Month: December 2016
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2016's hacks, attacks and security blunders
Originally published in Engadget. End 2016 on a high note: Put all your personal information in a pile and set it on fire. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Just when we thought things couldn't get worse than 2015's security and privacy disasters, the asshole known as 2016 came along to trample and pee on any hope we… Read more…
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VB’s infosec news roundup
Originally published on Patreon. These are the stories that caught my eye over the weekend, and the ones I’ll be watching through the week. If I make my goal of $1000/month here, I can do these every week, just for us — and not for any outlet or its advertisers. Smart TV bricked with malware… Read more…
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Soon cops will search your phone just like your car
Originally published in Engadget. Thanks Florida. Getty Images/iStockphoto Imagine a routine traffic stop during which the officer has the legal right to search not just your car, but your phone too. That's where we're likely headed: A Florida court recently denied Fifth Amendment protections for iPhone passcodes, saying suspects must now reveal them to police.… Read more…
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2016's biggest privacy threat: Your phone
Originally published in Engadget. How your phone reveals all your secrets. Literally. BrilliantEye via Getty Images When it comes to handing malicious hackers' intimate details about our lives, right now Yahoo is leading the pack as one of the worst threats to privacy in recent history. Yet there's one thing that has Yahoo beat in… Read more…
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Obama's got a new cybersecurity plan, but what's the point?
Originally published in Engadget. It’ll probably just end up as fancy toilet paper for the new administration. There's been a lot of hot air blown across headlines this week about the big cybersecurity plan proposed by the White House's Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity (PDF). The plan for a commission to create long-term recommendations on… Read more…
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2016 claims another victim: Your privacy
Originally published in Engadget. Why the FBI’s shiny new hacking powers should worry you. Getty Images/iStockphoto In a blow to privacy on par with the Patriot Act, changes to the rules around warrants grant the US government unprecedented hacking powers in any jurisdiction, and on as many devices as it wants. The changes to a… Read more…