Security

Vodafone Admits It’s Been Wiretapped Across the Whole of Europe

Will we ever discover the full extent of state snooping into our private lives? A year on from the NSA / Snowden revelations, Vodafone has today admitted that government agencies use wire taps to monitor its customer calls across Europe. Though not revealing exactly which of the 29 European territories it operates in have been…

How to Encrypt Everything

A year ago, heavy duty encryption technology was something cybersecurity professionals, privacy nuts, and the odd investigative journalist cared about. Then the Snowden leaks happened. Suddenly, we were all acutely aware of how exposed our data is to the prying eyes of spies and hackers alike. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Thanks…

65 Things We Know About NSA Surveillance We Didn’t Know a Year Ago

It’s been one year since the Guardian first published the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order, leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, that demonstrated that the NSA was conducting dragnet surveillance on millions of innocent people. Since then, the onslaught of disturbing revelations, from disclosures, admissions from government officials, Freedom of Information Act requests, and…

Internet Vulnerability Left Encrypted Data Exposed For 10 Years

It’s been just a few months since the HeartbleedOpenSSL security flaw was discovered, and we’re again learning about gaping hole in the widely used security protocol. The good news is that there’s a fix. The bad news is that the vulnerability has existed for a decade, and we’ll never know how much it was exploited.…

One Year After Snowden, What’s Really Changed?

Father’s Day is here again, but this year, dad won’t be getting an exciting bucket of leaks from Edward Snowden. No, instead we all get to look back on a year of NSA revelations and wonder what’s actually changed. The truth is, depressingly little. The first reports on Edward Snowden’s leaks were published exactly one…

What App Permissions Mean in Plain English

When you’re eagerly installing the latest must-have disappearing photo app or addictive puzzle game, how much time are you likely to spend reading through the required permissions before you accept them? Probably not enough. It’s tempting to give the permissions screen no more than a cursory glance when installing apps, not least because they’re often…

The UK has announced plans to hand out life sentences to hackers that undertake “cyberattacks which result in loss of life, serious illness or injury or serious damage to national security, or a significant risk thereof.” It is, however, very broadly written—so it could end up being applied more liberally than one may like.

This Is Britain’s Ultra-Secret Middle East Spy Base

It’s emerged that Britain has an ultra-secret spy base in the Middle East which taps undersea cables running through the region. The Register reports that the base and its operations are”above-top-secret” and, despite being leaked by Edward Snowden, have until now remained under wraps. Apparently some media organizations have been subject to government pressure not…

Do You Ever Snoop on Friends’ Phones?

If you’ve ever disabled the PIN on your lock screen (hi, hello), or lent your phone to someone, you know the feeling. Oh shit I left my phone in there with them! I hope I don’t have anything embarrassing on there. Shit, did I leave that tab open? It’s OK. I can trust them, right?…

529 Garage: Crowd-Connected Bike Security for the Modern Rider

Stolen bike registries have been around since the early days of the Internet (which explains why so many look like they were designed in 1998) but most offer little more than a registration form and reassuring words. The 529 Garage, however, takes the venerable bike database model and gives it a shot of 21st century…

Edward Snowden Wants to Know If He’s Hurt You

The much anticipated interview between Brian Williams and Edward Snowden aired on Wednesday night. It’s interesting. It’s also revealing in a nuanced way, bringing flashbacks to 9/11 and vignettes of this past year’s worth of NSA revelations. Most of all, though, it’s a rare peek into the whistleblower’s mind. At the top of the hour,…

How To Make Your Social Media Accounts (Almost) Unhackable

It can be easy to dismiss social media security as a chore to save for another day. Getting hacked is serious business though, and you could find your online identity stolen, your precious photos erased and your devices inaccessible. Fear not! We’ve put together some simple but effective ways of keeping the hackers out. Of…

Report: Google and Nest Want to Offer Home Surveillance

Google is reportedly hoping to add home security to Nest’s portfolio. According to The Information, it’s been considering a purchase of Dropcam—the worldwide leader in cloud-powered remote monitoring systems. https://www.theinformation.com/Google-Eyes-Home-Security-Dropcam https://gizmodo.com/dropcam-pro-a-burlier-webcam-to-help-you-keep-watch-ov-1443386807 The report explains that Google has been considering a purchase of Dropcam in an attempt to add another facet to its rapidly growing smart…

Edward Snowden Threw Crypto Parties Before He Blew the Whistle on NSA

Edward Snowden is famous for one thing: blowing the whistle on the NSA. But really, he’s just a normal guy. Before this all happened, for instance, he threw parties like all of us! Wait, maybe not quite: they were encryption parties. https://gizmodo.com/edward-snowden-takes-a-victory-lap-1489090349 Wired reports that, months before Snowden leaked classified NSA documents, he gathered friends…

Hackers Broke Into a Public Utility Control Room By Guessing a Password

In a rare gesture of transparency, the Department of Homeland Security just announced that hackers recently targeted and compromised a public utility’s control system. They didn’t say exactly where, but it happened inside United States borders. And it doesn’t sound like it was even that hard. Specific details about the breach are scant. However, DHS…

How the NSA Is Transforming Law Enforcement

If you’ve been imagining NSA surveillance as something distant, with analysts sitting in remote data centers quietly analyzing metadata—stop now. NSA surveillance has become a part of day-to-day law enforcement fabric in the United States. The Snowden disclosures that were made public as part of Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide drive this point…

Cheap Motion Sensors That Tell You Your Windows and Doors Have Opened

With the release of Dropcam’s Pro webcam last fall, the company set the scene for some interesting wireless accessories with the inclusion of built-in Bluetooth LE. With an API it hopes to get other companies to make accessories too, and to encourage development the company has just revealed its own official accessory: a cheap motion…

Report: NSA Is Recording Every Call in the Bahamas—Including Oprah’s

According to leaked documents provided by Edward Snowden, you can’t make a phone call in the Bahamas without the NSA listening. The Intercept reports that the agency “is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving [for one month] the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas.” Every. Single. One. Just…

Smartphone Cameras Can Be Used as Quantum Random Number Generators

Random numbers fuel our digital lives, but they’re notoriously difficult to generate properly. Now, scientists have shown that smartphone cameras can be used as quantum random number generators—and it could change the face of mobile security. The problem, you see, is that true random numbers can’t be generated by deterministic processes—like software on a computer—because…

Which Tech Companies Protect Your Data From the Government?

Every year, the Electronic Frontier Foundationreleases its “Who Has Your Back” report card, detailing the privacy policies of tech companies. Here’s the rundown of who fights for your privacy in the face of government requests for your data—and who doesn’t even bother. Executive Summary We entrust our most sensitive, private, and important information to technology…