Facebook had a horrible, no-good, very bad week. Not only did Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp go completely offline for about six hours, a whistleblower came forward to show the world what most of us already knew: Facebook values money over its users’ well being. And I have another story that backs that up, as well – one that you almost surely did not hear about. In other news: the FTC tells app makers to fess up when users private data gets loose; the governor of Missouri wants to sue a newspaper for revealing a horrible security flaw that exposed teachers’ social security numbers; Apple’s attempts to prevent user tracking on iOS are being undermined by unscrupulous apps; a company that you’ve never heard of with access to almost all cellular text messages was hacked over the course of five years; the VPN maker and VPN review industries are awash in conflicts of interest; Windows 11 is finally out, but it’s not clear if and whether you should upgrade to it; and Firefox is searching for more ways to make money and stay alive, including adding more sponsored search suggestions for you to consider. Article Links - FTC says health apps must notify consumers about data breaches — or face fines https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/16/ftc-says-health-apps-must-notify-consumers-if-their-data-is-breached-or-face-fines/ - Missouri Governor Vows to Prosecute St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Reporting Security Vulnerability https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/10/missouri-governor-vows-to-prosecute-st-louis-post-dispatch-for-reporting-security-vulnerability/ - Investigation Finds Apple App Tracking Rules May Be Ineffective; IDFA Blocked, but Apps Frequently Access Other Identifiers https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/investigation-finds-apple-app-tracking-rules-may-be-ineffective-idfa-blocked-but-apps-frequently-access-other-identifiers/ - Company That Routes Billions of Text Messages Quietly Says It Was Hacked https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xpm8/company-that-routes-billions-of-text-messages-quietly-says-it-was-hacked - Consolidation of the VPN industry spells trouble for the consumer, https://blog.windscribe.com/consolidation-of-the-vpn-industry-spells-trouble-for-the-consumer-57e638634cf0/ - Facebook has finally given a reason for the six-hour outage Monday https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22709806/facebook-says-the-six-hour-outage - Understanding How Facebook Disappeared from the Internet: https://blog.cloudflare.com/october-2021-facebook-outage/ - Facebook bans developer behind Unfollow Everything tool https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/8/22716044/facebook-unfollow-everything-tool-louis-barclay-banned-for-life - Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen tells lawmakers that meaningful reform is necessary ‘for our common good’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/05/facebook-senate-hearing-frances-haugen/ - Windows 11 compatibility: Check if your PC meets Microsoft’s requirements https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/windows-11-compatibility-check-if-your-pc-meets-microsofts-requirements/ - Firefox Now Sends Your Address Bar Keystrokes to Mozilla https://www.howtogeek.com/760425/firefox-now-sends-your-address-bar-keystrokes-to-mozilla/ - BONUS: Trust, but verify: An in-depth analysis of ExpressVPN’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week https://www.zdnet.com/article/trust-but-verify-an-in-depth-analysis-of-expressvpns-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week/ Further Info - National Cybersecurity Awareness Month resources: https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month-resources - Only two weeks left to snag a challenge coin!! https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/my-challenge-coins-are-back/ - Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons - Would you like me to speak to your group about security and/privacy? http://bit.ly/Firewalls-Speaker - Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/