News

Individuals who are able to prove they suffered financial losses due to Target’s data breach in late 2013 will be eligible for up to $10,000 in damages under a class-action lawsuit settlement. Target is setting aside $10 million in an interest-bearing escrow account to fund claims made under the settlement. For more details on this settlement, click here:: Target to Settle Data Breach Lawsuit for $10 Million

Critics have pointed out the privacy flaws in Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), the new cybersecurity bill being shopped around in Congress, however the bill has advanced further into turning into a law. The Senate Intelligence Committee passed CISA at a 14 to 1 vote. CISA is designed to allow private companies and the government to share data regarding cybersecurity threats, however critics protest that it gives companies license to closely monitor internet users and share that data with government agencies. For more on CISA, please click here:: CISA Cybersecurity Bill Advances Despite Privacy Concerns

Dark Purple, a Russian researcher, developed a USB pendrive that can fry a computer or laptop from the inside. An inverted DC/DC converter runs and charges capacitors to -110V which then runs until everything is broken down. Overriding temperature controls and creating access heat damages the computer nearly beyond repair. For more on this troubling USB, click here:: This ‘Killer USB’ can make your Computer explode

Mattel recently release Hello Barbie, a doll that sends recordings of children’s voices across the internet for voice-recognition analysis. The doll picks up the child’s voice over the internet to the doll’s servers which then sends a command back with a reply stored in the toy. Privacy groups are concerned that the doll will collect a child’s private thoughts and have them analyzed, along with data collection being given to third parties. For more on Hello Barbie’s controversy, click here:: Mattel urged to scrap Wi-Fi mic Barbie after Register investigation

Researchers at Trend Micro have analyzed a form of malware dubbed VICEPASS that infects users’ routers via a phony Adobe Flash update. Once downloaded, the malware uses a predefined list of usernames and passwords to connect to the home router, affect every device in the target network, collect intelligence, then delete itself without a trace. For a full article about this dangerous malware, click here:: Self-deleting malware targets home routers to gather information