Cyber Security

Google on Thursday is making a change to Gmail that will further bake in Google+ to its webmail product in a way that’s actually somewhat practical, though also potentially invasive. Going forward, you’ll now be able to directly email your Google+ contacts from Gmail, even if you don’t know their email address. And by default, Continue Reading →

The social network Snapchat has hired lobbyists in Washington for the first time. Snapchat, which allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after a certain amount of time, has signed up with the powerhouse K Street firm Heather Podesta + Partners, according to a lobbying disclosure form filed Jan. 1. The lobbying firm Continue Reading →

“The fact that private industry now works in tandem with the government to stalk and track us online may deflect but cannot dilute the moral argument. It seems little considerations like the prohibitions against “unreasonable search and seizure” enshrined in our Bill of Rights never made it onto the Behavioral Targeting agenda. — Jaffer Ali Continue Reading →

A malware attack hit Yahoo’s advertising server over the last few days, affecting thousands of users in various countries, an Internet security firm said. In a blog post, Fox-IT said Yahoo’s servers were releasing an “exploit kit” that exploited vulnerabilities in Java and installed malware. “Clients visiting yahoo.com received advertisements served by ads.yahoo.com,” the internet security firm Continue Reading →

If we learned anything this past year, it’s that information we store online is exceptionally vulnerable. Our metadata (the data that describes who we are and what we do) is in the hands of people who are about as successful at protecting it as 1850’s bankers were at protecting money in the Old West. Sure, Continue Reading →

Facebook is being sued by two users for intercepting the “content of the users’ communications,” including private messages, with the intent to “mine user data and profit from those data by sharing them with third parties—namely, advertisers, marketers, and other data aggregators.” The plaintiffs argue in a December 30 class action complaint that Facebook’s use Continue Reading →

In room-size metal boxes, secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world. According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build “a cryptologically useful Continue Reading →

Snapchat said on Thursday it would alter its app to make it harder for malicious users to collect and leak millions of usernames connected to phone numbers. The move comes after a group calling itself SnapchatDB rang in the New Year by leaking 4.6 million partially redacted phone numbers, in a stunt they said was Continue Reading →

  Skype is starting 2014 with a security issue of its own. It appears the official Skype Twitter account has been compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army. The hacking group has taken over the account today, posting several tweets in what appears to be a classic case of phishing. The most recent fake tweet advises Continue Reading →

Last week security researchers published a way to skim Snapchat’s full database, and it appears someone did it before the vulnerability — which, according to those researchers had been known for months — was addressed. A website called SnapchatDB! has appeared posting SQL/CSV files that it claims contain the username and associated phone number for Continue Reading →