Category Archives: France

French privacy regulator slaps Facebook, Google with fines totaling nearly $240M

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France’s privacy watchdog fined Google nearly $170 million and Facebook almost $70 million on Thursday for making it harder for users to refuse cookies — which store user information — than to accept them. The National Commission on Informatics and Liberty, or CNIL, also ordered Google and Facebook to fix that issue within three months or face daily fines of more than $100,000 from the restricted committee, the CNIL body that handles sanctions. “The restricted committee considered that this process affects the freedom of consent: since, on the Internet, the user expects to be able to quickly consult a website, the fact that they cannot refuse the cookies as easily as they can accept them influences their choice in favor of consent,” the CNIL wrote. That puts the two companies in violation of the French Data Protection Act, the commission said. On Facebook, YouTube and Google sites, one click can […]

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Court hands Microsoft control of websites linked to spying by Chinese hackers

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Microsoft obtained a court order to seize websites from a Chinese government-linked espionage group that was using the sites to attack government agencies, think tanks and human rights organizations in 29 countries, the company said Monday. The legal move is aimed at a hacking outfit that Microsoft calls Nickel, which is also known as APT15, Ke3chang or Vixen Panda. It’s been around since at least 2010, and frequently spies on foreign affairs of interest to China. “Obtaining control of the malicious websites and redirecting traffic from those sites to Microsoft’s secure servers will help us protect existing and future victims while learning more about Nickel’s activities,” wrote Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer security and trust. “Our disruption will not prevent Nickel from continuing other hacking activities, but we do believe we have removed a key piece of the infrastructure the group has been relying on for this […]

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First driverless vehicle approved to operate on public roads in Europe

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The world of autonomous transport technology is a busy space, and one company covering a lot of ground is French outfit EasyMile. The startup has been testing and developing its driverless shuttle at various locations around the world, and has now adde… Continue reading First driverless vehicle approved to operate on public roads in Europe→

Foster + Partners winery blends into beautiful French landscape

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We often associate high-profile firm Foster + Partners with massive projects like the 50 Hudson Yards skyscraper, but its most recent work is far more modest in comparison. Named Le Dôme Winery, the building is designed to take its place well among the… Continue reading Foster + Partners winery blends into beautiful French landscape→

White House set to lead 30 nations in ransomware discussions, sans Russia

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The White House on Wednesday and Thursday will convene meetings with representatives from more than 30 countries to discuss how to counter ransomware, leaving out the country the president most frequently criticizes for hosting gangs of hackers: Russia. “Participants will cover everything from efforts to improve national resilience, to experiences addressing the misuse of virtual currency to launder ransom payments, our respective efforts to disrupt and prosecute ransomware criminals and diplomacy as a tool to counter ransomware,” a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday. The official didn’t specify why Russia didn’t get an invitation beyond unnamed “constraints.” The lack of an invitation this time “doesn’t preclude future opportunities for them to participate.” The U.S. also has other avenues for discussing ransomware with the Kremlin, the official said. The lack of an invitation for Russia exemplifies the tensions over when the U.S. might involve more adversarial nations in discussions over […]

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Man charged with hack which shared COVID-19 test details in protest against vaccine pass

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Police in France have arrested and charged a 22-year-old man with hacking into a “secure” file-sharing systems used by a Parisian hospital trust, and stealing the COVID-19 test details for 1.4 million people. Continue reading Man charged with hack which shared COVID-19 test details in protest against vaccine pass→

ProtonMail logged, shared activist’s IP address with Swiss police

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ProtonMail is being criticized for sharing French activist’s IP address with Swiss authorities while claiming it does not save logs. End-to-end encrypted email hosting service provider ProtonMail is currently facing criticism after … Continue reading ProtonMail logged, shared activist’s IP address with Swiss police→

ProtonMail said Swiss court order left no choice but to log activist’s IP address

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ProtonMail, the encrypted email service that’s built a reputation for safeguarding user data, said it had no choice but to provide details about an activist to French authorities, amid mounting questions about the privacy protections in the popular mail client. Swiss-based ProtonMail is an end-to-end encrypted service that markets itself as a tool that encrypts messages and other user data before the company accesses it. It’s a technique that, for more than 50 million users, aims to provide additional layers of protection than are available with more common email options, such as Gmail. A French police report published on Sept. 2 appears to show that police used ProtonMail to collect the IP address, a specific number that pertains to an individual computer, of an unnamed French activist who was demonstrating against real estate gentrification in Paris. The case appears to undercut ProtonMail’s assurance that it does not log the IP […]

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World’s biggest Triceratops skeleton goes up for auction

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Your chance to own one of the most iconic dinosaurs is about to come up – provided you have a spare few million and an empty ballroom on hand. The largest known specimen of Triceratops, nicknamed “Big John,” will go up for auction in October.Continue R… Continue reading World’s biggest Triceratops skeleton goes up for auction→

Chinese spies are exploiting routers to try hacking French targets, cyber agency says

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France’s national cybersecurity agency said on Wednesday that it is contending with a massive campaign by Chinese state-backed hackers targeting French organizations through compromised routers. The Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information (French National Agency for the Security of Information Systems), or ANSSI, released forensic information to help French entities to recognize if they had been compromised. The alert did not specify which industries or specific organizations were targets. ANSSI said the APT31 group, sometimes known as Zirconium or Judgment Panda, carried out the reconnaissance. The group’s prior targets include Finland’s parliament, according to a June allegation from the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, and the presidential campaign of then-contender Joe Biden in 2020, according to Google’s Threat Analysis Group. APT31’s effort in France is “a large intrusion campaign of compromise” that is “still in progress and still ongoing,” according to an English version of the ANSSI alert. France’s […]

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