Kevin has had his Facebook account for quite a few years, but decided to poke around and go on a friending spree to make it easier to make contacts and find a new job. That’s how he learned the hard way that while Facebook wants you to connect with people, they don’t really want you to connect with so many of them that you look like a spambot. [More]
Data & Privacy
Netflix CEO Jokes That Irked Investors May Be Trying To Poison Him
By 9.22.11
It’s been a downer of a week for Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, whose attempt to soften the blow of deciding to split off his company’s DVD-by-mail division into the questionably named Qwikster was met with much derision and an initial dip in the company’s stock price. But Hastings has either been able to maintain a sense of humor about the situation or he wants the world to know he fears angry investors are out to poison him. [More]
How To Get Rid Of The Facebook News Ticker
By 9.21.11
Facebook rolled out some new tweaks this week, like adding a real-time “ticker” of all your friends’ updates in the right sidebar, and making pictures bigger in the news feed, along with a few other tweaks. Some people woke up to them and promptly starting making Facebook status updates on how much they hate the new Facebook. Well, there’s a few ways to roll them back and get the “old” Facebook. [More]
FTC Proposes Changes To Law Protecting Kids' Privacy Online
By 9.16.11
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it is seeking public comment on proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Act, which would strengthen the law’s ability to protect children under the age of 13. [More]
Domino's Brings Back Noid In Shoot-Em-Up Facebook Game
By 8.10.11
Domino’s has brought back it’s iconic 80’s character “The Noid” for a one-week appearance in an 8-bit promotional shoot-em-up Facebook game. Sadly, you lose points when you shoot the Noid. [More]
NYPD Forms New Unit To Monitor Facebook And Twitter For Signs Of Criminal Activity
By 8.10.11
Be careful the next time you’re planning a bank heist on Facebook or send out a Tweet that reads “there were only supposed to be two alarm systems wtf???” As we’ve already reported, cops around the country have begun using social media to track down criminals, and now comes the news that the New York City Police Department has actually created a unit that monitors Facebook updates, Twitter feeds and the like to detect the planning of, or bragging about, illegal goings-on. [More]
Hershey's Website Hacked… To Change Recipe
By 8.3.11
While a number of websites and mailing lists have fallen victim to attacks intent on stealing personal information or just proving that the hack was possible, whoever managed to penetrate the security of the Hershey’s Chocolate website had a much more insidious goal: changing recipes. [More]
NYC Deputizes All Citizens As Secret Shoppers
By 7.28.11
Inspections by New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs found that two-thirds of the supermarkets they visited were overcharging customers at the checkout counter. That’s up from 1 in 3 last August. So now they’re turning all shoppers into “deputized inspectors” to report malefactors. [More]
Researcher: 8 Percent Of Android Apps Leak Private Info
By 7.21.11
Free apps sometimes come at a hidden cost, because malicious software can come in seemingly harmless forms, exposing personal data and sending spammy text messages from users’ accounts. An anti-malware service provider studied 10,000 Android apps found that 800 of the programs were spreading personal data around, and 11 were spamming phony text messages. [More]
Morgan Stanley Data Breach Burns 34,000 Investment Clients
By 7.6.11
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney says it has lost two CD-ROMs containing password-protected but not-encrypted data from investment clients. A spokesman for the brokerage says there’s no evidence that there was criminal intent in the breach, or that the information has been misused. [More]
Which Credit Card Companies Do The Best At Keeping Your Data Safe?
By 6.28.11
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there have already been 216 credit card data breaches in 2011, including the Citi hack that resulted in $2.7 million of stolen funds. And while the number of breaches is down from 333 during the same period of time from last year, the security of our credit card information is still a big concern. [More]
New Service Adds Your Drunken Facebook Photos To Employer Background Checks, For Up To Seven Years
By 6.21.11
The FTC has given thumbs up to a company, Social Intelligence Corp., selling a new kind of employee background check to employers. This one scours the internet for your posts and pictures to social media sites and creates a file of all the dumb stuff you ever uploaded online. For instance, this sample they provided was flagged for “Demonstrating potentially violent behavior” because of “flagrant display of weapons or bombs.” [More]
Citigroup: 360K Customers' Credit Cards, Not 200K, Were Exposed To Hackers In Breach
By 6.16.11
Citigroup, which suffered a massive data breach that exposed hundreds of thousands of credit cards, upped its initial estimate of the amount of customers’ credit cards exposed from 200,000 to 360,000. [More]
Hackers Swipe Emails, Addresses And Passwords From Video Game Site
By 6.13.11
These are not the best of times to be a gamer who leaves personal information on websites. In addition to the Sony troubles of the past couple months, British game publisher Codemasters has been hacked, leaving emails, addresses and passwords exposed. [More]
Hackers Say They've Stolen Email Addresses, Passwords Of Sony Pictures And Sony BMG Customers
By 6.3.11
Sony’s troubles with hackers continue. Now that the company has recovered from the PlayStation Network outage and lengthy rebuilding process, hackers claim to have stolen and posted email addresses and passwords from 50,000 Sony customers on the Sony Pictures and Sony BMG sites. [More]
Michaels Hit With Possible Class-Action Suit Over Data Breach
By 5.31.11
Three weeks after craft store Michaels fell victim to a data breach that compromised customers’ credit and debit card information, the chain has been hit with a lawsuit seeking class-action status for all those who directly affected by the hack. [More]
Lockheed Martin Says Hackers Didn't Get Sensitive Info In Data Breach
By 5.30.11
On May 21, hackers breached the defenses of aerospace/defense/security mega-contractor Lockheed Martin, causing cyber detectives to converge at the company’s Washington, D.C.-area headquarters. The experts have yet to track down the origins of the attack, but insist they didn’t make off with any sensitive information. [More]
TransUnion Wants You To Share Your Credit Score On Facebook
By 5.27.11
Social media may have created a culture of over-sharing, but what’s too personal to share with your Facebook friends? Michael was checking his credit report, and was surprised to see a “Share on Facebook” button directly below his credit score. [More]
