12 Jun 2024
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/12/2024

Apple Launches Private Cloud Compute for Privacy-Centric AI Processing Apple has announced the launch of a "groundbreaking cloud intelligence system" called Private Cloud Compute (PCC) that's designed for processing artificial intelligence (AI) tasks in a privacy-preserving manner in the cloud. The tech giant described PCC as the "most advanced security architecture ever deployed for cloud AI compute at scale." PCC coincides with the arrival of new generative AI (GenAI) features – collectively dubbed Apple Intelligence, or AI for…
Read More
12 Sep 2022
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/12/2022

EU to introduce strict IoT security regulation The EU is set to introduce a law that would require smart devices to follow strict cyber security rules, on threat of a device ban. Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as smart home controls or fitness trackers are becoming more ubiquitous, making life more convenient while also increasing the vectors through which threat actors can perpetrate cyber crime. The proposal, which Reuters reports is titled the Cyber Resilience Act, will…
Read More
05 May 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 05/05/2021

1 - IoT privacy and security concerns There is a famous hacking story that’s become something of an urban legend in the cyber security industry - about a casino that had its IT network infiltrated via an internet-connected fish tank. It’s said that the tank's IoT thermometer was used to access the casino’s entire system and extract data on its clientele. It's a rather extreme example of what could happen, but serves to highlight an important…
Read More
25 Nov 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 11/25/2020

Top Biden adviser seen as making tech regulation more likely President-elect Joe Biden’s top technology adviser helped craft California’s landmark online privacy law and recently condemned a controversial federal statute that protects internet companies from liability, indicators of how the Biden administration may come down on two key tech policy issues.  Bruce Reed, a former Biden chief of staff who is expected to take a major role in the new administration, helped negotiate with the…
Read More
20 Oct 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 10/20/2020

Albion Online game maker discloses data breach A hacker has breached the forum of Albion Online, a popular free medieval fantasy MMORPG, and stole usernames and password hashes, the game maker disclosed on Saturday.  "The intruder was able to access forum user profiles, which include the email addresses connected to those forum accounts," said Sandbox Interactive GmbH, the company behind Albion Online. The attacker also harvested encrypted passwords. Sandbox Interactive said the passwords were hashed with…
Read More
28 Sep 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/28/2020

Google adds a COVID-19 layer to Google Maps Google continues to work on improving Google Maps and on Wednesday a "COVID-19 layer" started rolling out. With this layer, users can see areas where the virus is spreading and it is coded by color based on the number of people with the coronavirus in each region. The layer produces these color codes based on the seven-day average for the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000…
Read More
30 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/30/2020

Chinese bank requires foreign firm to install app with covert backdoor A large, multinational technology company got a nasty surprise recently as it was expanding its operations to China. The software a local bank required the company to install so it could pay local taxes contained an advanced backdoor. The cautionary tale, detailed in a report published Thursday, said the software package, called Intelligent Tax and produced by Beijing-based Aisino Corporation, worked as advertised. Behind the scenes, it…
Read More
17 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/17/2020

GitHub to replace "master" with alternative term to avoid slavery references GitHub is working on replacing the term "master" on its service with a neutral term like "main" to avoid any unnecessary references to slavery, its CEO said on Friday. The code-hosting portal is just the latest in a long line of tech companies and open source projects that have expressed support for removing terms that may be offensive to developers in the black community.…
Read More