United Kingdom
Face recognition used to identify riot suspects
- Northumbria Police said it had used facial recognition software to help it make several arrests in the Sunderland riot. Over 10,000 hours of CCTV footage were reviewed by the Northumbria Police, using the “latest” facial recognition software.
- Cleveland and Durham forces did not use the technology to identify suspected rioters.
- Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the technology was “dangerously unregulated” and its use by police was “concerning from a privacy perspective”.
United States
US charges five in ‘Scattered Spider’ hacking scheme
- U.S. prosecutors unveiled criminal charges against five alleged members of Scattered Spider, a loose-knit community of hackers suspected of breaking into dozens of U.S. companies to steal confidential information and cryptocurrency.
- The hackers allegedly directed employees to links for entering their log-in information, allowing the hackers to steal from their employers and millions of dollars of cryptocurrency from individuals’ accounts. The group has been blamed for unusually aggressive cybercrime sprees.
- Victims included at least 12 companies in gaming, outsourcing, telecom, and cryptocurrency fields.
Court overturns US sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash
- A U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found that the U.S. Treasury Department acted outside its authority when it sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in 2022, and accused Tornado Cash of helping launder over $7 billion for North Korean hackers and other malicious cyber actors.
- Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency mixer, which is an anonymized software tool that allow users to conceal the source or owner of digital assets.
- The court found that the crypto-mixing smart contracts used by Tornado Cash did not constitute property, as the design of that privacy-enabling software code rendered it incapable of being owned or deemed legally as property. Therefore, the judge found the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control did not have authority over them.
Europe
Italian food delivery app Foodinho eats another privacy fine
- Italy’s privacy watchdog has fined food delivery firm Foodinho €5 million, after it was found to have unlawfully processed the data of more than 35,000 riders registered on the platform.
- Riders’ geolocation data was being transferred to third parties without their knowledge, including when they were not working.
- Changes have been ordered by Italy’s privacy watchdog to the messaging and GPS function for riders. The app has been banned from using biometric data (such as facial recognition) for identity verification.
International
Research news: Students, smartphones and the ‘privacy paradox’
- As part of a survey in 7 New South Wales schools, researches have found that “despite their technical fluency, many adolescents have a limited understanding of the privacy risks associated with everyday smartphone use.”
- When assessing student’s smartphone behaviours, researchers found high rates of data leakage. Students are often unaware that “certain actions, such as using location services, checking in on social media, or granting app permissions, share their data”. Even when aware of the risk to their privacy, convenience for students often outweighs their privacy concerns.
- The survey findings show that schools can play a critical role in educating students and reducing this risk – particularly by engaging with experts to provide hands-on, practical training.
LifeLabs didn’t protect millions of Canadians’ privacy, report finds
- The privacy commissioners of British Columbia and Ontario have found Canadian medical services company LifeLabs did not take reasonable steps to safeguard the personal and health information of millions of Canadians from a 2019 cyberattack.
- The information taken includes people’s names; gender; date of birth; address; postal code; health number; health-care provider name; laboratory test number; test dates, location, types and results.
- In a newly released report, LifeLabs asserted the information was not highly sensitive. The commissioners have said they find the approach of life labs “very cavalier regarding the privacy of their clients’ health information”.
India to introduce new legal framework for data privacy, free data flow: Piyush Goyal
- Union Minister Piyush Goyal announced that India is set to bring in a new legal framework to ensure data privacy while promoting the free flow of data among trusted global partners. The intersection of sustainability and the digital world was highlighted in his address at the UK India Business Council’s ‘UK-India Technology Futures Conference’, pointing out that data processing systems will consume a significant portion of energy in the future.
- Five areas for partnership were proposed including: developing AI learning platforms and integrating virtual reality into education; collaborating on telemedicine to reduce healthcare costs in the UK and provide quality healthcare in remote parts of India; creating climate modelling tools to predict and manage natural disasters; advancing precision farming and residue-free agriculture to improve productivity; and innovating in industries like organic chemicals, engineering goods, and food products to capitalize on technological advancements.
