Privacy advocates have always argued that Google is an advertising company that just happens to build a browser. Most of us shrugged that off because, well, Chrome is fast, familiar, and hard to abandon. But Manifest V3 really does change the landscape. Google frames it as a technical upgrade for security and performance. Yet the underlying mechanics point to a different goal: reducing user control in ways that closely align with an ad-driven business model.
Your Android device retains your Google searches, enabling various sites and services to use that data to personalize ads and other types of recommendations. For some of us, that level of personalization makes using the platform easier. However, in this modern era, with companies leveraging such information to create a highly personalized picture of you and your web usage, one could consider this practice an invasion of privacy.
As AI continues lowering the barrier to malicious identity spoofing and fraud, Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn's vice president of product for Trust,told ZDNET that the program is designed to drive more trustworthy internet experiences and user-to-user engagement. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between what is real and what's fake," Rodriguez noted. "That, for us, was the driver because LinkedIn is about trust and authentic connections."
Co-founder Fabian, of the Salvadoran firm illuminodes, announced the release during the conference. "The digital signature landscape is ripe for innovation, and AuthenticDoc is leading the charge," Fabian said. "We've harnessed the power of decentralized open protocol technology to deliver unparalleled security and control, effectively eliminating single points of failure that plague traditional solutions. Our platform provides a robust, tamper-proof cryptographic verification and authentication solution that businesses can trust, all while making it accessible and affordable."
A stalkerware maker who was banned from the surveillance industry after a data breach that exposed the personal information of its customers, as well as the people they were spying on, will not be able to go back to selling the invasive software, according the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC denied a request to cancel that ban made by Scott Zuckerman, the founder of consumer spyware company Support King and its subsidiaries SpyFone and OneClickMonitor.
An AI image creator startup left its database unsecured, exposing more than a million images and videos its users had created-the "overwhelming majority" of which depicted nudes and even nude images of children. A US inspector general report released its official determination that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put military personnel at risk through his negligence in the SignalGate scandal, but recommended only a compliance review and consideration of new regulations.
The Predator spyware from surveillance company Intellexa has been using a zero-click infection mechanism dubbed "Aladdin," which compromised specific targets by simply viewing a malicious advertisement. This powerful and previously unknown infection vector is meticulously hidden behind shell companies spread across multiple countries, now uncovered in a new joint investigation by Inside Story, Haaretz, and WAV Research Collective. Leaked Intellexa marketing materialSource: Amnesty International
That's the conclusion we'd like to believe any sane person would likely draw, reading this week's absurd report from South Korea, where four people were arrested after allegedly hacking an astounding 120,000 separate commercial home video cameras stationed in houses and businesses. As if that level of breach isn't inherently icky enough, several of the suspects then reportedly used the hacked material to make and then sell sexually explicit exploitation videos of strangers to foreign-based web networks that illegally distribute hacked, pornographic camera footage.
Today, the same company (NYSE: $RBLX) is filled with poorly moderated "games" like Bathroom Simulator and worse - all while letting adults animate their avatars for sexual role play. See @asmongold on YouTube for reference: To me, Roblox represents what happens when a publicly-traded corporation is incentivised to prioritize adult wallets over child safety! And it's not just them - too many platforms still rely on outdated email/SIM logins that completely ignore age verification.
Flock, the automatic license plate reader and AI-powered camera company, uses overseas workers from Upwork to train its machine learning algorithms, with training material telling workers how to review and categorize footage including images people and vehicles in the United States, according to material reviewed by 404 Media that was accidentally exposed by the company. The findings bring up questions about who exactly has access to footage collected by Flock surveillance cameras and where people reviewing the footage may be based.
Teenagers have always been formidable hackers. In fact, in recent years, some of the most high-profile and brazen digital attacks around the world have been carried out by teens. But even if you're not a hacker, you're probably still a prolific user of digital tools and social platforms. And whether you've never given much thought to your digital privacy and security or you've started to rein in your data, you can use this guide to implement basic precautions and keep operations security in mind.
The bug meant it was possible for anyone to obtain the information about jurors who are selected for service. To log into these platforms, a juror is provided a unique numerical identifier assigned to them, which could be brute-forced since the number was sequentially incremental. The platform also did not have any mechanism to prevent anyone from flooding the login pages with a large number of guesses, a feature known as "rate-limiting."
SFO is one of the first airports to get Clear's new real-time biometric eGates security system in partnership with the TSA, which was announced just weeks after the agency surreptitiously helped kill a crucial bill regulating facial recognition software. As SFGate reports, the Transportation Security Administration announced a private partnership with Clear back in August in which the agency will be implementing Clear's expedited eGate checkpoint system at select airports.
The law, which threatens social media platforms with a fine of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($31.95m) for noncompliance, is one of the world's toughest regulations targeting Big Tech. In addition to Snapchat, the ban currently applies to YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitch and Kick. In a statement on Saturday, Snapchat said users will be able to verify their age through the ConnectID application, which links to their bank accounts, or by using software owned by Singapore-headquartered age-assurance provider, k-ID.
