Tech Digest daily roundup: Electoral Commission failed basic cybersecurity test
The Electoral Commission has confirmed it failed a basic cyber-security test around the same time hackers gained entry to the organisation. A whistleblower told the BBC that the Commission was given an automatic fail during a Cyber Essentials audit. Last month the Commission revealed that “hostile actors” accessed its emails and potentially the data of 40 million voters. A spokeswoman said the Commission had still not passed the basic test. In August the election watchdog announced hackers broke into their IT systems in August 2021 and had access to sensitive data until October 2022. BBC
Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League after accusing the civil rights group that campaigns against antisemitism and bigotry of trying to “kill” his X social media platform. The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, said the ADL was trying to shut down his company by “falsely accusing it and me of being antisemitic”. In a series of posts on X, Musk said advertising sales for the business were down 60% and “based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss”.
Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
Sex offenders are targeting children inside virtual reality environments, a new study has warned – with some victims even suffering the physical response to being touched without their consent. The “phantom touch” sensation is one of several forms of exploitation detailed in research commissioned by the NSPCC charity, with a warning these immersive online platforms are presenting a “monumental hurdle” for law enforcement and efforts to protect vulnerable youngsters. It said virtual reality…was giving offenders new opportunities to commit their crimes. Sky News
At T3 towers, we’re all excited about the probable launch of the iPhone 15 next week. According to the rumours, it could be a shoo-in for the best phones, but there’s one small (or big) caveat. The price. Are you sitting down? We reckon that the iPhone 15 Pro Max could be the first iPhone to cross the $2000 mark. That’s a hell of a lot for a phone, especially one that doesn’t fold. Currently, if you’re looking for a top-spec 1TB iPhone 14 Pro Max, you can find yourself paying $1600 on Apple’s own site. That’s for a phone that’s almost a year old. There’s talk that prices for the iPhone 15 could increase. T3.com
You can breathe a sigh of relief – the Golf, Tiguan and GTI badges are safe, says Volkswagen brand boss Thomas Schäfer, while others will be discussed on a case by case basis. Well, we’re far less bothered about the Tiguan, but it is VW’s bestselling car across the world. Schäfer was speaking at the Munich motor show, where the company’s ID.GTI concept was revealed as a taster of how an electric GTI model would look in the future, with a hot hatch version of the new ID.2 EV arriving in 2027. Top Gear
China has made a major breakthrough in microchip manufacturing, undermining US President Joe Biden’s efforts to block Beijing from accessing the most advanced technology. Chips in Huawei’s latest smartphone appear to have been made using cutting-edge techniques developed in Europe, using technology that is now subject to trade restrictions. Research company TechInsights analysed the Mate 60’s main processor chip and concluded it was manufactured using what is known as EUV, or extreme ultraviolet lithography. EUV is an advanced manufacturing technique used to etch a chip’s inner workings into its silicon. Telegraph
