January 12, 2023

Motherboard: Blockbuster NYTimes Story Accidentally Leaked Phone Numbers of Russian Soldiers Criticizing War

Motherboard: Blockbuster NYTimes Story Accidentally Leaked Phone Numbers of Russian Soldiers Criticizing War. “In its investigation, the Times decided to publish only the first names of the quoted soldiers to protect their identities. The inclusion of apparent phone numbers undermines that effort. Armed with a phone number, Russian authorities may be able to track down who was critical of the government’s wartime efforts. Motherboard found the Times website included not only the numbers of apparent soldiers on these calls, but also the alleged family members back home.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
December 30, 2022

BBC: Twitter in data-protection probe after ‘400 million’ user details up for sale

BBC: Twitter in data-protection probe after ‘400 million’ user details up for sale. “A watchdog is to investigate Twitter after a hacker claimed to have private details linked to more than 400 million accounts…. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) says it ‘will examine Twitter’s compliance with data-protection law in relation to that security issue’.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
August 23, 2022

The Verge: Twitter tests a special tag to highlight phone number-verified accounts

The Verge: Twitter tests a special tag to highlight phone number-verified accounts. “Elon Musk’s bot-baiting aside, Twitter has had many people call for changes to how it identifies accounts and what can be done to call out which ones are more legit than others. Now engineer Jane Manchun Wong has dug up a Twitter label that would put a mark on accounts with a verified phone number.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
August 18, 2022

Motherboard: How a Third-Party SMS Service Was Used to Take Over Signal Accounts

Motherboard: How a Third-Party SMS Service Was Used to Take Over Signal Accounts. “Last week, hackers broke into the systems of Twilio, a cloud communications company that provides infrastructure to other companies to automate sending text messages to their users. By breaking into Twilio systems, hackers could have sent text messages to victims, and read their text messages as well. This potentially gave the hackers a chance to take over any victim’s accounts that were tied to their phone number on services that use Twilio. Crucially, Twilio provides text verification services for the encrypted messaging app Signal.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
July 1, 2022

MakeUseOf: 7 Sites to Identify the Owner of a Phone Number

MakeUseOf: 7 Sites to Identify the Owner of a Phone Number. “Phone numbers are a little like fingerprints; they can reveal a lot about a person, for example, their name or where they live. If you received a call from a number you don’t recognize, the following resources can help you identify the caller before you ring them back. One option even calls the number for you.”

Useful Stuff 0
June 28, 2022

TechCrunch: Period tracker Stardust surges following Roe reversal, but its privacy claims aren’t airtight

TechCrunch: Period tracker Stardust surges following Roe reversal, but its privacy claims aren’t airtight. “TechCrunch ran a network traffic analysis of Stardust’s iPhone app on Monday to understand what data was flowing in and out of the app. The network traffic showed that if a user logs into the app using their phone number (rather than through a login service provided by Apple or Google), Stardust will periodically share the user’s phone number with a third-party analytics service called Mixpanel.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
February 6, 2022

MakeUseOf: The 5 Best Apps for a Temporary Burner Phone Number

MakeUseOf: The 5 Best Apps for a Temporary Burner Phone Number. “We’ve all seen criminal types using burner phones on shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad. And most of us have secretly wanted to throw a phone away or break it in half at the end of a conversation. Unless you have reason to believe the NSA or FBI is interested in you, it’s probably not something you need. However, there are all sorts of non-criminal reasons to have a second phone number. While you may want to get a physical burner phone for emergencies, you could also just get a burner app on your existing phone.”

Useful Stuff 0
July 24, 2021

IANS: 4 mn phone numbers of Clubhouse users ‘up for sale’ on Dark Web

IANS: 4 mn phone numbers of Clubhouse users ‘up for sale’ on Dark Web. “‘A database of 3.8 billion phone numbers of #Clubhouse users is up for sale on the #Darknet,’ leading cybersecurity expert Jiten Jain wrote on Twitter. ‘It also contains numbers of people in user’s phonebooks that were synced. So chances are high that you are listed even if you haven’t had a Clubhouse login,’ Jain added.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 7, 2021

Vice: Facebook Says It’s Your Fault That Hackers Got Half a Billion User Phone Numbers

Vice: Facebook Says It’s Your Fault That Hackers Got Half a Billion User Phone Numbers. “Facebook has become accustomed to dealing with multiple massive privacy breaches in recent years, and data belonging to hundreds of millions of its users has been leaked or stolen by hackers. But, instead of owning up to its latest failure to protect user data, Facebook is pulling from a familiar playbook: just like it did during the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, it’s attempting to reframe the security failure as merely a breach of its terms of service.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 7, 2021

Troy Hunt: The Facebook Phone Numbers Are Now Searchable in Have I Been Pwned

Troy Hunt: The Facebook Phone Numbers Are Now Searchable in Have I Been Pwned. “The headline is pretty self-explanatory so in the interest of time, let me just jump directly into the details of how this all works. There’s been huge interest in this incident, and I’ve seen near-unprecedented traffic to Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) over the last couple of days, let me do my best to explain how I’ve approached the phone number search feature.”

Useful Stuff 0
March 14, 2021

Engadget: Clubhouse tackles privacy issues with its drop-in audio chats

Engadget: Clubhouse tackles privacy issues with its drop-in audio chats. “As The Verge reports, Clubhouse will no longer require access to your phone contacts to invite people to the platform — you only have to add their phone number directly. While that’s not as ideal as avoiding phone numbers altogether, it tackles gripes that Clubhouse was both asking for unnecessary info and creating profiles for people who never intended to join.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
January 26, 2021

Motherboard: Bot Lets Hackers Easily Lookup Facebook Users’ Phone Numbers

Motherboard: Bot Lets Hackers Easily Lookup Facebook Users’ Phone Numbers. “Although the data is several years old, it still presents a cybersecurity and privacy risk to those whose phone numbers may be exposed—one person advertising the service says it contains data on 500 million users. Facebook told Motherboard the data relates to a vulnerability the company fixed in August 2019.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
October 8, 2020

Humanities Kansas: Humanities Hotline

Interesting. From Humanities Kansas: Humanities Hotline. “The toll-free Humanities Hotline delivers interesting short stories anytime, day or night. It’s simple: Dial 1-888-416-2018 and choose from a menu of humanities highlights. These bite-sized micropresentations cover Kansas stories – both serious and light-hearted – and are researched and presented by experts across the state.

Tweaks & Updates 0

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