Connect with us

Business

US court orders Israeli spyware firm to stop targeting WhatsApp | The Express Tribune

Published

on

US court orders Israeli spyware firm to stop targeting WhatsApp | The Express Tribune


NSO, for years, has been accused of facilitating human rights abuses through its flagship hacking tool, Pegasus

US judge issues permanent injunction blocking NSO Group from hacking WhatsApp messaging platform. PHOTO: PIXABAY

A US court has ordered Israel’s NSO Group to stop targeting Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp messaging service, a development the spyware company warned could put it out of business.

In a 25-page ruling, handed down Friday, US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton imposed a permanent injunction on NSO Group’s efforts to break into WhatsApp, one of the world’s most widely used communications platforms.

Hamilton also handed NSO a significant break on the damages awarded in a recently concluded jury trial, reducing the punitive damages it owes Meta from about $167 million to $4 million.

Read More: AI chip development to become cheaper, more accessible with open-source technology

The injunction is likely to pose a challenge to NSO, which has for years been accused of facilitating human rights abuses through its flagship hacking tool, Pegasus.

Pegasus takes advantage of weaknesses in commonly deployed pieces of software to power its surveillance, making WhatsApp one of its bigger targets.

NSO has previously argued that an injunction preventing it from going after WhatsApp “would put NSO’s entire enterprise at risk” and “force NSO out of business,” according to the judgment.
Meta executives celebrated the decision.

“Today’s ruling bans spyware maker NSO from ever targeting WhatsApp and our global users again,” WhatsApp Chief Will Cathcart said on X. “We applaud this decision that comes after six years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for targeting members of civil society.”

Also Read: Apple scoops exclusive US media rights to broadcast F1 races

NSO, which has long insisted its products fight serious crime and terrorism, said it welcomed the 97% reduction in punitive damages and said that the injunction did not apply to NSO’s customers, “who will continue using the company’s technology to help protect public safety.”

The company said it would review the decision and “determine its next steps accordingly.”

The company was recently purchased by a group led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds, according to a report, earlier this month in tech publication TechCrunch. Simonds did not immediately return an email.

 



Source link

Business

What’s the best way to detect and destroy drones?

Published

on

What’s the best way to detect and destroy drones?


Adrienne MurrayTechnology reporter

AFP via Getty Images In Denmark, a round sign picturing a drone with a red stripe through it, indicating a zone where drone flying is prohibited.AFP via Getty Images

Denmark has taken measures to curb drone flying

In the northern Danish city of Aalborg, the firm MyDefence makes equipment that jams and repels drones.

“We’ve had a big surge of interest,” says chief executive, Dan Hermansen.

He says that up until early October his company was mainly dealing with defence firms, but now it has “completely shifted”.

The small, box-like kit made by MyDefence is mostly used by the military of Nato countries and Ukraine.

However lately demand has grown from civilian customers.

“It’s coming from critical infrastructure,” he adds, “from big companies, looking to protect their own assets”.

The device detects communication between the drone and its pilot, then breaks that connection, explains Mr Hermansen, by emitting a powerful radio signal on the same frequency.

Rather than falling out of the sky, the drone is pushed away and has a controlled landing. If it tries to reconnect to a GPS signal, that can be blocked too, he adds.

Mr Hermansen reckons that radio frequency jamming works against 80 to 90% of the drones that are flown.

MyDefence A soldier wearing a helmet, mask and sunglasses holds a large table computer and looks upwards. Behind him is a military vehicle.MyDefence

MyDefence uses powerful radio waves to jam drone control systems

While forcing an unwanted drone to crash land is a good result, it’s essential to be able to detect it first.

“The first part is really about identification. And the second part is an interceptor system,” explains Kasper Hallenborg, director of The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute at University of Southern Denmark.

Identifying a drone is not so easy, points out Andreas Graae, the head of research at the Institute of Military Technology at the Danish Defence Academy.

“[Drones] can be very small or really big, and are often produced from materials like plastic or fabrics that are very hard to detect on a traditional radar,” he says.

A suite of technologies are under constant development, to help find drones.

That includes acoustic sensors that listen for the drone’s buzzing; advanced optical cameras, with very high resolution; and increasingly sophisticated tactical radars, which work over longer ranges and can even differentiate between a drone or a bird.

Once detected, a drone needs to be disabled. Electronic jamming, similar to that used by MyDefence has leapt forward, thanks in large part to the war in Ukraine.

“[Ukraine’s] frontlines are totally jammed,” Mr Graae says, which means that drone controllers lose control of their machines.

So, Russia and Urkaine have adapted by using drones controlled by fibre optic cables, or using drones that can navigate autonomously, or fly along pre-programmed routes.

Such drones need to be intercepted or shot down and plenty of firms are working on novel ways to do that.

Among them is Swedish start-up, Nordic Air Defence. It is developing a low-cost interceptor designed to strike the targeted drone, forcing it to crash.

“It’s missile shaped, so travels incredibly fast,” he adds. “It’s incredibly easy to manufacture. It is basically 3D printed,” says Jens Holzapfel, the company’s business director.

AFP via Getty Images A small drone with four rotors, three aerials and a camera on the front flies in front of a detection device.AFP via Getty Images

Cheap hunter drones are one way to intercept unwanted drones

Cost is a criticial factor in countering drones.

