Encryption

Thirty-Year-Old Encryption Formula Can Resist Quantum-Computing Attacks That Defeat All Common Codes

The core advantage of quantum computing — the ability to compute for many possible outcomes at the same time and therefore crunch data much more quickly than classical computers — also creates a problem for data security. Once the first high-powered quantum computers are functioning, they’ll be able to quickly saw through many of our…

Privacy & Security Adam Harris Aug 18

This Hard Drive Will Self-Destruct In Five Seconds

According to Toshiba, the new wipe technology on their self-encrypting hard drives will destroy any data in them when you remove the device or power it off completely. Sounds a bit nuts, but it makes sense. Instead of over-writing the data—which takes hours—or using a physical method—that requires time and effort—the new drives will automatically…

Privacy & Security Jesus Diaz Aug 10

Study Warns Private Browsing Modes Can Be Bypassed

In what will come as alarming news to porn lovers everywhere, a new study out of Stanford University shows that the private browsing modes now standard on most browsers can be circumvented. The culprits? Encrypted sites and your own extensions. In a paper to be presented at the upcoming Usenix security conference, computer scientist Dan…

Privacy & Security Sam Biddle Aug 6

Gulp: Security Researcher Discovers WPA2 Vulnerability

It’s time to be nostalgic for the days when you could count on WPA2 as the strongest, most impregnable wireless security standard. Security firm AirTight Networks has discovered a means of compromising WPA2 encryption using about ten lines of code. Utilizing what’s known as a “man in the middle” exploit, whereby an authorized member of…

Privacy & Security Sam Biddle Jul 26

DRM Buster FAQ: What It Means For You

Today’s Library of Congress statement marks a historic moment in the battle between those who dictate how we should be able to use media and technology, and the rest of us. We explain what the new exemptions mean for you. Copyright law is a giant, hulking swamp beast of legislation and tangled legal precedent. The…

Tech News Sam Biddle Jul 26

FBI: Spies Hid Secret Messages on Public Websites

Moscow communicated with alleged spies in America by encoding instructions on public websites. It’s a process called steganography. And it’s one of a slew of high-tech and time-tested methods that the deep-cover agents and their Russian handlers used to pass information Steganography is simultaneously one of the oldest methods for secret communications, and one of…

Tech News Noah Shachtman - Wired.com Jun 29

What It’s Like To Be a Russian Spy Undercover In the U.S. In 2010

“You were sent to USA for long-term service trip. Your education, bank accounts, car, house—all these serve one goal: fulfill your main mission…to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in U.S. and send intels to [Center].” That was the exact order given to 11 individuals who had been living in the U.S. as deep…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert Jun 29

Encrypt Calls And Text Messages With These Android Apps

A company called Whisper Systems has made two Android apps to aid the paranoid: RedPhone and TextSecure. The apps allow you to encrypt calls and text messages, respectively, and are available through a public beta right now. [WhisperSys]

Tech News Rosa Golijan May 26

Save Your Weird Searches For Encrypted Google

With all of the high-profile privacy lapses we’ve been seeing lately, no one would blame you for wanting to keep your Google searches, well, your Google searches. Google’s new beta service does just that, protecting your queries with SSL encryption. https://gizmodo.com/google-snooped-on-you-for-three-years-but-is-profound-5539395 Whether the stuff you’re searching for is illegal or just embarrassing, it’s always a…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert May 22

Confessed Spy Convicted of Exporting U.S. Crypto Gear to China

A Chinese national was convicted this week of smuggling and other charges over his efforts to acquire sensitive military and NSA-encryption gear from eBay and other internet sources. Chi Tong Kuok, of Macau, told Defense Department and Customs investigators that he had been “acting at the direction of officials for the People’s Republic of China,”…

Tech News Kevin Poulsen - Wired.com May 13

Quantum Encryption Messages You Can Only Read In One Location

The problem with messages is that you can’t be sure who might pick them up at the other end. But a new scheme for a quantum communications ensures only a recipient in exactly the right location can read their message. If banks were to use the new scheme they could send messages that could not…

Privacy & Security Kyle VanHemert Apr 28

How To: Hide Your “Collection”

All this talk about preserving digital legacies got me thinking: What about the bits we don’t want to leave behind? Y’know, the risqué material? Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. This seems like a complicated subject. It’s not. There’s some data that’s private, both in terms of content as well as the…

Tech News John Herrman Mar 20

Origin Data Locker Backs Rugged Looks with AES Hardware Encryption

The Origin Data Locker: For the paranoid geek who lives with his parents in their fortified underground bunker. Doubt it? Everything from the belongs-on-a-battleship looks to the AES encryption software to the 6-18 digit PIN screams “you will not get the 1TB of porn inside me.” Even the touchscreen keypad is paranoid, as it changes…

