Tag Archives: Company Legal & Law Matters

Dutch police say they’ve taken down Redline and Meta credential stealer malware

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Today, Dutch National Police announced that it had gained access to the servers of Redline and Meta. Not to be confused with Facebook parent company Meta, Redline and Meta are a type of malware known as infostealers criminals can use to obtain the credentials of users and companies. Operation Magnus, a joint effort by Dutch National Police, the FBI, NCIS and several other law enforcement agencies, disrupted the illegal tools.

TechCrunch notes that Redline has been active since 2020, while the Operation Magnus website states that Meta is newer but “pretty much the same.” A 50-second video in English posted to the Operation Magnus website also lists some “VIPs” or people “very important to the police” that the authorities are looking for.

Redline is often cited as the malware responsible for the 2022 Uber hack. Specops, a password management company, found that Redline was used to steal almost half of the 170 million passwords from data gathered by KrakenLabs. Even gamers aren’t immune to Redline; McAfee found that a variant was hidden in fake game cheats.

The video showed the agencies accessing user credentials, IP addresses and Telegram bots criminals use to steal sensitive data. Additionally, authorities found the source code for both malware programs on the servers.

While there isn’t news of any arrests being made, the Operation Magnus website states that “involved parties will be notified, and legal actions are underway.” There’s also a countdown for almost 20 hours later, promising more news to come.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/dutch-police-say-theyve-taken-down-redline-and-meta-credential-stealer-malware-161531556.html?src=rss

Apple wins $250 in Masimo smartwatch patent case

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The legal battle between Apple and medical technology company Masimo rages on, with the bigger company — sorta, kinda — winning their latest face off. A federal jury has agreed with Apple that previous versions of Masimo's W1 and Freedom (pictured above) watches infringed on its design patents, according to Reuters. It only awarded Apple $250 in damages, which is the smallest amount that could be awarded for patent infringement, but the company's lawyers reportedly told the court that it wasn't after money anyway. 

What Apple, which is worth $3.5 trillion, wanted was an injunction on the sales of Masimo's current smartwatch models. However, the jury determined that those newer models don't violate Apple's intellectual property. That is why Masimo is also treating the jury's decision as a win, telling the news organization that it's thankful for the verdict that's "in favor of Masimo and against Apple on nearly all issues." Apparently, the ruling only affects a "discontinued module and charger." As for Apple, it told Reuters that it was "glad the jury's decision today will protect the innovations [it advances] on behalf of [its] customers."

Masimo sued Apple in 2021, accusing it of infringing on several of its light-based blood-oxygen monitoring patents, while the tech giant countersued a year later. A court sided with Masimo in 2023, forcing Apple to pause sales on its latest smartwatch models, as the US International Trade Commission blocked all Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 imports into the country. The company appealed and was ultimately able to sell its watches in the country earlier this year by removing the technology from the units offered in the US. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-wins-250-in-masimo-smartwatch-patent-case-150020340.html?src=rss

Apple wins $250 in Masimo smartwatch patent case

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The legal battle between Apple and medical technology company Masimo rages on, with the bigger company — sorta, kinda — winning their latest face off. A federal jury has agreed with Apple that previous versions of Masimo's W1 and Freedom (pictured above) watches infringed on its design patents, according to Reuters. It only awarded Apple $250 in damages, which is the smallest amount that could be awarded for patent infringement, but the company's lawyers reportedly told the court that it wasn't after money anyway. 

What Apple, which is worth $3.5 trillion, wanted was an injunction on the sales of Masimo's current smartwatch models. However, the jury determined that those newer models don't violate Apple's intellectual property. That is why Masimo is also treating the jury's decision as a win, telling the news organization that it's thankful for the verdict that's "in favor of Masimo and against Apple on nearly all issues." Apparently, the ruling only affects a "discontinued module and charger." As for Apple, it told Reuters that it was "glad the jury's decision today will protect the innovations [it advances] on behalf of [its] customers."

