Do you use Facebook? This episode is ‘must listen’ for you! Facebook has a new ‘Protection’ product that is the opposite of protection, or at least the opposite of privacy.  Actually, it meets the definition of spyware. We will tell you what information they want to collect about you, and how to avoid this feature. Also, we talk to the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Global Cyber Alliance, Phil Reitinger, who talks about how his non-profit is providing high-quality free tools (no kidding, really free!) to help you stay safe online!

And, we talk about our FREE ebook, available at: https://diycyberguy.com/free/

Phil Reitinger is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), a unique, cross-sector, transnational, not-for-profit organization dedicated to eradicating cyber-risk and improving the safety and security of our connected world. Prior to joining GCA, Phil served as the President of VisionSpear LLC and as a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  He serves on the advisory boards of several companies, and mentors other cybersecurity and privacy start-ups.  He has served in both government and industry in senior cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection roles.  From 2009-2011, he was the Deputy Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security.  He has also served as Sony’s Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategist at Microsoft Corporation, the first Executive Director of the Department of Defense’s Cyber Crime Center, and the Deputy Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the Department of Justice.  Phil currently serves on the New York Governor’s Cyber Security Advisory Board and the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security’s Advisory Committee.  Phil holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Vanderbilt University and a law degree from Yale Law School.

** Philip’s non-profit organization: https://www.globalcyberalliance.org/

** Philip’s twitter feed: https://twitter.com/CarpeDiemCyber

Show Notes:

Don’t use Facebook “Protect”

Hair on fire 5 of 5!

To provide this layer of protection, Onavo uses a VPN to establish a secure connection to direct all of your network communications through Onavo’s servers. As part of this process, Onavo collects your mobile data traffic. This helps us improve and operate the Onavo service by analyzing your use of websites, apps and data. Because we’re part of Facebook, we also use this info to improve Facebook products and services, gain insights into the products and services people value, and build better experiences.

-Onavo App description

• Facebook sells data it collects about you;
• Onavo can share all of its data with Facebook
• Onavo collects data – inappropriate for a VPN (appropriate for spyware)
• Conclusion don’t give Facebook more data!
• If you have Onovo, uninstall it today!

Here is where it is:

• Facebook iOS app
• Three horixonatal lines in bottom right
• “Protect”

Good news: it is not “on” automatically. In fact, you have to download an app to make it work. Bad news: 33 MILLION installs of Onavo according to Sensor Tower.

Sources:

https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/12/facebook-starts-pushing-its-data-tracking-onavo-vpn-within-its-main-mobile-app/