TGIF. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. Nissan AU/NZ discloses cyber incident
Kicking things off in Australia, and Nissan Australia and New Zealand has disclosed a cyber incident. As reported by itNews, the company overlayed its website with information on the cyber incident. “Nissan is working with its global incident response team and relevant stakeholders to investigate the extent of the incident and whether any personal information has been accessed. Nissan has also notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre,” the notice reads. The company is urging customers to be vigilant of scams.
2. Hey You leaks customer data
Hey You, the Australian coffee and food delivery app, functioning like Uber Eats but for cafes, leaked customer data on Thursday morning. Users reported that their accounts appeared to show as other user’s accounts, including names and email addresses, along with phone numbers and profile pictures if the original user had entered these. The company later confirmed to Gizmodo Australia that a technical incident had occurred. “After verifying the nature of the incident and risk, Hey You immediately locked down access and rectified the issue. This was completed within 1hr 30 mins,” the company said.
3. Facebook and Messenger now encrypting information
As reported by the BBC, Facebook and Messenger chats are now automatically encrypted. The option for encryption to be enabled has been opt-in for years, but now Meta has switched encryption to the default. This ensures that the messages are only viewable by the sender and the receiver, and is extremely difficult to intercept.
4. Head of Tesla’s Dojo leaves
The Verge is reporting (by way of Bloomberg) that the head of Tesla’s ‘Dojo’ supercomputer project, Ganesh Venkataramanan, has left the company. In July, Tesla said that it had started the production of a supercomputer to assist in training its self-driving vehicle technology, but now the project appears to have hit a roadblock. Former Apple and Intel chip designer Peter Bannon will take over.
5. Social media giants threatening democracy with policy reversals
As reported by The Guardian, media watchdog Free Press has released a study documenting 17 policy reversals from Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Meta (formerly Facebook), and X (better known as Twitter), claiming that these reversals have created “a toxic online environment” that puts democracy at risk. The watchdog also claimed that the more than 40,000 layoffs at these companies have affected the health of their platforms. “Big tech executives like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have made reckless decisions to maximise their profits and minimise their accountability,” senior counsel at Free Press and author of the report Nora Benavidez said.
BONUS ITEM: Little darling.
Snot just a pretty face. 😛
— CSIRO (@CSIRO) December 7, 2023
Earlier this year, scientists discovered echidnas blow snot bubbles and perform belly flops to keep cool.
The snot bubbles burst and wet the tip of their nose, cooling a pool of blood beneath their snout.
📷 | @tarongazoo
🗞 | @abcnews#BestOf2023 pic.twitter.com/pNAF1ZRkMl
Have a wonderful day, and a lovely weekend.