Apple Mail now blocks email trackers by default. Most email newsletters you get include an invisible “image,” typically a single white pixel, with a unique file name. The server keeps track of every time this “image” is opened and by which IP address. This quirk of internet history means …
Popular apps to support people’s psychological and spiritual well-being can harm them by sharing their personal and sensitive data with third parties, among other privacy offenses. [...]
New research: “ Are You Really Muted?: A Privacy Analysis of Mute Buttons in Video Conferencing Apps “: Abstract: In the post-pandemic era, video conferencing apps (VCAs) have converted previously private spaces — bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens — into semi-public extensions of the office. And for the most part, users have accepted …
A new International Data Corporation (IDC) whitepaper sponsored by AWS, Trusted Cloud: Overcoming the Tension Between Data Sovereignty and Accelerated Digital Transformation, examines the importance of the cloud in building the future of digital EU organizations. IDC predicts that 70% of CEOs of large European organizations will be incentivized …
In this time of unprecedented cyberwar, organizations must protect the personal digital lives of their executives in order to reduce the company’s risk of direct or collateral damage. [...]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Last year, Apple enacted App Tracking Transparency, a mandatory policy that forbids app makers from tracking user activity across other apps without first receiving those users’ explicit permission. Privacy advocates praised the initiative, and Facebook warned it would spell certain doom for companies that rely …
John Oliver has an excellent segment on data brokers and surveillance capitalism. [...]
FinFisher has shut down operations. This is the spyware company whose products were used, among other things, to spy on Turkish and Bahraini political opposition. [...]
Experts recommend password managers for convenience and enhanced online safety, yet few of us use them In a competitive field, passwords are one of the worst things about the internet. Long and complex passwords are more secure but difficult to remember, leaving many people using weak and easy-to-guess credentials …
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Some websites just can't take "no" for an answer. Instead of respecting visitors' choice to block third-party cookies—the identifiers that track browsing activity as a user moves from site to site—they find sneaky ways to bypass those settings. Now, makers of the Brave …
Yet another method of surveillance : Radar can detect you moving closer to a computer and entering its personal space. This might mean the computer can then choose to perform certain actions, like booting up the screen without requiring you to press a button. This kind of interaction already exists …
TechCrunch is reporting — but not describing in detail — a vulnerability in a series of stalkerware apps that exposes personal information of the victims. The vulnerability isn’t in the apps installed on the victims’ phones, but in the website the stalker goes to view the information the app collects …
A good lesson in reading the fine print : Cignpost Diagnostics, which trades as ExpressTest and offers £35 tests for holidaymakers, said it holds the right to analyse samples from seals to “learn more about human health” — and sell information on to third parties. Individuals are required to give informed …
One cryptography expert said that 'serious flaws' in the way Samsung phones encrypt sensitive material, as revealed by academics, are 'embarrassingly bad.' [...]
A Berlin-based company has developed an AirTag clone that bypasses Apple’s anti-stalker security systems. Source code for these AirTag clones is available online. So now we have several problems with the system. Apple’s anti-stalker security only works with iPhones. (Apple wrote an Android app that can detect …
The attacks, which lead to 2FA defeat and account takeover, have accelerated by several hundred percent in one year, leading to thousands of drained bank accounts. [...]
Researchers from Proofpoint have spotted a new Middle East-targeted phishing campaign that delivers a novel malware dubbed NimbleMamba. [...]
The now-patched flaw that led to the ForcedEntry exploit of iPhones was exploited by both NSO Group and a different, newly detailed surveillance vendor. [...]
The 'smishing' group lives up to its name, expanding globally and adding image exfiltration to the Wroba RAT it uses to infect mobile victims. [...]
With KP Snacks the latest cyber-attack victim, firms must learn to defend themselves against a mounting menace The January snow lay thick on the Moscow ground, as masked officers of the FSB – Russia’s fearsome security agency – prepared to smash down the doors at one of 25 addresses they …
Senators have reintroduced the EARN IT Act, requiring social media companies (among others) to administer a massive surveillance operation on their users: A group of lawmakers led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have re-introduced the EARN IT Act, an incredibly unpopular bill from 2020 …
The usual tax-season barrage of cybercriminal activity is already underway with a phishing campaign impersonating the popular accounting and tax-filing software. [...]
There are two bills working their way through Congress that would force companies like Apple to allow competitive app stores. Apple hates this, since it would break its monopoly, and it’s making a variety of security arguments to bolster its argument. I have written a rebuttal: I would …
iOS 15.3 & iPadOS 15.3 fix the Safari browser flaw that could have spilled users’ browsing data, plus a zero day IOMobileFrameBuffer bug exploited in the wild. [...]
China is mandating that athletes download and use a health and travel app when they attend the Winter Olympics next month. Citizen Lab examined the app and found it riddled with security holes. Key Findings: MY2022, an app mandated for use by all attendees of the 2022 Olympic Games …