Zoom has agreed to pay $85 million to settle claims that it lied about offering end-to-end encryption and gave user data to Facebook and Google without the consent of users. The settlement between Zoom and the filers of a class-action lawsuit also covers security problems that led to rampant “Zoombombings.” The proposed settlement would generally give Zoom users $15 or $25 each and was filed Saturday at US District Court for the Northern District of California.… Read more

NortonLifeLock Inc. is set to buy Avast Plc in a deal valued at as much as $8.6 billion, giving the U.S. cybersecurity company access to one of the biggest customer bases in the industry. Avast stockholders will receive cash and shares that value the deal at $8.1 billion to $8.6 billion, the companies said Tuesday in a statement.… Read more

Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administration’s head of the Department of Homeland Security and members of the department’s cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, The Associated Press has learned. The intelligence value of the hacking of then-acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his staff is not publicly known, but the symbolism is stark.… Read more

A cyberattack on Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT -2.43% Exchange email software is believed to have infected tens of thousands of businesses, government offices and schools in the U.S., according to people briefed on the matter. Many of those victims of the attack, which Microsoft has said was carried out by a network of suspected Chinese hackers, appear to be small businesses and state and local governments.… Read more

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Suspected Chinese hackers exploited a flaw in software made by SolarWinds Corp to help break into U.S. government computers last year, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a new twist in a sprawling cybersecurity breach that U.S. lawmakers have labeled a national security emergency. Two people briefed on the case said FBI investigators recently found that the National Finance Center, a federal payroll agency inside the U.S.… Read more