Monthly Archives: December 2021

Chiranjeevi lives in Hyderabad, India, with his young family. He is a smiley, glass-half-full kind of guy – naturally positive and full of energy. He’s smart, too, and works in an Indian tech company. He’s the least likely person, you’d think, to fall victim to an online scam. Yet in October he was defrauded out […]

Necklaces and accessories claiming to “protect” people from 5G mobile networks have been found to be radioactive. The Dutch authority for nuclear safety and radiation protection (ANVS) issued a warned about ten products it found gave off harmful ionising radiation. It urged people not to use the products, which could cause harm with long-term wear. […]

Sainsbury’s is among major businesses in the UK and US affected by a cyber-attack on a payroll system provider. On Saturday, Kronos confirmed it was dealing with a ransomware attack on its computer systems. Many companies such as Sainsbury’s rely on Kronos to log, store and process the hours employees have worked. The supermarket chain […]

Social media platform Reddit has announced that it has started the process to sell its shares on the stock market. In a confidential filing, it did not reveal how many shares it planned to sell or the price of the shares. In August, the company said it had raised $700m (£528m) in new funding, valuing […]

Apple has launched an app for competitor Android’s smartphones, which will inform users if there is a tracking device nearby. Apple’s AirTags are small location trackers that can be attached to items such as keys or bags in case they are lost. But they could also be used with malicious intent, such as being planted […]

A flaw in widely used computer code is prompting 100 new hacking attempts every minute, a security company says. Check Point said it had seen attempts to exploit the vulnerability on over 40% of corporate networks globally. One US official said the security flaw, Log4shell, posed a “severe risk”, with companies warning it was being […]

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba has fired a woman who said a colleague and a client had sexually assaulted her. The dismissal letter said she had spread falsehoods that had damaged the company’s reputation. The employee went public with her allegations in August because she said Alibaba had failed to take action. She said the assaults […]

Meta has released its social virtual reality space, Horizon Worlds, after more than a year in private test mode. It is the first major such release since Facebook renamed itself Meta and announced its plans to “build the metaverse” of connected digital worlds. The app lets users build their own mini-games and activities on top […]

A Canadian man has been accused of co-ordinating ransomware and other cyber-attacks on individuals, businesses and government agencies. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced that 31-year-old Matthew Philbert had been charged with fraud and unauthorised use of computers. The US State of Alaska has also brought charges against Mr Philbert. He was arrested on 30 […]

The UK will phase out 2G and 3G mobile services by 2033, the government says. The switch-off date has been agreed with mobile-network operators Vodafone, EE, Virgin Media, O2, and Three. In July, EE owner BT revealed plans to phase out 3G by 2023, and 2G later in the decade. And many other companies have […]