Associated Press

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Hit by a ransomware attack? Your payment may be deductible

As ransomware attacks surge, the FBI is doubling down on its guidance to affected businesses: Don’t pay the cybercriminals. But the U.S. government also offers a little-noticed incentive for those who do pay: The ransoms may be tax deductible. The IRS offers no formal guidance on ransomware payments, but multiple tax experts interviewed by The […]

Cruise giant Carnival says customers affected by breach

Carnival Corp. said Thursday that a data breach in March might have exposed personal information about customers and employees on Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises. In a letter to customers, the company indicated that outsiders might have gained access to Social Security numbers, passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses and health […]

Brief, global internet outages blamed on software bug

A software bug at a major network provider briefly knocked dozens of financial institutions, airlines and other companies across the globe offline during peak business hours in Asia. Akamai, which runs one of the internet’s main content-delivery systems, said the outage Thursday was not caused by a cyberattack, but rather a software bug on a […]

Foam containing 'forever chemicals' used against plant fire

A company hired to help extinguish a fire that gutted a northern Illinois chemical plant this week used foam containing toxic compounds that have tainted surface waters and groundwater across the U.S., officials said Thursday. The private contractor sprayed the foam for about three hours Tuesday at the Chemtool Inc. factory near Rockton, despite concerns […]

Spain hopes to jumpstart electric car industry with EU funds

Daniel Sánchez is one of the luckier electric car owners in Spain. With a free recharging station less than a kilometer from his home just north of Barcelona, he can keep his Tesla ready to roll. “I cannot imagine stopping at a gas station ever again,” the 41-year-old transport company owner said. “We feel like […]

India says Twitter knowingly not complying with local laws

The standoff between the Indian government and Twitter escalated Wednesday when the country’s technology minister accused the social media giant of deliberately not complying with local laws. Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Twitter has chosen “the path of deliberate defiance” when it comes to following new internet regulations that digital activists have said could […]

Southwest still struggling with flight delays, cancellations

Passengers on Southwest Airlines had to deal with canceled flights and delays for a third day on Wednesday, as the airline tried to recover from technology problems that started earlier this week. By late afternoon Central time, Southwest had canceled nearly 400 flights and more than 1,000 were delayed, according to tracking service FlightAware. Combined, […]

Two men convicted of helping create ransomware attacks

Two men from Estonia have been convicted of federal cybercrime charges involving ransomware and other attacks on computer systems around the globe. Oleg Koshkin, 41, was convicted Tuesday by a jury in U.S. District Court in Hartford of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse as well as aiding and abetting computer fraud and abuse. […]

Robotic ship sets off to retrace the Mayflower's journey

Four centuries and one year after the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, on a historic sea journey to America, another trailblazing vessel with the same name has set off to retrace the voyage. This Mayflower, though, is a sleek, modern robotic ship that is carrying no human crew or passengers. It’s being piloted by sophisticated […]

Want a job? Employers say: Talk to the computer

A day after her interview for a part-time job at Target last year, Dana Anthony got an email informing her she didn’t make the cut. Anthony didn’t know why — a situation common to most job seekers at one point or another. But she also had no sense at all of how the interview had […]