Hello. U.S. agencies might soon lose a valued source of international intelligence after Germany’s constitutional court ruled that the country's spy agency must curtail its activities, The Wall Street Journal reports. The ruling could drastically limit the German agency’s ability to harvest electronic communications abroad.

Other news: Bank of America says small-business loan data was briefly exposed online; Ohio says pandemic relief applicant data was briefly exposed online; and cybersecurity vendor Forescout sued PE firm Advent. 

Correction: The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne is in Lausanne, Switzerland. A news summary in the May 20 edition of Cyber Daily said the university was in France.

German spy agency ordered to curb foreign-intelligence gathering. Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, faces limits on its activities even outside of Germany after a court there said it must stop all but the most targeted interception of electronic communications.

This week’s ruling now needs to be interpreted by the government and put into law by the end of next year. The BND is already obliged to filter out any of these communications if they involve German nationals or originate on German soil.

The BND is especially active in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa, and is generally well-regarded by partners such as the U.S. National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. The court’s decision could complicate the BND’s intelligence-gathering task and make it a less valued partner for other intelligence agencies around the world.

Read the full article.

Bank of America reports exposure of small-business loan data. Bank of America Corp. notified the California attorney general that information on some loan applications was visible online briefly last month during a test of the Small Business Administration’s platform. Lenders can run tests prior to submitting applications under the federal Paycheck Protection Program. On April 22, the bank uploaded loan application information from an unspecified number of clients during such a test. “We quickly recognized other authorized lenders and their vendors may have had the ability to view the applicant information we uploaded,” the bank said in its notification.

The data: The bank requested and confirmed the removal of the data, which it said could have included business address and tax identification number and the owner’s name, address, Social Security number, phone number, email address and citizenship.

Data compromised at Ohio pandemic relief program. Information about applicants to Ohio’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program was visible online on May 15 to about two dozen other applicants, 19 News reports. Deloitte, which built the system to administer the program, reported the unauthorized access to the state and fixed the problem. Exposed data includes name, Social Security number and address, among other details, according to a letter from state officials to affected individuals.

Advent sued over stalled $1.9 billion cybersecurity deal. Advent International faces a lawsuit after stalling its $1.9 billion takeover of U.S. cybersecurity company Forescout Technologies Inc., WSJ Pro Private Equity reports. Forescout sued the private-equity firm in Delaware’s Chancery Court Wednesday, claiming that Advent had no justification for pulling out of the deal, and asking the court to compel Advent to close the transaction. Advent agreed to buy San Jose, Calif.-based Forescout in early February, before shutdowns to contain the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy. Forescout said Monday that its $33-a-share acquisition by Advent wouldn’t close that day as planned. “Advent had been engaged in ongoing discussions with Forescout about an alternative transaction, and we are disappointed the company has now chosen to pursue litigation,” an Advent spokesman said.

Write to the WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Team: Kim S. Nash, James Rundle, Catherine Stupp and David Uberti.

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Contact Enterprise Technology Editor Steve Rosenbush at steven.rosenbush@wsj.com or follow him on Twitter: @Steve_Rosenbush.