The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack exposed “obvious willful ignorance to take cybersecurity seriously,” reported ABI Research Monday. “That there is a sophisticated, organized cybercriminal market for ransomware shouldn’t be news" in the industry, it said. “This hack is a harbinger of cyberthreats to come.” Expanded connectivity brings “continuously increased threat vectors,” it said: Organizations "should always be prepared for an eventual attack, which means architecting their infrastructure so that it can continue to operate despite an ongoing attack.”

An Irish Data Protection Commission probe of Facebook data flow can proceed, the country's High Court ruled Friday. The case is "about what happened after" the July European Court of Justice ruling in Data Protection Commissioner v. Facebook Ireland Ltd. and Maximilian Schrems (Shrems II), Justice David Barniville wrote. The DPC of its own volition issued a "preliminary draft decision" in August on whether Facebook data transfers involving Europeans are lawful and whether corrective action is needed. The company challenged the decision and procedures on grounds including that they breached the general data protection regulation by failing to carry out an investigation before the draft decision was issued, and that they were an abuse of process. The 197-page decision rejected all of Facebook's challenges. The ruling "was about the process" the DPC followed, a Facebook spokesperson said. She said the company follows EU rules and relies on standard contract clauses and appropriate data safeguards to move data, and the preliminary decision "could be damaging not only to Facebook but also to users and other businesses."

Energous is getting interest from device manufacturers in the consumer, IoT and other sectors after March release of its WattUp PowerHub developer kit, said Chief Financial Officer Brian Sereda on Wednesday Q1 call. The wireless charging company and partners continue to navigate COVID-19 challenges and chip shortages. Energous’ first partner product enabled with over-the-air wireless power will be launched later this year, he said. The company’s recent PowerHub certification, first of its kind in the EU, opens up the promise of RF wireless power transmission at distances beyond 1 meter and “well beyond 15 feet,” said Chief Operating Officer Cesar Johnston. “Technically, we can go up to 5.5 watts,” he said, “and there's no distance limitation” vs. the past 1-meter ceiling. The company continues to push power and transmission levels within regulatory limits and “well within safety limits,” he said. An FCC NPRM under Part 18 is under consideration to allow higher power and distance for wireless power transmission regulations, Johnston said. Revenue was $145,065 vs. $61,475 in the year-ago quarter.

EU lawmakers should approve the U.K.'s data protection regime, said 16 tech and business groups Wednesday. They said the European Commission's proposed "adequacy decision" recognizes the country's privacy rules provide sufficient safeguards under the general data protection regulation. The Civil Liberties Committee urged the EC this week to revisit the decision to "bring it in line with EU court rulings and the opinions of the EU privacy supervisor." Legislative concerns included that U.K. law allows for bulk data access without suspicion of crime, and for bulk data retention, which the European Court of Justice says is inconsistent with GDPR rights, and that U.K. data-sharing agreements with the U.S. raise the possibility of Europeans' information being shared despite recent ECJ rulings that U.S. bulk data access is incompatible with the regulation. The draft resolution comes up for vote in plenary May 20. The industry groups said the European Parliament should support the decision because the "negative consequences of an interruption in data flows would be substantial" to U.K. and EU businesses since the EU is Britain's main trading partner. Signatories include the Information Technology Industry Council, Computer and Communications Industry Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Energous’ WattUp PowerHub completed a regulatory review with a European body verifying the wireless charging transmitter complies with European technical requirements for radio equipment, said Energous Tuesday. It said the PowerHub complies with international RF requirements including RF safety (SAR) and has no receiver distance limitation, Energous said. The company believes it’s the first European approval for a wireless power transfer distance charger that transmits more than 1 watt, said Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Daniel Lawless. It establishes Energous’ ability to enable over-the-air wireless 2.0 power transfer beyond 15 feet, said Chief Operating Officer Cesar Johnston. The WattUp PowerHub comprises the DA14682 (Bluetooth low energy 5.0), DA4100 (wireless power transfer), EN3913M (efficient GaN power amplifier) and EN3921 (controller) transmitters alongside the DA2223 (RF-to-DC) and DA14585 (ultralow power Bluetooth low energy) receivers.

Q1 smartphone imports to the U.S. declined 22% sequentially to 44.72 million handsets, up 24% from a year earlier, per Census data accessed Saturday through the International Trade Commission. Chinese smartphone shipments of 36.59 million handsets were down 24% from Q4 but 53% higher than Q1 2020, when China generated 66.4% amid COVID-19's lower factory utilization. China’s Q1 smartphone share was a more customary 82%, down slightly from 84.3% in Q4. Vietnam shipped 6.55 million smartphones to the U.S. in Q1, 8.4% fewer than in Q4, and 26% fewer than in Q1 2020. Vietnam as a haven for low-end smartphones is likely to continue ceding share to China, which owns the market in premium handset production, including 5G-enabled devices.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected as premature China Telecom America’s appeal of an FCC order revoking the company’s Communications Act Section 214 authorizations (see 2102020029). The court Monday sided with arguments made by the FCC in dismissing the appeal for lack of jurisdiction (see 2104020055). “This court may exercise jurisdiction only over final agency actions … and certain interlocutory and collateral orders,” the 4th U.S. Circuit said in docket 20-2365 (in Pacer): “The order CTA seeks to appeal is neither.” The company didn’t comment.

ABI warned about IoT security. “Some devices are incapable of being secured,” it said Friday: Original equipment manufacturers and vendors “often choose to accept the risk, rather than remediate it during a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), while many others choose not to do a CBA.” ABI estimates 8.6 billion IoT global connections, rising to 23.6 billion by 2026: "This exponential growth will usher in a new era of connectivity and productivity in the years ahead" and "new threat vectors and vulnerabilities."

Connected vehicles sales are on a recovery path, despite chip shortages, reported ABI Research Thursday. Consumers are becoming “more demanding” about in-vehicle infotainment, “driving strong interest in connected vehicles and boosting growth opportunities,” it said. ABI projects 20% growth in connected vehicle sales in 2021 from 2020, and a 10.4% compound annual growth rate through 2026. The recently announced Ford-Google partnership (see 2102010062) “shows a considerable migration to Android OS,” which will have more than doubled penetration in production vehicles by 2024, said ABI: Shipments of vehicles with “connected infotainment” will return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels this year.

NTIA asked for comment by June 7 on “activities, priorities, and policies that advance telecommunications and information and communications technology development worldwide” as the U.S. prepares for the ITU’s World Telecommunication Development Conference, says Thursday's Federal Register. The conference is Nov. 8-19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.