Traffic Camera Company Wants to Sell Your Movements and Location
Flock is a company that makes license plate readers to monitor traffic. Law enforcement use its systems to track and record the movements of vehicles. While that may seem innocuous at first glance, a database of all vehicle movements can reveal extremely detailed information about you, from where you live, to who your friends are, to how you shop. According to an internal leak obtained by 404 Media, the company hopes to build a product to link individuals to licence plate numbers, then enrich that with data gleaned from other sources, including data breaches, allowing for the tracking of social networks, connections, and much more. Read more at 404 Media (paid article).
The Bottom Line: Flock's database does not exist yet, but the leak reveals what perhaps should not be surprising: companies that sell surveillance want to expand surveillance. Note that by definition, this surveillance is intruding on everyone's privacy, not just those accused of a crime.
Solar Panel Components Manufactured with Secret Wireless Communicators Built In
Solar and wind power generation requires the use of a component called a power inverter, and most of those are currently manufactured in China. Recently, energy officials in the UK discovered that a number of Chinese-manufactured power inverters contained wireless communications devices that were not described in the device's documentation. In common parlance, that might be called a bug. The exact nature of the devices has not been announced, but it's fair to speculate that you probably don't want there to be an extra set of remote controls secretly installed in your solar farm that the manufacturer never told you about. Reuters has the story.
The Bottom Line: When you're installing solar or wind power generation, there aren't a lot of alternative sources available to you for power inverters, but you can ask the technicians if they're aware of these reports and what steps they've taken to check the hardware.
Double Check Your Facebook Settings to Opt Out of Training AI on Your Posts (Even If You've Already Done It)
Facebook's parent company, Meta, has warned EU citizens that they have until May 27 to opt out of letting Meta train its AI on their posts, because once the data is fed into the AI, it cannot be removed. A European privacy watchdog organization called noyb is threatening a class action lawsuit against Meta, claiming that this violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Europe's comprehensive consumer privacy law. Read more at Ars Technica.
The Bottom Line: If you live in the EU, you may visit your settings area on Facebook to opt out of using your posts and messages in Meta's AI training. If you live in the US, we have no similar law to the GDPR, and you cannot opt out: all posts will be used to train the AI.
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Scammers Impersonating Senior Officials
The FBI sent out an announcement through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), warning that there has been an uptick in malicious actors impersonating US officials. According to the PSA on the IC3 website, scammers will send text messages or use AI-powered voice messages to convince the recipient that they are communicating with a high-ranking US official. The PSA contains information on how to spot these scams and protect yourself.
The Bottom Line: The PSA says many of the targets for these scams are other current and former government officials, so it's unlikely an ordinary citizen will be sent these types of messages. However, if you find yourself being contacted by someone claiming to be a US official, verify the person's identity and avoid giving out personal information.
Related: Protect Yourself from USPS Text Scams
Old Devices on Your Network Are a Gift to Hackers
Google is pulling support for its original Nest thermostats. Those "smart" thermostats now linger in hundreds of thousands of homes, and without security updates, they provide an access point for hackers. But what do hackers want with a smart thermostat? The answer is, they don't care about taking control of your furnace. Nest is a tiny computer with an internet connection, so hackers can use that computer as a proxy to hide their traffic while they do other more interesting things, or as an entry point to explore your home network looking for computers to ransomware or cryptocurrency to steal. The same would be true of any "smart" device that has aged out of receiving updates—an old smart refrigerator would be just as vulnerable. The Times covers the threat of old devices lingering on your network.
The Bottom Line: If you have an original Nest thermostat, consider upgrading to a supported model. When running smart devices on your network, remember to keep them up to date and to remove the ones that are no longer supported.
23andMe Data Has Been Sold to Regeneron
You might remember reading a while back that 23andMe had filed for bankruptcy and would be shutting down. Well, it now looks like biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will be buying 23andMe, including its customers' DNA data, which totals more than 15 million. According to a press release, Regeneron intends to "prioritize the privacy, security and ethical use" of the data. It also says that "23andMe will be operated as a wholly owned direct or indirect subsidiary" of the company.
The Bottom Line: If you have used 23andMe in the past and don't want Regeneron to have access to your DNA data, there's still time to delete your genetic data. California's attorney general has information on how to do that. Simply click the link and follow the instructions!
More Fake Chrome Extensions
The Hacker News is reporting that over 100 malicious Chrome extensions have been uploaded to the Chrome web store since February of last year. The extensions appear at first to operate as advertised, but unbeknownst to the user, they can also execute arbitrary code, redirect the user to malicious websites, steal credentials, and more.
The Bottom Line: Thankfully, Google has been diligent about removing these extensions. However, it's still good practice to exercise caution when it comes to browser add-ons. For this reason, we generally recommend avoiding extensions at all, outside of reputable ad blockers and password managers.
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