72% of British adults are concerned about their private information online. According to a research, 32% of respondents would be willing to pay to protect their information online.
The findings come two years after the Edward Snowden leaks revealed that the US and UK security forces had access to and collected private data without permission, causing a backlash in the technology and security industries. The survey indicates that many of those surveyed shared personal information online when signing up for websites and services. More than half of those surveyed said they did not want to pay for online protection.
Read moreHighly sensitive details of the pension pots of millions are being sold for as little as 5p and ending up in the hands of criminals. An investigation reveals how private financial information is being passed on by firms without their customers’ knowledge.
This valuable data is then repeatedly sold on, ending up in the hands of fraudsters and cold-calling firms. The troubling revelations come on the eve of major government reforms that will hand millions the chance to cash in their pension pots – giving them access to huge sums previously locked away. Some firms were willing to sell financial data on thousands of people.
Read moreThe UK's Court of Appeal won't block a privacy lawsuit that alleges Google tracked Safari users without authorisation, so the three plaintiffs can continue their legal fight against the search company.
These claims raise serious issues which merit a trial. They concern what is alleged to have been the secret and blanket tracking and collation of information, often of an extremely private and safe nature, as specified in the confidential schedules, about and associated with the claimants' internet use, and the subsequent use of that information for about nine months.
Read moreIn classical mythology, Aquila is the eagle carrying Jupiter’s thunderbolts skyward. At Facebook, it is the code name for a high-flying drone, indicative of the social networking company’s lofty ambitions.
The V-shaped unmanned vehicle weighs less than a small car, is the centerpiece of Facebook’s plans to connect with the five billion or so people it has yet to reach. Taking to the skies to beam Internet access down from solar-powered drones may seem like a stretch for a tech company that sells ads to make money. Facebook is under pressure to show that it can pursue projects that are more speculative than product.
Read moreAt the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month, Android smartphone giant, Samsung, released its mobile payments platform.
Samsung Pay has something that Apple Pay does not: Magnetic Secure Transmission that was actually developed by a company called LoopPay. While use of Apple Pay is limited to those merchants who deploy near-field-communication enabled point-of-sale terminals, the inclusion of MST means that Samsung Pay has the capacity to interface with existing mag-stripe reading point-of-sale systems. Magnetic stripe readers, of course, constitute the vast majority of payment terminals.
Read moreAnyone who banks online will know how difficult it can sometimes be to remember multiple passwords and pin numbers on a daily basis. Halifax believes it could have a solution: a wristband that identifies customers by their heartbeat.
Apparently everyone has a unique heart rhythm, which can be used to identify us much in the same way as fingerprints. Customers would put the band on their wrists, which measures their electrocardiogram or ECG. The ECG data is read when a customer wears the band on one wrist and touches the top sensor with a finger on the other hand.
Read moreSeveral large banks of the United Kingdom may be at risk because of a security hole in their two-factor authentication systems, and regulators aren’t acting to deal with the problem, a security essentials research company has revealed.
To exploit the vulnerability in the banks’ online banking systems, cyberattackers could use phishing emails to plant malware on customers’ computers, then infiltrate the bank’s networks by piggybacking off legitimate activity, according to the security company that first uncovered the problem at one large UK bank. Other big UK banks that use a similar two-step authentication process would also be vulnerable.
Read moreThe government has unveiled the driverless cars that will be tested on the roads of the United Kingdom, but admits that changes in the Highway Code and MOT will be needed before any full rollout.
It could be a while before driverless cars make it to the roads for consumers. Any trials conducted in the UK will also require drivers on hand to takeover in the case of emergencies. It also remains to be seen how the government will address criminal liability if a driverless car accidentally kills someone. Security groups have warned that big changes will be needed across the car industry before the benefits will be seen by the public - who themselves aren’t convinced.
Read moreTop secret documents previously provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have revealed that the US and Britain broke into the network of the world’s largest SIM card maker to compromise global communications.
According to the documents, founded by Snowden collaborator Glenn Greenwald, the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters, stole the encryption keys used to secure voice calls and texts from Gemalto, the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world. Gemalto makes two billion SIM cards every day. They are used by many wireless network providers around the world.
Read moreThe Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled that regulations covering access by Britain’s GCHQ to emails and phone records intercepted by the US National Security Agency breached human rights law.
Advocacy groups said the decision raised questions about the legality of intelligence-sharing operations between the UK and the USA. The ruling appears to suggest that aspects of the operations were illegal for at least seven years – between 2007, when the PRISM intercept programme was introduced, and 2014. The critical judgment marks the first time since the IPT was established that it has upheld a complaint relating to any of the UK’s intelligence agencies.
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