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Many readers have reached out to learn about the Capital One data breach and how it affects us. If you haven’t been watching the story unfold as closely as I have, here is a summary of what happened, what information was included, and what to do about it.

Capital One announced on July 29 that a hacker gained access to the personal information of approximately 106 million credit card holdersand applicants which was stored with a Cloud provider, which included some 140,000 Social Security numbers, about 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers, and 80,000 bank account numbers, with the largest category of information accessed being “consumers and small businesses as of the time they applied for one of our credit card products from 2005 through early 2019,” according to Capital One. The access was allegedly through an improperly configured firewall.

Continue reading “Capital One Suffers Massive Data Breach”

Sixteen U.S. Marines were arrested on Thursday at their base in Southern California on suspicion of drug-related offenses and the smuggling of undocumented migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. military officials said.

The arrests at Camp Pendleton stemmed from a separate investigation of two other Marines arrested earlier this month on human trafficking charges filed by federal prosecutors in San Diego, a base spokesman said.

Continue reading “Sixteen U.S. Marines arrested on suspicion of human trafficking”

Facebook Inc will pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine to resolve a government probe into its privacy practices and the social media giant will restructure its approach to privacy, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

The probe uncovered a wide range of privacy issues. It was triggered last year by allegations that Facebook violated a 2012 consent decree by inappropriately sharing information belonging to 87 million users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The consultancy’s clients included President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

Continue reading “Facebook to pay record $5 billion U.S. fine over privacy violations; critics call it a bargain”

Credit-reporting company Equifax Inc (EFX.N) will pay up to $700 million to settle claims it broke the law during a massive 2017 data breach and to repay harmed consumers, in a landmark settlement that was nonetheless criticized by consumer advocates and some lawmakers who called for stricter regulation.

While it was the largest-ever settlement for a data breach, they said the amount was still too small for the millions of Americans affected, and worried it could prove difficult for consumers to be repaid. The agreement also spurred multiple lawmakers to renew calls for legislation giving consumers more control over their personal information.

Continue reading “Equifax’s $700 million data breach settlement spurs criticism, calls for new rules”

U.S. R&B singer R. Kelly faces a bail hearing on Tuesday over federal charges that he ran a racketeering scheme trafficking women and girls for sex.

In indictments unsealed in Brooklyn, New York, and Chicago on Friday, the prosecutors said Kelly, 52, forcibly kept people under his control and then intimidated witnesses and bought their silence.

Kelly, already charged with sexual assault in Illinois, was taken into custody by New York City police detectives and federal agents on Thursday in Chicago.

Continue reading “Singer R. Kelly faces bail hearing over sex trafficking allegations”