Top 10 Stories

Independent: Confidential information on six "high-profile" personalities on the Garda Pulse computer system was accessed "inappropriately" by members of the force. The multiple access to their details was uncovered by auditors from the Data Protection Office. The findings, in a report published yesterday, were described by Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes and his team as "particularly disturbing" since none of the six had any known "major dealings" with gardai.  

Marketwire: Ping Identity has announced it has acquired accells technologies , a pioneer in context-based mobile authentication. Patented accells technology addresses the lack of security inherent in user-managed passwords and the significant limitations of one-time, token-based solutions. The acquisition allows Ping Identity to quickly incorporate a secure yet simple mobile authentication solution into its comprehensive identity and access management platform. Ping Identity also gains a high-performing team of engineers to drive the organization’s investment in mobile.  

Register: Santander customers say they are continuing to be deluged with Trojans and other junk to email addresses exclusively used with the bank months after the problem first surfaced back in November. At least two Reg readers have put in complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office. But the data privacy watchdog told us that it has "insufficient evidence" to proceed with an inquiry.

Malwarebytes: Most people would agree that browsing pornographic sites is a dangerous thing to do and often leads to all sorts of malware infections. There are a number of reasons why any website can get hacked ranging from poor password hygiene to how valuable of a target it is, the latter often determined by how much traffic it is getting.  

Arstechnica: Two days after Snowden made a surprising appearance at TED in Vancouver, the conference is giving the "other side" a chance to weigh in. NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett made an appearance this morning via video link from Fort Meade, Maryland. He answered 30 minutes of questions in an interview with TED curator Chris Anderson, which was reported by Wired UK, Forbes, and the BBC, among other outlets.  

  Channelnomics: So much for Symantec  4.0. After one too many missteps and missed financial targets, the security and storage vendor known as Big Yellow unceremoniously dumped CEO Steve Bennett on Thursday. Symantec board member Michael Brown takes over as interim president and CEO as the search for a new chief executive begins immediately, company officials said.  

  Verge: The Syrian Electronic Army recently revealed documents that show how much Microsoft charges a secret FBI division to legally collect and view customer information. The SEA, which is known for hacking Western companies and their social media accounts, allowedThe Daily Dot to analyze the emails and invoices documenting months of transactions between Microsoft's Global Criminal Compliance team and the FBI's Digital Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) before the group went public with them. Each time the DITU...

  BBC: A massive worldwide effort is under way to harden the net's clocks against hack attacks. The last few months have seen an "explosion" in the number of attacks abusing unprotected time servers, said security company Arbor.  

Appthority: There will always be a battle between Android and iOS. Whether it is over the devices themselves or over what they can provide the user. People will always find something to argue about with one another. Appthority decided to join in this debate, putting Android apps against iOS to assess both platforms mobile app security. Appthority Mobile App Risk Management Service looked at the top 400 apps offered from both Google and Apple, and then...

  Infosecurity: Edward Snowden was a surprise speaker at TED2014 in Vancouver. Beamed in via a telepresence robot from his exile in Russia, he spoke to TED presenter Chris Anderson, and was joined by 'father of the web' Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Snowden said there is more to come, and that encryption remains the internet's best defense. "The biggest thing that an internet company in America can do today, right now, without consulting lawyers, to protect...