Items tagged with Encryption
Samsung has confirmed that some of its slightly older Smart TV models are currently uploading recorded voice communication without any form of encryption to protect the user's privacy. This goes against what Samsung stated in a recent blog post clarifying the limited circumstances in which voice commands are recorded...
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It's bad enough when you're in possession of a database containing 80 million customer records and it gets hacked. But what's even worse than that is when you fail to encrypt all that data. Such is the unfortunate situation facing Anthem, the second largest healthcare provider in the U.S., and its tens of millions of...
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If you believe that your privacy is important - so important that the government can't even breach it - you're not going to like president Obama's latest comments. During a meeting at the White House with UK prime minister Dave Cameron, it was established that both leaders share the same stance on user privacy: you're...
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Google is on a mission to make end-to-end encryption more accessible for less savvy users than existing tools like PGP and GnuPG. The way it intends to do this is through its End-to-End tool, a work in progress that's currently in alpha form, albeit recently updated and in the process of being migrated to GitHub in...
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It's sad that we can't go more than a day lately without learning more about how governments love to eavesdrop on us, removing whatever privacy we have left. Just yesterday, we talked about the continued pressure law enforcement is putting on companies like Apple and Google regarding encryption on their respective...
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It's been no secret that most law enforcement, including the biggest US government agencies, would rather encryption didn't exist outside of its own use. Just this past week, we saw the Department of Justice defend its stance on scooping up user data en masse, and in September, we talked twice about the 'major...
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We're constantly being reminded that our government has a great interest in our private lives, whether it's flying specially equipped planes over densely populated areas to trick tens of thousands of phones into forking over sensitive data, or snooping on Internet traffic, big brother's watching us. One of the few...
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Apple is making a big deal about its encryption scheme in iOS 8 and is championing itself as a purveyor of user privacy. The way Apple chief Tim Cook explains it, Apple wouldn't be able to help law enforcement infiltrate your iPhone even if it wanted to because the encryption is too strong. Google's been echoing a...
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There's a fine line between privacy and safety, and the question we face as a nation is how much information should government agencies be allowed to access? Privacy advocates would argue that the U.S. government is stepping way over the line with the level of spying it's capable of, and in the aftermath of that all...
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Among all the different things Google is introducing in Android L, the next major version of Android, the one that will be of most interest to anyone concerned about privacy is the default setting for encryption. It will be the first version of Android to enable the setting by default, which means that a password will...
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Not even three weeks removed from a rather controversial iCloud hacking incident in which hackers were able to obtain nude photos of celebrities and post them online, Apple is championing itself as the protector of user privacy. Not many companies have the marketing mojo to go from one extreme end of the spectrum to...
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Now that the NSA has everyone second-guessing themselves before hitting the Send button, BitTorrent is jumping into the chat game. The service credited with enabling record-breaking piracy of HBO’s Game of Thrones announced Bleep alpha, a chat service for Windows. The chat’s draw is that it’s meant to keep your chat safe...
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We've been around the block enough times to know that outside of setting a storage medium on fire or some other equally extreme measure, all data is recoverable, it's just matter of time, money, and overall desire. However, it was still sobering to find out exactly how much data security firm Avast was able to recover...
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Our innocence lost, we now know that the National Security Agency (NSA) effectively strong arms technology companies far and wide into dishing out our personal information. It's a bum rap, and it may make you think twice about firing off that email to a friend or family member criticizing one of the government's...
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It's time to say 'goodbye' to TrueCrypt, the popular open-source full disk encryption software, which was abruptly shut down earlier this week by the anonymous developers who built the program. According to a message on TrueCrypt's website, the software is no longer secure and may contain unfixed security issues. "The...
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AOL has experienced a nasty security breach that exposed a great deal of user information, and the company says that it was the work of criminal hackers, as opposed to some kind of glitch or oversight. “AOL is investigating a security incident that involved unauthorized access to AOL's network and systems. AOL...
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Terrible news, everyone: There’s a coding error in the OpenSSL cryptographic software library that allows anyone with the right tools and a little know-how to access secret encryption keys, usernames, passwords, and even content on sites using OpenSSL for protection. That includes roughly two-thirds of the...
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As both the general public and CEOs of Internet companies seethe in the wake of NSA spying allegations, some researchers at MIT are working on a tool called Mylar that they claim would essentially spy-proof web applications. The pain point, according to the team, is the server. Every web application relies on servers for processing and storing...
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Wireless security has always been something of a problem. Basic WEP encryption, for example, has been beaten so soundly that it’s a wonder device makers even offer it as a security option anymore. Fortunately, we’ve had WiFi protected access 2 (WPA2) keeping our networks safe--but perhaps no longer. According to Phys.org, researchers...
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For all the ire the NSA’s spying practices have fomented among users and Internet companies alike, the revelations are prompting some positive changes. For Gmail users, those changes are coming in the form of better encryption on Google’s part. Although it’s been the default option since 2010, Google...
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Google has had enough of government surveillance. The search giant has been encrypting web searches in China to more effectively circumvent the government’s sensors, and that encrypting is rolling out globally, too. Within months, all Google searches made over a modern browser will be encrypted. Make no mistake...
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The fallout from the massive holiday Target data breach persists, as the retailer works feverishly to sort out exactly what happened and what to do about it. The 40 million or so customers who used cards at Target between November 27th and December 15th and had their data accessed by cybercrooks still need to be wary...
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