information

Apple has admitted to retaining private personal data collected by services Siri and Dictation for a period of 18 months. The disclosure came after one civil liberties group complained that Apple is not doing enough to inform its customers of their ... privacy rights. In response, Apple has revealed the kind of customer information that is collected and stored. In a recent interview, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller explained how her company performs their data collection. Siri (available on iOS devices) and Dictation (available on both iOS and OS X devices) send speech-to-text messages wirelessly ... (view more)

United States government employees are being told to avoid placing too much personal information on social media sites or other public pages. Phishers recently used that sort of data to target public workers in the energy sector. A phishing campaign ... involves using fake forms and websites to lure victims into providing sensitive personal information, from names and addresses to credit card data. Conference List Used for Email Attacks According to reports, phishers used a public list of conference attendees to attack public energy sector workers. The conference list provided the phishers with ... (view more)

Two weeks ago Google revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been spying on its customers using National Security Letters that don't even require the approval of a U.S. judge. Now, Microsoft says the FBI is using the same ... strategy to snoop on its customers. National Security Letters (NSLs) are written documents issued by the FBI that force companies, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), to hand over various types of information, including credit card details, banking data, and addresses, phone numbers, etc. NSLs Used to Access Microsoft User Accounts According to ... (view more)

A new study has found that hackers have the ability to cause real-time traffic jams, even in areas many miles from their location. The threat could affect the millions of people who rely on global positioning systems. Among the most prolific systems ... targeted by hackers is Google Maps, a service that offers turn-by-turn navigation using information from a mobile phone to analyze real-time traffic data. All location information sent to the individual is secured by a TLS (Transport Layer Security) system to protect the integrity of the data and make it impossible for a hacker to orchestrate an ... (view more)

One of Reuters' most prominent social media journalists has been accused of conspiring with 'hacktivist' group Anonymous to infiltrate a news website. According to reports, New Jersey's Matthew Keys, 26, provided Anonymous with vital login data that ... allowed Anonymous to bypass the digital security of the Tribune Company. Tribune Company owns KTXL Fox 40, a TV news station in Sacramento, California, where Keys worked. Keys was terminated by KTXL in October 2010, though it's not known why he was fired. (Source: techspot.com ) Disgruntled Employee Turns to Anonymous In December 2010 Keys ... (view more)

Hacktivist group Anonymous is preparing to wage a new and expansive war on America's major financial institutions. In what it calls "Operation Wall Street," Anonymous says it will carry out attacks designed to expose "the crimes of Goldman Sachs" ... and other, similar firms. "It should be the duty of any Anonymous, any hacker, in solidarity with Occupy, to release the Dox on the CEOs ... (view more)

Each day, millions of images and messages are sent through social media platforms. Now, those who have regretted transmitting personal information in this fashion will be relieved to find that a popular new app is making significant strides in ... changing the way people share private data on social networking sites. Snapchat doesn't store data -- including messages and photos -- for years on end. Instead, this information is wiped out, permanently, at a time set by the sending / posting user. It's a simple concept, but early indications reveal that Snapchat is becoming a popular alternative to ... (view more)

The US Federal Reserve has confirmed that it recently suffered a cyber attack that resulted in personal data being lost. It's also possible that this information has already been published online. A spokesman for the Federal Reserve said the attack ... was made possible by hackers "exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product." That problem was quickly fixed once officials became aware of it. The spokesman didn't publicly confirm what information was stolen, but did say that the attack failed to negatively impact critical operations. There's no indication the hacking ... (view more)

The United States Department of Energy has been attacked by hackers. The unknown assailants reportedly gained access to employee personal information. News agency Reuters recently acquired a letter between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its ... employees. In that letter, the DOE admits that the attack "resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of employee and contractor Personally Identifiable Information." Employee Personal Data Lost to Hacker The letter indicated that employee and contractor personal information was lost. However, it also noted that none of the stolen information was ... (view more)

Google has, for the first time ever, detailed exactly what it does when a government agency or court demands to see a user's personal data. That data includes the terms someone has used for an online search and the content of Gmail messages. Google ... says that it's reporting on this issue in an attempt to show that it aims to protect privacy wherever possible. The search giant has for several years produced statistics about how many requests for personal data it gets in each country and what percentage of those requests it complies with. This publication is an attempt to draw attention to the ... (view more)