Carphone Warehouse cyber attack probed by data watchdog ICO August 10, 2015 Dixons Carphone has suffered its first major blow since last year’s £4bn merger after admitting to a huge data breach that has put millions of customers at risk and sparked an investigation by the UK’s data watchdog. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) said yesterday that it is “making enquiries” into the attack after being [...]
Facebook hack: Security flaw allows hackers to harvest personal data using only a phone number August 9, 2015 Facebook has come under fire for lax user data security, as a software engineer was able to extract personal information about thousands of users from the social media company. With thousands of users’ names, photos, location settings and phone numbers leaking out through a security loophole, Facebook has been called upon to tighten its privacy [...]
Facebook security chief Alex Stamos calls for internet companies to improve global cyber security at Def Con conference August 7, 2015 Facebook wants the web industry to do more for global cyber security, with the tech giant calling for internet giants to improve cyber security defences in emerging markets. Speaking at Las Vegas' Def Con cyber security conference, Facebook’s security chief Alex Stamos said consumer internet companies, including Facebook, could no longer rely on the cyber [...]
Why the London Stock Exchange’s digital infrastructure needs a backup – in Leeds August 3, 2015 We all have to prepare for the unexpected, with a Plan B to fall back on, and this isn’t just true for day-to-day life. It applies to the business world as well. With that in mind, it’s worrying that the UK’s trading systems can be so exposed. Most of the global connectivity into UK trading [...]
Leaked Yanis Varoufakis parallel currency plan to hack government databases sparks Greek backlash July 27, 2015 Greek politicians demanded answers from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday after a leaked recording revealed former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was planning to hack into government databases to help start a parallel currency. Yesterday, the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum released a recording of the conversation held between him and investors. “We [...]
Ashley Madison’s hacking affair: Is a London IPO now a fling too far after data breach? July 21, 2015 Ryainair boss Michael O’Leary is no shrinking violet, but even Ashley Madison, the controversial adultery website hacked on Monday, proved too much for the colourful Irishman. The Ryanair chief was offered €120,000 (£84,350) by Ashley Madison last year to paint its logo on one of its planes, but turned them down. The incident [...]
Adulterers beware: 40m users of cheating website Ashley Madison hacked July 20, 2015 Hackers are threatening to reveal the details of millions of users of the extramarital dating website Ashley Madison, which is soon to embark on a multimillion-pound float in London. A cache of date stolen from the site, which is owned by Canadian company Avid Life Media, includes databases and financial information. Avid said it was [...]
Turing Phone: The makers of this smartphone say it’s impossible to hack and doesn’t break July 14, 2015 It sounds like a challenge for hackers if ever there was one, but a mobile phone startup is promising its upcoming smartphone is not just impossible to break, but also impossible to hack into. Aptly named the Turing Phone, it promises to be a secure phone, built for a post-Snowden and data surveillance world. Using [...]
Cyber security firm NCC’s revenue rise is not reflected in stalling profits July 9, 2015 Cyber security firm NCC has revealed rising revenue in the year ending 31 March. Revenue was up 21 per cent from 2014, to 133.7m. Finance boss Atul Patel, told City A.M. that this showed “another record year of strong international growth.” The revenue growth did not though prompt a rise in profits at the Manchester-based [...]
Google I/O 2015: From Projects Vault and Brillo to smart jeans and cardboard virtual reality, the impossibly advanced technologies unveiled in San Francisco June 3, 2015 BRILLO Essentially an operating system for the Internet of Things (IoT), Google’s Project Brillo is an adapted version of Android designed to manage a number of connected devices from a central management console. It’s Google’s attempt at standardising the way we control devices, from household appliances like Nest (which, incidentally, Google owns) to wearables [...]