A new vulnerability in WhatsApp has been discovered: …the researchers unearthed far more significant gaps in WhatsApp’s security: They say that anyone who controls WhatsApp’s servers could effortlessly insert new people into an otherwise private group, even without the permission of the administrator who ostensibly controls access to that conversation. Matthew Green has a good … Read More “WhatsApp Vulnerability” »
Category: encryption
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No More Ransom is a central repository of keys and applications for ransomware, so people can recover their data without paying. It’s not complete, of course, but is pretty good against older strains of ransomware. The site is a joint effort by Europol, the Dutch police, Kaspersky, and McAfee. Powered by WPeMatico
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein has given talks where he proposes that tech companies decrease their communications and device security for the benefit of the FBI. In a recent talk, his idea is that tech companies just save a copy of the plaintext: Law enforcement can also partner with private industry to address a problem we … Read More “Yet Another FBI Proposal for Insecure Communications” »
The German Interior Minister is preparing a bill that allows the government to mandate backdoors in encryption. No details about how likely this is to pass. I am skeptical. Powered by WPeMatico
It’s a lot more chemistry than I understand: Invisible inks based on “smart” fluorescent materials have been shining brightly (if only you could see them) in the data-encryption/decryption arena lately…. But some of the materials are costly or difficult to prepare, and many of these inks remain somewhat visible when illuminated with ambient or ultraviolet … Read More “New Research in Invisible Inks” »
Earlier this month, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave a speech warning that a world with encryption is a world without law — or something like that. The EFF’s Kurt Opsahl takes it apart pretty thoroughly. Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said much the same thing. This is an idea that will not die. … Read More “FBI Increases Its Anti-Encryption Rhetoric” »
The ISO has decided not to approve two NSA-designed block encryption algorithms: Speck and Simon. It’s because the NSA is not trusted to put security ahead of surveillance: A number of them voiced their distrust in emails to one another, seen by Reuters, and in written comments that are part of the process. The suspicions … Read More “ISO Rejects NSA Encryption Algorithms” »
They’re actually Arris routers, sold or given away by AT&T. There are several security vulnerabilities, some of them very serious. They can be fixed, but because these are routers it takes some skill. We don’t know how many routers are affected, and estimates range from thousands to 138,000. Among the vulnerabilities are hardcoded credentials, which … Read More “Security Vulnerabilities in AT&T Routers” »
This should come as no surprise: Alas, our findings suggest that secure communications haven’t yet attracted mass adoption among journalists. We looked at 2,515 Washington journalists with permanent credentials to cover Congress, and we found only 2.5 percent of them solicit end-to-end encrypted communication via their Twitter bios. That’s just 62 out of all the … Read More “Journalists Generally Do Not Use Secure Communication” »
Ross Anderson gave a talk on the history of the Crypto Wars in the UK. I am intimately familiar with the US story, but didn’t know as much about Britain’s verson. Hour-long video. Summary. Powered by WPeMatico