Security News
Singapore's announcement that it is developing a wearable for contact tracing has caused citizens to voice concern for the technology's impact on their data privacy, with more than 35,000 signing a petition against the devices. Previously, Singapore had created a contact tracing app, TraceTogether, which uses Bluetooth mobile phones' functions to detect other phones nearby and track the spread of the virus.
Privacy-focused communications application Signal this week announced a new feature meant to enhance user privacy amid social turmoil in the United States: a blur tool. Available in the image editor, the functionality is meant to help protect the privacy of the people in the photos shared over Signal.
Amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, secure comms biz Signal has deployed a blur tool in its messaging and calling app to allow users to obscure faces in app-captured snapshots. Since not everyone always does so, the latest versions of Signal for Android and iOS include a blur feature in the image editor menu that can be used to degrade image details.
I just published a new paper with Karen Levy of Cornell: "Privacy Threats in Intimate Relationships." Abstract: This article provides an overview of intimate threats: a class of privacy threats that can arise within our families, romantic partnerships, close friendships, and caregiving relationships.
Nyxeia announced new releases of its Information Governance Suite products. Policy products used for information search, enhancement, and full lifecycle governance.
Google faces a $5 billion class-action lawsuit over claims that it has been collecting people's browsing information without their knowledge even when using the incognito browsing mode that's meant to keep their online activities private. The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, alleges that Google compiles user data through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and other applications and website plug-ins, including smartphone apps, regardless of whether users click on Google-supported ads, according to a report in Reuters.
A team of researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab have developed a prototype IoT security and privacy "Nutrition label" that performed well in user tests. To develop the label, the team consulted with a diverse group of 22 security and privacy experts across industry, government, and academia.
France is rolling out an official coronavirus contact-tracing app aimed at containing fresh outbreaks as lockdown restrictions gradually ease, becoming the first major European country to deploy the smartphone technology amid simmering debates over data privacy. Officials and experts say tracing apps aren't a magic bullet against the virus but can aid time-consuming manual contact tracing efforts.
Facebook today announced new features for Messenger that will alert you when messages appear to come from financial scammers or potential child abusers, displaying warnings in the Messenger app that provide tips and suggest you block the offenders. The feature, which Facebook started rolling out on Android in March and is now bringing to iOS, uses machine learning analysis of communications across Facebook Messenger's billion-plus users to identify shady behaviors.
Windows 10 release 2004 is out, with a slew of new features. In Windows 10 1903, it launched the Windows Sandbox, which is a lightweight desktop environment that isolates anything you run in it and wipes all its files when you close it down.