Tag Archive for: accused

Malawi Police accused of hacking Platform for Investigative Journalism website – Malawi 24

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Media body MISA Malawi says it cannot rule out the involvement of State agents in the hacking of Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ) website, which happened days after the Malawi Police Service (MPS) detained PIJ Managing Director Gregory Gondwe and held on to his computer and phone for a night.

Malawi Police Service has since hit back at MISA Malawi over the allegations.

The hacking of the website investigativeplatform-mw.org was noted on Thursday, April 14, 2022 and the site remained inaccessible for many hours on Friday. However, the site is now back online but PIJ said it was still working on fully recovering it

The incident happened nine days after officers from the Malawi Police Gondwe and confiscated his equipment, which raised serious privacy concerns.

In a statement on Friday, MISA Malawi Chairperson Teresa Temweka Ndanga said the hacking incident vindicates such fears.

“We believe the hacking incident is not a mere coincidence. MISA Malawi believes the hacking is intentional and we cannot rule out the involvement of State agents considering the circumstances.

“We are concerned that the police officers who must be in the forefront to combat Cybersecurity risks of Malawians and others in the country were directly involved in actions that qualify them as prime suspects in this Cyber-attack,” said Ndanga.

She added that the hacking is a direct attack on media freedom, right to access information and a criminal offence under the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act of 2016.

She also noted that the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act of 2016 prohibits hacking, cracking and introduction of viruses and any person who commits such offences is liable to a fine and to imprisonment for seven years.

Ndanga then demanded the State to investigate and prosecute anybody who violated section 21 of the Constitution of Malawi by violating Gondwe’s privacy, saying the same people are now prime suspects in this hacking incident.

“We wish to remind government that these continued attacks on journalists are tarnishing the country’s image on press freedom, a fundamental component in a democratic…

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Boris Johnson accused of having his mobile number available online in ‘security breach’

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The Prime Minister has been accused of having his mobile phone number available online.

Downing Street has refused to deny that a “well-publicised security breach” in April 2021 that led to the Prime Minister not having access to his old phone was that it was revealed his telephone number was publicly available.

In April last year the cult newsletter Popbitch claimed Boris Johnson’s mobile number was still available on press releases online from when he was shadow higher education minister in 2006.

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In his letter to Lord Geidt published on Thursday, the PM said “security issues faced at the time meant I did not have access to my old device” and he could not recall exchanging messages with Tory peer Lord Brownlow.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “It’s longstanding policy that we don’t get into matters relating to security.”

It comes as Downing Street was heavily criticised for messages sent over the revamp of a flat.

Boris Johnson has been accused of lacking care for the role of his ministerial standards adviser as he was told it was “plainly unsatisfactory” that messages between the Prime Minister and a Tory donor were not disclosed in an investigation into the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Lord Geidt told the Prime Minister of his “grave concern” that the missing messages were not provided to him when he was investigating how the flat redecoration was funded, or when Mr Johnson’s old phone – where the messages were stored – was accessed in June last year “for another purpose”.

And he said the incident had “shook his confidence”.

Mr Johnson said he offered a “humble and sincere apology” but that he did not recall the exchange with Tory donor and peer Lord Brownlow.

Downing Street has defended taking two weeks to publish letters between Boris Johnson and Lord Geidt.

The most recent letter between the pair was dated December 23, but was not released until January 6.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “We’ve taken steps to publish as quickly as possible, now that Parliament has returned.”

He said it was “important” the letters were published while Parliament was sitting and added:…

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Chinese spies accused of using Huawei products in secret Australia telecom hack

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Now a Bloomberg News investigation has found a key piece of evidence underpinning the U.S. efforts — a previously unreported breach that occurred halfway around the world nearly a decade ago.

In 2012, Australian intelligence officials informed their U.S. counterparts that they had detected a sophisticated intrusion into the country’s telecommunications systems. It began, they said, with a software update from Huawei that was loaded with malicious code.

The breach and subsequent intelligence sharing was confirmed by nearly two dozen former national security officials who received briefings about the matter from Australian and U.S. agencies from 2012 to 2019. The incident substantiated suspicions in both countries that China used Huawei equipment as a conduit for espionage, and it has remained a core part of a case they’ve built against the Chinese company, even as the breach’s existence has never been made public, the former officials said.

The episode helps clarify previously opaque security concerns driving a battle over who will build 5G networks, which promise to bring faster internet connectivity to billions of people around the globe. Shenzhen-based Huawei dominates the more than $90 billion global telecommunications equipment market, where it competes against Sweden’s Ericsson AB and Finland’s Nokia Oyj.  But the U.S., Australia, Sweden and the U.K. have all banned Huawei from their 5G networks, and about 60 countries signed on to a U.S. Department of State program where they’ve committed to avoiding Chinese equipment for their telecommunications systems. Such efforts, which have also included U.S. sanctions against the Chinese company, have slowed Huawei’s growth and heightened tensions with China.

The briefings described to Bloomberg contained varying degrees of detail, and the former officials who received them had different levels of knowledge of — and willingness to discuss — specifics. Seven of them agreed to provide detailed accounts of the evidence uncovered by Australian authorities and included in their briefings.

At the core of the case, those officials said, was a software…

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Activision Blizzard accused by California watchdog of fostering ‘frat boy’ culture, fatally toxic atmosphere • The Register

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California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing on Thursday sued Activision Blizzard and its subsidiaries, alleging the company fostered a “frat boy” culture that led to lower pay for female employees, sex and race discrimination, and sexual harassment.

According to the lawsuit, as an example of the effects of this toxic culture, a female worker killed herself on a company trip due to a sexual relationship she had with her male boss.

“All employers should ensure that their employees are being paid equally and take all steps to prevent discrimination, harassment, and retaliation,” said dept director Kevin Kish in a statement [PDF]. “This is especially important for employers in male-dominated industries, such as technology and gaming.”

Activision Blizzard, the gaming behemoth forged in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, makes popular computer games such as Diablo, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft, and runs online gaming service Battle.net.

Accusations of sexism, sexual harassment, and pay inequality have dogged the gaming industry for decades, as demonstrated recently by “gamergate” in 2014 and 2015 and harassment claims at UbiSoft in 2020. But as the “#MeToo” movement has shown, workplace hostility toward women extends far beyond electronic entertainment.

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson told The Register in an emailed statement the gaming biz takes these issues seriously and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) allegations don’t reflect its current workplace.

We note that one Blizzard executive identified in the complaint, “so known to engage in harassment of females that his suite was nicknamed the ‘Crosby Suite’ after alleged rapist Bill Crosby,” appears to have quietly left the company around June 2020. A DFEH spokesperson tentatively confirmed that this is a misspelling of “Cosby,”…

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