Safaricom Sued $1 Trillion, No Evidence of Russia Meddling in Brexit Vote, and Facebook Helps Prosecute Perpetrators of Hate Speech

Africa

Uber to expand operations in West Africa

Uber has declared intentions to expand operations in West Africa, Reuters has said. This will allow the ride-hailing company to provide more services in areas were car ownership is low while fuel prices keep rising. Uber which already has 36,000 active users in the sub-region only has operations in Nigeria and Ghana in the West African sub-region. “Both Abidjan and Dakar are logical opportunities for us. We have talked about West Africa today as being a big growth priority for us and launch priority for us moving forward,” Chief Business Officer, Brooks Entwistle said in an interview. In addition, Uber is looking to include a boat ride in Lagos.

Safaricom sued $1 trillion for privacy breach

Kenya’s Safaricom has been sued $1trillion over data breach involving more than 11 million consumers. The lawsuit was filed by one of Safaricom’s subscribers, Benedict Kabugi. According to the Kabugi, he was approached by an individual who had personal details of 11.5 million Safaricom subscribers, the report said. The details include full names, passport numbers, cellphone numbers, age, and gender. There were also details of subscribers who had used Safaricom to place bets. Benedict Kabugi wants Safaricom to compensate each subscriber for its negligence in the data breach.

Europe

No evidence of Russia meddling in Brexit vote

Facebook has announced that there was no evidence Russia used its platform to meddle in the 2016 Brexit vote, the BBC has revealed. This came from now Facebook’s vice president, Sir Nick Clegg who said there was no “significant attempt” by outsiders to affect the vote. In addition, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats said Facebook was pushing for new regulation to forge the way ahead for tech giants. “It’s not for private companies, however big or small, to come up with those rules. It is for democratic politicians in the democratic world to do so,” Sir Nick Clegg said when asked whether tech giants should come up with their own solutions to the challenges ahead.

Facebook to hand over hate speech data to French court

Facebook is said to be willing to hand over details of the perpetrators of hate speech to a French court, it has been revealed. This is according to France’s minister for digital affairs, Cédric O. The decision, which is a first for the social media giant, came after meetings between President Macron and Zuckerberg. The report says Facebook has already handed over details like IP addresses of individuals charged with hate speech to French authorities to aid in their prosecution. “This is huge news, it means that the judicial process will be able to run normally,” Cédric O said to reporters about the matter.

Asia

Hackers target telcos in global campaign

It has been reported that hackers have breached security systems of telecom companies all over the world. The hack is believed to have similarities to old Chinese espionage campaigns, Reuters has revealed. The report said companies in over 30 countries have been affected, with the hackers stealing tons of personal and corporate data. Targets include persons in politics, government, as well as law enforcement agencies. Speaking about the cyber attack, Lior Div, chief executive of US-Israeli cybersecurity firm, Cybereason, said, “For this level of sophistication it’s not a criminal group. It is a government that has capabilities that can do this kind of attack.”

Iran confiscates hundreds of bitcoin machines

Iran has seized 1,000 bitcoin mining machines after they caused a power surge, the BBC has reported. Electricity demand spiked by 7% in June 2019, something authorities of the energy ministry have attributed to bitcoin mining machines. Arash Navab, an official from electricity company said, “Two of these bitcoin farms have been identified, with a consumption of one megawatt.” Bitcoin mining machines work by connecting to currency networks via the internet to validate transactions. Owners of the mining machines are rewarded with new coins generated from that validation. These machines require a lot of electricity to stay online in order to validate these transactions.

Russia denies meddling with Israeli airport GPS systems

Russia has denied involvement in GPS disruptions at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, the BBC has reported. GPS signals have been reported unreliable since the beginning of June, making it difficult for airplanes flying over the airport. To circumvent that problem, pilots resort to the Instrument Landing System which provides similar navigation services. High-ranking Israeli officials have allegedly accused Russia for the spoofing attack which provides wrong values to pilots within that airspace. The officials likened the spoofing attack to systems Russia used in its Hmeimim airbase in Syria, which is about 350km away from the airport. Russia, however, has denied its involvement in the GPS jamming.

The Americas

SpaceX launches 24 satellites in space

SpaceX has launched 24 satellites into space using its Falcon Heavy rocket, Reuters has confirmed. The rocket left its base at 06:30 GMT on Monday to begin a six hour journey to space. While the centre booster crashed into the Atlantic ocean when it separated, the two side boosters landed safely on Air Force landing pads. The mission was commissioned by the US Department of Defense to provide satellite services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. The mission involves putting a clock into orbit to be used by NASA for navigation, as well as a solar sail project sponsored by the Planetary Society. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in the world.

US towns pay $1.1m in cyber ransom

US towns have reportedly paid up to $1.1m in ransoms to hackers, the BBC has reported. The latest involves Lake City, a town in Florida, which voted to pay hackers 42 Bitcoins ($500,000) after their computer systems went down for two weeks. The town’s insurers negotiated the ransom payments and will take care of most of the funds. The ransomware attack meant staff couldn’t have access to their computers while residents were denied access to municipal services. Riviera Beach also paid $600,000 in bitcoins as ransom after municipal staff were locked out of important documents by hackers. The hack which affected emergency services forced the municipality to resort to paper use.