target

Google staff have been accused of exploiting a loophole to target ads at children. The workaround reportedly broke company policy but not any existing laws. According to the Financial Times, the workaround was done in partnership with Meta, which ... wanted a way to advertise Instagram on YouTube and target 13 to 17 year olds. (Source: ft.com ) Normally that would be impossible under Google's rules for targeting, which don't let advertisers specify ages under 18 when selecting who does and doesn't see an ad. Known Unknowns However, the Financial Times claims Google staff not only knew Meta wanted ... (view more)

A marketing company claims it can listen in to private conversations in peoples' homes and gather data for targeted advertising. It's not clear if Cox Media Group (CMG) is "revealing" a poorly kept secret or exaggerating its capabilities to boost ... business. The claims were made by CMG's marketing team in a pitch to other marketers. The details were revealed through a leak to 404 Media. (Source: 404media.co ) According to the report of the leak, CMG promoted the technology as "Active Listening" and asked potential clients "What would it mean for your business if you could target potential ... (view more)

A campaign group claims Facebook lets users target ads at children based on interests such as smoking, drinking alcohol and gambling. Facebook says it has adequate measures to find and block such ads both before and after publication. The claims ... come from Reset Australia, which says it ran an experiment posing as the fictional "Ozzie News Network." It set up an advertising account on Facebook to see what options were available. In theory, Facebook has an outright ban on advertising adult topics such as alcohol to under 18s. Reset Australia says this failed in two ways: it was able to target ... (view more)

Facebook is rejecting claims that it let advertisers target users based on their current mood. It says research into the technology was carried out, but not used for advertising. "The Australian" newspaper report was based on leaked internal data ... that says Facebook could figure out mood swings based on combined data from user posts and pictures, the interactions they had with other users, and other activity on the site. Some of the moods which Facebook could reportedly discover included feeling anxious, defeated, nervous, overwhelmed, silly, stressed, stupid, useless or a failure. ... (view more)

A new report suggests that roughly one thousand American businesses have been victimized by 'Backoff', a form of malware that exposes customers' most sensitive information, including credit card data. Backoff made headlines late last year when ... retail giant Target was hit , exposing credit card data of roughly forty million customers. Now, the National Cybersecurity and Communications Center (NCCIC) and U.S. Secret Service are suggesting that many more businesses have been exposed by the same malware. If an infection occurs, the Backoff malware is capable of recording keystrokes ... (view more)

A new study reviewed security among leading online companies following the Heartbleed bug scare, in which a commonly used encryption technique for secure websites had the capability to expose highly confidential data. The study comes from Dashlane, ... a password management firm. The study evaluated 80 web sites and examined 6 factors with regard to the way passwords and login processes are handled. Using these details, Dashlane ranked each site between +100 and minus -100. Based on a range of security issues, the study suggests Apple and Microsoft have the securest policies for passwords, while ... (view more)

A major financial news outlet has accused Target of missing clear warning signals that it was being hacked and customer data put at risk. Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, next to Walmart. In December 2013, Target ... confirmed that hackers had stolen credit card data from 40 million customers. The attack happened approximately 19 days after American Thanksgiving (November 28, 2013). The theft not only affected customers who had used credit cards online, but in stores as well. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Target had already set up a security center in ... (view more)