Will Google’s Privacy Sandbox take the bite out of tracking cookies?

Third-party cookies have been the lynchpin of online advertising for many years. Plans to phase cookies out forever continue to run at a steady pace, with Google in the driving seat. In 2019, it announced its vision for a “Privacy Sandbox”. The building blocks for this were essentially: Most aspects of the web need money to survive, and advertising...

3h

China’s RedEcho accused of targeting India’s power grids

RedEcho, an advanced persistent threat (APT) group from China, has attempted to infiltrate the systems behind India’s power grids, according to a threat analysis report from Recorded Future [PDF]. It appears that what triggered this attempt to gain a foothold in India’s critical power generation and transmission infrastructure, was a tense...

23h

Update now! Chrome fix patches in-the-wild zero-day

The Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research team has found and reported a vulnerability in the audio component of Google Chrome. Google has fixed this high-severity vulnerability (CVE-2021-21166) in its Chrome browser and is warning Chrome users that an exploit exists in the wild for the vulnerability. It is not the first time that Chrome’s audio component...

2d

21 million free VPN users’ data exposed

Detailed credentials for more than 21 million mobile VPN app users were swiped and advertised for sale online last week, offered by a cyber thief who allegedly stole user data collected by the VPN apps themselves. The data includes email addresses, randomly generated password strings, payment information, and device IDs belonging to users of three VPN...

2d

Patch now! Exchange servers attacked by Hafnium zero-days

Microsoft has detected multiple zero-day exploits being used to attack on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server in limited and targeted attacks. Microsoft attributes the attacks to a group they have dubbed Hafnium. “HAFNIUM primarily targets entities in the United States across a number of industry sectors, including infectious disease...

2d

Ryuk ransomware develops worm-like capability

The French government’s computer emergency readiness team, that’s part of the National Cybersecurity Agency of France, or ANSSI, has discovered a Ryuk variant that has worm-like capabilities during an incident response. For those unacquainted with Ryuk, it is a type of ransomware that is used in targeted attacks against enterprises and organizations....

3d

Defending online anonymity and speech with Eva Galperin: Lock and Code S02E03

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs. In addition, we talk to Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity for Electronic Frontier Foundation, about the importance of protecting online anonymity and speech. In January, the New York Times exposed a public harassment campaign likely waged...

5d

To pay, or not to pay? That is the VPN question

VPNs have been a subject of deliberation for a long time. Is it even important to use one? I think the pandemic has made it clear that, yes, using a VPN is useful, even necessary, most especially for those working remotely. But should you pay for it? Or would you rather settle for free? We’re going to take a look at...

1w

TikTok pays $92 million to end data theft lawsuit

TikTok, the now widely popular social media platform that allows users to create, share, and discover, short video clips has been enjoying explosive growth since it appeared in 2017. Since then, it hasn’t stopped growing—more so during the current pandemic.  While we can no longer categorize TikTok as a kids’ app, most concerns about the...

1w

Scammers, profiteers, and shady sites? It must be tax season

US tax season is upon us, a time of the year when a special kind of vermin comes crawling out of the woodwork: tax scammers! Not that their goals are any different from any other scammers. They want your hard-earned dollars in their pockets. Most of the tax-related attacks follow a few tried and true methods: A phishing email or scam call from...

2w