encryption

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Musk Announces Twitter DM Change With Notable 'Acid Test'

He won't be able to see others' encrypted messages, 'even if there was a gun to my head'

(Newser) - Elon Musk says users of his social media platform will very soon be able to send private direct messages to each other that no one else can ever see—including Musk himself. In a Tuesday evening tweet , the Twitter CEO announced the launch of encrypted DMs, a feature that could...

Apple's Plan to Start Scanning Your Photos Worries Some

Privacy advocates say feature, which looks for child porn, could be misused

(Newser) - Child protection advocates are praising Apple's plan to roll out new anti-child-pornography features later this year—but privacy advocates worry about what else it might lead to. The company says the software, called neuralMatch, will scan images on a user's iPhone before they are uploaded to the iCloud...

It's a 'Criminal Takedown Like We Have Never Seen'

More than 800 arrested around the world, thanks to FBI's encrypted messaging app

(Newser) - The app was lauded by criminals around the world, who promoted it "for its absolute reliability," says Jannine van den Berg, chief constable of the Central Unit of the Dutch police, per the Washington Post . "But nothing was further from the truth." The encrypted messaging app,...

Ex-CIA: Russia Knows Way More Than We Do

And that's allegedly because of President Trump's cell phone use

(Newser) - Seems President Trump is ignoring his staff and continuing to make calls on his personal cell phone—which experts say can easily be overheard by foreign powers like Russia, CNN reports. This according to several current and former US officials who say he still uses his old cell phone rather...

How a Blogger's Death Led to a Criminal Phone Company
Why Drug Traffickers Ran
Their Own Phone Company
longform
Nov 17, 2019 2:40 PM CST

Why Drug Traffickers Ran Their Own Phone Company

It's all tied to the murder of Dutch crime blogger Martin Kok

(Newser) - A Dutch crime blogger got into his Volkswagen Polo one night in 2016 and boom, he was shot dead—a crime that led authorities to a phone company allegedly run by violent criminals, Joseph Cox writes at Vice . Why a phone company? That's what makes it interesting. As for...

'Eye-Popping and Sickening': Massive Child Porn Site Busted

337 users arrested in 38 countries, founder is already in prison

(Newser) - A massive child porn site was shut down last year in a bust by US and Korean authorities first revealed Wednesday. Authorities say the Darknet market "Welcome to Video" contained more than 250,000 unique videos, 45% of which contained images previously unknown to authorities, and was run by...

Police Hacked iPhone of Actor's Murdered Wife

Authorities say text messages show the couple were fighting

(Newser) - While the FBI was trying to figure out a way into the locked iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters, the LAPD found a hacker to crack a phone belonging to the murdered wife of actor Michael Jace , the Los Angeles Times reports. Jace—best known for...

'Landmark' WhatsApp Move Renders Wiretaps Useless

It adds encryption

(Newser) - One of the world's most popular apps has just added strong end-to-end encryption, making the communications of 1 billion users off-limits to wiretaps and potentially setting up a US legal battle bigger than the Apple-FBI clash. WhatsApp has been steadily increasing encryption over the last 18 months and with...

Apple Doesn't Pay Hackers, So Hackers Help FBI: Experts

The black market is doing just fine, though

(Newser) - Hack into Google, Facebook, or Microsoft products and one can reap "bug bounties" that those companies pay to unearth their own flaws. But Apple doesn't pony up for such detective work, which is why security experts say they're not shocked an outside party— Reuters notes an Israeli...

John Oliver Devotes Whole Show to Apple Encryption Tiff

'Think of the government as your dad,' show host warns

(Newser) - First John Oliver took on Donald Trump . Now the HBO host is taking on Apple, the government, and encryption, a safeguard he labeled on Sunday's Last Week Tonight as "the best way to keep people from reading your emails short of making the subject line 'Fwd: Fwd:...

