|
As WhatsApp tops two billion users, its boss vows to defend encryption. Will Cathcart, head of Facebook’s WhatsApp unit, said users demand end-to-end encryption, and that private communication shouldn’t go away in a modern society, The Wall Street Journal reports. Even though encryption has complicated Facebook’s ability to earn a return on its $21.8 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 and sparked disputes with the U.S. government and others, Mr. Cathcart said users demand it.
No safety in numbers: Mr. Cathcart, 36, said WhatsApp was committed to helping out law enforcement by providing metadata that could be useful in investigations, but that end-to-end encryption was necessary to keep users safe. “The alleged perpetrators behind the Equifax attack were, you know, members of the military of China,” he said, referring to the hack of personal and financial data of about 145 million Americans. “That targeted, as you know, every American—not specific ones.”
Malware knocks out systems at Boston Children’s Hospital pediatrics offices. The attack disrupted operations for 500 offices in the Pediatric Physicians' Organization at Children’s network of facilities in Massachusetts, but the hospital’s technology systems weren’t affected, the Boston Business Journal reports. The offices couldn’t access patient records or appointment schedules. A patient notice said 11 of about 200 servers were hit and officials shut down the remainder out of caution.
Trump orders tests of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities related to GPS disruption. Federal agencies must within a year create plans to test power grids, financial services, navigation systems and other infrastructure to assess how GPS outages or manipulation could affect operations, Reuters reports.
Facebook suspends accounts in Myanmar, Russia and Iran for misinformation. The actions affected 81 accounts on Facebook and Instagram and removed false and misleading content on a range of topics including U.S. elections and foreign-related topics, The WSJ reports. In some cases, Facebook removed content that may have been factually correct but was presented in a misleading way or posted by people posing as someone else.
One example: One network of accounts Facebook said it suspended was linked to telecom businesses in Asia seeking to discredit competitors. Facebook, as well as the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank, determined users posting critical commentary were tied to two telecom providers—Mytel in Myanmar and Viettel in Vietnam—and Gapit Communications, a public-relations firm in Vietnam.
Another: Nearly a dozen accounts from Iran were suspended that primarily targeted the U.S. on topics such as elections, immigration policy and U.S.-Iran relations, according to Facebook.
|
