Security News for the Week Ending August 16, 2019

Unencrypted Biometric Data Database Found

A database called Biostar2,  of the fingerprints and face Scans of over a million people that are used by police, defense contractors and banks was found unencrypted and exposed on the Internet.  That was bad enough.

Then the article said that the database included user names, passwords and other personal information.  Can this get worse?

Yes.  The database was writable, so a hacker could add names to it.  How could that possibly be used for bad purposes?

The story goes downhill from there.  Source: UK Computing.

Is Your MacBook Allowed to Fly?

15 inch MacBook Pros purchased between September 2015 and February 2 017 are now banned from airliners by the FAA, even in the cabin due to the risk of catching fire.  I am not sure how the airlines plan to deal with this ban as it is basically serial number related.  In any case, if you own one, Apple will repair it for free, so you probably should do that.  Source: PCMag.

Capital One Hacker Breached Many Companies

Paige Thompson, the hacker being charged in the Capital One breach, may have hacked as many as 30 companies, although the Justice Department is not saying who.  Media reports say the companies include Vodafone, Ford, Michigan State University and the Ohio Department of Transportation, among others.  I am guessing that at some point these organizations will be forced to disclose that they were breached.  Source: Techcrunch.

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