Cold hard cash is becoming more and more rare these days. People just don’t carry it around much any more. So how do you split a bill at a restaurant or buy from a street vendor? Many people today use mobile payment apps like Venmo, Apple Pay, PayPal, the Cash App, or a service promoted by many US banks called Zelle. While convenient, are these payment systems safe? Most of them actually are pretty secure (though some of them are not very private, like Venmo). But because most of these apps draw directly from your bank account, if you send money to the wrong person, either by mistake or because you were scammed, that money is pretty much gone. Ironically, this is very much like physical cash. Specifically, protections many people assume they have against fraudulent bank transactions don’t really apply. You explicitly made the transfer and therefore many banks will not reimburse you for the loss. In other news: Optus confirms massive data breach; Optus breach triggers privacy regulation review in Australia; Facebook shuts down propaganda campaigns from Russia and China; Facebook warns 1M users of potential credential theft; Google will be migrating Fitbit customers to Google accounts; Microsoft adds new protections to warn you of PC password reuse and insecure storage; the FTC is pushing for new rules around location data collection and sharing; Google releases new tool to help purge personal information from its search results. Article Links * [BleepingComputer] Optus confirms 2.1 million ID numbers exposed in data breach https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/optus-confirms-21-million-id-numbers-exposed-in-data-breach/ * [The Verge] Australia to overhaul privacy laws after massive data breach https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/26/23372868/australian-hack-disclosure-privacy-laws-optus-data-breach * [Hacker News] Facebook Shuts Down Covert Political ‘Influence Operations’ from Russia and China https://thehackernews.com/2022/09/facebook-shuts-down-covert-political.html * [9to5mac.com] Facebook security warning for 1M users: Scam apps stole login credentials https://9to5mac.com/2022/10/07/facebook-security-warning/ * [Hacker News] Google to Make Account Login Mandatory for New Fitbit Users in 2023 https://thehackernews.com/2022/09/google-to-make-account-login-mandatory.html * [Lifehacker] Microsoft Has a New Trick for Keeping Your Password Safe https://lifehacker.com/microsoft-has-a-new-trick-for-keeping-your-password-saf-1849580498 * [Bloomberg] FTC Joins Push for Rules on Trade of Smartphone Location Data https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-16/location-data-rules-draw-ftc-s-attention-post-roe * [The Verge] In 2023, Google can notify you if personal info pops up in search https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/28/23377208/google-results-about-you-notifications-personal-info * [briankrebs] Report: Big U.S. Banks Are Stiffing Account Takeover Victims https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/10/report-big-u-s-banks-are-stiffing-account-takeover-victims/ Further Info * National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month * Consumer Reports: payment apps: https://www.consumerreports.org/digital-payments/how-to-safely-pay-for-goods-and-services-with-someone-you-dont-know/ * Send me your questions! https://fdsd.me/qna * Support me! https://fdsd.me/support * Subscribe to the newsletter: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/newsletter/new-newsletter/ * Check out my book, Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484261887 * Would you like me to speak to your group about security and/or privacy? https://fdsd.me/speakerrequest * Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/ Table of Contents Use these timestamps to jump to a particular section of the show. * 0:00:42: News rundown * 0:02:49: 10 Million Optus users affected by breach * 0:06:04: Optus breached via open web interface * 0:10:28: Facebook shuts down political influence campaigns * 0:13:38: Facebook warns 1M users of potential credential theft * 0:18:42: Google to require Fitbit users to log in with Google account * 0:20:45: Microsoft releases new password protections in Windows * 0:25:46: FTC pushing new rules on sharing location data * 0:31:44: Google tool helps remove personal info from search results * 0:33:50: Banks rarely refund money from Zelle scams * 0:39:37: Tip of the Week * 0:44:31: Q&A: Is Apple’s Time Machine safe against ransomware? * 0:48:27: Q&A: Can I trust my bank’s data access provider? * 0:53:45: 5th edition of the book