CNNMoney(CNN) - As part of its expansion plans into Africa, global ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies launched a pilot test of their taxi boat service on Friday in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub. To attract customers who want to avoid the city's frequently congested roads, Uber will operate a two-week pilot phase of the boat service in conjunction with the Lagos State Water Authority (LASWA) and local boat operators, Texas Connection Ferries. The launch of the UberBOAT service comes four months after Uber's global head of business development, Brookes Entwistle, said the company was looking to gain more ground on the continent. The service will be available only on weekdays for the next two weeks and will cost 500 naira ($1.30) per trip. "The last couple of years have seen the Lagos State Government commit to building up infrastructure that supports multi-modal transportation, which includes water transport," he said.

Gwen Sung/CNNMoney(CNN) - Twitter "inadvertently" used phone numbers and email addresses its users provided for account security purposes to target ads, the company said Tuesday. In July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Facebook had broken the law when it engaged in a similar practice. The FTC fined Facebook $5 billion for that and a litany of other instances where it mishandled user data. Twitter users are asked to provide information like their phone number to help secure their account through services such as two-factor authentication. Phone numbers provided to Twitter for the purpose of two-factor authentication were recently exposed as a hacking vulnerability as well.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Patients of North Florida OB-GYN may have had their personal information breached via a virus cyberattack at the medical office earlier this year. A letter was sent out to all patients to notify them that the virus hack attack may have compromised electronic files containing personal or medical information. Patient information affected by the computer breach includes name, date of birth, Social Security number, employment information, health insurance and diagnosis and treatment information. According to the company, there is no evidence to date that any unauthorized person has actually viewed, retrieved, or copies any of medical or personal information. North Florida OB-GYN said the affected computer systems did not contain credit or debit card, or financial account information.

Shutterstock/CNNMoney via CNNWASHINGTON, D.C. - Booming shale production helped the United States briefly overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world's top oil exporter for the first time earlier this year. US exports of crude topped 3 million barrels per day in June, according to the International Energy Agency, pushing its total oil exports to nearly 9 million barrels per day. 1 exporter passed back to Saudi Arabia in July and August, the United States' brief reign reflects its new status as one of the world's most influential energy producers. Drilling innovations have opened up huge swaths of new resources, allowing the United States to pump more oil than any other country. But the agency expects the United States to challenge again for the title of top exporter.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Wakulla County schools discovered a ransomeware attack, and the district and its insurer are still trying to decide whether to pay to regain use of some critical software programs. Wakulla Superintendent Robert Pearce said contact with the hackers was made over the weekend. No student data was taken, but the attack on the 5,000 student district has shut down software used by students to pay for lunches, details on school bus riders, emails and a library software program. "I mean they are able to get into all of our information and do that, so, I guess were all kinda held ransom,"This the third known cyber attack on a rural school district in the state. In addition to the critical software the ransom ware has disabled, about 50 classroom computers have been rendered useless and will likely have to be wiped clean.

Shutterstock/CNNMoney/Getty ImagesMENLO PARK, Calif. - A feature that Facebook shut down in the wake of last year's Cambridge Analytica scandal came back to haunt it on Wednesday, when it emerged that hundreds of millions of Facebook users' phone numbers had been found in an unprotected online database. Millions of American Facebook users' phone numbers are believed to be among those found. On Wednesday, almost 18 months after Facebook shut down the feature, TechCrunch reported that a security researcher had found the records of more than 400 million Facebook accounts, including phone numbers, resting in an unprotected database online. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business that the security researcher reported the database to Facebook and the company launched an investigation. "This dataset is old and appears to have information obtained before we made changes last year to remove people's ability to find others using their phone numbers," the spokesperson said.

CNNMoney/Getty ImagesMENLO PARK, Calif. - A new feature is rolling out on Facebook and Instagram to combat the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation. Facebook, which owns Instagram, announced on Wednesday that educational pop-up windows will appear on the social media platforms when a user searches for vaccine-related content, visits vaccine-related Facebook groups and pages, or taps a vaccine-related hashtag on Instagram. "Vaccine misinformation is a major threat to global health that could reverse decades of progress made in tackling preventable diseases. Facebook previously lowered the ranking of groups and pages that spread misinformation about vaccines in its News Feed and Search options. Now the educational pop-up windows are another step in efforts to tackle the spread of misinformation.

CNNMoney/Shutterstock via CNN(CNN) - A ransomware attack has crippled an estimated 400 dental practices across the US. On Tuesday, two Wisconsin companies that provide an online service to dentists' offices, Percsoft and the Digital Dental Record, told their customers that the software they use to connect to individual offices had been infected with ransomware Monday morning. "Essentially the restorations are ongoing," Brenna Sadler, a spokeswoman for Digital Dental Record, told CNN. Sadler told CNN she was unaware of the name of the strain or whether the companies had paid the ransom. Digital Dental Record and Percsoft had, however, contacted the FBI, Sadler said.

CNNMoney/Getty Images(CNN) - For the fourth time in less than a year, Facebook has removed dozens of accounts, pages and groups linked to the Myanmar military, saying they engaged in suspicious activity and used fake profiles. "The people behind this activity used fake accounts ... to promote their content, increase engagement, and manage groups and pages," Gleicher said. "Our investigation found that some of this activity was linked to individuals associated with the Myanmar military," he added. Facebook has taken down suspicious networks linked to Myanmar's military three other times in the past year, including more than 200 accounts and more than 500 pages. Myanmar is not the only country where Facebook has had to take down suspicious government-linked accounts.

