Russia threatens to ban Facebook
The Tech Corner is a technology news and advice column presented each week courtesy of Melvin McCrary at Georgia Computer Depot in Cedartown.
Russian officials said they are considering a ban on Facebook for the start of 2018 unless the social network is willing to comply with the country’s new privacy and user protection rules.
Russia previously banned LinkedIn for the same reason in November 2016. According to the country’s new laws, Facebook must store data on Russian users on servers located in Russia, and not move information overseas.
“We will make sure the law is complied with, or the company will stop working in the Russian Federation,” said Alexander Zharov, head of communications regulator Roskomnadzor — Russia’s privacy watchdog — told Interfax yesterday.
Facebook has until the start of 2018. Twitter already caved in. Zharov says that Facebook will have to comply with the new law by the start of 2018, or it could be banned.
Roskomnadzor — Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media — manages a list of banned sites that local ISPs must block. It has previously used this list to temporarily block other major websites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, or PornHub.
Zharov also said that Twitter has already agreed to the demands of Russian officials and has informed Roskomnadzor that it plans to move data on Russian users on Russian servers by mid-2018.
China Blocks WhatsApp Using
GFW Upgrade
Chinese officials began blocking WhatsApp in mid- July when they stopped files and images being sent and later blocked other calls.
Officials did not provide an official reason for the ban, but it may be related to WhatsApp adding support for encrypted conversations that China’s surveillance apparatus cannot break.
Tumblr facing ban in S. Korea
for pornographic content
South Korean officials said they were considering a ban on Tumblr after the company refused to remove pornographic content from its network.
Tumblr received 22,468 requests from the Korean government from January to June related to pornographic content hosted on its blogs but rejected all requests claiming it was based in the US, and had no physical presence in the country, and not subject to Korean laws.
He also pointed out that Tumblr is famous for its loose policies and that’s one of the reasons why the social network is now filled with adult-themed blogs. KCSC said that around 10 percent of Tumbler’s entire content is of pornographic nature.
Internet Explorer bug leaks what
users type in the address bar
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser is affected by a bug that allows rogue sites to detect what the user is typing in his URL address bar.
This includes new URLs where the user might be navigating to, but also search terms that IE automatically handles via a Bing search. Users copy-pasting URLs for Intranet pages inside IE would likely see this bug as a big issue.
The bug, spotted by security researcher Manuel Caballero, poses a privacy risk, as it could be used in reconnaissance operations in targeted attacks, but also for data harvesting by online advertisers.
Caballero also discovered a bug in Internet Explorer that allows malicious code to persist and keep running in the browser’s background even if the user has closed the malicious page’s tab. This bug can cause the user’s computer to slow down and cause premature wear of the user’s processor.
In addition, Caballero has also discovered other security bugs in Microsoft’s Edge, some of which Microsoft addressed, but others didn’t.
Sudden rise detected in Faceliker malware that manipulates Facebook
Cyber-security firms are reporting a surge in detections for Faceliker, a malware strain that can take over browsers and manipulate Facebook “likes” on the behest of a remote party in order to promote social media trends, fake news, and other content.
The malware is usually packed in browser add-ons, and specifically Chrome extensions. Users are lured to pages that promote these rogue extensions, either using email or Facebook Messenger spam.
Bleeping Computer’s Lawrence Abrams observed a similar increase in rogue Chrome extensions during the same period, some of which come with even more malicious features, besides giving “likes” to predetermined Facebook stories.
While Faceliker is a generic term used to describe malware that gives Facebook likes, users should be aware that malware never stands still.
Most of today’s browser hijackers, besides giving Facebook likes, are also equipped with the ability to steal passwords, promote content on other networks, or insert ads or popups on top of legitimate pages.
Facebook offers an activity log for all user accounts. Users who notice strange likes for content they don’t usually “like” should search their browser for extensions they don’t remember installing, scan their computer with a security product, or reach out for help to a professional.