database

Apple today released, as promised, an iOS update addressing location-tracking behavior, and the security of that information on its portable devices.

iOS 4.3.3, which is a free update delivered through Apple's iTunes software, reduces the size of the "crowdsourced" location cache, no longer backs up the cache to iTunes in the form of a device recovery image, and deletes the cache when a user turns Location Services off.

Two of those issues--the size of the database, and the failure to delete the cache from the device--Apple had called "bugs" when addressing the issue … Read more

Security company Barracuda Networks was itself hit by a security breach over the weekend that exposed certain information from its databases.

An unknown hacker, who apparently took credit for the break-in, launched an attack that exposed a list of Barracuda databases along with the names, phone numbers, and e-mail address of various Barracuda partners.

The attack also uncovered the e-mail addresses of different Barracuda employees along with their passwords. Though the passwords were encrypted, they were done so using a hashing algorithm called MD5, which is considered by many to be a flawed and outdated encryption method.

The attacker grabbed … Read more

For some reason, I am reminded of Eric Schmidt's dictum.

You know, the one that went something like: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

It comes to mind because someone whose motivations seem slightly troubling has taken it upon himself to be the Julian Assange of porn.

For there now exists a site called PornWikiLeaks, on which, as you might be able to imagine, certain intimate details of porn stars are displayed for all to see.

The site doesn't … Read more

Much of the recent concern about the Web's lack of privacy protections has focused on Facebook--rightly or wrongly. Just a few days ago, Chris Matyszczyk described in his Technically Incorrect blog how a man blackmailed women into providing him with revealing photos by breaking into their e-mail accounts using data he collected from their public Facebook profiles and searching for racy image attachments, which he threatened to make public.

(In August 2009 I described how to keep your Facebook profile private, and while some of the settings have changed since that time, the steps are about the same.)

The … Read more

On the Web, your life is an open book. Typing a name or telephone number into one of the many free online directories may disclose a person's age, previous cities of residence, and the names of close relatives.

If you're willing to pay a few dollars, you may be able to find the person's date of birth, current and past addresses, photos, videos, estimated annual income, the value of their residence, and social network profiles (although much of this information is available for free as well). Fee-based services also check public records for the person's criminal … Read more

Windows indexes your computer's files, folders, and drives to speed up searches, but to really exploit the power of indexing, you need a dedicated indexing and search tool, preferably one that's fast, powerful, and easy to use. Free would be nice, too. Index Your Files fits the job description. It searches by date, size, Boolean operators, file extension, and more. It finds stuff fast not only by filtering searches but also by searching only those indexed databases you specify. You can create and search as many databases as you need.

Index Your Files is easy to use, but … Read more

Movie lovers usually end up with big video collections, not to mention big trivia collections. Coollector Movie Database can help you manage both your collection and your obsession. Its Movie Encyclopedia is an ever-growing database of tens of thousands of films and hundreds of TV shows, including credits. There's also a personal Owned Videos database, as well as an Existing Videos feature that automatically scans various merchants and displays video titles in print in various formats; it even computes and displays the best price for each. It's free, too.

Coollector's interface is split into side-by-side panels, with … Read more

You don't have to own a Mac to use FileMaker's new Bento for iPad, but if you do, wireless sync adds extra incentive to take your personal databases on the go.

Bento offers iPad users a portable personal database for storing everything from birthdays and home expenses to recipes and an exercise log, with 25 templates to get you started. Integration with the address book, dialer, Safari browser, e-mail inbox, and Google Maps make Bento a useful iPhone app offering that could become a master storehouse for your separate lists; and one that quickly facilitates calls, mapping, and … Read more

McDonald's has disclosed that one of its customer databases was hacked but insists that no financial information was stolen in the breach.

The fast food chain reported yesterday that the hacker was able to grab e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, and other customer information of people who signed up online for special promotions. In a statement e-mailed to CNET, the company said that no credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or other sensitive financial data were compromised.

McDonald's said it was informed of the breach by one of its business partners, Arc Worldwide, which had collected … Read more