accounts

Google has published eight letters sent by the FBI demanding details about its users. Normally the company isn't allowed to even acknowledge the letters exist. The letters, known as National Security Letters, are formal demands from the FBI for ... details about users - in this case, Google users. The letters are controversial for two reasons; first, the demands can be made without a specific search order, something that raises constitutional issues. The second is that Google isn't normally allowed to tell the user about the demand. While it's been argued that doing so may tip off a ... (view more)

Two online accounts belonging to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg have been hacked. The incident, thought to have resulted from a LinkedIn data breach, is a high profile example of the dangers of poor password choices. The hackers, calling themselves ... OurMine Team, took control of Zuckerberg's Twitter account and posted a message informing him of the breach. They also claimed to have accessed his Pinterest account (which appears to be correct) and his Instagram account, which doesn't appear to be the case. Perhaps the one point of relief for Zuckerberg is that his Facebook account was not ... (view more)

A series of massive but dated breaches of high-profile sites is yet another reminder of the dangers of poor password security. While the sites in question are taking preventative measures, experts warn that hackers could use the stolen details to ... access other sites. In the past few weeks, hackers have offered up massive hauls of stolen login details from four major sites. They include details of 360 million accounts from MySpace and 65 million accounts from Tumblr, both lists appearing to date from 2013. Questions Posed For Sites And Users This follows 164 million account details from ... (view more)

The IRS has revealed that cyber attackers managed to trick its system in handing over more than 100,000 access codes for user accounts. Fortunately the breach was discovered before any sensitive data was compromised. The attack followed a data theft ... from a source outside of the IRS. The agency hasn't revealed what that was, but it appears to have involved a stolen list that included social security numbers. The attackers then set an automated program, or "bot" to work. Using stolen social security numbers (sourced from outside the IRS), the bot was used to generate E-file PINs ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sheila P. writes: " Dear Dennis, How do I disable my Windows 10 password so I can log into Windows 10 automatically? Ever since I upgraded to Windows 10 I have to enter in my email address and then a password. Before using Windows ... 10, I was using Windows 7 and the system booted straight into the desktop. I want to do the same thing with Windows 10. Can you help? " My response: It is possible to login to Windows 10 without a password, but doing so is a very poor security policy. If someone were to gain access to your device (whether it was by remote or locally), they could ... (view more)

A new report suggests that consumers are concerned about digital security threats -- like the rapidly spreading 'Backoff' malware -- but very few make any changes in an effort to better protect their most sensitive information. The report comes from ... Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab, which recently carried out an online survey of 11,000 people based in 23 countries. (Source: kaspersky.com ) Kaspersky's survey revealed that over three-quarters of all respondents use several devices to connect to the Internet. About one in four respondents said they do most of their Internet ... (view more)