Privacy, Government, Surveillance, and You.

ShadowCrypt research project shows encryption approach

Cybersecurity experts discover lapses in Heartbleed bug fix

Federal government struggles against cyberattacks

Can I make a request? I find that a list of linked headlines tends to discourage discussion. Could you provide a short summary of the most interesting key point in each article? That way we dont have to read every article to get the gist of it, or offer our opinions. I find that the headline, a quote, and some sort of personal comment works best. Like this:

National security vs. online privacy "One method for safeguarding online anonymity is Tor, "the onion router", whose name comes from its method of adding and stripping away encryption layer by layer as messages pass from one node to another in the network en route to their destination.

This image of peeling back layers could equally describe the task of trying to establish whether intelligence agencies comply with the law. This is an onion that is, a few layers down under its outer shell, giving off a distinctly mouldy smell."

The deeper you go, the more obvious it becomes that the Western Intelligence agencies have been lying to the public regarding their compliance with the law.

edited 10th Nov '14 6:34:23 AM by demarquis

Hackers target CEOs in 'Darkhotel' scheme: "Hackers have developed a scheme to steal sensitive information from top executives by penetrating the Wi-Fi networks of luxury hotels, security researchers said Monday."

Wireless devices used by casual pilots vulnerable to hacking, computer scientists find: "A new class of apps and wireless devices used by private pilots during flights for everything from GPS information to data about nearby aircraft is vulnerable to a wide range of security attacks, which in some scenarios could lead to catastrophic outcomes, according to computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego and Johns Hopkins University. They presented their findings Nov. 5 at the 21st ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Scottsdale, Ariz."

Japan's NEC rolls out counterfeit spotting technology: "Japan's NEC on Monday unveiled a technology that sniffs out even the most convincing counterfeits by reading microscopic patterns on everything from a luxury purse to a metal bolt."

Thanks! You know, I always wondered about that first one. Just how secure is your average corporate CEO's data?

After a vacation in Tunisia? Compromised. After a business visit to China? Compromised. Tunisians got caught red-handed in several cases already, and then their government got seriously shuffled, but a good spy is not particularly loyal to any political faction.

But those are obvious. I'm always more fascinated with the unaffiliated private parties.

AT&T stops adding Web tracking codes on cellphones: "AT&T Mobility, the second-largest U.S. cellular provider, said Friday it is no longer attaching hidden Internet tracking codes to data transmitted from its users' smartphones. The practice made it nearly impossible to shield its subscribers' identities online."

"The change by AT&T essentially removes a hidden string of letters and numbers that are passed along to websites that a consumer visits. It can be used to track subscribers across the Internet, a lucrative data-mining opportunity for advertisers that could still reveal users' identities based on their browsing habits."

Should people be prosecuted for threatening tweets?

Even with Poe's Law, I find that this should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Even if almost all of those charged/investigated will claim that they were only joking.

Threatening someone over a tweet is no different than threatening them face to face or over a telephone. If it's a credible threat, it's illegal.

http://trendingnow.altervista.org/signature-campaign-ban-clash-clans-ph/

Filipino parents are doing a drive to ban Clash of Clans due to concern of their loved ones having their lives destroyed...

That's really more about censorship then surveillance isn't it?

Maybe, unless Manila agrees to the petition...

A little off topic here. It is a weird article.

State Dept computers hacked, email shut down: "A senior department official said Sunday that "activity of concern" was detected in the system around the same time as a previously reported incident that targeted the White House computer network. That incident was made public in late October, but there was no indication then that the State Department had been affected. Since then, a number of agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service and the National Weather Service, have reported attacks.

The official said none of the State Department's classified systems were affected. However, the official said the department shut down its worldwide email late on Friday as part of a scheduled outage of some of its internet-linked systems to make security improvements to its main unclassified computer network. The official was not authorized to speak about the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity."

That's an awfully alarmist title for what it appears to actually be saying then. Breaches of unclassified systems happen pretty often, as do shutdowns of subsystems like email when making security upgrades.

It's not unconcerning or unworthy of swift and proper attention, but it's not exactly emergency material.

edited 16th Nov '14 10:07:10 PM by Pykrete

Still, would be interesting to know who is doing all that.

Let's Encrypt certificate authority to launch 2015: "Web encryption for free—tough deal to turn down? After all the instances of cyberattacks, snoopers and sophisticated surveillance, encryption technology has become especially appreciated and familiar to many people. In a bid to alleviate the expense and complexities of encryption, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined Mozilla, Cisco, Akamai, IdenTrust, and researchers at the University of Michigan for Let's Encrypt, to launch in summer 2015 as a certificate authority to encrypt the entire web."

edited 19th Nov '14 6:21:54 PM by rmctagg09

So I chanced upon SORM while reading Misha Glenny's book on DarkMarket.

Wired article on the system

World Policy article on the system.

So the Russians monitor everything in their territory too. Even credit-card transactions.

This certainly makes Snowden's choice of asylum rather... interesting. Funny that it hasn't gotten as much attention in the non-Russian media either. Or is that because we always expect Russians to be the bad guys?

And on the subject of Russia — Russian webcam hackers could be watching you, UK information commissioner warns

Meh, GCHQ does the same thing.

But I'm not British nor do I live in Britain!

edited 20th Nov '14 10:13:55 AM by Quag15

But they're doing it to protect you! Honest!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2014-11-23/malaysian-political-cartoonist-questioned-by-police-over-book-content/.81363

Zulkiflee Anwar "Zunar" Ulhaque is in trouble with the Royal Malaysian Police over his book.

High Court to hear case of former banker asking Google to block 'vile material' about him — and the case has been settled.

Regin, new computer spyware, discovered by Symantec

edited 24th Nov '14 3:22:15 AM by Greenmantle