Current Events
Cambridge Analytica and Facebook: The Scandal and the Fallout So Far
Recent news has come out that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg improperly accessed (and sold) data of 87 million Facebook users in companionship with the company Cambridge Analytica, a company with ties to Donald Trump’s campaign. The data entailed of friend networks, likes, and other information to create a personality in order to target people with digital ads. The information of up to 2 billion was also breached and accessed by hackers, most of the data now out on the “Dark Web” and subjected to identity theft (amongst other things). The results of this incident includes the suspension of Cambridge Analytica’s CEO, Alexander Nix, Zuckerberg defending his company in front of Congress, and a lawsuit by Martin Lewis over falsified advertisements. As of May 2, Cambridge Analytica has been rumored to be shutting down. For information on how to protect your data on Facebook, click here. For more general information, click the title above.
Net Neutrality is a principle that prevents Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Verizon and Comcast, from regulating or blocking websites, as well as providing safety to personal data from ISPs. The US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is a group of five bureaucrats, chosen by President Trump, who voted down Net Neutrality in December. Now, Congress has less than 60 legislative days (until the second week of May) to gain one more Republican vote to initiate the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Even then, it is unsure if the CRA is able to fully resurrect Net Neutrality, considering it has only been used to end rules, and does not necessarily apply to each aspect of Net Neutrality. With this knowledge, states have taken control and begun passing their own Net Neutrality laws, or even providing statewide broadband Internet service. For more information on how to protect Net Neutrality, click here. For more broad information, click the title above.
Medical Privacy Rights Called Into Question After Death of 23-Month-Old Toddler
Alfie Evans, a young child with a degenerative brain disorder, died after doctors took the toddler off of life support despite the parents attempt to move him to a different hospital to continue treatment. An intense legal battle led to the declaration that the rights of the child were priority over parental control, and that the boy has the right to his “future dignity” and keeping him on life support would fail to respect his autonomy. For more information, click the title above.
U.S. Supreme Court to Settle Major Cellphone Privacy Case
Police officers for the first time could be required to obtain warrants to get data on the past locations of criminal suspects based on cellphone use under a major case on privacy rights in the digital age taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. Final verdict is expected to be decided during the early summer of 2018. For more information, click the title above.
What the Golden State Killer Case Means to Your Privacy
Nearly 32 years after the Golden State Killer's rampage ended, police arrested Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, on Tuesday in a Sacramento, California, suburb. Police allege that he is the killer who is believed to be behind 12 deaths and at least 50 rapes in at least 10 counties in California from 1974 through 1986. The arrest was made on the basis of genetic information, with detectives matching a discarded DNA sample from his home to evidence from the investigation, law enforcement officials said. DNA evidence is used to implicate criminals every day, but the method used in this case was new, because it was from a private company. For more information, click the title above.
More than $70 Million Stolen in Bitcoin Hack
NiceHash, the company that claims itself to be the largest digital marketplace, was infiltrated while 4,700 bitcoins were stolen, leaving about $75 million in damages. The company was forced to shut down the entire system to prevent anymore transactions being made. Their previous CEO, Marko Kobal, quit soon after the scandal. For more information, click the title above.
Uber’s Privacy Scandal Captures the Attention of Lawmakers
In November 2017, Uber admitted that they faced a massive security breach the previous year. The data and accounts of 57 million drivers and customers was infringed upon; the company paid $100,000 to keep the breach a secret. In response, Uber has fired their security officer, Joe Sullivan, and their former CEO, Travis Kalanick, was removed from his position, but remains on the board. They also received a massive lawsuit from the state of Pennsylvania due to the hack. For more information, click the title above.
PayPal Subsidiary Data Breach Hits Up to 1.6 Million Customers
A partner company Paypal owns, TIO Networks, was hacked, causing the company to shut down and prevent all transactions from going through. The addresses, Social Security numbers, and names of 1.6 million users were compromised, but Paypal members remained unaffected due to the fact the companies have yet to connect permanently. For more information, click the title above.
Google Collects Android Users’ Locations at all Times
Since the beginning of 2017, Android users’ location was being collected despite location services being disabled. Google’s ability to pinpoint one’s location through nearby cellular towers, and they claim no data has been misused. They planned to stop this feature at the end of November. For more information, click the title above.
New Malware Based on Zeus Banking Trojan Emerges
A new Trojan virus (a virus that disguises itself as a legitimate service), was detected around September of 2017. This virus, called IcedID, was based upon Zeus Banking, and targeted American and U.K. banks, mobile service providers, and payroll. It is supported by one of the strongest cybercrime groups: IcedID was able to access all traffic on any infected computer, including addresses, social media accounts, and other personal details. For more information, click the title above.
European Commission Proposes Restrictive Copyright Policy
An effective copyright policy had been in the works for a while when the EU Commission submitted a confusing addition to the Copyright Directive. Article 13 would require internet companies to filter their uploading of data. Many privacy rights activists argued that this would lead to extreme filtration and deletion of information, as well as constant tracking of internet users. For more information, click the title above.
Discovery that All Wifi Networks are Vulnerable to Hacks
A Belgium security expert discovered that the WPA2 protocol used to protect wifi networks has a fatal flaw that leaves data exposed and defenseless against hackers. Information that would typically be encrypted is available for hackers, who are able to obtain sensitive data such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and addresses, as well as manipulating data. This can include the deposition of viruses/malware; in addition, most internet companies are vulnerable to it. For more information, click the title above.
