New York fashion grandee Barneys files for bankruptcy protection

U.S. department store operator and fashionista favorite Barneys New York Inc filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday and put itself up for sale, underscoring how even luxury retailers are struggling to freshen their image and compete with online rivals.

The nearly century-old chain, best known for swanky shop windows on New York’s Madison Avenue, long enjoyed a loyal following among socialites and a privileged reputation as a retailer that could make or break a brand.

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Capital One Suffers Massive Data Breach

Many readers have reached out to learn about the Capital One data breach and how it affects us. If you haven’t been watching the story unfold as closely as I have, here is a summary of what happened, what information was included, and what to do about it.

Capital One announced on July 29 that a hacker gained access to the personal information of approximately 106 million credit card holdersand applicants which was stored with a Cloud provider, which included some 140,000 Social Security numbers, about 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers, and 80,000 bank account numbers, with the largest category of information accessed being “consumers and small businesses as of the time they applied for one of our credit card products from 2005 through early 2019,” according to Capital One. The access was allegedly through an improperly configured firewall.

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Sixteen U.S. Marines arrested on suspicion of human trafficking

Sixteen U.S. Marines were arrested on Thursday at their base in Southern California on suspicion of drug-related offenses and the smuggling of undocumented migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. military officials said.

The arrests at Camp Pendleton stemmed from a separate investigation of two other Marines arrested earlier this month on human trafficking charges filed by federal prosecutors in San Diego, a base spokesman said.

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Facebook to pay record $5 billion U.S. fine over privacy violations; critics call it a bargain

Facebook Inc will pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine to resolve a government probe into its privacy practices and the social media giant will restructure its approach to privacy, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

The probe uncovered a wide range of privacy issues. It was triggered last year by allegations that Facebook violated a 2012 consent decree by inappropriately sharing information belonging to 87 million users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The consultancy’s clients included President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

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Equifax’s $700 million data breach settlement spurs criticism, calls for new rules

Credit-reporting company Equifax Inc (EFX.N) will pay up to $700 million to settle claims it broke the law during a massive 2017 data breach and to repay harmed consumers, in a landmark settlement that was nonetheless criticized by consumer advocates and some lawmakers who called for stricter regulation.

While it was the largest-ever settlement for a data breach, they said the amount was still too small for the millions of Americans affected, and worried it could prove difficult for consumers to be repaid. The agreement also spurred multiple lawmakers to renew calls for legislation giving consumers more control over their personal information.

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