You know that little feature on your smartphone where you can turn off location history? Yeah, well, turns out that’s not the only way Google can track you. According to researchers at Princeton University, there are plenty of other ways that Google can keep its eyes on you, even if you’ve turned location services off for maps. It’s true that if you even open GoogleMaps, Google stores a snapshot of where you are. But checking out daily weather also zooms in on your location. And you probably had no idea that just googling some weird things like “chocolate chip cookies” or “kids science kits” will pinpoint your location as well…within a square foot. Apparently, someone is really, really interested in your top-secret cookie recipes.

As far as we can tell, as long as you turn off location services on every single app, you should be fine. But let’s face it, that’s probably not practical or convenient for most of us. And besides, the cool new things that location services provides are adding so much to make our smartphones more personal and, well, smart. And the conundrum continues…

For more details on how to turn off Google location services, click here.

When we talk about cybersecurity doomsday scenarios, bad guys breaking into the brain of the electrical grid (think Luke Skywalker targeting the reactor core of the Death Star) is usually near the top of the list. In reality, researchers have painted a much less sophisticated scenario for taking down the grid. Experts have estimated that hackers using botnets to commandeer just 1% of smart devices connected to the grid — water heaters, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. — could cause cascading outages and potentially  crash the grid. This study once again highlights for us the importance of thinking long and hard about IoT security as we continue to work to secure the bigger picture of utilities and infrastructure.

We know that nothing is entirely safe from malicious hackers, but few things are as delicate and important as the electrical grid. A recent test by researchers at Cybereason revealed just how fast industrial control systems (ICS) can be compromised. The company set up a fake power transmission substation, known as a honeypot, and then lured would-be hackers. It only took two days before a hacker broke in, took control of the fake desktop environment and installed tools to control the system. While no legitimate systems were compromised, the exercise highlights the potential vulnerabilities of ICS and the importance of increased security measures. It’s a reminder for us that the types of cyber attacks that which took out Ukraine’s power grid could be used by hackers accessing critical infrastructure anywhere.

Last week, a bit of sweet justice was dished out when three members of one of the world’s most notorious cybercrime organizations were indicted and charged with 26 felony counts. These guys, all from the Ukraine, were accused of bilking over a billion dollars from banks across the world over the last five years. They also stole millions of credit cards and resold them on the Dark Web.

The suspects are believed to be members of FIN7, a group that used malware and elaborate phishing campaigns to gain access to numerous US based banks and retailers including Chipotle, Jason’s Deli, Red Robin, Chili’s and Sonic Drive-in. In this case, we can thank the Russians as it was experts at cybersecurity juggernaut Kaspersky Labs that first uncovered FIN7.

Over the past year, several kinda big hacks have reminded us that bluetooth technology isn’t exactly hacker-proof. At all. Last week, yet another bluetooth hacking technique has been uncovered. The new bluetooth device vulnerability was found in some big brands including Apple, Intel and Qualcomm and the tech-wizards are still testing Google, Android and Linux. Apparently, the bad guys can gain access to a bluetooth device during the pairing process via a man-in-the-middle attack. From there, the attacker can inject malware to steal data or mine for crypto. Even though Bluetooth SIG suggests that there is no indication that the vulnerability has been exploited, Apple and Intel have already released patches for this security vulnerability.