Cyber Security

Starting on Thursday, Facebook is rolling out a new Trusted Contacts feature under your account security settings. Here, you can pick three to five folks who will have the power to help you when you lock yourself out of your account like a dummy. It’s pretty unlikely that you’ll get accidentally locked out of your Continue Reading →

The United States Department of Defense will reportedly grant security approval to Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and Apple’s iPhone and iPad running iOS 6 for use by Pentagon officials, according to The Wall Street Journal. Both companies have been pressing officials to grant them clearance and allow Defense employees to switch from outdated BlackBerry devices. The Continue Reading →

Several high-profile Twitter accounts have fallen victim to hacking attacks lately, and in response to the situation Twitter has issued a memo to media and news organizations suggesting steps they can take to protect themselves moving forward. Buzzfeed has posted the memo in its entirety, which asks organizations to help keep their accounts secure as Continue Reading →

Spanish police have arrested a Dutchman suspected of being behind one of the biggest ever web attacks. The 35 year-old-man was detained in Barcelona following a request from the Dutch public prosecutor. The attack bombarded the websites of anti-junk mail outfit Spamhaus with huge amounts of data in an attempt to knock them offline. It Continue Reading →

Another high-profile hack has hit the internet: this time, daily deal website LivingSocial is the victim. In an internal email, CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy says that the cyber-attack gave hackers access to its users’ names, email addresses, birthdates, and encrypted passwords. The passwords were thankfully both hashed and salted, so unlike some other large hacks targeting Continue Reading →

Twitter is reportedly working on a two-factor authentication system. Wired writes that the company is currently testing the new security solution internally before rolling it out to the public. Following a number of high-profile hacks, including that of Wired editor Mat Honan, several companies have shifted to two-factor authentication, including Apple, Microsoft, and others. Today’s Continue Reading →

The biggest news to hit the tech world on Tuesday was a non-event: the Associated Press’s Twitter account was hacked and sent out the following tweet: The AP said that the tweet came after hackers “made repeated attempts to steal the passwords of AP journalists,” which was (clearly) ultimately successful. The response to the tweet Continue Reading →

Anyone that follows the Associated Press on Twitter just heard “news” of an unprecedented national crisis. “Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured,” the AP’s account tweeted moments ago. Thankfully onlookers were quick to call fake on the tweet, no doubt aided by the fact that no other news agencies are Continue Reading →

Microsoft has launched a new campaign to increase awareness around online privacy issues. The company has long been active in the space, working with a range of players across the industry to educate consumers about Internet privacy, but its new campaign is focused on promoting choice and demonstrating how its products can help. “We don’t Continue Reading →

Google has been fined €145,000 (around $189,000) for what a regulator called “one of the biggest data protection rules violations known.” The fine comes after it was proved Google’s Street View cars illegally collected data from open Wi-Fi networks between 2008 – 2010. German prosecutors dropped criminal proceedings against the search giant last fall after Continue Reading →