Masimo sued Apple in 2021, accusing it of infringing on several of its light-based blood-oxygen monitoring patents, while the tech giant countersued a year later. A court sided with Masimo in 2023, forcing Apple to pause sales on its latest smartwatch models, as the US International Trade Commission blocked all Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 imports into the country. The company appealed and was ultimately able to sell its watches in the country earlier this year by removing the technology from the units offered in the US. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-wins-250-in-masimo-smartwatch-patent-case-150020340.html?src=rss

Cash App users can claim thousands of dollars in a data breach settlement

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Heads up if you’ve had a Cash App account over the last six years or so: you may now be able to claim thousands of dollars as a result of a class-action settlement. The company proposed the $15 million settlement earlier this year following two security incidents. If you're eligible to make a claim, you only have a few weeks to do so.

The first related breach took place in December 2021 when, according to Cash App, a former employee downloaded reports containing information on more than 8 million users. This included their full names, brokerage account numbers and, in some cases, the holdings and value of investment portfolios. Cash App disclosed the incident in April 2022.

The consolidated class-action complaint alleged that Cash App and parent company Block failed to enact sufficient security measures to prevent another data breach. This involved Cash App’s person-to-person payment services. According to the plaintiffs, “an unauthorized user accessed certain Cash App accounts in 2023 using recycled phone numbers." The complaint contended that Cash App and Block mishandled complaints related to both breaches and fraudulent transactions.

Cash App and Block have denied any wrongdoing, The New York Times reports. They say the settlement is not an admission of liability.

You may be eligible to make a claim if you had a Cash App account between August 23, 2018 and August 20 of this year. The settlement will cover up to $2,500 of out-of-pocket costs stemming from the breaches, as well as up to three hours worth of lost time at $25 per hour. Those who have sustained a monetary loss and haven’t yet been reimbursed can file a claim for that too.

If you plan to file a claim through the settlement website, you’ll need to do so by 2AM ET on November 19. A final court hearing in the case is set for December 16.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/cash-app-users-can-claim-thousands-of-dollars-in-a-data-breach-settlement-194520756.html?src=rss

Cash App users can claim thousands of dollars in a data breach settlement

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Heads up if you’ve had a Cash App account over the last six years or so: you may now be able to claim thousands of dollars as a result of a class-action settlement. The company proposed the $15 million settlement earlier this year following two security incidents. If you're eligible to make a claim, you only have a few weeks to do so.

The first related breach took place in December 2021 when, according to Cash App, a former employee downloaded reports containing information on more than 8 million users. This included their full names, brokerage account numbers and, in some cases, the holdings and value of investment portfolios. Cash App disclosed the incident in April 2022.

The consolidated class-action complaint alleged that Cash App and parent company Block failed to enact sufficient security measures to prevent another data breach. This involved Cash App’s person-to-person payment services. According to the plaintiffs, “an unauthorized user accessed certain Cash App accounts in 2023 using recycled phone numbers." The complaint contended that Cash App and Block mishandled complaints related to both breaches and fraudulent transactions.

Cash App and Block have denied any wrongdoing, The New York Times reports. They say the settlement is not an admission of liability.

You may be eligible to make a claim if you had a Cash App account between August 23, 2018 and August 20 of this year. The settlement will cover up to $2,500 of out-of-pocket costs stemming from the breaches, as well as up to three hours worth of lost time at $25 per hour. Those who have sustained a monetary loss and haven’t yet been reimbursed can file a claim for that too.

If you plan to file a claim through the settlement website, you’ll need to do so by 2AM ET on November 19. A final court hearing in the case is set for December 16.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/cash-app-users-can-claim-thousands-of-dollars-in-a-data-breach-settlement-194520756.html?src=rss

Intel wins latest antitrust battle with EU court

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Intel just won an epic battle with the European Union over a €1.06 billion ($1.1 billion) fine levied way back in 2009, Bloomberg reported. In a final decision, the EU Court of Justice overturned the original judgement, ruling that regulators didn't provide sufficient proof that Intel gave illegal rebates to PC makers. Intel's European misadventures aren't quite finished yet, though, as it's still battling a €376 million fine ($406 million) imposed by the Commission last year.

Back in 2009, the EU ruled that Intel illegally used hidden rebates to squeeze rivals out of the marketplace for CPUs. It also found that Intel paid manufacturers to delay or completely cease the launch of products powered by AMD's CPUs, calling those actions "naked restrictions." The legal process went back and forth for years after that, but in 2017, Europe's highest court ordered the fine to be re-examined as the EU didn't conduct an economic assessment on how Intel's actions impacted rivals. 

