Wired release This week’s assessment and survey by the Galters show that dozens of data brokers have been hiding their opt-out and personal data deletion tools in Google searches, making it hard for people to find and exploit them. The report prompted U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan to demand corporate accountability. Wired also delves into the actual capabilities of data analytics giant Palantir.
Reports this week said Russia may be involved or completely behind the bets of breach of the incident by the U.S. court record system, and highlights that federal investigators still seem to lack information about what happened. New research reveals the internal operation of the multi-million dollar grey market for video game cheating. And, we have suggestions on how to protect ourselves from portable scams that can steal credit card data or other information. Additionally, researchers at the Defcon Security Conference in Las Vegas last week provided open source instructions on how to build their own quantum sensors at low cost and fuse them with special and crucial diamonds.
But wait, there are more! Every week, we fill in security and privacy news that we don’t cover in depth. Click on the headlines to read the full story. And stay safe.
Russia began blocking WhatsApp and Telegram calls this week, saying the communications platform used by encryption to protect customer calls from intercepting violated information sharing requirements between tech companies and governments. According to Al Jazeera and MediaScope, these platforms each have nearly 100 million users in Russia. The Kremlin often expands its mechanisms for Internet censorship and control under the guise of national security and law enforcement.
A WhatsApp spokesman told WhatsApp is Private, End-to-End Encryption in a statement, which violates the government’s attempt to infringe on people’s right to ensure communication, which is why Russia is trying to keep it in the midst of more than 100 million Russian people. ”
Reuters reported that the telegram told Russia’s RBC Daily that it has taken steps to address crimes on its platform, including deploying hosts equipped with AI tools to monitor public discourse and communications on platforms that are not end-to-end encrypted. Millions of malicious information are deleted every day, the telegram said.
Ice Agents accidentally added a random person to a group chat called “Popular Words” to reveal sensitive discussions that included details about the hunt for convicted attempted murderer who was apparently marked as deported. According to 404 media reports, the person added to the group chat “is not a law enforcement officer or person associated with the investigation.”
The message reportedly included a case’s ice rink operation worksheet with detailed information about the target, and communications in which it appears to be accessing data from the DMV and license plate readers. The violation is reminiscent of the so-called signal gate, another recent situation where senior members of the Trump administration’s cabinet unexpectedly incorporated editors from the Atlantic into a signal group chat to plan air strikes in Yemen’s Hossi rebels.
Norwegian security police chief Beate Gangås said this week that Russian hackers targeted Norway’s dams in April and released millions of gallons of water within four hours they controlled. The Russian embassy denied the allegations in comments to Reuters. According to Norwegian media reports, Gorgons accused Russia of committing a hacker attack in his speech on Thursday.
Police in England will have more use of facial recognition tools. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers will deploy 10 on-site identification trucks nationwide and seven police units will use 10 on-site identification trucks to help investigations related to “sex offenders of the most serious crimes or who people want.” Police have increasingly turned to face recognition in the UK in recent years, but vans will represent additional expansion in England.
