Security

7 Things You Need to Know About Tor

We posted last week about the Tor Challenge and why everyone should use Tor. Since we started our Tor Challenge two weeks ago we have signed up over 1000 new Tor relays. But it appears that there are still some popular misconceptions about Tor. We would like to take this opportunity to dispel some of…

Serious Security Threat Lurks on 10 Percent of Android Phones

A bug in the Android KeyStore left an estimated 86 percent of Android phones 10 percent of Android phones vulnerable to major security breaches, according to an advisory IBM researchers published last week. KeyStore is like the janitor’s closet for Android; it’s where all cryptographic keys and other sensitive information lives. So it’s a bad…

Can Embassies Be Secure Without Looking Like Scary Bunkers?

Over the last 15 years, every embassy that the U.S. has built around the world looks like a fortress—an eyesore in cities and a not-so-friendly message to foreigners. So, architects who are building our new London embassy hope to prove that aesthetics and security can co-exist. It’s an idea that’s sparked some controversy. I’ve visited…

Meet Onionshare, the File Sharing App the Next Snowden Will Use

A small software app called Onionshare offers the most secure file sharing available. So why hasn’t anyone heard of it? Well, mostly because it was released with just a tweet from its creator, and you have to go to Github to download it. But don’t let its underground status fool you—this is a very important…

World Cup Security Team Accidentally Shares Its Awful Wi-Fi Password

What’s the bigger security crime: having your Wi-Fi password displayed on a big screen, or using tired old internet speak to have “b5a2112014” as the password for the Brazil 2014 event security team network? The above photo came via local newspaper Correio Braziliense, in which security experts demonstrated the cutting-edge CCTV and monitoring facility being…

A Super-Sensitive Bomb-Sniffing Chip Could Be the Future of Security

When luggage makes its merry way through the airport, bomb-sniffing scanners have to check it out for explosives. Now, scientists in Israel say they have developed a small electronic chip that could be a million times more sensitive than our bulky scanners. To detect explosives, airport security and the military usually rely on machines that…

Could Clicking On Familiar Faces Eventually Replace Passwords?

Passwords and PINs are notoriously difficult to remember. But it just so happens that we’re exceptionally good at remembering distinct faces — a psychological quirk that security experts now say could be the next big thing in authentication. It’s called Facelock, a password alternative that plays to the strengths of human memory. Developed by researchers…

This App Hides a Panic Button in Your Calculator

Amnesty International has developed a secret ‘Panic Button’ app that will send emergency alerts to pre-selected contacts. The app was created specifically for journalists and human rights activists who constantly find themselves in precarious situations and may need to communicate quickly and silently for help. The app works by running a hidden interface that is…

Beware Crooks Stealing Your Card Details at Car Washes

There’s a new trend sweeping the credit card fraud business, and it takes the concept of money laundering quite literally: criminals are swiping card details from car washes. Krebs on Security reports that the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, which includes includes the U.S. Secret Service and state police, has discovered that at least 40…

The Electronic Frontier Foundation Wants You To Make Your Router Public

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is planning to release software that will allow you to turn a portion of your router into public wifi hotspot. The kicker is, they say it will make your router more secure. The move of OpenWireless.org campaign to make free Wi-Fi available to everyone, everywhere. The EFF will release firmware that…

Yo’s Now a Security Threat as Well as Being Stupid

Yo is having some problems, and not just because it’s so silly. Turns out that it only required three college students to find out that the app contains more security holes than a colander. https://gizmodo.com/yo-review-yo-1593276009 TechCrunch reports that the app—which has amazingly entered the US App Store’s Top 10 list—has already been hacked. The students…

The iPhone’s Kill Switch May Actually Be Reducing Theft

Good news, honest law-abiding citizens: Police in NYC, San Francisco, and London all report that after years of rising smartphone thefts, the trend is finally starting to reverse. For the first time, reported iPhone thefts are dropping. See? Those security features do work. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his San Francisco colleague George…

The British Government Just Set a Dangerous Precedent for Online Spying

Today, the British government revealed its justification for surveilling its citizens’ every move on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. UK citizens communicating using the aforementioned services are considered to be using “external communications,” as the companies are not based in the UK. It’s a distinction with staggering implications. Charles Farr, the Director General of…

AT&T recently confirmed that a breach in April that let unauthorized contractors into the mobile giant’s database to snag personal information including Social Security Numbers about AT&T Mobility customers. AT&T won’t say how many users are affected, but unlucky folks have already been notified.

Two-Factor Authentication Is Ruining My Life and It’s All My Fault

Sorry if I missed any emails from you this past week. I’ve been doing all my work email from my phone. It’s the only way I can see it, and it’s all two-factor authentication’s fault. Well, and also mine. Because I am an idiot. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Two-factor authentication is supposed…

P.F. Chang’s Is Using Stone-Age Credit Card Tech So It Can’t Be Hacked

Restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s China Bistro got hacked recently, compromising thousands of credit cards. Oopsies. But business doesn’t stop just because you got hacked, so in the short term the company is resorting to some old-school tech so that it can keep taking plastic. Earlier this week, Brian Krebs reported that thousands of credit cards…

You Should Log Out of TweetDeck Right Now (Update: All Clear)

If you use TweetDeck for Chrome you should log out now. Turns out it has an XSS vulnerability that allows attackers to execute code remotely on your computer just by tweeting it out. So far it appears to only affect the Chrome app We’re getting reports of issues in the Chrome app, in the webapp…

Should We Think of Hackers as the Internet’s Immune System?

Digital freedom fighters or computer-based criminals, hackers garner mixed reactions depending on what they do and why they’re doing it. But in this video, Keren Elazari suggests that we should perhaps think of all hackers as the Internet’s immune system. Sure, some hackers do good and others do bad, but by and large they all…

Unlock the Past: How a 19th Century Lock Pick Changed Security Forever

In April 1851, Alfred C. Hobbs boarded the steamship Washington bound for Southampton, England. His official duty was to sell the New York City-based company Day and Newell’s newest product – the parautopic lock – at a trade show – London’s Great Exhibition. But Hobbs had something a bit more nefarious up his sleeve, or…

14-Year-Old Kids “Hack” Into ATM Using Default Security Code

A couple of crafty 14-year-old kids from Winnipeg figured out how to get past the security on a a Bank of Montreal ATM. Crazy as it might sound, the “hack” didn’t require any advanced computer hacking at all—these kids just looked up the ATM manual on the internet. The Edmonton Journal reports that Matthew Hewlett…