Oppression for Pennies – The Cost of Surveillance is Falling
If there’s one thing the Internet has taught us over the last 40 years, it is that information is power. The Internet has made and ruined careers, toppled corrupt regimes,…
Cybersecurity
RainClouds – The Case Against Cloud Computing Security
In the computing world, there’s always a new buzzword or trend that everyone chases as the next “big thing.” Software Defined Networks (SDNs) will replace most network technicians. Augmented Reality…
Maybe “smart” devices are too clever: they know all about your Facebook friends, and can spy on you and your family
The Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed the power of psychological profiling and hyper-targeted advertising based on personal data collected and stored by Facebook. As it became aware of these privacy violations,…
In China’s footsteps: Amazon and US schools normalize automatic facial recognition and constant surveillance
Amazon has developed a powerful cloud-based facial recognition system called "Rekognition", which has major implications for privacy. It is already being used by multiple US police forces to carry out…
If You Have a Comcast Xfinity Router, You Need to Install a VPN (Now)
If you lease an Xfinity router from internet service provider (ISP) Comcast, you need to install a VPN as soon as possible. According to security researchers Karan Saini and Ryan…
Your Cell Phone Carrier Is Selling Your Real-Time Location Data to Third Parties
All major cell phone carriers collect and sell their customers’ real-time location data to third-party advertisers, information disclosed in a recent court case has revealed. Krebs On Security even discovered…
Crypto backdoors are in the news again, and as bad for privacy as ever
VPNs are an indispensable part of online life, and they protect many aspects of privacy. But there's a class of threats that VPNs can't defend against: crypto backdoors, which allow…
Another day, another breach: At what point does storing passwords in plaintext become criminally negligent?
The third largest breach ever in Finland happened yesterday. Passwords were stored in plaintext. At T-Mobile Austria, they explain that of course they store the password in plaintext, but they…
Researchers detail new 4G LTE vulnerabilities allowing spoofing, tracking, and spamming
4G LTE isn't nearly as secure or private as you think it is. Mobile privacy and security are both at risk. Researchers from Purdue University and the University of Iowa…
Swedish Police website hacked to mine cryptocurrency
One of the sites hijacked to mine cryptocurrency in the recent script-replacement hack was the website of the Swedish Police Force. This merits a more discussion; a lot more. As…