Facebook is making a new and stronger commitment to privacy. Last month, the company hired three of its most vociferous critics and installed them in senior technical positions. And on Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg wrote that the company will pivot to focus on private conversations over the public sharing that has long defined the platform, even … Read More “Judging Facebook’s Privacy Shift” »
Data & Society just published a report entitled “Workplace Monitoring & Surveillance“: This explainer highlights four broad trends in employee monitoring and surveillance technologies: Prediction and flagging tools that aim to predict characteristics or behaviors of employees or that are designed to identify or deter perceived rule-breaking or fraud. Touted as useful management tools, they … Read More “On Surveillance in the Workplace” »
This is a bad idea: A second innovation will allow “electronic absentee voting” within voters’ home precincts. In other words, Russia is set to introduce its first online voting system. The system will be tested in a Moscow neighborhood that will elect a single member to the capital’s city council in September. The details of … Read More “Russia Is Testing Online Voting” »
Is there anything squids aren’t good for? Academic paper. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here. Powered by WPeMatico
Yesterday at the RSA Conference, I gave a keynote talk about the role of public-interest technologists in cybersecurity. (Video here). I also hosted a one-day mini-track on the topic. We had six panels, and they were all great. If you missed it live, we have videos: How Public Interest Technologists are Changing the World: Matt … Read More “Videos and Links from the Public-Interest Technology Track at the RSA Conference” »
This will complicate things: To complicate matters, having cyber insurance might not cover everyone’s losses. Zurich American Insurance Company refused to pay out a $100 million claim from Mondelez, saying that since the U.S. and other governments labeled the NotPetya attack as an action by the Russian military their claim was excluded under the “hostile … Read More “Cybersecurity Insurance Not Paying for NotPetya Losses” »
This system claims to detect suspicious behavior that indicates shoplifting: Vaak, a Japanese startup, has developed artificial intelligence software that hunts for potential shoplifters, using footage from security cameras for fidgeting, restlessness and other potentially suspicious body language. The article has no detail or analysis, so we don’t know how well it works. But this … Read More “Detecting Shoplifting Behavior” »
Really good article on the now-lost art of letterlocking. Powered by WPeMatico
Researchers have demonstrated spoofing of digital signatures in PDF files. This would matter more if PDF digital signatures were widely used. Still, the researchers have worked with the various companies that make PDF readers to close the vulnerabilities. You should update your software. Details are here. News article. Powered by WPeMatico
The Crypto Wars have been waging off-and-on for a quarter-century. On one side is law enforcement, which wants to be able to break encryption, to access devices and communications of terrorists and criminals. On the other are almost every cryptographer and computer security expert, repeatedly explaining that there’s no way to provide this capability without … Read More “Cybersecurity for the Public Interest” »