Germany's data protection commissioner has asked Apple and Google to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection, following a similar crackdown elsewhere.
FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - Germany's data protection commissioner has asked Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection, following a similar crackdown elsewhere.
Commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement on Friday that she had made the request because DeepSeek illegally transfers users' personal data to China.
The two U.S. tech giants must now review the request promptly and decide whether to block the app in Germany, she added, though her office has not set a precise timeframe.
Google said it had received the notice and was reviewing it.
DeepSeek did not respond to a request for comment. Apple was not immediately available for comment.
According to its own privacy policy, opens new tab, DeepSeek stores numerous pieces of personal data, such as requests to its AI programme or uploaded files, on computers in China.
"DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users' data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union," Kamp said.
"Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies," she added.
In our first investigation into Israel-based spyware company, Paragon Solutions, we begin to untangle multiple threads connected to the proliferation of Paragon's mercenary spyware operations across the globe. This report includes an infrastructure analysis of Paragon’s spyware product, called Graphite; a forensic analysis of infected devices belonging to members of civil society; and a closer look at the use of Paragon spyware in both Canada and Italy.
Italian company SIO, which sells to government customers, is behind an Android spyware campaign called Spyrtacus that spoofed popular apps like WhatsApp, per security researchers.
As an undercover journalist covering Italian politics, Francesco Cancellato is used to reporting on scandals. But he never thought he would be part of the story.
Following allegations of potential abuse, Paragon Solutions has cut off Italy from its spyware systems.
Hackers targeted around ten official websites in Italy on Saturday, including the websites of the Foreign Ministry and Milan's two airports, putting them out of action temporarily, the country's cyber security agency said.
The pro-Russian hacker group Noname057(16) claimed the cyber attack on Telegram, saying Italy's "Russophobes get a well deserved cyber response".
Italy is home to six major spyware vendors and one supplier, with many smaller and harder-to-track enterprises emerging all the time, experts say.
The president and former prime minister were among targets of hackers selling highly sensitive data.
Italian probe reveals “gigantic and alarming market of confidential data,” prosecutors say.
Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) tracks actors involved in information operations (IO), government backed attacks and financially motivated abuse. For years, TAG has been tracking the activities of commercial spyware vendors to protect users. Today, we actively track more than 30 vendors with varying levels of sophistication and public exposure selling exploits or surveillance capabilities to government backed actors. These vendors are enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools, arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house. While use of surveillance technologies may be legal under national or international laws, they are often found to be used by governments to target dissidents, journalists, human rights workers and opposition party politicians.
Cluster25 researchers analyzed several campaigns (also publicly reported by CERT-AGID) that used phishing emails to spread an InfoStealer malware written in .NET through an infection chain that involves Windows Shortcut (LNK) files and Batch Scripts (BAT). Taking into account the used TTPs and extracted evidence, the attacks seem perpetrated by the same adversary (internally named AUI001).
L’Autorità ha aperto un’istruttoria nei confronti del Comune di Lecce, che ha annunciato l’avvio di un sistema che prevede l’impiego di tecnologie di riconoscimento facciale.
In base alla normativa europea e nazionale, ha ricordato l’Autorità, il trattamento di dati personali realizzato da soggetti pubblici, mediante dispositivi video, è generalmente ammesso se necessario per l’esecuzione di un compito di interesse pubblico o connesso all’esercizio di pubblici poteri.
Today, alongside Google’s Project Zero, we are detailing capabilities provided by RCS Labs, an Italian vendor that uses a combination of tactics, including atypical drive-by downloads as initial infection vectors to target mobile users on both iOS and Android.
Lookout Les chercheurs de Threat Lab ont découvert un logiciel de surveillance Android de niveau entreprise utilisé par le gouvernement du Kazakhstan à l'intérieur de ses frontières. D'après notre analyse, le logiciel espion est probablement développé par le fournisseur italien de logiciels espions RCS Lab S.p.A.
The hacker group Killnet claimed the attacks against Italy. How it's possible to detect the activities of the Mirai botnet used through Falco
Cosa sappiamo di sLoad e perchè è così elusivo?
