Month: June 2019

Fake News and Pandemics

Posted on By infossl
biologicalwarfare, disinformation, essays, fakenews, lies, medicine, propaganda, Security technology, socialmedia, terrorism

When the next pandemic strikes, we’ll be fighting it on two fronts. The first is the one you immediately think about: understanding the disease, researching a cure and inoculating the population. The second is new, and one you might not have thought much about: fighting the deluge of rumors, misinformation and flat-out lies that will … Read More “Fake News and Pandemics” »

How Apple’s “Find My” Feature Works

Posted on By infossl
apple, cryptography, iphone, privacy, scams, Security technology, tracking, wifi

Matthew Green intelligently speculates about how Apple’s new “Find My” feature works. If you haven’t already been inspired by the description above, let me phrase the question you ought to be asking: how is this system going to avoid being a massive privacy nightmare? Let me count the concerns: If your device is constantly emitting … Read More “How Apple’s “Find My” Feature Works” »

Hacking Hardware Security Modules

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, hacking, hardware, Security technology, securityengineering

Security researchers Gabriel Campana and Jean-Baptiste Bédrune are giving a hardware security module (HSM) talk at BlackHat in August: This highly technical presentation targets an HSM manufactured by a vendor whose solutions are usually found in major banks and large cloud service providers. It will demonstrate several attack paths, some of them allowing unauthenticated attackers … Read More “Hacking Hardware Security Modules” »

Risks of Password Managers

Posted on By infossl
passwords, passwordsafe, riskassessment, risks, Security technology

Stuart Schechter writes about the security risks of using a password manager. It’s a good piece, and nicely discusses the trade-offs around password managers: which one to choose, which passwords to store in it, and so on. My own Password Safe is mentioned. My particular choices about security and risk is to only store passwords … Read More “Risks of Password Managers” »

Maciej Cegłowski on Privacy in the Information Age

Posted on By infossl
control, infrastructure, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

Maciej Cegłowski has a really good essay explaining how to think about privacy today: For the purposes of this essay, I’ll call it “ambient privacy” — the understanding that there is value in having our everyday interactions with one another remain outside the reach of monitoring, and that the small details of our daily lives … Read More “Maciej Cegłowski on Privacy in the Information Age” »

Data, Surveillance, and the AI Arms Race

Posted on By infossl
algorithms, artificialintelligence, datacollection, essays, machinelearning, nationalsecuritypolicy, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

According to foreign policy experts and the defense establishment, the United States is caught in an artificial intelligence arms race with China — one with serious implications for national security. The conventional version of this story suggests that the United States is at a disadvantage because of self-imposed restraints on the collection of data and … Read More “Data, Surveillance, and the AI Arms Race” »