Cybersafety Sentinel August 2023 Week 4

Claudiu’s Top Post

How can one social media post become a watershed event in the privacy of Internet users? By grossly misrepresenting the popularity of any particular event, a socialmedia platform can inadvertently demonstrate that by abusing its control over the mechanisms designed to report the efficacy of adtech it irreversibly erodes the effectiveness of advertising dollars. With the trust of advertisers ruined, it is conceivable that data collection screws will need to be further tightened. Read More

Halifax Cybersecurity: Missing Computers, Oversight Gaps

Halifax’s auditor general has raised multiple concerns around municipal cybersecurity — including hundreds of missing computers — at a time when online attacks are rising “exponentially.” Evangeline Colman-Sadd presented her findings to the audit and finance standing committee of the Halifax Regional Municipality on Wednesday. Read More

Class Action Advances After 2020 CRA Privacy Breach

The Federal Court of Canada has certified the class action filed against the Government of Canada over the spate of cyber incidents that took place between March and September 2020 attacking the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) accounts of over 45,000 Canadians. The cyber incidents, the government said at the time, used credential stuffing, where passwords and usernames collected from previous hacks in other organizations are entered to access CRA accounts. Read More

Lexington Police Launch Privacy-Assured Camera Software

Lexington police say their newest investigative tool, which was debuted in a news conference Wednesday, will not intrude on privacy despite the system making use of security cameras owned by businesses and residents. The new technology is called Fusus, a software that combines together all of police’s investigative assets, such as traffic cameras, Flock license plate readers and other cameras around the city. Read More

YouTube Faces New Complaint Over Children’s Privacy

Children’s privacy advocates are urging federal regulators to consider issuing a massive fine “upwards of tens of billions of dollars” and imposing sweeping privacy limits on Google-owned YouTube over reports that it may have let companies track kids’ data across the internet. Ad tracking firm Adalytics last week released a report suggesting that YouTube served ads for adults on videos labeled as “made for kids,” stoking concern that the video-sharing giant may be trampling on federal privacy protections for children, as the New York Times first reported. Read More

Privacy Debate: Police Drones in New York

The debate over drones and privacy is now front and center in the state of New York as lawmakers in Albany inch closer to limiting the use of drones by authorities. It is a controversial and charged issue, especially with more police departments using drones than ever before. When a riot broke out in Union Square several weeks ago, several drones went up in the middle of the chaos and played a big role in restoring order. Read More