TEST: Is Your Browser Safe Against TRACKING ?

[PatColo]

Should you keep using WhatsApp? Plus five tips to start the year with your digital privacy intact

We spoke to convicted hacker turned security consultant Kevin Mitnick to find out how to maintain your security online

Security expert Kevin Mitnick’s top tip for protecting your privacy online is use a password manager. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Shelley Hepworth
@shelleymiranda
Fri 15 Jan 2021 14.00 EST

If you use the popular messaging service WhatsApp you may have noticed a pop-up message in recent days asking you to accept the service’s new terms and conditions by 8 February in order to continue using it.

The update has prompted calls for users to leave the popular messaging service in favour of alternatives such as Signal and Telegram. And on Friday a legal challenge on privacy grounds was filed against WhatsApp in India, the service’s biggest market. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reported an influx of 25 million global users to the rival service since the announcement was made.

Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

But what do the new terms and conditions mean for you? We asked former most-wanted hacker turned security consultant Kevin Mitnick which messaging app he prefers – and to share his tips to set yourself up for a cyber-safe 2021.

“I prefer Signal because I know the developer behind the original project, and I know that Signal has been tested in the security community,” Mitnick says. “I believe Telegram has too, and I use Telegram, but not for secure messages.”

You can read WhatsApp’s Q&A about the changes here, but the main thing to know is that messages remain end-to-end encrypted and WhatsApp maintains that neither it, nor anyone else, has access to the content of messages between friends, family and groups. WhatsApp also says it doesn’t keep records of your call logs, share your contacts with Facebook and can’t see your shared location.

WhatsApp users are really Facebook customers now – it's getting harder to forget that
Alex Hern
Read more

What has changed is privacy around the content of communication between individuals and businesses that use Facebook hosting services, which will now be accessible to those businesses for their own marketing purposes. As the Guardian’s UK technology editor, Alex Hern, points out the changes aren’t huge, but they do mark a step down the road of a long-term plan to integrate the chat app with Facebook.

At the end of the day choosing a messaging app is a personal preference and Mitnick says as long as the service uses end-to-end encryption and its policies protect your privacy you should be OK. Nevertheless, Mitnick says he has “never communicated a secure message over WhatsApp”.

While choosing a messaging service is an important choice, there are other ways you can ensure your digital security. Here are Mitnick’s top five tips for protecting your privacy online.

1. moar @ https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...privacy-intact

[monty]

Should you keep using WhatsApp? Plus five tips to start the year with your digital privacy intact

We spoke to convicted hacker turned security consultant Kevin Mitnick to find out how to maintain your security online

Security expert Kevin Mitnick’s top tip for protecting your privacy online is use a password manager. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Shelley Hepworth
@shelleymiranda
Fri 15 Jan 2021 14.00 EST

If you use the popular messaging service WhatsApp you may have noticed a pop-up message in recent days asking you to accept the service’s new terms and conditions by 8 February in order to continue using it.

The update has prompted calls for users to leave the popular messaging service in favour of alternatives such as Signal and Telegram. And on Friday a legal challenge on privacy grounds was filed against WhatsApp in India, the service’s biggest market. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reported an influx of 25 million global users to the rival service since the announcement was made.

Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

But what do the new terms and conditions mean for you? We asked former most-wanted hacker turned security consultant Kevin Mitnick which messaging app he prefers – and to share his tips to set yourself up for a cyber-safe 2021.

“I prefer Signal because I know the developer behind the original project, and I know that Signal has been tested in the security community,” Mitnick says. “I believe Telegram has too, and I use Telegram, but not for secure messages.”

You can read WhatsApp’s Q&A about the changes here, but the main thing to know is that messages remain end-to-end encrypted and WhatsApp maintains that neither it, nor anyone else, has access to the content of messages between friends, family and groups. WhatsApp also says it doesn’t keep records of your call logs, share your contacts with Facebook and can’t see your shared location.

WhatsApp users are really Facebook customers now – it's getting harder to forget that
Alex Hern
Read more

What has changed is privacy around the content of communication between individuals and businesses that use Facebook hosting services, which will now be accessible to those businesses for their own marketing purposes. As the Guardian’s UK technology editor, Alex Hern, points out the changes aren’t huge, but they do mark a step down the road of a long-term plan to integrate the chat app with Facebook.

At the end of the day choosing a messaging app is a personal preference and Mitnick says as long as the service uses end-to-end encryption and its policies protect your privacy you should be OK. Nevertheless, Mitnick says he has “never communicated a secure message over WhatsApp”.

While choosing a messaging service is an important choice, there are other ways you can ensure your digital security. Here are Mitnick’s top five tips for protecting your privacy online.

1. moar @ https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...privacy-intact

How WhatsApp will Zuck you

https://youtu.be/I6Fbjr2WfFw