Privacy, Government, Surveillance, and You.

CIA Director John Brennan suggested that negative public opinion and "misunderstanding" about the US intelligence community is in part "because of people who are trying to undermine" the mission of the NSA, CIA, FBI and other agencies. These people "may be fueled by our adversaries," he said.

[FBI Director] Comey said, he feels that his push for some way to gain backdoor access to encryption was "met with venom and deep cynicism."

NSA head Rogers said that "we have got to engender a better dialogue" on security issues. "In the end, we serve the citizens of the nation... all the revelations [a reference to Edward Snowden and Wikileaks] have made life more difficult for us."

The TSA is learning a basic lesson of physical security in the age of 3-D printing: If you have sensitive keys—say, a set of master keys that can open locks you’ve asked millions of Americans to use—don’t post pictures of them on the Internet.

A group of lock-picking and security enthusiasts drove that lesson home Wednesday by publishing a set of CAD files to Github that anyone can use to 3-D print a precisely measured set of the TSA’s master keys for its “approved” locks—the ones the agency can open with its own keys during airport inspections. Within hours, at least one 3-D printer owner had already downloaded the files, printed one of the master keys, and published a video proving that it opened his TSA-approved luggage lock....

"Text me when you get home" is a frequent farewell among friends and family. But what if you could actually track their journey home, check in if they're feeling unsafe on their commute, and ensure that they can easily contact the police in an emergency?

That's all possible with a free app called Companion. Created over a year ago by a group of five students at the University of Michigan, the app has been gaining a ton of momentum after launching to the public two weeks ago. The app, available on Android or iOS, lets users send requests to phone contacts to virtually track their trips using GPS. The app has seen 500,0000 new users in the past week alone — including me.

Why is everyone so excited about a safety app? I tried it out for myself. A friend of mine in Israel graciously agreed to let me track him as he walked to a coffee shop about 18 minutes away. (I also took my turn being the walker, but it was more interesting to be on the other end.) I received an SMS text requesting that I be his companion. A link in the text sent me to the app — though you don't need it to track someone. If not, it would have directed me to a map in a browser. Once I accepted, I could see exactly where my friend was.

The app uses the phone's built-in sensors to detect changes in movement — like if the user starts running or the headphones come out. If that happens, the app asks users to confirm that they're OK. If they don't do so within 15 seconds, the app notifies your companion who has the option to call the police. At the same time, the app will also go into alert mode for the walker, emitting siren-like noises and displaying a button to also call the police. If I had been concerned about something with my friend — like why he wasn't walking faster! — I could use the app to call him. Alternately, he could select, "I feel nervous," which would have prompted me to check in on him. Once he reached his destination, I got an alert that he was safe.

"We've seen so many amazing use cases," said 21-year-old Lexie Ernst, a cofounder who's a senior at the University of Michigan. She said everyone from senior citizens to kids studying abroad are using the app. That wasn't exactly anticipated: The app was initially built to help tackle crime on college campuses, which the founders say is "way too prevalent."

The first version of Companion rolled out in November 2014 for students at the University of Michigan. The founders, three of whom are still in college, incorporated early feedback into the app's current version. "We asked, 'What do people actually want to use,'" said cofounder Nathan Pilcowitz, 22. The founders plan to add more features in the future — like touch-ID technology so that only the phone's owner can hit the "I'm OK" button. That way, someone can't steal your phone and falsely tell your friends that you're fine.

Because Companion is collecting anonymous data on users' paths — and where they "feel nervous" — it's a potential goldmine of information that universities and cities could analyze to make streets safer. For now, they're just working with University of Michigan, although Pilcowitz said others have reached out about potential partnerships. "We didn't realize going into it how much people love safety," he said.

Apple Inc said on Sunday it is cleaning up its iOS App Store to remove malicious iPhone and iPad programs identified in the first large-scale attack on the popular mobile software outlet.

The company disclosed the effort after several cyber security firms reported finding a malicious program dubbed XcodeGhost that was embedded in hundreds of legitimate apps.

It is the first reported case of large numbers of malicious software programs making their way past Apple's stringent app review process. Prior to this attack, only five malicious apps had ever been found in the App Store, according to cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc.

The hackers embedded the malicious code in these apps by convincing developers of legitimate software to use a tainted, counterfeit version of Apple's software for creating iOS and Mac apps, which is known as Xcode, Apple said.

"We've removed the apps from the App Store that we know have been created with this counterfeit software," Apple spokeswoman Christine Monaghan said in an email. "We are working with the developers to make sure they’re using the proper version of Xcode to rebuild their apps."

She did not say what steps iPhone and iPad users could take to determine whether their devices were infected.

Palo Alto Networks Director of Threat Intelligence Ryan Olson said the malware had limited functionality and his firm had uncovered no examples of data theft or other harm as a result of the attack.

Still, he said it was "a pretty big deal" because it showed that the App Store could be compromised if hackers infected machines of software developers writing legitimate apps. Other attackers may copy that approach, which is hard to defend against, he said.

"Developers are now a huge target," he said.

Researchers said infected apps included Tencent Holdings Ltd's popular mobile chat app WeChat, car-hailing app Didi Kuaidi and a music app from Internet portal NetEase Inc.

The tainted version of Xcode was downloaded from a server in China that developers may have used because it allowed for faster downloads than using Apple's U.S. servers, Olson said.

Chinese security firm Qihoo360 Technology Co said on its blog that it had uncovered 344 apps tainted with XcodeGhost.

I'm reasonably certain this is technology that has existed for years.

I've heard the 'If you've done nothing wrong, you don't have to fear surveillance' argument before.

Are there better rebuttals than 'Surveillance feels wierd and creepy'?

I've heard the 'If you've done nothing wrong, you don't have to fear surveillance' argument before.