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.
A report today says that ‘Russian Google’ Yandex is sending data harvested from millions of iOS app users to Russia – whether or not you use the company’s apps. Laws there could compel the company to make the data available to the Russian government.
Your data can be grabbed from a wide range of third-party apps which use a developer tool created by Yandex. Developers save time and money by using the Yandex API AppMetrica to obtain analytics data for their app, while the company gets user data in return …
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Messaging interoperability encryption challenges are being discussed by security experts, following the European Union’s decision to make cross-platform messaging capabilities a legal requirement.
There was much debate on whether or not to include messaging interoperability in the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and the challenges of maintaining end-to-end encryption was one of the key issues …
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A lobbying group whose members include Apple and Google is being accused of pushing for weak privacy legislation in a bid to pre-empt stronger measures by individual states.
As Congress makes little progress toward a federal privacy law, individual states are implementing their own legislation …
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Update 2: The security researcher who discovered the privacy failure reports that Apple has now fixed it.
Expand Expanding CloseAs of iOS 15.4 and watchOS 8.5 the Mail app on the watch no longer leaks the IP address when downloading remote content. Remote content is blocked on the watch even when Mail Privacy Protection is on …
For years, Apple has been vocal about its belief that privacy is a fundamental human right. In 2020, its decision to diminish iPhone ad tracking sparked a debate between executives about just how far the company will go to stop this pursuit.
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Many iOS apps sell your location data to data brokers, despite Apple’s privacy policies and clampdowns, says a new report today.
It says that while both Apple and Google have cracked down on one sneaky approach used by companies that buy and sell user data, a simple workaround is in widespread use …
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Facebook and Instagram‘s parent company Meta has labelled Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature ‘harmful.’ One analyst said that the privacy measure could be the biggest challenge the company ever faces.
A report today says that the loss of ability to target Facebook and Instagram users by their interests is seeing businesses abandon the platform in favor of Google ads …
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AirTag stalking concerns continue to be voiced, despite the fact that Apple’s tracker is the least suitable one on the market for anyone with malicious intent.
One campaign group is calling for all companies making Bluetooth trackers to cooperate in the development of new safety measures, and a university is conducting a study designed to assess the scale of the problem …
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Google has announced plans for blocking cross-app tracking on Android phones, following Apple’s lead on iPhones, claims a new report today.
However, there are a number of problems with the report, suggesting it may be a case of ‘The headline giveth, and the small print taketh away’ …
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A secret CIA mass surveillance program captured personal data from at least “some” American citizens, according to a partly declassified letter. Details of the program were even withheld from the Senate Intelligence Committee until last year, but mass surveillance usually relates to monitoring internet and phone usage.
Very few details have been revealed, and two members of the committee have urged the Central Intelligence Agency to disclose to the public some key facts about the program …
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9to5Mac has learned that the Cellebrite kit sold to customers can’t unlock iPhones – but the company can and will if customers send the phones to them.
It’s likely Cellebrite wants to keep its methods in-house, fearful of another intervention like the Signal one last year…
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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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