Twitter Inc., the microblogging service with about 190 million visitors per month, agreed to settle a U.S. government complaint that security lapses allowed hackers to view private messages and send “tweets” from other people’s accounts.
Failures in the company’s data security allowed hackers to gain administrative control of Twitter, the Federal Trade Commission said in a statement today announcing its complaint and settlement. One hacker sent a bogus tweet in January 2009 from the account of then-President-elect Barack Obama offering his followers a chance to win $500 in free gasoline.
San Francisco-based Twitter, which is closely held, allows users to send tweets, or messages of up to 140 characters. Privacy settings allow users to designate some tweets as private.
“When a company promises consumers that their personal information is secure, it must live up to that promise,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the statement. “Likewise, a company that allows consumers to designate their information as private must use reasonable security to uphold such designations.”
The company said in a blog posting that the attacks on the site resulted in 45 accounts being accessed in January 2009 and 10 in April last year. The company said it moved quickly to address the security issues then.
via Twitter Settles U.S. Charges Over Hacker Attacks – BusinessWeek.
Posted by Global EDD Group on January 4, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating the privacy and security implications of cloud computing, according to a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission.
The FTC, which shares jurisdiction over broadband issues, says it recognizes the potential cost-savings cloud computing can provide. “However, the storage of data on remote computers may also raise privacy and security concerns for consumers,” wrote David Vladeck, who helms the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau.
“For example, the ability of cloud computing services to collect and centrally store increasing amounts of consumer data, combined with the ease with which such centrally stored data may be shared with others, create a risk that larger amounts of data may be used by entities not originally intended or understood by consumers,” the filing says.
The FTC is also looking at identity management systems — i.e., how people authenticate their identities when logging into websites — and how they can better protect citizens’ privacy.
via FTC set to examine cloud computing – The Hill’s Hillicon Valley.
Filed under Tech Bytes · Tagged with cloud, Computing, David Vladeck, Federal, federal communications commission, federal trade commission, FTC, Hillicon Valley, privacy, remote computers, security implications, The Hill
