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Category: Europe

GDPR Compliance in the US: Checklist and Requirements

The European Union (EU)’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) isn’t just a European concern. As GDPR-U.S. interactions become more complex, international businesses (including American ones) must comply with this regulation when handling data from EU citizens. If your company collects, processes, or stores data from the EU or European Economic Area (EEA)—including Iceland, Norway, and…

EU to take aim at healthcare cyber threat

The European Commission is presenting an action plan to strengthen cybersecurity in healthcare as one of its key priorities in the first 100 days of the commission’s new mandate. The healthcare sector has been under increasing pressure from cyberattacks in the past few years, with 309 cybersecurity incidents reported by member states in 2023. Ransomware…

Europe orders Elon Musk’s X to submit documents on its recommendation algorithms

The European Commission (EC) says it has requested information from Elon Musk’s X related to the algorithms that determine the content it recommends to users. The EC wants to determine how those algorithms may or may not be compliant with the Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes key obligations on online platforms operating across the…

Nelly raises $51 million to digitalize medical practices across Europe

Nelly wants to become the biggest fintech startup in the healthcare industry. The Berlin-based startup is already working with more than 1,200 medical practices in a handful of European countries. But there are thousands more that could benefit from an upgrade for their administrative workflows. That’s why Nelly recently raised €50 million in funding (around…

Venture funding remains stable in France thanks to AI startups

Alex Dewez, a partner at 20VC, just released its highly anticipated State of the French tech ecosystem report. This is a nice followup to Atomico’s State of European Tech report, with a more granular view on French startups in particular. As a reminder, the bottom line of Atomico’s report is that European startups raised $45…

Fancy Bear spotted using real Kazak government documents in spearpishing campaign

A hacking group linked to Russian intelligence has been observed leveraging seemingly legitimate documents from the Kazakhstan government as phishing lures to infect and spy on government officials in Central Asia, according to researchers at Sekoia. The files, laced with malware, include draft versions of diplomatic statements, correspondence letters, internal administrative notes and other documents…

CoreWeave, a $19B AI compute provider, opens its first international data centers in the UK

Coreweave, the $19 billion cloud computing company that provides companies with AI compute resources, has formally opened its first two data centers in the U.K. — its first outside its domestic U.S. market. CoreWeave opened its European headquarters in London last May, shortly after hitting a $19 billion valuation off the back of a $1.1.…

Mastodon announces transition to non-profit structure

Decentralized social network organization Mastodon said Monday that it is planning to create a new non-profit organization in Europe and hand over ownership of entities responsible for key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components. This means one person won’t have control over the entire project. The organization is trying to differentiate itself from social networks controlled…

EU approves $35B Synopsys and Ansys merger, subject to divestment conditions

The European Commission (EC) has given the greenlight for Synopsys to acquire Ansys, though the companies must divest some half-a-dozen products as part of the proposed remedies. Chip design software maker Synopsys revealed last January its plans to acquire Ansys, a simulation software developer that helps engineers model and analyze the physical behavior of products, such as chips,…

Facebook Marketplace to display eBay listings to appease EU regulators

Meta is set to start displaying eBay listings in its own Facebook Marketplace classifieds platform, in an effort to appease European regulators. Back in November, Meta was hit with a €798 million fine by the European Commission (EC) in Europe for breaching antitrust rules. The EC contended that Meta created “unfair trading conditions” by connecting…

The biggest data breach fines, penalties, and settlements so far

Sizable fines assessed for data breaches in recent years suggest that regulators are getting more serious about cracking down on organizations that don’t properly protect consumer data. Hit with a $ 1.3 billion fine for unlawfully transferring personal data from the European Union to the US, Meta tops the list of recent big-ticket sanctions, with…

May Mobility reveals electric autonomous minibus at CES 2025

May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle technology startup, unveiled at CES 2025 the next vehicle in its portfolio: an electric, autonomous minibus made in partnership with European electric bus manufacturer Tecnobus.  Ann Arbor-based May Mobility offers on-demand and fixed-route autonomous shuttles on campuses and in planned communities. Today its fleet consists of 40 Toyota Sienna minivans that…

Holiday Shopping Meets Cyber Threats: How Source Defense Detected the ESA Store Attack

by Source Defense In a recent high-profile incident covered by Forbes, our Source Defense Research team identified a sophisticated Magecart attack targeting the European Space Agency’s online store. This case study demonstrates why leading organizations worldwide trust Source Defense to protect their client-side security. In the December 2024 incident, Forbes reported what it called “one…

SquareX Researchers Expose OAuth Attack on Chrome Extensions Days Before Major Breach

SquareX, an industry-first Browser Detection and Response (BDR) solution, leads the way in browser security. About a week ago, SquareX reported large-scale attacks targeting Chrome Extension developers aimed at taking over the Chrome Extension from the Chrome Store. On December 25th, 2024, a malicious version of Cyberhaven’s browser extension was published on the Chrome Store that…

The CSO guide to top security conferences

There is nothing like attending a face-to-face event for career networking and knowledge gathering, and we don’t have to tell you how helpful it can be to get a hands-on demo of a new tool or to have your questions answered by experts. Fortunately, plenty of great conferences are coming up in the months ahead.…

