No need to panic, says SwiftKey, as email addresses, phone numbers appear on strangers' screens SwiftKey has shut down the cloud synchronization feature of its keyboard app after people reported seeing strangers' email addresses and phone numbers on their phone screens. The Microsoft-owned biz insists there isn't a problem with its security. For the past few days, users have complained that SwiftKey's next-word …
This happens post Microsoft, coincidence?
Well ..
The Microsoft-owned biz insists there isn't a problem with its security. (from the article)
Yup - it's now definitely a Microsoft organisation. MS has been ignoring security for something close to 3 decades. That may change with W10, as it no longer needs to leave problems in the code to get you to buy the next version but I reckon it's hard to change such a habit..
Wasn't aware of sale to Microsoft, but this has been happening here, in lesser form for a couple of years. I've spent time weeding predictions obviously from someone else's prediction cloud. Some one, probably fairly soon will discover the flipped bit(s) and it'll fade away without any admissions from Microsoft. 'Cloud Situation Normal.'
Oh good, nothing important then. Not to worry. Carry on.
Sorry, but if only one user is affected by this issue it is still important to get it solved.
Go on trying to PR your way out ; anyone with a brain has already marked you down as an outfit to avoid.
Of course, given the number of people who don't have a brain, your future is still bright.
"The SwiftKey psychic keyboard stores your past keystrokes in the cloud and uses them to suggest words specifically for you before you type them – it's a personally tailored text-prediction system."
........Am I alone in thinking that the only thing worse than using this service, is using it and signing in with a Googoyle ID, WTF???
"So it appears there's been a cockup in SwiftKey's cloud systems, where private information gathered on users is being mixed up with other users – a potential privacy nightmare, in other words."
........Schadenfreude doesn't cut it today...
"The company has now put out a statement acknowledging that the software is bugged, but says there is no need to panic and that having other people's phone numbers and email addresses appear on random strangers' phones isn't a security matter."
........You deserve everything you get SwiftKey users. Enjoy!
The one saving grace there might be is if the "wrong" predictions are un-connected. If you're getting an email address for one person and the telephone number for another, how much does it matter? If there is no link, how could you use them for password recovery? And it is arguable that security should not depend on keeping those details secret
Cloud is better because cloud.
Cloud!
The only possible reason I can think of is for MS to keyboard scrape everyone. There is no other possible purpose for doing this.
They could argue the mass keyboard scrap is to "improve" the predictions in some way, but it's still mass keyboard scraping.
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