You can delete personal info directly from Google Search now – and it’s shockingly fast
If you find your personal information online, like your phone number, address, or email, Google is making it easier to make sure it doesn’t show up again. Several years ago, Google introduced a “Results about you” tool that lets you track your personal information online and remove it from search results. It wasn’t easy to find this tool, though, because you had to dig deep into the settings menu to see it. Now, you can request removal straight from Google Search, and the whole process works surprisingly quickly. Here’s how to do it.
Feds: Army soldier suspected of AT&T heist Googled ‘can hacking be treason,’ ‘defecting to Russia’
The US Army soldier suspected of compromising AT&T and bragging about getting his hands on President Trump’s call logs allegedly tried to sell stolen information to a foreign intel agent. The military man even Google searched for “can hacking be treason,” and “US military personnel defecting to Russia,” according to prosecutors who argue he poses a serious flight risk and should be detained. Cameron John Wagenius, 21, was arrested in Texas in December, and last week told a federal court judge he intends to plead guilty to unlawfully posting and transferring confidential phone records.
Firefox deletes promise to never sell personal data, asks users not to panic
Firefox maker Mozilla deleted a promise to never sell its users’ personal data and is trying to assure worried users that its approach to privacy hasn’t fundamentally changed. Until recently, a Firefox FAQ promised that the browser maker never has and never will sell its users’ personal data. That promise is removed from the current version. There’s also a notable change in a data privacy FAQ that used to say, “Mozilla doesn’t sell data about you, and we don’t buy data about you.” The data privacy FAQ now explains that Mozilla is no longer making blanket promises about not selling data because some legal jurisdictions define “sale” in a very broad way.
Zapier says someone broke into its code repositories and may have accessed customer data
Zapier informed customers on Friday that an “unauthorized user” accessed “certain Zapier code repositories” and may have gained access to customer information as a result. The customer data had been “inadvertently copied to the repositories for debugging purposes,” according to an email obtained by The Verge. The company says it became aware of the unauthorized access on Thursday. When it did, the company “immediately secured access to the repositories and invalidated the unauthorized user’s access,” the email says. Zapier says that the incident “did not affect any Zapier database, infrastructure or production, authentication, or payment systems.”
Privacy tech firms warn France’s encryption and VPN laws threaten privacy
Privacy-focused email provider Tuta (previously Tutanota) and the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) are raising concerns over proposed laws in France set to backdoor encrypted messaging systems and restrict internet access. The first case concerns a proposed amendment to France’s “Narcotrafic” law, which would compel providers of encrypted communication services to implement backdoors, enabling law enforcement to access decrypted messages of suspected criminals within 72 hours of a request. Non-compliance could result in substantial fines: €1.5 million for individuals and up to 2% of annual global turnover for companies.
Notorious Malware, Spam Host “Prospero” Moves to Kaspersky Lab
One of the most notorious providers of abuse-friendly “bulletproof” web hosting for cybercriminals has started routing its operations through networks run by the Russian antivirus and security firm Kaspersky Lab, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Security experts say the Russia-based service provider Prospero OOO (the triple O is the Russian version of “LLC”) has long been a persistent source of malicious software, botnet controllers, and a torrent of phishing websites. Last year, the French security firm Intrinsec detailed Prospero’s connections to bulletproof services advertised on Russian cybercrime forums under the names Securehost and BEARHOST.
California shuts down data broker for failing to register
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) on Thursday announced that a data broker must shut down its business for three years for failing to comply with the state’s Delete Act, which requires certain brokers to register with the state. The requirement that the company, Background Alert, close its doors for failing to register is unprecedented. Background Alert, which is based in California, agreed to the settlement terms. Background Alert relies on billions of public records to develop and sell individual profiles over its website, drawing inferences about them to identify people who “may somehow be associated with” the individual being searched, the CPPA said, quoting Background Alert.
