Author Archive
Iranian TOR “arms race” a shadow of things to come?
By Cameron Camp at 16 February, 2012, 11:54 am
Recently, the anonymizing network system TOR's (The Onion Router) traffic was ratcheted to a standstill in Iran, prompting a comparison by one of the TOR project developers to an emerging “arms race”. Users of the service, hoping to evade state censorship/snooping, encrypt the traffic that then gets routed anonymously around the globe. But it seems … Read More…
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Loading ...Facebook/app data privacy – sharing gone wild
By Cameron Camp at 9 February, 2012, 7:29 pm
So you browse your favorite restaurant review site and settle on a great Mediterranean restaurant, and “magically” a variety of preferences get fed back to your Facebook profile, to be shared, re-shared and re-shared, ricocheting around the internet to form purportedly value-added experiences elsewhere you visit. That’s great news if you want your preferences bounced … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ESET Research podcast round up
By Cameron Camp at 7 February, 2012, 3:11 pm
Here are some recently released podcasts by ESET Rearchers, addressing current topics such as the recent VeriSign hacks, the takedown of MegaUpload, and the problems with using good malware to catch the bad guys:
1. VeriSign, Credit Card Processor, Hacked Multiple Times
2. Mega Upload Website Shutdown by U.S. Department of Justice
3. Is The Stop Online Piracy … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Google responds to Android app Market security with stronger scanning measures
By Cameron Camp at 3 February, 2012, 12:44 pm
In response to recent reports that malicious apps may have made their way into the official Android Market, Google has responded by announcing a new program to more proactively scan the Market and developer accounts for seemingly malicious apps and highlights and/or remove them before users experience trouble.
Traditionally, the barriers of entry for developers in … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...CarrierIQ-style data gathering law to require mandatory notification/opt-in?
By Cameron Camp at 1 February, 2012, 4:55 pm
As legislators grapple with increasingly vocal smartphone owners concerned with privacy, a new Bill before the U.S. House of Representatives aims to require mandatory consumer consent prior to allowing the collection or transfer of data on such devices.
You may recall that a company called CarrierIQ recently became the center of attention after a user found … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Now you can be forced to decrypt your hard drive?
By Cameron Camp at 24 January, 2012, 3:35 pm
Awhile back we noted a case where Ramona Fricosu, a woman accused of involvement in a mortgage scam, was asked, following a law enforcement raid in which her laptop was seized, to decrypt data on the device for use as evidence, potentially incriminating her. She pleaded the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...EU – data breaches to be reported within 24 hours
By Cameron Camp at 23 January, 2012, 5:27 pm
In an escalation of the tendency to require companies to be forthright with their users following a breach, a European Union proposed bill intended to overhaul a 17-year old law is making progress. This week EU will outline the overhaul to the existing rules, hoping to encourage more expedient communication efforts following a breach, in … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Welcome to Facebook “f-commerce” platform – and Own/Want features
By Cameron Camp at 23 January, 2012, 1:21 pm
As increasing sectors of the internet migrate to Facebook as a deployment platform (Zygna, etc.), a new effort aims to spread the preference aggregation features to include things users either own or would like to own. By allowing users to add “Own” and “Want” buttons to their profile, users can highlight both a “Wishlist” and … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Zappos.com breach – lessons learned
By Cameron Camp at 17 January, 2012, 5:07 pm
We read that Zappos.com was breached on Sunday, to the tune of 24+ million users’ worth of information. But it seems at first blush they responded well. Of course, a company would hope to never have a breach at all, but when it happened at Zappos.com, here are some of the things they appear to … Read More…
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Facebook: over 800 pages of data stored on a single user
By Cameron Camp at 10 October, 2011, 10:42 am
In Europe, a user can make a request to an online company for all personal data they may have stored about them. One user did just that, and found 880 PAGES of data stored about him by Facebook! Other users listed on the Europe vs. Facebook website had even more. They include the usual data … Read More.
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