IT Security & Privacy

Disney will pay $10 million to settle allegations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it violated children’s online privacy protections by mislabeling YouTube videos, allowing the unlawful collection of personal data from under-13 viewers. The case not only imposes a financial penalty on one of the biggest names in entertainment but also signals a shift in how regulators expect companies to safeguard kids’ online experiences.

The Western High Court in Denmark has imposed a fine of $216,000 (DKK 1.5 million) on ILVA, a Danish furniture retail chain known for its Scandinavian-style home furnishings, for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The ruling establishes an important precedent for how fines against companies are calculated.

Axiom GRC has announced the acquisition of The DPO Centre, a leading UK-based provider of outsourced Data Protection Officer (DPO) and privacy services. The deal underscores the growing importance of data protection expertise as organizations face heightened regulatory and technological risks.

For two decades IBM and the Ponemon Institute have tallied the financial fallout of data breaches, tracking everything from stolen laptops in the mid-2000s to ransomware’s pandemic-era surge. The 2025 edition of their Cost of a Data Breach Report marks a turning point. This year the spotlight isn’t on cloud misconfigurations or phishing emails alone, it’s on artificial intelligence.

TransUnion has disclosed that a cyber incident exposed personal data of U.S. consumers through a third-party application used in its customer support operations. While the company emphasized that no credit reports or core credit information were involved, the incident highlights a growing challenge for regulated businesses: securing the extended web of vendors and applications that support daily operations.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson has issued a pointed warning to some of the world’s biggest technology companies to not weaken Americans’ data security or censor speech at the request of foreign governments.

For Allianz Life, July ended with a gut punch. The U.S. insurance giant admitted that hackers had slipped into one of its cloud-stored customer databases and made off with personal details belonging to most of its 1.4 million customers. The company didn’t say exactly how many were hit, but the independent breach notification site Have I Been Pwned filled in the blank this week: 1.1 million.