Privacy is a growing concern in today’s world. Follow along with all our coverage related to privacy, security, what Apple and other companies are doing to keep your information safe, and what steps you can take to keep your information private.
The cofounder of a Twitter 2FA text service is reported to have been secretly selling access to its networks to governments, enabling them to locate people of interest – and in some cases obtain their phone logs …
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There are more than 2,800 US government Cellebrite customers, according to the smartphone hacking company. The tech can be used to extract most data from both iPhones and Android phones.
The company also boasts that its private sector clients include “six out of the world’s 10 largest pharmaceutical companies and six of the 10 largest oil refineries”…
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Listings for AirTags with deactivated speakers have been spotted on eBay and Etsy. This removes one of the two anti-stalking features Apple built into the tracking devices.
One seller claimed that the modification was done for innocent purposes …
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Today is officially Data Privacy Day, designed to highlight steps we can all take to ensure that we are protecting our identity, our personal data, and our money.
The Federal Trade Commission this week revealed that fraud initiated on social media alone cost consumers around $770M last year – and identity theft can create problems that affect you for years.
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Today marks Data Privacy Day in many countries around the world, with the goal of raising awareness and promoting privacy and data protection best practices. In honor of Data Privacy Day, Apple’s head of user privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, has joined Rene Ritchie for an interview diving into Apple’s own beliefs on privacy.
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A special US version of Pegasus smartphone spyware was created by NSO, and purchased by the FBI, a new report reveals today. The Drug Enforcement Agency, Secret Service, and the US military also held discussions with the Israeli spyware company.
Israel had always insisted that NSO make Pegasus incapable of being used on phones registered to US numbers in order to avoid angering a powerful ally, but an exception was granted…
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Security researchers have released details of DazzleSpy – Mac malware that enabled key-logging, screen captures, microphone access, and more.
DazzleSpy was used to target Hong Kong democracy activists, initially through a fake pro-democracy website, and later through a real one, in a so-called watering hole attack …
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Apple paid a bug bounty of $100K after a cyber security student who successfully hijacked the iPhone camera back in 2019 did the same with the Mac camera.
Ryan Pickren used an imaginative approach that allowed him to run arbitrary code on a target Mac, and received what he believes to be the largest bug bounty Apple has ever paid …
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Use of the Chinese Olympics app, MY2022, is mandatory for everyone attending this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, whether as an athlete or simply watching from the stadium.
The app collects sensitive personal data – like passport details, medical data, and travel history – and analysis by security researchers reveals that the code has two security holes that could expose this information …
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It’s being reported today that Israel police are using NSO’s Pegasus spyware on the country’s own citizens, including opponents of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. NSO had previously claimed that Pegasus would not be used within Israel.
The phone hacks are said to have been carried out without warrants and without any judicial oversight.
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The British government is planning to include both on-screen and live emotive stunts in an anti-encryption ad campaign designed to sway public opinion against end-to-end encryption in messaging apps.
The anti-privacy ad blitz is reportedly due to begin this month…
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Update: The app is a secondary one popularly used for electronic check-ins at venues, distinct from the government app which uses the Apple/Google API.
German police have misused a COVID-19 contact tracing app data by apparently faking an infection at a restaurant in order to obtain details of potential witnesses.
The joint Apple/Google API used by the government app can’t be abused in this way, as it doesn’t track locations, but a separate app for QR code check-ins was misused …
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Another suspected NSO phone hack has come to light, this of journalists and activists in El Salvador. Most of the journalists were working for an online news service that has been reporting extensively on alleged government corruption.
Two journalists contacted Citizen Lab after suspecting that their phones had been compromised, and an investigation confirmed their suspicions, and found that they weren’t the only ones …
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Laptop privacy features have become something of a trend at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show – including the capability to automatically blur the screen if a bystander looks at it.
Some features can extend battery life too …
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The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) has warned of the risks of smartphones and other devices being compromised by surveillance tools, and tweeted a link to NCSC tips on how to protect yourself from cyber attacks …
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We learned earlier this month that NSO’s Pegasus spyware was used to hack US State Department iPhones in Uganda, with no clue at the time who the attacker was.
A new report strongly suggests that the Ugandan government was behind the attacks, as the country – which has an appalling human rights record – is now known to have purchased the spyware. It also appears that this was, indirectly, the tipping point that led to NSO’s downfall…
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We don’t imagine many people actually read Apple’s terms & conditions before creating an Apple ID, but if you wanted to do so, it would take you a half-hour, according to an infographic from Statista.
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The degree to which mobile carriers sell your personal data to third-party companies, allowing targeted ads based on your data, is rather tricky to ascertain from their privacy policies.
If you want to play safe, however, all three of the largest US carriers offer opt-out options…
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On Wednesday, the US and Australia agreed to share digital data between law enforcement agencies in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks and child abuse.
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Pegasus spyware maker NSO Group is reportedly running out of cash following actions by both the US government and Apple. This has led the company to explore options to put itself up for sale.
Two US funds have expressed an interest, claiming that they would change the company’s mission from offensive to defensive, though skepticism has been expressed about this …
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With the launch of iOS 14.5 earlier this year, Apple rolled out its new App Tracking Transparency capability. This privacy feature is designed to give users the ability to opt out of being tracked across other apps and services, but a new report from the Financial Times today details how some companies are still sharing “user-level signals” from iPhone users.
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Facebook 2FA (two-factor authentication) will become mandatory for accounts likely to be targeted by hackers. The move is one of a range of protections offered to high-risk accounts in order to reduce the likelihood of interference in elections.
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Apple has been fined €10M ($11.3M) in Italy for what competition authorities say is the misuse of customer data. Google has been fined the same amount for the same thing.
It follows a $225M fine in the same country earlier this week for price fixing between Apple and Amazon …
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Journalists, lawyers, politicians, and human rights activists have all been targeted by NSO’s Pegasus software, and Apple has now said that it will send security alerts to customers whose devices may be been compromised. It has already done so for at least five Thai activists and researchers.
It follows Apple’s announcement yesterday that it is suing NSO for attacking iOS users …
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