Europe's second highest court confirmed that the Commission carried out an incomplete analysis and overturned the €1.06 billion fine back in 2022. At the time, it said that the EU couldn't establish if Intel's rebates were "capable of having, or were likely to have, anticompetitive effects" due to the incomplete analysis. 

The Commission launched an appeal to that ruling, but the EU Court of Justice has now upheld it. Still, Intel never appealed the "naked restrictions" part of past decisions, so last year the Commission imposed a new €376 million fine on that basis. Intel is also fighting that penalty too, though, and has sued the EU to recoup interest on the original, larger fine.

The processor landscape has changed drastically since the original 2009 ruling, of course. Back then, Intel ruled the PC roost with an 81 percent CPU market share, compared to 12 percent for AMD. Today, Intel's share is down to 63 percent and the company has struggled in the area of chip production next to rival TSMC, which manufacturers the bulk of AMD and NVIDIA's CPUs, GPUs and AI processors. Ironically, Intel has outsourced a large chunk of its production to TSMC and other foundries, to the tune of around 30 percent. Luckily, despite its manufacturing problems, it does appear to have excellent legal counsel.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/intel-wins-latest-antitrust-battle-with-eu-court-133040762.html?src=rss

Apple, Goldman Sachs fined $89 million for misleading Apple Card customers

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The Apple Card has landed Apple and Goldman Sachs in hot water. In a press release spotted by The Verge, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it was fining the two companies a combined $89 million over practices involving the Apple Card.

The CFPB says Apple failed to send “tens of thousands” of disputed card transactions to Goldman Sachs. When it finally sent the transactions to the investment bank, Goldman Sachs failed to follow “numerous federal requirements for investigating the disputes,” according to the CFPB’s announcement.

Apple and Goldman are also accused of misleading customers about the Apple Card. Some consumers believed they could make interest-free payments to purchase an Apple device with the credit card but interest charges still showed up on their bill “because they were not automatically enrolled as expected.”

Apple is also accused of keeping its interest-free payment option off of its website if the customer wasn’t using a Safari browser. The CFPB also says Goldman Sachs misled customers about the application of some refunds that racked up additional interest charges.

The CFPB has ordered Goldman Sachs to pay at least $19.8 million in redress funds and a $45 million civil money penalty. The company is also required to present a “credible plan” to comply with laws before launching any new credit card product. Apple also received a $25 million civil money penalty that will go to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

Apple and Goldman Sachs introduced the Apple Card in 2019, advertising it as a product that could “help customers lead a healthier financial life.”. Four years later, a report from the Wall Street Journal said that Goldman Sachs was starting to have doubts about the consumer lending industry and thought the venture may have been a mistake.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-goldman-sachs-fined-89-million-for-misleading-apple-card-customers-192538650.html?src=rss

Arm cancels Qualcomm’s license to use its chip design standards

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Arm has taken its feud with Qualcomm to the next level, two years after filing a lawsuit against its former close partner. According to Bloomberg, the British semiconductor company has canceled the architecture license allowing Qualcomm to use its intellectual property and standards for chip design. As the news organization notes, Qualcomm, like many other chipmakers, uses Arm's computer code that chips need to run software, such as operating systems. Arm has reportedly sent Qualcomm a 60-day notice of cancelation — if they don't get to an agreement by then, it could have a huge impact on both companies' finances and on Qualcomm's operations. 

The SoftBank-backed chipmaker sued Qualcomm in 2022 after the latter purchased a company called Nuvia, which is one of its other licensees. Arm argued that the US company didn't obtain the necessary permits to transfer Nuvia's licenses. As such, Nuvia breached their contract and it had terminated its licenses, Arm explained in its lawsuit. Qualcomm has been using Nuvia-developed technology in the chips designed for AI PCs, such as those from Microsoft and HP. But Arm wants the company to stop using Nuvia-developed tech and to destroy any Arm-based technology developed prior to the acquisition. 

Qualcomm will have to stop selling most of the chips that account for its $39 billion in revenue, Bloomberg says, if the companies don't resolve the issue within the next 60 days. It seems the US chipmaker believes this is a tactic by Arm to threaten its business and to get higher royalties, because its spokesperson told Bloomberg and the Financial Times: "This is more of the same from Arm — more unfounded threats designed to strong-arm a longtime partner, interfere with our performance-leading CPUs, and increase royalty rates regardless of the broad rights under our architecture license." Qualcomm also accused Arm of attempting to disrupt the legal process, called its grounds for licensing termination "completely baseless" and said that it's confident its "rights under its agreement with Arm will be affirmed."

