The Tinder dating application on Sunday rolled out a long-awaited feature allowing members everywhere to block contacts within their profile settings, thus avoiding awkward moments, like seeing an ex appear as a potential match.

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In a statement, Tinder said, "Whether it's a former flame, a cousin, or a colleague, just about everyone has a personal connection they'd rather not run into when dipping their toe in the dating pool. With this in mind, Tinder is rolling out a new feature that allows members to block personal contacts in the app, empowering them to confidently Like their way to sparking new connections while avoiding the awkwardness of a familiar face they would rather not see.

"The new Block Contacts feature, which gives members more control over their experience, is launching just in time to help consumers navigate this year's wave of springtime uncouplings."

"We may not be able to save you from awkward run-ins at the coffee shop, but we are giving you more control over your experience on Tinder," said Bernadette Morgan, Group Product Manager, Trust & Safety at Tinder.

"We're rolling out Block Contacts as an additional resource empowering members with peace of mind by helping create a worry-free space for them to spark new connections."

Still, a review of the feature by Tech Crunch, found that rather than "creating a simple form where you could enter the phone number or email address of the abuser, Tinder is asking for permission to access the user's entire contacts list.

"Ostensibly, this is for ease of use – Tinder even claims it only keeps on hand the contact information for those you've blocked, and not your entire address book – but users may still be wary."

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Apple on Wednesday announced that is was launched the Apple Pay app in Israel. The move is part of the tech giant's global rollout of Apple's mobile wallet services.

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Apple Pay users hold their devices up to the register screen, identify themselves through a fingerprint, facial recognition, or a code, and the payment is processed immediately.

A statement by the tech giant said, "The launch means that customers of all banks and credit card companies in Israel will now be able to add the credit card or direct debit card to .the service on the iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac computers."

It did, however, note that "Not all credit cards are supported by the service, so if you were unable to add the card according to the instructions, please contact the credit card company or bank that issued you the card."

In recent years Israel has seen a notable expansion of payment systems and contactless payments are widely supported, making Apple Pay a convenient payment option.

According to media reports, the move was completed after enough businesses updated their payment systems to handle EMV and NFC transactions like Apple Pay.

Israel is set to get near-universal support shortly, thanks to a government initiative making contactless support a legal requirement for most companies.

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The Whatsapp messaging platform is testing a new feature that will allow users to opt for the messages to be automatically erased for both sender and recipient 24 hours after being sent, the tech site WAbetainfo reported Monday.

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According to the report, the new feature will be an addition to the platform and not replace the existing option of erasing messages after seven days.

Users will be able to select the 24-hour disappearing messages option, the seven-day disappearing messages option, or opt out of the disappearing messages feature entirely. The feature applies to both personal conversations and group chats.

WAbetainfo reported that the feature is under development and will be rolled out for Android, iOS, and desktop users in a future update.

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The Shin Bet security agency and the Mossad revealed on Monday that they had exposed a new effort by Iran to lure Israelis abroad in order to kidnap or kill them.

The new method is based on setting up fake profiles on social media and then contacting Israelis who have business ties with various people around the world and tend to travel internationally.

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According to the two agencies, the Iranians would create those profiles by pretending to be women who deal with the tourism industry and they would appear on Instagram. Then they would approach Israeli users and ask them to meet abroad for romantic or business purposes.

This tactic has been used by the regime against Iranian opposition figures in Europe and now they are trying to do the same with Israelis who seek to expand their businesses abroad.

Israeli security officials called on Israelis to be alert for any possible attempt to lure them into such traps by social media profiles they are not familiar with.

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Israel Hayom has teamed up with Facebook to combat the online dissemination of fake and often harmful news about the coronavirus and vaccinations.

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Within the framework of the project, Israel Hayom and the social media giant have compiled a list of the 10 most widespread falsehoods disseminated online in Israel about the virus and vaccines:

1. The coronavirus is not more dangerous than the common flu.
2. Mortality rates due to the coronavirus are far lower than reported.
3. Protective masks do not help prevent the spread of the virus.
4. Recovering from the coronavirus is safer than getting vaccinated.
5. The vaccine alters a person's DNA.
6. The vaccine damages fertility.
7. The vaccine causes Autism.
8. The Israeli public is being exploited for the purposes of testing the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
9. Coronavirus vaccines kill people/are severely detrimental to people's health.
10. The vaccine has not undergone all the necessary testing.

The purpose of the joint campaign is to encourage the public not to believe fake news and arm it with credible information about the virus and vaccinations. The goal is to debunk false rumors and help reassure those who are still afraid of getting vaccinated.

