Web User - UK (2019-11-27)

27 Nov-10Dec 2019 17

Q

Whyare there

privacyconcerns

over5Gphone

masts in theUK?

Nick Hutton,Twitter

A

Thenewsthatthe

UK government

will no longerneed

permiss ionfromlocal

councilsbeforeinstalling

5G phonemasts is amajor

Trend Microinsidersells

customerdatatoscammers

Arogue agent at

Trend Microhas been

selling itscustomers’

data tounknown

criminal thirdparties,

the cybersecurity

companyhasdisclosed.

Ablogpostonthe company’s

website(bit.ly/trendblog4 89 )

revealed thataTrend Microemployee

wasdiscoveredtohaveharvested

the personal details of around

70,000 customers, which theythen

sold toan“unknown third-party

malicious actor”.

Theinsider infiltrated aTrend Micro

customer-supportdatabase

containingnames, email addresses,

support-ticket numbersand some

customers’ telephone numbers.

Thecompanystatedthatithas found

“no indication” thatthe culprit

accessed anyfinancialor payment

causeforconcern.

5Gtechnologyuses

sub-millimetrewavesthat

cantrackconsumersto

within ametre of their

physical location and,

because of therapid speeds

delivered,devices and apps

will be able to relayhuge

amountsofconsumer data.

Compared to existing

technology ,the sub-

millimetrewavesemployed

by 5G technology dissipate

very quickly, so manymore

mastsare needed to geta5G

networkupand running.

What’smore, thesewaves

can’tpenetratebuildings,

and even encountersignal

problems when anobject –

suchas abus –getsinthe

way. It’s therefore necessary

to have relayantennas

locatedupevery street and

even throughoutbuildings to

bouncethe 5G signalalong

to itsdesired endpoint.

Thisvastnumber of masts

will make it much easierto

track individuals, which will

create seriousprivacy

implications.Concerns

existnot onlyoverthe

potentialfor 5G to be used

by companies to

persistently monitor

consumers, to servethem

personalisedads basedon

wheretheyare and what

they aredoing,but also for

thetechnologytobe

harnessed by government

agencies to accura tely

trackpeople asthey move

aroundlocations where5G

hasbeenrolle dout.

News about the latest threats and advicefrom security experts

Stay SafeOnline

SECURITY ALERT! |What’sbeenbothering usthis fortnight

Security Helpdesk |Your questionsansweredbysecurityspecialists

information, butsaid thatthe attack

exclusively affectedhome users of its

security products, rather than its

businessorgovernment clients.

TrendMicrowas firstalerted tothe

issue in August, when customers

complained about fraudulentcallsfrom

scammers claimingtorepresent Trend

Microsupport agents. The subsequent

investigation identified aspecific

employee,whowas immediately locked

out of thesystemanddismissed.

bit.ly/micro48 9

Hackersuse fakesummons

to spread malware

Anew phishing

campaign is targeting

webusers withemails

thatclaimto be from

the Ministry ofJustice,

but infect the victim

with data-stealing

malware. Uncoveredbyresearchers

at cybersecuritycompanyCofense,

the scam statesthatthe recipienthas

been issued acourt summonsandasks

them toclickalinktosee moredetails

about thecase,givin gthem 14days

tocomply.

Theenclosedlink usestrusted

sources–namely GoogleDocs and

Microsoft OneDrive–toredirect the

victim toamalicious macro-laden

Microsoft Wordfile,which downloads

aformof malwarecalledPredator

the Thief.This is abletosteal

usernames, passwords, browser data

and the contents ofcryptocurrency

wallets, as well astakephotos usinga

webcam, beforeself-destructing and

removinganyevidencethatit was

thereinthefirstplace.

Thephishingemailrefers toa

‘subpoena’, acommonAmericanterm

no longer used bythe UKcourt

system. So far,the scam hasmostly

targeted employees in theinsurance

and retail industries.

bit.ly/cofense48 9

5G technologycan trackconsumersto

within ametre of their physical location

THISISSUE’SEXPERT:

RayWalsh,Digital

Privacy Expertat

ProPrivacy

(proprivacy.com )