The maker of the Path social networking app will pay a US$800,000 civil penalty to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that it illegally collected personal information from children without parental consent, the agency said Friday.

Mobile app developers should provide real-time disclosures to users on the personal information they collect and get permission to collect sensitive information, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has recommended.

Skype owner Microsoft should release information about how much user data it gives to third parties, including government agencies, several organisations and individuals said in a letter to company officials.

Three people allegedly involved for years in cybercriminal activities in Eastern Europe have been charged in a U.S. court for creating and distributing the Gozi virus that infected more than 1 million computers and allowed cybercriminals to steal millions of dollars over a five-year period.

A U.S. lawmaker has proposed legislation that would allow mobile phone users to ask apps to stop collecting their personal data and to delete information collected in the past.

Two U.S. power companies reported infections of malware during the past three months, with the bad software apparently brought in through tainted USB drives, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT).

Internet users should consider disabling Java in their browsers because of an exploit that can allow remote attackers to execute code on a vulnerable system, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) recommended late Thursday.

Mobile application developers should minimize privacy surprises for their customers by limiting their data collection and retention and giving users access to the data collected, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has recommended.

U.S. banks and their customers are doing a better job of protecting themselves against cyberattacks that result in thieves taking over commercial accounts, according to a survey released by the Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

Organized crime groups in Europe make about €1.5 billion (US$2 billion) a year from payment card fraud, according to a new report from the European Police Office (Europol).

Imation, a storage and data security company, has acquired Nexsan, a vendor of disk-based storage systems, in a deal worth about US$120 million, the company announced.

An Internet safety education campaign will point out scams and other online dangers with an initial target audience of children and seniors.

Websites, mobile apps and online advertising networks targeting children will be required to follow new privacy regulations, including getting a parent's permission before collecting geolocation information and photographs from kids, under new rules announced Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Organizers played "Eye of the Tiger" and "We are the Champions" over the loudspeakers as participants in the SANS Institute's NetWars Tournament of Champions sat down at their laptops and prepared for action.

Smartphone app SpongeBob Diner Dash violates U.S. law by collecting a "wide range" of personal information from children, including full names and email addresses, according to a complaint filed by the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group.