NextGov: “The federal government is now using anti-phishing security on its emails at a higher rate than any major industry sector, according to a report released Thursday. The study from the email security firm ValiMail comes roughly six months after the Homeland Security Department mandated the email security tool called DMARC for all federal agencies.… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Mail
Quick rundown of the new Gmail
Google Blog: ‘Email is a necessity for most of us. We use it to stay in touch with colleagues and friends, keep up with the latest news, manage to-dos at home or at work—we just can’t live without it. Today we announced major improvements to Gmail on the web to help people be more productive… Continue Reading
Emails Suggest Interior Dept. Prioritizing Fossil Fuel Interests Over Wildlife Well-Being
Pacific Standard – Records reveal that, following requests by fossil fuel industry groups, a top official at the Department of the Interior appeared to take credit for helping to delay new federal protections for a once-endangered species. “The Texas hornshell is a sleek green-gray mussel that once thrived in the Rio Grande watershed, its habitat… Continue Reading
FOIA requests reveal EPA effort to boost impact of industry sponsored research
Union of Concerned Scientists: “Newly released documents obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists under three separate Freedom of Information Act requests and first reported on by POLITICO demonstrate that the Trojan horse “secret science” proposal being floated by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is entirely driven by politics. POLITICO writes: “Since Pruitt… Continue Reading
Verge reports Gmail’s new design will include a ‘Confidential Mode’
“Gmail on the web is getting a big update in the coming weeks with a new design and features, but Google is also introducing a new Confidential Mode. The Verge revealed the new design earlier this week, alongside features like quick reply to emails, the ability to snooze emails until later, and a new sidebar… Continue Reading
Protecting Email Privacy—A Battle We Need to Keep Fighting
EFF: “We filed an amicus brief in a federal appellate case called United States v. Ackerman Friday, arguing something most of us already thought was a given—that the Fourth Amendment protects the contents of your emails from warrantless government searches. Email and other electronic communications can contain highly personal, intimate details of our lives. As… Continue Reading
This is the new Gmail design
The Verge: A new sidebar includes Google Calendar alongside messages: “Google revealed yesterday that it’s planning to launch a new Gmail design in the coming weeks. The refreshed design will appear for Gmail users on the web, bringing it closer to the company’s tweaks for Gmail on mobile devices. The Verge has obtained screenshots of… Continue Reading
The dots in your email address do matter: how to scam a Gmail user
James Fisher: “I recently received an email from Netflix which nearly caused me to add my card details to someone else’s Netflix account. Here I show that this is a new kind of phishing scam which is enabled by an obscure feature of Gmail called “the dots don’t matter”. I then argue that the dots… Continue Reading
Variety – Facebook Under Fire: How Privacy Crisis Could Change Big Data Forever
Variety: “…The scandal in a nutshell: Cambridge Analytica, a U.K.-based political data analytics firm, illicitly procured the data of 50 million Facebook users — without their knowledge or consent — and then enlisted that to inform voter-targeting strategies for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. It wasn’t a hack per se. But both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica… Continue Reading
DOJ Revives Push to Mandate a Way to Unlock Phones
The New York Times: “Federal law enforcement officials are renewing a push for a legal mandate that tech companies build tools into smartphones and other devices that would allow access to encrypted data in criminal investigations. F.B.I. and Justice Department officials have been quietly meeting with security researchers who have been working on approaches to… Continue Reading
Zuckerberg apologizes defers to audit outcome accepts possible misuse by Russians while whistleblower details data gathering
Follow up to previous postings this week – Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, the 2016 Election, and a colossal misappropriation of social media data – Implications of Cambridge Analytica scandal widen in scope as do responses – updated – and NYT, Guardian – How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions – tonight Axios highlights the… Continue Reading
Agencies Struggling to Respond to FOIA Requests for Email
National Security Archive audit results: One in Three Agencies Have Yet to Acknowledge 11-Month-Old FOIA Request; Three Years After Clinton Case Brought Government Email to National Attention, Agencies Still Behind the Curve; FOIA Offices Demand Unnecessary Information to Conduct Simple Email Searches without Consulting IT Departments. “Two out of five federal agencies claimed that they… Continue Reading
