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Lessons learned: the university that came under fire for leaking sensitive and confidential data on its students

The University of East Anglia (UEA) was met with anger and disappointment from students and the general public when it was revealed that a member of staff made a horrific error when they sent out a spreadsheet listing named students’ extenuating circumstances. The spreadsheet identified some 40 students by name and student ID numbers, and had their private and confidential information right next to their names.

The spreadsheet showed which students were entitled to things like longer deadlines as their extenuating circumstances included personal matters such as family illnesses and bereavements; mental health problems, including depression; and even sexual assaults.
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Deloitte belittles data breach for affecting “very few” clients

Corporate finance firm Deloitte disclosed a data breach that compromised its internal emailing system, but apparently the breach only affected a “very few” clients.

Those “very few” clients may be not-so impressed with, what appears to be, the company’s attempts to shrug the data breach off as less-than serious just because a small minority of clients were affected.

The company ironically recently rolled out its Cyber Risk Services and even received applause for its growth in cyber intelligence. This kind of breach for a firm of this nature – much like the Equifax breach – is incredibly worrying.
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Governments demanding answers from Uber over recent data breach

Car-sharing company, Uber Technologies, are facing further questioning from governments as they demand answers over alleged violations of multiple laws and regulations stemming from the 2016 Uber data breach that saw a reported 57 million customers and drivers have their personal information exposed.

The failure to disclose the breach is not being accepted by some regulators and lawmakers. A number of lawsuits have been launched against the popular company with allegations of consumer fraud and deceptive business practices.
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U.K. consumer group sues Google for reportedly violating iPhone users’ privacy

Google is being sued for allegedly violating five million iPhone users’ data protection and privacy rights by collecting personal data without authorisation in 2011 and 2012.

The adeptly named group, Google You Owe Us, believes that Google owes each of the five million consumers hundreds of pounds.

The organisation alleges that Alphabet Inc, the conglomerate parent company of Google, unlawfully collected iPhone users’ personal information by bypassing  smartphones default privacy settings.
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Equifax hit by colossal class action after data breach victims suffer financial fraud

According to multiple sources, a significant number of Equifax customers have been targeted by criminals after their personal information was stolen in the massive Equifax breach. Unwilling to take the hit for Equifax’s incompetence and negligence, many are bringing a major class action claim in the U.S. to recover their losses.

We’re representing a large number of people who have come forward to seek compensation for the Equifax breach here in the U.K. as well. We firmly believe that victims should be entitled to compensation in a case of this nature.
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U.S. Supreme Court may be leaning towards increasing digital data protection; and the U.K. should follow

The Supreme Court justices were engaged in a lively debate over whether the government and law enforcement should be able to access huge amounts of digital data without a warrant. A majority of those involved in the debate appeared to agree that it would be very concerning and goes against data protection rules.

The U.S. Fourth amendment was mentioned a few times, citing an individual’s right to be protected from, “unreasonable searches and seizures by the government”. However, the key element here is whether a search is reasonable or unreasonable.
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Kids electronic toys may be vulnerable to hacking

In recent years, we’ve seen advancements in technology hurtle forward at an incredible pace, and children’s electronic toys can sometimes be at the forefront of such developments. Many kids don’t want plain teddy bears and dolls any more; they want intelligent robots that can interact with them.

Consumer watchdog, Which?, joined up with a similar German organisation, Stiftung Warentat, and together they made the chilling discovery that a lot of popular kids electronic toys can apparently be hacked. Enlisting the help of third-party security experts, they tested seven different toys and four of them were vulnerable to hacking.
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Emergency services upgrade to tougher Samsung smartphones

The British government have struck a £210 million deal with South Korean technology giant, Samsung, to arm its emergency services with custom toughened smartphones.

Britain’s police, paramedics and fire crews will be supplied with Samsung smartphones to carry out their jobs more easily and efficiently. For £210 million, Samsung will provide the services with 250,000 smartphones on a three-year deal. These devices are said to be water-resistant and will be connected to 4G internet.
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Carmakers are struggling to quash hacking fears over self-driving cars

It’s no secret that many carmakers are racing ahead with self-driving car technology. Since Tesla brought the futuristic dream into reality, many other companies have quickly followed suit.

Here in the U.K., we have seen government approval for the creation and testing of these autonomous cars on our motorways in a bid to be at the forefront of this new and innovative technology. However, there is still one major hurdle – aside from robot cars crashing due to mistakes that cannot be rectified by anything other than human reaction – and that’s hacking fears.
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Vietnamese firm says they’ve cracked the new iPhone X’s Face Recognition

The new iPhone X has caused quite a stir. The reportedly brighter and more intelligent 5.8 inch display phone has featured heavily on TV adverts and magazines. For an eye-watering £999, the smartphone boasts better specs and a new key feature and selling point which is its facial recognition technology.

In a world where high profile data breaches are constantly threatening our privacy, Apple asserts that facial recognition technology cannot be deceived by 2D pictures, lookalikes and family. Needless to say, many have taken on the challenge to test just how accurate the technology is.

Apparently, it has already been cracked…
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