Cybersecurity roundup: March 18 to 24, 2018

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Cybersecurity roundup: March 18 to 24, 2018

AFP

Facebook's in the middle of a scandal surrounding user data, while a slip-up by Democratic National Committee hacker Guccifer appears to show he's actually a Russian agent. Here's this week's Cybersecurity Roundup!

Facebook’s taken the spotlight this week as the company seeks to avert disaster following a data privacy scandal.

Researchers meanwhile said bitcoin’s blockchain has child pornography within it, making it technically illegal to possess in countries with anti-child pornography laws.

These stories and more on this week’s Cybersecurity Roundup!


Facebook’s data privacy scandal brews despite Zuckerberg’s promises to ‘step up’

Facebook’s recent data privacy scandal – in which the personal data of millions of users was hijacked by Cambridge Analytica, a British firm linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign – has brought its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the forefront, with Zuckerberg vowing to “step up” to protect user data and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg also promising to keep working to make users feel safe

Despite this, Facebook is now under intense scrutiny by regulators from the US, the EU, and Israel.


Democratic National Convention hacker Guccifer 2.0 may be Russian agent – report

The notorious hacker Guccifer 2.0, alleged to have compromised the Democratic National Convention’s computer systems, may very well be a Russian intelligence agent.

The Daily Beast reports Guccifer failed to activate a VPN client before going online during one instance of activity. “As a result,’ The Daily Beast writes, “he left a real, Moscow-based Internet Protocol address in the server logs of an American social media company.”


Delete Facebook campaign gathers steam

WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton took to Twitter in the wake of the Facebook data privacy scandal to call on people to extricate themselves from Facebook by deleting their accounts.

In a tweet, Acton wrote, “It is time.” This was followed by the hashtag #DeleteFacebook.


Netflix announces expanded bug bounty program

Netflix is opening up an expanded bug bounty program to let bug hunters improve its systems.

The Bugcrowd-powered bounty program will allow registered white hat hackers to report minor and critical bugs, with payouts ranging anywhere from $100 to $15,000.


Bitcoin’s blockchain may have child pornography on it

Researchers at RTWH Aarchen University in Germany have found a small number of files containing child pornography images or links stored on the bitcoin blockchain. The possession of the blockchain, as a result, may be illegal in countries with anti-child pornography laws.

The researchers explained 3files were notable. “Two of them are backups of link lists to child pornography, containing 274 links to websites, 142 of which refer to Tor hidden services. The remaining instance is an image depicting mild nudity of a young woman.”

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!