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Leading internet search engine Google will acknowledge that it has made “mistakes” on privacy issues in testimony an executive of the Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) unit will deliver to a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

“We acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past, from which we have learned, and improved our robust privacy program,” Google chief privacy officer Keith Enright will say in written testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. Google will testify alongside AT&T Inc (T.N), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and other companies amid growing concerns about data privacy.

Google’s written testimony did not identify specific prior mistakes but the company has come under fire for privacy issues.

In 2012, Google agreed to pay a then record $22.5 million civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it misrepresented to Apple Safari Internet browser users that it would not place tracking “cookies” or serve them targeted ads.

Continue reading “Google to acknowledge privacy mistakes as U.S. seeks input”

IBM faces a class action lawsuit over age discrimination after firing thousands of American employees.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that IBM fired three plaintiffs because of their age.

“IBM has discriminated, and continues to discriminate, against its older workers, both by laying them off disproportionately to younger workers and by not hiring them for open positions,” reads the complaintfiled Monday.

Relying on reporting from ProPublica, the plaintiffs allege that starting in 2012 IBM laid off at least 20,000 employees over the age of 40, violating federal and state law in California and North Carolina.

The plaintiffs, all between 55 and 67 years of age, were laid off from IBM last June.

Continue reading “IBM faces age discrimination class action suit”

Hackers are using illegal means to create cryptocurrency at an increasing rate thanks to a software vulnerability leaked by the National Security Agency, says a new report shining light on a novel criminal aspect of cryptocurrency.

Illicit cryptocurrency mining—the crypto equivalent to minting money—of Monero, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose 459 percent between 2017 and 2018, according to the Cyber Threat Alliance, the organization that published the report.

“The threat of illicit cryptocurrency mining represents an increasingly common cybersecurity risk for enterprises and individuals,” stated the report.

Mining cryptocurrency requires high-powered computers to complete complicated math problems to create new coins or tokens. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are built to release a finite number of coins. Rather than relying on high-powered computers of their own, hackers are illegally gaining access to vulnerable computers and networks, then siphoning computing power towards their mining operation.

Continue reading “Hackers are increasingly gaining access to systems to mine cryptocurrency, report finds”

A U.S. district court has found that two graduates of a Massachusetts for-profit college have standing to challenge the U.S. Department of Education’s recent decision to delay implementation of the borrower defense regulation, which shifts loan repayment responsibility from the student to the school if it’s found that the school engaged in misconduct.

The rule was scheduled to go in effect in July 2017, the Associated Press reports. The regulation, issued by the Obama administration, was meant to police for-profit colleges, and protect students. Education secretary Betsy DeVos, also a defendant in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia action, wanted to delay the rule on the basis that the regulations were too broad and allowed for possible abuse of students.

Continue reading “Students can challenge Education Department over loan forgiveness, judge rules”

Almost half of Americans, including me, were victimized last year when our personal information may have been exposed in a data breach at credit bureau Equifax.

It was like being stranded naked on the 50-yard line of a crowded football stadium. You wondered how many people were looking at you, but there was little you could do to cover yourself.

We feared we could be exploited by crooks, with our names and information being used to apply for credit cards or loans, not to mention being sold over and over to other identity thieves. And when we tried to do something to protect ourselves, by freezing our credit, we were told we’d have to pay to do that.

That was discouraging and offensive.

Why should we have to pay the credit bureaus to freeze our own credit? Why should the industry profit from an inexcusable mistake by one of its prominent members?

A year later, Equifax hasn’t paid enough for its blunder that may have exposed the data of nearly 148 million people. But its breach prompted Congress to change the system and prohibit credit bureaus from charging for freezes.

A law took effect Friday that requires freezes to be free. There also cannot be a charge to temporarily lift a freeze to apply for credit or have your credit checked.

While Equifax offered free credit freezes — it initially charged for them but relented amid criticism that it was profiting from its error — after the breach, the other two major credit bureaus, Experian and TransUnion, continued to charge fees. The amounts varied and were set by state laws. The cost to most Pennsylvanians was $10 for a freeze and $10 every time you wanted to temporarily lift it.

Continue reading “Credit freezes now are free”