Top News: Accenture hit by ransomware, Google blocks targeted ads for under-18s

Google blocks targeted ads for under-18s

Google restricts targeted advertising based on the age, gender, or interests of anyone under 18. The company would also turn off its "location history" for its under 18 users and introduce a policy for young users and their parents or guardians to request the removal of children's images from Google Image search results. Full Story

Accenture hit by ransomware

Accenture was hit by a ransomware breach by the LockBit ransomware gang that claims they received assistance from an insider. Accenture did not acknowledge the attack but stated that it had identified irregular activity in one of its environments “and immediately contained the matter and isolated the affected servers." Full Story

Student proves bias in Twitter’s image cropping algorithm

Weeks after announcing its bounty challenge, Twitter has paid $3,500 to a student for proving its image cropping algorithm prefers younger, slimmer faces with lighter skin. The bias was proved by first artificially generating faces with varying features, and then running them through Twitter’s cropping algorithm to see which the software focused on. Full Story

Apple to report child abuse images on iCloud

Apple to roll out a new technology that will allow it to detect and report known child sexual abuse material to law enforcement. The new system will use a process called hashing to detect such images uploaded to the iCloud and will be part of an iOS update later this year. Full Story

Mozilla introduces Enhanced Cookie Clearing

Mozilla’s Firefox browser will receive a new feature with its Firefox 91 update that will allow users to erase all the cookies and supercookies stored on their systems. The Enhanced Cookie Clearing feature will let users browse the web without being tracked. Full Story