Security

Report: The NSA Spied on Porn Habits to Discredit ‘Radicalizers’

When you’ve got the world’s internet habits at your fingers, what should you start by looking at? Porn habits, obviously—especially if they’ll discredit the the people you’re snooping on in the first place. Huffington Post has unearthed NSA documents, provided by Edward Snowden, which describe how “personal vulnerabilities” could be learned through electronic surveillance, then…

Swathes of PSN users are having the passwords changed—which is, according to Sony, a “purely a precautionary measure” for “routine protection.” Which sounds slightly suspicious.

Debunking Eight Common Excuses for NSA Mass Surveillance

We’ve heard from lots of folks whoare passionately concerned about the NSA’s mass spying, but are struggling to get their friends and family to understand the problem and join the over a half-million people who have demanded change through stopwatching.us and elsewhere. Of course, you can show them the Stop Watching Us video and this…

New Airport Screening Method May Finally End the Absurd Liquid Ban

It looks like the days of shampoo bottles striking fear into the hearts of airport security everywhere might be numbered. Thanks to Los Alamos scientists, a new type of detection technology could give airports the tools they need to finally tell if a liquid is a potential threat—all with one simple scan. Today, a large…

The Dumb Ways Some Websites Store Your Passwords

In an ideal world, passwords would be secured so tightly that not even the best hacker could get the merest sniff of your details. Sadly, that’s not always the case. Plenty of websites manage to mess up the way they store passwords. Naive encryption techniques, hashing or, worst of all, plain text? Put together by…

Which Companies Are Encrypting Your Data Properly?

We’ve asked the companies in our Who Has Your Back Program what they are doing to bolster encryption in light of the NSA’s unlawful surveillance of your communications. We’re pleased to see that four companies—Dropbox, Google, SpiderOak and Sonic.net—are implementing five out of five of our best practices for encryption. In addition, we appreciate that…

Self-Checkout Security Checkpoints Could Replace Touchy TSA Agents

Self-checkout registers at the grocery store have reduced the lines when it comes to buying food, but can a similar setup do the same for security waiting lines? A company called Qylur has developed the Qylatron automated checkpoint which it hopes will bring added safety to sports or concert venues without increasing wait times to…

Yahoo is (finally) going to encrypt all the information that moves between you and its products by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

The CIA Is Trying to Stop Russia Building Monitoring Stations in the US

The CIA is quietly trying to stop Russia building a series of monitoring stations—devices that form part of Moscow’s version of the Global Positioning System—on US soil. The New York Times reports that Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, is trying to build around half a dozen of these structures—which it describes as “seemingly innocuous dome-topped…

Anonymous Has Been Hacking US Government Sites Since Last December

The FBI has released an official memo indicating that hackers related to Anonymous have been accessing federal government computers in various agencies for almost a year and stealing data. Reuters viewed a copy of the memo, which was sent around the FBI on Thursday. The attacks came as the result of an exploit in Adobe…

A Layman’s Guide to the High-Tech Tents That Keep Secrets Secret

It seems like every day brings a new “revelation” about Allied nations spying on other Allied nations. But while friends spying on friends might not be a huge surprise, the US is spending tons of money and brainpower trying to protect its sensitive conversations—in part, using portable security “tents.” https://gizmodo.com/report-the-nsas-been-spying-on-35-world-leaders-1451598576 These Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities—SCIFs,…

Kinect-Powered Security Cams Can Tell If You’re Fighting

The skeletal recognition tech behind Kinect is useful for way more than just gaming. It’s good for sign language, cheating at pool, and (duh) porn. But it could help stop violence, too. Thanks to Kinect, security cams could automatically know if they’re witnessing a beat-down. https://gizmodo.com/yes-of-course-there-is-kinect-porn-nsfw-513379661 Kintense, a system designed by Shahriar Nirjon and colleagues…

AT&T Decides to Fight Android Malware with Android Bloatware

AT&T and security software maker Lookout announced today that, from here on out, all Android phones the carrier sells will come with Lookout’s security app pre-installed. Which sounds nice enough, but is really a lousy idea. Bloatware sucks. At the very least, it’s a waste of memory. At its worst, pre-installed software can actually ruin…

Knock for iPhone Is the Most Fun You’ll Ever Have Unlocking Your Mac

Passwords are obnoxious, but until desktops start coming with a fingerprint/retina/any other type of body part scanner, they’re stuck dealing with the passcode security of yesteryear—or so it would seem. The new Knock app for iPhone, though, takes a more fun approach. If you’re an iPhone owner that uses a Mac in any capacity, you’ve…

Massive Credential Hacks Are the Crosswords of the Future

When hackers break into the databases of the great and good—like Adobe—they’re often left with an encrypted password and an unencrypted password hint. In other words, a giant, modern version of a crossword puzzle. https://gizmodo.com/hackers-have-seized-38-million-adobe-customer-records-1454590078 As Randall Munroe points out, the hackers are essentially presented with a set of clues, the answers to which are…

Hackers Grab VIP and Celebrity Details from Online Limo Service

A hacker’s broken into the databases of an online limousine service, grabbing details of more than 850,000 customers—including Fortune 500 CEOs, lawmakers, and A-list celebrities. The hackers nabbed the details from CorporateCarOnline, based in Kirkwood, Missouri, which bills itself as “the leading provider of on-demand software management solutions for the limousine and ground transportation industry.”…

The Dark Mail Alliance Wants to Reinvent Email as We Know It

In the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks, we’ve seen at least two encrypted email services close shop in the face of government scrutiny. They’re not giving up on the mission, however. In fact, these freedom fighters now say they’re coming back twice as strong and twice as committed to shutting out the NSA. The…

How to Build an Amazing Secret Monitor Only You Can See

Dealing with sensitive numbers in a top secret Excel spreadsheet? Reading classified documents that you don’t want people to see? Or most likely, exploring the more salacious parts of the Internet and don’t want to be thought of as a creep? Follow these instructions that show you how to create an awesome secret monitor only…

The Internet of Bikes: This Smart Lock Lets You Track and Share Rides

This year has seen an influx of internet-connected devices, from home locks, to smoke alarms, to egg trays. But the long arm of Bluetooth has left bike locks relatively untouched—until now. https://gizmodo.com/meet-nests-protect-a-smart-smoke-detector-thats-actu-1442224546 Today, a smart lock called Lock8 launched a Kickstarter campaign—and it’s the second smart lock to hit the platform in as many weeks.…

Why Are JavaScript Attacks So Dangerous?

You’ve probably heard security articles talk about JavaScript being used to attack websites, but you might not know why it’s quite so dangerous. This video helps explain. It’s all to do with cross-site scripting: a vulnerability that allows hackers to inject client-side script into web pages that are viewed by other users. In the past,…