AWS backtracks on its TikTok warning, iOS apps keep crashing thanks to Facebook, and Microsoft stomps out a nasty fraud campaign targeting CEOs. NOTE: This podcast was recorded prior to AWS’ update on TikTok this weekend.
It’s Monday, July 13, and I’m your host, Alex Coop.
Amazon orders employees to remove TikTok from phones ‘due to security risks’ from technology
Want to access your Amazon email? Delete TikTok, the tech giant told all of its employees recently. The Information first reported that Amazon sent an email to its employees July 10 which said “Due to security risks, the TikTok app is no longer permitted on mobile devices that access Amazon email.” The email continues … “If you have TikTok on your device, you must remove it by 10-Jul to retain mobile access to Amazon email. At this time, using TikTok from your Amazon laptop browser is allowed.” TikTok was recently caught snooping on user clipboard data when running in the background, potentially exposing passwords and other sensitive data.
This episode is brought to you by Digital Transformation Week, taking place between July 13 and 16. Hashtag Trending will be delivering you some of the highlights throughout the week, so don’t miss out. Now, back to the show.
TikTok, Spotify, Tinder, and many other iOS apps are crashing again due to a Facebook issue from technology
Oh Facebook, you can’t stop being in the news, can you? It turns out a number of popular apps and services like Spotify, Pinterest, and Tinder were completely inaccessible late last week on iOS devices due to a now-resolved issue involving Facebook log-ins. Reporting since then suggests the cause of the outages was likely due to Facebook’s software development kit which many apps use to manage user logins. To be clear, users don’t have to be using Facebook to log into an app for this to affect their software – they don’t even have to have it installed. The problem did not appear to impact Android users at all.
And lastly, Ars Technica recently reported that Microsoft successfully stomped out a large-scale fraud campaign that used knockoff domains and malicious apps to scam customers, mostly CEOs and other high-level execs, in 62 countries. The software and cloud-service provider giant last week obtained a court order that allowed it to seize six domains, five of which contained the word “office.” Microsoft says attackers used them in a sophisticated campaign designed to trick CEOs and leaders into wiring large sums of money to attackers rather than trusted parties. Good job Microsoft.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening
