Broadband and mobile companies are happy to claim that we don’t need new rules to protect net neutrality, because even without rules in place, they’ve never blocked traffic in any harmful way and don’t particularly want to in the future either. However, one internet business says they have proof it happens — and the way the ISPs are doing it can have a huge effect not only on the quality of internet traffic, but on the safety of it, too. [More]
security
Adobe’s Newest Security Hole: Telling The World What You Do With Your Library Books
By 10.7.14
It’s pretty great that in the modern age, you can borrow digital books from libraries, to read at home on the computer or e-reader of your choice. It’s a lot less great that the piece of software most library books use is apparently spying and collecting data on every word you read. [More]
Tech Expert Makes Point About (Bad) Security In The Internet Of Things By Hacking A Printer To Run Doom
By 9.15.14
The more appliances and devices there are out there with internet connections, the more hackers will be able to find security vulnerabilities in those appliances. One security expert found a particular hole that let him remotely install any software onto a whole line of popular printers. How to make a true point about what someone can accomplish with remote access to your devices? Make it run full-fledged video games. [More]
Google Tweaks Search Rankings To Reward More Secure Sites
By 8.7.14
Websites that create safe, secure environments for visitors’ data are about to win the internet jackpot: better search results through Google. [More]
Soon PreCheck Lanes Will Only Be For Those Who Actually Paid For The Perks
By 8.5.14
If you’ve ever been randomly plucked out of the ordinary Transportation Security Administration screening line at the airport and ushered through the magical line where you don’t have to take off your shoes or rifle through your bag to pull out laptops and small bottles of liquid, then you know the joy of the PreCheck lane. I hope you enjoyed the free ride while it lasted, because the popularity of the supposed no-hassle line means only paying customers will be admitted from now on. [More]
Target Security Worker Claims He Was Fired For Reporting Shoplifting Suspect Who Might Be A Cop
By 7.14.14
The job of a retail loss prevention officer is pretty clear — don’t let people steal stuff, and if you see someone who is, call the cops. But one Target security worker claims that after he reported a shoplifting suspect who may or may not be a police officer, he was fired. [More]
LaCie Admits Customer Data Was Breached For A Year
By 4.15.14
You may be familiar with LaCie, a French company that makes computer hard drives. They’re now owned by Seagate, and maintain their own online storefront, which was one of many hit by hackers in a recent credit card data breach. This time, the baddies exploited vulnerabilities in the Web application platform ColdFusion. This breach has been ongoing for almost an entire year. [More]
What Is This Scary Heartbleed Bug, And Why Is Everyone Freaking Out About It?
By 4.9.14
One second everything on the Internet appears normal, and the next thing you know, everyone is talking about some security bug called “Heartbleed” that’s out to get us all. So what is it, and is it as scary of a problem as it seems to be? [More]
Yahoo Announces New Security Measures To Keep Snoopers From Snooping
By 4.3.14
If security is a blanket, Yahoo is trying to roll itself up in more layers of that blanket to make a nice little cocoon for its users, designed to keep the government and others from snooping. Following Google’s recent new security measures, Yahoo says it’s also completed a new system that encrypts all info going from one Yahoo data center to another. [More]
Walgreens Customer Mistaken For Homeless Person, Kicked Out Of Store
By 4.1.14
An overzealous Walgreens security guard and a case of mistaken identity led to what the drugstore chain is calling “an unfortunate situation” in Chicago. A 62-year-old man, a Vietnam War veteran, claims that he entered the store and a security guard asked him to leave or face arrest. The guard had mistaken him for a homeless man who had caused problems at the same store. [More]
Supreme Court Takes On Amazon Warehouse Workers’ Case Over Unpaid Time
By 3.4.14
Should warehouse workers have to spend their own free time waiting for security procedures after their work shift is done, or should companies like Amazon have them on the clock during that process? Amazon workers have been fighting to collect pay for that time spent in line waiting for security checks, and the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear their case. [More]
Secret Service: Hackers Behind Target Attack Used Specially Designed, Sophisticated Malware
By 2.5.14
A House subcommittee that’s looking into the massive theft of Target customers’ personal and financial information heard from a Secret Service official who says that the hackers responsible had been preparing long and hard for the “highly technical” attack, using sophisticated malware that likely was designed specially to infiltrate Target’s system. [More]
NFL Banning Bags, Purses, Fanny Packs, Seat Cushions From Stadiums
By 6.14.13
For the last couple years, the NFL has been trying to get people into stadiums, especially in markets where seats are available but it’s easier and cheaper to sit at home and watch the game on a huge HDTV with surround sound (and no one spilling beer or throwing batteries at you). But the league’s latest move seems intent on keeping people away from stadiums and in the non-invasive comfort of their homes. [More]
Twitter Protects Global Economy, Introduces Two-Factor Authentication
By 5.23.13
After a number of high-profile and embarrassing Twitter feed hackings, the tweeps over at Twitter realized that they need to join every other online service that has moderate importance in users’ lives and implement two-factor authentication already. If it’s good enough for our bank accounts and our Gmail, it’s good enough for our joke-delivery service, right? [More]
Facebook Lets You Assign ‘Trusted Contacts’ To Help You Access Your Account After Being Locked Out
By 5.2.13
Lots of people give an extra set of house keys to close friends or family in case they get locked out. So why not have a similar way of dealing with those times when you’re locked out of your Facebook account? [More]
I Can’t Get Sam’s Club To Take My Money
By 11.7.12
Rhoda wanted to get the new Halo 4 edition of the Xbox 360, and she wanted to get it from Sam’s Club. Presumably, she’s a member, and she says that she has ordered online from Sam’s before. But something about this transaction made the store’s computers unhappy, and the order wouldn’t go through. She called up the company to verify the order and tried again, only to face even more rejection. [More]
Thanks To Consumerist, Customer Wins Game Of ETF Chicken With ADT
By 9.12.12
You may remember reader Matthew, who a few weeks ago was playing chicken with alarm company ADT over having to pay an early termination fee for moving. After we posted his story, an ADT representative showed up and posted a comment, which got the ball rolling on an actual solution for him. They refunded him for the months that he had been paying for service that his local ADT salesman wasn’t willing to provide him. [More]
