Top tech news stories today: August 13, 2024

Top tech news stories today: August 13, 2024 is profiled by BTW Media because public-source evidence links it to internet infrastructure, governance, operational dependencies, or market visibility.

Fintech

1. US SEC sues over alleged $650 million global crypto fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued the cryptocurrency company NovaTech and its married co-founders, saying they fraudulently raised over $650 million from more than 200,000 investors worldwide, including many Haitian-Americans. (US News)

IT infrastructure

2. Swiss-based Schlatter says IT network affected by cyber attack

Schlatter Industries’ IT network was attacked with malware on Friday and an investigation into the matter is in progress, the Switzerland-based company said on Monday. (WTAQ)

3. US utilities poised to ride data centre demand wave in second half

U.S.electric utilities sounded bullish on demand from data centres powering the artificial intelligence boom after striking several supply deals during the second quarter, reinforcing market expectations of sales growth through the year. (BeamSmart)

Tech trends

4. Polish billionaire plans to sue Meta over fake advertisements

Polish billionaire Rafal Brzoska and his wife plan to sue Meta over fake advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that feature his face and false information regarding her circulating on the social media platforms. (Yahoo Finance)

5. Universal Music, Meta expand music licensing agreement

Meta and UMG expanded their global music licensing deal, now including WhatsApp for the first time. (Investopedia)

6. Google says it is deactivating Russia-based AdSense accounts

Google has cut off business ties with Russian websites by deactivating AdSense accounts, according to local media reports out of Russia claiming that the search giant is notifying Russian webmasters that effective September it will no longer be paying out AdSense commissions on traffic impressions. (SC Media)

7. Australia’s Evolution Mining targeted in latest cyber attack

Australian’s Evolution Mining said on Monday that it became aware of a cyber attack last week, amid a spate of similar incidents that have plagued domestic firms. (MSN)

8. Turkey restores access to Instagram after 9-day block

Turkey lifted its nine-day ban on Instagram after the platform agreed to adhere to Turkish laws and regulations, including removing content linked to certain crimes or terrorism. (Economic Times)

9. Can online voting be secure? Experts in Las Vegas try to hack new platform

Hackers from around the world gathered in a small conference room in Las Vegas on Friday to test their skills against a new online voting platform, in a bid to learn what digital vulnerabilities exist in the next generation of election systems. (Aol.)

10. Elon Musk’s X targeted with nine privacy complaints after grabbing EU users’ data for training Grok

X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has been targeted with a series of privacy complaints after it helped itself to the data of users in the European Union for training AI models without asking people’s consent. (Tech Crunch)

AI

11. X hit with Austrian data use complaint over AI training

Austrian advocacy group NOYB on Monday filed a complaint against social media platform X accusing the Elon Musk-owned company of training its artificial intelligence (AI) with users’ personal data without their consent in violation of EU privacy law. (SWI)

12. Indosat extends Google Cloud AI alliance

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison Group has extended its partnership with Google Cloud to deliver next-generation sovereign cloud and edge cloud services in Indonesia. (Capacity.)

13. Verizon taps AI to reduce fibre cuts

Verizon has unveiled a new initiative to safeguard its fibre infrastructure from accidental damage during construction and excavations by homeowners and outside agencies. (Capacity.)