Jan 24, 2023Ravie LakshmananEncryption / Privacy Meta Platforms on Monday announced that it has started to expand global testing of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Messenger chats by default. "Over the next few months, more people will continue to see some of their chats gradually being upgraded with an extra layer of protection provided by end-to-end encryption," Meta's … [Read more...] about Facebook Introduces New Features for End-to-End Encrypted Messenger App
Facebook to Pay $725 Million to settle Lawsuit Over Cambridge Analytica Data Leak
Dec 27, 2022Ravie LakshmananData Security / Privacy Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit filed in 2018. The legal dispute sprang up in response to revelations that the social media giant allowed third-party apps such as those, including Cambridge Analytica to … [Read more...] about Facebook to Pay $725 Million to settle Lawsuit Over Cambridge Analytica Data Leak
Facebook Launches ‘Privacy Center’ to Educate Users on Data Collection and Privacy Options
Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, on Friday announced the launch of a centralized Privacy Center that aims to "educate people" about its approach with regards to how it collects and processes personal information across its family of social media apps. "Privacy Center provides helpful information about five common privacy topics: sharing, security, data … [Read more...] about Facebook Launches ‘Privacy Center’ to Educate Users on Data Collection and Privacy Options
Facebook Bans 7 ‘Cyber Mercenary’ Companies for Spying on 50,000 Users
Meta Platforms on Thursday revealed it took steps to deplatform seven cyber mercenaries that it said carried out "indiscriminate" targeting of journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists located in over 100 countries, amid mounting scrutiny of surveillance technologies. To that end, the company said it alerted … [Read more...] about Facebook Bans 7 ‘Cyber Mercenary’ Companies for Spying on 50,000 Users
Facebook to Pay Hackers for Reporting Data Scraping Bugs and Scraped Datasets
Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, has announced that it's expanding its bug bounty program to start rewarding valid reports of scraping vulnerabilities across its platforms as well as include reports of scraping data sets that are available online. "We know that automated activity designed to scrape people's public and private data targets every website or … [Read more...] about Facebook to Pay Hackers for Reporting Data Scraping Bugs and Scraped Datasets
Meta Expands Facebook Protect Program to Activists, Journalists, Government Officials
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, on Thursday announced an expansion of its Facebook Protect security program to include human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and government officials who are more likely to be targeted by bad actors across its social media platforms. "These people are at the center of critical communities for public debate," said Nathaniel … [Read more...] about Meta Expands Facebook Protect Program to Activists, Journalists, Government Officials
Android Apps with 5.8 million Installs Caught Stealing Users’ Facebook Passwords
Google intervened to remove nine Android apps downloaded more than 5.8 million times from the company's Play Store after the apps were caught furtively stealing users' Facebook login credentials. "The applications were fully functional, which was supposed to weaken the vigilance of potential victims. With that, to access all of the apps' functions and, allegedly, to disable … [Read more...] about Android Apps with 5.8 million Installs Caught Stealing Users’ Facebook Passwords
Facebook Will Limit Your WhatsApp Features For Not Accepting Privacy Policy
WhatsApp on Friday disclosed that it won't deactivate accounts of users who don't accept its new privacy policy rolling out on May 15, adding it will continue to keep reminding them to accept the new terms. "No one will have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of WhatsApp on May 15 because of this update," the Facebook-owned messaging service said in a statement. The … [Read more...] about Facebook Will Limit Your WhatsApp Features For Not Accepting Privacy Policy
533 Million Facebook Users’ Phone Numbers and Personal Data Leaked Online
In what's likely to be a goldmine for bad actors, personal information associated with approximately 533 million Facebook users worldwide has been leaked on a popular cybercrime forum for free—which was harvested by hackers in 2019 using a Facebook vulnerability. The leaked data includes full names, Facebook IDs, mobile numbers, locations, email addresses, gender, occupation, … [Read more...] about 533 Million Facebook Users’ Phone Numbers and Personal Data Leaked Online
Chinese Hackers Used Facebook to Hack Uighur Muslims Living Abroad
Facebook may be banned in China, but the company on Wednesday said it has disrupted a network of bad actors using its platform to target the Uyghur community and lure them into downloading malicious software that would allow surveillance of their devices. "They targeted activists, journalists and dissidents predominantly among Uyghurs from Xinjiang in China primarily living … [Read more...] about Chinese Hackers Used Facebook to Hack Uighur Muslims Living Abroad