Category: GDPR

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A Look at Cookies

Cookies perform functions and provide information that helps website users, businesses, publishers, and advertisers. This article looks at what cookies are, what they do, and the legislation that affects how they are used. What Are Cookies? Cookies are text files sent by the website you are on and stored on your browser as a record…
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eBay Port Scanning Causes Alarm

Reports that eBay has been running port scans against the computers of visitors to the platform have caused alarm over potential security issues. Port Scans Port scanning is something that many people associate with cyber-attacks and penetration (‘pen’) testing.  Port scanning scripts are used to determine which ports a system may be listening via, by sending…
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NHS App For An “Immunity Passport”

Andrew Bud, chief executive of iProov, the company behind the NHS app, has floated the idea of using facial recognition for Covid-19 “immunity passports”. App The iProov-made NHS app system, for Android and iOS, not to be confused with the in-development COVID-19 app, is a system for use in England that allows users to access…
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‘Vishing’ and How to Guard Against It

‘Vishing’, or ‘phishing over the phone’ is on the rise and in this article, we look at vishing techniques and examples, and how to prevent them. Vishing The word Vishing is a combination of ‘voice’ and ‘phishing’ and describes the criminal process of using internet telephone service (VoIP) calls to deceive victims into divulging personal…
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Are Masks A Challenge To Facial Recognition Technology?

In addition to questions about the continued use of potentially unreliable and unregulated live facial recognition (LFR) technology, masks to protect against the spread of coronavirus may be presenting a further challenge to the technology. Questions From London Assembly Members A recently published letter by London Assembly members Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM and Sian Berry…
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Does Your Phone Have A Virus?

Phones are essentially powerful mobile computers that contain vast amounts of valuable personal information. This article looks at how to tell if your phone has a virus, what to do if you think it has, and how to protect your phone. Virus or Malware Both a virus and malware are malicious programs, but in security…
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Businesses Get Extra Time To Meet New Payment Processing Rules

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has given UK businesses an extra 6 months to reach compliance with the new Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules for payment processing. What Are The SCA Rules? The SCA rules, introduced in 2019, are intended to the improve security of payments and limit fraud by making sure that whoever requests…
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Apple and Google To Ban Location Tracking In Contact Tracing App

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc (Google) have both announced that they will not use GPS location tracking as part of the COVID-19 contact tracing app that they both jointly developing. Apps With contact-tracing and testing believed to be vital components in an effective strategy for stopping the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19 virus, both…
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UK Contact Tracing App In A Couple Of Weeks

Matthew Gould, chief executive of the National Health Service’s technology group NHSX has announced that a COVID-19 contact-tracing app for the UK could be ready “in the next couple of weeks”. Bluetooth, Short-Range Most countries in Europe that have chosen to use contact-tracing apps at some point have opted for a short-range Bluetooth “handshake” between mobile…
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Facial Recognition and Super Computers Help in COVID-19 Fight

Technology is playing an important role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic with adapted facial recognition cameras and super-computers now joining the battle to help beat the virus. Adapted Facial Recognition Facial recognition camera systems have been trialled and deployed in many different locations in the UK which famously include the 2016 and 2017 Notting Hill…
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