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LEADINGFORENSICSFIRM
REPORTEDLYPAYSRANSOMWARE
DEMAND
EUROFINSSCIENTIFICWON’TCLARIF Y
WHETHERITHASPAIDORNOTTHOUGH.
EurofinsScientific,theleadingforensic
servicesoutfitintheUK,haspaidoutto
criminalswhohitthecompanywitha
ransomwareattack,accordingtoa report.
TheattackoccurredinearlyJune,withthe
companystatingthatitsoperationswouldbe
returningtonormalalmosta monthlater,
althoughit refused to state why it was able
to do so.TESLASWILLGETA LOTMORE
EXPENSIVEWHENFULLSELF-
DRIVINGGOESMAINSTREAM
MUSKSAYSHISCOMPANY’SCARSARE
ANINVESTMENT.
Teslacarswillbecomea lotmoreexpensive
whenfullyself-drivingmodelsareavailable,
saysthecompany’sCEOElonMusk.When
respondingtoa tweetquestioningwhether
customershada limitedtimetosnapone up,
Muskstatedthatthe“pricewillrise
significantly”duetotheexpected
autonomouscapabilities and the value add
that this provides.SONYISREPORTEDLYWORKINGON
A NEWSMARTPHONETHATROLLS
RIGHTUP
ROLLINGTAKESONFOLDING.
Asfoldingphonesbegintoslowlytrickleout
totheconsumermarket,a rumorhasarisen
thatSonyis workingona prototypeofa
rollingphone.Thehandsetwillapparently
sporta Snapdragon 855 with 5 G
connectivity.Whileit is onlya rumor,it joins
somedotswithsimilartalkofSamsungand
LGaimingforthesameformfactor,thelatter
ofwhichalreadyhasanOLED T V on the
market that rolls up.Over1,300Androidappsscrape
personaldataregardlessofpermissions
FIXESCOMINGWITHANDROIDQSTARTINGINAUGUST.Smartphoneoperatingsystemshaverampeduptheirprivacysettingsinrecentyearstolet
userspickandchoosewhatinformationappscanget,butit seemsthosepermissionsaren’t
ironclad.A newstudyrevealedthatover1,300Androidappscanscrapecertainpersonal
dataanyway,evenif a userexplicitlydeniedaccesstoit.Researchersat theInternational
ComputerScienceInstitute(ICSI)createda controlledenvironmenttotest88,000apps
downloadedfromtheUSGooglePlayStore.Theypeekedat whatdatatheappsweresending
back,comparedit towhatuserswerepermitting,andfoundthat1,325ofthemwereforking
overspecificuserdatatheyshouldn’thave.Amongthetestpoolwere“popularappsfromall
categories,”accordingtoICSI’sreport.Theresearchersdisclosedtheirfindingstoboththe
FTCandGoogle(receivinga bugbountyfortheirefforts),though the latter stated a fix
would only be coming in the full release of Android Q.HOTSPOTNEED TO KNOWHuaweiCEOclaimsfirm’sownmobile OS
willbefasterthaniOSand Android
BUTAPPSCOULDBEASTICKINGPOINT.
HuaweiCEO,RenZhengfei,hassaidthatthecompany’shome-grownmobileoperating
system(OS)willbefasterthanbothiOSandAndroid...butit couldstrugglewhenit comesto
apps.ZhengfeimadetheclaimduringaninterviewwithFrenchmagazineLePoint, andthe
Huaweichiefremainsbullishabouthiscompany’schancesinthemarket,nomatterthe
long-termoutcomeofthecurrentUS-Chinatradewar.It’snosecretthatHuaweiis working
onitsownOS,whichit couldemployonsmartphonesif theUSfollowsthroughwithits
Huaweiban,a banwhichwouldseetheChinesemanufacturerloseaccesstoGoogle’svital
AndroidservicessuchasthePlayStore,securityupdatesandsuiteofGoogleapps.While
Huawei’sHongMengOS(alsoknownasArkOS)mayrunfasterthanthesoftwarefoundon
rivaldevices,Zhengfeiadmittedthatit maystrugglewhenit comestoapps.Inthepastfew
yearswe’vewitnessedWindowsPhoneandBlackBerryOStry,andfail,tomeettheapp
demandsofusersusedtothevarietydeliveredbyAppleandGoogle,while smaller operating
systems have also struggled to match the big players over the years.ANEWSTUDYREVEALED
THATOVER1,300ANDROID
APPSCANSCRAPECERTAIN
PERSONALDATAANYWAY,
EVENIFAUSEREXPLICITLY
DENIED ACCESS TO IT.