July Technology News

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July’s Tech Updates

  1. Huawei is being banned from the UK’s 5G network
  2. Trump says he has ended preferential treatment for Hong Kong
  3. Major US Twitter accounts hacked in Bitcoin scam
  4. Coronavirus: Third day of wrangling over huge EU recovery plan
  5. Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine triggers immune response
  6. Adobe, IBM team up on marketing software for banking industry
  7. Alibaba Cloud helps Chinese students, foreign schools scale Great Firewall
  8. Australian regulator sues Google over expanded personal data use
  9. U.S. Republicans worry China might use TikTok to meddle in election
  10. India found cybersecurity lapses at National Payments Corp in 2019

[July 15th, 2020]

Huawei is being banned from the UK’s 5G network

  • Who: The UK government, on the Chinese phone-maker Huawei
  • What, When: The UK government will ban UK mobile providers from buying new Huawei 5G equipment after the end of this year and they will have to remove all of its 5G kit from their networks by 2027
  • Where: In the UK parliament
  • Why:
    • Keeping the UK’s contact with Huawei can seriously impact the US-UK trade as the US argues that Huawei could be used for spying
    • Giving the control to the network can allow Huawei to spy or disrupt the communication - especially these days where fridges, baby monitors and etc, which are more vulnerable, are connected to the network
    • In march 2019, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) identified some serious defects in software engineering and cyber security competence
  • How: The UK government has announced a serious of measures to remove the Chinese phone-maker Huawei from the UK’s 5G networks
  • So?: It could have a significant impact on the roll-out of the Uk’s 5G tech, and will cost of up to £2 bn
  • Link to the article

Trump says he has ended preferential treatment for Hong Kong

  • Who: Donald Trump, the US president
  • What: The president has signed an order to end preferential treatment for Hong Kong
  • When: 15, July, 2020
  • Where: White House Rose Garden, a media event venue for incumbent presidents
  • Why: As the Trump administration adopt an increasingly tough stance on China
  • How: By ending HK’s special status, by signing various acts
  • So?: Corporate and trade headaches, US citizens with more regulated visa requirements to Hong Kong, and HK’s status as a global financial hub will no longer hold
  • Link to the article

[July 16th, 2020]

Major US Twitter accounts hacked in Bitcoin scam

  • Who: Many Twitter account holders with millions of followers, like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and many prominent US figures have been targeted by hackers on Twitter for a Bitcoin Scam.
  • What: The official accounts of several figures have been hacked to offer to double any Bitcoin payment sent to the address of their digital wallet, scamming people to send a Bitcoin payment.
  • When: July 16th, 2020
  • Where: Amongst the largest social media platform, Twitter, online.
  • Why: The hackers’ motive seems to be that they wanted to make as much money as quickly as they can, as they would have known that the tweets would be taken down soon - equivalent of a ‘smash and grab’ operation.
  • How: The tweet said that Elon Musk is “Feeling grateful, doubling all payments sent to my BTC address” - making people
  • So?:
    • Twitter had “locked down the account within a few minutes of the breach and removed the related tweet”.
    • The issue implies that there’s a problem with Twitter’s platform itself - with it being a persistent problem among the platform.
  • Link to the article

[July 20th, 2020]

Coronavirus: Third day of wrangling over huge EU recovery plan

  • Who: The EU leaders
  • What:
    • Trying to come up with a huge post-coronavirus economic recovery plan in a third day of a testy summit, despite a clash between the state members.
    • EU leaders first met on Friday in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s €1 trillion seven-year budget and the planned stimulus package to help countries recover the pandemic.
  • When: 1st - 24th of July
  • Where: In Brussels, Europa Building
  • Why: Some member states believe that the proposed €750bn is too large hence should come as loans, not grants.
  • So?:
    • The member states of EU are split between those hit hard by the outbreak (Italy and Spain), and those concerned about the costs of the recovery plan (Netherlands and Sweden).
    • Hence the deal might not be reached - Luxembourg Prime Minister said that he “had never seen positions as diametrically opposed as this.”
  • Link to the article

[July 21th, 2020]

Coronavirus: Oxford vaccine triggers immune response

  • Who: The vaccine developed by Oxford University
  • What:
    • It appears safe and triggers an immune response to the coronavirus.
    • Trials on 1077 people showed that it led to them making antibodies (small proteins made by the immune system) and T cells (white blood cell that help co-ordinate the immune system) that can fight the virus.
    • The study showed 90% of people developed neutralising antibodies after one dose.
  • When: On the 20th of July
  • Where: In Oxford, United Kingdom
  • How:
    • They genetically engineered the virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees.
  • So?:
    • It will now test if the vaccine is safe enough to give it to people. Hence more than 10,000 people will take part in the next stage of the trials in the UK.
  • Link to the article

