Basketball Star Arrested on Cybercrime Charges; Bluesky Implements Age Verification

A Russian basketball player, Daniil Kasatkin, has been detained in France at the request of U.S. authorities. He is accused of being involved with a ransomware group that targeted hundreds of companies, including two U.S. federal entities, between 2020 and 2022. The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Kasatkin negotiated ransom payments for the criminal organization. The player, currently with the Moscow club MBA and previously associated with Penn State in the U.S. college basketball system, denies all allegations. His lawyer claims that Kasatkin has limited computer skills.

In a separate development, the British social media platform Bluesky has begun enforcing age verification for its users in the United Kingdom. Due to new legal requirements aimed at protecting minors, Bluesky must ensure that users can prove their age to avoid substantial fines, which could be imposed starting July 25. Users may verify their age through various methods, including uploading identification documents, confirming payment card details, or utilizing facial recognition technology. Those who refuse to comply or are underage will face restrictions on content access and messaging features.

In Mexico, the Attorney General's Office has launched an investigation into former President Enrique Peña Nieto concerning allegations of receiving bribes related to the purchase of the spyware Pegasus from the Israeli firm NSO Group. Reports suggest that Peña Nieto received $25 million from two Israeli businessmen as a kickback for the software, which was officially acquired for intelligence and anti-crime efforts during his administration from 2012 to 2018. Peña Nieto has firmly denied these accusations, labeling them as baseless.

Meanwhile, users of Outlook.com and associated clients are experiencing issues accessing their email accounts. Microsoft has acknowledged disruptions affecting its consumer cloud services, which support various Outlook applications. The company has identified the problem and is currently distributing fixes to restore normal functionality.

Since the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, the personal data of domain registrants has become largely inaccessible to the public. Previously, information such as names and addresses was freely available through the WHOIS database, but privacy measures have curtailed this practice, complicating the tracking of legal violations. A recent podcast discusses these implications and the challenges presented by the GDPR in relation to domain management.