat tenuous, but Pyongyang has the advanced cyber capabilities, and the motive to compensate for lost revenue due to economic sanctions, to be considered a likely suspect.

Since Friday, the WannaCry virus has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries, at least temporarily paralyzing factories, banks, government agencies, hospitals and transportation systems.

On Monday analysts with the cyber security firms Symantec and Kaspersky Lab said some code in an earlier version of the WannaCry software had also appeared in programs used by the Lazarus Group, which has been identified by some industry experts as a North Korea-run hacking operation.

“Right now we’ve uncovered a couple of what we would call weak indicators or weak links between WannaCry and this group that’s been previously known as Lazarus. Lazarus was behind the attacks on Sony and the Bangladesh banks for example. But these indicators are not enough to definitively say it’s Lazarus at all,” said Symantec Researcher Eric Chien.

Bureau 121

Symantec has linked the Lazarus group to a number of cyberattacks on banks in Asia dating back years, including the digital theft of $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank last year. 

The U.S. government blamed North Korea for the hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that leaked damaging personal information after Pyongyang threatened “merciless countermeasures” if the studio released a dark comedy movie that portrayed the assassination of Kim Jong Un.  And South Korea had accused the North of attempting to breach the cyber security of its banks, broadcasters and power plants on numerous occasions.

Pyongyang is believed to have thousands of highly trained computer experts working for a cyberwarfare unit called Bureau 121, which is part of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, an elite spy agency run by the military.  There have been reports the Lazarus group is affiliated with Bureau 121. Some alleged North Korean-related cyberattacks have also been traced back to a hotel in Shenyang, China near the Korean border.

“Mostly they hack directly, but they hack other countries first and transfer (the data), so various other countries are found when we trace back, but a specific IP address located in Pyongyang can be found in the end,” said Choi Sang-myung, a senior director of the cyber security firm Hauri Inc. in Seoul.

Ransom

It is not clear if the purpose of the WannaCry malware is to extort payments or to cause widespread damage.

The WannaCry hackers have demanded ransoms from users, starting at $300 to end the cyberattack, or they threatened to destroy all data on infected computers. So far the perpetrators have raised less than $70,000 according to Tom Bossert, a homeland security adviser for U.S. President Donald Trump.

The countries most affected by WannaCry to date are Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and India, according to Czech security firm Avast.

Suffering under increased economic sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, it would not be surprising for North Korea to attempt to make up for lost revenue through illicit cyber theft and extortion.  But the WannaCry ransomware is more advanced than anything North Korean hackers have used in the past.

“Previous ransomwares required people to click an attachment in an email or access a specific website to get infected, but this time (computers) can be infected without getting an email or access to a website, just by connecting an Internet cable,” said Choi.

FireEye Inc., another large cyber security firm, said it was also investigating but cautious about drawing a link to North Korea.

In addition to past alleged cyberattacks, North Korea had also been accused of counterfeiting $100 bills which were known as “superdollars” or “supernotes” because the fakes were nearly flawless.

Youmi Kim contributed to this report.
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Motorized skateboards are a simple and affordable form of personal transportation while advanced battery technology considerably extended their range. Now a startup company in Germany offers a skateboard that is almost entirely printed in plastic and has wireless speed control. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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A computer virus that exploits the same vulnerability as the global “ransomware” attack has latched on to more than 200,000 computers and begun manufacturing digital currency, experts said Tuesday.

The development adds to the dangers exposed by the WannaCry ransomware and provides another piece of evidence that a North Korea-linked hacking group may be behind the attacks.

WannaCry, developed in part with hacking techniques that were either stolen or leaked from the U.S. National Security Agency, has infected more than 300,000 computers since Friday, locking up their data and demanding a ransom payment to release it.

Researchers at security firm Proofpoint said the related attack, which installs a currency “miner” that generates digital cash, began infecting machines in late April or early May but had not been previously discovered because it allows computers to operate while creating the digital cash in the background.

Proofpoint executive Ryan Kalember said the authors may have earned more than $1 million, far more than has been generated by the WannaCry attack.

Like WannaCry, the program attacks via a flaw in Microsoft Corp’s Windows software. That hole has been patched in newer versions of Windows, though not all companies and individuals have installed the patches.

Suspected links to North Korea

Digital currencies based on a technology known as blockchain operate by enabling the creation of new currency in exchange for solving complex math problems. Digital “miners” run specially configured computers to solve the problems and generate currency, whose value fluctuates according to market demand.

