Three weeks after Sally Beauty first said it was looking into whether it’d been the victim of a hack attack, the company says it’s confirmed that criminals used malware on some of its point-of-sale systems, possibly exposing payment information for customers who used cards at some of its U.S. stores. [More]
Data & Privacy
American Credit Cards Are Most Popular In The World For Hacks, Fraud (Because Our Tech Stinks)
By 5.29.15
If it feels like we hear a whole lot of stories about retail data breaches here in the U.S., well, that’s because we do. Americans are super duper popular targets for card hacks and fraud, and it’s for one simple reason: our credit card security is bad and should feel bad. [More]
Data Breaches Now Cost Companies An Average Of $3.8M
By 5.28.15
The aftermath of a now all-too-common data breach can be frustrating for consumers: canceling credit cards, monitoring credit reports for irregularities, and working with banks to recoup unauthorized purchases. But the hacks can also be expensive for the targeted company, with the average cost now sitting at a 10-year high of $3.8 million. [More]
Spirit Flight Attendant Probably Shouldn’t Have Posed For Photos In Jet’s Engine Well
By 5.27.15
When going through the boarding process for an upcoming flight, one might expect to see the crew members readying the cabin, welcoming travelers or just generally inside the aircraft. That’s why it was a bit unsettling for several passengers to see a flight attendant posing for photos inside the plane’s engine well before a recent Spirit Airlines flight. [More]
Facebook Will Include Critics’ Reviews On “Select” Restaurant Pages
By 5.26.15
In what appears to be another effort to keep its users inside the social media site’s loving embrace, Facebook is reportedly going to include critics’ reviews of restaurants on the pages of “select” establishments in the United States. [More]
Report: AdultFriendFinder Hack Attack Exposes Info For Millions Of Dating Site’s Users
By 5.22.15
AdultFriendFinder.com is one of the largest online dating sites out there and now it’s suffered a hack attack that’s exposed a hefty portion of its 64 million members: According to a new report, the data of up to four million users of the hookup site has been exposed. [More]
Survey Says: 30% Of People Who Admit To Tweeting While Driving Do It “All The Time”
By 5.19.15
While we’ve heard of people doing things they shouldn’t be doing while they’re driving — like playing the guitar and taking selfies, not to mention texting — it’s still shocking to look at the numbers tied to distracted driving. A new survey says the trendy thing to do behind the wheel now is using social media like Twitter, with plenty of people admitting they do it “all the time.” [More]
Facebook Might Let Businesses Contact Customers Through WhatsApp
By 5.18.15
When Facebook forked over $19 billion to buy WhatsApp last year, it wasn’t clear how the company planned to make money off the messaging service, considering it already had its own separate app. One possibility? Facebook is considering allowing businesses to contact users — for a price, of course. [More]
Sally Beauty Confirms “Illegal Intrusion” Into Payment Card Systems At Some U.S. Stores
By 5.14.15
After announcing earlier this month that it was investigating possible security breaches in its credit card payments at some U.S. stores, Sally Beauty has confirmed that there’s evidence of a data breach, its second in a little more than two years. [More]
Facebook Testing In-App Search Engine Powered By Users’ Posts
By 5.11.15
For those moments when it’s just too much work to copy a link on your phone’s web browser, open up the Facebook app and hit “paste,” the social network is now testing out an “add link” option that uses an in-app search engine. [More]
Court: NSA Bulk Phone Data Collection Program Is Illegal
By 5.7.15
A federal appeals court has ruled this morning that the NSA’s controversial bulk phone data collection program is in violation of federal law. [More]
Congress Has One Month Left To Change Or Renew Controversial Bulk Phone Data Surveillance Program
By 4.29.15
It’s been two years since we found out that the NSA has been quietly scooping up basically everyone’s phone records, willy-nilly, without warrants. The revelations of widespread surveillance freaked plenty of people out, but under existing law, the agency has acted legally. To get change, then, you’d need to change the law… and Congress has 33 days remaining in which to do exactly that. [More]
Facebook Messenger Adds Video Calling, Because Why Not
By 4.27.15
Over the past several months, Facebook has retooled its messenger app to do a lot more than just send one-liners to your friends – from allowing real-time customer service chats to a payment feature. The company’s latest update to the app aims to take conversations to the next level with video calling. [More]
New “Hello” App Puts Facebook In Control Of Screening, Blocking Phone Calls
By 4.22.15
Because we’ve somehow gotten to a place where we can no longer answer the phone without knowing exactly who is calling and why, Facebook is rolling out a new app, dubbed “Hello,” that effectively uses all the info Facebook has about its users to help you decide whether to answer/ignore/block incoming calls. [More]
Google Wants To Use Your E-Mail Address To Provide Targeted Advertising
By 4.15.15
If you’re a Gmail user, or one of the millions of workers whose employer now uses Gmail as their email platform, you could soon be seeing new ads targeted directly at you in your Google search results. [More]
Judge Rules: Woman Can Serve Elusive Husband Divorce Papers Via Facebook Message
By 4.6.15
The times, they are completely and totally changing: Used to be serving someone with divorce papers required some sort of face-to-face interaction, which can be difficult if the other party gets squirrelly and tries to avoid the encounter. But now it seems repeatedly pinging someone’s Facebook inbox will do just as well. [More]
John Oliver Gets Edward Snowden To Explain Government Snooping In Terms Of Penis Photos
By 4.6.15
By June 1, Congress must decide whether or not to reauthorize certain sections of the controversial USA Patriot Act (aka the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act), but even though it’s been nearly two years since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s massive and far-reaching data collection programs, many Americans either are only vaguely aware or don’t understand because it’s not easy to immediately see how things like PRISM and MYSTIC affect your daily existence. That’s why John Oliver not only went straight to Snowden for an explanation of these programs, but to have him put the snooping in terms many Internet-era perverts can understand: penis photos. [More]
Court Rules That Hulu Didn’t Know It Was Sharing Personal User Info With Facebook
By 4.2.15
Earlier this week, a federal court in California dismissed a nearly 4-year-old class-action lawsuit against Hulu that alleged the streaming video service illegally shared personal user information with Facebook. [More]
