Security News
Here, we'll take a look at actual malware domain traffic and how it correlates to ransomware attacks in the news. In many ways, it's exactly what cybersecurity experts expected after the major cyber attacks of 2020-including hospital ransomware attacks on a healthcare industry hard-hit by both ransomware and Covid-19.
The revised timelines comes close on the heels of a fresh regulatory setback in the European Union, after the European Commission opened a wide-ranging investigation into Google's digital advertising business to examine its "Plans to prohibit the placement of third party 'cookies' on Chrome and replace them with the 'Privacy Sandbox' set of tools," and assess its "Effects on online display advertising and online display advertising intermediation markets." Third-party tracking cookies have emerged as a point of privacy concern as the technology enables marketers and ad platforms to monitor user activity online as they hop from one website to the other for purposes of behavioral targeting.
Google will delay by nearly two years the phase out of Chrome web browser technology that tracks users for ad purposes, saying that it needs more time to develop a replacement system. The tech giant on Thursday moved its deadline to remove so-called third-party cookies to late 2023 rather than January 2022 as was initially planned.
Open-source Tor browser has been updated to version 10.0.18 with fixes for multiple issues, including a privacy-defeating bug that could be used to uniquely fingerprint users across different browsers based on the apps installed on a computer. In addition to updating Tor to 0.4.5.9, the browser's Android version has been upgraded to Firefox to version 89.1.1, alongside incorporating patches rolled out by Mozilla for several security vulnerabilities addressed in Firefox 89.
Today, Brave launched their non-tracking privacy-centric search engine to bring another alternative to finding the information you want on the web without giving up your data. Brave Search is being launched first in Beta so that users can test the new search engine while Brave continues to refine its features.
HackerOne announced a new workflow automation integration with GitHub that enables the tracking and synchronization of high-priority vulnerability reports between HackerOne and GitHub. HackerOne is making its debut on GitHub's Marketplace.
Google is tightening its privacy practices that could make it harder for apps on Android phones and tablets to track users who have opted out of receiving personalized interest-based ads. The Google Advertising ID, analogous to Apple's IDFA, is a unique device identifier that can be used by app developers to track users as they move between apps to target ads better and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Mozilla says that Firefox users will be protected against cross-site tracking automatically while browsing the Internet in Private Browsing mode. This is because, starting with the Firefox 89 version released today, the Total Cookie Protection will be enabled by default in Private Browsing windows.
Apple's AirTag product has been hacked twice since its recent launch, in a pair of fascinating and informative stories that give you some great insights into how cybersecurity researchers think. The good news is that you don't need to ditch your AirTags if you already splashed out and bought some - these "Hacks" don't put your privacy at risk - and we explain why.
The boffins' research paper, "Three Years Later: A Study of MAC Address Randomization In Mobile Devices And When It Succeeds," is scheduled to be presented at PETS, the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium, in July, even though it will be four years later than the initial project [PDF]. Written by Naval Academy researchers Ellis Fenske, Dane Brown, Jeremy Martin, Travis Mayberry, Peter Ryan, and Erik Rye, the paper describes the analysis of 160 mobile phones and the extent to which these devices employ MAC address randomization to mitigate tracking vulnerabilities.