The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added Kaspersky Lab to its List of communications equipment and services that pose a threat to national security.
Apart from Russian-based Kaspersky, the list has been expanded to include China Telecom (Americas) Corp and China Mobile International USA.
Businesses in the US are barred from using federal subsidies provided through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund to purchase any products or services from the companies on the list.
‘Today’s action is the latest in the FCC’s ongoing efforts, as part of the greater whole-of-government approach, to strengthen America’s communications networks against national security threats, including examining the foreign ownership of telecommunications companies providing service in the United States and revoking the authorization to operate where necessary’ said the FCC.
In reaction, Kaspersky stated it was ‘disappointed’ with the FCC’s decision, noting that the ‘decision is not based on any technical assessment of Kaspersky products – that the company continuously advocates for – but instead is being made on political grounds.’
While the FCC just added the Russian software provider to the list, the US government banned Kaspersky products from all government departments in 2017.
The hacker group Anonymous claims to have hacked the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and is threatening to release the data it obtained. The group tweeted: ‘The #Anonymous collective has hacked the Central Bank of Russia. More than 35.000 files will be released within 48 hours with secret agreements,’ tweeted the group.
The bank’s press service refuted the hack, stating: ‘The Bank of Russia refutes information about a possible hacking of any of its information systems.’
Russia’s communications regulator has blocked Google News, the news aggregator service of Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google. The blockage was issued on the grounds that Google is allowing access to what it calls fake information about the country’s military operation in Ukraine, Interfax news agency said on Wednesday. However, the move also comes after Google said it would not help websites, apps, and YouTube channels sell ads alongside content that is deemed to exploit, dismiss or condone the conflict in Ukraine. The company issued a statement in which they explained they have worked hard to ‘keep information services like News accessible to people in Russia for as long as possible.’
European charity groups that assist Ukrainian refugees are being targeted by hackers, claimed Victor Zhora, the deputy chief of Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection. Zhora did not provide further information.
Reuters quotes Zhora as stating ‘We suppose that this is another proof of the spread of cyberwar to NATO countries’.
According to a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Washington Post, Israel has prevented Ukraine and Estonia from purchasing Pegasus spy software from the Israeli company NSO Group, fearing that the sale of such a sophisticated (hacking) tool would enrage Russia.
According to experts, Ukrainian officials have been attempting to persuade Israel to grant them permission to use the spyware since 2019, and possibly earlier. However, the NSO group, whose product exports are approved by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, was barred from selling Pegasus to Ukraine. In the case of Estonia, the country was in the process of purchasing the spyware, but the sale did not go through after Israel was notified by Russia of Estonia’s plans to use Pegasus against Russia, according to the New York Times.
NSO Group told The Guardian it ‘continues to be subjected to inaccurate media reports regarding alleged clients, which are based on hearsay, political innuendo and untruths.’
Ukraine is using facial recognition software to trace the social media accounts of deceased Russian soldiers, enabling Ukrainian authorities to contact their relatives and inform them of their deaths, stated Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. According to Feodorov, the intention is to debunk Russian disinformation about the number of casualties their troops suffered. In an interview for Ruters, Feodorov clarified that the facial recognition software in question is Clearview AI.
Reuters previously reported that Ukraine began using Clearview AI’s facial recognition.
Google has clarified that its monetisation guidelines apply to the situation in Ukraine, noting that ads would not run alongside content that ‘exploits, dismisses, or condones the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict,’ Reuters reported. In an email to publishers seen by Reuters, Google said ads would not run alongside, for example, ‘claims that imply victims are responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim blaming, such as claims that Ukraine is committing genocide or deliberately attacking its own citizens.’
Britain’s Ministry of Defense published an open letter to YouTube asking the platform to take down videos of a prank call to defence minister Ben Wallace, claiming that the videos were ‘doctored’ by the Russian state. The Ministry did not specify how the recordings were modified but stated that in ‘modified and edited’ form, they may be used by the Russian state to support its actions in Ukraine.
In one of the videos, Wallace holds a 16-minute long conversation with a person he believed to be the Ukrainian prime minister, discussing a variety of issues. Among others, they discussed how the UK had supported Ukraine’s ambitions to become a NATO member. Wallace supposedly stated that the UK is ‘running out of our own’ next generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAWs).
The British Ministry denied the contents of the clips and called ‘on YouTube to help us support Ukraine by taking down videos doctored by the Russian state and disseminated to try and sap the morale of a people fighting for their freedom,’ in a tweet.
Russia’s telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked access to Google News services, stating: ‘The mentioned U.S. Internet news resource provided access to numerous publications and materials containing unreliable, publicly significant information about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine.’ The decision was taken at the request of the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office.
Google confirmed ‘that some people are having difficulty accessing the Google News app and website in Russia and that this is not due to any technical issues on our end.’
Nestlé has denied claims that hacking group Anonymous have published sensitive information they hacked from the company. ‘The data is not real or sensitive, wasn’t stolen, and was accidentally leaked by itself via one of its own websites.’ Nestlé told The Register.
Nestlé explained the breach is the result of a February incident, ‘when some randomized and predominantly publicly available test data of a B2B nature was unintentionally made accessible online for a short period of time on a single business test website.’
The denial comes after Anonymous claimed that it had leaked 10 GB of data belonging to Nestlé as part of its actions against Western companies that are still operating in Russia.
