Facebook Quizzes Expose Personal Information of 120 Million Users

You know those quizzes on Facebook... What your spirit animal is?, Who’s your very best friend?, etc.?  Well they not only told users which Disney princess they were, but also exposed the private data of about 120 million people who took the test. 

Nametests.com, the site behind the ubiquitous Facebook quizzes pulls your personal data and posts some of it in the site's code along with a token that could be used to gain access to all the data a person taking the quiz authorized when they downloaded the app.

With the quiz company Vonvon, you agree to let them access the following information when you take a quiz:

• Name, profile picture, age, sex, birthday, and other public info
• Entire friend list
• Everything you’ve ever posted on your timeline
• All of your photos and photos you’re tagged in
• Education history
• Hometown and current city
• Everything you’ve ever liked
• IP address
• Info about the device you’re using including browser and language

If you didn’t agree to disclose this information, the quiz wouldn’t work.

The app retains all your data, and its ability to be seen by others, even if the app is removed. To fully remove the information the test taker would have to delete the associated cookies. 

(SC Media, June 29, 2018 / The Wonder of Tech, December 3, 2015)

 

 

Canada Has Legalized Recreational Marijuana

According to the Mises Institute (June 29, 2018) Recreational marijuana use will soon be legal in Canada after the Senate passed a "historic" bill on Tuesday with a vote of 52-29.... The act to legalize the recreational use of weed was first introduced on April 13, 2017, and was later passed at the House of Commons in November. The Senate passage of the bill was the final hurdle in the process.

With the bill's passage, Canada becomes only the second national government to legalize marijuana. (The first was Uruguay in 2013.)

This changes the geography of drug prohibition in North American considerably. Given that the entire West Coast of the United States, and much of New England has now legalized recreational marijuana, this adds yet another large swath of North America (excluding Mexico) to what we might call the "legalization" zone."
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Although the Canadian government had initially stated its intent to implement by July 2018, provinces and territories, who will be responsible for drafting their own rules for marijuana sales, have advised that they would need eight to 12 weeks after the Senate approval to transition to the new framework. The government is expected to choose a date in early or mid September.

Once the bill is formally approved, adults will be able to carry and share up to 30 grams of legal marijuana in public. They also will be allowed to cultivate up to four plants in their households and prepare products such as edibles for personal use.

Disable Remote Assistance in Windows

The ‘Remote Assistance’ function in Windows allows someone to take control of your computer over the Internet. This function is intended to allow someone (like Tech Support or a Systems Administrator) to fix problems on your computer from a remote location, but it creates a security vulnerability if it is left on (it is on by default, so turn it off).

To turn off remote assistance in Windows, go to the control panel and (1) click on the “System and Security” category, (2) then click on “System”, and in the top left corner of your screen (3) click on “Remote Settings”, finally (4) make sure that the “Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer” is NOT checked.

If you legitimately need to let someone remotely access your computer you can always turn remote assistance back on, but since most home users never use remote assistance unless being targeted by a 'Tech Support Scam' it's a good idea to disable this function in Windows.

 

 

 

IRS Security Breach from 2015 - Three Years Later, It's Still Not Secure

According to NextGov (June 25, 2018) Personal information about more than 350,000 taxpayers [the IRS later reported that there were as many as 724,000 victims.] was compromised by the IRS in 2015. Three years later, it’s still not secure. The 2015 crisis was spawned by weaknesses in the identity verification process for the IRS’ “Get Transcript” feature.

Because the verification process wasn’t rigorous enough, scammers were able to use taxpayers’ personal information gathered from other sources, including data breaches, to get copies of their tax records and all the personal information they contained. The fraudsters could then use that data to file phony tax returns and steal refunds or for other nefarious purposes.
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Hackers used the “Get Transcript” program, which allows you to check your tax history online. The IRS began the online program in 2013, allowing taxpayers to request their tax history on-line, in addition to through the mail. But following a nine-month investigation by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, the IRS says its online service has put hundreds of thousands of more taxpayers at risk of identify theft.

 

Hacked (IBM Film)

Hacked is an advertisement for IBM, with a security awareness theme. It shows the danger of using an official e-mail address for personal activities.

9 Injured in Mass Stabbing Attack in Boise

The Boise Police Department reported nine people were in the hospital, some with life-threatening injuries, after they were stabbed at an apartment complex Saturday night. Boise Police Chief Bill Bones said some of the victims are members of Boise's refugee community. The victims range in age. Some were found inside the Wylie Lane Apartments complex, others were found in the nearby parking lot.

Timmy Kinner, 30, of Los Angeles, was arrested on nine felony charges of aggravated battery and six felony charges of injury to a child. He was booked into the Ada County Jail. Investigators do not know the suspect's motive and crews were searching a nearby canal for evidence late Saturday night. Ada County Dispatchers received a call about a man with a knife around 8:45 p.m. [June 30, 2018]. Officers are still investigating why the suspect targeted these individuals.

Four of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries, according to police, and all nine were taken to a hospital. The attack is the largest stabbing in Boise history.  (KOMO4 News, July 1, 2018)

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When we consider personal security, we must be aware that violent criminal attacks can occur at any place and at any time. A criminal doesn't need a gun to commit mass violence - as we see here this unprovoked attack was committed with a knife - yet; "according to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data, having a gun and being able to use it in a defensive situation is the most effective means of avoiding injury (more so even than offering no resistance) and thwarting completion of a robbery or assault. In general, resisting violent crime is far more likely to help than to hurt, and this is especially true if your attacker attempts to take you hostage, such as sometimes happens in a carjacking situation. Most often with gun defenses, criminals can be frightened away or deterred without a shot being fired. Estimates of these types of defensive uses of firearms are wide ranging, from a low of 65,000 to 82,000 annual defensive gun uses (DGUs) reported to the U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), to a high end of some 2.1-2.5 million annual DGUs, but they seem to occur at least as often (if not far more often) each year as misuses of firearms by violent criminals."

Seattle Cops Flee the Force in 'Mass Exodus' Because of Politics

We all know that Seattle is one of the most liberal cities in the entire United States, surpassed by none except perhaps Los Angeles. They continually harass and abuse officers who put their lives on the line each day, but after what 41 fed-up cops just did, it seems that Seattle is about to be a whole lot less safe than it was before.

Unfortunately for the city, it seems that Seattle cops have absolutely had it up to here with liberal policies. According to Fox News, a wave of police officers has gotten fed up with Seattle politics and policies, and are now leaving the city en masse.

The Seattle Police Guild, the police labor union, which includes “all of the officers and sergeants on the Seattle Police Department,” cited Mike O’Brien and Kshama Sawant, two Seattle City Council members, as being especially critical of law enforcement.

The Seattle Police Guild said officers have not received a pay raise in three years due to contract negotiations. But the Guild said the officers didn’t leave because of the money issues - they just became fed up with Seattle politics. (Silence is Consent, June 29, 2018)
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Not onlycan politics and lack of support from department leadership result in police officers abandoning the department for better employment, but those officers that remain are going to have reduced morale, a lack of trust in their supervisors, and perhaps more severe mental health issues.

Generally speaking the cops on the street are the good guys. Are cops perfect? Of course not. And no one should expect them to be. But every single day, under the most difficult conditions, the police protect us from the bad guys. In other words, they do their job and they do it well. But, when politics adversely affect the officers in the department, it will almost certainly affect their capabilities and performance on the street, and this in turn affects the safety of the city.