Security News
Social media and advertising giant Facebook today announced that it is now allowing mobile users to secure their accounts with the help of security keys. Available for Facebook's desktop users since 2017, the authentication method requires that the user confirm authentication requests with the help of a physical security key.
Facebook has decided to halt its efforts to build a trans-Pacific undersea cable that would have connected California and Hong Kong, due to tensions between the United States and China. "Due to ongoing concerns from the US government about direct communication links between the United States and Hong Kong, we have decided to withdraw our FCC application," a Facebook spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday, referring to the Federal Communications Commission.
South Africa's information regulator has protested WhatsApp's plans to share user data with Facebook, vowing to engage directly with the popular messaging app to ensure its compliance to national privacy laws. In January, WhatsApp asked all its users to accept new terms allowing it to share more private information with its parent company Facebook for advertising and e-commerce purposes.
A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in Illlinois in 2015.
MaxLinear announced a collaboration with Facebook Connectivity to integrate silicon technologies and radio processing algorithms into Evenstar radio units. In partnering with Facebook Connectivity, MaxLinear will integrate its MaxLin radio processing algorithms including Digital Pre-Distortion and Crest Factor Reduction technologies with Evenstar RUs to enhance performance and reduce cost.
Facebook on Tuesday announced several new features for its bug bounty program, including an educational resource and payout guidelines. The payout guidelines provide insight into the process used by the company to determine rewards for certain vulnerability categories.
Security biz Proofpoint and its subsidiary Wombat Security Technologies have sued Facebook and its Instagram subsidiary to prevent the seizure of internet domain names used for security testing. It sets up domain names that incorporate trademarked terms, like Facebook and Instagram, or fragments of those terms that have similar looking domain names.
Facebook told KrebsOnSecurity it seized hundreds of accounts - mainly on Instagram - that have been stolen from legitimate users through a variety of intimidation and harassment tactics, including hacking, coercion, extortion, sextortion, SIM swapping, and swatting. THE MIDDLEMEN. Facebook said it targeted a number of accounts tied to key sellers on OGUsers, as well as those who advertise the ability to broker stolen account sales.
The new self-appointed military government of Myanmar has temporarily banned Facebook. Newswire Reuters' Myanmar reporter Hnin Zaw posted a notice from Myanmar's Ministry of Transport and Communications that imposed a ban until February 7th. Using optical character recognition and online translation tools, The Register surmises that the order says the ban is needed to stop the spread of fake news.
Facebook has created a new screen in its iOS app that will urge people to allow it to continue stalking their online activities for targeted advertising. This is in response to Apple preparing to introduce a prompt that asks users whether or not they want to grant Facebook's software permission to track them when they use other apps and websites.