Security News
Facebook has been reportedly asked to stop sending data from Ireland to the US, on orders from the EU. This is according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, which said that Irish eyes won't be smiling come this Fall after a preliminary order to suspend data transfers to the US about its users was sent to Mark Zuckerberg's firm by the Irish Data Protection Commission. The news comes in the wake of an EU court ruling two months ago that transatlantic data protection arrangements - known as Privacy Shield - were "Inadequate".
Facebook has implemented a fresh security vulnerability disclosure policy this week - in an effort to explain how it decides when and how to roll out details on various bugs that its team finds in third-party software and open-source projects. If Facebook determines that disclosing a security vulnerability sooner "Serves to benefit the public or the potentially impacted people," it may pull the rip cord on disclosure: For instance, if a bug is being actively exploited in the wild.
Facebook is giving third-party application developers three weeks to respond to vulnerability reports and three months to patch bugs before public disclosure. As part of the responsible disclosure process, Facebook will make a reasonable effort to contact the impacted third-party and will provide them with the information required to understand the reported problem.
Facebook has published its first Vulnerability Disclosure Policy and given itself grounds to blab the existence of bugs to the world if it thinks that's the right thing to do. "Facebook may occasionally find critical security bugs or vulnerabilities in third-party code and systems, including open source software," the company writes.
Facebook on Tuesday said that it caught a budding Russia-linked campaign to fuel political chaos in the US, working off a tip from the FBI in its latest take-down of coordinated inauthentic behavior at the leading social network. The network of 13 Facebook accounts and two pages posing as journalists and targeting left-wing progressives was removed for violating a policy against "Foreign interference" at the platform.
Facebook is lambasting an upcoming Apple mobile operating system privacy update, which requires application to ask users for permission before collecting and sharing their data. In the iOS 14 update, Apple iPhone and iPad users have an explicit option to opt out of allowing apps to collect data using the Apple device identifier.
Facebook is pushing back on new Apple privacy rules for its mobile devices - and putting app developers in the middle. Apple will soon require apps to ask users for permission to collect data on what devices they are using and to let ads follow them around on the internet.
Zoom announced that Zoom for Home is expanding to smart displays including Amazon Echo Show, Portal from Facebook, and Google Nest Hub Max, bringing Zoom to widely-used devices and broadening their capabilities to the work environment. Zoom on Portal is expected to be available publicly in September; Zoom on Echo Show and Zoom on Assistant-enabled Smart Displays, including Google Nest Hub Max are expected to be available by the end of the year.
Facebook on Thursday launched its voting information center as internet platforms unveiled fresh moves to protect the November US election from manipulation and interference. The move comes amid a coordinated effort by Facebook, Google and other online platforms to curb the spread of disinformation and thwart efforts to manipulate voters.
Facebook has announced the availability of Pysa, an open-source tool designed for the static analysis of Python code. The security-focused tool relies on Pyre, Facebook's type checker for Python, and allows for the analysis of how data flows through code.