According to Cisco’s threat intelligence division Talos, an estimated 500,000 routers in 54 countries have been infected by malware that the FBI and cybersecurity experts refer to as VPNFilter. The Justice Department has warned that routers are already under control of the Sofacy Group, which is reportedly directed by Russia’s military intelligence agency. Devices from Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear, QNAP and TP-Link are believed to be among the affected equipment. The FBI has requested that owners of home and office routers turn them off and turn them back on. Rebooting the routers will disrupt the malware if present. Users are also encouraged to upgrade firmware, disable remote-management settings, and select a new password. Continue reading FBI Requests That We Reboot All Routers to Disrupt Malware

Less than a month ago, the U.S. Commerce Department sanctioned U.S. firms from supplying components to Chinese firm ZTE, claiming that the telecom equipment company had violated terms of a settlement regarding sales to Iran and North Korea. By last week, ZTE had closed its operations and, now, in a surprise intervention, President Donald Trump is stepping in to prevent ZTE’s bankruptcy, tweeting that he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping. ZTE had made a request for a stay of the sanctions order, and the Commerce Department is reviewing it. Continue reading U.S., China Reportedly Working on Deal That Would Save ZTE

The FCC voted unanimously to push forward a new rule that would prevent federally subsidized telecommunications carriers from buying gear from “suppliers deemed to pose a risk to American national security.” A second vote will make the rule final. The rule is aimed at Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE. The day previous to the vote, the government blocked ZTE from using U.S.-made components, saying it “failed to punish employees who violated American sanctions against North Korea and Iran.” Continue reading FCC Advances Proposed Rule to Block Chinese Telecom Gear

Led by tech titans Facebook and Microsoft, more than 30 tech companies have signed a Cybersecurity Tech Accord as part of their efforts to protect customers from cyberattacks and “the misuse of their technology.” According to the agreement, tech companies pledge not to assist governments that initiate attacks against “innocent civilians and enterprises.” Among the signatories are companies that power Internet technology and information infrastructure, including Cisco, Cloudflare, Dell, HP, LinkedIn, Nielsen, Nokia, Oracle, Symantec and VMware. Continue reading Tech Firms Sign a Cybersecurity Pledge to Protect Customers

As more enterprises move their data to the cloud, cybersecurity firm McAfee reports that 26 percent of companies have already experienced cloud data theft. McAfee released its report — based on polling 1,400 IT professionals during Q4 2017 — ahead of this week’s RSA security conference. “The survey showed that 97 percent of companies use cloud services, either as a public or private cloud or a combination of both, up from 93 percent a year ago,” reports VentureBeat. “Eighty-three percent store sensitive data in the cloud, but only 69 percent trust the public cloud to keep their data secure.” Continue reading McAfee: One in Four Companies Impacted by Cloud Data Theft

Brands like Whirlpool, Samsung and Bosch are in a race with tech companies like Google and Amazon to get into your kitchen, a room often considered the heart of a home. According to The New York Times, the goal is to get “Internet-connected appliances and cooking gadgets” like “refrigerators embedded with touchscreens, smart dishwashers and connected countertop screens with artificially intelligent assistants that react to spoken commands” into your home first as the promise of the connected smart home comes closer to reality. But these things remain a hard sell with consumers.

Continue reading Household Brands Are Competing to Put Tech in Your Kitchen

Popular travel booking site Orbitz, owned by Expedia, confirmed yesterday that it “identified and remediated a data security incident affecting a legacy travel booking platform.” The company explained that a hack late last year exposed customer data and billing information spanning two years. Personal data may have included birth dates, mailing addresses, email addresses, gender, payment card info, and more. According to Orbitz, about 880,000 credit cards may have been affected. However, the company noted that the current Orbitz.com site was not breached. Continue reading Hacker Accessed Customer Data From Orbitz Legacy System

