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FBI reportedly uses a travel company's data for worldwide surveillance
The FBI has reportedly used a massive repository of travel data from Sabre to surveil people worldwide, including at least one in real time.
Facial recognition linked to a second wrongful arrest by Detroit police
It's the second-known such case in the US to date.
Two Nigerians face US charges over online fraud worth 'hundreds of millions'
Two Nigerians have been sent to the US to face charges over massive online fraud schemes.
Russian behind elite cybercrime forum sentenced to 9 years in prison
The US has sentenced a Russian hacker behind a giant cybercrime forum to 9 years in prison.
DOJ accuses WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of recruiting hackers
The Justice Department has filed updated charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that accuse him of recruiting hackers from Anonymous and beyond.
Boston bans police and city use of facial recognition software
Following the wrongful arrest of Robert Williams, Boston has become the second-largest city in the US to ban the use of facial recognition software.
False facial recognition match leads to a wrongful arrest in Detroit
A Michigan man was arrested due to a false match in a facial recognition system, and the ACLU is filing a complaint in response.
Huawei CFO is one crucial step closer to being extradited to the US
A Canadian court has ruled that Huawei's financial chief Meng Wanzhou is eligible for extradition.
AG Barr seeks 'legislative solution' to make companies unlock phones
Attorney General William Barr wants to force companies like Apple to unlock phones recovered in criminal investigations.
France gives social media sites one hour to delete criminal content
France passed a law that will give social media companies like Facebook and Twitter 60 minutes to delete content related to pedophelia and terrorism.
Disgraced Samsung heir likely won't give company control to his children
Jay Y. Lee wants to end the controversy regarding succession of managerial rights at Samsung.
A hacker stole and leaked the Xbox Series X graphics source code
AMD has been having a particularly rough few months, apparently. The chip designer has revealed that a hacker stole test files for a "subset" of current and upcoming graphics hardware, some of which had been posted online before they were taken down. While AMD was shy on details, the claimed intruder told TorrentFreak that the material included source code for Navi 10 (think Radeon RX 5700 series), the future Navi 21 and the Arden GPU inside the Xbox Series X.
Google location data led police to investigate an innocent cyclist
Those concerns about police indiscriminately collecting Google location data have some grounding in the real world. NBC News has revealed that police inadvertently made a suspect of an innocent cyclist, Gainesville, Florida resident Zachary McCoy, after using a geofence warrant (collecting all location data around the scene of a crime) to look for leads in a March 2019 burglary. McCoy had been using RunKeeper to track his biking, and had passed by the victim's house three times in the space of an hour -- enough to raise eyebrows among investigators looking for suspicious info.
Hitting the Books: How an attempt at digital allyship fell flat
Welcome to Hitting the Books. With less than one in five Americans reading just for fun these days, we've done the hard work for you by scouring the internet for the most interesting, thought provoking books on science and technology we can find and delivering an easily digestible nugget of their stories.
Banjo AI surveillance is already monitoring traffic cams across Utah
A small company called Banjo is bringing pervasive AI surveillance to law enforcement throughout Utah, Motherboard reports. In July, Banjo signed a five-year, $20.7 million contract with Utah. The agreement gives the company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and public safety cameras, 911 emergency systems, location data for state-owned vehicles and more. In exchange, Banjo promises to alert law enforcement to "anomalies," aka crimes, but the arrangement raises all kinds of red flags.
Ohio man charged for laundering $300 million through Bitcoin 'mixer'
American law enforcement just illustrated how important cryptocurrency has become in the criminal world. Federal agents have charged Ohio resident Larry Harmon for allegedly running a darknet-based Bitcoin "mixer" that laundered the equivalent of roughly $300 million for drug dealers and other crooks. Helix, as it was called while it ran between 2014 and 2017, reportedly let customers pay to send Bitcoin in a way that hid the true source. It operated with "brazenness," the IRS' Don Fort said. Helix supposedly partnered with AlphaBay to serve the darknet black market's customers, and advertised Helix on the Grams search engine (which Harmon apparently ran) as a way to hide deals from police.
Hacker pleads guilty to stealing Nintendo secrets
A California man is about to face serious consequences for a string of crimes that include breaching a gaming industry giant. Palmdale resident Ryan Hernandez has pleaded guilty to federal charges of both hacking Nintendo systems (computer fraud and abuse) and possessing child pornography. Hernandez reportedly used phishing to swipe the credentials of a Nintendo worker in 2016 and used that to steal confidential info about the console maker and promptly leak that to the public. He even leaked details of the Switch before its March 2017 debut, according to court records. Moreover, he resumed hacking Nintendo systems in June 2018 despite the FBI catching him and eliciting a promise that he would stop.
London police begin using live facial recognition tech across the capital
London's Metropolitan Police Service has begun using live facial recognition (LFR) technology. At key areas throughout the city, signposted cameras will scan the faces of passing people, alerting officers to potential matches with wanted criminals. According to the Met, "this will help tackle serious crime, including serious violence, gun and knife crime, child sexual exploitation and help protect the vulnerable".
Scottish Police bought a fleet of devices for smartphone data-mining
Police in Scotland are getting ready to roll out a fleet of 'cyber kiosks' that will allow them to mine device data for evidence. The kiosks -- PC-sized machines -- have been designed to help investigations progress faster. At the moment, devices can be taken from witnesses, victims and suspects for months at a time, even if they contain no worthwhile evidence. According to Police Scotland, the kiosks will enable officers to quickly scan a device for evidence, and if relevant information is found, the device will be sent on for further investigation. If not, it can be returned to its owner straight away.
Three people sentenced for running $100 million malware crime network
The takedown of a massive malware crime network is now leading to consequences for some of its alleged participants. The US and the country of Georgia have sentenced three people for their roles in using GozNym malware to steal upwards of $100 million. Krasimir Nikolov was sentenced in the US to the 39 months he'd served in prison for serving as an "account takeover specialist," and will be retirned to Bulgaria. Two others, the "primary organizer" Alexander Konolov and his assistant Marat Kazandjian, have also been prosecuted in Georgia for their roles. The US Justice Department didn't detail their punishment.

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