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419 million Facebook users' phone numbers found in unsecured database
The phone numbers of over 419 million Facebook users have been found in an unsecured database, along with associated names, user ID strings and location data (TechCrunch).
It's not clear who owned the now-removed database, but a Facebook representative told TechCrunch that it “is old and appears to have information obtained before we made changes last year to remove people’s ability to find others using their phone numbers.” The database included records of 133 million users in the US, 18 million in the UK and 50 million in Vietnam.
Huawei accuses US government of cyberattacks
Huawei has publicly accused the US government of carrying out cyberattacks “to infiltrate Huawei's intranet and internal information systems” as well as using judicial measures and traditional espionage to disrupt its business and harass its employees (The Verge). The Chinese firm released the statement following reports of a Department of Justice investigation into alleged patent theft of a 360-degree camera design that Huawei says bears little resemblance to its own.
A simple Android flaw left a billion phones open to phishing attacks
Security researchers at Check Point have discovered an issue with Android devices that could allow would-be hackers to send fake messages that appeared to be from network providers (WIRED). The issue affected Android phones from Samsung, Huawei, LG and Sony and the messages are free of the hallmarks of many traditional phishing attacks. The researchers say the issue may affect up to half of Android phones.
Manchester First Buses ticket keys exposed
A hacking group has reverse engineered Manchester-based First Buses mobile ticketing app so that anyone can now create a valid ticket for free (The Register).
The private key used to sign the tickets' QR codes was integrated into the official First Buses app, and it's this that allows the pirate version, currently distributed on the dark web and in at least one GitHub mirror, to work. A hacker answering to Buspiraten told The Register that they released the app to “accelerate undoing the harms that private control of public transport has done in UK cities... public transport free at the point of use for everybody.”
SNES games are finally coming to Nintendo Switch
The latest Nintendo Direct announcement has finally brought news of the first, long-awaited SNES games to be released for the Nintendo Switch (Ars Technica). Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will get access to the first twenty titles online today, including The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart and Star Fox. Other announcements include impending arrival of a port of N64 classic Doom 64 and modern titles including Overwatch and Divinity: Original Sin 2.
Why you shouldn't feel good about carbon offsetting
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
