It was shocking when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. In the aftermath of this event, data (mostly pictures and videos) from the social network Parler was used to create timelines for the activities of individuals and ultimately to identify them. But now another data set has emerged from a different source […]
Category Archives: Privacy
Keeping your Online Data Private in 2021
The coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020 and it resulted in several entities relying heavily on the internet. The effects of COVID-19 have spilled into 2021 with social distancing techniques still in play. Since almost everyone is using the internet nowadays, some problems have arisen. Controversies Surrounding Online Privacy The most important one is the issue […]
Why to keep your contacts safe from Apps
Apps that ask for accessing your contacts should be viewed with a very critical eye. To illustrate this, let me tell you a story. Sue and Joe are good friends since their days at college. However, Joe recently got into conspiracy theories and even joined a network of conspiracy theorists. They use an app to […]
Clubhouse
Clubhouse is the latest app hype. The app is what is known as proximity chat where you can talk with all kind of people. Getting in is not that easy, because you can only join by invitation and only if you have an iPhone, no Android users can become members so far. Anyone who has […]
iOS 14 Changes Aren’t Bad for Small Businesses After All
Facebook’s full-page ad campaign claims that Apple’s new policy, which will ask users to opt-in for tracking, will hurt small businesses. While it cannot be denied that small businesses depend on advertising, Facebook’s monopoly on social media and it’s popularity means that many small businesses depend on Facebook. For example, take a look at the […]
Daring Fireball: Online Privacy Should Be Modeled on Real-World Privacy
John Gruber from Daring Fireball gives a very good description of how online ad tracking would work in the physical world: Imagine if you were out shopping, went into a drug store, examined a few bottles of sunscreen, but left the store without purchasing anything. And then immediately a stranger approached you with an offer […]
Is Apple Killing A Billion-Dollar Ad Industry With A Popup?
The focus on Apple’s WWDC 2020 Keynote was on the next iterations of iOS, mac OS Big Sur and of course Apple Silicon. From the perspective of advertisement agencies, there was a specific feature that made them – let’s say – uneasy. It’s a new iOS 14 privacy-feature that requires active opting-in from users. Starting […]
Uncovered: 1,000 phrases that incorrectly trigger Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant | Ars Technica
If you are a user of Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant you’re familiar with “false alarms”. You just utter a completely innocent phrase and suddenly one of these voice assistants springs into action. This can be funny sometimes, but has become quite a privacy issue. Researches managed to produce a list of more than 1.000 […]
WhatsApp Phone Numbers Pop Up in Google Search Results — But is it a Bug? | Threatpost
The WhatsApp feature “Click to Chat” exposes mobile phone numbers on the web and Google’s search engine is able to index them. You can try it using the search string site:wa.me “+43” The phone numbers are simply as part of an URL string (https://wa.me/<phone_number>) and available in plaintext. Facebook claims that this not a bug: […]
Nearly a Million WP Sites Targeted in Large-Scale Attacks
If you have a WordPress page, you should check the status of your installtion right away. Because there was a massive attempt of a hacker group to capture more than 900.000 pages. Hackers tried to insert malicious JavaScript Code into WordPress pages that diverts visitors to manipulated webpages. They also scanned for admin logins to […]