Spambot Leaks More than 700m Email Addresses in Massive Data Breach
More than 700m email addresses, as well as a number of passwords, were leaked publicly due to a misconfigured spambot, in one of the largest data breaches ever. It contains almost twice the records than those in the River City Media breach from March, previously the largest breach from a spammer. For more information, click the title above. For more information on the River City Media breach, keep scrolling down.
Instagram Suffers Data Breach on High-Profile Users
In August, Verified Instagram users were at risk due to a hacker being able to access information through the app’s faulty application programming interface. Profile data, addresses, and phone numbers were all obtained; however, no account passwords were taken and the bug was quickly swept out of Instagram’s system. The most well-known action of this hack was the confiscation of Selena Gomez’s account, and the uploading of uncongenial photos of Justin Bieber. For more information, click the title above.
Sweden Accidentally Leaks the Private Data of Nearly All Citizens
Since 2015, an ongoing problem with the Swedish Transport Agency (STA) and a private company, IBM has developed. The STA established a maintenance contract with the other company, and uploaded IBM’s database on cloud servers (a slightly more remote server than a normal one). Then, the STA emailed the entire database to marketers; the only action to mend the problem was a second email asking all recipients to delete the data. The situation finally came to a head when the STA director was fired in 2017. For more information, click the title above.
Data-Mining Company Endangers the Information For Almost Every Registered Voter
The Republican Party’s ability to exploit data, including precision ad targeting campaigns on Facebook, is revealed to the general public due to one California-based security researcher: he claims Republican-linked election databases were inadvertently exposed to the entire internet, sans password, potentially violating the privacy of almost every single registered voter in the United States. For more information, click the title above.
Wikileaks Discovers CIA Spyware is Able to Hack Any Version Of Windows Software
WikiLeaks has released the user guide, demo and more of a new spy malwarestrain allegedly created and used by the CIA. The spyware targets all Windows versions and allows attackers to completely hijack computers, steal data and send it to CIA severs, delete data and upload malicious software. According to WikiLeaks' documents, the spyware was created by the CIA, with help from a private New Hampshire-based cybersecurity firm called Siege Technologies. For more information, click the title above.
Zomato Hacked; 17 Million Accounts Sold on Dark Web
Zomato, an Indian search engine used typically to find restaurants, is hacked by a user with the name “nclay”. This user claims to have accessed and sold the data of 17 million different accounts on the dark web, including passwords and emails. However, no financial information or credit cards were compromised. For more information, click on the title above.
UN Experts Hacked While Investigating Violations of Sanctions on North Korea
United Nations experts investigating violations of sanctions on North Korea have suffered a “sustained” cyber-attack by unknown hackers with “very detailed insight” into their work, according to an email warning seen by Reuters. For more information, click the title above.
Turkish Government Blocks Wikipedia for All Online Users In Country
Turkey blocked Wikipedia from all online users in April of 2017 after the company allegedly posting content that stated the Turkish government promoted terrorism. The country said amends could be made if Wikipedia complied to a list of demands. For more information, click on the title above.
3 Billion Yahoo Accounts are Hacked
An epic and historic data breach at Yahoo in August 2013 affected every single customer account that existed at the time, Yahoo parent company Verizon said on Tuesday. That's three billion accounts -- including email, Tumblr, Fantasy and Flickr -- or three times as many as the company initially reported in 2016. For more information, click the title above.
Cyber Thieves Took Data On 145 Million eBay Customers By Hacking 3 Corporate Employees
EBay Inc initially believed that its customers' data was safe as forensic investigators reviewed a network security breach discovered in early May and made public this week, a senior executive told Reuters in 2014. For more information, click the title above.
Home Depot Offers $19 Million To Settle Hacking Lawsuit
Home Depot says it's willing to pay as much as $19.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by shoppers affected by a massive security breach that exposed credit card information belonging to 56 million customers. For more information, click the title above.
Police Arrest 5 Cyber Thieves Who Stole 3.2 Million From ATMs Using Malware
Law enforcement authorities from Europe and Russia have arrested five members of an international cyber criminal gang for stealing $3.2 million cash from ATMs using malware. Three of the suspects, Andrejs Peregudovs (41), of Latvia, Niklae Penkov (34) of Moldova, and Mihail Colibaba (30) of Romania, were arrested in Taiwan by the Taiwanese Criminal Investigation Bureau last summer, have already been sentenced to 5 years in prison for their role in a massive ATM heist operation, involving 22 individuals from 6 countries. For more information, click the title above.
Rebel Wilson Wins Record-Breaking Defamation Case
A judge in September awarded Wilson $4.56 million Australian dollars ($3.66 million U.S.) in damages over articles published by Bauer Media that Wilson said cost her film roles. Back in June, an Australian jury ruled that the 2015 articles branded Wilson as “a serial liar” who had “fabricated almost every aspect of her life” — including her age, upbringing and the origin of her name. For more information, click the title above.
Arby’s is Hacked, With 355,000 Credit Cards Targeted
Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. is investigating a malware attack on its payment card system that targeted thousands of customers’ credit and debit cards.The Atlanta-based fast-food chain said on its website that it notified law enforcement and is utilizing security experts for the investigation. Arby’s officials said the breach was contained and malware was removed. For more information, click the title above.
Two separate data breach incidents at specialty practices in Kentucky and North Carolina have led to nearly 60,000 compromised patient records. In early 2017, the University of North Carolina Health Care’s Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center reported a data breach involving a laptop stolen during an Oct. 8 break-in. For more information, click the title above.
Saks, Lord & Taylor hacked; 5 million payment cards compromised
Hackers made off with a whopping 5 million credit and debit card numbers from Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor, placing it “among the most significant credit card heists in modern history.” For more information, click the title above.