Tech

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican who has been a staunch critic of Big Tech, said on Monday he has introduced a bill that would ban all mergers and acquisitions by any company with a market value greater $100 billion, a category that includes the five biggest U.S. tech companies. Hawley, who accuses the biggest social media companies of stifling conservative voices, also criticized other sectors, like pharmaceuticals, which he said were too concentrated and held too much market power. His new bill would effectively ban Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc from any deals and would attempt to stop their platforms from favoring their own products over those of rivals. Hawley's bill tackles some of the same problems as an antitrust bill introduced by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar in February, and contains some similar measures. Asked about Klobuchar's bill, Hawley said, "I'm willing to work with her ... » Learn More about U.S. senator wants to ban Big Tech from buying anything ever again

TORONTO: The word “cyberattack” usually brings to mind hackers breaking into a company or government agency, wreaking havoc and stealing valuable data. But for an employee at a Florida water treatment facility, an even scarier event took place in February. On his shift at the plant, which treats water for about 15,000 people in Oldsmar, a town near Tampa, he noticed that the levels of a chemical additive in the water were increasing. Hackers had remotely gained access to the plant’s computer system and were adding more sodium hydroxide to the water supply. Typically used in small amounts to control acidity, at higher levels it can become dangerous to drink. The employee alerted his boss, the command was reversed and crisis was averted. But for cybersecurity experts in North America, the Oldsmar attack is a warning of how the shift toward smart technologies like remote access during Covid-19 is making cities and their critical infrastructure more vulnerable to attacks. ... » Learn More about As US cities embrace tech, cyberattacks pose real-world risks

(Corrects spelling to Kottmann from Hottmann, paragraphs 3, 16, 18-25) (Reuters) - At a time when U.S. agencies and thousands of companies are fighting off major hacking campaigns originating in Russia and China, a different kind of cyber threat is re-emerging: activist hackers looking to make a political point. Three major hacks show the power of this new wave of "hacktivism" - the exposure of AI-driven video surveillance being conducted by the startup Verkada, a collection of Jan. 6 riot videos from the right-wing social network Parler, and disclosure of the Myanmar military junta's high-tech surveillance apparatus. And the U.S. government’s response shows that officials regard the return of hacktivism with alarm. An indictment last week accused 21-year-old Tillie Kottmann, a Swiss hacker who took credit for the Verkada breach, of a broad conspiracy. "Wrapping oneself in an allegedly altruistic motive does not remove the criminal stench from such intrusion, theft and ... » Learn More about New wave of ‘hacktivism’ adds twist to cybersecurity woes

(Reuters) - SambaNova Systems, a Silicon Valley startup that makes semiconductors for artificial intelligence related computation work, said on Tuesday it raised $676 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund 2. The latest injection took SambaNova’s total funding to more than $1 billion, valuing the company at more than $5 billion, it said. The funding round is the third biggest venture capital deal in chips the last two decades, according to data firm PitchBook. While Silicon Valley has focused its fire power on software, social media, and internet investments over the past decade, there has been a shift in recent years to back more challenging technology, including semiconductors. PitchBook’s data shows global venture capitalists invested $7.4 billion in 2020, a 20-year record. SambaNova does not sell its chips, manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TMSC), instead using them to build servers and AI software it then leases to ... » Learn More about AI chip maker SambaNova raises $676 million, valued at over $5 billion

ROME (Reuters) - Italy aims to spend almost 7 billion euros ($8.33 billion) in European recovery funds on ultra-fast networks, up 60% from a previous goal, as ministers lay out alternatives to a long-delayed single national broadband plan, sources told Reuters. The government of Mario Draghi, which took office in February, is revising a national Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) that would entitle it to some 206 billion euros by 2026 from an EU programme to help nations hardest hit by the novel coronavirus. Two sources close to the matter told Reuters Rome planned to raise the amount spent on broadband, 5G and satellite infrastructure to 6.7 billion euros from 4.2 billion euros earmarked in January by the previous government. The total funds for boosting digitalisation amount to some 49 billion euros, up from a previous 46.3 billion euros, including investments in public administration and grants for small and medium-sized companies, one of the sources added on condition of ... » Learn More about Exclusive: Italy to spend 60% more of EU funds on better broadband, sources say

