For technologists
Rockefeller, Bono Mack seek explanations from Facebook
November 16, 2011
Two federal lawmakers want Facebook to come before Congress to explain how the social media company tracks Web users and why Facebook members got swarmed by pornographic and violent images this week.
Reacting to details of Facebook’s tracking practices disclosed in LastWatchdog’s page 1A story in print editions of USA TODAY, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D – W. Virg., said he intends to invite Facebook and …More
How Facebook keeps tracking logs of the webpages you visit
November 15, 2011
In recent weeks, Facebook has been wrangling with the Federal Trade Commission over whether the social media website is violating users’ privacy by making public too much of their personal information.
Far more quietly, another debate is brewing over a different side of online privacy: what Facebook is learning about those who visit its website.
Facebook officials are now acknowledging that the social media giant has been able to …More
Ten-fold rise in malicious ads bedevils publishers, consumers
November 2, 2011
The online advertising industry is scrambling to quell a long-standing problem that has taken a turn for the worse: the spread of malicious ads on the Internet’s top commercial websites.
Several new twists have made so-called malvertisements a fast-rising threat to consumers — and a big headache for publishers, advertisers and ad networks, say technologists and security researchers.
The spread of infected online ads has spiked tenfold over the …More
Symantec’s new tool helps publishers spot ‘malvertisements’
November 2, 2011
Web site publishers finally have a new tool they can use to prevent criminals from sneaking malicious ads onto commercial webpages.
Antivirus giant Symantec has partnered with web app security firm Armorize to offer a cloud-based URL scanning service tuned to spot and thus help to block so-called malvertisements.
Symantec and Armorize unveiled the new service, called AdVantage, at the Online Trust Alliance’s “Realizing the …More
Why you may soon need to carry two smartphones
October 10, 2011
Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder and CEO of Moscow, Russia-based Kaspersky Lab, has made Kaspersky antivirus software a well-regarded product in Russia, Europe and North America. Kaspersky believes, as do several other technologists, that some day in the not too distance future many employees will routinely carry and make use of two sets of computing devices — one for company use, the other for personal use. He explains why …More
Stolen digital certificates exacerbate erosion of trust
September 29, 2011
Cybercriminals are not just forging digital certificates, the keys to what you can trust on the Internet. They are also stealing valid digital certificates issued to legit companies and using them to do bad things on the Web.
Hackers this summer have pioneered ways to forge the digital certificates intended to assure the authenticity of Web pages where you type sensitive data into forms, as highlighted by the recent …More
Lessons learned from LulzSec’s 50-day hacking spree
June 28, 2011
By Byron Acohido, 28June2011
The direct and indirect ramifications of LulzSec’s unprecedented hacktivist rampage will take some time to fully play out.
However, it seems clear that consumers, corporations and governments will likely experience troublesome collateral damage for some time to come.
The Australian government, for instance, is advising citizens to change and vary their Facebook, PayPal, Xbox Live and other online account logins because scammers have begun using …More
keep looking »