But that’s not all. Every week we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth. Click the headline to read the full story. And stay safe.
At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week, the company will reportedly unveil its own standalone password manager to rival apps like 1Password and LastPass. According to Bloomberg News, the app will simply be called Passwords and will go far beyond the iCloud and Mac Keychain tools Apple already offers, allowing users to store passwords for Wi-Fi networks, save passkeys and organize login credentials by category. Passwords will reportedly work on Windows machines as well, but it’s unclear whether those with Android devices will be able to take advantage of the security tool.
US prosecutors on Monday charged executives at The Epoch Times with running a massive money laundering scheme. According to the Department of Justice, the paper’s chief financial officer, Weidong Bill Guan, was involved in “an international scheme to launder at least approximately $67 million in illicitly obtained funds to benefit himself and his media companies.”
According to the indictment against Guan, the scheme primarily involved using the cryptocurrency to purchase prepaid debit cards “loaded with U.S. dollars obtained through various frauds” at prices lower than the balances on the prepaid debit cards. The cards also contained funds obtained through unemployment benefits fraud. The Department of Justice said the purchases of the cards were made by members of The Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online” team, which Guan controlled. The so-called MMO team then allegedly used “stolen personal identifying information” to open various accounts and transfer funds from the prepaid debit cards to bank accounts associated with The Epoch Times and its employees. Guan is charged with one count of money laundering conspiracy and two counts of bank fraud, which could result in decades in prison if convicted.
Former Google CEO and billionaire Eric Schmidt is quietly starting a military drone company, Forbes reports. The company, called White Stalk, is testing drones both at its Hillspire office complex in Menlo Park, California, and in Ukraine. Few details about the company or its technology have been made public. But Forbes reports that “someone has been spotted flying a small drone” near the Hillspire site, and Schmidt has reportedly hired former Google, SpaceX, and Apple employees to work on the secret project, offering some clues about the company’s ambitions.
Cyber attacks on organisations responsible for blood transfusions and other sensitive medical care disrupted hospitals and other healthcare facilities across London this week. The attacks targeted Synnobis, which manages the partnership between King’s College Hospital Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Trust, and Synlab, a European medical testing company. Synnobis said in a statement on Tuesday that the attack “affected all Synnobis IT systems, disrupting a number of pathology services”, forcing hospitals to halt operations such as blood transfusions. Ciaran Martin, a former UK senior cybersecurity official, blamed the attack on Kirin, a cybercrime group believed to have links to Russia.
