Privacy watchdogs in the U.K. and Canada have launched a joint investigation into the data breach at 23andMe last year.
In its data breach notices, the company said it didn’t detect the hackers’ activities for around five months, from April until September 2023.
23andMe said it only became aware of the account breaches in October 2023, when hackers advertised the stolen data on the unofficial 23andMe subreddit and a well-known hacking forum.
Hackers broke into around 14,000 accounts of 23andMe customers by reusing their passwords from previous breaches, a technique known as password spraying.
That’s how the hackers were able to scrape information on 6.9 million users by only hacking 14,000 accounts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a third investigation into EV startup Fisker’s Ocean SUV, this time centered on problems getting the doors to open.
The agency says the complaints point to a an “intermittent failure” of the door latch and handle system.
The Ocean SUV is already being investigated by ODI over problems with its braking system, and for complaints about the vehicle rolling away on uneven surfaces.
It paused production of the Ocean in March and reported just $121 million in the bank.
But the new safety probe suggests a deeper problem with the SUV’s doors.
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it’s launching a formal “phase 2” investigation into the planned merger between Vodafone and Three UK.
The CMA says that the deal could lead to higher prices for consumers, while also impact future infrastructure investments.
However, the CMA has given both parties a token five working days to address its concerns with “meaningful solutions” before it formally progresses the investigation.
Such a scenario is precisely why the U.K. introduced the National Security and Investment Act back in 2022, with previous form in blocking deals between U.K. entities and Chinese companies.
“This case has more moving parts than the CMA’s other recent big decisions, and is arguably more important for the U.K. economy,” Smith said.
The European Union has opened its third formal investigation of a very large platform under the Digital Services Act (DSA), with China’s AliExpress earning itself the dubious honor of being the first online marketplace to face formal probe by the Commission.
Social media platforms X and TikTok are the two other very large online platforms (VLOPs) already under formal DSA investigation (since December and February, respectively).
They said it will also look into transparency and safety concerns related to influencers’ use of AliExpress.
It said it will also investigate how the influencer affiliate program is implemented to verify whether it complies with DSA transparency rules.
There’s no fixed timeline for the EU to conclude a DSA investigation.
SpaceX will attempt to send the massive Starship rocket to orbit for the third time early Thursday morning after U.S. regulators gave the green light for launch.
The first took place last April, and ended with both the upper stage (which is also called Starship) and the Super Heavy booster exploding mid-air.
Anytime an anomaly occurs during a rocket launch, the Federal Aviation Administration steps in to oversee a company-run investigation.
The investigation into the second Starship launch closed last month, so the only thing left was for the regulator to issue a launch license for the test flight.
Due to the in-space engine burn, the company is also targeting a new flight trajectory, with the upper stage splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
The Federal Aviation Administration has concluded its review of SpaceX’s investigation of the second Starship launch in November, with the regulator saying Monday that it accepted the “root causes and 17 corrective actions” identified by the company.
While this means the investigation is now closed, SpaceX must implement all the corrective actions and apply for a modified launch license before it can fly Starship again.
When any rocket launch encounters catastrophic issues during flight, the FAA opens what’s known as a “mishap investigation” — that’s what’s happened here.
After the first test, the FAA directed SpaceX to complete 63 corrective actions.
“More Starships are ready to fly, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible.
The European Union is formally investigating TikTok’s compliance with the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission has announced.
Although the EU’s concerns over TikTok’s approach to content governance and safety predate the DSA coming into force on larger platforms.
Commenting in a statement, Margrethe Vestager, EVP for digital, said:The safety and well-being of online users in Europe is crucial.
The EU may also accept commitments offered by a platform under investigation if they are aimed at fixing the issues identified.
In TikTok’s case the platform informed the bloc last year that it had 135.9M monthly active users in the EU.
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a formal probe into the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK.
That is some 18 months form when they first revealed their plans back in June.
It’s not entirely clear how that might impact this latest merger attempt, but Smith reckons that deal is as good as dead, regardless of what any court might subsequently find.
“The previous Three/O2 merger is still technically going through the EU courts, but that deal is long since dead in reality,” Smith said.
“We strongly believe that the proposed merger of Vodafone and Three will significantly enhance competition by creating a combined business with more resources to invest in infrastructure to better compete with the two larger converged players,” Vodafone UK CEO Ahmed Essam said in a statement.
Elon Musk’s X marks the spot of the first confirmed investigation opened by the European Union under its rebooted digital rulebook, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Its earlier actions were focused on concerns about the spread of illegal content and disinformation related to the Israel-Hamas war.
So the Commission’s official scrutiny of X could have real world implications for how the platform operates sooner rather than later.
However the Commission obviously has doubts X has gone far enough on the transparency front to meet the DSA’s bar.
The investigation may also test Musk’s mettle for what could be an expensive head-on clash with EU regulators.
The recent legal action against Tesla by California regulators highlights the importance of employee diversity and protection. Tesla has long been known for its cutting-edge technology, but the alleged mistreatment…
