Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K. Police

(Bloomberg) -- Social media platforms based in the U.S. including Facebook and WhatsApp will be forced to share users’ encrypted messages with British police under a new treaty between the two countries, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The accord, which is set to be signed by next month, will compel social media firms to share information to support investigations into individuals suspected of serious criminal offenses including terrorism and pedophilia, the person said.

Priti Patel, the U.K.’s home secretary, has previously warned that Facebook’s plan to enable users to send end-to-end encrypted messages would benefit criminals, and called on social media firms to develop “back doors” to give intelligence agencies access to their messaging platforms.

Source & more info: BNN Bloomberg

Windows 10 users forced into adopting the latest OS Update

Machines using build 1803 will be upgraded to avoid risk when it reaches end-of-service in November

Small businesses and home users with Windows 10 installations older than a year will be automatically upgraded to the May 2019 Update to avoid systems falling out of support in November.

Despite widespread concerns over the way Microsoft implements its biannual operating system (OS) upgrades, Home and Pro users will be automatically kicked into using version Windows 10 1903, issued just a couple of months ago.

Source & more info: ITPro

Are any GDPR certification schemes worth the money?

Let's be clear - you can't buy GDPR compliance off the shelf.. Although it is a good idea to get some advice from a GDPR expert, none of the courses touted as making your company GDPR compliant will actually do so.

In short, no - certainly not if you're looking for a certificate demonstrating compliance. There are currently no bodies empowered to audit and certify GDPR compliance.

Those that claim to exist will say their certification is valid for GDPR, but in fact, they're often based on the National Cyber Security Centre's Cyber Secure standard (UK). That means organisations who undertake their courses may still be found non-compliant.

The more any organisation does to comply the better. Obtaining any form of external certification implies that [an] external organisation is going to check where the target organisation is not doing enough, thus enabling the target organisation to become more compliant.

Clutter for Outlook is being retired

As announced in MC173616, Feb 2019, the Clutter feature from Outlook will be retiring beginning January 31, 2020. To help users manage their mail and be productive, Focused Inbox experience which provides a similar benefit as Clutter by showing less important and urgent mail in Other.

Ban of iPhone sales in Germany

Qualcomm enforces court order to ban iPhone sales in Germany

Qualcomm has completed the last step in a legal process which means a court order is now in force which bans the sale of select iPhone models in Germany.
Qualcomm posted bonds of 1.34 billion euros to finalise the process as part of a legal requirement to enforce a court order which would likely see Apple withdraw all iPhone models in Germany which infringe on Qualcomm's patent, Reuters reports.
A Munich court ruled on December 20 that Apple had infringed on a Qualcomm patent related to its modems - an envelope tracking patent which is vital in the conservation of battery power while the modem is active.
Following the court ruling, Apple said it would pull iPhone 7 and 8 models from its 15 retail stores in Germany when the order came in to force, which happened after Qualcomm posted the bonds.
According to Qualcomm, the order states that Apple must also recall infringing models from third-party resellers in Germany. Apple has said it will be appealing the decision.

Source & more info: ITPro UK

UK Regulator Fines Equifax £500,000

The Equifax Data Breach 2017

Equifax suffered a massive data breach last year between mid-May and the end of July, exposing highly sensitive data of as many as 145 million people globally.

The stolen information included victims' names, dates of birth, phone numbers, driver's license details, addresses, and social security numbers, along with credit card information and personally identifying information (PII) for hundreds of thousands of its consumers.

The data breach occurred because the company failed to patch a critical Apache Struts 2 vulnerability (CVE-2017-5638) on time, for which patches were already issued by the respected companies.

Why U.K. Has Fined a US Company?

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), who launched a joint investigation into the breach with the Financial Conduct Authority, has now issued its largest possible monetary penalty under the country's Data Protection Act for the massive data breach—£500,000, which equals to around $665,000.

The ICO said that although the cyber attack compromised Equifax systems in the United States, the company "failed to take appropriate steps" to protect the personal information of its 15 million UK customers.

Breach Was Result of Multiple Failures at Equifax

The ICO said that Equifax had also been warned about a critical Apache Struts 2 vulnerability in its systems by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March 2017, but the company did not take appropriate steps to fix the issue.

More info and source: The Hacker News

ΕΔΑΔ: Τα προσωπικά μηνύματα, κατά την εργασία, μπορούν να ελεγχθούν από τους εργοδότες

Απόφαση του ΕΔΑΔ, δημιουργεί νέα δεδομένα στο χώρο εργασίας

Σύμφωνα με νέα απόφαση του Ευρωπαϊκού Δικαστηρίου (ΕΔΑΔ) οι εργοδότες μπορούν να διαβάσουν την αλληλογραφία των εργαζομένων, όταν αυτή αποστέλλεται μέσω chat λογισμικού και email, κατά τη διάρκεια των ωρών εργασίας τους.

Η υπόθεση έφτασε στο Ευρωπαϊκό Δικαστήριο Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων μετά από προσφυγή υπαλλήλου το 2008, ο οποίος ισχυρίστηκε ότι η απόφαση απόλυσής του βασίστηκε σε στοιχεία που απέκτησε ο εργοδότης του,  παραβιάζοντας τα προσωπικά του δεδομένα και το απόρρητο της αλληλογραφίας του, αφού απέκτησε πρόσβαση σε αυτήν.  Ως υπεύθυνος πωλήσεων στη συγκεκριμένη εταιρεία, από το 2004 έως το 2007, άνοιξε λογαριασμό στο Yahoo Messenger κατόπιν υπόδειξης του εργοδότη του, ώστε να απαντά στις απορίες των πελατών. Τον Ιούλιο του 2007, ενημερώθηκε ότι η εταιρεία παρακολουθούσε τις συνομιλίες του και τον κατηγόρησε ότι είχε παραβιάσει τους κανονισμούς της, αφού χρησιμοποιούσε το chat και για προσωπική του χρήση.  

Σύμφωνα όμως με τους Δικαστές του Ευρωπαϊκού Δικαστηρίου Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων, σε αυτή την περίπτωση ο εργαζόμενος παραβιάζει τους κανόνες της εταιρείας του και συνεπώς ο εργοδότης του έχει το δικαίωμα πρόσβασης και ελέγχου των σχετικών δραστηριοτήτων.

Με την απόφαση του Δικαστηρίου το αίτημα του Ρουμάνου υπαλλήλου απερρίφθη καθώς δεν είναι "παράλογο ο εργοδότης να θέλει να εξακριβώσει αν οι εργαζόμενοι ολοκληρώνουν τα επαγγελματικά τους καθήκοντα κατά τη διάρκεια των ωρών εργασίας".

"Ο εργοδότης ενήργησε εντός των πειθαρχικών εξουσιών του, καθώς, όπως διαπιστώθηκε και στα εθνικά δικαστήρια, απέκτησε πρόσβαση στο λογαριασμό Yahoo Messenger πεπεισμένος ότι οι εν λόγω πληροφορίες είχαν σχέση με την επαγγελματική δραστηριότητα και ότι, επομένως, η πρόσβαση αυτή ήταν νόμιμη. Το δικαστήριο δεν βλέπει το λόγο να αμφισβητήσει τις διαπιστώσεις αυτές. "

Πηγές: ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ, LAWNET, ΕΔΑΔ