Since the early stages of the pandemic around one year ago in March 2020, Facebook and Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) have removed more than 16 million posts globally that violated the company's policies on sharing false information pertaining to the coronavirus.

Jordana Cutler, Facebook's Public Policy Director for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, spoke to Israel Hayom about her company's efforts to contend with the challenges posed by the global pandemic over the past year.

"If I look back at the past year, we did a lot of work on all aspects of the coronavirus, with the support of the authorities here in Israel and around the world," she said.

"During the first lockdown we initiated a project with the ERAN association [hotline that provides emotional first aid], when there were many concerns surrounding emotional health, and we wanted to direct people who feel alone toward help," said Cutler. "We also worked with Magen David Adom, which was unable to cope with all the calls, and together with them we built a bot to direct people to corona testing and blood donation centers."

Culter added: "There's still a need for us to increase awareness. It's important to us to make all corona-related content accessible – in Hebrew and Arabic. The idea was created as part of our desire to cooperate with media bodies, which are considered a source of credible information, and to use their clout and voice, together with doctors and experts, in order to provide the information about the most conspiratorial issues surrounding the vaccine.

"These issues are very different in every country. We need to tailor ourselves to every [country in which we operate], but we still need to increase awareness among those who don't want to vaccinate or are worried about the vaccines, and increase awareness about all the information and discourse surrounding these issues – even among those who are afraid of sending their children to school," she said.

According to Culter, almost immediately after the vaccines were authorized for use, Facebook announced it would start removing disinformation pertaining to the vaccines, and which had been debunked by public health experts.

"We have fact-checkers in every language – in Hebrew and Arabic as well. If we are flagged [about possible disinformation], the posts are passed on to two external bodies which examine the information and can also research it independently. We can't tell them what to check and what conclusions to make. They are in contact with the local authorities, such as the Health Ministry. In cases where a post is deemed to be life-threatening, we can handle it in our own ways," she said.

"If we find a profile with multiple violations of our policy that continues to open new profiles – this also violates our terms of use," Cutler explains, after Facebook recently shut down several groups for disseminating false information about the virus, while their members quickly joined newly started groups.

"Clearly it's a game of cat and mouse, and we're always trying to find new ways to fight this phenomenon. But thanks to artificial intelligence we can shut down millions of fictitious profiles every quarter. We also rely on reports from media outlets – the information that journalists have is very important to us – and from every user, whether it's one thousand reports or one, we will check the profile's content," she said.

Q: And what fake news does Facebook have to deal with the most?

"It actually doesn't have to do with drinking bleach," Cutler said. "Most of the content deals with Israel being a global testing lab for the vaccines, that the coronavirus is less dangerous than the flu, or that you don't need to wear masks."

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A leaker says they are offering information on more than 500 million Facebook Inc users - including phone numbers and other data - virtually for free.

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The database appears to be the same set of Facebook-linked telephone numbers that has been circulating in hacker circles since January and whose existence was first reported by tech publication Motherboard, according to Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock.

Reuters was not immediately able to vet the information, which is being offered for a few euros' worth of digital credit on a well-known site for low-level hackers, but Gal said on Saturday that he had verified the authenticity of at least some of the data by comparing it against phone numbers of people he knew. Other journalists say they have also been able to match known phone numbers to the details in the data dump.

In a statement, Facebook said that the data was "very old" and related to an issue that it had fixed in August 2019.

An attempt by Reuters to reach the leaker over the messaging service Telegram was not immediately successful.

Gal told Reuters that Facebook users should be alert to "social engineering attacks" by people who may have obtained their phone numbers or other private data in the coming months.

According to Ido Naor of cybersecurity firm Security Joes, "the phone numbers of 3.9 million Israelis" were included in the leak."

News of the latest leak here was first reported by Business Insider.

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The personal information of thousands of Israelis was compromised Saturday following a cyberattack on the database of a major Israeli financial services firm.

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According to a report in Walla News, "BlackShadow," the same group that carried out a cyberattack on the Shirbit insurance company in December, managed to breach the database of KLS Capital, which has over 26,000 clients.

"Their servers are down and we have all their clients' information," the group wrote on the Telegram instant messaging platform.

According to reports, the hackers demanded a 1.9 million shekel ($570,000) ransom in bitcoin, which KLS refused to pay.

According to BlackShadow, following 72 hours of failed negotiations, they began to leak thousands of the company's documents, including clients' driver-license photos, ID numbers – including that of the CEO – client, and copies of checks.

"Approximately three days ago, the National Cyber Security Authority contacted KLS Capital and warned of a possible cyber-attack on the company," the firm, founded 20 years ago, said in a statement, adding that the strike was similar to others carried out by Iran in the past, where Israeli government, civil and private institutions were targeted.

