DIGIT’s Top Trending Stories

BP Invests $5 Million in AI Technology Startup

BP has confirmed that it has invested $5 million (£3.8 million) in Belmont Technology, a Houston-based startup.

BP says that the investment will go towards supporting its ongoing work to explore the use of machine learning and cognitive computing across its global oil and gas operations.

Previous investments by BP have focused on cognitive computing, including $20 million (£15.2 million) in Series B funding in another AI firm, Beyond Limits. That investment is enabling the firm to deploy AI technology used in offshore exploration.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

NCSC Issues Alert Over International Domain Name Service Attacks

After a string of domain name system (DNS) attacks the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued an alert for government and commercial organisations.

In a statement online, the NCSC said: “The NCSC is investigating a large-scale Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking campaign that has reportedly affected government and commercial organisations worldwide.

“The majority of entities targeted are in the Middle East, but some impact has been reported in Europe and the US.”

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

B&Q Theft & Incident Log Data Exposed Online

After details of B&Q’s data leak emerged, the company has reportedly taken down the exposed online database that included the details of suspected store thieves.

According to Lee Johnstone, chief executive of Ctrlbox Information Security, the exposed records included more than 70,000 incident and offender logs.

A spokesperson for B&Q told the BBC: “We have closed the issue down and are continuing to investigate how it occurred.” However, the company has refuted Johnstone’s claims, suggesting there were a number of inaccuracies.

“Our continuing investigation will help us decide whether an ICO notification is required,” it said.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

In Case You Missed It…

New Japanese Law Will Let Government Hack Civilian IoT Devices

Citing concerns over security around infrastructure for next year’s Olympic games, the Japanese government has approved a new amendment to allow government workers to hack civilian’s Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The data mined from the devices will be used to create a national survey.

The survey will be conducted by employees of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT).

NICT plans to test the password security of more than 200 million IoT devices starting with routers and web cams. The decision has been met with heavy criticism from privacy advocates.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Brexit Backer’s Insurance Firm and Leave Campaign Fined £120k by Data Watchdog 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined against a pro-Brexit campaign, Leave.EU, and an insurance company owned by the largest individual donor to the leave cause, Arron Banks’ Eldon Insurance.

An investigation by the ICO found that the two entities were closely linked and that systems for segregating the personal data of insurance customers’ from that of political subscribers’ were ineffective.

According to the ICO, Leave.EU used Eldon Insurance customers’ details unlawfully to send almost 300,000 political marketing messages.

Commenting on the investigation, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, said: “It is deeply concerning that sensitive personal data gathered for political purposes was later used for insurance purposes; and vice versa. It should never have happened.

“We have been told both organisations have made improvements and learned from these events. But the ICO will now audit the organisations to determine how they are using customers’ personal information.”

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

FaceTime Bug Fix Won’t Be Out Till Next Week

Apple has delayed the release for a software update to fix FaceTime’s group chat feature, which was disabled earlier this week due to a malfunction that enabled callers to listen in on call recipients.

It has emerged that Apple had been made aware of the bug days before it was addressed by the company. Apple has apologised for the problem and pledged to improve how it deals with bug reports.

Apple has said it plans to thank the Arizona teenager, Grant Thompson, who first discovered the bug.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.