facebook – Page 2 – SSL and internet security news

Facebook Announces Messenger Security Features that Don’t Compromise Privacy

May 29, 2020 infossl

encryption, facebook, machinelearning, metadata, Security technology, securityengineering

Note that this is “announced,” so we don’t know when it’s actually going to be implemented. Facebook today announced new features for Messenger that will alert you when messages appear to come from financial scammers or potential child abusers, displaying warnings in the Messenger app that provide tips and suggest you block the offenders. The … Read More “Facebook Announces Messenger Security Features that Don’t Compromise Privacy” »

How Did Facebook Beat a Federal Wiretap Demand?

April 29, 2020 infossl

aclu, courts, crime, eavesdropping, encryption, facebook, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

This is interesting: Facebook Inc. in 2018 beat back federal prosecutors seeking to wiretap its encrypted Messenger app. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking to find out how. The entire proceeding was confidential, with only the result leaking to the press. Lawyers for the ACLU and the Washington Post on Tuesday asked a … Read More “How Did Facebook Beat a Federal Wiretap Demand?” »

Reforming CDA 230

December 10, 2019 infossl

businessofsecurity, censorship, eff, facebook, nationalsecuritypolicy, Security technology

There’s a serous debate on reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. I am in the process of figuring out what I believe, and this is more a place to put resources and listen to people’s comments. The EFF has written extensively on why it is so important and dismantling it will ben catastrophic … Read More “Reforming CDA 230” »

WhatsApp Sues NSO Group

October 30, 2019 infossl

activism, cyberattack, cyberweapons, facebook, hacking, Security technology, spyware, whatsapp

WhatsApp is suing the Israeli cyberweapons arms manufacturer NSO Group in California court: WhatsApp’s lawsuit, filed in a California court on Tuesday, has demanded a permanent injunction blocking NSO from attempting to access WhatsApp computer systems and those of its parent company, Facebook. It has also asked the court to rule that NSO violated US … Read More “WhatsApp Sues NSO Group” »

Phone Pfarming for Ad Fraud

August 6, 2019 infossl

facebook, fraud, google, Security technology, smartphones

Interesting article on people using banks of smartphones to commit ad fraud for profit. No one knows how prevalent ad fraud is on the Internet. I believe it is surprisingly high — here’s an article that places losses between $6.5 and $19 billion annually — and something companies like Google and Facebook would prefer remain … Read More “Phone Pfarming for Ad Fraud” »

More on Backdooring (or Not) WhatsApp

August 2, 2019 infossl

artificialintelligence, backdoors, facebook, privacy, Security technology, whatsapp

Yesterday, I blogged about a Facebook plan to backdoor WhatsApp by adding client-side scanning and filtering. It seems that I was wrong, and there are no such plans. The only source for that post was a Forbes essay by Kalev Leetaru, which links to a previous Forbes essay by him, which links to a video … Read More “More on Backdooring (or Not) WhatsApp” »

Facebook Plans on Backdooring WhatsApp

August 1, 2019 infossl

backdoors, encryption, facebook, Security technology, whatsapp

This article points out that Facebook’s planned content moderation scheme will result in an encryption backdoor into WhatsApp: In Facebook’s vision, the actual end-to-end encryption client itself such as WhatsApp will include embedded content moderation and blacklist filtering algorithms. These algorithms will be continually updated from a central cloud service, but will run locally on … Read More “Facebook Plans on Backdooring WhatsApp” »

Judging Facebook’s Privacy Shift

March 13, 2019 infossl

datacollection, essays, facebook, privacy, Security technology, trust, whatsapp

Facebook is making a new and stronger commitment to privacy. Last month, the company hired three of its most vociferous critics and installed them in senior technical positions. And on Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg wrote that the company will pivot to focus on private conversations over the public sharing that has long defined the platform, even … Read More “Judging Facebook’s Privacy Shift” »

Facebook’s New Privacy Hires

February 4, 2019 infossl

employment, facebook, privacy, Security technology

The Wired headline sums it up nicely — “Facebook Hires Up Three of Its Biggest Privacy Critics“: In December, Facebook hired Nathan White away from the digital rights nonprofit Access Now, and put him in the role of privacy policy manager. On Tuesday of this week, lawyers Nate Cardozo, of the privacy watchdog Electronic Frontier … Read More “Facebook’s New Privacy Hires” »