privacy and security - Page 16

Google announced on Thursday that it will create a “privacy sandbox” for Chrome, in an attempt to give users more control over the web browser. Advertisers, however, will still be able to track consumers, as an engineer at the tech giant says that “large scale blocking of cookies” actually undermines privacy.

MoviePass confirmed this week that a data breach potentially compromised thousands of credit card numbers belonging to their customers.

A Facebook tool rolling out in the coming months will allow users to see which apps and websites have tracked them and shared their personal data with Facebook while they were not using the social media platform.

Tech giant Google is facing yet another privacy issue after vulnerabilities were revealed in the company’s Google Nest Cam IQ indoor security camera which could allow hackers to hijack the device.

Tech giant Facebook failed to warn users about the risks attached to its single sign-on tool despite taking steps to protect employees from dangers, according to a lawsuit. According to the suit, Facebook knew about the vulnerability but failed to fix it for years.

In an update to the company’s privacy policy, tech giant Microsoft has noted that human workers may listen to Skype and Cortana recordings. This is an admission by the software giant that media reports in early August based on internal leaks about contractors monitoring Skype calls are correct.

A major data breach reportedly found in biometrics security system “BioStar 2,” built by security company Suprema, has now made private data — such as fingerprints and facial recognition scans — public, affecting at least a million people. According to researchers, once biometric data is stolen, it cannot be retrieved, potentially affecting users “for the rest of their lives.”

Tech giant Facebook is reportedly facing billions of dollars in potential damages as a federal appeals court rejected the firm’s argument to halt a class action lawsuit relating to the storing of biometric data of millions of users.

Social media company Twitter has admitted that an internal bug in its ad targeting system means that the site shared user data with advertising partners without consent.

A hacker can break into an iPhone by simply sending a text using an “interaction-less” bug in Apple’s iOS iMessage program, says Google Project Zero researcher Natalie Silvanovich.

A startup marketing firm based in San Francisco, California, appears to have been secretly saving millions of Instagram users’ “stories,” as well as tracking their locations. The Facebook-owned app has since issued a cease and desist letter to its trusted “marketing partner,” but the incident has revived concerns over Facebook’s apparent inability to protect its users’ data.

Following news of the recent Capital One data breach which saw over 100 million Americans and 6 million Canadians left vulnerable, here are some ways to protect your personal data.

According to a recent report, at least 140,000 social security numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers have been put at risk following a data breach involving more than 100 million credit card applicants’ information.

Apple contractors around the world regularly hear people having sex, discussing confidential medical and legal matters, and committing crimes such as drug deals, during quality control work for the Silicon Valey giant’s Siri virtual voice assistant.

A new study claims that it is quite easy to identify an individual from a database of anonymized information, even when personal details have been removed. The Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe claim that their usage and potential sale of user data to advertisers protects privacy by anonymizing the data, a claim shaken by the new study.

Silicon Valley tech giant Facebook will reportedly pay a fine of $5 billion to the FTC to settle allegations of mishandling of user data. FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra called the settlement a “Terrible precedent,” arguing “Breaking the law shouldn’t be profitable.”

A computer hacker reportedly infiltrated the Bulgarian tax system and stole the personal details of every working adult in the country. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov called the young hacker accused of the crime a “wizard.”

A new report states that Google plans to close a privacy loophole in its Chrome web browser that allowed publishers to detect if users were in incognito mode and serve them different content.

A new study scanned 22,484 pornography sites and found them filled with trackers from major tech firms, including Google and Facebook.

Tech giant Google has reportedly terminated its censored Chinese search engine product known as “Project Dragonfly.”

FaceApp now owns access to images of over 150 million users’ faces and names, according to a Wednesday-published Forbes report.

An Australian cyber researcher alleges that social media giant Facebook embeds tracking codes in monitor who sees and shares your photos.

Tech giant Apple has shut down its “Walkie Talkie” app on Apple Watches after a security flaw was discovered that allowed strangers to listen in on a user’s iPhone.

A new report claims that Silicon Valley tech giant Google has been employing outside contractors to listen in on the voice recordings of its Google Assistant users without their knowledge.

According to a recent study, Google’s Android operating system is allowing more than 1,300 apps to bypass system permissions controlling access to user data to track users without their knowledge.

Legendary Silicon Valley genius and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak warned Facebook users to find a way to get off the social media platform in a recent video.

Two security researchers announced on Tuesday that they were able to hack into a popular smart home security device after discovering a series of flaws that would allow a tech-savvy intruder to unlock a front door. The researchers revealed their findings only after the security flaws had been fixed, but the company has reportedly since discontinued the device in favor of a newer product.

A Chinese smart home equipment manufacturer recently faced a data breach which left 2 billion user logs vulnerable to hackers. The database included personally identifiable information from customers around the world including the United States.

The New York Times recently published an article outlining how a hacker infiltrated a popular grief support Facebook group, and the fact the company was slow to offer any help.

A new lawsuit alleges that information on shared medical records could be combined with Google’s location data to reveal identifying information about patients.

In a recent interview with CBS News, Instagram head Adam Mosseri assured users that Instagram isn’t listening in on people’s private conversations it’s just “dumb luck” that ads appear to be suspiciously accurate.

Professor Tom Bensky at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, has developed an app that tracks classroom attendance using the GPS function on his student’s smartphones.

The Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe at Facebook has been removed from the S&P list of ethical companies following a number of scandals surrounding the company.

The Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe at Google are reportedly investigating an issue with the company’s Nest security cameras which allows previous owners of the cameras to spy on new users.

Google has launched a Chrome browser extension allows users to report suspicious sites to the firm to include in its “Safe Browsing” index.

According to a recent report, a computer science student has scraped seven million transactions from the Venmo payment processing app, highlighting vulnerabilities in the service. Users of the popular payment system owned by PayPal can secure the privacy of their account by following several simple steps.