After experiencing two outages in a week, one lasting more than six hours, and a whistleblower at a Senate Committee hearing alleging potentially harmful effects from Facebook’s algorithms, some are asking ‘what’s going on with Facebook?’ Whistleblower Recently identified former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, Frances Haugen, was found to be behind a series of leaks reported in the US Wall…
In this feature, we take a look at how a multi-billion-dollar market obtains, uses, and sells our location data. Report A GVR report estimates that the global location intelligence market was worth USD 12.2 billion in 2020. This market uses our phone/device location data. There are many different interlinked players in this market ecosystem from app companies, collectors, data…
Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra security dimension to accounts, and with Google now heading down the route of automatically enrolling millions of users into 2FA, here’s how to check if 2FA is turned on for your Google account: – Go to your account settings through myaccount.google.com on your desktop (or phone). – Click on the Security section (left-hand…
After a recent report found that poor domain security has left most Global 2000 companies vulnerable to the threats of phishing and brand abuse, we take a closer look at domain security and how businesses can maximise their protection against popular threats. CSC Research – Domains Dangerously Under-Protected Recent research by US-based CSC, which describes itself as “a world leader…
In this tech-insight, we take a look at what QR codes are used for, review some well-known security risks, and outline what action you can take to protect yourself from malicious QR codes. Quick Response (QR) Codes A QR code is a machine-readable (e.g., by smartphones), matrix barcode invented in 1994 by the Japanese Toyota subsidiary automotive company Denso…
In a bold step, Microsoft has announced that it is getting rid of all password logins, and that users will have to use an authenticator app or other solution instead. Vision Back in 2019, Microsoft announced that 100 million people were already using Microsoft’s passwordless sign-in (Ignite) each month, and in December 2020, Microsoft announced that 2020 had been “a…
Apple has issued a security update following the discovery of a zero-day, zero-click “spyware” that could infect iPhones and iPads. Discovered By Researchers The threat was discovered by independent researchers from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab while they were analysing the phone of a Saudi activist infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. What Is It? The Citizen Lab…
The introduction of the Age Appropriate Design Code (also known as the Children’s Code) by the ICO means that Facebook has decided to ask Instagram users to give their date of birth as part of the login. Age Appropriate Design Code The statutory Children’s Code (‘The Age Appropriate Design Code’), which came into force on 2 September 2020, is…
The results of new research suggest that the comments section for stories on prominent media websites across many western countries are the focus of major Kremlin-based activities to try and influence public opinion. Multiple Outlets, Many Countries The Open Source Communications Analytics Research (OSCAR) programme at Cardiff University’s Crime and Security Research Institute has reported finding evidence that 32…
In this article we look at what doxing is, the legality of it, some examples of doxing, and we consider what we can do to protect ourselves and our businesses from attack. What Is Doxing? Doxing is a term meaning for dropping (personal) dox where ‘dox’ is a slang term for documents. Doxing is a malicious act where a…
