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Top IT News of the Week (31/2021)

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IT news #1: Londoners to enjoy 4G coverage while using London Underground

Topic: 4G, mobile

Sadiq Khan pledged to transform the Tube network and install 4G mobile coverage by the end of 2024. The mayor of London has announced that all the capital’s underground stations will have uninterrupted 4G mobile coverage as part of his plan. The work has already begun on major stations like Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Bank, Euston and Camden Town. This initiative is followed by a trial that was carried out on the Waterloo & City line during the summer of 2017. Passengers have also been able to enjoy phone reception as of March 2020. The infrastructure plan will also be upgradeable to 5G in the future with no exact date announced.

IT news #2: Online retailer Amazon to breach European Union data protection laws

Topic: Data protection, data breach

The BBC reported that Amazon was fined an estimated £636m fine after breaking the European Union’s data protection laws. Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection claimed the company failed to comply with the law when processing customer’s personal data and issued the fine on the 16th of July. The online retailer disagrees and states that it is “without merit” and would also defend itself against the accusation. However, according to the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), companies need the consent of their customers before sharing any of their personal information and it also doesn’t support misinformation. The cause of this severe penalty is not yet known.

IT news #3: Voice cloning to become the new trend for cybercriminals

Topic: Cybercrime

The threat landscape is getting more advanced by the day. So much so that voice cloning technology is becoming ever more effective among those newly developed threats. Voice cloning is a technology that uses a computer program to create a synthetic, adaptable copy of a person’s voice. From just a simple recording, it can replicate someone’s voice speaking any words or sentences typed into a keyboard. It can also pick up accents, timbre, pitch, breathing – and the flow of speaking. Shockingly, after analysing all these factors, it can then change the cloned voice to convey an emotion like anger, happiness or fear. However, voice cloning is also a growing interest for voice actors.

IT news #4: Zoom to pay settlement money over privacy breaches

Topic: Data breach

The teleconferencing software, Zoom, used by millions worldwide, is paying a £61 million fee to settle a lawsuit over weak privacy controls that have given away the personal information of its users at the beginning of the pandemic. The suit also argues it was easy for outsiders to disrupt video meetings through ‘Zoombombing’ during the first few months of the pandemic. Millions in the US can be eligible for a slice of the settlement who have used the software since the 31st of March 2020. It was confirmed that Zoom had security issues earlier last year as it became almost overnight the go-to space for meetings of all kinds. The first hearing on the settlement is expected to be on the 21st of October in California.

Curated with love by TWC IT Solutions.