The company acted immediately to protect its servers and worked together with the National Cyber Directorate to investigate the incident, the statement said.

"It is not yet known how much information had been revealed and the company will be in touch with its clients based on findings."

The NCD issued a statement calling on companies to take the necessary steps to prevent cyberattacks and take responsibility for their clients' information.

Ido Naor, founder and CEO of cybersecurity company Security Joes explained that BlackShadow "did not change its pattern" with its latest attack.

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"This group brands itself as anti-Zionist and it aims to create political propaganda. This attack shows that the hackers are not trying to breach a significant target, or they simply lack the skills to do so."

He further noted that "we've recently seen some very dangerous vulnerabilities in the Microsoft email exchange that are used, time and again, by skilled hackers. Still, Blackshadow didn't opt for that route. It's hard to believe that another cyberattack will resonate as much as the first one did."

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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Israeli genealogy company MyHeritage has launched a new project that "brings to life" old family photographs.

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MyHeritage develops and offers services to help people trace their family roots. Deep Nostalgia uses Artificial Intelligence licensed from Tel Aviv-based company D-ID that animates still photos.

The new tool offers people a new perspective on their family history, essentially creating the effect that a still photo is moving. Deep Nostalgia can take photos from any camera and the program uses pre-recorded driver videos of facial movements and applies the one that works best for the still photo in question. Its stated purpose is to allow customers to upload photos of deceased loved ones and see them in "action."

Users must sign up for a free account on MyHeritage and then upload a photo. At that point the process is automated. The site enhances the image before animating it and creating a gif.

"When people will see a nostalgic family photo come to life, it will be a very special moment for them," said MyHeritage CEO and founder Gilad Japhet. "Seeing ancestors and people dear to us come to life through video simulation allows us to imagine how they really were, and it also gives us another way to connect to our family history."

D-ID CEO and founder Gil Perry said, "The new product is the result of exciting cooperation between two innovative companies. We are happy our technology will be accessible to millions of people on MyHeritage and hope they will enjoy the video simulation capabilities applied to their historical photos."

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Formed in 2003, MyHeritage.com lets people test DNA and track their family lineage. It has a reported 62 million users worldwide and offers its services in 42 languages. The company's database is said to include 13 billion historical records and 58 million family trees on its platform.

The company has so fur raised 49 million in five financing rounds, the last held in 2012.

Francisco Partners, founded in 1999, focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Based in San Francisco and London, the company's website states that it has raised $24 billion of capital to date, making it "one of the largest and most active technology-focused private equity firms in the world."

In a statement released on Wednesday, MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet said, "When I founded the company from my home 18 years ago, I had a clear vision that drove me, and continues to drive me today – to make family history discovery easier using technology and to unlock the fun in genealogy: the human pursuit that bonds people.

"With the help of an excellent and dedicated team, years of hard work, and with constant technological innovation, we created new and exciting ways for people to learn about their origins.

"In Francisco Partners we see a true partner for our journey ahead, not only demonstrated by the trust they are placing in our company through this acquisition, but in their desire for us to remain true to our vision by continuing along our path and helping us do what we do best – putting our users first and giving them life-enriching, and sometimes life-changing, experiences. This move will enable us to reach new heights, invest more resources in creating greater value for our users and to reach a larger audience. We're incredibly excited for this next chapter in our company's evolution."

Eran Gorev, who heads Francisco Partners activities in Israel, said, "By leveraging our operational expertise, market resources and strong industry networks, we believe Francisco Partners is uniquely positioned to help MyHeritage accelerate its vision for growth.

"We are deeply impressed by the incredible achievements and relentless determination of Gilad, a visionary leader in genealogy who has grown the company from a startup to a profitable global market leader. We are looking forward to partnering with Gilad and the entire MyHeritage team to help drive market expansion for the company."

Gorev will be joining the MyHeritage board of directors along with Francisco's Europe head Matt Spetzler.

"Francisco Partners shares MyHeritage's vision for growth as well as its intense commitment to ensuring the privacy of its users," Spetzler said Wednesday.

"The users' personal data is an extremely important priority and we will work together with MyHeritage to expand its already strong privacy framework going forward."

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The Facebook page maintained by Tel Aviv University was hacked by a Pro-Palestinian group on Tuesday night. the hackers posted photos of activists holding Palestinian flags, as well as a Youtube link to the song "My Blood is Palestinian" by singer Mohammed Assaf.

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The posts were removed after the hacking was discovered.

TAU students reacted to the situation with a sense of humor, posting several jokes in other university-related groups in response to the event.

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