But as Consumer Reports explains, there are some easy ways to prevent becoming a victim of ransomware. RELATED LINK: Consumer Reports: 66 ways to protect your privacy right nowFirst, Consumer Reports says to make sure its not just a phony pop-up. Consumer Reports urges using preventative measures and says to read any pop-up very carefully before clicking, even on a trusted website. All Consumer Reports material Copyright 2019 Consumer Reports, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Consumer Reports is a not-for-profit organization which accepts no advertising.

Photo Illustration/Shutterstock/CNNMoney(CNN) - Dow futures turned negative Thursday after China threatened yet another escalation in its trade war with the United States. Dow futures are pointing to a 200-point loss at the open. Dow futures had been up about 200 points and gave up all their gains, and then some. More signs of the global economic slowdown emerged Thursday, as China injected $2.4 billion in stimulus into the Hong Kong economy, according to Bloomberg. The airport the only way in or out of Hong Kong has been shut down after protesters barricaded themselves inside.

That drop in foreign investment is a loss for the U.S. economy. A slowdown in economic activities overseas and a strong dollar can also act as headwinds for foreign investment. The result is less foreign investment in the United States, not more. Those portfolio investment numbers don't include foreign direct investment, money spent on U.S. plants and companies. The figures on foreign investment in the United States also don't count purchase of real estate by foreign individuals.

CNNMoney(CNN) - Malaysia filed criminal charges against 17 current and former Goldman Sachs employees on Friday, including the bank's top international executive. Among those charged Friday was Richard Gnodde, the CEO of Goldman Sachs International. Malaysia has accused Goldman Sachs and some of its bankers of misleading investors about the bond sales and fraudulently diverting $2.7 billion of the proceeds. Goldman Sachs and some of its employees have been central figures in the case. Malaysia last year charged Goldman Sachs and four individuals, two of them former Goldman employees, with what authorities called "grave violations" of Malaysia's securities laws.

CNNMoneyNEW YORK - The trade war between the United States and China has sharply intensified in recent days, raising the risk that the bruising battle will drag on through the 2020 presidential election. Goldman Sachs warned clients on Monday that a trade agreement "now looks far off" because officials in Washington and Beijing are "taking a harder line." The trade war has now entered a new and more dangerous phase, raising alarm among investors around the world. A slowdown in manufacturing activity has worsened as the trade war has deepened. "The Fed has been increasingly responsive this year to trade war threats, bond market expectations and global growth concerns," Hatzius wrote.

CNNMoney/ShutterstockThe Trump administration on Monday designated China a "currency manipulator," after the country's central bank allowed its currency to weaken amid the ongoing trade dispute. The People's Bank of China allowed its currency to fall below 7 yuan to the American dollar, which is considered to be a psychologically important marker, for the first time in a decade. The United States hasn't labeled a country a currency manipulator since it tagged China in the early 1990s, under President Bill Clinton. Treasury has repeatedly declined to label China a currency manipulator, despite Trump's pledge to do so during his 2016 campaign. Treasury's report highlighted "significant concerns" over the meaningful depreciation of China's currency against the US dollar, a critical component of ongoing trade talks, and urged China to take steps to avoid "a persistently weak currency."

The new tariffs could hit US consumers harder than the earlier rounds. Last year, Trump imposed tariffs on about $250 billion in Chinese-made goods, targeting industrial materials and components. At the time, Trump said he'd put off imposing new tariffs indefinitely. "I promised that, for at least the time being, we're not going to be lifting tariffs on China," Trump said at the time. Once the biggest market for US soybean farmers, the Chinese stopped buying the American product last summer in retaliation to Trump's tariffs.

Shutterstock/CNNMoney/Getty Images(CNN) - Facebook has been fined more than $2 million in Germany for inaccurately reporting the amount of illegal content on its platform. German authorities said Tuesday that Facebook had provided "incomplete" information in mandatory transparency reports about illegal content, such as hate speech. "The report lists only a fraction of complaints about illegal content," the regulator said, suggesting that Facebook had made it difficult for its users to find the form used to flag illegal content. Yet Facebook does appear to have reported less illegal content than some rival social media networks. The report that Facebook was fined over, which covers the first half of last year, disclosed 1,704 pieces of illegal content.

CNNMoneyLAKE CITY, Fla. - After city networks in Lake City were crippled by a malware attack called Triple Threat, a ransom was negotiated to pay the attacker 42 Bitcoins in exchange for an encryption key, according to a release Tuesday from the city. The city was targeted by the malware attack on June 10, which rendered many government email systems and landlines inoperable. Initially, the city said, no ransom demand was received during the attack, which could have been due to the city's response to immediately deactivate its system. Sometime last week, however, a request for ransom was submitted to the Florida League of Cities, Lake City's insurance provider. PREVIOUS STORY: 'Triple Threat' cyberattack cripples City Hall in Lake CityLake City, the release said, is only responsible for a $10,000 deductible to the League of Cities.