A humorous — however true — joke at TechCrunch is that the safety desk would possibly as nicely be referred to as the Division of Dangerous Information, since, nicely, have you ever seen what we’ve lined of late? There’s a endless provide of devastating breaches, pervasive surveillance and dodgy startups flogging the downright harmful.

Generally although — albeit not often — there are glimmers of hope that we need to share. Not least as a result of doing the fitting factor, even (and particularly) within the face of adversity, helps make the cyber-realm that little bit safer.

Bangladesh thanked a safety researcher for citizen knowledge leak discovery

When a safety researcher discovered {that a} Bangladeshi authorities web site was leaking the private info of its residents, clearly one thing was amiss. Viktor Markopoulos discovered the uncovered knowledge due to an inadvertently cached Google search outcome, which uncovered citizen names, addresses, cellphone numbers and nationwide id numbers from the affected web site. TechCrunch verified that the Bangladeshi authorities web site was leaking knowledge, however efforts to alert the federal government division have been initially met with silence. The information was so delicate, TechCrunch couldn’t say which authorities division was leaking the information, as this would possibly expose the information additional.

That’s when the nation’s pc emergency incident response group, often known as CIRT, received in contact and confirmed the leaking database had been fastened. The information was spilling from none apart from the nation’s start, loss of life and marriage registrar workplace. CIRT confirmed in a public discover that it had resolved the information spill and that it left “no stone unturned” to know how the leak occurred. Governments seldom deal with their scandals nicely, however an electronic mail from the federal government to the researcher thanking them for his or her discovering and reporting the bug reveals the federal government’s willingness to have interaction over cybersecurity the place many different international locations is not going to.

Apple throwing the kitchen sink at its spy ware downside

It’s been greater than a decade since Apple dropped its now-infamous declare that Macs don’t get PC viruses (which whereas technically true, these phrases have plagued the corporate for years). Today probably the most urgent menace to Apple units is business spy ware, developed by personal corporations and offered to governments, which might punch a gap in our telephones’ safety defenses and steal our knowledge. It takes braveness to confess an issue, however Apple did precisely that by rolling out Speedy Safety Response fixes to repair safety bugs actively exploited by spy ware makers.

Apple rolled out its first emergency “hotfix” earlier this 12 months to iPhones, iPads and Macs. The concept was to roll out important patches that may very well be put in with out at all times having to reboot the system (arguably the ache level for the security-minded). Apple additionally has a setting referred to as Lockdown Mode, which limits sure system options on an Apple system which can be usually focused by spy ware. Apple says it’s not conscious of anybody utilizing Lockdown Mode who was subsequently hacked. In truth, safety researchers say that Lockdown Mode has actively blocked ongoing focused hacks.

Taiwan’s authorities didn’t blink earlier than intervening after company knowledge leak

When a safety researcher advised TechCrunch {that a} ridesharing service referred to as iRent — run by Taiwanese automotive large Hotai Motors — was spilling real-time updating buyer knowledge to the web, it appeared like a easy repair. However after every week of emailing the corporate to resolve the continuing knowledge spill — which included buyer names, cellphone numbers and electronic mail addresses, and scans of buyer licenses — TechCrunch by no means heard again. It wasn’t till we contacted the Taiwanese authorities for assist disclosing the incident that we received a response instantly.

Inside an hour of contacting the federal government, Taiwan’s minister for digital affairs Audrey Tang advised TechCrunch by electronic mail that the uncovered database had been flagged with Taiwan’s pc emergency incident response group, TWCERT, and was pulled offline. The velocity at which the Taiwanese authorities responded was breathtakingly quick, however that wasn’t the tip of it. Taiwan subsequently fined Hotai Motors for failing to guard the information of greater than 400,000 clients, and was ordered to enhance its cybersecurity. In its aftermath, Taiwan’s vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan mentioned the wonderful of about $6,600 was “too mild” and proposed a change to the regulation that will enhance knowledge breach fines by tenfold.

Leaky U.S. courtroom file methods sparked the proper of alarm

On the coronary heart of any judicial system is its courtroom data system, the tech stack used for submitting and storing delicate authorized paperwork for courtroom instances. These methods are sometimes on-line and searchable, whereas proscribing entry to information that might in any other case jeopardize an ongoing continuing. However when safety researcher Jason Parker discovered a number of courtroom file methods with extremely easy bugs that have been exploitable utilizing solely an internet browser, Parker knew they needed to see that these bugs have been fastened.

Parker discovered and disclosed eight safety vulnerabilities in courtroom data methods utilized in 5 U.S. states — and that was simply of their first batch disclosure. A number of the flaws have been fastened and a few stay excellent, and the responses from states have been blended. Florida’s Lee County took the heavy-handed (and self-owning) place of threatening the safety researcher with Florida’s anti-hacking legal guidelines. However the disclosures additionally despatched the proper of alarm. A number of state CISOs and officers answerable for courtroom data methods throughout the U.S. noticed the disclosure as a chance to examine their very own courtroom file methods for vulnerabilities. Govtech is damaged (and is desperately underserved), however having researchers like Parker discovering and disclosing must-patch flaws makes the web safer — and the judicial system fairer — for everybody.

Google killed geofence warrants, even when it was higher late than by no means

It was Google’s greed pushed by adverts and perpetual progress that set the stage for geofence warrants. These so-called “reverse” search warrants enable police and authorities businesses to dumpster dive into Google’s huge shops of customers’ location knowledge to see if anybody was within the neighborhood on the time against the law was dedicated. However the constitutionality (and accuracy) of those reverse-warrants have been referred to as into query and critics have referred to as on Google to place an finish to the surveillance follow it largely created to start with. After which, simply earlier than the vacation season, the present of privateness: Google mentioned it might start storing location knowledge on customers’ units and never centrally, successfully ending the flexibility for police to acquire real-time location from its servers.

Google’s transfer just isn’t a panacea, and doesn’t undo the years of harm (or cease police from raiding historic knowledge saved by Google). But it surely would possibly nudge different corporations additionally topic to those sorts of reverse-search warrants — good day Microsoft, Snap, Uber and Yahoo (TechCrunch’s guardian firm) — to comply with go well with and cease storing customers’ delicate knowledge in a approach that makes it accessible to authorities calls for.