Fine
Comcast to pay $1.5M fine for vendor breach affecting 270K customers
Comcast will pay a $1.5 million fine to settle a Federal Communications Commission investigation into a February 2024 vendor data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 275,000 customers. The breach occurred in February 2024, when attackers hacked into the systems of Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS), a debt collector Comcast had stopped using two […]
Imgur blocks UK users after data watchdog signals possible fine
People in the United Kingdom are no longer able to access content hosted on the Imgur, a popular media sharing site, after a UK data watchdog warned it may impose a monetary penalty on the parent company, MediaLab. Visitors to the site are now shown a message stating, “Content not available in your region,” with a […]
EU fines Google $3.5 billion for anti-competitive ad practices
The European Commission has fined Google €2.95 billion ($3.5 billion) for abusing its dominance in the digital advertising technology market and favoring its adtech services over those of its competitors. Google was also ordered by the EU’s top antitrust regulator to stop anti-competitive and “self-preferencing” practices and take measures to mitigate future conflicts of interest […]
France slaps Google with €325M fine for violating cookie regulations
The French data protection authority has fined Google €325 million ($378 million) for violating cookie regulations and displaying ads between Gmail users’ emails without their consent. During several investigations between 2022 and 2023, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) found that Google’s Gmail email service displayed advertisements in the “Promotions” and “Social” tabs without the […]
Germany fines Vodafone $51 million for privacy, security breaches
The German data protection authority (BfDI) has fined Vodafone GmbH, the telecommunications company’s German subsidiary, €45 million ($51.4 million) for privacy and security violations. “Due to malicious employees in partner agencies who broker contracts to customers on behalf of Vodafone, there had been fraud cases due to fictitious contracts or contract changes at the expense of […]
NSO Group fined $167M for spyware attacks on 1,400 WhatsApp users
A U.S. federal jury has ordered Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group to pay WhatsApp $167,254,000 in punitive damages and $444,719 in compensatory damages for a 2019 campaign that targeted 1,400 users of the communication app. The verdict is considered a landmark case for being the first time a spyware vendor is held accountable in court, […]
TikTok fined €530 million for sending European user data to China
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined TikTok €530 million (over $601 million) for illegally transferring the personal data of users in the European Economic Area (EEA) to China, violating the European Union’s GDPR data protection regulations. The administrative fines imposed by the Irish watchdog consist of a fine of €485 million for its […]
Apple fined €150 million over App Tracking Transparency issues
Autorité de la concurrence, France’s antitrust watchdog, has fined Apple €150 million ($162 million) for using the App Tracking Transparency privacy framework to abuse its dominant market position in mobile app advertising on its devices. App Tracking Transparency (ATT) requires apps to request users’ permission to collect their data for targeted advertising purposes before tracking them […]
UK fines software provider £3.07 million for 2022 ransomware breach
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a £3.07 million fine on Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd for a 2022 ransomware attack that exposed the sensitive personal data of 79,404 people, including National Health Service (NHS) patients. The cyberattack was announced in early August 2022 when various NHS services, including 111 emergency services, suffered significant outages, pointing […]
FTC will send $25.5 million to victims of tech support scams
Later this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will start distributing over $25.5 million in refunds to those misled by tech support companies Restoro and Reimage’s scare tactics. The FTC will send 736,375 PayPal payments starting March 13 to consumers tricked into paying for unnecessary computer repair services. Between now and March 13, those eligible […]