WhatsApp Messages Disappear | Military Buys Muslim App Data | Britain Bets Billions On Space Surveillance

Plus: Hacked Vacuum Cleaner Can Record Your Conversations

If you're wondering what the future of surveillance looks like, point your eyes to the skies or down at your phone.

Last week the U.K. government announced a huge multi-billion boost to its space warfare program. Following President Trump, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his country's version of the Space Force, part of a pledge to spend more than any administration on the military since the Cold War. This will likely mean British satellites and rockets will be sent up into orbit soon to look down on the planet and guide the country's military actions on the ground below. Space companies like Planet, Maxar and Airbus can all expect to make a fortune as soon as Johnson's words turn into actions.

But back down to earth, the U.S. military is looking to do surveillance through a very different set of vendors: companies who buy and sell location information from your mobile apps. Thanks to stellar reporting from Joseph Cox at Vice, we now know the names of some of those companies and the apps from which they're buying location data before passing it onto the government. It's a powerful new tool in the U.S. government's surveillance arsenal, though one that poses the question: Are your apps giving your location away to American spies?

The Big Story

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Chris Krebs, who led the DHS CISA efforts to protect the 2020 election from hackers, was fired over Twitter by President Trump. Krebs already expected to be fired after his work on preventing any election interference incensed the outgoing president.

Manchester United, the famous soccer team, confirmed it was hacked, but said no fan data was compromised. Greater Manchester Police investigators said they were aware of the incident and were looking into the matter.

Smart doorbells are easy to hack, according to analysis from British consumer rights body Which. Many were available on eBay and Amazon, and had poor encryption and password policies, leaving the door open for criminals and snoops alike.

A fake Zoom invite has proven to be the downfall of an Australian hedge fund, according to the Australian Financial Review. Criminals tricked a fund manager into clicking on a malicious Zoom link, which ended up installing malware on the company network. The criminals used that access to take control of the company's email system and send bogus invoices that were approved and left the business $8.7 million worse off.

Tesla Powerwalls might be a great way to be responsible with your power usage, but don't leave them online. Hundreds were found exposed on the internet and locatable with simple Google searches. It might allow hackers into people's homes and not in the good way...

Winner Of The Week

Dutch journalist Daniel Verlaan used some initiative to gatecrash a supposedly-private video conference of EU defense officials after he noticed a minister post some login information on Twitter. Verlaan may find his way into the Loser of the Week category soon, though, given there are questions over the legality of what he did. Whatever happens, Verlaan at least highlighted the risk of posting login details on the web and the potential exposure of sensitive EU meetings in the time of Covid-19 remote working.

Loser Of The Week

Fleets. Outside of being Twitter's very late attempt to compete with Instagram Stories, Fleets may have a privacy issue already. The disappearing stories don't actually disappear properly, according to a public disclosure, and can be accessed by anyone with some basic technical nous. Maybe Fleets will just be a fleeting fad, maybe not, but basic security and privacy should be a must for all tech companies, and especially giants like Twitter. At least it's working on a fix.