Jeremy Wagstaff and Paul Carsten report: Thousands of apps running code built by Chinese Internet giant Baidu have collected and transmitted users’ personal information to the company, much of it easily intercepted, researchers say. The apps have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times. The researchers at Canada-based Citizen Lab said they found the problems…
Category: Business Sector
Former Smart Online IT manager sentenced to 30 months for sending damaging code to the firm’s servers
There’s a follow-up to an incident previously reported on this site. Nikhil Nilesh Shah, a former information technology manager at Smart Online, who pleaded guilty in August to sending damaging computer code to servers at his former employer has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay pay $324,462 in restitution. SOURCE: U.S. Attorney’s…
ASUS Settles FTC Charges That Insecure Home Routers and “Cloud” Services Put Consumers’ Privacy At Risk
Taiwan-based computer hardware maker ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that critical security flaws in its routers put the home networks of hundreds of thousands of consumers at risk. The administrative complaint also charges that the routers’ insecure “cloud” services led to the compromise of thousands of consumers’ connected storage devices, exposing…
uKnowKids responds to reports of exposed database
uKnowKids has responded to reports that their database was exposed. As reported yesterday on this site, the details of 1,740 children being tracked by their software as well as other details were exposed in a misconfigured MongoDB installation. The exposed data included text messages and images from and to the children. The exposure was discovered by Chris…
Warnings on Cyber Security After Lubbock Business Hacked
Wes Rapaport reports: Cyber security experts have issued warnings Monday on internet safety after a Lubbock business was apparently attacked by hackers. The computer systems at Caprock Business Forms were non-operational Friday, following the attack, which was triggered by a suspicious email opened by an employee, according to staff. “We’ve got a really good IT guy…
You Can’t Hide Behind Your EULA
In response to VTech’s controversial new EULA in the wake of their massive data breach, Cooley LLP has a commentary. Here are some excerpts: Apart from being a bit mean, it goes against the basic principles of data protection and consumer law in the UK. The Data Protection Directive 95/46 EC places obligations on the…