humor, nsa, schneiernews, Security technology, twitter
On Monday, I asked Adm. Rogers a question. EDITED TO ADD: The question. Powered by WPeMatico
Author: infossl
att, privacy, Security technology, surveillance
AT&T is charging a premium for gigabit Internet service without surveillance: The tracking and ad targeting associated with the gigabit service cannot be avoided using browser privacy settings: as AT&T explained, the program “works independently of your browser’s privacy settings regarding cookies, do-not-track and private browsing.” In other words, AT&T is performing deep packet inspection, … Read More “AT&T Charging Customers to Not Spy on Them” »
academicpapers, cellphones, Security technology, sidechannelattacks, tracking
New research on tracking the location of smart phone users by monitoring power consumption: PowerSpy takes advantage of the fact that a phone’s cellular transmissions use more power to reach a given cell tower the farther it travels from that tower, or when obstacles like buildings or mountains block its signal. That correlation between battery … Read More “Cell Phones Leak Location Information through Power Usage” »
Security technology, squid
This is freaky: A new study showcases the first example of an animal editing its own genetic makeup on-the-fly to modify most of its proteins, enabling adjustments to its immediate surroundings. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Powered by … Read More “Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Can Recode Their Genetic Makeup” »
adware, computersecurity, lenovo, maninthemiddleattacks, Security technology
It’s not just national intelligence agencies that break your https security through man-in-the-middle attacks. Corporations do it, too. For the past few months, Lenovo PCs have shipped with an adware app called Superfish that man-in-the-middles TLS connections. Here’s how it works, and here’s how to get rid of it. And you should get rid of … Read More “Man-in-the-Middle Attacks on Lenovo Computers” »
cellphones, databases, eavesdropping, edwardsnowden, gchq, hacking, nsa, phones, privacy, Security technology, simcards, surveillance
The Intercept has an extraordinary story: the NSA and/or GCHQ hacked into the Dutch SIM card manufacturer Gemalto, stealing the encryption keys for billions of cell phones. People are still trying to figure out exactly what this means, but it seems to mean that the intelligence agencies have access to both voice and data from … Read More “NSA/GCHQ Hacks SIM Card Database and Steals Billions of Keys” »
databases, hacking, passwords, Security technology
Earlier this month, Mark Burnett released a database of ten million usernames and passwords. He collected this data from already-public dumps from hackers who had stolen the information; hopefully everyone affected has changed their passwords by now. News articles. Powered by WPeMatico
concealment, costbenefitanalysis, defense, nationalsecuritypolicy, Security technology
Interesting article on the submarine arms race between remaining hidden and detection. It seems that it is much more expensive for a submarine to hide than it is to detect it. And this changing balance will affect the long-term viability of submarines. Powered by WPeMatico
aes, cryptography, encryption, irs, Security technology
I’m not sure what to make of this, or even what it means. The IRS has a standard called IDES: International Data Exchange Service: “The International Data Exchange Service (IDES) is an electronic delivery point where Financial Institutions (FI) and Host Country Tax Authorities (HCTA) can transmit and exchange FATCA data with the United States.” … Read More “IRS Encourages Poor Cryptography” »
edwardsnowden, exploits, hacking, implants, kaspersky, nsa, Security technology, vulnerabilities
This week, Kaspersky Labs published detailed information on what it calls the Equation Group — almost certainly the NSA — and its abilities to embed spyware deep inside computers, gaining pretty much total control of those computers while maintaining persistence in the face of reboots, operating system reinstalls, and commercial anti-virus products. The details are … Read More “The Equation Group's Sophisticated Hacking and Exploitation Tools” »