British and US lawyers have launched joint class action lawsuit against Facebook, Cambridge Analytica Et Al

The Guardian reports that United Kingdom and US lawyers have launched a joint class action against Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and two other companies SCL Group Limited and Global Science Research Limited (GSR). for allegedly misusing the personal data of more than 71 million people. The lawsuit claims the firms obtained users’ private information from the …

Malicious crypto-mining apps with over 100,000 downloads found in the Google Play store

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have uncovered multiple android based malicious cryptocurrency-mining applications being distributed via the Google Play store, with the miners posing as games, sports streaming apps, and VPNs. Some of these have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. While the applications appear to provide legitimate functions, their real purpose is to secretly use …

Following Cambridge Analytica storm, Mozilla pulls the plug on its Facebook Adverts

The Firefox broswer maker has suspended all advertising activities on Facebook following the the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which has embroiled the popular social networking site. In a blog post announcing the move, Denelle Dixon, Mozilla’s chief business and legal officer, said: We understand that Facebook took steps to limit developer access to friends’ data beginning …

Latest Android malware can record voice calls for extortion & blackmailing

IT security researchers have discovered an android malware which aims at stealing personal data from Android devices, recording live calls and surrounding noises in order to blackmail the victim – Dubbed RedDrop by Wandera researchers, the malware was discovered in 53 applications on third-party app stores including calculators, image editors, languages teaching and space exploration apps. All …

Signal and Telegram hit by worldwide outages

Multiple reports indicate that the encrypted messaging systems Signal and Telegram are suffering downtime in a number of countries. Users of the popular encrypted communications services are reporting outages worldwide, including in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, US, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Reports have flooded across social media, and as there is no downtime or …

US Senator warns YouTube algorithm could be open to bad-actor manipulation

The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee has warned that YouTube’s powerful recommendation algorithm may be “optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content” or susceptible to “manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities”. Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned …

Twitter refutes claims that it snoops on user private messages

Twitter has pushed back after the release of undercover videos in which Twitter employees – primarily senior network security engineer Clay Haynes – are depicted as saying that they “view everything” users post on their servers, including private messages and sexual photos, and that employees are more than happy to participate in a Department of …

Twitter to meet US Congressional panel probing 2016 election

According to Reuters, Twitter Inc representatives will meet with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staff next week in relation to inquiries into the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a company representative said. The committee, along with other congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller, is investigating possible links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and …

Social engineering remains the most elusive hackers tool

Security experts have released new password recommendations however, hackers long ago realized that getting into a victim’s email or iCloud doesn’t require keyloggers, zero days, or USBs pre-loaded with malware. Nope, it’s much easier than that, it takes more charm than geek. The world of social engineering is where those looking gain access to protected …