Open Source Code – The Future of User Privacy
Will we see more and more open source software in the future, or is this a passing trend that will die off eventually? According to survey data, open source is…
Security
Telecoms across Europe are sharing phone location data with governments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
A telecommunications lobbying group, the GSMA, has confirmed that several telecom companies in Europe are providing mobile phone location data with the European Union as a way to track the…
Unpatched bug in iOS 13.3.1 and later stops VPNs from encrypting all connections
An ongoing security vulnerability in iPhones and iPads is keeping VPN applications from doing their job. For iOS versions 13.3.1 and later, this bug remains unpatched and has been rated…
KrØØk WiFi vulnerability affected WiFi encryption on over a billion devices
A vulnerability in Broadcom and Cypress WiFi chips makes it possible for attackers on your local WiFi network to decrypt your WPA2 encrypted internet traffic. The vuln, known as the…
The enemy within: welcome to the Internet of gaslighting
Two and a half years ago, this blog warned about the Internet of "listening, eavesdropping, spying things" that were starting to become more popular. Today, smart speakers are found in…
The Indian government is reportedly cracking down on VPN usage in Jammu & Kashmir
Safwat Zargar described the situation on the ground in Jammu & Kashmir in an article on Scroll.in, highlighting that the government is taking drastic new steps to limit internet access.…
What happens to privacy when China has personal data and the social graph of nearly everyone in the US?
The speech by US Attorney General William P. Barr hardly seems earth-shattering. But buried within its business-like announcement of the indictment of four Chinese military hackers, there is the following…
Wacom drawing tablets track the name and time everytime you open an app
Wacom drawing tablets have a dirty little secret - they are likely tracking the name and time of every app you're opening - and sending that information to Google. The…
The EARN IT Act is the latest clueless attack on encryption, do not fall for it
The latest attack on encryption is here, and it’s being championed under the cover of - surprise surprise - a necessary step to protect the children. Senator Lindsey Graham and…
University of Minnesota student jailed in China for tweeting memes of Chinese President Xi Jinping: How was he caught?
In 2019, a twenty year old Chinese international student from the University of Minnesota was arrested, tried, and sentenced in China for tweets he made from an anonymous account while…
Can hardware ever be trusted? The Betrusted project aims to find out by going back to basics
As previous posts have noted, the Internet of Things is being widely embraced in the form of so-called "smart speakers" and other devices. That's despite the fact that few of…
FBI used Graykey to unlock an iPhone 11 Pro, which was previously thought to be the most secure iPhone
A recent article by Thomas Brewster at Forbes highlights the fact that the FBI is able to unlock iPhones using a product called Graykey. Specifically, a product called Graykey was…
US government urges everyone to update Mozilla Firefox to v72.0.1 because of an active exploit that allows remote code execution
The US government’s Department of Homeland Security is urging all Firefox users to update to v72.0.1 as soon as possible. Earlier this week, a zero day vulnerability was found in…
Android community worried about presence of “Chinese spyware” by Qihoo 360 in Samsung smartphones and tablets
Earlier this week, the Android community on Reddit erupted in discussion over a thread titled: “Chinese Spyware Pre-Installed on All Samsung Phones (& Tablets)” that has since been labeled as…
Smile as you buy your holiday goods in a store – you are probably being watched, tracked and analyzed
Amazon may have started out by selling books, but it is now getting heavily into the surveillance market. There are four main sectors where it is already working on solutions…