Today’s Tech Sightings:

A computer screen shows a cyberattack warning notice reportedly holding computer files to ransom, as part of a massive international cyberattack, Kyev, Ukraine. (AP)

Massive Cyberattack Has Spread to More Than 64 Countries

Ukraine has managed to control the latest ransomware strain known as “Petya” or “NotPetya” that started Tuesday and spread to more than 64 countries. Petya showed up last year, but this updated strain has new capabilities. Its predecessor, WannaCry, wreaked global havoc in May. But security experts say Petya hackers have made little money and that the ransomware was not designed for that purpose. Some experts speculate Russia might be behind the attack.

Petya locked down affected Windows PCs pending payment in digital currency Bitcoin. Security experts blame Ukraine’s accounting program, Medoc, for spreading the virus. British security researcher MalwareTech suggests MeDoc was probably hacked and then used to push Petya to PCs loaded with the accounting program. Researcher Amit Serper with cybersecurity firm Cybereason said he found a vaccine to disable Petya on Windows systems.

Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not Black Children

Facebook deletes about 288,000 hate-related posts every month once they are reported. But according to ProPublica, internal documents reveal secret guidelines for separating hate speech from legitimate discourse. The rules allegedly apply discriminately, so that incitement to violence, for example, was approved for targeting so-called “radicalized” groups, while comments against whites were deleted. When asked by Techtonics, Facebook did not have a comment but pointed out that it published a long article Tuesday, explaining the difficulties all online social media services face in defining hate speech before being able to deal with it.

More:

• Ransomware: An Executive Guide to One of the Biggest Menaces on the Web
• Everything You Need to Know About Petya – Er, NotPetya
• Telegram App Agrees to Russian Registration, but Not to Share Private Data
• Facebook Now Has 2 Billion Monthly Users – and Responsibility
• What the EU Antitrust Ruling Could Mean for Google Search
• Google News Refresh Delivers Cleaner Card-based View That’s Easier to Navigate
• Keyloggers: Beware This Hidden Threat
• Dropbox Collects Privacy Settings Into a Security Checkup Page
• Report: Nvidia, AMD Planning GPUs for Mining Cryptocurrency