privacy and security - Page 12

Employees at Facebook are pushing back on the company’s war against Apple’s efforts to prevent data harvesting by social media companies. An update to Apple’s mobile operating system allows blocks tracking by platforms like Facebook and Google.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has revealed that the recent hack of the Austin-based IT company SolarWinds was much worse than initially reported and “poses a grave risk to the federal government.” The National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains America’s nuclear stockpile, has been targeted by the hack.

Social media giant Facebook has run another full-page ad in three major newspapers claiming that Apple’s tracking change will harm small businesses and the internet as a whole. Apple has responded to Facebook’s attack ads, stating: “Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not.”

The Texas-based IT company SolarWinds recently announced that it has suffered a “highly-sophisticated, targeted and manual supply chain attack by a nation state,” which may have left multiple U.S. government agencies vulnerable. The federal government is investigating a major hack of government agencies including the Treasury Department.

The music streaming service Spotify has reportedly reset an undisclosed number of user passwords after claiming that a software vulnerability in its systems exposed privacte user information to its business partners.

In a recent article, BuzzFeed News claims that Facebook employees believe that the company’s global ad machine puts profits over people by allowing hackers and scammers to buy ads aimed at ripping off Facebook users and manipulating people.

In a recent article, Recode outlines how retailers track customers’ every move in exchange for providing them with coupons and convenient shopping experiences.

Amazon announced recently that it will deploy machine-learning AI technology to monitor warehouse workers. The technology is designed to ensure that workers are following social distancing guidelines during their shifts. Similar technology will also be deployed to monitor the health of warehouse machinery.

A recently discovered and patched security vulnerability in Apple devices allowed hackers to remote control iPhones within WiFi range. Unlike many hacks, this vulnerability did not require the target iPhone to be touched by its user or the hacker. As one expert explained, “This attack is just you’re walking along, the phone is in your pocket, and over Wi-Fi someone just worms in with some dodgy Wi-Fi packets.”

A recent report states that a number of “smart” doorbells featuring microphones and cameras sold on Amazon and eBay come stocked with a number of security vulnerabilities.

Facebook has reportedly patched a bug in its Messenger app for Android that allowed hackers to call unsuspecting targets and listen to them before they even pick up the audio call.

Sean Joyce, the former chief trust officer at Airbnb, resigned from his post last year over concerns about the company’s data-sharing policy. Joyce claims that the company inappropriately shares data with the Chinese government without the consent of its users. The company’s co-founder allegedly told him: “We’re not here to promote American values.”

After a coalition of eight civil and human rights organizations published an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook last month related to the delay of Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency features, Apple has responded to the letter doubling down on its privacy practices. The iPhone giant took a direct shot at Facebook, saying that Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant has “made clear” its intention to “collect as much data as possible.”

As students have shifted to remote learning this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, educators have adopted tools that have made the transition possible. Exam monitoring software, a new tool that allows students to take exams remotely, has been criticized by students and educators over alleged privacy violations and reliability issues.

Internal documents from the European Union Council reveal that the bloc is seeking to ban end-to-end encryption on messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal, following the recent Islamic terror attacks in France and Austria. A draft Council of the

A recent internal probe of Robinhood trading app accounts discovered almost 2,000 customer accounts were compromised in a recent hacking spree.

A recent report claims that the Xplora 4 smartwatch made by the Chinese-owned company Qihoo 360 Technology and marketed to children in the U.S. and Europe can secretly take photos and record audio when activated by an encrypted SMS message.

Wired magazine outlines in a recent article concerns about Amazon’s latest intrusive products and why privacy-focused consumers should be wary of them.

Tech giant Google has reportedly rolled out an update to its Android mobile platform that will enable devices to listen to every sound in users’ homes and alert them to certain household sounds.

E-commerce giant Amazon is testing palm-scanning payment technology at two of its Seattle convenience stores. If successful, the palm-scanning payment system could spread across the country.

Emergency 911 services in 14 states went down temporarily on Monday, putting lives at risk. Some argue that the outages, which lasted for up to an hour, were caused by technical issues at Microsoft, which provides communications products used by emergency service departments. Others believe that the shutdown was caused by an issue with an emergency telephone service called Intrado.

Universal Health Services, a major hospital system with over 400 locations, faced a cyberattack over the weekend that shut down its internal records system. Doctors and nurses have been forced to use paper and pen to record patient records since the attack began. Cybersecurity analysts believe that the attack could be the largest medical cyberattack in the nation’s history.

A judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. government from banning the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from being downloaded from Apple and Google’s app stores.

Researchers say that a tip from a child led them to discover aggressive adware in iOS and Android smartphone apps with a combined 2.4 million downloads across the iPhone App Store and Google Play Store. The malware apps targeted young children and were promoted on social media apps including TikTok.

Amazon recently announced a number of new products at its annual hardware event, including a new Ring security camera drone that flys around your house recording you and your family.

Tech giant Facebook has been accused of spying on Instagram users via their mobile phone cameras according to a recently filed lawsuit.

A group of Chinese hackers working on behalf of the Chinese government have been charged by U.S. authorities after allegedly targeting a number of American software companies including the popular system management tool CCleaner and multiple online games.

President Donald Trump stated during a press conference that he is not prepared to sign off on a recently announced partnership between Silicon Valley giant Oracle and the Chinese-owned app TikTok until national security concerns are completely alleviated.

A bug was recently discovered in Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s official campaign app that allowed anyone to access sensitive voter information on millions of Americans. The privacy breach reportedly affects 191 million Americans.

A recent report from the Washington Post claims that a Chinese data firm has been collecting the “digital crumbs” of data of prominent Americans and military members for some time. The company gathered data on 2 million people including 50,000 Americans with the “stated purpose of providing intelligence to Chinese military, government and commercial clients.”

Oracle has won the bidding to take over the U.S. operations of the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, beating out Microsoft in a deal to allow the platform to continue operating in the United States. According to some sources familiar with the deal, it is closer to a “partnership” than an outright acquisition.

Ireland’s data regulator has reportedly sent Facebook a preliminary order to stop transferring user data from the European Union to the United States.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is reportedly entering negotiations with the United States government to discuss possible arrangements that would allow the video-sharing app to avoid a full sale of it’s U.S. operations.

Despite many troubling issues being raised around the country’s privacy laws, China has taken the initiative to release a “global standard for data security initiative” that it hopes will be adopted worldwide.

Students have figured out how to exploit testing software that uses AI technology to grade written answers. Several students explained to reporters this week that the software gives perfect scores on essay questions after students simply entered a list of relevant keywords instead of a standard test answer.

Twitter has confirmed that the account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked this week, a verified account with 2.5 million followers that posts primarily in Hindi. The hack was used to post cryptocurrency scams similar to the massive hack of verified accounts that occurred earlier this year.