It may not be the household name that Walmart is, but an awful lot of people around the U.S. get their crafting supplies from the 1000+ Michaels stores around the country. Over the weekend, the retailer warned customers that it “may have experienced a data security attack.” [More]
Data & Privacy
FBI Warns Stores To Prepare For More Credit Card Hacks
By 1.24.14
The recent malware attacks on payment systems at Target and Neiman Marcus may be getting all the headlines, but they weren’t the first such breaches, and they won’t be the last. This week, the FBI issued a warning to retailers, telling them to prepare for the inevitable hack attempts to come. [More]
Researchers Claim The Disease That Is Facebook Will Fade Out In A Matter Of Years
By 1.23.14
While we’ve all been sitting here worried about the coming zombie apocalypse, the truth is we’ve already been infected. But instead of rotting flesh and vacant eyes, we’ve been infected by Facebook (which also is known to cause vacant eyes and drooling if you stare at it too long). Researchers say the cure is coming, or at least this infectious disease will fade out in the coming years. [More]
Homeland Security Warns Retailers About Malware Used In Target Hack
By 1.17.14
While you might imagine other big retailers sitting back and having a good ol’ chuckle at the expense of Target, the reality is more like they’re all shaking in their boots. Because if a massive data breach could hit Target, it could happen to any merchant (and probably will hit more). The government wants retailers to be ready, and has released a bunch of information about the methods used in the attack to prepare them. [More]
Target Data Breach Possibly Hit 110 Million, May Include People Who Didn’t Shop During Holidays
By 1.10.14
What we thought was getting worse just keeps getting worser: This morning we heard that the data breach at Target had hit 70 million customers, instead of the 40 million originally reported by the company. And now that number is not only possibly up to 110 million, but it could include people who didn’t even shop during the holidays, which is when Target said the leak happened. [More]
Snapchat Finally Uses The Word “Sorry,” Releases Updated App In Wake Of Hack
By 1.9.14
We’re not sure if that fact that Snapchat used the word “sorry” in a post today means that perhaps “going backwards” by apologizing isn’t quite the death sentence the company’s CEO said it was, or if it just means, sorry. The company posted the word within a blog post announcing an updated version of the app, one week after it acknowledged a hack had happened. [More]
Identity Theft: Could It Be Your GPS’ Fault? Probably Not, But Maybe
By 1.9.14
Is your GPS stealing your identity? It might seem far-fetched, but some privacy advocacy groups are concerned that companies tracking consumers’ location data could put you at risk. [More]
Snapchat Says It’ll Release More Secure Version Of App In Wake Of Hack
By 1.3.14
This week many Snapchat users were likely shocked to found out that 4.6 million usernames and the phone numbers connected to them were leaked online by a group of hackers. In response to the hack, Snapchat says now that it will release an updated version of its app that will allow users to opt out of the “Find Friends” feature that was exploited. [More]
Facebook Sued For Allegedly Selling Private Message Info To Marketers
By 1.3.14
Facebook, never exactly a paragon of privacy, has once again been sued by users over allegations of profiting off users’ personal data. This time, the plaintiffs claim that the website is turning links shared in private messages into public “likes,” from which Facebook earns ad revenue. [More]
‘Wichcraft Sandwich Shops Reveal Credit Card Hack From 3 Months Ago
By 12.31.13
While it’s certainly not on the scale of the recent Target breach, ‘wichcraft, the chain of sandwich shops co-founded by Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio, announced yesterday that its payment card system for locations in NYC and San Francisco was compromised for several weeks earlier this year, giving hackers access to customers’ names, card numbers, security codes, and expiration dates. [More]
Facebook: Again, It Is Impossible For Old Messages To Be Republished As Wall Posts
By 12.13.13
At first upon reading the account of a blogger who believed that old, private messages between her and her Facebook friends were showing up publicly on her timeline, there was that same icky, familiar feeling many Facebook users had last year: Were our most private exchanges suddenly being aired out in a crazy, awful security breach? [More]
Easy Public Displays Of Support For Charities Lead To Slacktivism
By 12.10.13
Scroll through your Facebook timeline and you’ll no doubt see any number of people passing on links, photos, stories, invites to groups… all for allegedly good causes. It’s become increasingly simple to say you support things like ending world hunger or providing shelter to victims of natural disaster, while at the same time doing absolutely nothing that actually helps to solve those problems. Such behavior has earned the name “slacktivism,” and a new study aims to show how many people can trick themselves into thinking they have done enough by simply putting on a ribbon or liking a Facebook page. [More]
This Christmas, Fend Off Bad Guys Disguised As Santa With Your New TASER
By 12.6.13
If we posted every ridiculous or terrible ad that popped up on Facebook, we’d have no pixels left to post anything else. But Patrick encountered this ad for TASER flashlights that is simultaneously strange and scaremongering, and features a balaclava-clad man in a Santa hat meant to scare Facebookers into ordering a handy stun gun flashlight. [More]
Ginormous Hack Targets 2 Million Accounts Spread Over 93,000 Websites Worldwide
By 12.5.13
About two million people should be checking your social media accounts and anything else one might have a login and password for: Hackers have snagged usernames and passwords for millions of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and other sites accounts, according to a new report. [More]
Google Mocks Opacity Of National Security Requests While Feds Try To Hide Court Action From Public
By 11.14.13
For quite some time, Google and other Internet biggies have argued that they should be able to reveal relatively detailed data to the public about user-information requests from federal law enforcement agencies, and specifically those that fall under that black umbrella of national security. In its latest transparency report, Google uses a visual to show its distaste for this opacity. Meanwhile, the federal government is attempting to argue its case for the lack of transparency behind doors closed so tight that even the others involved in the request won’t be privy to what’s said. [More]
Facebook Wants To Track Where You Move Your Cursor While You Ignore Your Friends’ Posts
By 10.30.13
Because there is nothing that can’t be tracked, quantified, and turned into rad-looking chart/diagram/map, Facebook is now testing its ability to track where users move their cursors while browsing the site, presumably so it can visualize how frequently you click “hide” on all those game invites that never stop. [More]
Facebook Advertisers Rubbing Hands With Glee Now That Teens Can Post Publicly
By 10.17.13
While Facebook’s announcement yesterday that teens 13-17 will now be able to join the adult masses in sharing their posts publicly is touted by the company as a way to give youngsters more choices, it probably has a lot more to do with money. When advertisers see teens, after all, they’re basically seeing piles and piles of cash futzing around on social media all day with their pals, just waiting to be marketed to. [More]
You’ll Need To Change Your Settings To Avoid Showing Up In Facebook Search
By 10.11.13
Back when Facebook introduced its Graph Search functionality, it took away the old “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” setting for people who weren’t using it, but kept it on for users who still wanted to avoid showing up in search results. Now, that grandfathered option is going away for everyone. [More]
