Technology

A senior cybersecurity official with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday that foreign government hackers have broken into companies conducting research into treatments for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) circulated on Thursday a draft order asking FCC members to approve Ligado Networks' low-power nationwide 5G network despite objections from the Defense Department and major U.S. airlines.

Verizon Communications Inc on Thursday agreed to buy BlueJeans Network Inc, a rival of Zoom Video Communications Inc, for less than $500 million as it looks to tap into the new-found popularity of video-conferencing apps.

Facebook Inc said on Thursday it would start notifying users who had engaged with false posts about COVID-19 which could cause physical harm, such as drinking bleach to cure the virus, and connect them to accurate information.

Sports fans and players across the world frustrated by canceled matches because of the coronavirus epidemic are turning to e-sports, with professional real-world athletes joining virtual game tournaments of football, auto racing and basketball.

A senior FBI cybersecurity official said on Thursday that foreign government hackers have broken into institutions conducting research into treatments for COVID-19, the sometimes fatal respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Toyota-backed self driving company Pony.ai said on Friday it would provide an autonomous delivery service to residents of Irvine, California, as demand for online orders surges because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Uber Technologies Inc said on Thursday it expects an impairment charge of up to $2.2 billion in the first quarter due to the coronavirus outbreak and revenue to decline by $17 million to $22 million in the quarter.

U.S. fintech startup Stripe Inc said on Thursday it raised $600 million, as companies that provide the online infrastructure for financial and payment services get a boost from the coronavirus pandemic.

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc has registered Rackspace Holding Inc for an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the cloud services firm at more than $10 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. chip supplier Nvidia Corp said on Thursday Chinese authorities had approved its $6.9 billion acquisition of Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies Ltd, overcoming the last obstacle for the deal announced over a year earlier.

Apps to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus should not collect user location data, the European Commission said on Thursday, as Apple Inc and Google weighed whether to work with virus apps that use location tracking.

Mobile apps to track coronavirus cases in Europe should keep as much data as possible on the user's device rather than in a central server to best maintain individual privacy, an EU document says.

Activist investor Starboard on Thursday ended its proxy fight at eBay by withdrawing its four director nominees four days after the ecommerce company named a new chief executive.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday circulated a draft order asking the five-member panel to approve Ligado Networks' request to deploy a low-power nationwide network to support next-generation 5G wireless despite Defense Department objections.

The Czech Republic's cyber-security watchdog warned of possible cyberattacks on hospitals on Thursday as the central European country's health ministry said it had already thwarted some smaller-scale hack attempts.

Google will allow business and education users on Gmail.com to directly take calls on its video conferencing tool Meet starting Thursday, a new feature being offered as the Alphabet Inc unit seeks to capitalize on security and other concerns with rival services.

Apple Inc said on Thursday it would reopen its sole retail store in South Korea on April 18, marking it the first site to return to business after it closed all stores outside Greater China last month due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Nokia declined to comment on Thursday on a media report saying it was working with an investment bank to defend itself from a hostile takeover, news which sent its shares sharply higher.

India said on Thursday videoconferencing software Zoom is "not a safe platform", joining other countries that have expressed concern about the security of an application that has become hugely popular worldwide during the coronavirus lockdown.