EncryptoTel weekly digest(28.07.19)

Facebook’s record fine, growing demand for Microsoft cloud services and de-anonymization of users in Russia

Facebook was fined $ 5 billion for leaking user data

On July 24, 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission officially announced a $ 5 billion fine for Facebook for illegally disclosing user data of 87 million people to Cambridge Analytica. This was the largest fine imposed by the trade commission in history. The penalty is almost 20 times greater than any sanctions ever imposed for such violations in the world in general, noted in the US Commerce Commission.

Facebook is also obliged to create an independent data protection committee, whose members can only be promoted by a majority vote on the company’s board of directors. In addition, the company will designate specialists who will be responsible for the data protection program. Also, Facebook will have to report any incidents involving data leakage of more than 500 users.

Microsoft reported a record increase in revenue from cloud services

In the fourth quarter of 2019, Microsoft earned $ 33.7 billion (+ 12%), while net profit jumped 49% year to year to $ 13.2 billion. The main growth driver was cloud services: this division increased its revenue by 39% to $ 11 billion, and sales of its base product — the corporate “cloud” Azure — jumped to 64%.

“Revenue from commercial clouds in the fourth quarter increased by 39% compared to the same period last year and amounted to $ 11 billion. This was the best result in the entire history of this commercial sector, ”said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

Russian authorities propose to bind e-mail addresses to a telephone number

A bill has been submitted to the State Duma suggesting to bind e-mail addresses to telephone numbers from January 1, 2020. In fact, mandatory binding of e-mail to a telephone number is added to the existing requirements for identifying instant messengers users. According to Russian law, subscribers of mobile networks are required to show identification documents at registration. Thus, the bill submitted to the State Duma will lead to a complete de-anonymization of users e-mail addresses and linking e-mail addresses to a passport (via a mobile number).

According to the new draft law, the services will also be obliged to limit the transfer of messages of certain e-mails within 24 hours, if such a request is received from the authorities. The reason for blocking an e-mail can be the transmission of messages containing information prohibited in Russia. It is not clear from the text of the document who will determine that the message contains prohibited information — an authorized federal authority or operator. If it will be an email service provider, then we are talking about automatic censorship of messages. Also, the services will have to provide “technical possibility for users to refuse emails from other addresses”.

Tor collected donations 2 times bigger than the planned amount.

Tor, which is responsible for developing the Tor browser, which allows you to use the Internet in a private and anonymous format and bypass the blocks, launched a campaign to financially support the project and in two weeks collected almost 2 times the required amount. The funds raised will be used to combat censorship. It was originally planned to collect $ 10,000 in bitcoins, but this amount was collected 25 hours after the start of the crowdfunding campaign. Almost two weeks after the start of the collection, users donated more than $ 18,000 to the Tor project, which is 180% of the target amount. Donations came from almost 500 people, some donated more than $ 1,000. Still 1 day remains until the end of the campaign.

“Every day we in the Tor project are fighting to ensure that people all over the world have the ability to access the Internet without censorship. Tor has become the most powerful tool in the world that provides privacy and freedom on the Internet. But Tor is more than just a software. “ This is a community of thousands of people around the world who value human rights. The Tor project is designed to ensure the transparency and security of its users.”

EncryptoTel starts a new chapter of PBX development

Our team continues to develop the world’s first virtual PBX with a high degree of confidentiality EncryptoTel. Last week, the developers of EncryptoTel started to work on a new set of tasks. Among them:

- Implementation of the data exchange service between software products on the accounting and management 1C and virtual PBX EncryptoTel,

- Creation of reference books for customer accounting, synchronization with 1C accounting,

- Creation of a database for CRM, which includes server deployment, installation and provision of access to the database,

- iOS app development

- Android application support

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