Cyber Security

It was discovered that the world’s largest and most popular social networking site was inadvertently obtaining phone numbers from its users without their consent. Symantec this week revealed that Facebook’s mobile application was sending individual phone numbers from Android users over the Internet to its servers. The security firm explained that users were not required Continue Reading →

When asked about the NSA's seemingly overreaching surveillance, President Obama thoughtfully said, “I think it’s important to recognize that you can’t have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience.” Continue Reading →

Although the Google Play store does a pretty good job of getting rid of apps that contain malware, it doesn’t do nearly as well when it comes to tossing out apps that contain adware. A new study from mobile security company Lookout shows that 6.5% of free Android apps on Google Play contain adware, which Continue Reading →

A hacker has exploited Facebook’s Graph Search to collect a database of thousands of phone numbers and Facebook users. Both parties agree that all the information was left public by users (even if the users themselves may still not realize it). But Facebook issued him a cease and desist after the hacker continued to scrape Continue Reading →

Facebook’s software for letting users download their data inadvertently exposed the contact information of 6 million users, the company said in a post on its security blog. Phone numbers and email addresses that are stored as part of its friend-recommendation algorithms were inadvertently attached to their contacts’ Facebook accounts, so that someone downloading an archive Continue Reading →

When Max Kelly, the chief security officer for Facebook, left the social media company in 2010, he did not go to Google, Twitter or a similar Silicon Valley concern. Instead the man who was responsible for protecting the personal information of Facebook’s more than one billion users from outside attacks went to work for another Continue Reading →

Microsoft has long resisted this move, but starting June 26 — the date the Windows 8.1 preview will ship — it will finally launch its own security bounty program. The company will offer bounties up to $100,000 for “truly novel exploitation techniques” that expose security issues in Windows 8.1 Preview. It will also pay up Continue Reading →

Facebook for iOS has gotten a small update on Wednesday that adds a couple of nice changes. Foremost is the ability to very quickly edit the privacy of a given post so that it’s visible only to the people you choose. This is accomplished by tapping on the small downward chevron next to any post, Continue Reading →

In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo’s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional. The judges disagreed. That left Yahoo two choices: Hand over the data or break the law. So Yahoo became Continue Reading →

When news broke last week that Verizon was handing over information about all of its calls to the National Security Administration, things were bad enough. In the week since then, however, things have only gotten worse for our personal security. A program called PRISM was outed by the Washington Post. According to the top-secret document Continue Reading →