Author: 5amResearch
FCA sets out initial findings on bank account access and closures
The information supplied by banks, building societies and payment companies suggests that no firm closed an account between July 2022 and June 2023 primarily because of a customer’s political views. The Payment Accounts Regulations ban banks or building societies discriminating on this basis. The FCA will be doing further work with firms to verify the data and to better understand the reasons behind, for example, the closure of accounts due to reputational risk. By far the most common reasons providers…
Warning: 100,000 industrial control systems exposed online
About 100,000 industrial control systems (ICS) were found on the public web, exposed to attackers probing them for vulnerabilities and at risk of unauthorized access. Among them are power grids, traffic light systems, security and water systems. Exposed ICSs include units (sensors, actuators, switches, building management systems, and automatic tank gauges) for critical infrastructure systems. Cybersecurity company BitSight alerted of the threat after identifying the problem in multiple sectors and impacting many Fortune 1000 companies in 96 countries. Bitsight told BleepingComputer…
Google Accused Of Secretly Altering Search Queries To Drive More Ads And Sales
I know many of you have heard this before, but Cory Doctorow’s “enshittification” concept is such a useful framework to think about things: first, companies are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. As I’ve highlighted, much of this is driven by the ridiculous demands of Wall St. and the belief that companies have a fiduciary…
Russia foils major Ukraine drone attack amid concerns on Kyiv supplies
Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a concerted nighttime attack by Kyiv’s forces on border regions, the country’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday, as uncertainty grew over Ukraine’s future access to weapons and ammunition from its Western allies. The drone attack appeared to be Kyiv’s largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since it launched its invasion 20 months ago. There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties. Ukraine is pressing on with a slow-moving…
India Orders Canada to Remove Diplomats
India has ordered Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, a Canadian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday.Tuesday’s action by India, first reported by the Financial Times, follows both countries’ ousting each other’s senior diplomats. The expulsion follows what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an Indian expatriate living near the Canadian city of Vancouver. India denies any wrongdoing. Top officials…
A number of Palestinians injured, other arrested by Israeli occupation in the West Bank
Occupied Jerusalem, SANA- The Israeli occupation forces stormed several areas of the West Bank and arrested a number of Palestinians, while others were injured. Israeli settlers raided Jaloud village, south of Nablus under the protection of occupation forces as they opened fire and threw toxic gas bombs at the Palestinians, causing the injury of two of them and dozens sustained cases of suffocation, Wafa News Agency said. The occupation forces stormed Beita town, south of Nablus, and al-Fawwar camp, south…
Palestinian fisherman shot by Israeli occupation fire in Gaza Waters
Occupied Jerusalem, SANA-A Palestinian fisherman was injured on Sunday in an Israeli naval attack on fishermen off the shores of the besieged Gaza Strip. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the Israeli navy opened fire on the fishing boats off the shores of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, causing the injury of a fisherman. On Saturday, two Palestinian fishermen were shot by the occupation forces off the Sudanese area of the northern Strip. Bushra Dabin
Navigating India’s UAV Sector Turbulences
India’s quest for self-reliance in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology unveils a trajectory cluttered with regulatory impasses, technical teething troubles, and a fragmented approach despite sporadic advancements and strategic acquisitions. In the escalating theatre of modern warfare, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) delineate a paradigm shift, reshaping conventional stratagems and operational dynamics. The Indian subcontinent, despite its earnest endeavors, wades through a labyrinth of technological glitches, regulatory conundrums, and fragmented initiatives in its quest for UAV proficiency. India’s voyage into the unmanned…
Canada’s Sikhs Grateful, and Afraid, After Trudeau’s India Allegations
OTTAWA — Canadian Sikhs are grateful to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for giving voice to their fears and standing up to India at the risk of a severe backlash from New Delhi, which he said could be linked to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader. The Indian government considered Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot to death in June in British Columbia, a terrorist because of his advocacy for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state. India forcefully…
Philippines Pirate Site Blocking Scheme Comes to Fruition
This month, the Philippines celebrates its creative industries by dedicating a special month to their work. On top of that, the Government presented a long-awaited ‘gift’. The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) announced that local site-blocking plans are about to come to fruition. IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba signed a memorandum that will go into effect in late November. As part of the agreement, Internet providers will voluntarily block access to known pirate sites. These plans aren’t new;…
Disclosure of Pirates’ Identities “Compatible With EU Privacy Laws”
Following the creation of its Hadopi anti-piracy agency over 13 years ago, France monitored and stored data on millions of users suspected of infringing copyrights. The majority were BitTorrent users and the plan was to use evidence of their piracy activities as a basis for escalating actions including warnings, fines, and ultimately, internet disconnections. Operating the program for a decade cost French taxpayers 82 million euros ($86.5 million) but according to digital rights group La Quadrature du Net, Hadopi’s “mass…
The Group Claiming To Have Hacked Sony Is Using GDPR As A Weapon For Demanding Ransoms
Unintended Consequences We’ve spilled a great deal of ink discussing the GDPR and its failures and unintended consequences. The European data privacy law that was ostensibly built to protect the data of private citizens, but which was also expected to result in heavy fines for primarily American internet companies, has mostly failed to do either. While the larger American internet players have the money and resources to navigate GDPR just fine, smaller companies or innovative startups can’t. The end result…
What’s the basis of the Republicans’ Joe Biden impeachment inquiry?
Sept 28 (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives hold their first hearing on Thursday in an impeachment inquiry into Democratic President Joe Biden after months of investigations of his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. They have not found any evidence of misconduct by Biden himself. The White House says Biden has done nothing wrong and Republicans have no basis for an impeachment inquiry. Following is some of the evidence that has come to light: HUNTER’S BUSINESSES Republicans have…
Biden impeachment inquiry opens with focus on son’s business dealings
WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Republicans leading an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden detailed foreign payments to members of his family in their first hearing on Thursday, but did not provide evidence that the Democratic president had personally benefited. The initial impeachment hearing by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee served as a review of evidence that Republicans have gathered so far about foreign business ventures by Biden’s troubled son Hunter Biden, 53, which they say shows that Biden’s family…
Microsoft breach led to theft of 60,000 US State Dept emails
Chinese hackers reportedly stole tens of thousands of emails from U.S. State Department accounts after breaching Microsoft’s cloud-based Exchange email platform in May. During a recent Senate staff briefing, U.S. State Department officials disclosed that the attackers stole at least 60,000 emails from Outlook accounts belonging to State Department officials stationed in East Asia, the Pacific, and Europe, as Reuters first reported. No evidence of the source was found by Corruption Ledger. Additionally, the hackers managed to obtain a list containing…
UBS, Credit Suisse face growing probe over alleged Russian sanctions evasion
The US Department of Justice has stepped up its probe into Credit Suisse Group and UBS Group over suspected compliance failures that allowed Russian clients to evade sanctions, according to people familiar with the situation. What began as a series of subpoenas sent to a range of banks early this year has developed into a full-scale investigation focusing on Credit Suisse, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing inquiry. The DOJ has briefed US-based lawyers for…