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Many people still don’t fully understand the privacy issues around wearable technology!

As more wearable devices continue to enter into the market and into our lives, questions are being raised as to how vulnerable this may be making us when it comes to potential security and privacy risks.
Smartphones already have the capacity to hold a large quantity of data about us as individuals and wearable technology is likely to work in a similar way — with fitness trackers able to store information about our health, for example, or the routes taken during exercise sessions.
Read more: http://betanews.com/2015/06/15/privacy-concerns-stand-against-wearable-adoption/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

Unencrypted information of this kind this is disgraceful – it really is disgraceful!!

Deeply personal information submitted by U.S. intelligence and military personnel for security clearances – mental illnesses, drug and alcohol use, past arrests, bankruptcies and more – is in the hands of hackers linked to China, officials say.
In describing a cyberbreach of federal records dramatically worse than first acknowledged, authorities point to Standard Form 86, which applicants are required to complete. Applicants also must list contacts and relatives, potentially exposing any foreign relatives of U.S. intelligence employees to coercion. Both the applicant’s Social Security number and that of his or her cohabitant are required.
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/personal-information-u-s-intelligence-military-personnel-may-chinese-hackers-hands/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

It’s easy to understand why this type of targeting may freak some users out!

For the past six months, Twitter has been collecting data on which smartphone apps its users download. Now, the company is using that data to make some money.
Twitter announced on Wednesday that its advertisers can use that app information to target users with ads. Marketers will be able to target you based on the different categories of apps you have downloaded onto your phone as well as how recently you downloaded them.
Read more: http://recode.net/2015/06/10/twitter-advertisers-can-now-target-you-based-on-the-other-apps-on-your-phone/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

If personal data is the collective American soul, it has been sold to the metaphorical devil of Silicon Valley!

In what may be one of the most dejected research results of the year, a new study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication has determined that Americans are painfully aware of just how little control they have over how their data is being used by companies like Facebook and Google, and that they’re not happy about it. But despite their displeasure, most Americans seem to view it as a necessary evil, and are begrudgingly engaging in tradeoffs that they view, albeit uncomfortably, as a product of the times. If personal data is the collective American soul, it has been sold to the metaphorical devil of Silicon Valley.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/americans-not-happy-with-lack-of-online-privacy
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

The threat was first discovered when one PhishMe user received a message over Skype, where the other party tried several times to contact him.

Skype users, beware. There are nefarious links being spread around through Skype, and if you click them you will be presented with a lot of adware. However, there are good news, and bad news here.
Researchers at the security behavior management company PhishMe have identified a campaign in which Skype was used to distribute adware, SC Magazine reported on Wednesday.
Read more: http://betanews.com/2015/06/08/adware-spreading-through-skype-links/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

The increasing popularity of ad blockers is an existential threat to companies like Google that make the majority of their revenue from selling ads.

Consumer use of ad blockers is on the rise, and new ad-blocking tools — including a new ad-blocking browser and a carrier-backed plan to block ads right at the source (or the data centers) before they even reach a customer’s smartphone — have been announced in recent months.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-larry-page-on-ad-blockers-2015-6
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

“We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demands it, the constitution demands it, morality demands it.”- Tim Cook, Apple CEO

As reported by TechCrunch, Cook’s opening reiterated the peoples’ right to privacy:
“Like many of you, we at Apple reject the idea that our customers should have to make tradeoffs between privacy and security,” Cook opened. “We can, and we must provide both in equal measure. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demands it, the constitution demands it, morality demands it.”
Read more: http://www.imore.com/tim-cook-emphasizes-importance-consumer-privacy-awards-dinner
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

There is something deeply unsettling about giving the huge data collection company unfettered access to nearly every photo I’ve ever taken!

A lot of people in the technology world are raving about Google’s new photo service, which the search giant unveiled to much fanfare at its annual developer’s conference in San Francisco on Thursday.
But I’m not that excited about using it.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-photos-privacy-2015-5
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

ANOTHER MAJOR DATA BREACH!
This time it’s the IRS and the target is your tax refund!

The FBI says it’s begun an investigation into the theft of personal tax information of more than 100,000 taxpayers from an Internal Revenue Service website.
The FBI said Thursday that agents were “working to determine the nature and scope of this matter.” The agency is advising individuals it’s contacted to take steps to safeguard their personal information.
Read more: http://mobile.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/28/us/politics/ap-us-irs-breach.html
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

A whopping 500 million Android devices may be at risk, according to a study by University of Cambridge researchers Laurent Simon and Ross Anderson.

Bad news for people who have sold or given away their Android old phones: Google’s own factory reset likely didn’t remove all of their personal data and account-login information. A whopping 500 million Android devices may be at risk, according to a study by University of Cambridge researchers Laurent Simon and Ross Anderson.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/05/28/android-factory-reset-leaves-personal-data-on-phone/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me