Privacy & Security Jack Loftus Oct 18

Aegis Padlock Portable Hard Disk Is Perfect For Paranoid Types

The Aegis Padlock Secure Drive has its own keypad and admin feature to lock your data down. It also has 128-bit realtime or 256-bit AES hardware encryption, shock mounting, and come in sizes up to 500GB. The Padlock isn’t the first hard disk to have its own keypad (Lenovo’s ThinkPad USB Secure Hard Drive gets…

Tech News Danny Allen Aug 20

Hacker Claims iPhone 3GS Encryption is Incredibly, Dangerously Easy to Crack

Noted iPhone security destroyer Jonathan Zdziarski has cracked the iPhone 3GS encryption security, which is to be expected, but the ease and speed with which he did it is worrisome. Zdziarski claims the iPhone 3GS is thus “useless” to businesses. https://gizmodo.com/hacker-to-bypass-iphone-passcode-lock-during-live-webca-5046050 The iPhone certainly isn’t as ubiquitous for corporate use as BlackBerry or even Windows…

Tech News Dan Nosowitz Jul 23

Quantum Encryption Network Goes Live, Claims To Be Unbreakable

Scientists have connected up the world’s first computer network protected by “quantum cryptography,” a supposedly unbreakable system that functions off a scheme based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. For us non-science folk, that means that you can’t grab information transmitted through the network without disturbing it somehow, making it easy to detect when somebody’s trying…

Physics & Chemistry Elaine Chow Oct 9

3M Mobile ID Reader Helps Big Brother Take Your Identity More Efficiently

3M’s new Mobile ID Reader scans MRZ and RF chip data from passports and visas and immediately checks them against local or international watch lists by using wifi or GSM/GPRS EDGE networks. It seems like a great tool to further make you feel like you’re living in some scary dystopian sci-fi novel, especially when you…

Tech News Dan Nosowitz Sep 27

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000B is Power Efficient 1TB Drive, Has Encryption Too

About a year ago we brought you the first retail terabyte HDD, the Deskstar 7K1000, and now Hitachi has released the Deskstar 7K1000.B. And Hitachi’s worked quite hard on it: With a 32MB buffer and a three-disk layout, it’s apparently the “world’s most power-efficient 1TB drive” and consumes about 43% less power when idling. And…

Gadgets Kit Eaton Jul 10

Data Encryption Easily Broken Using Keys Hiding In RAM

Scientists at Princeton have discovered a way to grab otherwise-protected data encryption keys from memory on a computer that’s just been powered down. This is pretty scary stuff, since the keys—which are well protected when the computer is on—are the one thing that keeps super-tight encryption from cracking. It was previously thought that data held…

Privacy & Security Wilson Rothman Mar 5

Secure IronKey Flash Drive Will Self-Destruct in 3…2…1…

Designed to be the world’s most secure flash drive, the IronKey employs military-grade AES hardware-based encryption using its IronKey Cryptochip. The encryption keys are stored on the drive itself and your password is required in conjunction with the keys to access and decrypt files. If you forget your password, you may be in trouble; after…

Gadgets Kthompson Jul 26

Thirty-Year-Old Encryption Formula Can Resist Quantum-Computing Attacks That Defeat All Common Codes

This Hard Drive Will Self-Destruct In Five Seconds

Study Warns Private Browsing Modes Can Be Bypassed

Gulp: Security Researcher Discovers WPA2 Vulnerability

DRM Buster FAQ: What It Means For You

FBI: Spies Hid Secret Messages on Public Websites

What It’s Like To Be a Russian Spy Undercover In the U.S. In 2010

Encrypt Calls And Text Messages With These Android Apps

Save Your Weird Searches For Encrypted Google

Confessed Spy Convicted of Exporting U.S. Crypto Gear to China

Quantum Encryption Messages You Can Only Read In One Location

How To: Hide Your “Collection”

Origin Data Locker Backs Rugged Looks with AES Hardware Encryption

Aegis Padlock Portable Hard Disk Is Perfect For Paranoid Types

Hacker Claims iPhone 3GS Encryption is Incredibly, Dangerously Easy to Crack

Quantum Encryption Network Goes Live, Claims To Be Unbreakable

3M Mobile ID Reader Helps Big Brother Take Your Identity More Efficiently

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000B is Power Efficient 1TB Drive, Has Encryption Too

Data Encryption Easily Broken Using Keys Hiding In RAM

Secure IronKey Flash Drive Will Self-Destruct in 3…2…1…

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