Windows 10 telemetry will be used to drive enterprise upgrades with Upgrade Analytics
Rightly or wrongly, telemetry in Windows 10 has been roundly and soundly criticized. But while the feature may be a privacy concern for some, Microsoft says that it is using the data gathered to provide advice to would-be Windows 10 users about driver and application readiness.
This is something that is aimed at enterprise users for whom Microsoft recognizes that certain apps are mission-critical for businesses. This is why the company has launched Upgrade Analytics to "provide customers with insights which allow them to [...] mitigate potential problems".
Judge wants Yahoo to reveal how it recovered deleted emails
Helping out with a drug trafficking case, Yahoo was able to recover emails that had previously been deleted. Now a judge wants to know how this was possible.
Yahoo's only policies state that email cannot be recovered once they have been deleted, and defense lawyers for Russell Knaggs -- who planned to move cocaine from South America -- want to know how the company was able to produce deleted email in this case.
Niantic Labs faces lawsuit in Germany over Pokémon Go privacy concerns
Pokémon Go has proved almost unbelievably popular, and like any app that gains a huge following, malicious versions of the app soon appeared. The game has been in the headlines after hackers knocked gaming servers offline, but there have also been major privacy concerns.
Now there could be a nightmare brewing for developer Niantic Labs in Germany, where consumer advocates say the game violates the country's consumer and privacy laws. Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) says the company needs to make sweeping changes to a raft of clauses in the app's terms of use in order to avoid further action.
Spotify sells your personal and playlist data to advertisers making you the product
Much like Google, streaming music service Spotify is increasingly turning its attention to advertising. Announcing what it refers to as "programmatic buying", the company reveals that it is launching a targeted advertising program.
Advertisers -- or "buyers" in Spotify's nomenclature -- will be granted access to not only demographic data about users, but also access to information about playlists.
Brexit will not make GDPR mandatory in UK
Another day, another Brexit story. It’s going to be years before we stop hearing the various implications and results of the recently held UK referendum on leaving the European Union.
This time, it’s about private data and its sharing to third-parties, by private companies, without users’ consent.
Microsoft responds to allegations that Windows 10 collects 'excessive personal data'
Yesterday France's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) slapped a formal order on Microsoft to comply with data protection laws after it found Windows 10 was collecting "excessive data" about users. The company has been given three months to meet the demands or it will face fines.
Microsoft has now responded, saying it is happy to work with the CNIL to work towards an acceptable solution. Interestingly, while not denying the allegations set against it, the company does nothing to defend the amount of data collected by Windows 10, and also fails to address the privacy concerns it raises.
France: Windows 10 collects 'excessive personal data', issues Microsoft with formal warning
After accusations that Windows 10 collects too much data about users, France's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) has order Microsoft to comply with the French Data Protection Act within three months. The company has been ordered to "stop collecting excessive data and tracking browsing by users without their consent".
In addition to this, the chair of CNIL has notified Microsoft that it needs to take "satisfactory measures to ensure the security and confidentiality of user data". The notice comes after numerous complaints about Windows 10, and a series of investigations by French authorities which revealed a number of failings on Microsoft's part.
Google is receiving more government requests for access to user data than ever before
Transparency reports from the big tech companies always make for interesting reading, and the latest update from Google is no different. Its most recent transparency report covers the period July-August 2015, and shows that the company received a record number of government data requests.
The report shows the number of times governments around the world contacted Google with requests for access to user data. For anyone with an interest in either privacy or security, the marked increase in the number of requests is interesting.
Opera falls into Chinese hands
Key components of Opera Software are to be taken over by a Chinese business consortium. A planned $1.24 billion takeover of the entire operation fell through after failing to gain regulatory approval, but a new deal has been struck in its place.
Instead, the consortium -- comprising Qihoo 360 Technology Co, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co and others -- will take over just a portion of Opera Software's consumer business for $600 million. With the desktop and mobile version of the Opera web browser now falling into Chinese hands, there will no doubt be concerns about potential privacy issues based on China's history.
Privacy alert: Maxthon web browser sends private data about users to China
In the world of web browsers, there are four or five big names to choose from but no end of smaller alternatives. One such browser is Maxthon, and security researchers have just discovered that this Chinese-produced browser is transmitting a wealth of data about users back to China.
Researchers at Fidelis Cybersecurity and Exatel found that Maxthon frequently sends zip files to Beijing over HTTP and this contains a terrifying amount of data about users' browsing habits. The ueipdata.zip file incudes, among other things, details of the sites visited by users, the applications they have installed, and what searches have been performed.
More than half of companies fail to protect privileged credentials
Details of privileged accounts represent a major prize for hackers because they unlock the access required to exploit virtually any part of an organization's network and data. Yet according to a new report many companies are failing to adequately protect them.
The study by privileged account management (PAM) specialist Thycotic and research firm Cybersecurity Ventures benchmarked the PAM performance of more than 550 organizations and found that 52 percent received a failing grade.
Privacy warning: Pokémon Go has full access to your Google account data
Pokémon Go may be proving jaw-droppingly popular, but in the rush to catch 'em all, it seems that users have overlooked something of a privacy issue with the game. It's not unusual for apps and games to request, or require, access to your Google account but there are usually limits in place.
Not so with Pokémon Go. As reported by Search Engine Journal, iOS users have discovered that the game not only requires access to users' Google accounts, it requires full access. This is the highest level of access available to any app and if it is revoked, the game won't work.
Our private data is worth less than we think
Brits think their personal data is really, really valuable. There is nothing wrong with that, and private data should be valued highly, and guarded as such. However, once criminals get a hold of such data, they’ll sell it for such a low price you simply won't believe.
According to a new TotallyMoney.com report, based on a poll of 1,000 consumers, we value an email address at £983. In reality, it is being sold for five pence. A similar thing is with the browsing history. Its actual price on the black market is a ridiculous £0.0014. On average, we value it at £934.
Court papers show Silent Circle's privacy-boosting Blackphone was an unmitigated sales disaster
With so much focus now placed on privacy and security, you would have thought that the Blackphone from Silent Circle would have been a roaring success. But documents from a court case with former partner Geeksphone reveal that there have been just a handful of sales, and revenue is hundreds of millions of dollars lower than expected.
Silent Circle found itself in court after Geeksphone complained that it had not received a $5 million payment agreed as part of a buyout. Geeksphone had helped to build the original Blackphone, and Silent Circle went on to buy the Spanish company's share before launching the Blackphone 2. But sales were much, much lower than expected, leading the company to describe its hardware business to "be a significant financial drain".
Facebook malware infects 10,000 users in two days
A new malware was spotted by security researchers at Kaspersky Lab, targeting Facebook users. According to the researchers’ new report, there have been 10,000 victims in two days.
The malware has two stages: firstly, an unsuspecting victim gets a message from a Facebook friend, saying they had mentioned them in a comment. But when the victim clicks to see the comment, they instead download a bunch of malware, including a Chrome add-on which can take over the victim’s Facebook account, once they log back in.
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