Using Big Data In The Fight Against Coronavirus

Big Data

One of the advantages we have today in the fight against coronavirus that wasn’t as sophisticated in the SARS outbreak of 2003 is big data and the high level of technology available. China tapped into big data, machine learning, and other digital tools as the virus spread through the nation in order to track and contain the outbreak. The lessons learned there have continued to spread across the world as other countries fight the spread of the virus and use digital technology to develop real-time forecasts and arm healthcare professionals…

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New Increased access pushes for mobile Network Signals penetration

MTN Rwanda

Increased access to mobile network signals and exciting product offers by operators continue to drive consumers to own more than one SIM card to take advantage of the diverse services, a report by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows. The Sector Statistics Report covering July-September 2019 shows mobile subscriptions are on the upward trajectory standing at 53.2 million, and in effect, pushing the mobile penetration in the country to 11.2 per cent. In the recent years, the Authority has also continued to put in place interventions to enhance access…

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Millions of Instagram influencers new data scraped and exposed.

TechCruch has detailed massive database leak containing contact information of millions of Instagram influencers, celebrities and brand accounts has been found online. The database, hosted by Amazon Web Services, was left exposed and without a password allowing anyone to look inside. At the time of writing, the database had over 49 million records — but was growing by the hour. From a brief review of the data, each record contained public data scraped from influencer Instagram accounts, including their bio, profile picture, the number of followers they have, if they’re…

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Facebook handed over 150 New companies intrusive access to your data

Facebook gave over 150 companies almost unfetted intrusive access to users’ data than previously admitted, exempting them from its usual privacy rules, according to the New York Times. It has emerged that companies like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, and Yandex had special arrangements to retain access to users’ data (and data on their friends), despite platform changes in 2014 that restricted the practice. For example: — Netflix and Spotify were able to read users’ private messages — Microsoft had access to the names of virtually all users’ friends, without consent…

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Facebook reportedly gave Apple, Samsung New unfettered access to user data.

Facebook gave Apple, Samsung, BlackBerry and other device makers detailed access to user data and may have potentially violated a 2011 FTC consent degree according to the New York Times. The social network struck partnerships with at least 60 device makers so that they could offer messaging, “Like” buttons and other features without the need for an app. However, an NYT reporter found that the BlackBerry Hub, for one, was able to glean private data from 556 of his friends, including their religious and political leanings and events they planned…

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LinkedIn loses legal right to block startup from public profile data

A Judge on Monday ruled that an analytics company has the right to scrape data from LinkedIn . HiQ, the data gatherer, has been processing publicly available data from LinkedIn and using it to train AI models, until May when LinkedIn demanded it stop.  U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction request brought by hiQ Labs, and ordered LinkedIn to remove within 24 hours any technology preventing hiQ from accessing public profiles in a test of how much control a social media site can wield…

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Are Data Brokers Actually Secure?

Are you an internet privacy fanatic? Do you block browser tracking cookies? Do you use Duck Duck Go for anonymous web searches? It doesn’t matter now. Your internet service provider (ISP) or your browser extensions can collect and sell your web-browsing history even if you take the above precautions. And anyone who obtains that data, whether the data is anonymized or not, will likely be able to figure out your real name and see exactly what you do online. Back in March the well-publicised repeal of Obama’s broadband privacy regulations…

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WikiLeaks announces tech firm cooperation

wikileaks

The anti-secrecy platform WikiLeaks has said it would work with tech firms to fix security flaws before publishing them. Customers’ trust in firms like Google and Apple has already been eroded by the Snowden leaks. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and other major tech companies have been faced with new dilemmas by the latest WikiLeaks release. The “Vault 7” dump of CIA files has exposed a number of security breaches in their software, which US intelligence has exploited and kept secret so that it can continue to hack into smartphones, computers,…

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Use of Ad-Blocking Software Rises by 30% Worldwide

ad blocker

People are increasingly using the technology on their mobile devices and computers to block intrusive advertisements while surfing the web. Facebook has tried to ban it. Google has attempted to outsmart it. But no matter what these tech giants do, people’s use of software to block digital advertising — often the lifeblood of companies’ online business models — keeps gaining traction worldwide. According to New York Times, roughly 11 percent of internet users globally relied on ad blockers to avoid some form of digital advertising last year when surfing the…

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Big data can drive the future of cyber security

Data

Data science experts and big data enthusiasts are excited and prepared for a future that’s becoming increasingly connected to the web. Some techniques used to harness this raw information, such as data mining, help give us an insight into the future of cybersecurity and what areas may pique interest moving forward. A major benefit that big data provides in the realm of cybersecurity is the ability to monitor and track systems, usually contained within the cloud, for irregularities and potential breaches. Cloud Security Information and Event Management (CSIEM) allows users…

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