FBI understaffed to tackle cyber threats, says watchdog

The FBI is struggling to attract computer scientists to its cybersecurity program mainly due to low pay, a report by the U.S. Department of Justice showed, highlighting weaknesses in a flagship initiative to tackle growing cyber threats. As of January 2015, The Federal Bureau of Investigation had only hired 52 of the 134 computer scientists it was authorized to employ under the Justice Department's Next Generation Cyber Initiative launched in 2012, the report showed

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Apple Pay launches in Britain as hold-out Barclays signs up

Apple introduced its mobile payments service to Britain on Tuesday as Barclays confirmed its participation in the U.S. tech giant's move to capitalize on the increasing number of consumers who are comfortable making tap-and-go purchases

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Uber security breach may have affected up to 50,000 drivers: LA Times

(Reuters) – About 50,000 of Uber’s driver names and license numbers may be in the hands of an unauthorized third party due to a data breach that occurred last year, Los Angeles Times reported, citing the ride service provider’s managing counsel of data privacy.

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Ex-school employee pleads to obstruction in Steubenville rape case

By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) – A former school employee in Ohio pleaded guilty to obstruction in a rape case involving a 16-year-old girl that drew national attention after supposed images of the incident circulated on the Internet, the state’s Attorney General office said Friday. William Rhinaman, former information technology director for Steubenville City Schools, pleaded guilty to obstructing official business, a second-degree misdemeanor. Rhinaman was indicted in 2013 by a special grand jury that looked into whether officials had tried to thwart the investigation into the rape by two Steubenville High School football players

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NSA, British spies hack Gemalto to tap mobile calls: Intercept

(Reuters) – Digital security company Gemalto NV was hacked by American and British spies to steal encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications, news website Intercept reported, citing documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack by the National Security Agency (NSA) and UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allowed the agencies to monitor a large portion of voice and data mobile communications around the world without permission from governments and telecom companies, according to the report. NSA could not be immediately reached for comment

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Revenge porn operator agrees to plea to criminal charges in Los Angeles

(Refiles story dated February 18, correcting first name of defendant to Hunter instead of Michael in second paragraph) By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A man who posted explicit photos of women on his so-called revenge porn website, some taken from hacked email accounts, has agreed to plead guilty in Los Angeles to hacking and identity theft charges, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The plea agreement between Hunter Moore, 28, and federal prosecutors comes nearly three years after BBC News called him “The net’s most hated man” and reported that he was known to post the full name and location of people whose naked photos he featured on his site

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Lenovo to stop pre-installing controversial software

By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – China's Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest PC maker, said on Thursday it will no longer pre-install software that cybersecurity experts said was malicious and made devices vulnerable to hacking. Lenovo had come under fire from security researchers who said earlier on Thursday the company pre-installed a virus-like software from a company called Superfish on consumer laptops that hijacked web connections and allowed them to be spied upon.

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