The US Department of Homeland Security has scrapped its proposal to expand facial recognition scans to US citizens entering and leaving the country, according to TechCrunch. TechCrunch cites a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as saying that the measure was considered "because having separate processes for foreign nationals and U.S. citizens at ports of entry creates logistical and operational challenges that impact security, wait times and the traveler experience....Upon consultation with Congress and privacy experts, however, CBP determined that the best course of action is to continue to allow U.S. citizens to voluntarily participate in the biometric entry-exit program."
Mitchel Van der K, a Dutch copywriter who had just been voted onto the Almere city council, was arrested for hacking into hundreds of iCloud accounts in order to steal nude photos and financial data, Naked Security reports. Van der K cracked the passwords of accounts belonging to women he knew as well as celebrities, and in some cases leaked their intimate photos online. He claims he hacked their accounts because an unknown extortionist forced him to do so, but the public prosecutor isn't buying this excuse.
Singapore's privacy watchdog fined a local software development company $60,000 for creating vulnerabilities in a school's attendance system that allowed hackers to steal the names, NRIC numbers, addresses, and contact numbers of approximately 47,800 students, parents, and teachers. The Straits Times says the software company took down a firewall to fix an issue in the system, and then forgot to put it back up when they were finished.