The usefulness of social networks is undeniable, but the convenience of sharing our daily lives should also be met with some caution. If our data is so easy to find for a regular person, it's going to be an absolute cinch for a bot or nefarious parties.
Worrying about having your data siphoned is fairly common and...
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against D-Link alleging that the company's failure to properly secure its line of wireless routers and webcams left thousands of customers "vulnerable to a range" of cyber attacks, including those that turned customers' PCs into major parts of numerous botnets. It...
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At HotHardware, we unfortunately have to frequently write about security and privacy breaches, and those breaches can seriously affect their victims. But while a cyberattack on a bank might make for a bad day, nothing could compare to a cyberattack on equipment that helps keep their owners alive. If you have a family...
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The FBI is currently investigating a series of cyberattacks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), that they believe the Chinese military to be responsible for. The attacks on high-level employees' computers started in 2010 and resurfaced again in 2011 and 2013. Victims included former FDIC Chairwoman...
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An appeals court in Florida has overturned a previous ruling that stated a man suspected of voyeurism should not be compelled to give up the passcode to his iPhone as it violate the Fifth Amendment and force him to testify against himself. The appeals court disagreed with that ruling and has ordered the iPhone owner...
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When the topic of encryption comes up, it is often related to smartphones and tablets, and the differing opinions on the matter between hardware makers such as Google and Apple versus government agencies. Those are not the only areas where encryption matters. In an open letter to the camera makers around the world...
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The Supreme Court approved a series of changes to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by the United States Department of Justice that go into effect today. Those changes, which the DoJ proposed earlier this year and that were never discussed by Congress, gives the FBI permission to hack into multiple...
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation made a big deal out of Apple's unwillingness to help it crack a locked iPhone 5c handset that was used by a terrorist in the deadly San Bernardino shooting, but it turns out it rarely needs assistance. Nine of out ten times, the FBI is successful in its attempts to unlock a secured...
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Police in the Czech Republic have arrested a Russian hacker for his suspected involvement in a massive 2012 cyber attack against LinkedIn. LinkedIn had been working with the FBI to track down the individuals responsible for the data breach, which exposed hashed passwords from over 100 million user accounts that were...
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Security firm Cellebrite made headlines earlier this year when its services were employed by the FBI to help break into the phone of the San Bernardino shooter. Cellebrite recently invited a bunch of UK press to an event to show off what it's capable of.
Equipped with an outdated smartphone, BBC reporter Rory...
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Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire whiz kid who created the most popular social networking site on the planet, puts tape on his system's webcams. While that might sound paranoid to some, it's a common privacy measure against hackers who might be trying to spy on you or your company. Zuckerberg is far from alone—James...
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If you operate a Web server that runs on Linux, we're here to give you a bit of a prod in case you haven't updated it in a while. A piece of ransomware called FairWare is floating around, and as you'll soon see, its name is ironic as it's anything but "fair".
Reports are coming in of users who have been struck with...
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There are enough bad drivers on the road as it is, but what's particularly frustrating is seeing a fellow motorist drive recklessly as a result of using a mobile phone. Jason R. Humphrey from Florida must have seen it one too many times, hence his decision to use a cell phone jammer during his commute. That decision...
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The FBI ultimately dropped its suit against Apple involving the now infamous iPhone that was connected to a terrorist in the San Bernardino shooting, but the quest to set a legal precedent marches on. FBI Director James Comey hinted as much when said this week there would be more legal battles over encryption and with...
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A prosecutor in Arkansas will get an assist from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a murder trial where key pieces of evidence may be contained in a pair of Apple devices. Having just recently thwarted the security on an iPhone 5c that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters, the FBI has agreed to help...
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Could your smartphone be listening in on your life? If you download mobile apps without much care for their permissions requests, you might not ever know. The privacy threat is so significant though, that the Federal Trade Commission has stepped in and warned us to be aware of it.
On Thursday, the FTC sent a letter...
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We have been hearing so much about the FBI's pressure on Apple in its encryption fight in recent weeks that it might be easy to forget that it's only just begun in recent weeks. But what a few weeks it's been!
In the middle of February, a federal judge ordered Apple to break encryption on an iPhone that belonged to...
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It's easier than ever to protect data online and elsewhere. Encryption is ubiquitous and while it's impossible to insure that your data well-secured from the likes of the government, there's no excuse for not taking important steps to increase your own personal protection as much as possible.
That latter is...
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Over the past couple of years, we've discovered case after case that highlights the extent the US government is willing to go to spy on whoever it can. It's an interesting juxtaposition, then, to keep learning about new revelations that show how the US government itself has been spied on, while remaining completely...
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It's estimated that half of all smartphone shipments will have a fingerprint scanner within the next four years. Many smartphone owners already use them, whether it's for unlocking a device or making a mobile payment. That's great for convenience -- it beats having to bang out a hard-to-guess password -- but as far as security is concerned,
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We reported earlier this week that a Jeep Cherokee could be remotely accessed and controlled, and I wouldn't blame anyone for being a skeptic. After all, what are the chances of someone remote being able to disable the transmission? Well, with Fiat Chrysler's response, I think that question has been answered.
In a...
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Has the time come to put Adobe's Flash Player plugin out of our misery? Facebook CSO Alex Stamos thinks so. In a series of Twitter posts, Stamos makes a plea for Adobe to set a date to euthanize Flash, allowing the web and Internet users at large to move on to better (and more secure) technologies. The question is...
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