Six-year-old Skirts Biometric Login; How Hackers Use Stolen Credit Data

Posted December 27th, 2016 at 11:48 am (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - A person uses a sensor for biometric identification on a smartphone in Berlin, Germany Oct. 16, 2015.

FILE – A person uses a sensor for biometric identification on a smartphone in Berlin, Germany Oct. 16, 2015.

Child Uses Sleeping Mom’s Fingerprints to Buy Pokémon Gifts

Biometrics are supposed to offer better security for your mobile devices. But no one probably expected that Bethany Howell’s six-year-old daughter, in Arkansas, would borrow her fingerprint while she slept to buy $250 of Pokémon Christmas gifts. The child, Ashlynd, later admitted she had made the purchases. The Federal Trade Commission (FCC) has previously accused Apple, Google and Amazon of making it easy for children to make online purchases.

Dear Tech Companies: Stop Shipping Unfinished Products

As New Year resolutions go, writer Sean Hollister wants tech companies to stop shipping beta or unfinished versions of their products in an effort to make it to market first. Noting 2016’s exploding batteries and drones falling from the sky, among other things, Hollister said companies unfairly expect consumers to buy buggy products, then help them fix them. But he also blamed consumers for lusting after the greatest gadgets, even though manufacturers are unable to deliver all the promised features.

What Identity Thieves Do With Stolen Credit Cards

Cyber identity thieves are getting away with all kinds of personal information these days, not just credit card accounts. But once they get their hands on credit card data, they either use it to siphon money or sell the information to other hackers. Here’s what happens when your credit card information is stolen.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

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