Howard Solomon

Currently a freelance writer. Former editor of ITWorldCanada.com and Computing Canada. An IT journalist since 1997, Howard has written for several of ITWC's sister publications, including ITBusiness.ca. Before arriving at ITWC he served as a staff reporter at the Calgary Herald and the Brampton (Ont.) Daily Times.

Articles By Howard Solomon

Industry anti-messaging abuse group meets this week in Montreal

Tired of getting phony calls from Visa about an alleged abuse of your credit card? Angered about the way your firm's logo is being used in phishing attacks? There's a big meeting this

Published on: October 15th, 2019 Howard Solomon

Database with phone numbers of millions of Facebook users found on Internet

A server with databases holding the phone numbers and identity numbers of perhaps as many as 200 million Facebook users in the U.S., the U.K. and other countries has been found open on

Published on: September 5th, 2019 Howard Solomon

Some Android phones susceptible to settings attack, says security vendor

Security experts have warned for some time that SMS messages are used by attackers to carry links to malware. A report issued today by Check Point Software warns many Android phones have a

Published on: September 4th, 2019 Howard Solomon

Federal government launches cybersecurity certification program for SMBs

The federal government on Monday launched the long-awaited cybersecurity certification for small and mid-sized businesses in hopes of increasing the attention SMBs pay to cybersecurity as well as increasing the confidence of online

Published on: August 13th, 2019 Howard Solomon

Sidewalk Labs got more info than others before Toronto waterfront RFP issued: Ontario auditor

Waterfront Toronto has been criticized by some for the way it has handled privacy and intellectual property issues with Sidewalk Labs at its planned landmark smart city community. Now it faces another critic:

Published on: December 6th, 2018 Howard Solomon

Facebook, Twitter try to limit U.S. regulation at hearing

Senior executives of Facebook and Twitter faced a Congressional committee Wednesday morning trying to limit the amount of regulation the U.S. government might impose on social media companies in the wake of increasing

Published on: September 6th, 2018 Howard Solomon

Facebook, Twitter axe hundreds of accounts, allege groups in Iran, Russia manipulated content

Allegations that Facebook and Twitter are being manipulated by non-U.S. groups have now been extended against Iran after the two social media giants separately announced Tuesday night they have taken down hundreds of accounts,

Published on: August 22nd, 2018 Howard Solomon

Many organizations still ignore basic security, survey suggests

Experts are going hoarse telling organizations they have to build their cyber security strategies around doing the basics, including having an accurate inventory of everything on the network. But if a survey sponsored by Tripwire is accurate not many are following even the top

Published on: August 10th, 2018 Howard Solomon

New Zealand company violated rights of Canadians, says privacy commissioner

How far can companies go using personal information of people copied from a publicly-available website? Not far at all if it involves Canadians who don't give their consent, according to a decision released

Published on: July 19th, 2018 Howard Solomon

Cost of Canadian data breaches continues to rise, says study

The average cost of data breaches at Canadian companies is going up, it’s taking them longer to detect breaches and longer to contain them, new data suggests. The numbers are contained in the

Published on: July 11th, 2018 Howard Solomon

Canadian mobile digital identity service to launch this fall

A long-awaited Canadian mobile digital identity validation service supported by Canada’s biggest banks and telcos will launch this fall, with hopes it will be a big boost to the digital economy. Called Verified.Me,

Published on: June 21st, 2018 Howard Solomon

Only 40% of Canadian firms surveyed have data breach response procedures

Half of Canadian executives say they have low or no concerns about a potential breach involving their own business, a new survey for the federal privacy commissioner has found. The survey of 1,014 Canadian senior

Published on: June 4th, 2018 Howard Solomon

RightsCon Report: Few on panel support right to be forgotten

European privacy regulators recognize people the right to have search engines de-index years-old sensitive information about them – including criminal convictions and dropped charges – as a so-called ‘right to be forgotten.’ So

Published on: May 23rd, 2018 Howard Solomon

Machine learning systems that discriminate violate human rights, Toronto-based declaration says

Machine learning software has been touted as the next wave of innovation, promising to help governments and businesses make faster and more accurate decisions. But human rights activists and technology groups warned Wednesday

Published on: May 17th, 2018 Howard Solomon

Don’t relax just because some EU regulators aren’t ready for GDPR: Cavoukian

In 16 days -- May 25th -- the European Union's tough privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation takes effect, with some experts predicting turmoil because many businesses in and outside

Published on: May 11th, 2018 Howard Solomon