Huawei Announces Last Major Phone Before US Ban Forces Rethink

Huawei introduced the Mate 40 smartphone series on Thursday, potentially its last major release powered by its self-designed Kirin chips. From a report: China’s biggest tech company by sales has been stockpiling chips to get its signature device out in time to compete with Apple’s iPhone 12 over the holidays. Huawei will have to overhaul its smartphone lineup after Trump administration…

Owners of BitMEX, a Leading Bitcoin Exchange, Face Criminal Charges

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: American authorities brought criminal charges on Thursday against the owners of one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading exchanges, BitMEX, accusing them of allowing the Hong Kong-based company to launder money and engage in other illegal transactions. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted the chief executive of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, and…

Ransomware Victims That Pay Up Could Incur Steep Fines from Uncle Sam

Krebs on Security: Companies victimized by ransomware and firms that facilitate negotiations with ransomware extortionists could face steep fines from the U.S. federal government if the crooks who profit from the attack are already under economic sanctions, the Treasury Department warned today. In its advisory, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said “companies that facilitate ransomware payments to cyber…

US-China Fight Spreads To the Chip Factory

The Trump administration’s campaign against TikTok gets all the headlines, but the U.S. move last week to place restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s top chipmaker, could end up making a greater difference. From a report: Semiconductor analysts say SMIC represented China’s strongest bid to build a domestic chip industry and bolster its tech independence. Sanctions that cut off…

Chinese Leaders Split Over Releasing Blacklist of US Companies

Beijing has sped up development of a blacklist that could be used to punish American technology firms, but officials say leaders are hesitating to pull the trigger, with some arguing a decision on the list should wait till after the U.S. election. From a report: The debate highlights Beijing’s continued grappling with how to respond to the Trump administration without driving…

US Company Faces Backlash After Belarus Uses Its Tech To Block Internet

Senators Dick Durbin and Marco Rubio are criticizing Sandvine Inc., the U.S. company whose technology helped Belarus block much of the internet during a disputed presidental election last month. Bloomberg reports: The private-equity-backed technology firm demonstrated its equipment to a government security team in Belarus in May, two people with knowledge of the matter said, and its marketing materials boast of…

Huawei CFO Asks For Extradition Case To Be Stayed, Says US Misled Canada

hackingbear writes: Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, have applied to a Canadian court seeking stays in the proceedings for her extradition to the United States, documents released on Thursday showed. The applications are based in part on what Meng’s lawyers allege was a destruction of the integrity of the judicial process by United States President…

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Wants To Create a Government-Funded AI University

The U.S. government’s approach of letting Silicon Valley drive the country’s technological boom has left the government itself scrambling for tech talent. Now, a federal commission led by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work wants to create a university to train new government coders. From a report: The school would be called the U.S….

Huawei Fights Back

mspohr writes: Looks like Huawei is going to fight back against the U.S. for the sanctions it has imposed on the company… using the U.S. patent system, which recently made some changes to FRAND agreements (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) to make it even easier to sue. They’re starting with Verizon and its suppliers, HP and Cisco. “It has filed patent infringement…

China Will Sanction Lockheed Martin Over Arms Sales To Taiwan

China said on Tuesday it would place sanctions on Lockheed Martin for its involvement in arms sales to Taiwan, a move that could further escalate tensions between Beijing and Washington. hackingbear writes: “China firmly opposes US arms sales to Taiwan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference. Taiwan is a self-ruled island, but China has long vowed to…