News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

FBI Investigates Internal Hack

The FBI told The Epoch Times on Feb. 17 that it “is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information. This is an isolated incident that has been contained. As this is an ongoing investigation, the FBI does not have further comment to provide at this time.”

CNN cited two unnamed sources who said the hack involved the FBI New York Field Office, which is one of the agency’s biggest offices. They did not offer information about the origin of the hack, which they said is still being investigated.

The FBI has been in the news recently due to congressional Republicans’ request to have the bureau investigate President Joe Biden’s appointee to the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) Business Advisory Council for alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and potential violations of the Espionage Act.

The Epoch Times previously reported that Lance Gooden (R-Texas) led six House Republicans in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray about the nominee, Dominic Ng. The letter asserts that Ng, who was, at the time of his appointment, the chairman and CEO of East West Bank, had “existing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ties” and had worked for two Chinese intelligence front groups.

“Between 2013 and 2017, [Ng] served as the executive director of the China Overseas Exchange Association which is a front organization for the United Front Work Department (UFWD),” the lawmakers noted. “UFWD is a Chinese intelligence service whose mission is to liaison with foreign political parties, influence operations, and collect intelligence.”

Tech Giants From Google to TikTok Face Tougher EU Rules

The new rules, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), classify companies with more than 45 million users as very large online platforms (VLOPs) and require them to do risk management and external and independent auditing.

They will also have to share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct.

The European Commission had given online platforms and search engines until Feb. 17 to publish their monthly active users. Those labelled as VLOPs have four months to comply with the rules or risk fines.

Twitter on Thursday said it had 100.9 million average monthly users in the EU, based on an estimation of the last 45 days.
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It said the average monthly number of signed-in users totaled 278.6 million at Google Maps, 274.6 million at Google Play, 332 million at Google Search, 74.9 million at Shopping, and 401.7 million at YouTube.

Apple said only its App Store built for its iPhones, with more than 45 million monthly users.
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Amazon said it had more than 45 million users in the EU, while Microsoft said its Bing search engine had 107 million average monthly users in the last six months of 2022.

Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce site AliExpress said its average monthly active users in the EU was above 45 million from Aug. 1 last year to Jan. 31 this year.

TikTok has 100.9 million average monthly users in the EU based on an estimation of the last 45 days.

Ebay said it was below the EU user threshold.

Meta Platforms has said it had 255 million average monthly active users on Facebook in the EU and about 250 million average monthly active users on Instagram in the last six months of 2022.

TikTok Plans 2 More European Data Centers Amid Privacy Fears

TikTok has been under fire from European and American authorities over concerns that it could scoop up masses of user data and send it to China.

The company’s general manager for European operations, Rich Waterworth, said in a blog post that it is “at an advanced stage of finalizing a plan” with a third-party provider for a second data center in Ireland. It announced its first center there last year.

TikTok also is in talks to set up a third European data center, without specifying a location.
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Data for European TikTok users will be migrated to the new centers starting this year, Waterworth said.