A week in security (April 29 – May 5)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: You get a passkey, you get a passkey, everyone should get a passkey Dropbox Sign customer data accessed in breach Watch out for tech support scams lurking in sponsored search results Psychotherapy practice hacker gets jail time after extorting patients, publishing...

Wireless carriers fined $200 million after illegally sharing customer location data

After four years of investigation, the Federal Communications Commission FCC has concluded that four of the major wireless carriers in the US violated the law in sharing access to customers’ location data. The FCC fined AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon a total of almost $200 million for...

FCC Proposes to Fine Wireless Carriers $200M for Selling Customer Location Data

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission FCC today proposed fines of more than $200 million against the nation's four largest wireless carriers for selling access to their customers' location information without taking adequate precautions to prevent unauthorized access to that data. While the...

How AT&T Insiders Were Bribed to 'Unlock' Millions of Phones

One cybersecurity threat that’s proven difficult for wireless carriers to combat? Their own employees...

AT&T, Sprint, Verizon to Stop Sharing Customer Location Data With Third Parties

In the wake of a scandal involving third-party companies leaking or selling precise, real-time location data on virtually all Americans who own a mobile phone, the four major wireless carriers have responded to requests from a U.S. senator for more details about how the carriers are managing acce...

LG Android Backup Software Vulnerable to Root Exploit

A vulnerability in backup software installed on some LG Android smartphones could enable an attacker with access to the device to gain root privileges. Sprite Software’s AndroidBackup tool is installed by OEM on a number of LG Optimus, Mach, Lollipop, and Prada devices. The backup tool, in...

More from the Kaspersky Lab/Threatpost Security Analyst Summit

Chris Soghoian on Wireless Carriers and Android Security Partial Disclosure Leaves Adobe Reader Zero-Day Story in Limbo Wireless Carriers Put on Notice About Providing Regular Android Security Updates How the RSA Attackers Swung and Missed at Lockheed Martin Scenes from SAS 2012 SAS2013 on Twitte...

Chris Soghoian on Wireless Carriers and Android Security

Privacy and security activist Chris Soghoian criticized mobile carriers for their failure to provide regular software updates to Android handsets, leaving users vulnerable for months at a time...

Wireless Carriers Put on Notice About Providing Regular Android Security Updates

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Activist Chris Soghoian, whom in the past has targeted zero-day brokers with his work, has turned his attention toward wireless carriers and their reluctance to provide regular device updates to Android mobile devices. The lack of updates leaves millions of Android users...

RIM Security Warns of Wireless DDoS Attacks

Hackers could one day turn ordinary smart phones into “rogue” devices to attack major wireless networks, Research In Motion’s security chief warned. Scott Totzke, RIM’s vice-president of BlackBerry security, said hackers could use smart phones to target wireless carriers using a technique similar...