Children spent nearly £550 in FIFA Football Game
Four children playing the FIFA Online Video Game on their Nintendo Switch have spent nearly £550 in three weeks buying player packs. The children’s father had bought them a single pack but had not realised they had seen how he made the purchase. The Switch has now been confiscated ‘indefinately’ and Nintendo have agreed to a full refund and has removed the purchased players. Video game publisher EA which owns FIFA declined to comment but provided a link to its guidelines on controlling in-game purchases which varies depending on platform or console being used.
Ransomware attack costs one firm £45m
Norsk Hydro, a global aluminium producer has been affected by a devastating ransomware attack where 22,000 computers were hit across 170 different sites in 40 different countries which has so far cost them more than £45m in lost productivity and revenue. Receiving a ransom note that appeared on computers all over the company that read “Your files have been encrypted with the strongest military algorithms… without our special decoder it is impossible to restore the data”; the entire workforce comprising 35,000 people had to resort to pen and paper and in many cases production lines stopped. The company’s response has been praised by law enforcement, calling it “the gold standard” as not only did they refuse to pay the hackers but they have also been completely transparent in what has happened to them.
Samsung Sued over Water-Resistant Phone Claims
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Samsung for allegedly making misleading claims about using its phones while swimming and surfing after reviewing more than 300 Samsung adverts. The adverts depicted phones being exposed to seawater and swimming pools whilst claiming it would not affect the device during its working life, although on its website, Samsung advises against using the Galaxy S10 in a swimming pool or on the beach. Samsung has told Reuters it would defend the case and stood by its adverts.
British Airways Faces Data Breach Fine
In the biggest penalty handed out by the ICO, British Airways are facing a record fine of £185m
for last year’s security system breach. Details of about 500,000 customers were harvested by cyber attackers when users of British Airways’ website were diverted to a fraudalent site. Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG has said “We intend to take all appropriate steps to defend the airline’s position vigorously, including making any necessary appeals” whilst Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and chief executive said the airline was “surprised and disappointed” in the ICO’s initial findings.
Amazon Founder Bezo’s Divorce Settlement
Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos’ divorce from his wife of 25 years has been settled by a Seattle-area judge, paving the way for his ex-wife to receive US$38.3 billion worth of Amazon stock. The couple announced in January, their plan to divorce causing some to worry the Jeff Bezos could wind up with reduced Amazon voting power or that he or MacKenzie would liquidate; however Mackenzie has stated that she would give him voting control of her shares. He retains a 12% stake and remains the world’s richest person according to Bloomberg.
Aussie Telco Metadata Requests on the Rise
Three agencies have revealed the first 2017-18 numbers indicating that law enforcement and other agencies are making more requests to access the telco metadata of Australians captured under mandatory data retention laws. The NSW Crime Commission have said that in 2017-18, 2893 authorisations were made for historical metadata and 1149 for prospective metadata, up from 2322 and 796 respectively. Corporate watchdog ASIC had an 11 percent rise from the previous year, whilst IBAC reported a 153 percent year on year increase.
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