A Review of the Best News of the Week on Identity Management & Web Fraud
The Window to Rein In Facial Recognition Is Closing (Wired, Jul 10 2019)
As Congress continues to punt on facial recognition, advocacy groups have redoubled their efforts.
Dust Identity secures $10M Series A to identify objects with diamond dust (TechCrunch, Jul 17 2019)
The idea behind Dust Identity was originally born in an MIT lab where the founders developed the base technology for uniquely identifying objects using diamond dust. Since then, the startup has been working to create a commercial application for the advanced technology, and today it announced a $10 million Series A round led by Kleiner Perkins, which also led its $2.3 million seed round last year.
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The company has an unusual idea of applying a thin layer of diamond dust to an object with the goal of proving that that object has not been tampered with. “Once the diamonds fall on the surface of a polymer epoxy, and that polymer cures, the diamonds are fixed in their position, fixed in their orientation, and it’s actually the orientation of those diamonds that we developed a technology that allows us to read those angles very quickly.”
FaceApp Isn’t Creepy Because It’s Russian, It’s Creepy Because It’s Capitalist (VICE, Jul 17 2019)
FaceApp’s privacy policy is bad. Its policy isn’t uniquely bad because it’s a Russian company.
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Since I started this curated newsletter in June 2017, I’ve clipped ~10,000 articles and narrowed them down into the best 20 per day & best 15 per week. This is my favorite way to cut through all the security marketing and hype. If you’re enjoying it, tell a friend. If you hate it, tell an enemy.
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Think FaceApp Is Scary? Wait Till You Hear About Facebook (Wired, Jul 17 2019)
The idea that FaceApp is somehow exceptionally dangerous threatens to obscure the real point: All apps deserve this level of scrutiny.
Malware framework generates 1B fake ad impressions in 3 months (SC Magazine, Jul 17 2019)
Researchers have sniffed out a malware framework that targets major browsers installed on Window machines, and has generated more than 1 billion false Google AdSense impressions in the past three months alone.
It turns out that Juggalo makeup blocks facial recognition technology (Consequence of Sound, Jul 12 2019)
Juggalos had it right all along. It turns out the Insane Clown Posse fans’ makeup effectively blocks some facial recognition software.
Endpoint Security Evolving Against Airport Searches, GDPR (SecurityWeek, Jul 17 2019)
Travel pressure around privacy and compliance is forcing mobile endpoint software to evolve. Media coverage of recent airport phone searches has privacy enthusiasts worried, and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has IT security and compliance teams thinking about data-loss policies.
An Amazon Phishing Scam Hits Just in Time For Prime Day (Wired, Jul 12 2019)
Some deals are too good to be true, even on the most made-up holiday of all.
German Schools Ban Office 365, Cite Privacy Concerns (Dark Reading, Jul 12 2019)
The ruling follows years of debate over whether German schools and institutions should use Microsoft tools and services.
Chinese Software Engineer Accused of US IP Theft (Infosecurity Magazine, Jul 15 2019)
Man stole source code before moving back to China, indictment alleges
Avoiding a biometric dystopia (Help Net Security, Jul 16 2019)
In part one of our two-part series, we explored how biometric authentication methods are being defeated. In the second part, we’ll explore how manipulating biometrics can alter society, and what can be done to avoid a biometric dystopia. Biometric authentication secures access to most consumer phones, many laptops and PCs, and even physical access to homes and offices.
Facebook rolls out anti-scam reporting tool in UK (Naked Security – Sophos, Jul 17 2019)
Facebook has coughed up £3m to help launch an anti-scam service as well as introducing a tool to report scam ads on its UK site.