BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Apr 10, 2021,A nasty new surprise for WhatsApp’s 2 billion users today, with the discovery of an alarming security risk. Using just your phone number, a remote attacker can easily deactivate WhatsApp on your phone and then stop you getting back in. Even two-factor authentication will not stop this. Here’s how the attack works.This shouldn't happen. It shouldn't be possible. Not with a platform used by 2 billion people. Not this easily. When researchers,MORE FROMNow, let’s start with the first weakness. Anyone can install WhatsApp on a...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Apr 10, 2021,A nasty new surprise for WhatsApp’s 2 billion users today, with the discovery of an alarming security risk. Using just your phone number, a remote attacker can easily deactivate WhatsApp on your phone and then stop you getting back in. Even two-factor authentication will not stop this. Here’s how the attack works.This shouldn't happen. It shouldn't be possible. Not with a platform used by 2 billion people. Not this easily. When researchers,MORE FROMNow, let’s start with the first weakness. Anyone can install WhatsApp on a...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Apr 10, 2021,If you’re among the billions of people using Chrome, then you need to stop—especially if you use Google’s browser on an Apple device. Stark new data disclosures and Chrome’s “While Facebook has taken the heat on data security and privacy in recent weeks,MORE FROM“You don’t become a multi-billion-dollar company without grabbing as much data as you can then monetize,” Cyjax CISO Ian Thornton-Trump told me last month, just after (genuinely) privacy-first DuckDuckGo warned that “Google doesn’t care about protecting user...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Apr 10, 2021,If you’re among the billions of people using Chrome, then you need to stop—especially if you use Google’s browser on an Apple device. Stark new data disclosures and Chrome’s “While Facebook has taken the heat on data security and privacy in recent weeks,MORE FROM“You don’t become a multi-billion-dollar company without grabbing as much data as you can then monetize,” Cyjax CISO Ian Thornton-Trump told me last month, just after (genuinely) privacy-first DuckDuckGo warned that “Google doesn’t care about protecting user...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Mar 20, 2021,If you’re among the billions of people using Chrome, then Google’s stark new data harvesting disclosures should come as a nasty surprise. Worse, a new Chrome revelation, one that hasn’t yet made headlines but which is detailed below, should serve as an even more serious warning. Here’s what you need to do now.Google is under fire this week, after the surprising amount of your data harvested by Chrome has been disclosed. This is a genuine threat to your privacy. Worse, a more serious issue for Google, detailed below, hasn’t...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Mar 20, 2021,If you’re among the billions of people using Chrome, then Google’s stark new data harvesting disclosures should come as a nasty surprise. Worse, a new Chrome revelation, one that hasn’t yet made headlines but which is detailed below, should serve as an even more serious warning. Here’s what you need to do now.Google is under fire this week, after the surprising amount of your data harvested by Chrome has been disclosed. This is a genuine threat to your privacy. Worse, a more serious issue for Google, detailed below, hasn’t...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jan 26, 2021,A new warning today for the hundreds of millions of users with TikTok’s app on their phones. If you have your phone number linked to your profile, you should remove it—but, beware, that’s very difficult to do. And while your number is still there, TikTok will use it to track you online. So, here’s what you do now.If you have TikTok on your phone, there’s a good chance it has your number—it’s the easiest way to sign up for an account and then login. But now security researchers at suggest you change that. “I see significant...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jan 26, 2021,A new warning today for the hundreds of millions of users with TikTok’s app on their phones. If you have your phone number linked to your profile, you should remove it—but, beware, that’s very difficult to do. And while your number is still there, TikTok will use it to track you online. So, here’s what you do now.If you have TikTok on your phone, there’s a good chance it has your number—it’s the easiest way to sign up for an account and then login. But now security researchers at suggest you change that. “I see significant...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jan 3, 2021,WhatsApp, the world’s leading messenger with 2 billion users sending 100 billion messages each day, popularized secure messaging. But if you’re one of the hundreds of millions using WhatsApp on an iPhone, you’re in for an unwelcome surprise when you see Apple’s stunning new iMessage update.WhatsApp used to be all about security. “Privacy and security are in our DNA,” it , and it takes credit for delivering encrypted message privacy to the masses. But data security is complex—take a peek at the spidery patterns on an...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jan 3, 2021,WhatsApp, the world’s leading messenger with 2 billion users sending 100 billion messages each day, popularized secure messaging. But if you’re one of the hundreds of millions using WhatsApp on an iPhone, you’re in for an unwelcome surprise when you see Apple’s stunning new iMessage update.WhatsApp used to be all about security. “Privacy and security are in our DNA,” it , and it takes credit for delivering encrypted message privacy to the masses. But data security is complex—take a peek at the spidery patterns on an...