While online applications and services have made people’s lives easier in myriad ways, the convenience can come with downsides, particularly when it comes to user privacy and data collection. Telehealth, in particular, has helped make healthcare more accessible to so many people, especially during lockdown periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, people could attend therapy and refill prescriptions from the safety of their own homes. However, users using such platforms have much to lose if their data is compromised. 

Notorious Dark Web hacker forum BreachForums was swiftly taken offline following the arrest of the owner and administrator. 21-year-old Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, known on the site as “Pompompurin,” was arrested by FBI cybersecurity investigators at his New York home on March 15th. A few days later, the new admin known as “Baphomet” announced they would shut down the site.

A study from Mozilla has found severe discrepancies between the Google Play Store’s data privacy labels and a large percentage of apps’ actual policies. The study, entitled See No Evil: Loopholes in Google’s Data Safety Labels Keep Companies in the Clear and Consumers in the Dark, was conducted by Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included — a guide dedicated to informing consumers about the security and privacy of online products while encouraging the tech industry to do more to safeguard customers. 

IoT products make people’s lives easier in many ways, but dubious digital privacy practices have long marred their reputations. Countless consumers and experts have complained about the lack of clarity surrounding many products, how much data they collect from users, and how exactly they use it. Now, after many years of these complaints, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), a group of companies that maintain the Matter, the open-source interoperability standard that allows IoT devices to communicate with each other, will finally do something about it.

In recent disgruntled employee news, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that 37-year-old Nickolas Sharp pled guilty to multiple federal charges concerning a scheme he perpetrated to steal confidential files from his employer. Although this employer is referred to as “Company-1” in the official DOJ press release, The Verge reports that the company in question is network technology provider Ubiquiti.

One of the most popular password managers will be getting rid of passwords in the near future. 1Password announced that from summer 2023, users will have the option to unlock their password accounts with a passkey instead of a password. The company asserts that passkeys are the modern alternative to passwords and are faster and more secure to boot.

Over the past few years, online businesses, public infrastructure, and ordinary people alike have faced a spate of ransomware attacks that show no signs of letting up. Ransomware involves malicious hackers infecting an organization’s computer systems with a type of malware that steals sensitive data and locks out employees until they agree to pay a ransom. The threat actors claim they will publish the data online if they don’t pay up.