[July 22nd, 2020]

Adobe, IBM team up on marketing software for banking industry

  • Who: Adobe Inc and International Business Machines Corp (IBM)
  • What: The two companies are teaming up to make marketing software easier to use for banks that face strict controls on how customer data must be handled.
  • When: On the 21st of July
  • Why: Banks handle sensitive customer data which is strictly regulated by the U.S. government, and building the web pages for more intimate functions such as mortgage application can get more complex.
  • How:
    • The plan is for Adobe’s software to run in IBM’s cloud system that has received regulatory approval for use by banks, allowing for the full digitalisation of the banking system.
    • IBM will also be able to connect the cloud-based system to a bank’s internal stores of customer data, which is better for the company’s marketing campaign.
  • So?: It might be possible to handle all of the sensitive banking data 100% digitally.
  • Link to the article

[July 24th, 2020]

Alibaba Cloud helps Chinese students, foreign schools scale Great Firewall

  • Who: China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
  • What:
    • Launched a new business opportunity of offering the mainland Chinese students help skirt China’s stringent internet controls to keep classes going for their foreign universities.
    • Alibaba has been aggressively promoting its services and plans to spend $28 billion over three years on next-generation data centres.
  • When: Soon after the virus started spreading globally the group discussed about the service - the service is launching on the 20th of July.
  • Where: In Mainland China
  • Why:
    • The Chinese students, after returning home, have been having difficulties watching live-streamed tutorials or accessing class materials due to the so-called Great Firewall.
    • During the challenging time of the coronavirus, cloud-based technologies play an important role to help people adopt to the new normal.
  • How:
    • The service allows students to access the contents in the cloud without latency and offers a VPN-like service which allows students to browse content-related web pages.
  • So?: The students can access their university material without any effort.
  • Link to the article

[July 27th, 2020]

Australian regulator sues Google over expanded personal data use

  • Who: Australia’s competition regulator
  • What: They have launched court proceedings against Google for allegedly misleading consumers about the extended use of personal data for targeted advertising.
  • When: on the 27th of July, 2020
  • Why: The regulator alleges Google used combined data of Google accounts with activities on non-Google websites to boost its income, and did not make clear to consumers about changes in its privacy policy.
  • How: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raised a case against Google.
  • So?:
    • Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    • The issue is to be highlighted more - the data privacy issue has been on the spotlight and the U.S. and European lawmakers have recently strengthened the ways that tech companies treat user data due to privacy concerns.
    • The regulator did not say what it wanted the court to do.
  • Link to the article

[July 29th, 2020]

U.S. Republicans worry China might use TikTok to meddle in election

  • Who: A group of top Republican U.S. Senators
  • What: Has raised an issue about TikTok to the Trump administration to assess the threat that the popular Chinese-owned video platform might meddle the US elections.
  • When: 28th of July, 2020
  • Why: TikTok has been censoring sensitive content, including videos of Uighur minorities and Beijing’s alleged attempts to manipulate political discussions. Therefore, the lawmakers were concerned that the Chinese government could use control over TikTok to distort or manipulate (political) conversations to achieve its preferred political outcomes.
  • How: Though TikTok is not a “go-to” for political news, it could amplify certain political views through the popular app.
  • So?:
    • TikTok replied saying that the content and moderation policies are led by a California-based team and aren’t “influenced by any foreign government.”
    • White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said action was imminent to address national security risks posed by TikTok.
  • Link to the article

[July 30th, 2020]

India found cybersecurity lapses at National Payments Corp in 2019

  • Who: The government audit team of 10 to 12 people at NPCI’s Mumbai headquarters and offices in two other cities.
  • What:
    • Found more than 40 security vulnerabilites in India’s flagship payments processor, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), including critical and high risk vulnerabilite such as lack of encryption of personal data.
    • Other high risk issues in RuPay and other NPCI applications cited by the government audit included so-called “buffer overflow” vulnerability - which takes advantage of coding mistakes.
  • When: The audit took place over four months to February 2019
  • Why: The audit was undertaken to provide Modi’s National Security Council with an overview of the NPCI’s defences against cyberattacks.
  • How: Card number and personal information such as customer names, account numbers and national identity numbers in “plain text” in some databases, leading to a breach of data.
  • So?:
    • Prime Minister Modi’s office and the finance ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Whereas, NPCI said in its statement to Reuters that it stores card data in line with standards set by the PCI Security Standards Council.
    • But the pressure to financial institutions to mount effective defences to protect their customers from malicious cyberattacks is growing.
  • Link to the article

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