Brazil Halts Meta's AI Data Processing Amid Privacy Concerns

Brazil's data protection authority, Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados ANPD, has temporarily banned Meta from processing users' personal data to train the company's artificial intelligence AI algorithms. The ANPD said it found "evidence of processing of personal data based on inadequate leg...

A week in security (August 16 – August 22)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Podcast: Katie Moussouris hacked Clubhouse. Her emails went unanswered for weeks. How to troubleshoot hardware problems that look like malware problems. Analysts “strongly believe” the Russian state colludes with ransomware gangs. macOS 11’s hidden security...

Lock and Code S1Ep6: Recognizing facial recognition’s flaws with Chris Boyd

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs and around the Internet. In addition, we talk to Chris Boyd, lead malware intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes, about facial recognition technology—its early history, its proven failures at accuracy, an...

Consumers have few legal options for protecting privacy

There are no promises in the words, “We care about user privacy.” Yet, these words appear on privacy policy after privacy policy, serving as disingenuous banners to hide potentially invasive corporate practices, including clandestine data collection, sharing, and selling. This is no accident. It ...

Google fined $57 million by France for lack of transparency and consent

The French data protection watchdog CNIL has issued its first fine of €50 million around $57 million under the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation GDPR law that came into force in May last year. The fine has been levied on Google for "lack of transparency, inadequate informati...

Apple Moves iCloud Data and Encryption Keys for Chinese Users to China

Apple has finally agreed to open a new Chinese data center next month to comply with the country's latest controversial data protection law. Apple will now move the cryptographic keys of its Chinese iCloud users in data centers run by a state-owned company called Cloud Big Data Industrial...

Germany Orders Facebook to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users

A German privacy regulator issued an order this week prohibiting Facebook from collecting user data on German WhatsApp users, calling the company’s actions misleading and in violation of the nation’s data protection law. The move comes a few weeks after a recent WhatsApp policy change that said t...