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Dec 19, 2020,WhatsApp leads the messaging world—with more than two billion users now sending 100 billion messages each day. The Facebook-owned platform popularized the idea that secure messaging could be simple and universal. But, as good as that security might be, it’s not enough—and we have seen news this week that should serve as a serious warning that there’s more you must do to keep your WhatsApp account secure.Anyone reading this article likely knows that you need to use end-to-end encrypted messaging by default. If you don’t,...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Dec 19, 2020,WhatsApp leads the messaging world—with more than two billion users now sending 100 billion messages each day. The Facebook-owned platform popularized the idea that secure messaging could be simple and universal. But, as good as that security might be, it’s not enough—and we have seen news this week that should serve as a serious warning that there’s more you must do to keep your WhatsApp account secure.Anyone reading this article likely knows that you need to use end-to-end encrypted messaging by default. If you don’t,...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Oct 1, 2020,506781—the two-factor authentication code needed to access my Dropbox account on November 15, 2015. I know because it’s still there in my SMS history, a permanent record of my accessing Dropbox from new devices. I have full iCloud history in much the same way—332486 was the code on October 4, 2014. I can see the same for Microsoft, Uber, Sony... You get the point.As I’ve written before, —it’s an archaic and unsecured platform with no place among the myriad end-to-end encrypted alternatives we can now use. If you want to...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Oct 1, 2020,506781—the two-factor authentication code needed to access my Dropbox account on November 15, 2015. I know because it’s still there in my SMS history, a permanent record of my accessing Dropbox from new devices. I have full iCloud history in much the same way—332486 was the code on October 4, 2014. I can see the same for Microsoft, Uber, Sony... You get the point.As I’ve written before, —it’s an archaic and unsecured platform with no place among the myriad end-to-end encrypted alternatives we can now use. If you want to...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jul 25, 2020,The relentless pressure on TikTok ramped up further this week, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again claiming user data is sent to China. “It’s not possible to have your personal information flow across a Chinese server,” he warned during a British mediaMORE FROMBut the warning this week from the cyber security analysts at ProtonMail isn’t political point scoring—these are ex-CERN security engineers. TikTok’s “zealous data collection,” the company warns, “its use of Chinese infrastructure, and its parent company’s...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jul 25, 2020,The relentless pressure on TikTok ramped up further this week, with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again claiming user data is sent to China. “It’s not possible to have your personal information flow across a Chinese server,” he warned during a British mediaMORE FROMBut the warning this week from the cyber security analysts at ProtonMail isn’t political point scoring—these are ex-CERN security engineers. TikTok’s “zealous data collection,” the company warns, “its use of Chinese infrastructure, and its parent company’s...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jul 4, 2020,TikTok has been . But make no mistake, this time it’s different—this time it’s worse. That has nothing to do with TikTok and everything to do with China, of course. If you want to build a strong technology brand in Western democracies, this is not a great time to be linked to Beijing. For TikTok, the result is the same, though: Headline calls urging users to .That was fully in evidence with TikTok’s defense against its ban in India last week. "I can confirm that the Chinese government has never made a request to us for the...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jul 4, 2020,TikTok has been . But make no mistake, this time it’s different—this time it’s worse. That has nothing to do with TikTok and everything to do with China, of course. If you want to build a strong technology brand in Western democracies, this is not a great time to be linked to Beijing. For TikTok, the result is the same, though: Headline calls urging users to .That was fully in evidence with TikTok’s defense against its ban in India last week. "I can confirm that the Chinese government has never made a request to us for the...WW…

BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jun 28, 2020,The core allegations behind the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei, that the company is controlled by Beijing and will spy for them if asked, have always been denied. But lurking behind those allegations is something darker, something more difficult to brush aside. And that’s now becoming a serious new problem for the company, with the risk that it damages company plans, securing a major win for the U.S.Last November, I reported on Huawei’s “,” its work with the authorities in the Xinjiang region of China, where the oppression of...…BETAThis is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by Jun 28, 2020,The core allegations behind the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei, that the company is controlled by Beijing and will spy for them if asked, have always been denied. But lurking behind those allegations is something darker, something more difficult to brush aside. And that’s now becoming a serious new problem for the company, with the risk that it damages company plans, securing a major win for the U.S.Last November, I reported on Huawei’s “,” its work with the authorities in the Xinjiang region of China, where the oppression of...WW…