privacy

After having become the new darling of the Android community, HMD Global's pristine reputation was almost completely tarnished by what may have been just a simple error. Not everyone, however, might have been satisfied by the Nokia phone maker's brief explanation and claims of an innocent mistake. To assuage those concerns, the Finnish company has published a longer explanation of what really happened and, more importantly, why there is no reason to panic.

Continue Reading

Personal tracking apps can useful in the right situations; such as remembering visited locations or keeping tabs on loved ones. But this usefulness is dependent on the app keeping users' data safe and secure. Unfortunately for users of Family Locator, a tracking app for iOS aimed at families, it did neither, leaving a large amount of personal data, including real-time locations, exposed for anyone to find.

Continue Reading

Mistakes and software bugs are a normal fact of life but some can be more damning than others. At a time when phone manufacturers, especially Chinese ones, are fighting to wash their hands clean of any perception of political bias, even an allegedly innocent mistake could become a PR and legal mess. That might be the situation Finnish company HMD Global might find itself in after it has been discovered that a number of its Nokia 7 Plus phones have been sending data to a still-mysterious server located in China.

Continue Reading

It's time to change your Facebook password. Again. The social network argues today's revelation that "hundreds of millions" of users' passwords were saved, in plaintext and unprotected, where thousands of employees could have accessed them, isn't bad enough that those users affected should be forced to update their security settings. I don't agree.

Continue Reading

A study done by independent security software test group AV-Comparatives showed how few mobile malware scanners actually worked. This group was founded around the turn of the millennium as a student project, and continues to this day in its quest to test the testers - judging and grading security applications of all sorts. The good news is that not many of the apps on the Google Play app store are malicious - the bad news is that the majority of "security apps" available to Android can't detect more than 30% of common Android malware samples.

Continue Reading

Epic Games almost started to become the shining beacon in the gaming industry with its launch of the very developer-friendly Epic Games Store. Thanks to its zeal to get developers and games onboard, however, it has started to be painted in a less favorable light. The latest controversy the game publisher has found itself in involves accusations of spying, for China even. The company naturally denies the admittedly flimsy association but does own up to peeking into the Steam data stored on PCs.

Continue Reading

Apple just published its latest iPhone advertisement, and it focuses on an important topic: privacy. The ad takes a long moment to emphasize how important privacy is in every day life, and not just when it comes to phones. You lock your door, close your blinds, fence in your yard, and keep private notes hidden...so why expect anything less from your handset?

Continue Reading

A couple of agencies took a peek at how Advertising Giant Facebook uses info on mobile device owners without their consent. It's become apparent that more than a few very, very popular apps on both Android and iOS are guilty of this info sharing team-up. Using data trackers and process readers, both Privacy International and MobilSicher (mobile secure, in Germany) have provided basic lists of Facebook affiliate apps.

Continue Reading

It's almost too ironic that something that's meant to be used to increase security can also be used to invade one's privacy. Perhaps it isn't too surprising, however, that Facebook is the one doing it. The latest in the never-ending litany of privacy sins involves the already misused phone number you may have submitted for two-factor authentication or 2FA. Not only did Facebook use that for ads, it apparently also made it too easy for someone to hunt you down on Facebook with that same number.

Continue Reading

Facebook can probably take a short breather thanks to Google. The search giant may be the latest target of scorn and inquiries over something that could have probably been easily avoided with a footnote or an inconspicuous line of text. Google has been sent a letter from the US Senate Commerce Committee demanding answers regarding the existence of a microphone on its Nest Secure system that remained undisclosed until earlier this month.

Continue Reading

Nearly a year ago, Facebook vowed to launch a new feature called Clear History. With this, the company claimed, users would be able to wipe the data Facebook had collected about them from third-party websites and apps. The feature was described as similar to the way users can clear their browser history, but nearly a year has passed without its arrival. Following a concerning report last week, Facebook has announced that Clear History will launch this year.

Continue Reading

A week after Singapore Airlines confirmed that its seat-back entertainment screens have built-in cameras comes similar confirmation from United Airlines and Delta. The airliners' have confirmed that some of their seat-back entertainment displays -- specifically the ones in the premium economy class -- have embedded cameras, but claim they are not activated and there are no plans to use them.

Continue Reading