Hackers stole secrets for up to $100 million insider-trading profit: U.S.

By Noeleen Walder, Jonathan Stempel and Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of mainly U.S.-based stock traders and computer hackers in Ukraine made as much as $100 million in illegal profits over five years by conspiring to use information stolen from thousands of corporate press statements before their public release, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday

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Bic apologizes for sexist advert on South Africa’s women’s day

Pen manufacturer Bic has apologized for a post on its South African Facebook page on Women’s Day that has been heavily criticized for being sexist. Bic’s post featured a picture of a smiling woman in a suit next to the caption: “Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss” and included the tag #HappyWomensDay.

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Facebook struggles to sell advertising in India

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Nivedita Bhattacharjee SAN FRANCISCO/MUMBAI, August 12 (Reuters) – Facebook is trying to lure skeptical advertisers in India with features such as free email support for questions about advertising and advice on increasing sales in a bid to boost revenue from its second biggest market. Facebook has 132 million users in India, trailing only the 193 million in the United States, according to the company, and the country is critical for the Menlo Park, California, social network's global expansion. Facebook does not break out its revenues in India, but Neil Shah, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, a Hong Kong-based technology consulting firm, estimates it brings in $15 million a quarter, far behind the $350 million he estimates Google earns there per quarter.

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U.S. judge strikes down New Hampshire ban on ballot photos

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a New Hampshire law barring voters from sharing photos of their filled-out ballots online, saying the statute violated constitutional free speech laws. New Hampshire’s so-called “ballot selfie” law was enacted ahead of the 2014 election. It was intended to revise laws passed about a century ago when vote-buying was relatively widespread and voters shared their marked ballot to redeem promises of cash or other inducements.

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British blogger raises awkward questions on Russia’s role in Ukraine

By Thomas Grove MOSCOW (Reuters) – It was not an unusual evening for war blogger Eliot Higgins. As he was rocking his infant son to sleep in his bedroom in the English city of Leicester, Higgins, who has written in-depth reports on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, was engaging in an online war of words with a pro-Kremlin blogger over Twitter. This time he and his Bellingcat project, funded by fans and supporters, were being accused of taking money from Kiev to produce some of his hardest-hitting work, which has riled pro-Kremlin separatists and those in Moscow who support them

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State Dept. has yet to clear its computer network of hackers: WSJ

Three months after the U.S. State Department confirmed hackers breached its unclassified email system, the government has still not been able to evict them from the network, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing three people familiar with the investigation. Government officials, assisted by outside contractors and the National Security Agency, have repeatedly scanned the network and taken some systems offline, the Journal reported.

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NSA, British spies hack Gemalto to tap mobile calls: Intercept

(Reuters) – Digital security company Gemalto NV was hacked by American and British spies to steal encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications, news website Intercept reported, citing documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack by the National Security Agency (NSA) and UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allowed the agencies to monitor a large portion of voice and data mobile communications around the world without permission from governments and telecom companies, according to the report. NSA could not be immediately reached for comment

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Revenge porn operator agrees to plea to criminal charges in Los Angeles

(Refiles story dated February 18, correcting first name of defendant to Hunter instead of Michael in second paragraph) By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A man who posted explicit photos of women on his so-called revenge porn website, some taken from hacked email accounts, has agreed to plead guilty in Los Angeles to hacking and identity theft charges, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The plea agreement between Hunter Moore, 28, and federal prosecutors comes nearly three years after BBC News called him “The net’s most hated man” and reported that he was known to post the full name and location of people whose naked photos he featured on his site

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Lenovo to stop pre-installing controversial software

By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – China's Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest PC maker, said on Thursday it will no longer pre-install software that cybersecurity experts said was malicious and made devices vulnerable to hacking. Lenovo had come under fire from security researchers who said earlier on Thursday the company pre-installed a virus-like software from a company called Superfish on consumer laptops that hijacked web connections and allowed them to be spied upon.

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