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“Ransomware demands drop” – More and more cyber-attackers are demanding less; in a bid to victimise more

Cyber-hacks are becoming more and more sophisticated, and nowadays some cyber-hackers are demanding less from their victims to pay up.

Sometimes, people may feel there is no other way than paying up the ransom to gain access to your computer again. But as with most “products” or “services” there is usually a marginal propensity to pay – which is basically the willingness of someone to pay a price.

Would you pay £100 for a bottle of 2 litre milk? Probably not. Would you pay a pound for it? I’m sure you would.

Well, the hackers are employing the same tactic to make sure it’s cheap enough for people to pay as opposed to calling the police…
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“Every little (cybersecurity) helps” – 20,000 Tesco customer bank accounts accessed in cyber attack

Tesco are the latest corporation to fall victim to a major cyber-attack.

It’s thought that 20,000 customer bank accounts were affected following an attack, leading to a full investigation with the National Crime Agency which is now well underway.

This is also thought to be the first time a bank has acted very publicly about such an attack. There has long been concerns about what organisations are keeping from us. in terms of cybersecurity issues…
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“Facebook and WhatsApp data sharing” – Is the data sharing an infringement on EU data protection principles?

It has been quite a busy time for the European’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29). After writing an open letter to Yahoo addressing the data breach which caused over 500 million users personal details to be stolen, the WP29 has also written to WhatsApp.

The concern surrounds the change in WhatsApp’s privacy settings, where it allowed Facebook to access their users’ data.

Is this an infringement?
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The University of Greenwich Data Breach compensation claims

Six months ago in June of this year, the University of Greenwich found themselves in hot water when a student notified the BBC that a simple google search had revealed private and personal information accidentally uploaded by the University about numerous students.

Hundreds of post-graduate research students at the University were subject to this massive data leak, with a great deal of the information not only sensitive and private in nature, but also financially sensitive, leaving people open to the possibility of fraud.
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The 56 Dean Street Clinic Breach – A look back on what happened

Last year in September, a sexual health clinic based in Soho, London, revealed almost 800 of their patients’ private information to each other by mistake – i.e. the other patients – when an email was sent to the list of people where the names and addresses for the other recipients were not hidden.

This has resulted in one of the biggest data breaches in the history of the NHS, and has led to us fighting for the rights of numerous people who have been affected by the breach.
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WP29’s open letter to Yahoo to explain mass data breach, involving more than 500 million user accounts

Following the massive Yahoo data leak – which involved over 500 million user accounts being accessed – the EU’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29) has put tremendous pressure on the multinational technology company to explain the breach.

This can only be a good thing – these mass data breach organisations need to be held to account, and need to be robustly questioned on how they have managed to allow such breaches to happen!
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“Open data requires the same level of protection as private data” – Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns that not protecting open data could “create chaos”

There are fresh concerns that open data could “create chaos” as the father of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, warns that open data should have a public infrastructure, and requires the same level of protection as private data.

As the world continues to rely more and more on data that can be transferred in the blink of an eye, has he got a point?
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“The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Pact” – The new Atlantic agreement is being challenged by data privacy groups

A recent privacy agreement struck between the U.S. and EU has not gone down very well with privacy groups who are challenging the decision in the Luxembourg-based General Court.

The EU-U.S. pact – dubbed the ‘Privacy Shield’ – was designed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and European Commission to provide companies on both sides of the Atlantic the right to transfer personal data from the EU to the U.S.
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“More control over our data” – The Privacy Commission calls for greater control over personal data in Australia

Australia are reportedly lagging behind many countries in terms of their data protection; as evidenced in the recent Red Cross Blood Service data breach, which was dubbed the “largest data breach in Australian history“.

Now, the Privacy Commission, along with many other organisations, are calling for an independent agency to act as a watchdog of the use of their citizens’ data.

Of course, we welcome such moves.
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“Has Facebook really got our best interests at heart?” – Facebook may have ulterior motives for rejecting Admiral’s cheaper car insurance plan

Following on from Admiral’s seemingly crazy suggestion of providing cheaper car insurance to new or young drivers if they grant access to their Facebook profiles, I admired Facebook’s response and its mission to uphold our privacy.

However, the Guardian reports that Facebook might have declined Admiral’s suggestion as the social media giants want to be the only ones with exclusive access to our data.

Could there be some truth to this?
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