Dec 5, 2019
Updated: Jan 13, 2020
Technology news headlines for this week include a new FBI warning to FaceApp users, a HackerOne data breach, and concerns about TikTok, among others.
CNET: Ransomware froze more cities in 2019. Next year is a tossup
By: Alfred Ng
"More than 70 state and local governments across the US suffered ransomware attacks in 2019."
Wall Street Journal: NSA to Issue Updated Cloud Security Guidance
By: James Rundle and Catherine Stupp
"The National Security Agency plans to issue updated guidance to companies on cybersecurity in the cloud, a senior official said, amid a series of attacks that have targeted service providers in recent months."
Ars Technica: HackerOne breach lets outside hacker read customers’ private bug reports
By: Dan Goodin
"As a leading vulnerability reporting platform, HackerOne has paid hackers more than $23 million on behalf of more than 100 customers, including Twitter, Slack, and the US Pentagon."
Wall Street Journal: FBI Warns FaceApp Could Pose Counterintelligence Threat
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned that certain Russian-made software, including the viral hit FaceApp, pose a potential counterintelligence threat and could put Americans’ private data at risk."
CNBC: Amazon lets doctors record your conversations and put them in your medical files
By: Christina Farr
"Amazon’s next big step in health care is with voice transcription technology that’s designed to allow doctors to spend more time with patients and less time at the computer."
Wired: Hackers Find Ways Around a Years-Old Microsoft Outlook Fix
By: Lily Hay Newman
"Email has long been a major weak link for security; the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign were both infamously compromised by Russian hackers through email-related phishing attacks ahead of the 2016 US elections. With the 2020 campaign in full swing, a patched flaw in Microsoft Outlook is still giving attackers an opening."
SC Magazine: TikTok transferred user data to China without consent, lawsuit says
By: Teri Robinson
"TikTok secretly transferred user data to China without obtaining consent, according to a lawsuit filed by a college student in the Northern District of California."
PC Magazine: Smith & Wesson's Website Hacked to Steal Credit Card Details
By: Michael Kan
"Malicious Javascript code was injected into the Smith & Wesson's website on Nov. 27 and remained there until Tuesday morning."
TechCrunch: Millions of SMS messages exposed in database security lapse
By: Zack Whittaker
"A massive database storing tens of millions of SMS text messages, most of which were sent by businesses to potential customers, has been found online."
The Register: EFF warns of 'one-way mirror' of web surveillance by tech giants – led by Google
By: Thomas Claburn
"As the sacred shopping season gets underway, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued a report detailing the privacy cost of surveillance-based commerce."