Information Security

Toymaker Hack Highlights Dark Side of Tech Industry’s Data Obsession

In-brief: The hack of VTech, a maker of technology products for children, has exposed sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of children, the company acknowledged this week. Also exposed: the toy industry’s growing and unregulated appetite for information on the children who play with their toys.

Viewing Data From Smart TVs Used to Push Ads to All Your Screens

In-brief: Electronics maker Vizio is the latest smart television brand caught harvesting the viewing habits of its customers and selling the data to advertisers, highlighting legal loopholes that connected devices are exploiting.

What will it take to secure the Internet of Things?

  In-brief: progress on securing the Internet of Things requires makers and security experts to compromise and learn to work together, says Cisco’s Marc Blackmer.*

Firm: Two iOS Exploits Could Qualify for $1 Million Bounty

In-brief: One team qualified for the $1 million bounty for a working, remote exploit or jailbreak for devices running Apples iOS 9 operating system, according to the security firm Zerodium. A second may also qualify for at least a partial bounty. However, Apple may only be informed of the holes at a later date. 

Security Holes in Power Analyzers More Bad News for Industry

In-brief: Software security holes in widely used industrial equipment known as “power quality analysers” (sp) could enable remote attackers to disrupt or corrupt operations at firms across industries, according to a report released by the firm Applied Risk.