WhatsApp could face prosecution on poor privacy

A yearlong investigation by government privacy watchdogs in Canada and the Netherlands identified major weaknesses in the way the WhatsApp cellphone messaging application handled the personal information of its users. Many of the problems have since been fixed, but Dutch authorities have yet to decide whether they will attempt to prosecute WhatsApp under Dutch privacy law, the two organizations said in a joint statement on...

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Google sees one password ring to rule them all

Google thinks it might have found an answer to the vexing problem of forgotten or weak passwords: "physical" passwords, which might come in the form of a piece of jewelry such as a ring. In a research paper, two of its engineers write that current strategies to prevent the hijacking of online accounts, including the two-step identity verification system, are insufficient, partly due to the constant threat of attacks that exploit...

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Oracle database flaw deemed serious, could expose data

CSO by Antone Gonsalves Some Oracle databases have what experts say is a serious flaw in the login system that a hacker can use to retrieve and change stored data. The flaw, in Oracle Database 11g Releases 1 and 2Ã'Â leaves the token that is provided by the server before authentication is completed open to a brute-force attack, said Esteban Martinez Fayo, the Application Security researcher that discovered...

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