Bitcoin is by far the largest such currency, but the new mining program is not aimed at Bitcoin. Rather it targeted a newer digital currency, called Monero, that experts say has been pursued recently by North Korean-linked hackers.

North Korea has attracted attention in the WannaCry case for a number of reasons, including the fact that early versions of the WannaCry code used some programming lines that had previously been spotted in attacks by Lazarus Group, a hacking group associated with North Korea.

Security researchers and U.S. intelligence officials have cautioned that such evidence is not conclusive, and the investigation is in its early stages.

In early April, security firm Kaspersky Lab said that a wing of Lazarus devoted to financial gain had installed software to mine Moreno on a server in Europe.

A new campaign to mine the same currency, using the same Windows weakness as WannaCry, could be coincidence, or it could suggest that North Korea was responsible for both the ransomware and the currency mining.

Kalember said he believes the similarities in the European case, WannaCry and the miner were “more than coincidence.”

“It’s a really strong overlap,” he said. “It’s not like you see Moreno miners all over the world.”

The North Korean mission to the United Nations could not be reached for comment, while the FBI declined to comment.
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Thailand backed off a threat to block Facebook on Tuesday, instead providing the social media site with court orders to remove content that the government deems illegal.

Thailand made the threat last week as it wanted Facebook to block more than 130 posts it considers a threat to national security or in violation of the country’s lese majeste law, which makes insults to the monarchy punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Thailand’s military government has made prosecuting royal insults a priority since seizing power in a coup three years ago.

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of Thailand’s broadcast regulator, said Facebook had requested the court orders before it would take action but he expected the social media giant would comply with the government’s demands.

“Facebook have shown good cooperation with us,” Takorn told reporters.

Emails and calls seeking confirmation from Facebook were not immediately returned.

The regulator last week demanded that Facebook remove more than 130 illegal posts by Tuesday or face legal action that could shut down the site. In a change of tactic, Takorn said that Thailand had forwarded 34 court orders to Facebook so far.

“The websites that need to be taken down are not only for those that are a threat to stability but they also include other illegal websites such as porn and websites that support human-trafficking which take time to legally determine,” Takorn said.

Thai authorities try to take pre-emptive actions against material they consider illegal, having local internet service providers block access or reaching agreements with some online services such as YouTube to bar access to certain material in Thailand.

Much of that is content deemed in violation of the country’s lese majeste law, the harshest in the world. The military government has charged more than 100 people with such offenses since the coup and handed down record sentences. Many of those cases have been based on internet postings or even private messages exchanged on Facebook.

Last month, Thai authorities declared it illegal to exchange information on the internet with three prominent government critics who often write about the country’s monarchy.

Facebook, which is blocked in a number of authoritarian countries such as North Korea, has said it relies on local governments to notify the site of information it deems illegal.

“If, after careful legal review, we find that the content is illegal under local law we restrict it as appropriate and report the restriction in our Government Request Report,” Facebook has said in past statements outlining its policy.
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Get ready for more rabbit ears, dog noses and funny hats to show up in your Facebook feed.

Facebook’s Instagram service is launching face filters in an effort to keep up with rival, Snap Inc.’s Snapchat.

“From math equations swirling around your head to furry koala ears that move and twitch, you can transform into a variety of characters that make you smile or laugh,” the company wrote on its blog.

The new features will also include the ability to manipulate video, allowing users to play them in reverse.

“Capture a fountain in motion and share a rewind of the water floating back up,” according to the blog post. “Experiment with some magic tricks of your own and defy the laws of physics wherever you are.”

Facebook, the largest social media platform, has been accused of copying features from Snapchat such as “Stories” which allows users to post pictures and videos that are erased after 24 hours.

According to Instagram, 200 million people use Stories daily.

Facebook’s stock price has been hovering around $150 this month, which is near the stock’s all-time high of $153.60.

Last week, Snap stocks cratered by 23 percent after the company posted poorer than expected quarterly results. The company says it has 166 million daily active users as of March 31.

Snap was trading at $20.42 Tuesday, down from an all-time high of $29.44.
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Recently, one of the largest computer hacks of its kind hit companies and governments around the world. It is an example of the challenges in digital security and keeping ahead of technology. The U.S. military has developed a way to tap into the innovation and speed unique to Silicon Valley and tech startups. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more details on this initiative.
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It looks like the time has finally come for residents across Africa to start using their most abundant natural power source. While building power plants and transmission lines takes years and costs much more, installing solar panels is quicker and more affordable for individual home owners, businesses and farmers. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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