More than 17,000 people have signed up to a class action lawsuit against Facebook, which alleges that the social network violated its users’ privacy.
Monthly Archives: August 2014
1.2 billion logins scooped up by CyberVor hacking crew – what you need to do
Hackers have amassed a vast collection of stolen data, including 1.2 billion unique username/password pairs, by compromising over 420,000 websites using SQL injection techniques. This data haul may yet turn out to be a ‘Heartbleed’ moment for website owners who assume their sites are too small to be of interest to hackers.
FBI used drive-by downloads to track child porn suspects hidden on Tor
The FBI has been silently installing spyware in its quest to identify and prosecute criminals hiding behind the powerful Tor anonymity system. The technique’s a classic tool in the malware writer’s kit. Do the ends justify the means when it’s the law, using it to capture child abusers? 
Is artificial intelligence as big a threat as nuclear weapons?
Elon Musk, King of the Disruptors, thinks so. And I have a random tweet generator that he should meet. 
HP finds that “Internet of Things” gadgets are sitting ducks
TVs, webcams, thermostats, remote power outlets, sprinkler controllers, door locks, home alarms, scales and garage door openers: they’re all flunking Security 101, with issues as bad as “Sure, go ahead, we consider ‘1234’ to be a perfectly acceptable password.”
How to send 5 million spam emails without even noticing
Before you read the article, see if you can guess, to the nearest million, how many spams a 10,000-strong botnet might realistically send each week. Commit yourself first, and then read the story of the SophosLabs “honeybot”!
Oxford and Cambridge in the race to eliminate passwords
Cambridge University are working on a technology-oriented approach where multiple small devices create an “electronic aura”, enabling a main device to transmit a unique identification signal. Meanwhile a company spun out of an Oxford University programme is developing more biomechanical methods of recognising people based on the way they move, behave and interact with devices.
Apple faces class action suit for tracking users without consent
A Californian plaintiff says that nobody at Apple ever told her about tracking her whereabouts, nor did anybody ever ask for her permission. She says she only found out about it by watching a recent Chinese state TV report about iPhone being a security risk to the state. 
Mozilla database leaks 76,000 email addresses, 4,000 passwords
Email addresses and encrypted passwords of thousands of Mozilla developers were accidentally exposed for a month – and there are no guarantees that they were not snaffled up by those with ill intent.
Facebook slapped with $123 million revenge-porn lawsuit
For months, Facebook hosted a revenge-porn page dedicated to humiliating one Texas woman with Photoshopped clips of her face pasted onto porn shots, a US woman from Texas is claiming. Facebook’s report abuse procedure got her nowhere; only a police subpoena got through. Is that Report Abuse button actually hooked up to anything, or is it buzzing in an empty room? 