Category: GDPR

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£500,000 Fine For Facebook Data Breaches

Sixteen months after the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) began its investigation into the Facebook’s sharing the personal details of users with political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, the ICO has announced that Facebook will be fined £500,000 for data breaches. Maximum The amount of the fine is the maximum that can be imposed under GDPR. Although…
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Tech Giant GDPR Privacy Settings ‘Unethical’ Says Council

The ‘Deceived By Design’ report by the government-funded Norwegian Consumer Council has accused tech giants Microsoft, Facebook and Google of being unethical by leading users into selecting settings that do not benefit their privacy. Illusion of Control The report alleges that, far from actually giving users more control over their personal data (as laid out…
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Samsung Phones Sending Photos Without Permission

The Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ and Note 8 are all reported to have been recently affected by a bug in the Samsung Messages app that sends out photos from the user’s gallery without their permission … to random contacts. What Happens? According to Samsung phone users on social media and the company’s forum, some…
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GDPR Exemption Sought

It has been reported that financial market regulators from the US, the UK and Asia are pressing for an exemption from GDPR. Growing Calls For Exemption Even though GDPR only came into force a little over a month ago (May 25th), financial regulators from several countries, most notably the US, have been pressing over several…
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Calls to Stop Storing of Personal Communications Data and Voiceprints

Privacy groups have led calls to halt the blanket collection and storing of communications data in the EU area, and the creation and storing of the “audio signatures” of 5.1 million people by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Collection of Communications Data The privacy groups Privacy International, Liberty, and Open Rights Group, have filed complaints…
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Appeal Dismissed After Asylum Seeker Data Breach

An appeal by the UK Home Office to limit the number of potential claimants from a 2013 data breach has been dismissed on the grounds that an accidentally uploaded spreadsheet exposed the confidential information and personal data of asylum applicants and their family members. What Happened? Back in 2013, the Home Office is reported to…
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AI Creates Phishing URLs That Can Beat Auto-Detection

A group of computer scientists from Florida-based cyber security company, Cyxtera Technologies, are reported to have built machine-learning software that can generate phishing URLs that can beat popular security tools. Look Legitimate Using the Phishtank database (a free community site where anyone can submit, verify, track and share phishing data) the scientists built the DeepPhish…
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Domain Names & GDPR

A recent ruling by a German court about GDPR also applies to personal information held in the worldwide whois service, and could mean that domain name admin and tech contact details may no longer be needed because of the GDPR ‘data minimisation principle’. Up Until Now Laws up until now have required ICANN, the Internet…
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1 – 0 In England Vs World Cup Hackers

It has been reported that the England football team have been briefed before flying out to their World Cup base in St Petersburg about how they and UK fans can avoid falling victim to Russian hackers. NCSC Advice The briefing has been delivered by The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of GCHQ.…
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Two More Security Holes In Voice Assistants

Researchers from Indiana University, the Chinese Academy of Science, and the University of Virginia have discovered 2 new security vulnerabilities in voice-powered assistants, like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, that could lead to the theft of personal information. Voice Squatting The first vulnerability, outlined in a recent white paper by researchers has been dubbed ‘voice…
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