FBI Chief: Let's Calm Down Over iPhone Controversy

We don't want 'to set a master key loose on the land,' says Comey

(Newser) - The back-and-forth between the FBI and Apple over unlocking an iPhone didn't let up over the weekend, with FBI chief James Comey getting in the last word in a blog post Sunday evening, reports NBC News . "I hope folks will take a deep breath and stop saying the...

Key to Apple Encryption Fight: a 1789 Law
 Key to Apple 
 Encryption Fight: 
 a 1789 Law 
the rundown
Feb 18, 2016 8:57 AM CST

Key to Apple Encryption Fight: a 1789 Law

Government trots out the 'All Writs Act'

(Newser) - A court has ordered Apple to help the FBI crack the security of an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardinio shooters, but CEO Tim Cook says that would be too dangerous of a precedent. Some related coverage:
  • We're in "uncharted waters," observes Time , because the
...

Defiant Apple Refusing Feds' Order to Unlock Shooter's iPhone

'Unprecedented' demand is too dangerous, says Tim Cook

(Newser) - It's what the Wall Street Journal describes as a "watershed moment" in the fight over smartphone encryption: A court has ordered Apple to obey the government's demand to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, and Tim Cook is refusing to do so. The...

Apple Ordered to Unlock San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone

Company 'declined to provide that assistance voluntarily'

(Newser) - After more than two months of being thwarted by encryption technology —and by an uncooperative Apple—federal investigators have turned to the courts to try to get into San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook's locked iPhone. At a hearing on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Apple to help the...

North Korea's OS Has 'Malicious Functionality'

Linux-based Red Star operating system basically spies on whoever uses it

(Newser) - Check out North Korea's computer operating system, and it feels almost like you're using a Mac. Red Star OS is a "fully featured desktop system," German researcher Niklaus Schiess tells Motherboard , complete with word processing software and a revamped Firefox browser. But like almost everything else...

Rarest Nazi Enigma Machine Sells for Record $365K

It was bought by an anonymous private collector at auction

(Newser) - The M4 is the rarest of the already rare Nazi Enigma machines, which could help explain why a working model just sold for a record $365,000 at an auction Wednesday in New York. The Guardian reports the 70-year-old encryption machine was purchased by an anonymous private collector. “The...

NSA Seeks Codebreakers Via Cryptic Tweets

But agency's effort was easy to crack

(Newser) - The NSA is trying to attract would-be codebreakers with coded tweets—but judging from the one it sent yesterday, it may need to set the bar a little higher, the Washington Post finds. The agency's mysterious tweet—"tpfccdlfdtte pcaccplircdt dklpcfrp?qeiq lhpqlipqeodf gpwafopwprti izxndkiqpkii krirrifcapnc dxkdciqcafmd vkfpcadf"—turned...

Massive Security Flaw Left Much of Internet Exposed

'Heartbleed' bug has affected OpenSSL protocol for 2 years

(Newser) - A major flaw in one of the Internet's chief security methods has exposed users' confidential information to hackers for the last two years, security researchers revealed Monday night. The "Heartbleed" bug affects the OpenSSL security protocol used by some two-thirds of websites to protect sensitive data as it...

Internet Cracks Grandma's Mystery Code in Minutes



 Internet Cracks Grandma's 
 Mystery Code in Minutes 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 26, 2014 6:15 PM CST

Internet Cracks Grandma's Mystery Code in Minutes

She filled cards with cryptic letters in her final weeks ... 18 years ago

(Newser) - A cryptic mystery left by a dying grandmother puzzled a Maryland family for nearly 20 years before her granddaughter turned to an Internet forum for help. "My grandmother passed away in 1996 of a fast-spreading cancer. She was non-communicative her last two weeks, but in that time, she left...

NSA Able to Decode Most Calls, Texts Worldwide

Washington Post unveils latest Snowden material

(Newser) - The NSA is capable of breaking the encryption used on most phone calls and text messages worldwide, the latest Edward Snowden leak shows, though it's not certain how often the agency actually does it. Under US law, the NSA can't eavesdrop on citizens' conversations without a court order....

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