Google has banned dozens of Android apps downloaded millions of times from the official Play Store after researchers discovered they were being used to display phishing and scam ads or perform other malicious acts.

Trend Micro researchers discovered another batch of apps that falsely promised to allow users to “beautify” their pictures by uploading them to a designated server. Instead of delivering an edited photo, however, the server provided a picture with a fake update prompt in nine different languages. The apps made it possible for the developers to collect the uploaded photos, possibly for use in fake profile pics or for other malicious purposes. The developers took pains to prevent users from detecting what was happening.

Those who haven't already patched a trio of recent vulnerabilities in the Linux world's SystemD have an added incentive to do so: security biz Capsule8 has published exploit code for the holes.

Exploitation of these code flaws allows an attacker to alter system memory in order to commandeer systemd-journal, which permits privilege escalation to the root account of the system running the software.

Revenue from the iPhone, responsible for most of the firm's profits, fell 15% in its latest financial quarter.

The slowdown had been expected after the tech giant warned investors earlier this month that revenue would be about $84bn, lower than expected.

Together the changes would mark a big step in Snap’s effort to lure and keep users by making content shared publicly via the “Our Story” section, more available outside Snapchat. They could also create a new revenue source for money-losing Snap, which has seen its user base shrink and executives flee the company.

“The advertising would be visible for longer, and I could see advertisers paying more for it,” Williamson said.

“We’re ending support for the Moments app, which we originally launched as a place for people to save their photos. We know the photos people share are important to them so we will continue offering ways to save memories within the Facebook app,” Rushabh Doshi, director of product management said in a statement.

Moments, which first launched in 2015, has seen some competition from other Facebook products recently, which might have led to its demise.

The minister earlier called on social media giants to "purge" material promoting self-harm and suicide in the wake of links to a teenager's suicide.

Papyrus, a charity that works to prevent youth suicide, said it has been contacted by around 30 families in the past week who believe social media had a part to play in their children's suicides.

Mr Hancock said he was "horrified" to learn of Molly's death and feels "desperately concerned to ensure young people are protected".

A trove of more than 24 million financial and banking documents, representing tens of thousands of loans and mortgages from some of the biggest banks in the U.S., has been found online after a server security lapse.

The server, running an Elasticsearch database, had more than a decade’s worth of data, containing loan and mortgage agreements, repayment schedules and other highly sensitive financial and tax documents that reveal an intimate insight into a person’s financial life.

With help from TechCrunch, the leak was traced back to Ascension, a data and analytics company for the financial industry, based in Fort Worth, Texas. The company provides data analysis and portfolio valuations. Among its services, the Ascension converts paper documents and handwritten notes into computer-readable files — known as OCR.

The services will continue to operate as stand-alone apps, but their underlying technical infrastructure will be unified, said four people involved in the effort. That will bring together three of the world’s largest messaging networks, which between them have more than 2.6 billion users, allowing people to communicate across the platforms for the first time.

It also underscores how Mr. Zuckerberg is imposing his authority over units he once vowed to leave alone.

At the time of the acquisitions, Mr. Zuckerberg promised WhatsApp and Instagram plenty of autonomy from their new parent company.

Speaking at the annual Bett Show for educational technology, he warned that feedback to parents had gone from a quick chat at parents' evenings to being expected to be available every hour of the waking day.

"Parents think they know everything," and they are not shy of sending in their suggestions and expecting replies, she says.

There is, it seems, no deterring the General Data Protection Regulation snake-oil sellers, who will happily stick "GDPR compliant" onto whatever they have to hand – including shredders, bins and visitor books.

The "bins" – which are, apparently, "ideal for GDPR Waste Paper Separation whilst sat at your desk" – look suspiciously like normal box files, only with "recycling" logos on one and "confidential" on the other.