security

Feds put heat on Web firms for master encryption keys

"These demands for master encryption keys, which have not been disclosed previously, represent a technological escalation in the clandestine methods that the FBI and the National Security Agency employ when conducting electronic surveillance against Internet users. If the government obtains a company's master encryption key, agents could decrypt the contents of communications intercepted through a wiretap or by invoking the potent surveillance authorities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Web encryption -- which often appears in a browser with a HTTPS lock icon when enabled -- uses a technique called SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds put heat on Web firms for master encryption keys

PayPal Cuts Off VPN Provider iPredator, Freezes Assets

"PayPal has cut off VPN provider iPredator, an anonymity service launched by Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde. The popular VPN provider is no longer allowed to accept payments and PayPal has frozen all funds for up to 180 days. PayPal didn’t provide any details as to why iPredator was banned, but the action comes after their credit card processor stopped doing business with all VPN services." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPayPal Cuts Off VPN Provider iPredator, Freezes Assets

Texas man raised over $4.5M in 2012 Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, feds allege

"The government's financial regulator alleges that Shavers violated a number of federal financial regulations. In court documents, the SEC wrote: 'Shavers falsely promised investors up to 7 percent interest weekly based on BTCST’s purported BTC market arbitrage activity, including selling BTC to individuals who wished to buy BTC 'off the radar,' quickly, or in large quantities. In reality, the BTCST offering was a sham and a Ponzi scheme whereby Shavers used new BTCST investors’ BTC to pay the promised returns on outstanding BTCST investments and misappropriated BTCST investors’ [bitcoins] for his personal use.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas man raised over $4.5M in 2012 Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, feds allege

Activists file first lawsuit over “Ag Gag” industrial filming law

"RT has been following the story of Amy Meyer, who became the first person the state of Utah tried to prosecute under its new Ag Gag law. She was being pursued for filming a slaughterhouse from a public street. Her case garnered so much attention that it was dismissed, but the ag gag law is still on the books. A new lawsuit looks to change that. [Various parties] have come together to bring a constitutional challenge to the law. They argue that it pits journalists and whistleblowers against the state, encroaches on the public's right to know and hinders independent regulation of these industries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingActivists file first lawsuit over “Ag Gag” industrial filming law

Snooping Fears: German Firms Race to Shield Secrets

"Edward Snowden's revelations about data surveillance have left German firms feeling acutely vulnerable to industrial espionage. In the medium-sized business sector, which contains a host of world leaders in high-tech fields, the race is on to shield vital know-how. Be it Prism, Tempora or XKeyscore, reports about mass electronic surveillance and tapped Internet hubs and trans-Atlantic data lines have alarmed German companies. Many firms are now worried that the intelligence services aren't just trying to pinpoint terrorists but to get at German industrial secrets as well. They fear that their lead over US, British and French competitors could be at risk." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnooping Fears: German Firms Race to Shield Secrets

How do smartphones reveal shoppers’ movements?

"Most devices send 'probe requests' akin to a town crier shouting out the names of networks which the device has previously connected to, so that a nearby base-station that matches any of these requests can respond. Place several Wi-Fi base-stations in a shop, then, and you can pick up these probe requests, extract the device IDs, trilaterate the positions of the devices sending them, and thus track the movements of individual shoppers, seeing which racks or displays they stop at, and what paths they follow through the store. This is arguably just the latest development in the well-established field of 'retail science'. This was once done using video cameras." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow do smartphones reveal shoppers’ movements?

UN group warns of ‘significant’ cybersecurity vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology

"A United Nations group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion phones. The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards. Hackers could use compromised SIMs to commit financial crimes or engage in electronic espionage, according to Berlin’s Security Research Labs, which will describe the vulnerabilities at the Black Hat hacking conference that opens in Las Vegas on July 31." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN group warns of ‘significant’ cybersecurity vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology

NFC Ring can be used to unlock doors, mobile phones and to transfer information and link people

"The NFC Ring can be used to unlock doors, mobile phones, transfer information and link people. Best of all the NFC Ring glides right onto your finger - no updates, no charging, and no fuss. When you take your phone out of your pocket, just slide your hand under and the NFC Ring will unlock it. It couldn't be more simple! A third party application is required for this, various exist so you can pick your own from the Google play store. You can use your NFC Ring to share WiFi information, links to websites, contact information or whatever you think is suitable to be passed securely to your friends, smartphones and tablets." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNFC Ring can be used to unlock doors, mobile phones and to transfer information and link people

$25 gadget lets hackers seize control of a car

"Spanish engineers Javier Vázquez Vidal and Alberto Garcia Illera will give a demonstration at the Black Hatsecurity conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have built a $25 device that lets them bypass security in a car's electronic control unit. Vázquez Vidal and Garcia Illera will show how their device – which they claim uses a $1 chip to break encryption – can read from and write data to the flash memory of commonly used ECUs, made by Bosch of Germany. 'And it would take no time to gain total control over a vehicle – deploying an airbag, activating the brakes, or immobilising a car at any moment,' says Vázquez Vidal." Continue reading →

Continue Reading$25 gadget lets hackers seize control of a car

$25 gadget lets hackers seize control of a car

"Spanish engineers Javier Vázquez Vidal and Alberto Garcia Illera will give a demonstration at the Black Hatsecurity conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have built a $25 device that lets them bypass security in a car's electronic control unit. Vázquez Vidal and Garcia Illera will show how their device – which they claim uses a $1 chip to break encryption – can read from and write data to the flash memory of commonly used ECUs, made by Bosch of Germany. 'And it would take no time to gain total control over a vehicle – deploying an airbag, activating the brakes, or immobilising a car at any moment,' says Vázquez Vidal." Continue reading →

Continue Reading$25 gadget lets hackers seize control of a car