White hat hacker Chris Vickery uncovered a database of 154 million U.S. voter profiles on an unprotected server chockfull of sensitive data that includes voter names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, gun ownership information, preferences on gay marriage and links to individual social media accounts. The data was owned by voter data broker L2 which sold...

After settling charges with the Federal Trade Commission this week a mobile advertising company will pay nearly $1M after it was determined the company tracked customers – including children – without their consent. InMobi, an India-based firm with offices across the world, will pay $950,000 in civil penalties, the FTC announced via press release on...

Ask David Dworken when he was in tenth grade what a cross-site scripting vulnerability is and you might get a strange look from the Alexandria, Va., teen. Fast forward two years and pose the same question Dworken and you’ll get a well-versed answer from the now white hat hacker and recent high school graduate. Dworken...

The Department of Justice is countering a growing chorus of privacy advocates who are against a rule change that will greatly expand law enforcement’s ability to hack into computers located around the world. In a blog post to the DoJ website late Monday, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell argued law enforcement must not be stymied...

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the news of the week, including a password issue at Github, the xDedic marketplace, another Flash zero day, and how the poorly the FBI is doing with facial recognition software. Download: Threatpost_News_Wrap_June_17_2016.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves

The House voted Thursday to block passage of an amendment aimed to rein in U.S. domestic mass surveillance by the NSA and protect strong encryption standards citing Sunday’s Orlando tragedy as reason to fight surveillance reforms. The so-called Massie-Lofgren amendment was considered a key privacy provision by civil liberties groups who had worked for years to...

Privacy experts are arguing this week the FBI, which maintains a vast – and apparently even larger than expected – treasure trove of facial recognition photos, isn’t doing enough to safeguard the databases, many which contain images of innocent citizens. According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday the FBI has access to...

Two separate APT groups believed to have ties to the Russian government have been fingered in attacks against the Democratic National Committee resulting in the theft of research done by the DNC on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Researchers at Crowdstrike, called in to investigate by the DNC, today published some of their findings, including...

Civil liberties groups are anxiously waiting to see if an anti-surveillance amendment will be added to a Department of Defense spending bill Tuesday. The so-called Massie-Lofgren amendment would reign in U.S. domestic mass surveillance by the NSA and protect U.S. encryption standards. The amendment, considered a significant post-Snowden reform, risks not being added to a...

Forced to come clean on breaches against the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Fed on Wednesday revealed the agency that drives financial markets around the world has been breached as many as 50 times in the past five years. As part of a Freedom of Information Act request by the Reuters news agency, the public is...