This $299 laptop is one of our favorite Black Friday laptop deals so far - and it's back in stock at Best Buy

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• Over a billion Facebook users have data sold on the dark web

  Personally identifiable information (PII) of over 1,5 billion Facebook users is reportedly being sold on a popular underground forum, according to cybersecurity and privacy watchdogs.

  The data, which has reportedly been collected through web scraping, includes names, emails, phone numbers, location, gender, and user IDs. 

  Calling it one of the biggest data dumps from the popular social network, Miklos Zoltan, the founder of PrivacyAffairs who shared the news of the underground sale, claims the PII “appears to be authentic.”

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  It appears the seller is willing to sell the data in a piecemeal fashion, since one prospective buyer claimed the seller is asking for $5000 for the data of a million accounts, making the complete records worth $5 million.

  Not related to the outage

  Zoltan says that the seller posted several samples of the data, and they not only appeared to be authentic, but didn’t match any of the previous Facebook database leaks as well.

  “Cross-checking them with known Facebook database leaks resulted in no matches, implying that at first glance, the sample data provided is unique and not a duplicate or re-sell of a previously known data breach or scraping,” writes Zoltan.

  Thanks to the proximity of the news of the data leak to the global Facebook outage, many people have drawn a link between the two events. 

  Zoltan however has shot down the claims on two fronts. First, PrivacyAffairs published news of the sale 12 before the Facebook outage was reported. 

  Secondly, the data appears to have been scrapped from publicly available data that the users had shared themselves, which rules out the possibility that the information was obtained by compromising Facebook’s servers.

  More pertinent however is Zoltan’s update in which he shares that some of the users on the underground forum claim to have been scammed by the seller who didn’t provide them any data after being paid, casting a shadow over the authenticity and magnitude of the data scrape.

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• Skepticism towards US cloud storage giants grows in Europe

  Survey of European cloud users indicates that the vast majority do not trust US firms with their personal data.

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• Microsoft Build 2022 could virtually share the upcoming Windows roadmap

  Microsoft has set the date for its Build 2022 developer conference, May 24-26, and decided, for the third year in a row, to make it all-virtual.

  While Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows, is often the star of the show, Microsoft Build is the Redmond, Washington-based company's chance to unveil updates across a wide array of software products, services, and development tools.

  There's also usually a theme. At Microsoft Build 2021, it was about Tech Transformation and the responsibility technology has in shaping the future. Aside from "Designed for development" and "What's next in tech," the Microsoft Build site offers no hints about what to expect.

  It does outline, though, one change: market-specific experiences for France, Germany, Latin America, and the UK. The FAQ goes into a tiny bit more detail, explaining:

  "New for this year, experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK in Regional Spotlights. Microsoft Build Regional Spotlights will include but will not be limited to: Keynote analysis, trending news, and topics for specific regions to help break down what’s new and what it means to you."

  What about Windows 12?

  For consumers, this might be their first chance to learn about the next version of some of their favorite Microsoft products, including Windows, Office, and the Edge Browser. Developers will get updates on C++, C#, Azure, and Visual Studio. Microsoft sometimes blends in forward-looking panels on bleeding edge technologies like the HoloLens (version 3?) and digital twins.

  As for what we might expect from Windows, there is some speculation that we could get our first glimpse of Windows 12. We know, Windows 11 isn't even a year old, but Microsoft's platform update cadence may be quickening. Plus, whatever Microsoft shows us now will likely be no more than a glimpse, with the full Windows 12 launch easily more than a year away.

  Even if we don't see that, the multi-day event will be packed with Windows 11 innovations and future feature promises.

  Registration, which is free, opens up in late April, and TechRadar will feature wall-to-wall coverage in May.

  • Even as Microsoft prepares to tell us about all that's new, it's constantly working to make Windows better and more appealing for its 1.4 billion users.

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• Google braces itself for record-breaking Black Friday sales

  Google's cloud unit believes this year's Black Friday sales could lead to a record-breaking number of consumers shopping online.

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