Zack Whittaker
TechCrunch
New York, NY, United States
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Recent articles by Zack:
Macy’s said hackers stole customer credit cards — again –
For the second time in as many years, Macy’s customers have been hit by a data breach involving countless numbers of credit cards. In a filing with the California attorney general, the retail giant said hackers siphoned off customers’ names, addresses, and phone numbers, but also credit card numbers, card verification codes, and expiration dates […] → Read More
Cybersecurity startup CyCognito raises $23M in Series A funding –
CyCognito, a cybersecurity platform that aims to give visibility into a company’s security weak spots, has raised $23 million in its Series A round of funding. Lightspeed Partners led the fundraise, putting in $18 million, which included a personal investment from Lightspeed venture partner and former Microsoft chairperson John Thompson, and additional participation from Sorenson […] → Read More
Cybersecurity firm Sonatype acquired by Vista Equity –
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners has acquired Sonatype, a cybersecurity-focused open source automation company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sonatype said the acquisition will help to build out its Nexus platform, an enterprise ready repository manager and library with access to analysis on 65 million open source components. The platform helps […] → Read More
TriNet sent remote workers an email that some thought was a phishing attack –
Preventing phishing attacks is a cat and mouse game, but there's lots companies can do to proactively protect themselves and their users. → Read More
‘Magic: The Gathering’ game maker exposed 452,000 players’ account data
A exposed database file contained account data on 452,634 players. → Read More
LA warns of ‘juice-jacking’ malware, but admits it has no cases –
Los Angeles’ district attorney is warning travelers to avoid public USB charging points because “they may contain dangerous malware.” Reading the advisory, you might be forgiven for thinking that every USB outlet you see is just waiting for you to plug in your phone so it can steal your data. This so-called “juice-jacking” attack involves […] → Read More
Despite bans, Giphy still hosts self-harm, hate speech, and child sex abuse content
Researchers found pedophiles were using Giphy to spreading illegal materials online. → Read More
Facebook says government demands for user data are at a record high
Facebook’s latest transparency report is out. The social media giant said the number of government demands for user data increased by 16% to 128,617 demands during the first half of this year compared to the second half of last year. That’s the highest number of government demands it has received in any reporting period since […] → Read More
A US federal court finds suspicionless searches of phones at the border is illegal –
A federal court in Boston has ruled that the government is not allowed to search travelers’ phones or other electronic devices at the U.S. border without first having reasonable suspicion of a crime. That’s a significant victory for civil liberties advocates, who say the government’s own rules allowing its border agents to search electronic devices […] → Read More
A new ‘Zombieload’ flaw hits Intel’s newest Cascade Lake chips
Time to reset your “days since last major chip vulnerability” counter back to zero. Security researchers have found another flaw in Intel processors — this time it’s a new variant of the Zombieload attack they discovered earlier this year, but targeting Intel’s latest family of chips, Cascade Lake. Intel calls the vulnerability Transactional Asynchronous Abort, […] → Read More
Facebook says a bug caused its iPhone app’s inadvertent camera access –
Facebook has faced a barrage of concern over an apparent bug that resulted in the social media giant’s iPhone app exposing the camera as users scroll through their feed. A tweet over the weekend blew up after Joshua Maddux tweeted a screen recording of the Facebook app on his iPhone. He noticed that the camera […] → Read More
New 5G flaws can track phone locations and spoof emergency alerts
5G is faster and more secure than 4G. But new research shows it also has vulnerabilities that could put phone users at risk. Security researchers at Purdue University and the University of Iowa have found close to a dozen vulnerabilities, which they say can be used to track a victim’s real-time location, spoof emergency alerts […] → Read More
OpenText buys data backup firm Carbonite for $1.42B –
Carbonite has agreed to a $1.42 billion purchase by OpenText, an enterprise information management giant, ending weeks of speculation about the anticipated buyout. The deal marks a 78% premium on Carbonite’s share price on September 5, when it was first rumored the company was preparing to buy the backup and data recovery company. Carbonite said […] → Read More
A browser bug was enough to hack an Amazon Echo –
Two security researchers have been crowned the top hackers in this year’s Pwn2Own hacking contest after developing and testing several high profile exploits, including an attack against an Amazon Echo. Amat Cama and Richard Zhu, who make up Team Fluoroacetate, scored $60,000 in bug bounties for their integer overflow exploit against the latest Amazon Echo […] → Read More
Popular Android phones can be tricked into snooping on their owners
The vulnerabilities affect at least ten popular Android devices, including Google's Pixel 2 and Samsung's Galaxy S8+. → Read More
DNA testing startup Veritas Genetics confirms data breach –
Veritas Genetics, a DNA testing startup, has said a data breach resulted in the theft of some customer information. The Danvers, Mass.-based company said its customer-facing portal had “recently” been breached but did not say when. Although the portal did not contain test results or medical information, the company declined to say what information had […] → Read More
Capital One replaces security chief after data breach –
Capital One has replaced its cybersecurity chief four months after the company disclosed a massive data breach involving the theft of sensitive data on more than 100 million customers. A spokesperson for Capital One confirmed the news in an email to TechCrunch. “Michael Johnson is moving from his role as chief information security officer to […] → Read More
Amazon Ring doorbells exposed home Wi-Fi passwords to hackers –
Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Ring doorbells that exposed the password for the Wi-Fi network it was connected to. Bitdefender said the Amazon-owned doorbell was sending its owner’s Wi-Fi password in cleartext over the internet, allowing for nearby hackers to intercept the Wi-Fi password and gain access to the network to launch larger […] → Read More
California accuses Facebook of ignoring subpoenas in state’s Cambridge Analytica investigation
California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra has accused Facebook of “continuing to drag its feet” by failing to provide documents to the state’s investigation into Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. The attorney general said in a court filing Wednesday that Facebook had provided a “patently deficient” response to two sets of subpoenas for the previously undisclosed investigation […] → Read More
Google enlists mobile security firms to rid Google Play of bad Android apps
Google has partnered with mobile security firms ESET, Lookout and Zimperium to combat the scourge of malicious Android apps that have snuck into the Google Play app store. The announcement came Wednesday, with each company confirming their part in the newly created App Defense Alliance. Google said it’s working with the companies to “stop bad […] → Read More