Access and Privacy Online

Access and Privacy Online


CrowdStrike CEO called to testify to Congress over cybersecurity’s firm role in global tech outage

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. House leaders are calling on CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify to Congress about the cybersecurity company’s role in sparking the widespread tech outage that grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and affected services around the world.  CrowdStrike said this week a “significant number” of the millions of computers […]

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Tech outage latest | Airlines and others rush to get back on track after global tech disruption

Transport providers, businesses and governments on Saturday are rushing to get all their systems back online after long disruptions following a widespread technology outage.  The biggest continuing effect has been on air travel. Carriers canceled thousands of flights on Friday and now have many of their planes and crews in the wrong place, while airports […]

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Malicious actors trying to exploit global tech outage for their own gain

As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals about new phishing schemes that […]

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Abortion rights supporters report having enough signatures to qualify for Montana ballot

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — An initiative to ask voters if they want to protect the right to a pre-viability abortion in Montana’s constitution has enough signatures to appear on the November ballot, supporters said Friday. County election officials have verified 74,186 voter signatures, more than the 60,359 needed for the constitutional initiative to go before […]

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Elections Canada floats suggestions to shield nomination contests from meddling

Elections Canada is suggesting possible changes to protect the political nomination process from foreign meddling, including barring non-citizens from helping choose candidates, requiring parties to publish contest rules and explicitly outlawing practices such as voting more than once. The federal elections agency outlines the proposed moves in a discussion guide intended to help chief electoral […]

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20240720 Access and Privacy Online

Show Notes for Saturday July 20th. Writing: Shaun Fisk  | Production: Patrick Farnsworth  | Music: Breakmaster Cylinder You can support these efforts by subscribing or donating.   Show Notes: One Tech Tip: Protecting yourself against SIM swapping https://fipa.bc.ca/one-tech-tip-protecting-yourself-against-sim-swapping/ What’s worse than thieves hacking into your bank account? When they steal your phone number, too https://fipa.bc.ca/whats-worse-than-thieves-hacking-into-your-bank-account-when-they-steal-your-phone-number-too ‘Data of nearly all AT&T customers downloaded from a […]

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Kansas won’t force providers to ask patients why they want abortions while a lawsuit proceeds

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas isn’t enforcing a new law requiring abortion providers to ask patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies, as a legal challenge against that rule and other older requirements makes its way through the courts. Attorneys for the state and for providers challenging the new law along with other requirements […]

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European Commission didn’t provide enough information about COVID-19 vaccine deals, EU court says

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission did not allow the public enough access to information about COVID-19 vaccine purchase agreements it secured with pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic, the EU general court said Wednesday.  The decision came a day ahead of a vote at the European Parliament at which European Commission President Ursula von der […]

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Southern California school district sues Gov. Newsom over new gender-identity law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California school district involved in an ongoing legal battle with the state over the district’s gender-identity policy sued Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday over a new law banning districts from requiring that parents be notified of their child’s gender identification change. The Chino Valley Unified School District and a […]

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California is 1st state to ban school rules requiring parents get notified of child’s pronoun change

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California became the first U.S. state to bar school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change under a law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The law bans school rules requiring teachers and other staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to […]

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Data of nearly all AT&T customers downloaded from a third-party platform in security breach

The data of nearly all customers of the telecommunications giant AT&T was downloaded from a third-party platform in a security breach, the company said Friday, as cyberattacks against businesses, schools and health systems continue to spread globally.  The breach, which took place in April of this year but mostly involved data from 2022, hit AT&T’s […]

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What’s worse than thieves hacking into your bank account? When they steal your phone number, too

WASHINGTON (AP) — One Monday morning in May, I woke up and grabbed my cell phone to read the news and scroll through memes. But it was out of cell service. I couldn’t make calls or texts.  That, though, turned out to be the least of my problems.  Using my home Wi-Fi connection, I checked […]

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