Ofcom finds no significant overall change in UK children’s exposure to harmful content

UK regulator finds children’s exposure to harmful content largely unchanged

Ofcom found no significant overall change in children encountering harmful content, or evidence that the severity of harm changed, during the first nine months of the UK’s child-safety duties. It reports reductions on some platforms, while the government plans an under-16 social media ban from spring 2027.

SafePay breaches at least 600 organizations, agencies say

SafePay has breached at least 600 organizations across four continents, the agencies say. Their advisory identifies known software flaws and compromised logins as entry points for attacks that spread through networks before stealing data and deploying ransomware.

Greece’s parliament bans social media for children under 15

Greece’s parliament has approved a social-media ban for children under 15. Minister Dimitris Papastergiou says the Kid’s Wallet app communicates only whether users are over or under 15, offering an age-checking approach ahead of the ban’s January 1, 2027 start.

Quest Diagnostics reports breach of test-ordering system

Quest Diagnostics disclosed unauthorized access to its test-ordering system and said it believes some patient records were accessed. Quest has stopped Quanum LSM and recommends paper requisitions or Quanum eLabs for ordering tests and receiving results.

Wikimedia, Archive.org and 4chan pause services for PHP2Shell fixes

Wikimedia services, Archive.org and 4chan temporarily went offline for PHP2Shell updates, 404 Media reported. Cloudflare reported millions of exploit attempts, not confirmed break-ins. Governments instructed operators to patch affected services immediately or take them offline if they could not be fixed.

Singapore police warn of Android malware scams costing S$989,000

Singapore police warn of an Android malware scam linked to at least 62 reported cases and S$989,000 in losses since April 2026. The force says callers falsely invoke compromised devices, bank accounts or criminal activity to persuade victims to hand over assets or information.

US Homeland Security Department orders civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek

The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered DeepSeek technology removed from federal civilian systems. Issued in July and made public on October 19, the order extends earlier agency-level restrictions across civilian agencies, requiring removal of covered third-party tools as well as DeepSeek’s own products.

US regulator bans two devices over Huawei subsidiary’s chips

The US communications regulator has banned two devices containing HiSilicon chips, Tom’s Hardware reports. The action turns the regulator’s concern about potential surveillance into sales and marketing restrictions, showing how covered components can bring other brands’ equipment within reach of the rule.

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Ukrainian strikes disrupt Yandex services, 404 Media reports

Ukrainian strikes disrupted Yandex services in Russia. Fortune reports a further strike on a facility serving VKontakte on 18 October and continuing disruption to businesses and courts. Yandex says most key cloud services recovered, while experts cited by Fortune predict repairs to damaged infrastructure could take months or years.

US enacts law requiring rules for satellite emergency alerts

The US has enacted the Mystic Alerts Act, requiring federal rules for emergency alerts sent by satellite. Eligible carriers may choose whether to participate, but cannot charge separately if they do; the regulator must publish proposed rules within six months.

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Texas regulator suspends 17 data-center stormwater permits

Texas’s environmental regulator suspended 17 data-center stormwater permits used for ground preparation, 404 Media reported on 22 October. The regulator also temporarily disabled automatic authorizations through its filing portal, which says staff must review applications for links to data centers.

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US communications regulator grants Intel a one-year robot waiver

The US Federal Communications Commission has granted Intel a one-year waiver from restrictions on some foreign-made advanced robotics. Intel had sought relief to maintain transport vehicles in its chip factories; the FCC says the temporary exception is intended to protect manufacturing services for Intel’s customers.