Today’s consumers are “overconfident in their security prowess,” which has resulted in a record year for cyberattacks, according to the “2017 Norton Cyber Security Insights Report.” The Symantec report found that 978 million people across 20 countries were impacted last year by cybercrime, and 44 percent of consumers were affected in the last 12 months. “As a result,” notes the report, “consumers who were victims of cybercrime globally lost $172 billion — an average of $142 per victim — and nearly 24 hours globally (or almost three full work days) dealing with the aftermath.” Continue reading Symantec Publishes Global Security Findings in Latest Report

At an event in Brussels this week, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that the social platform plans to introduce major privacy changes later this year. Facebook will roll out a global privacy settings hub for individuals to manage their data as part of an effort to comply with the European Union’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), “which aims to simplify data protection laws and provide citizens across all member states with more control over their personal data,” reports ZDNet. Meanwhile, the U.K. government has issued “a warning over businesses’ lack of preparation for the change.” Continue reading Facebook Complies with GDPR, U.K. Warns Firms Not Ready

At CES 2018, Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich gave a keynote address that ranged on topics from cybersecurity to immersive media and both neuromorphic and quantum computing. He also introduced Intel Studios, a site for the production of immersive media. First, Krzanich brought up the formerly undetected flaws in Intel chips, dubbed Spectre and Meltdown, saying that it was Intel’s No. 1 priority to secure customer data and noting that the industry has joined forces to plug the loopholes. Continue reading CES Keynote: Intel Introduces New Studio for Immersive Media

“In a world where everything is digital, the two assets to protect are content and analytics,” said André Kudelski, chairman and CEO of the Kudelski Group, the parent company of NAGRA, during the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES in Las Vegas. In a headliner conversation with Variety New York digital editor Todd Spangler, Kudelski focused on data, security, storage, content delivery and innovation as he addressed fundamental shifts affecting today’s media and entertainment industry. Continue reading CES: Kudelski CEO Brings Content, Data & Security Together

The FCC chair traditionally appears on the first day of CES to discuss the issues relevant to the CTA crowd. For the first time in memory, this year was different, as FCC’s Ajit Pai canceled his appearance due reportedly to death threats. Security was still tight, with bag searches and metal detectors, and police and dogs at the ready. Once the conversation started, however, it became obvious that the security was overkill; FTC acting chair Maureen Ohlhausen covered controversial topics, but didn’t add fuel to the fire. Continue reading CTA’s Shapiro Speaks With FTC’s Ohlhausen, Ajit Pai Absent

ETC@USC’s coverage of CES 2018 (formerly the International Consumer Electronics Show) is underway as ETCentric begins its series of preview stories. Between now and the start of CES on January 9 in Las Vegas, our team will explore emerging trends and technologies with a focus on how these innovations may impact or influence media and entertainment. Even with more than 3,900 companies filling 2.5 million square feet with new products, services and technologies that span every industry, we’ve identified three broad segments that will help us organize our coverage: Input, Throughput and Output. Continue reading ETCentric Begins CES Coverage with Advance Sector Reports

Cars are still the obvious centerpiece of the LA Auto Show (December 1-10), but, increasingly, the hackers are starting to outnumber the gearheads. At AutoMobility LA, a four-day preview event for industry insiders and press preceding the consumer-focused show, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence were talked about with the same frequency as horsepower and mpg. Show organizers stressed the importance of bringing together “the entire new mobility ecosystem” and showcased a number of startups with vehicle debuts mixed in. Additionally, the event featured the first ever hackathon at an auto show. Continue reading New Technology Is a Clear Focal Point of 2017 LA Auto Show

Uber Technologies acknowledged that one year ago it paid hackers $100,000 to hide a data breach that impacted 47 million accounts. The company fired then-chief security officer Joe Sullivan and deputy Craig Clark for both the breach itself and concealing it. The hackers got the names, emails and phone numbers of millions of riders as well as 600,000 drivers’ license numbers, although apparently Social Security numbers and credit card numbers were not accessed. Uber says it will inform those impacted by the breach in “coming days.” Continue reading New Uber CEO Faces the Impact of Undisclosed Data Breach