How London can fend off the European hotspots vying for its fintech crown October 1, 2018 Flash back to the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote. “London has committed suicide as a leading fintech centre,” tweeted Traxpay, a German payments platform. Catchy advertising urged startups to “keep calm and move to Berlin”. Read more: Meet the startups in the Treasury-backed Tech Nation fintech accelerator Over two years later, and it’s French [...]
DEBATE: Is Elon Musk’s erratic behaviour just the price we need to pay for brilliant entrepreneurs? October 1, 2018 Is Elon Musk’s erratic behaviour just the price we need to pay for brilliant entrepreneurs? Kathy Gromotka, associate at Downing Ventures, says YES. We back entrepreneurs because we buy into their desire and ability to behave in a way that creates value, whether they’re a star in the spotlight or operating in stealth mode. Elon [...]
Tesco Bank hit with £16.4m fine for ‘largely avoidable’ cyber attack October 1, 2018 The financial watchdog has slapped a hefty £16.4m fine on Tesco Bank for a "largely avoidable" cyber attack that hit customers in 2016. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the bank had failed to exercise "due skill, care and diligence in protecting its personal current account holders" in the breach, in which attackers gained £2.26m. The FCA's executive [...]
Musk to step down as Tesla chairman and pay $20m fine in settlement with US regulators September 30, 2018 Elon Musk is to step down as chairman of Tesla after settling a fraud lawsuit with US regulators over tweets he made about taking the firm private. The billionaire boss of the electric car-making firm has also agreed to pay a $20m (£15m) fine from the US securities and exchange commission (SEC), staving off a [...]
Facebook hack: 50m accounts affected by data breach September 29, 2018 Social media giant Facebook yesterday confirmed it had been hit by a hack affecting millions of its users' accounts. Attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in its "view as" feature, leaving around 50m accounts exposed to hackers. The breach was discovered on Tuesday and the police have been informed. Facebook vice president of product management [...]
Tesla shares drop despite board backing for Elon Musk after SEC lawsuit September 28, 2018 Tesla shares plunged almost 14 per cent today as boss Elon Musk faced the prospect of a ban from ever running a public company again. The electric car company’s board hailed Musk’s “integrity and his leadership” after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed legal action against him late last night. Read more: US watchdog [...]
IoT security: Your smart home device is a cyber security risk waiting to happen September 28, 2018 In the age of Google Home and Amazon Alexa, many modern households are home to one or more smart devices. While these gadgets can help with day-to-day tasks and generally make life easier – it's also opened up the possibilities of cyber attackers breaching vulnerable devices in the home. A new survey from Open-Xchange found that [...]
Bupa fined £175,000 after employee puts customers’ data up for sale on dark web September 28, 2018 Health firm Bupa has been fined £175,000 after an employee was able to access thousands of patients' files to sell on the dark web. Data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said Bupa did not have effective security in place to stop the employee, who extracted personal information from 547,000 customers. The employee was able to [...]
London-based automation startup Softomotive scores $25m series A September 28, 2018 Business automation startup Softomotive will today reveal a $25m (£19m) series A investment, led by London investor Grafton Capital. Softomotive, which specialises in robotic process automation (RPA) plans to move its headquarters from Athens to London’s Spitalfields area with the new funds. Chief executive Marios Stavropoulos said that while the business is expanding across [...]
Tesla chief Elon Musk faces ban from running a public firm in SEC fraud charges September 27, 2018 Tesla chief Elon Musk faces being barred from running a public company after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed legal action, accusing him of alleged securities fraud over his public statements about taking the firm private. Tesla shares dropped more than 13 per cent in after-hours trade as news of the suit broke, [...]