Ticketmaster admits to hacking a rival company before going out of business, Apple has temporarily closed all remaining stores in the UK, and get ready for a trending 5G theory about a guitar pedal.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Wednesday, January 6, and I’m your host Baneet Braich.
Ticketmaster has admitted to hacking a rival company before it went out of business. They did this by using stolen passwords and guessing URLs to access confidential data. Ticketmaster has agreed to pay a $10 million criminal fine which accounts for violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, computer intrusion for commercial advantage or private financial gain. This all happened with the help of an employee that used to work at the rival company. Ticketmaster admitted the employee emailed the login credentials for multiple accounts the rival used to manage presale ticket sales.
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Apple has temporarily closed all remaining Apple stores in the UK. This is due to COVID-19 which has already forced Apple to shut down many retail stores from California, Mexico, Brazil, Scotland. This may not be a huge difference for shoppers because many could not enter stores since November. Apple did begin using click and collect stores also known as express service only where shoppers could pick up online orders, but aren’t allowed to browse.
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And lastly – it’s only January, but are you ready for another 5G conspiracy theory? There is a viral image of a diagram making its rounds that 5G chip conspiracists believe is part of the COVID-19 vaccine. But in reality, the diagram is a circuit for a guitar pedal. “The Russians have managed to remove the nanochips from the Pfizer vaccine and have published a function diagram!”, is what one comment read on the Independent’s report. What really may have appealed to the conspiracists is the text saying, “Covid 5G Chip Diagram” and “Confidential”. Well, at least they didn’t burn down any 5G towers.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. And remember, during the rest of this week, we want you to tell us what you think was last year’s biggest Canadian tech story. Let us know on Twitter @ITWorldCa, or leave a comment on the show notes for this episode at ITWorldCanada.com. Respondents will be entered into a draw for a chance to win an IT World Canada mug! I’m Baneet Braich, thanks for listening!