Week in Review: Halloween tech scares
The IT industry is often capable of throwing up a few scares as this week in tech has shown.

This week has been a busy one and there have been many stories with a Halloween-related theme.
Halloween malware
There is actually something real to be scared of in IT, and that is the threat of malware. It is always a problem but becomes more serious as seasonal events approach and scammers try and target users who might let their guard down for a Halloween message or e-card.
We saw early this week the damage that cyber criminals can cause, with the Guardian jobs website hacked and half a million accounts affected. This could become a real problem, as much of the information that you put on your CV could be gold to thieves looking to steal identities or perform social engineering attacks.
Facebook remembers the dead
Maybe Facebook was thinking of Halloween when it thought up this rather creepy feature in which the profiles of lost friends and loved ones can be memorialised' after the time of the person's death.
Google terrifies the sat nav companies
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
From something traditionally creepy to something that will terrify sat nav companies like TomTom and Garmin. Google has put navigation technology into new versions of its smartphone software to provide driving directions on mobile devices.
This could be a real problem for companies that sell specific hardware devices, as it won't be easy to see why an individual would shell out a substantial amount of money when they can get the tech on their phone for free. The sat nav companies may have a good reason to be fearful.
-
The IT industry’s shift to circular, low-carbon solutions
Maximize your hardware investment and reach your sustainability goals with HP’s Renew Solutions
-
Lenovo ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition review
Reviews This thin and light ultraportable will draw you in with its vibrant screen – but it isn't as powerful as some of its competitors
-
Latest Meta GDPR fine brings 12-month total to more than €1 billion
News Meta was issued with two hefty GDPR fines for “forcing” users to consent to data processing
-
"Unacceptable" data scraping lands Meta a £228m data protection fine
News The much-awaited decision follows the scraping of half a billion users' data and received unanimous approval from EU regulators
-
Meta notifies around 1 million Facebook users of potential compromise through malicious apps
News The vast majority of apps targeting iOS users appeared to be genuine apps for managing business functions such as advertising and analytics
-
Facebook business accounts hijacked by infostealer malware campaign
News Threat actors are using LinkedIn phishing to seize business, ad accounts for financial gain
-
Meta begins encrypting Facebook URLs, nullifying tracking countermeasures
News The move has made URL stripping impossible but will improve analytics
-
Meta hit with €17 million fine over multiple GDPR breaches
News The social media giant set aside over €1 billion in November to help it cope with potential fines arising from data protection investigations
-
Meta says Apple's iOS privacy changes will cost it $10 billion in 2022
News The company's CFO suggests Google "faces a different set of restrictions" because it pays Apple to remain the default iOS search engine
-
Google, Facebook fined €210 million for making it difficult for users to reject cookies
News Data regulator CNIL gives companies three months to provide a system for refusing cookies that is as easy as single click consent