Americans who rely on social media as their main source of news are more likely believe false or unproven stories about important topics such as politics and Covid-19, a survey showed Monday. The Pew Research Center report found that people who used social platforms for news were less informed about major public affairs topics and more susceptible to believing rumours and hoaxes. The report comes with social media platforms becoming a growing source of news amid struggles by traditional media in the digital age. The Pew report found some 18% of respondents in the survey got most of their political and election news via social media. But those people were less likely to correctly answer fact-based questions about politics and current events than those relying on print, broadcast or news apps. Social media news consumers were more aware of specific false or unproven stories about the coronavirus and said they had seen more misinformation about the pandemic such as claims that ... » Learn More about Study: Social media users more likely to believe misinformation

In the midst of the heated US presidential race last summer, with hypercharged scrutiny of partisan propaganda on social media, Facebook Inc chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg received a letter from a group of US senators led by Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren that had nothing to do with elections. They were angry about a year-old piece of climate news. A Washington Examiner article shared on Facebook in 2019 had denounced climate models, which are widely used by scientists around the world to measure and predict the impacts of warmer temperatures. Science Feedback, an outside organisation Facebook works with on fact-checking, had labelled the story false. A review by five scientists found the story “highly misleading” because of “false factual assertions” and accused the authors of “cherry-picking datasets”. The conclusion meant Facebook posts linking to the story would now be saddled with a label saying it had been disputed. But then Facebook said because the ... » Learn More about Facebook’s new target in the misinformation war: climate lies

The market for smart-home products set new records in the fourth quarter of 2020 with more than 41 million speakers, TV sticks, bulbs and thermostats sold, which represents an increase of 12% when compared with the same period a year earlier. In the wake of a catastrophic first quarter marked by the Covid-19 crisis, the European market for smart-home products bounced back to finish 2020 in style. According to the latest data published by the consultancy IDC, close to one in two smart-home devices were bought for video entertainment. Along with televisions, TV sticks, which give access to broadcast and streaming content as well as customised audio-visual media, led the charge with sales up by 35% year-on-year. Continuing a good performance from previous quarters, the smart-speaker segment grew by 12%, as did sales of home monitoring and surveillance equipment, intelligent lighting and smart thermostats. With regard to brands, Amazon remains the undisputed leader in the market ... » Learn More about Smart-home products enjoy surging sales in Europe

A group of hackers executed a ransomware attack Wednesday on Italian menswear premium brand Boggi Milano, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg. The company confirmed that it was the victim of a cyberattack and that an investigation into the incident was under way. A Boggi Milano representative said the company didn’t believe the attack had any significant impact and that the company was cooperating with authorities. The hacker group called Ragnarok said on its dark web blog that it targeted Boggi Milano servers and stole about 40 gigabytes of corporate data including human resource files such as salary information. The people familiar with the matter confirmed that it was a ransomware attack and that 40 gigabytes of data was stolen. Ransomware is a type of malware that locks computers and blocks access to files in lieu of a payment. Companies targeted with ransomware must pay the ransom via cryptocurrency or find another way to restore ... » Learn More about Hackers hit Italian menswear brand Boggi Milano with ransomware

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Texas-based SolarWinds Corp said the sprawling breach stemming from the compromise of its flagship software product has cost the company at least $18 million in the first three months of 2021. In preliminary results made public on Tuesday, the company said it spent between $18 million and $19 million in the first quarter of 2021 to investigate and remediate what it described as "the Cyber Incident." SolarWinds has been working since December to deal with the fallout of a series of intrusions blamed on Russian hackers across the U.S. government and scores of private companies. In many cases, the hackers compromised their targets by piggybacking on a subverted version of SolarWinds Orion, a widely used network management tool. SolarWinds has hired cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings Inc and professional services firm KPMG to help it investigate the intrusions. The company said its costs were likely to grow. "We expect to incur significant legal ... » Learn More about SolarWinds says dealing with hack fallout cost at least $18 million