Academics: Russia deployed new technology to throttle Twitter’s traffic
The Russian government appears to be using new technology to censor internet traffic inside its borders, a group of academics studying internet censorship across the globe said in a report published today.
Google to restrict Android apps from viewing other apps installed on the same device
Google has announced plans today to restrict the ability of Android apps from seeing what other applications are installed on the same device, citing privacy and security reasons.
Booking.com fined €475,000 for reporting data breach too late
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined hotel booking website Booking.com €475,000 ($560,000) for reporting a security incident 22 days after it happened, in breach of EU GDPR regulations that dictate that all breaches must be disclosed within 72 hours.
Google collects 20 times more telemetry from Android devices than Apple from iOS
Academic research published last week looked at the telemetry traffic sent by modern iOS and Android devices back to Apple and Google servers and found that Google collects around 20 times more telemetry data from Android devices than Apple from iOS.
NSA director says U.S. has a ‘blind spot’ for detecting attacks like SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange
The top official at the U.S. National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command told lawmakers on Thursday that the common failing with recent high-profile cyber attacks boils down to U.S. government agencies having a gap in visibility of foreign hackers using domestic infrastructure to launch attacks. At a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, General Paul Nakasone repeatedly emphasized that nation state adversaries are aware of this gap and are actively exploiting it in part because it allows them to better evade the eye of intelligence agencies like the NSA that are focused on activity conducted outside the U.S….
Organizations rush to restrict new Slack Connect feature fearing security threats
Work collaboration platform Slack formally announced today a new feature named Slack Connect DMs that allows users to send direct messages to any Slack user in any other organization.
Forced offline, many in Myanmar turn to the dark web
Three days after the military initiated the coup, a letter from Myanmar’s Ministry of Communications and Information said Facebook would be shut down due to “people who are troubling the country’s stability” using the platform to spread “fake news and misinformation.” The following day, the military extended the ban to other platforms, including Twitter and Instagram. And one day after that, the military initiated a nationwide internet outage. In what’s become a typical response to authoritarian crackdowns, Myanmar citizens have turned to the dark web to bypass new censorship measures, hide internet traffic from the military regime, and communicate with family both inside and out of the country….
Former NSA and Cyber Command Chief Keith Alexander on SolarWinds, Cyberwar, and China
“The commercial sector is trying its best to fight against a government and all its resources. That’s not a fair fight… China will tell you it’s not stealing your stuff, and then goes and steals your stuff…
It can’t be just trusting them—it’s trust but verify. Look at what’s going on in the COVID-19 arena alone and the theft of intellectual property. It’s huge… This is the biggest transfer of wealth in history, and it’s going right out the front door…”