Researchers at WizCase on September 13th found an exposed backend server that exposed data from Microsoft’s Bing mobile app. Data are believed to have been exposed between September 10th and 16th, at which point Microsoft secured the server. ZDNet calls it a rare security misstep for Redmond, but notes that no particularly sensitive PII appear to have been compromised.
Sources tell the Washington Post that a CIA assessment concluded that Russian leaders, including President Putin, were directly involved in attempts to influence the US Presidential election. The Post says President Putin is seeking to “denigrate” former Vice-President Biden.
ByteDance’s arrangement to retain a majority stake in TikTok Global, with most of the remaining shares going, first, to Oracle, and second, to Walmart, may not pass muster with the US Government. According to the New York Times, President Trump wants ByteDance out of the picture: the fraction of ByteDance American investors own won’t suffice to allay security concerns about Chinese control.
The Wall Street Journal sees US concerns about TikTok and WeChat as an instance of a trend toward the Internet's fracturing along national lines. China’s Great Firewall is the best known push toward Internet autarky, but other national and supranational groups are moving, for various reasons, in similar directions. The European Union, Computing reports, is seeking expansive authority to regulate tech companies (and Facebook says, according to Vice, that if it has to put up with restrictive data handling practices, it may just stop doing business in Europe altogether).