Some mobile users were able to see records of other users when logging in to phone service

Optus has scrambled to contact customers whose personal details were revealed in a system glitch affecting pre-paid mobile sim card activation and the company’s account website.

Some customers have reported being able to see what looked like other customers’ personal details including name, address and phone number while trying to activate a mobile phone SIM card.

Related: My Health Record ‘minor glitch’ still generating thousands of pages of internal files

Related: ‘The goal is to automate us’: welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism

Hey @Optus I just got an email saying my latest bill is ready. Its $300. It should be less than $100 as my usual plan. I logged into my account and it said “Hi Vladamir”. I have a screenshot. What’s the go??!

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2GGMb6u
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Company apologises after bug meant users were able to log into accounts of strangers

Mumsnet has reported itself to the information commissioner after a data breach resulted in users accidentally logging into the accounts of strangers.

A botched upgrade to the software the forum runs on meant that for three days, if two users tried to log in at the same time, there was the possibility that their accounts would be switched. Each user was able to post as the other, see their account details, and read private messages.

Related: Mumsnet forums are a guilty pleasure, but there are truths, too

Related: Mumsnet brings in tougher forum rules after transgender row

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Dj6unb
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European commission says Enox Safe-Kid-One can easily be hacked and poses risk to children

A children’s wristwatch that allows the wearer to be easily contacted and located has been recalled by Brussels over safety fears.

The European commission said the Enox Safe-Kid-One, which comes fitted with a global positioning system (GPS), a microphone and speaker, posed a serious risk to children.

Related: Democracy is under threat from the malicious use of technology. The EU is fighting back | Julian King

Children and tech

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WJbMkX
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We look at what to expect when 5G is rolled out in 2020 and how it could both help and hinder our lives

Last month in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show showcased some of what we can expect from the tech world in 2019. This year’s CES was memorable for several reasons, from an intelligent toilet to banned sex toys. But one term kept popping up throughout the four days of the exhibition: 5G.

Most of us will have to wait until 2020 to see what 5G can do, but after 10 years in a 4G world, we’re still not totally prepared for the potential consequences of this next generation of wireless communication.

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2UvyevT
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In the wake of Apple’s FaceTime privacy bug, we should learn from the superstar who predicted such breaches

It’s hard to convince people to take data safety seriously. Installing updates, changing passwords, refusing permissions: it can be exhausting, and it’s hard to stay motivated when the work seems endless. That’s why Taylor Swift is the information security icon the world needs.

The superstar has long spoken out about her desire to stay secure. More than a typical celebrity’s fondness for the sort of privacy that involves massive propertes to defeat the long paparazzi lenses, Swift has frequently shown a keen understanding of why – and how – digital security is important to her. In a Rolling Stone interview in 2014, she revealed that she kept the only full version of her forthcoming album, 1989, on her iPhone – and would only play it on headphones, for fear of wiretaps. “Don’t even get me started on wiretaps. It’s not a good thing for me to talk about socially. I freak out … I have to stop myself from thinking about how many aspects of technology I don’t understand.” The article continues: “‘Like speakers,’ she says. ‘Speakers put sound out … so can’t they take sound in? Or’ – she holds up her cellphone – ‘they can turn this on, right? I’m just saying. We don’t even know.’”

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RSDxsB
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Store of 770m email addresses and passwords discovered after being posted to a hacking forum

The largest collection of breached data ever seen has been discovered, comprising of more than 770m email addresses and passwords posted to a popular hacking forum in mid-December.

The 87GB data dump was discovered by security researcher Troy Hunt, who runs the Have I Been Pwned breach-notification service. Hunt, who called the upload “Collection #1”, said it is probably “made up of many different individual data breaches from literally thousands of different sources”, rather than representing a single hack of a very large service.

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RRtQJV
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Pauline received a spam message that looked like a sextortion or webcam scam

I got this email today. It says “I hacked your device, because I sent you this message from your account.” It goes on to claim that it has filmed me watching pornography, and demands $698 in bitcoin. Phishing? Pwned? What to do? Pauline

This is generally known either as “webcam blackmail” or “sextortion scam” and the email should have been diverted to your spam folder. Millions – perhaps billions – of similar emails have been sent over the years, but there seems to have been a flood of them over the past few months.

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2QROqp6
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Data grabbing | Country diary | Cost of stamps | A question of perspective | Steepest street title

The solution is surely to use the non-profit Ecosia search engine that plants trees and quite simply guarantees that it protects your data (Together we can thwart big tech’s data grab, Opinion, 7 January)?
Peter Hack
Presteigne, Powys

• It is a daily joy to read such wonderfully detailed accounts of unchanging, centuries-old oak trees, rivers, animals, birds and fauna from around the UK in the country diary. Please keep them coming. They help us to maintain our sanity in these dark times.
Jenny Cobley
Lewes, East Sussex

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RkFQ7s
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Sandy Parakilas, who worked at Facebook before opposing its use of personal data, ‘to work on data protection’

Apple has reportedly hired a former Facebook employee who blew the whistle on Facebook’s data-sharing policies exposed during the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Sandy Parakilas, a product manager at Facebook in 2011 and 2012, once gave evidence to the Commons about privacy abuses at Facebook and has been outspoken about the reportedly lax approach to data protection he witnessed at the social network during his time there.

The Cambridge Analytica files resulted in a multi-year investigation from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, “the most important ever”, according to Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner.

Related: ‘Utterly horrifying’: ex-Facebook insider says covert data harvesting was routine

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from Data and computer security | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Fm4ehF
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Firm failed to tell 35 million users and 3.7 million drivers their data was hacked in 2016

Uber’s European operation has been fined £385,000 for a data breach that affected almost 3 million British users, the Information Commissioner’s Office has announced.

In November 2016, attackers obtained credentials to access Uber’s cloud servers and downloaded 16 large files, including the records of 35 million users worldwide. The records included passengers’ full names, phone numbers, email addresses, and the location where they had signed up.

Related: Uber challenges ruling on drivers’ rights at court of appeal

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