CNET: “There’s no shortage of made-up national holidays. Among the fabricated celebrations: Houseplant Appreciation Day, Irish Coffee Day and Bubble Wrap Day. However, there is one such holiday actually worth observing: Data Privacy Day, which happens to be today. It’s a good reminder to check up on the safety of your personal data. The holiday began… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Privacy
FTC: US consumers lost $770 million in social media scams in 2021 up 18x from 2017
“Consumers in 2021 reported losing about $770 million to fraud initiated on social media—about one fourth of all reported fraud losses for the year and an 18-fold increase from 2017, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s latest Consumer Protection Data Spotlight. Of those who reported losing money to fraud in 2021, more than 95,000 indicated… Continue Reading
Personal identifying information for 1.5 billion users was stolen in 2021, but from where?
TechRepublic: “It was a big year for cybercriminals, who made off with somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion worth of users’ personal identifying information (PII) in 2021, according to a report from threat intelligence company Black Kite. Black Kite looked at 81 third-party breaches that accounted for over 200 public disclosures, and its top… Continue Reading
White House instructs government agencies to beef up cybersecurity, adopt ‘zero trust’ in new memo
The Verge: “The White House released a new cybersecurity strategy Wednesday aimed at reducing the risk of cyberattacks against government infrastructure. The strategy outlines the administration’s vision for moving government agencies towards a “zero trust” architecture — a cybersecurity model where users and devices are only given permissions to access network resources necessary for the… Continue Reading
Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2021 Annual Data Breach Report Sets New Record for Number of Compromises
“Today, the Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity crime, will release its 16th Annual Data Breach Report, supported by Sontiq, a TransUnion company, at the Identity, Authentication, and the Road Ahead Policy Forum hosted by the Better Identity Coalition (BIC), FIDO Alliance and the ITRC. According… Continue Reading
How to Download Everything Amazon Knows About You (It’s a Lot)
Likehacker – “Alexa has been keeping tabs on you. Here’s how to see what it knows. Here’s a fun thought experiment; picture the amount of personal data you think tech companies keep on you. Now, realize it’s actually way more than that (hmm, maybe this isn’t that fun). Even as privacy and security become more talked… Continue Reading
Can People Tell When You’ve Blocked Them on Texting or Social Media Messaging Apps?
Consumer Reports: “Here’s what they’ll see on text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, LinkedIn, Signal, Twitter, and WhatsApp. If you’ve ever been bombarded with incessant messages on your phone or favorite social media app, or received even just one message from someone you’d rather not hear from, blocking the sender might seem like the obvious decision. … Continue Reading
Google deceived consumers about how it profits from their location data, attorneys general allege in lawsuits
Washington Post: “Attorneys general from D.C. and three states sued Google on Monday, arguing that the search giant deceived consumers to gain access to their location data. The lawsuits, filed in the District of Columbia, Texas, Washington and Indiana, allege the company made misleading promises about its users’ ability to protect their privacy through Google… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 22, 2022
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 22, 2022 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex… Continue Reading
Stop Google from storing your location and data history with these settings
CNET – This video teaches you how to provide some level of privacy respective to your google web and app activities and control over your online data, and what you want to share. It involves following a series of procedures and about 5 minutes on each device, but is well worth your time. Continue Reading
EPIC Urges Postal Service to Reverse Plans to Expand Law Enforcement Access to Customer Data
“In comments to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), EPIC urged the agency to reverse a system of records expansion that would pull data from U.S. Postal Service customers for use by the law enforcement wing of the Postal Service. The proposed modification would give the USPIS access to information used for package tracking and other services,… Continue Reading
IRS Will Require Facial Recognition Scans to Access Your Taxes
Gizmodo: “Online tax filers will soon be required to submit a selfie to a third-party identity verification company using facial recognition tech in order to file their taxes or make IRS payments online. Starting this summer, users with an IRS.gov account will no longer be able to log in with a simple username and password.… Continue Reading
