"But when you dive into the code of Meitu, that's where things get interesting. Security researchers have jumped in to assess the photo editing app and found that it was indeed collecting information, including a phone's IMEI number (a handset's unique ID number), and sending it back to remote servers:"
"The Register reports that security firm Zscaler was first to spot the app, which presents itself as a normal video playing app, albeit for playing videos of an adult nature. Apparently once it has silently snapped photos of its victim it will display a message on screen demanding that they pay $500 . Otherwise, well... do you want people knowing you've used the app?"
"It's an old cliché of security researchers: fingerprints might appear more secure than passwords. But if your password gets stolen, you can change it to a new one; what happens when your fingerprint gets copied?"
"Chaos Computer Club, Europe's largest association of hackers, claims it can reproduce your fingerprints from a couple of photos that show your fingers. At the 31st annual Chaos Computer Club convention in Hamburg, Germany, Jan Krissler, also known by his alias "Starbug," explained how he copied the thumbprint of German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen"
"But that was not before the falsely accused man had his name and image widely shared. The alert sent by Citizen contained a photo and was seen by more than 861,000 people. It read: "Citizen is offering a $30,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of the arson suspect."
Citizen told the Guardian in a statement it offered the cash reward "without formal coordination with the appropriate agencies".
"Once we realized this error, we immediately retracted the photo and reward offer," it said. "We are actively working to improve our internal processes to ensure this does not occur again. This was a mistake we are taking very seriously.""
"iTunes phishing scams
Compromised phones or computers
Celebrity passwords/emails as part of a larger password dump (such as the Adobe hack)
Mobile-phone or computer-repair individuals abusing access
Password reset questions guess
Brute force"
"While Keenan emphasised the capability was not a centralised biometric database, and was simply an improved way to share information already collected by different Australian jurisdictions, Gregory questioned how these images of Australians will be employed by law enforcement. "It's subtle changes in the way that things are used that need to be debated the most," he said. "In this case, we're talking about using our passport photos for a purpose for which we never gave permission.""
"Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology highlighted the April 2017 episode in Garbage In, Garbage Out, a report on what it says are flawed practices in law enforcement's use of facial recognition.
The report says security footage of the thief was too pixelated and produced no matches while high-quality images of Harrelson returned several possible matches and led to one arrest."
"he had successfully captured fingerprints from photos taken at 3m distance at sufficient resolution to recreate them and use them to fool biometric identification systems (such as fingerprint sensors that unlock mobile phones)."
"It's an interesting wrinkle on the problem of information-leakage, and implies that future privacy-filters will have to scrub photos of reflective surfaces (especially eyes) of identifying faces before they're posted. "
"A giant database of intercepted Snapchat photos and videos has been released by hackers who have been collecting the files for years. Shocked users of the notorious chat forum 4chan are referring to the hack as "The Snappening," noting that this is far bigger than the iCloud hacks that recently targeted celebrities."
"The new tools appear to allow Twitter users to share images with text overlays, stickers, and other modifications. Twitter's existing tools merely allow people to crop images or run them through filters that greatly change their appearance, whether it's by upping the contrast or making them look like old Polaroid shots."
"Teslas are incredibly data-hungry, storing massive troves of data about their owners, including videos of crashes, location history, contacts and calendar entries from paired phones, photos of the driver and passengers taken with interior cameras, and other data; this data is stored without encryption, and it is not always clear when Teslas are gathering data, and the only way to comprehensively switch off data-gathering also de-activates over-the-air software updates for the cars, "
"Surrendering our privacy to the government would be foolish enough. But what is more insidious is the Faustian bargain made with the marketing industry, which turns every location ping into currency as it is bought and sold in the marketplace of surveillance advertising.
Now, one year later, we're in a very similar position. But it's far worse.
A source has provided another data set, this time following the smartphones of thousands of Trump supporters, rioters and passers-by in Washington, D.C., on January 6, as Donald Trump's political rally turned into a violent insurrection. At least five people died because of the riot at the Capitol. Key to bringing the mob to justice has been the event's digital detritus: location data, geotagged photos, facial recognition, surveillance cameras and crowdsourcing."