Meanwhile, an Arm spokesperson told us: "Following Qualcomm’s repeated material breaches of Arm’s license agreement, Arm is left with no choice but to take formal action requiring Qualcomm to remedy its breach or face termination of the agreement. This is necessary to protect the unparalleled ecosystem that Arm and its highly valued partners have built over more than 30 years. Arm is fully prepared for the trial in December and remains confident that the Court will find in Arm’s favor."

Update, October 23, 2024, 11:33PM ET: This story has been updated to add Arm's statement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/arm-cancels-qualcomms-license-to-use-its-chip-design-standards-123031968.html?src=rss

Wall Street Journal and New York Post are suing Perplexity AI for copyright infringement

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The Wall Street Journal's parent company, Dow Jones, and the New York Post are suing AI-powered search startup Perplexity for using their content to train its large language models. Both News Corp. publications are accusing Perplexity of copyright infringement for using their articles to generate answers to people's queries, thereby taking traffic away from the publications' websites. "This suit is brought by news publishers who seek redress for Perplexity’s brazen scheme to compete for readers while simultaneously freeriding on the valuable content the publishers produce," the publishers wrote in their complaint, according to the Journal. 

In their lawsuit, the publications argued that Perplexity can serve users not just snippets of copyrighted articles, but the whole thing, especially for those paying for its premium subscription plan. They cited an instance wherein the service allegedly served up the entirety of a New York Post piece when the user typed in "Can you provide the fultext of that article." In addition, the publications are accusing Perplexity of harming their brand by citing information that never appeared on their websites. The company's AI can hallucinate, they explained, and add incorrect details. In one instance, it allegedly attributed quotes to a Wall Street Journal article about the US arming Ukraine-bound F-16 jets that were never in the piece. The publications said they sent a letter to Perplexity in July to raise these legal issues, but the AI startup never responded.  

Various news organizations have sued AI companies in the past for copyright infringement. The New York Times, as well as The Intercept, Raw Story and AlterNet, sued OpenAI for using their content to train its LLMs. In its lawsuit, the Times said OpenAI and Microsoft "seek to free-ride" on its massive investment in journalism. Condé Nast previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity to demand that it stop using its publications' articles as responses to users' queries. And in June, Wired reported that Amazon had started investigating the AI company over reports that it scrapes websites without consent. 

News Corp. is asking the court to prohibit Perplexity from using its publications' content without permission, and it's also asking for damages of up to $150,000 for each incident of copyright infringement. Whether the company is willing to negotiate a content agreement remains to be seen — News Corp. struck a licensing deal with OpenAI earlier this year, which allows the ChatGPT owner to use its websites' articles for training over the next five years in exchange for a reported $250 million.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/wall-street-journal-and-new-york-post-are-suing-perplexity-ai-for-copyright-infringement-050135219.html?src=rss

ESPN faces $146K fine for using emergency alert tones in NBA ads

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could go all the way with a proposed fine against ESPN.

The proposal calls for a penalty of $146,976 against ESPN for violating the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules when the network aired ads to promote the 2023-2024 NBA season. The FCC said the tones were used “in the absence of an actual emergency.”

The offending ads contained the unauthorized EAS tune and were aired six times from October 20 to 24, 2023. Several complaints were filed on October 20 about the TV spots. The cable network admitted in response to a letter of inquiry that it used the EAS attention signals in the ads.

ESPN will have an opportunity to respond to the proposed fine. The Commission will examine all the evidence and legal arguments surrounding the alleged illegal tone use before making a final decision on the matter.

This is the third time the network misused an emergency tone on air. The FCC issued a $1.12 million fine as part of a forfeiture order in 2015 when ESPN used EAS tones a total of 13 times across three of its cable networks. ESPN violated EAS tone usage rules a second time during an airing of one of its 30 for 30 documentaries Roll Tide/War Eagle, leading to a $20,000 fine in 2021.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/espn-faces-146k-fine-for-using-emergency-alert-tones-in-nba-ads-200054993.html?src=rss