• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
    • SEO Expert Witness Service
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Email Newsletter

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

traffic analysis tools

Home » Marketing » ClixSense (Now Ysense) and i-Dressup.com Settle with FTC

ClixSense (Now Ysense) and i-Dressup.com Settle with FTC

Posted By Bill Hartzer on April 24, 2019at 2:46 pm

Update: ClixSense has been sold to a company called Prodege, and re-launched as Ysense.com on August 1, 2019.

ClixSense FTC Settlement

ClixSense, an online rewards website, and i-Dressup.com, a dress-up games websites, have agreed to settle with the United States Federal Trade Commission that they failed to take reasonable steps to secure consumers’ data. They both allowed hackers to hack into their websites and get customer data. The two websites are not connected with each other.

According to the FTC, “In a complaint filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Commission, the FTC alleged that the operators of i-Dressup.com violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by failing to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13 and failing to provide reasonable security for the data i-Dressup collected.”

Jump To

  • ClixSense Violations
  • i-Dressup.com Violations

ClixSense Violations

Separately, the FTC alleges that the owners of ClixSense’s inadequate website security “allowed hackers to gain access to consumers’ sensitive information through the company’s network.” The FTC went on to say that “in its complaint against ClixSense, the FTC alleges that the website’s operator, James V. Grago, Jr., deceived consumers by falsely claiming that ClixSense “utilizes the latest security and encryption techniques to ensure the security of your account information.” In fact, ClixSense failed to implement minimal data security measures and stored personal information in clear text with no encryption.”

The data breach is quite disturbing, and a lot of people were affected, according to the FTC:
“As a result of ClixSense’s data security failures, the hackers downloaded a document from ClixSense that contained clear text information regarding 6.6 million consumers, including some 500,000 U.S. consumers. The hackers then published and offered for sale, on a website known for posting security exploits, personal information pertaining to approximately 2.7 million consumers, including full names and physical addresses, dates of birth, gender, answers to security questions, email addresses and passwords, as well as hundreds of Social Security numbers.”

They went on to talk about the settlement with James V. Grago, Jr.: “As part of the settlement, Grago is prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which any company he controls protects the privacy, security, confidentiality, or integrity of personal information it collects. If any company he controls collects or maintains personal information, Grago must implement a comprehensive information security program and obtain independent biennial assessments of this program. In addition, Grago also is prohibited from making misrepresentations to the third party performing the biennial assessments of any information security program, and must provide an annual certification of compliance to the Commission.”

i-Dressup.com Violations

The FTC alleges that Unixiz, Inc., doing business as i-Dressup.com, and “CEO Zhijun Liu and Secretary Xichen Zhang, violated COPPA by failing to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13 and provide reasonable and appropriate security for the data i-Dressup collected.”

The operators of i-Dressup apparently discovered the site was hacked in September 2016. The hacker had accessed their computer network and information about consumers, including children who used i-Dressup. The hacker accessed the information of approximately 2.1 million users—including approximately 245,000 users who indicated they were under 13.

“As part of the proposed settlement with the FTC, i-Dressup and its owners have agreed to pay $35,000 in civil penalties, and are prohibited from violating COPPA. In addition, they are barred from selling, sharing, or collecting any personal information until they implement a comprehensive data security program to protect the information and obtain independent biennial assessments of this program. They also are prohibited from making misrepresentations to the third party performing the assessments of the information security program, and must provide an annual certification of compliance to the Commission.”

I checked Google’s search results and it appears that the i-Dressup.com domain is not currently indexed in Google. It looks like the site is banned in Google’s search results. I have been unable to load the i-Dressup.com site, and the domain is currently under WHOIS privacy.

The ClixSense.com site is still indexed Google and it appears that they still continue to do business. They’re even bidding on their brand name currently in Google AdWords.

Filed Under: Marketing

traffic analysis tools

Listen to "Digital Marketing with Bill Hartzer" on Spreaker.

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is CEO of Hartzer Consulting, LLC, an SEO Consulting firm that includes services such as search engine optimization, technical SEO audits, domain name consulting, and online reputation management.

Recent Posts

  • Rebranding Your Business with the Brand Doctor Henry Kaminski, Jr. March 4, 2021
  • Moz Announces Speakers for 16th Annual MozCon Virtual Conference March 2, 2021
  • RightoftheDot Live Online Domain Auction February 25 February 18, 2021
  • Jabez LeBret on Digital PR, Journalism, and Media Coverage February 5, 2021
  • Someone Stole My Domain Name: Here’s What You Do February 1, 2021
  • 23 Top Level Domains TLDs Up for Auction January 27, 2021
  • GotConn Privacy Search Engine Launches January 26, 2021
  • Andrew Muller on Testing Google Ads Using Facebook Ads January 15, 2021
  • Mike Rhodes from Web Savvy On Google Ads January 8, 2021
  • How to Opt Out of Google Analytics December 16, 2020
  • Majestic Just Changed SEO and Linking Forever December 15, 2020
  • Yext Consumer Search Trend Predictions for 2020 December 8, 2020
  • SearchBox Launches SearchAI SmartSuggest, SearchAI Answers and SearchAI Personalization December 7, 2020
  • Google Poly is Shutting Down December 2, 2020
  • Domain Name Brokers Put FFF.com and HHH.com Domains Up for Sale December 1, 2020
  • Google Webmaster Tools Moves Twitter Account November 11, 2020
  • Email Deliverability, Setting Up DMARC, DKIM, and SPF on Your Domain October 29, 2020
  • The Bing Search Engine is Now Microsoft Bing October 6, 2020
  • Beck Power on Building Authority on Social Media and Repurposing Content October 2, 2020
  • Naira Perez on Paid Media, and an Intro to Social Paid Media, and Audiences September 17, 2020

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:



Industry Friends

WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Phil Drinkwater
Dixon Jones

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (19)
  • Bing Search Engine (6)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Branding (12)
  • Domain Names (200)
  • Google (228)
  • Internet Marketing (24)
  • Internet Usage (84)
  • Link Building (52)
  • Local Search (38)
  • Marketing (179)
  • Marketing Foo (30)
  • Pay Per Click (1)
  • Podcast (10)
  • Public Relations (8)
  • Reputation Management (9)
  • Search Engine Marketing (44)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (48)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (19)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (156)
  • Search Engines (203)
  • Social Media (187)
  • Tech (7)
  • Web Analytics (16)




Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.




Hartzer Consulting



Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2021 by Bill Hartzer and Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
Go to mobile version