TikTok has agreed to pay $92m to settle multiple privacy lawsuits alleging the social network took and shared user data without consent, according to reports. The proposed settlement applies to 89 million US TikTok users whose data the firm is alleged to have sold to advertisers in violation of state and federal laws. Some of these third parties are said to be China-based businesses. According to NPR, the settlement comes on the back of 21 federal…

Chinese Communist Party-backed hackers have been spying on Tibetan activists via a malicious new Firefox extension, according to Proofpoint. The security vendor explained that it had seen low-level phishing campaigns against the Tibetan diaspora since March 2020, but that these took another turn in the first two months of 2021 with the use of a customized malicious extension dubbed “FriarFox. “We attribute this activity to TA413, who in addition to the FriarFox browser extension, was…

One of the UK’s largest energy firms has been forced to deactivate its mobile app after reports emerged of a coordinated credential stuffing campaign against users. Npower has informed all of the affected customers, although it’s unclear exactly how many had their accounts hijacked by attackers. Data that may have been viewed includes personal information like: dates of birth, contact details and addresses, partial financial information including sort codes and the last four digits of bank…

EEMA has announced the appointment of David W.G. Birch as its honorary president, joining creator of the Seven Laws of Identity paper, Kim Cameron, in holding this title. Birch has been a member of the EEMA board of management for the past five years, representing the European Think Tank as a speaker, author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services and digital identity. Birch holds a number of board and advisory positions in Europe and…

“We are currently fighting not only the covid-19 pandemic, but also an epidemic that is spreading through cyberspace: ransomware,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Mayorkas’s comments came as DHS announced $25 million in cybersecurity grants to put cybersecurity at the top of the agency’s agenda as a part of a larger security initiative.  “With this funding, state and local grant recipients can conduct cybersecurity risk assessments, strengthen their ‘dot…