privacy and security

In a new report that confirms many people’s worst suspicions, a leaked marketing pitch deck suggests major tech companies are using AI software to eavesdrop on users’ conversations through their devices.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced he has won a $1.4 billion settlement from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta over privacy-related concerns involving Facebook capturing Texan users’ facial and biometric data without their knowledge or consent.

KnowBe4, a prominent cybersecurity firm, recently uncovered a sophisticated infiltration attempt by a North Korean “threat actor” who posed as a remote software engineer on their internal IT team. The North Korean spy, after being hired, immediately began uploading malware to the company’s systems.

CrowdStrike recently became the very “single point of failure” its executive had warned against just weeks before a catastrophic software update that brought down computers running Microsoft Windows around the world, crippling everything from airlines to banks in the process.

Telecommunications giant AT&T says cybercriminals have stolen phone records belonging to “nearly all” of its customers. The compromised data includes millions of phone numbers, calling and text records, and information revealing its customers’ locations.

Peloton, the once-booming exercise equipment company, is facing a lawsuit that claims it illegally sold customer data for use in training AI systems. The company is sweating its legal trouble as a California judge has denied its attempt to dismiss the lawsuit.

A new report from blockchain research firm TRM Labs has unveiled a startling increase in cryptocurrency theft, with hackers more than doubling their illicit gains in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year. Crypto crooks have stolen an astounding $1.38 billion so far this year.

Privacy-focused email and VPN company Proton has unveiled Proton Docs, a privacy-focused document editor that aims to provide users with a secure alternative to Google Docs.

At least 15,000 car dealerships across North America have been dealing with several-day disruptions after their software provider was hit with a cyberattack that shut down its systems.

Web porn kingpin Pornhub has announced that it will block access to its website in Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska this summer due to new age verification laws intended to restrict children’s access to adult content. The porn company is intent on blocking access in every state that passes a law intended to prevent children from freely accessing pornography.

Microsoft President Brad Smith acknowledged the company’s role in major security breaches that allowed China-linked hackers to infiltrate federal government computer networks in a Congressional hearing this week. The executive also defended the company’s operations in the communist dictatorship.

Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has announced plans to hide all users’ “likes” in an effort to “better protect your privacy,” a move that has sparked concerns about potential blackmail, abuse, and the inability to validate post engagement — making it easier than ever for bots to distort and disrupt the platform.

Small businesses across various industries are facing an onslaught of attacks from online scammers who use their videos, logos, and social media posts to assume their identities and sell cheap knockoffs or simply take customers’ money. Meanwhile, Meta, Amazon, and other tech giants are doing little to help them.

An international law enforcement team has reportedly apprehended a Chinese hacker accused of running a massive botnet for nearly a decade, amassing at least $99 million in profits by selling access to cybercriminals.

In the wake of a damning report from the US Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), Google is seizing the opportunity to challenge Microsoft’s dominance in the enterprise security market by offering its services to government institutions.

Microsoft has announced a new line of AI-enhanced Windows PCs, aiming to revolutionize the way users interact with their devices by integrating the Copilot AI assistant into the Windows operating system. The creepy system will take constant screenshots of your activity to track your every move.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, is diving headfirst into the world of AI-powered wearables with its “Camerabuds” project, combining audio, video, and AI to form the ultimate surveillance capitalism data gathering tool.

Google has issued an urgent warning to its vast user base of over 1 billion Chrome users, strongly advising them to update their browsers as soon as possible to protect against a critical security vulnerability.

UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest health insurance providers in the United States, recently disclosed that a ransomware attack on its subsidiary, Change Healthcare, has led to a significant theft of private healthcare data belonging to a “substantial proportion of people in America.”

The FBI has issued a warning about a new phishing scam that targets Americans using toll roads via SMS text messages. The messages typically claim that the user’s toll account is overdrawn with a link to the hacker’s site to make a false payment.

Streaming giant Roku has disclosed a massive data breach that has compromised more than 576,000 user accounts, marking the second security incident for the company in just a month.

Google has agreed to destroy or “de-identify” billions of records of web browsing data collected from users in its private browsing “Incognito Mode,” as part of a proposed class action settlement filed on Monday.

Following a massive data breach exposing the records of over 73 million current and former customers, AT&T has reset the account passcodes for millions of affected users.

Google has released a critical security update for the Chrome web browser, addressing seven vulnerabilities, including a critical flaw that could potentially allow attackers to compromise users’ systems through specially crafted web pages.

A Denver family has filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the company’s “Find My” location service led to a wrongful SWAT raid on their home, causing emotional distress and property damage. 

Newly unsealed court documents from an ongoing class action lawsuit against Meta show that in 2016, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally directed executives to “figure out” how to track encrypted usage on competing apps like Snapchat, YouTube, and Amazon.

As Google Maps’ Street View feature becomes increasingly popular, concerns about privacy and security have arisen, prompting individuals to seek ways to protect their homes from unwanted exposure. Breitbart Tech suggests every reader follow the steps in this article to blur their home on the mapping site.

A coalition of 40 state attorneys general has issued a stern warning to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, regarding the alarming surge in consumer complaints about account takeovers and lockouts.

A data breach at Golden Corral restaurants has exposed the personal information of over 180,000 employees and their beneficiaries, the company disclosed this week.

Elon Musk’s X/Twitter has enabled audio and video calling by default for all users, allowing anyone to make calls directly through the platform. Users who don’t want random calls from strangers on social media can disable the feature by following the steps in this article.

Pharmacies across the country are facing delays in the wake of a cyberattack against the healthcare tech giant Change Healthcare, a leading prescription processor, which said it was “experiencing a network interruption related to a cyber security issue” on Wednesday.

Researchers have reportedly discovered a new side-channel attack that can extract a person’s fingerprints from the sounds made when a finger swipes across a touchscreen.

AI developers creating romantic chatbots to serve as AI girlfriends and boyfriends for lonely people are able to harvest an entirely new set of data from unsuspecting users, as the bots collect details far more personal than a typical app. A privacy expert studying the aps says, “Although they are marketed as something that will enhance your mental health and well-being, they specialize in delivering dependency, loneliness, and toxicity, all while prying as much data as possible from you.”

Media giant Cox Media Group has come under scrutiny after boasting about its “Active Listening” technology, which allegedly enables marketers to eavesdrop on conversations through smartphones and other devices.

2023 was a year filled with cybercrime, especially with the rise of crypto hackers. To celebrate the end of the year, Breitbart Tech has pulled together eight of the most notorious cybercrime incidents of the past 12 months.

Aaron Johnson, a thief who stole hundreds of iPhones and used them to drain the financial accounts of his victims, is trying to make amends by explaining his methods. This is especially important as Christmas time, as many Americans give or receive new phones and should be mindful of security from the first time they power up their new smartphone.