security News of 09/23/19

Here Are The Security Sessions You Can’T Miss At Disrupt SF

Security is in everything, it’s everywhere, and it’s everyone’s responsibility. What part are you playing? At TechCrunch Disrupt SF on October 2-4, we’re proud to have some of the smartest security executives and ...

Facebook Has Suspended ‘Tens Of Thousands’ Of Apps Suspected Of Hoarding Data

Facebook has suspended “tens of thousands” of apps connected to its platform which it suspects may be collecting large amounts of user profile data. That’s a sharp rise from the 400 apps flagged a year ago by the ...

Thinkful Confirms Data Breach Days After Chegg’S $80m Acquisition

Thinkful, an online education site for developers, has confirmed a data breach, just days after it confirmed it would be acquired . “We recently discovered that an unauthorized party may have gained access to certain Thinkful company ...

Silicon Valley Is Terrified Of California’S Privacy Law. Good.

Silicon Valley is terrified. In a little over three months, California will see the widest-sweeping state-wide changes to its privacy law in years. California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) kicks in on January 1 and rolls out sweeping new ...

Documents Reveal How Russia Taps Phone Companies For Surveillance

In cities across Russia, large boxes in locked rooms are directly connected to the networks of some of the country’s largest phone and internet companies. These unsuspecting boxes, some the size of a washing machine, house equipment that gives ...

Cybersecurity Company Acronis Hits Unicorn Status After Raising $147 Million Led By Goldman Sachs

Cyber security solutions provider Acronis announced today that it has raised $147 million in funding led by Goldman Sachs, bringing it to unicorn status. The company did not disclose its valuation, but founder and CEO Serguei Beloussov told ...

What Startup CSOs Can Learn From Three Enterprise Security Experts

How do you keep your startup secure? That’s the big question we explored at TC Sessions: Enterprise earlier this month. No matter the size, every startup is an enterprise. Every startup will grow in size as it builds out. But as a company ...

FOSSA Scores $8.5 Million Series A To Help Enterprise Manage Open Source Licenses

As more enterprise developers make use of open source, it becomes increasingly important for companies to make sure that they are complying with licensing requirements. They also need to ensure the open sources bits are being updated over time for ...

Shape Security Hits $1b Valuation With $51m Series F

Anti-fraud startup Shape Security has tipped over the $1 billion valuation mark following its latest Series F round of $51 million. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company announced the fundraise Thursday, bringing the total amount of outside ...

Web Feature Developers Told To Dial Up Attention On Privacy And Security

Web feature developers are being warned to step up attention to privacy and security as they design contributions. Writing in a blog post about “evolving threats” to Internet users’ privacy and security, the W3C standards ...

The Wikimedia Foundation Taps $2.5m From Craig Newmark To Beef Up Its Security

Last week, users around the world found Wikipedia down after the online, crowdsourced encyclopedia became the target of a massive, sustained DDoS attack — one that it is still actively fighting several days later (even though the site is now ...

Snyk Grabs $70m More To Detect Security Vulnerabilities In Open Source Code And Containers

A growing number of IT breaches has led to security becoming a critical and central aspect of how computing systems are run and maintained. Today, a startup that focuses on one specific area — developing security tools aimed at developers and ...

The U.S. Reportedly Extracted A High-Level Spy From Russia In 2017 Amid Concerns Of Mishandled Intelligence

The United States reportedly extracted a high-level CIA informant from Russia in 2017, CNN first reported Monday. Citing “multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge,” CNN reports the “previously undisclosed ...

SimShine Raises $8 Million For Home Security Cameras That Use Edge Computing

SimShine , a computer vision startup based in Shenzhen, has raised $8 million in pre-Series A funding for SimCam, its line of home security cameras that use edge computing to keep data on-device. The funding was led by Cheetah Mobile, with ...

Telegram Fixes Bug That Failed To Delete ‘Unsent’ Photos And Videos

Mobile messaging app Telegram has fixed a bug allowing users to recover photos and videos ‘unsent’ by other people. Telegram, which has more than 100 million users, has an ephemeral messaging feature that allows users to ...

Apple Doesn’T Want Google ‘Stoking Fear’ About Serious IOS Security Exploits

Apple has issued a tart response to an extensive report by Google of a serious security flaw in iOS . The flaw, which let an attacker gain root access to a device visiting a malicious website, was reported last week. Apple wants to “make ...

Monster.Com Says A Third-Party Exposed User Data, But Didn’T Tell Anyone

An exposed web server storing résumés of job seekers — including from recruitment site Monster — has been found online. The server contained résumés and CVs for job applicants spanning between 2014 and 2017, many of which included private ...

Facebook’S Lead EU Regulator Is Asking Questions About Its Latest Security Fail

Facebook’s lead data protection regulator in Europe has confirmed it’s put questions to the company about a major security breach that we reported on yesterday . “The DPC became aware of this issue through the recent media coverage ...

Google Launches An Open-Source Version Of Its Differential Privacy Library

Google today released an open-source version of the differential privacy library it uses to power some of its own core products. Developers will be able to take this library and build their own tools that can work with aggregate data without ...

Federal Judge Rules That The “Terrorist Watchlist” Database Violates U.S. Citizens’ Rights

A Federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush has ruled that the “terrorist watchlist” database compiled by Federal agencies and used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security violates the ...