Permira’s Brian Ruder talks AI, Squarespace acquisition, and the value of co-leadership

It has been a busy year in the private equity realm, with countless big-money acquisitions unfolding. The take-private space specifically has seen some sizable transactions, with private equity firms spearheading more than a dozen billion-dollar deals for public tech companies. London-headquartered Permira was a key protagonist, joining Blackstone to acquire European online classifieds group Adevinta…

Italy Fines OpenAI €15 Million for ChatGPT GDPR Data Privacy Violations

Italy’s data protection authority has fined ChatGPT maker OpenAI a fine of €15 million ($15.66 million) over how the generative artificial intelligence application handles personal data. The fine comes nearly a year after the Garante found that ChatGPT processed users’ information to train its service in violation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation…

Nvidia clears regulatory hurdle to acquire Run:ai

Chip company Nvidia gets the green light from the European Union to complete its acquisition of Run:ai. The EU came to a unanimous decision today that Nvidia could go ahead with its acquisition of Israeli GPU orchestration platform Run:ai, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The European Commission determined that if the merger went through other…

European Solo GP Robin Capital closes first fund with €15M to play with

Robin Capital — the Germany-based, Solo GP-led VC fund by former entrepreneur Robin Haak — has hit its final close of ‘Robin Fund One’ at €13 million. Combined with its additional growth-focused investment vehicle of €2m, the fund now has a total of €15 million to play with. In the realm of European Solo GPs,…

Sequoia’s Matt Miller is exiting the firm after making headlines earlier this year

The writing was on the wall, seemingly.  Sequoia Capital partner Matt Miller announced on Wednesday that he’s leaving the powerhouse outfit after a 12-year career to build his own new firm focused on European founders. He added he will remain a venture partner with Sequoia and maintain his board seats while fleshing out the “specifics…

EU asks for views on plan to force Apple to open up iOS

The European Commission has published draft proposals for how Apple must meet interoperability requirements flowing from the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) — inviting feedback on proposed measures targeted at areas like iOS notifications, data transfer, and device set-up by January 9, 2025. European Union regulators then have until around mid March to adopt final…

Apple and Meta go to war over interoperability vs. privacy

Apple and Meta are warring in Europe over the balance between interoperability and privacy, Reuters reports. The fight focuses on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a competition regulation that requires designated gatekeepers (including Apple and Meta) not to restrict rivals’ access to so-called core platform services. In Apple’s case, this means: iOS, iPadOS,…

In potential reversal, European authorities say AI can indeed use personal data — without consent — for training

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued a wide-ranging report on Wednesday exploring the many complexities and intricacies of modern AI model development. It said that it was open to potentially allowing personal data, without owner’s consent, to train models, as long as the finished application does not reveal any of that private information. This…

HubPhish Exploits HubSpot Tools to Target 20,000 European Users for Credential Theft

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new phishing campaign that has targeted European companies with an aim to harvest account credentials and take control of the victims’ Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. The campaign has been codenamed HubPhish by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 owing to the abuse of HubSpot tools in the attack chain. Targets include…

Five years later… Netflix hit with Dutch data access fine

Five years later sounds like a half-baked sequel to a well-known zombie flick franchise. But it’s a reference to how long it’s taken a data access complaint against Netflix to deliver a penalty decision in the European Union. The fine that’s — finally — been issued under the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is…

Meta fined $263M over 2018 security breach that affected ~3M EU users

Meta has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) in the European Union for a Facebook security breach that affected millions of users which the company disclosed back in September 2018. The penalty, issued on Tuesday by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) — enforcing the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — is far from…

EU to investigate TikTok’s response to election security risks in Romania

TikTok is now subject to not one but two open Digital Services Act (DSA) investigations after the European Union announced on Tuesday that it has opened a formal proceeding focused on election risks — and specifically risks in the context of recent elections in Romania. The probe will focus on TikTok’s recommender systems — principally “risks…

EU signs $11B deal for sovereign satellite constellation to rival Musk’s Starlink

The European Union is forging ahead with plans for a constellation of internet satellites to rival Elon Musk-owned Starlink, after signing a €10.6 billion ($11.1B) deal to launch nearly 300 satellites into low- and medium-Earth orbits by 2030. The bloc wants the space tech to boost its digital sovereignty by providing secure comms to governments.…

Controversial EU ad campaign on X broke bloc’s own privacy rules

The European Union’s executive body is facing an embarrassing privacy scandal after it was confirmed on Friday that a Commission ad campaign on X (formerly Twitter) breached the EU’s own data protection rules. The finding, by the EU’s oversight body the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), relates to a microtargeted ad campaign that the Commission…

International crackdown disrupts DDoS-for-hire operations

In a sweeping international crackdown, law enforcement agencies from 15 countries, including the United States and multiple European nations, have dismantled 27 of the most popular platforms used for carrying out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, Europol announced Wednesday. The operation, known as PowerOFF, has led to the arrest of three administrators in France and Germany…

Russian Military Cyber Actors Target US and Global Critical Infrastructure

Summary The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and National Security Agency (NSA) assess that cyber actors affiliated with the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) 161st Specialist Training Center (Unit 29155) are responsible for computer network operations against global targets for the purposes of espionage, sabotage, and reputational…

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