The White House has decried as fake news reports that the Trump Administration will institute a ban on Chinese companies investing in US tech companies. "On behalf of @realDonaldTrump, the stories on investment restrictions in Bloomberg & WSJ are false, fake news," read a statement by Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin posted …

Someone may have spied on smartphones in or near the White House using a fake cellphone tower – and miscreants are said to have abused SS7 weaknesses to swipe US citizens' private information, it emerged this week. On Friday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) revealed a letter he received from the US government's Department of Homeland …

A teenager from Leicestershire, England, has admitted to trying to hack US government officials including the director of the CIA and Obama's Director of National Intelligence. Kane Gamble, 18, pleaded guilty on Friday to 10 charges at Leicester crown court. Other targets included Avril Haines, Barack Obama’s deputy national …

The US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has sent a letter [PDF] to White House lawyers demanding details of how many of its staffers have been using private email for government business. On Sunday, Politico reported that the President's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner used private …

The chief information officer of America's Department of Homeland Security has become the latest Trump administration appointee to resign. Richard Staropoli, the former US secret service agent who at one time vowed to run the department "like a hedge fund," will be leaving at the end of the month. Staropoli had been appointed …

A US Secret Service agent tasked with protecting the White House has started a 20-year stretch for sending explicit snaps to underage girls – sometimes while on duty. Lee Robert Moore, 38, a uniformed member of the Secret Service, pled guilty in March to charges of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and …

Rumors that President Donald Trump's aides are using an encrypted messaging app called Confide has landed the software firmly in the spotlight – and under the security microscope. The Washington Post on Monday mentioned that Confide, built by a startup in New York City, is used by some White House staffers to gossip in private …

Add Comcast to the ranks of companies whose workers have come out against President Trump's crackdown on Muslim immigrants. The cable giant on Thursday saw workers from multiple offices walking out to join protests over the President's travel restrictions on seven countries. Employees from Comcast offices in Philadelphia, …

US President Donald Trump has emitted another executive order: this latest one is aimed at reducing the number of government regulations. The order, signed Monday morning, requires that for every new regulation introduced by government officials, two existing regulations must be taken off the books. "Unless prohibited by law …

With Donald Trump taking over the presidency Friday morning, a different type of transition has also taken place: a digital transition. A novel approach was taken with respect to the Twitter accounts of the president, vice-president and first lady: the accounts were both retained and cloned to new accounts – if you followed @ …

CloudFlare has warned of another massive botnet that appears to be ramping up and targeting the US West Coast. In a blog post, the content delivery network said it has been watching a flood of attack traffic that started two weeks ago and appears to have been coming from one person testing out its abilities before moving it to …

The Obama administration says it wants everyone to take a closer look at artificial intelligence with a series of public discussions. The workshops will examine if AI will suck jobs out of the economy or add to it, how such systems can be controlled legally and technically, and whether or not such smarter computers can be used …

A new project to uncover the symbiotic relationship between Google and the US government has uncovered some mind-boggling details. The Campaign for Accountability (CFA) this week launched the first two of its Google Transparency Projects. One of the projects – a visualisation of the revolving door between Google, the White …

Multiple sources have reported that the White House isn't keen on forthcoming legislation that would force companies to decrypt their products if a court orders it. For the last couple of weeks, US Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have been sounding out members of Congress over their bill to give courts …

The US government is creating a new agency to process background checks for federal employees and contractors seeking security clearance. The Obama administration said it will instruct the Department of Defense (DoD) to oversee the establishments of the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB). The new agency will take …

Senior US government executives and Silicon Valley's tech captains are sitting down together in San Jose, California, on Friday to try and sort out a way to combat terrorism online. The meeting, will include Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and National …

President Obama is looking to increase funding for research and development of new technologies that could help to cut gun violence. The President said as part of his executive order on gun crime and accidents that the development of technologies to help track lost or stolen firearms and the development of locks to prevent …

President Obama is taking his case for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) online with a spammy pitch to eBay merchants on how the trade deal will benefit them. The US Commander In Chief sent a letter to 600,000 eBay sellers outlining the virtues of the controversial international trade deal that, according to Obama, will make …