security

How Your Boss’ Prying Eyes Could Land You a Visit from the Feds

"By some estimates, more than two-thirds of company-provided computers in the U.S. are monitored by employers. If you work for such a firm, every email you send, every cute and crazy cat video you watch on YouTube, and every Google search you make is tracked, catalogued, and archived somewhere in the system. Sometimes, that can lead to unwanted consequences, as it did for New Yorkers Michelle Catalano and her husband a couple weeks ago: a visit from the Suffolk County, New York, 'Joint Terrorism Task Force.'" Continue reading →

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Worried About Obamacare? The Government’s “Federal Data Hub” Is Here to Help

"If you’re confused about the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known 'Obamacare,' worry not. The federal government has conveniently used your tax money to hire 'patient navigators' to help you understand… and enroll you in the program. These otherwise unassuming civil servants will help you learn about the act, navigate its complexities, and select the benefits that fit your criteria. They will also have access to your personal information. All of it. The hub will 'bring together information about you and your family from the Treasury Department and IRS, the Department of Homeland Security [and] the Department of Justice…'" Continue reading →

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High Profile Digital Forensic Services Company SYTECH Embraces Bitcoin

"In August 2013 SYTECH announced its move into Bitcoin: offering data recovery services to salvage coins from damaged hard drives, mobile phones and other storage mediums. SYTECHis accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for its services, and offering a 5% discount to any client who pays in Bitcoin. In a world first, SYTECH has announced a stolen Bitcoin tracing and recovery service; turning its decades of digital forensics expertise to tracing online Bitcoin criminals and recovering stolen Bitcoin for their clients." Continue reading →

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Wi-Fi Trashcans Now Silently Tracking Your Smartphone Data

"Utilizing Wi-Fi technology within the infrastructure of the now tech-equipped trashcans, new ‘Renew Pods’ spy trashcans have been placed throughout the financial district of London. The ‘Renew’ company behind the spy cans says that the Renew Pods track and collect a medley of information. Specifically, it includes your phone’s unique Media Access Control (MAC) address, which these Renew Pods collect without even the slightest warning. But that’s along with collecting other characteristics that are used to sell to advertisers in order to better ‘target’ you with advertising in the area." Continue reading →

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Bitmessage: Choice Of A Rightly Paranoid Generation

"Bitmessage is an open-source communications protocol for keeping your email private. Unlike PGP and similar programs that hide just the content of messages, Bitmessage also hides metadata like the sender and receiver of messages. And unlike PGP, Bitmessage doesn't require that users manage public or private keys to use the system; Bitmessage uses strong authentication so that the sender of a message cannot be spoofed. Bitmessage is also decentralized and trustless, which means that you don't need to trust root certificate authorities or any third parties who, under legal duress from a government, might give up your data." Continue reading →

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Android Security Vulnerability Threatens Existing Bitcoin Wallets

"We recently learned that a component of Android responsible for generating secure random numbers contains critical weaknesses, that render all Android wallets generated to date vulnerable to theft. Because the problem lies with Android itself, this problem will affect you if you have a wallet generated by any Android app. An incomplete list would be Bitcoin Wallet, blockchain.info wallet, BitcoinSpinner and Mycelium Wallet. Apps where you don't control the private keys at all are not affected. For example, exchange frontends like the Coinbase or Mt Gox apps are not impacted by this issue because the private keys are not generated on your Android phone." Continue reading →

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How should you protect yourself from cyber surveillance?

"What are your risks in this era of surveillance, hacking and sloppy software coding? It depends. So what precautions should you be taking? Same answer: it depends. That’s a pretty unsatisfying bit of advice, isn’t it? Yet it’s a core truth of digital security. You should be concerned, very concerned, but in order to make decisions about your own security measures you should first figure out which threats you’re likely to face. Understanding what’s at risk – and that not all threats are equally daunting – is a key to how you should respond." Continue reading →

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Lavabit chief predicts ‘long fight’ with feds (Q&A)

"Ladar Levison can't talk for legal reasons about the specifics of why he shut down Lavabit, his encrypted Web e-mail company, but he was hardly tight-lipped about the subject. Levison, a San Francisco native and an enthusiastic beach-and-sand volleyball player who moved to Texas to go to college, currently resides in Dallas. In an phone interview about the decision to shutter Lavabit, Levison spoke about the connection between Lavabit and the Patriot Act, how he thinks the laws regarding privacy ought to change, and how the American government is failing to uphold the U.S. Constitution." Continue reading →

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U.S. E-Mail Services Close and Destroy Data Rather Than Reveal Files

"The shutdown of two small e-mail providers on Thursday illustrates why it is so hard for Internet companies to challenge secret government surveillance: to protect their customers’ data from federal authorities, the two companies essentially committed suicide. In effect, both businesses destroyed their assets — in part or in full — to avoid turning over their customers’ data. Such public displays are far more difficult for large companies to make, and help explain why the most public efforts to challenge secret government orders have come from small companies and nonprofits." Continue reading →

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BRICS emerging economies to expand co-operation on internet & security

"Edward's Snowden's revelations about US cybersnooping appear to be pushing its rivals closer together as China and other major emerging economies agree to expand co-operation on internet security. The consensus to emerge from a meeting of senior security officials from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa shows a broad desire to carve out their own turf in cyberspace and reduce reliance on American technology. The bloc is already collaborating on the BRICS cable, a US$1.5 billion marine fibre optic cable linking the BRICS countries and the US with 21 countries in Africa. It is due to begin service in mid-2015." Continue reading →

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