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Cyber Daily: Privacy Risks Abound in Common Remote-Learning Tools | Microsoft's Deepfake Detector
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Good day. The coronavirus pandemic is adding another wrinkle to an already unusual back-to-school season: privacy risks. Researches who manually tested 123 remote-learning applications found that 79 shared data with various third parties, WSJ Pro's David Uberti reports.
Also today: Microsoft offers tools for detecting deepfakes; Security First files for bankruptcy; Cisco works on patch for router software; Utah pathology group says data about 112,000 patients was compromised.
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“There's just a need for more plain language, guidance, training and resources to better make sure that student privacy is protected.”
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— Anisha Reddy, policy counsel for the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington think tank, on vulnerabilities in software for remote learning
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First-grade teacher Annamarie Bezick talked to her new students in the classroom and others connected through a laptop at Greenbrae Elementary School in Sparks, Nev., on Aug. 18. PHOTO: SCOTT SONNER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Remote learning during pandemic brings privacy risks. The mass shift to remote learning in many U.S. school districts is pushing students to use apps and other digital tools that could expose personal data such as names, locations and device identifiers, according to privacy experts. Leaky policies by developers and data-sharing agreements with third parties mean yet more concerns for parents, teachers and administrators as they grapple with how to keep many students up to speed from home.
“Schools have almost no time to provide professional development on privacy,” Jim Siegl, technical architect for the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, said Tuesday.
Of 123 learning apps tested by researchers, 79 shared user data with third parties. This includes location data, device tags and identifiers that help track users across apps.
Read the full story.
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54,000+
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Number of Australian driver's licenses published online, apparently collected from files stored in a vulnerable Amazon Web Services cloud setup, according to the Daily Mail.
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A woman views a manipulated video that changes what is said by President Trump and former President Obama. PHOTO: ROB LEVER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Microsoft releases tool for detecting fake videos. The Video Authenticator, in an effort to fight disinformation, scores videos on the likelihood they have been artificially created, the BBC reports. Microsoft trained the tool using data related to 1,000 deepfake videos as well as a trove of Facebook facial images. The FBI has warned that deepfakes might become indistinguishable from reality, posing a threat to national security.
Software maker Security First files for bankruptcy. The California-based cybersecurity business, which counts major Donald Trump supporter Robert Mercer among its shareholders, plans to sell itself to ESW Capital for roughly $6 million, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reports. It is the latest in a string of proposed purchases of bankrupt software developers by ESW Capital, an Austin, Texas, investment firm founded by billionaire Joseph Liemandt. Security First, which raised at least $140 million in debt and equity financing since its 2002 founding, has just three employees and, due to the coronavirus pandemic, no longer has an office. The company has generated total revenue of about $92,000 in the past two years,
relying almost entirely on funding from secured lenders to continue operating.
Failure: The company developed or acquired about 100 data-security patents, but it was unable to commercialize any of the technology, Security First Chief Executive Pankaj Parekh said in a sworn declaration filed with the bankruptcy court.
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TikTok deal talks are snarled over algorithms. Suitors are trying to figure out whether China's order restricting the export of AI means the algorithms need Chinese government approval for transfer. (WSJ)
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Cisco promises patch for widespread router problems. Vulnerabilities in network router software that Cisco warned customers about Saturday leave certain equipment open to attacks that drain device memory or disrupt some internet functions. Cisco told CyberScoop it will have a patch as soon as possible, but didn’t specify a date. Organizations that use Cisco equipment should check for known indicators of compromise and apply techniques to protect their systems, the Department of Homeland Security advised.
Utah Pathology Services notifies patients of data breach. The pathology group based in Salt Lake City said in a notice on its website that it learned in late June of an attempted fraud scheme against the company that compromised personal information including names, contact details, insurance and clinical data. An attacker would have had access to the data during an attempt to divert funds from Utah Pathology through a compromised email account. The company told the Department of Health and Human Services that 112,124 individuals were
affected.
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