In a very comprehensive post from the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Technology, the FTC takes what it calls “[a] deep dive into the technical side of FTC’s recent cases on digital health platforms, GoodRx & BetterHelp.”
As most readers know, the FTC recently took enforcement action against GoodRx and BetterHelp, two digital healthcare platforms, for allegedly sharing user health data with third parties for advertising.… More
Foley Hoag presented a discussion and Q&A regarding the growing threat of business email compromises (a.k.a. man-in-the-middle attacks). Attorneys Chris Hart and Yoni Bard, litigators with experience in privacy matters and business disputes, shared what they have learned through successfully representing victims of hacking and phishing attacks that have led companies to misdirect payments to unknown criminal actors. They discussed strategies for preventing these attacks and, if they occur, maximizing the likelihood of recovery through rapid response strategies (involving law enforcement and banks),… More
If you check your email this afternoon, you may see a message that someone you know is sharing something on Google Docs. You should verify that separately before opening, as there is a widespread phishing attempt going around using such an invitation. More
What started out as an incident involving the leak of 10,000 user names and passwords for Windows Live Hotmail accounts continues to grow, both in terms of users and companies affected. According to reports from the beginning of the week, more than 10,000 user names and passwords from Hotmail were posted by an anonymous user on the site pastebin.com. The list was limited to accounts starting in A and B, leaving the fear that numerous more accounts had been affected. The original reports speculated that the breach was the result of a hack of Hotmail or a phishing attack. But more information is surfacing that indicates that the breach is much larger than first thought.
Thomas Raffanello, global director of security for Stanford Financial Group (SFG), now faces charges of obstruction of justice based on claims that he directed employees at SFG’s Fort Lauderdale office to shred evidence of fraud.
In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against SFG (.pdf) in Texas alleging that the double-digit returns it promised potential customers was part of a fraudulent scheme. … More
On Tuesday, Research In Motion, Ltd. (RIM), the maker of Blackberry, posted a note on its website confirming that a software update offered to customers of its carrier Etisalat in the United Arab Emirates contained spyware. According to the note, certain customers received an SMS message from Etisalat informing them of a software update (named “Registration”) designed to improve performance. However, RIM acknowledged, “[i]ndependent sources have concluded that Etisalat’s Registration software application is not actually designed to improve performance of a Blackberry Handheld,… More