PARIS, July 29, 2024 (AFP) – The fibre optic networks of several telecommunications operators have been “sabotaged” in six areas of France but Paris is not affected, police said on Monday. The incident occurred three days after coordinated acts of sabotage paralysed high-speed train services hours before the Olympics opening ceremony, disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands of people.
Tag: Internet
Japan video-sharing site Niconico hit by cyberattack
TOKYO (AFP) – Popular Japanese video-sharing website Niconico has suspended its services as it has been under “a large-scale cyberattack,” its operator said. “Currently, Niconico is under a large-scale cyberattack, and we are suspending our services to minimise its impact,” operator Dwango said in a statement late Saturday. “We are hastily investigating and taking countermeasures, but we won’t be able to restore the service until we make sure about its safety after completely excluding the […]
Tycoon Musk touches down in Bali for Starlink launch
DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 19, 2024 (AFP) – Tech billionaire Elon Musk launched Sunday his Starlink service on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali as the country aims to extend internet to its remote areas. Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, are not currently hooked up to reliable internet services. Musk, making his first visit to the Southeast Asian nation, inaugurated the satellite unit services at a clinic in Bali’s […]
Iraqi female TikTok star shot dead: officials
BAGHDAD, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – A gunman on a motorbike shot dead a well-known Iraqi social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghad home on Friday, Iraqi security officials told AFP. An unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media. Another security source said the attacker appeared to have pretended to be […]
Hundreds rescued from Philippines scam centre: police
Hundreds of people forced to work in an online scam centre in the Philippines were rescued in a raid on Thursday that also saw eight suspects arrested, according to police. Acting on a tip from a Vietnamese man who alleged to have escaped the sprawling compound north of capital Manila, police said they unmasked an operation where suspected victims of human trafficking were forced into conducting various online scams. “The rescued workers told us (the […]
Digital media upstart Vice laying off ‘several hundred’ staff: CEO
WASHINGTON, Feb 23, 2024 (AFP) – Vice, the dynamic, fast-growing digital media company that gained a wide following with young readers, said Thursday it will no longer publish on its flagship website and is eliminating hundreds of jobs. Millennial-focused and known for its edgy news and lifestyle content, Vice had been among the rising stars of a new breed of digital media firms but struggled as advertising revenues shrank. The move is the latest dose […]
Cisco announces it is laying off thousands of workers
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Cisco is cutting thousands of jobs as part of a restructuring plan, the computer networking giant announced Wednesday. About 5 percent of Cisco’s global workforce will be affected by the layoffs, the Silicon Valley-based company said while announcing its latest quarterly earnings figures. Cisco ended last year with nearly 85,000 employees, according to its website. Analysts say that tech layoffs could become a new normal for Silicon Valley […]
US says it broke up China-backed infrastructure hacking op
WASHINGTON, Jan 31, 2024 (AFP) – US authorities said Wednesday they had dismantled a network of hackers known as Volt Typhoon, which was targeting key American public sector infrastructure like water treatment plants and transportation systems at the behest of China. FBI Director Christopher Wray explained the operation in testimony before a congressional committee on US-China competition, and the Justice Department offered more details in a statement. In May 2023, the United States and its […]
META CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologises to social media victims at US Senate child safety hearing
By Alex PIGMAN WASHINGTON, Jan 31, 2024 (AFP) – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a public apology in US Congress on Wednesday as hostile lawmakers grilled tech chiefs over the dangers that children face on social media platforms. The executives convened by the US Senate Judiciary Committee were put to task in a session titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis.” Tech giants are confronting a torrent of political anger for not […]
EU examines Microsoft investment in OpenAI
BRUSSELS, Jan 9, 2024 (AFP) – The European Union’s competition regulator said Tuesday it was looking into Microsoft’s investment into ChatGPT developer OpenAI to see if it merits further investigation under the bloc’s merger rules. The European Commission said in a statement it was “checking whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the EU Merger Regulation”. The move is part of efforts by Brussels to make sure its oversight can catch up with […]
X users report global outage: monitoring site
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of global users of X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday reported problems using the Elon Musk-owned social network. Reports of the platform’s troubles began spiking just before 0600 GMT on monitoring site Downdetector. “User reports indicate problems at X (Twitter),” the site said. Timelines on the platform were emptied and no new posts visible, although the twitter.com site was available. With no way to post on […]
Drug cartels turning to online games for recruitment and sales
By Marc Antoine BAUDOUX STRASBOURG, France, Dec 20, 2023 (AFP) – Narcotics police the world over are sprucing up their video game skills, as cartels go increasingly online to sell drugs and recruit dealers. “Cartels have been incredibly tech savvy over recent years, reaching vast audiences,” Benjamin Shultz, foreign malign influence analyst at Deloitte, told a Council of Europe meeting. “The Sinaloa Cartel has a Twitter account with almost 200,000 followers and they tend to […]





