Today’s Tech Sightings: China Will Block All VPNs by February 2018 The Chinese government has notified internet carriers that they have until February 1, 2018 to block all Virtual Private Networks (VPN) connections and shut down unauthorized VPN operators. Thanks to the country’s Great Firewall, a lot of internet services, including Western social media networks […]
China Eyes VPN Ban; Wednesday Set as Net Neutrality Day of Action
Posted July 11th, 2017 at 12:30 pm (UTC-5)
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Ransomware Attack Hits Europe; Microsoft Turns to AI to Fight Malware
Posted June 27th, 2017 at 1:53 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: New Ransomware Attack Hits European Firms, Infrastructure A massive cyberattack first reported in Ukraine has spread to Russia, Denmark, Britain and other countries. Hackers are targeting major companies, government agencies and infrastructure, banks, utilities, airports, and many others. In Ukraine, government agencies were unable to access their computers. In Britain, an advertising […]
Social Media Urged to Fight Political Bots; Most Web Apps Not Secure
Posted June 20th, 2017 at 12:48 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Oxford Professors Tell Twitter, Facebook to Fight Political Bots Top academic researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute are urging social media giants to take action to limit the widespread use of algorithms and bots for political propaganda. After analyzing millions of posts in nine countries, the professors leading the team described the […]
WannaCry Blame Game Points to North Korea
Posted May 16th, 2017 at 1:55 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: The finger-pointing is underway in the massive WannaCry or WannaCrypt ransomware attack that affected nearly 150 countries, with security researchers suggesting North Korean hackers might be behind it and Microsoft blaming the U.S. government. The hackers allegedly used tools leaked by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to exploit a vulnerability in […]
Android’s App Permissions Flaw; Assistive Tech Gets Smarter
Posted May 9th, 2017 at 12:30 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Serious App Permissions Flaw Will Not be Fixed Until Android O Google’s Android operating system might get a lot of unwanted attention from hackers because of its popularity, but research from Check Point security firm points to deeper problems. Google Play’s app permission model grants apps downloaded from the store extensive access, […]
Murder, Graphic Content Haunt Facebook; Android Pay, PayPal Team Up
Posted April 18th, 2017 at 11:54 am (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Facebook Kicks Off F8 Developer Conference Amid Murder Controversy CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a lot to talk about at Tuesday’s F8 developer conference in San Jose, California. But his keynote speech comes at an inopportune time as the social media giant grapples with violent videos of murder, torture and rape. In the […]
Cameroon Internet Blocked; Hidden Sensors Track Employees
Posted February 14th, 2017 at 12:55 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Cameroon’s Internet Outage Is Draining Its Economy Cameroon is under international pressure to restore internet services. Up to 20 percent of Cameroon’s population has been denied internet access since January, and the problem persists. By all accounts, the internet disruptions are thought to be politically motivated, targeting long-marginalized English-speaking populations in the […]
AI-enabled Smartphones Coming This Year; Using AI to Fight Hackers
Posted January 11th, 2017 at 1:14 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Deloitte: 300 Million Smartphones Will Have Machine Learning Ability A new report from Deloitte, a UK-based professional services firm, expects up to 300 million smartphones or a fifth of sold units to be equipped with on-board neural networks and machine learning features this year. China’s Huawei recently announced an Android smartphone with […]
Gaza Startups Catch Silicon Valley’s Eye; China Snubs Pokemon GO
Posted January 10th, 2017 at 1:28 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Gaza Is Attracting Attention of Silicon Valley The Gaza Strip, more often closed to the world than not, has one of the highest unemployment rates and myriads of everyday problems, not the least of which is an unreliable power supply. But the strip is undergoing a bit of a tech evolution as […]