Last month, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said: “It’s unacceptable to shoot down drones costing one or two thousand dollars with missiles that may cost half a million or even a million dollars.”

That’s been a big lesson from Ukraine, says Mr Graae. “It’s become a competition of how cheap you can actually make a drone attack, and how expensive it is to defend against.”

“As hostile drones become cheaper, it puts pressure on the defender to manufacture low cost products,” agrees Mr Holzapfel.

Low-cost drones are increasingly a security issue away from the frontlines of Ukraine.

Poland and Romania had their airspace breached by Russian drones; while separate drone incidents were reported, in Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Romania and most recently at Germany’s Munich airport.

In Denmark tensions have also run high after a string of mysterious sightings at airports and military installations around the country.

That spurred the defence ministry to deploy “several capacities” that can detect, track and jam drones; and last week Sweden announced plans to invest more than $365m (£275m) in anti-drone systems, including measures to jam and shoot them down, as well as the deployment of hunter drones.

Mr Holzapfel at Nordic Air Defence currently works with Sweden and its European allies. As well as the military, clients are from law enforcement agencies and security companies.

But he also sees civilian sectors like shipping and the oil and offshore industries as potential markets.

AFP via Getty Images In Poland in September, three people inspect a damaged roof, where the wooden beams have been exposed. The roof was hit by falling parts of a drone that had been shot down.AFP via Getty Images

Debris from a destroyed drone hit a rooftop in Poland in September

In a civilian setting. simply shooting down a drone might be too risky.

“It could be rather dangerous,” says Kasper Hallenborg, pointing to the falling parts and potentially flammable fuel.

“We saw the impact in Poland,” he continues. “That was just drone fragments, which more or less removed the roof of a house.”

Early detection would help, says Mr Hallenborg: “Then you can probably take it down somewhere it’s more safe to do so.”

At short ranges, shooting out nets to tangle up the drone is another method and cheap lasers are also being developed.

There are also safer, so-called soft-kill options, including hacking. “That’s a more secure way to neutralize the drone, because then you can actually control the landing,” says Mr Graae.

Crucially, a traffic management system is urgently needed, suggests Mr Hallenborg, involving electronic license plates for each drone device and way for users to register the flight in advance.

“Then we can quickly identify which drones are allowed to be there and those that aren’t,” says Mr Hallenborg.

“The [Danish] police have been overloaded with people telling them about what they’ve seen in the sky. A lot of these drones are probably there with a [legitimate] purpose,” he says.

More Technology of Business



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Disney+ cancellations soar after Jimmy Kimmel suspension

Published

on

Disney+ cancellations soar after Jimmy Kimmel suspension


Danielle KayeBusiness reporter

Reuters A man wearing a black suit speaks with his hands raised in front of him.Reuters

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily suspended last month

Disney+ and Hulu cancellations rates doubled in September after TV host Jimmy Kimmel was briefly taken off air, suggesting the move may have hurt the entertainment giant financially.

Data from analytics firm Antenna shows Disney+’s so-called churn rate – the percentage of subscribers who cancel each month – jumped from a 4% average to 8%, which equates to about three million cancellations, while Hulu’s rose to 10% or more than 4 million.

Disney suspended Kimmel after comments he made about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, following pressure from a federal regulator. The decision sparked free speech debates.

ABC, which airs Jimmy Kimmel Live, reinstated him within a week after a backlash.

Disney, which owns ABC, decided on 17 September to take the comedian off air, two days after Kimmel had said, during one of his shows, the “Maga gang” was “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” and of trying to “score political points from it”.

The abrupt suspension came hours after Brendan Carr, chair of broadcast regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast licence.

The move was met with protests in California and lambasted by the writers and actors guilds, lawmakers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Critics and First Amendment advocates had railed against ABC’s decision as censorship and a violation of free speech. They also called for economic pressure on Disney, urging people to boycott the company’s services.

Hundreds of celebrities and Hollywood creatives signed a letter backing Kimmel, who was later reinstated.

Reuters A man at a protest holds a sign in the shape of Mickey Mouse's face, which reads "Protect Free Speech" and "Cancel Disney ABC".Reuters

Critics called for boycotts of Disney’s streaming services

The new data from Antenna, released on Monday, offers the first indication that Disney may have taken a hit from the blow-back.

Disney+ and Hulu lost millions more subscribers in September compared to recent months, while Netflix saw its churn rate hold steady at 2%.

But it is not clear whether Kimmel’s suspension was the only factor driving the surge in cancellations.

Disney’s move to suspend Kimmel coincided with its announcement of previously planned increases to subscription prices, as the company faces pressure to boost its profit from streaming services.

Despite the rise in cancellation rates, both Disney+ and Hulu saw an uptick in new sign-ups in September, offsetting some of the loss, according to Antenna.

Disney declined to comment and Hulu is yet to respond. However, Disney noted discrepancies between Antenna’s data and its internal figures.



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Video: What to Know About the ICE Raid at a Hyundai Plant

Published

on

Video: What to Know About the ICE Raid at a Hyundai Plant


new video loaded: What to Know About the ICE Raid at a Hyundai Plant

ICE and other law enforcement agencies detained nearly 500 workers in Georgia in September. Farah Stockman, who covers manufacturing for The New York Times, describes the fallout from the incident and what could be next for foreign factory investments in the U.S.

By Farah Stockman, Gabriel Blanco, June Kim and Claire Hogan

October 20, 2025



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending