Brazilian data breach + more things

2 minutes estimated reading time

Massive Brazilian Data Breach – Schneier on Security – some 220 million people affected in the Brazilian data breach. So it is one of the biggest data breaches to date. I do wonder why the Brazilian data breach has not a lot of coverage outside of Portuguese language media? More related content here.

Why Ericsson took on its own government to defend rival Huawei | Financial TimesChina’s support of Huawei, through cheap funding and much else, is well known, and has led to a commercial advantage that Ericsson and Nokia can find hard to counter on their own. Will Europe, for which 5G is a rare technological sector where it enjoys a clear lead over the US, stand up for its homegrown talent?

Intel reveals ‘hacked’ earnings release was on guessable URL | Financial Times – that isn’t a hack, its good journalism

North Korea hackers use social media to target security researchers | Financial Times – this is good espionage practice and similar to the Chinese MSS in mode and method

Facebook sparks anger after shutting socialist pages | Financial Times – it makes sense that an algorithm would see far right and far left organisations as similar

Should Universities Try to Capture More Value from Their Research? – Knowledge@Whartonuniversity research has produced pathbreaking innovations across many disciplines, many of which have been commercialized successfully. Yet, on average, universities capture 16% of the value they help create through licensing revenues or equity stakes in the startups their research spawns. Furthermore, some researchers and universities are much better able to commercialize their discoveries compared to others, even holding constant the discovery itself

How China’s delivery apps are putting riders at risk | Financial Timesin legal disputes, a high level of management by the platform can be taken as evidence that it has a labour relationship with the driver. In 2018, a Shansong courier who had been injured while driving won a court ruling on this basis. One might place some of the responsibility on the engineers who maintain the apps. But they too are victims of labour exploitation, working the infamous “996” shift of 9am-9pm, six days a week. Like delivery drivers, they have decided such an occupation is, so far, their best option. But a country that prides itself on its tech innovation and its booming economy should be able to provide better choices