HTC makes some powerful Android smartphones, but owners will have to replace their smug senses of superiority with worries about their personal data. A security vulnerability in recent updates to several HTC phones, including the Evo 3D and Thunderbolt, includes logging tools that potentially allow outsiders to get a hold of GPS, encoded text message data, email addresses and other info for those who use the phones. [More]
Twitter Closes Up Loophole That Sent Unwitting Users To Potentially Dangerous Sites
By September 22, 2010
Twitter patched up a security gap that sent users to other sites when they moved their mouse cursors over links. Using a JavaScript function called onMouseOver, spammy marketers drew in unwitting customers to their sites without them having to click. [More]
Kids Fly (Permission) Free On Southwest
By August 16, 2010
In a story that’s just begging to be optioned as a Home Alone movie, a trio of Florida kids, the oldest age 15, managed to pay cash for tickets and fly to Tennessee without getting permission from their parents. The kids were able to make their own way without being any members of Southwest’s staff interceding. [More]
Hackers Bite Apple, AT&T To Breach 114K iPad Owners
By June 10, 2010
Some early iPad adopters got a special bonus prize for buying a device that’s sure to be replaced with a vastly superior model a year from now — a data breach in which hackers unearthed account info from 114,000 users, including newscaster Diane Sawyer, New York mayor Michael Bloomerg and movie kingpin Harvey Weinstein. [More]
Security Breach At JFK Airport Leads To Delays, Evacuations
By January 16, 2010
Thousands of passengers were evacuated from the American Airlines terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after an unidentified person opened a door restricted to airline personnel and TSA officers. Like the Newark incident of a few weeks ago, the offender was caught on camera but has not yet been found. It remains unknown whether he was a criminal or a moron. [Reuters] [NYDN] (Thanks, GitEmSteveDave!) [More]
U.S. Airways Flight 401 Had Passenger Infected WIth Tuberculosis
By January 15, 2010
A tuberculosis-infected passenger flew on U.S. Airways 401 Saturday from Philadelphia to San Francisco, CNN reports. This despite the fact that the contagious and unidentified passenger was listed on a federal “do not board” list. [More]
Sprint Gives Stranger Full Access To Customer's Account, Shrugs
By November 20, 2009
When Campbell changed his phone number with Sprint earlier this year, the company immediately assigned his old number to a new customer. They also gave that customer full access to Campbell’s account.
Maine's Supreme Court To Decide If Consumers Should Be Compensated For Hannaford Security Breach
By October 12, 2009
If a retailer doesn’t protect your credit card data and it gets stolen, should you be compensated? Not for any unauthorized charges, which are already covered under banks’ zero-liability protection, but for the time lost dealing with the problem, for the anxiety it causes, and for any future credit history/score issues it might cause?
Doctors Across Tennessee Keep Faxing Patient Records To A Solar Panel Company
By September 28, 2009
For three years now, reports The Tennessean, the owner of a solar panel company in Indiana says “confidential medical faxes” have been sent to him by doctors throughout Tennessee. His fax number is apparently very similar to the one for the Tennessee Department of Human Services, but although he’s contacted the errant doctors’ offices, as well as reported it to the DHS and to the state’s governor’s office, they keep coming.
CitiBusiness Strands Customer In The Middle Of The Pacific With No Credit Card
By April 15, 2009
Skye is on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean without any way to pay for things, because Citibank canceled his card due to a security breach and didn’t bother to warn him first. What’s worse, they’re making him call repeatedly to try to fix it, which is costing him $3.50/minute because he’s in the middle of an ocean.
Visa Covers Butt By 'Delisting' Breached Credit Card Payment Processors
By March 18, 2009
Visa has removed Heartland Payment Systems and RBS WorldPay, the two huge payment processors that suffered recent data breaches, from its list of companies that are in compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) rules. It says they can get back on the list when they recertify that they have proper security in place. While this may sound like a significant change in the status of the companies, in reality it does little to change how the three companies do business with each other or with merchants. It’s just a way for Visa to protect itself from any upcoming lawsuits by banks and credit unions against the payment processors.
Here's What The World Of ATM Hacking Looks Like
By June 26, 2008
Wired has been covering the ongoing investigation into recurring ATM pin thefts from Citibank accounts, and their latest article tracks how Ukrainian immigrants, a ringleader back in Russia, a hacked company named Fiserv that runs Citibank-branded ATMs in 7-Elevens, and an online payment service that also offers money laundering for a small fee all come together to steal your money. It’s an amazing look at how the U.S. tries to combat the threat of ATM-related theft.
