Beware the GHOST Protocol
UK internet users and internet users around the world need to beware of the GHOST protocol. The GCHQ, which is the United Kingdom’s (UK) equivalent of the American NSA, came…
Security
A major security breach raises a key question: what happens when your biometric data is exfiltrated from a system?
It's no secret that password security is often terrible. Good passwords – ones that are long and include a mix of lower case, upper case, numbers, and special characters –…
MiFi 4G hotspots are vulnerable to hacking, use a VPN to protect yourself
Many popular MiFi devices used as 4G hotspots are vulnerable to hacking. A DEFCON 27 talk by Pen Test Partners revealed command injection and remote code execution vulnerabilities in popular…
UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand meet to discuss the “ghost protocol” aka built in encryption backdoors
Representatives from the UK, US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand recently finished a two day meeting in London where the countries renewed their commitment to seeking encryption backdoors from technology…
What can we learn from Palantir’s secret user manual for police users of its big data software?
Two years ago, Privacy News Online wrote about the mysterious Palantir Technologies. It describes itself as a company that makes "products for human-driven analysis of real-world data". It is a…
US Attorney General demands encryption backdoors at all costs and for you to just accept it
President Trump’s Attorney General, William Barr, has demanded the tech industry create encryption backdoors because he views encryption as a security risk. Barr made his illogical thoughts on encryption known…
New research confirms Kazakhstan is spying on connections to Facebook, Twitter, VK, Instagram, Youtube, Google, and more
Kazakhstan is actively spying on its citizens' internet connections to Facebook, Twitter, VK, Instagram, Youtube, Google, along with many other sites. New research published by Ram Sundara Raman, Leonid Evdokimov,…
Amazon’s collaborations with local police turn its Ring doorbell cameras into unofficial community surveillance systems
Amazon was founded almost exactly 25 years ago. Initially it sold books, and people saw it as an interesting early example of e-commerce, but probably assumed that it would remain…
Kazakhstan tries and fails to MITM all of its internet users with rogue certificate installation
On July 17th, 2019, the government of Kazakhstan enacted a new cybersecurity measure that aims to spy on its citizens’ internet traffic. Specifically, the Kazakh government ordered all of the…
How much is good online security worth to you? How about $100,000?
Readers of this blog know that a VPN is an indispensable tool for today's digital world. VPNs address a key part of the challenge of staying safe online. They protect…
