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Facebook currently faces 10 investigations into whether the company — including its WhatsApp and Instagram platforms — violated new European privacy laws, which are stricter than their U.S. counterparts. But it's not the only one. Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and LinkedIn are all being probed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, for violating the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which was implemented in May 2018, the agency revealed in a report released on Thursday. Ireland's DPC is the lead regulator for the European Union because so many of the multinational tech giants have their European headquarters there. In September, Facebook announced a problem in its "View As" feature that led to an attack on almost 30 million accounts. In December the company announced a software bug that exposed the photos of nearly seven million users to third-party apps without user consent. Three of the potential GDPR violations are related to the September breach, which the company self-reported to the DPC, according to the report. Regulators are examining whether Facebook correctly handled notifying European authorities of the breach and user data. Two probes are focused on WhatsApp, which is often considered the most secure of the platforms because of its end-to-end encryption. One is related to how it handles user privacy and how it shares information with Facebook outside of the app. Twitter and Apple also face two probes each. LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, faces one. While one of the probes against Twitter comes after it self-reported a "large number of breaches," the company is also being investigated for how much access users have to their own data. Is anybody safe from GDPR find out on OUR FORUM?

Users of Kaspersky Antivirus have been complaining since the end of January that when they open Chrome Kaspersky displays numerous alerts stating that there is a problem with a self-signed certificate. It turns out this is being caused by a conflict with a Chromecast device on their network that they may not know even existed. These errors are being displayed by Kaspersky's engine that allows it to scan encrypted SSL traffic for malicious content. In a new Chromium bug report opened today, a Google employee states that there has been an increase in Chromecast discovery issues from Windows users and that it appears to be related to antivirus software. "There's been a sudden increase in device discovery reports," states the bug report. "Reviewing the reports indicated that it's common on the Windows platform. And reviewing of the logs show a commonality of cast channel authentication errors, which can often be attributed to Anti Virus/security software." When investigating further, he noted that Kaspersky users have been complaining about these problems since the end of January, which appears to be the same period that the Chromecast discovery reports started to increase. Google has stated that they have reached out to Kaspersky to resolve the issue. To test this, BleepingComputer fired up a virtual machine and installed a free trial of Kaspersky Total Security. After being installed, I opened Chrome and was immediately greeted with the same error that the Kaspersky users have been seeing. I assure you there's more posted on OUR FORUM.

A new Microsoft laboratory at the Delft University of Technology is the latest step towards making quantum computing a reality. The Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft, which was opened today by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, is the culmination of a partnership between Microsoft and QuTech to collaboratively research the building blocks for a quantum computer. Leo Kouwenhoven, Scientific Director of Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft as well as Professor at the Delft University of Technology, stated that “With the opening of this Lab, we see what is possible when business, science, and the government unite.  Together, we have built a world-class laboratory in Delft which will enable us to expedite the development of a revolutionary quantum computer. The Netherlands now has the necessary ingredients to develop the type of computer power that could drastically change humankind’s daily lives – from personalized medicine to the development of new renewable energy sources.” Unlike current classical computers, quantum computers will be able to perform calculations and tasks at a far faster rate and a greater level of complexity than even the most powerful of today’s supercomputers. Harnessing this computational power has the potential to revolutionize society and the world that we inhabit. The opening of the new lab strengthens the Netherlands’ standing in quantum research, while also offering opportunities to other parties to become involved. During the opening, the Netherlands’ Secretary of State Mona Keijzer (Economic Affairs and Climate) stressed that science, industry, and the government should join forces to consolidate this leading position. Full story posted on OUR FORUM.