Tag Archives: Security

Hillary Clinton: Stop helping terrorists, Silicon Valley – weaken encryption

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“Part of the problem, according to Clinton, is a tech sector that has become resistant to government efforts to pressure it into introducing backdoors into its products. Said Clinton: ‘So we need Silicon Valley not to view government as its adversary. We need to challenge our best minds in the private sector to work with our best minds in the public sector to develop solutions that will both keep us safe and protect our privacy. Now is the time to solve this problem, not after the next attack.’  Clinton’s thoughts were echoed in an editorial Friday by the Washington Post in which the paper also argued that tech companies needed to work with government to find solutions to encrypted communication.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/20/clinton_silicon_valley/

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Obama calls out encryption in terror strategy speech

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“United States President Barack Obama has given just his third Address to the Nation from behind his desk at the Oval Office, to deliver a speech in which he all-but-called-on the technology industry to allow access to encrypted communications.  Future actions, Obama said, will include an attempt to ‘urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.’  The sentence isn’t explained, but seems a clear reference to the technology industry’s argument that encryption is essential for everyday life and therefore ought not to be equipped with back doors for government use.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/07/obama_encryption_policy_change_in_terror_response_speech/

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UK May Approve Bill Allowing Spying on Individuals via Their Kids Toys

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“British government’s new investigatory bill (pdf) has a proposal on making it legal to hack smart toys in order to allow investigators to get to pry on suspects.  This strategy could be one of many measures governments around the world are taking to track down cyber criminals and terrorists.  Furthermore, the bill has also made it a legal duty for all internet service providers to support law enforcement agencies in hacking smart devices like smart toys.  The most important clause the draft bill has is that the government can ask for the break of end-to-end encryption from private companies at any time and the companies have to oblige.”

https://www.hackread.com/uk-investigatory-bill-spying-via-kids-toys/

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Man arrested in toymaker hack that exposed data for millions of kids

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“The breach ultimately exposed data for 11.6 million people, 6.4 million of whom were minors. Personal information for children included their names, gender and birthdates, while details for parents included mailing and e-mail addresses, security questions used for password resets, IP addresses, password data, and download histories. The trove also included headshots and logs of chats between parents and their children. The information was stored in a database for VTech’s Learning Lodge app store, which is used by the company’s electronic toys.  A follow-up article reported that the unidentified hacker had no plans to publish or otherwise share the pilfered data.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/12/man-arrested-in-toymaker-hack-says-he-wanted-to-expose-inadequate-security/

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Watson supercomputer’s next feat? Taking on cancer

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“Jho Low, the 33-year-old billionaire who is bankrolling the $50 million MD Anderson project with Watson, is part of an influential new movement in scientific research driven by young philanthropists and tech titans who have faith that the chips, software programs, algorithms and big data that powered the information revolution can also be used to understand, upgrade and heal the human body.  But the Watson project and similar initiatives also have raised speculation — and alarm — that companies are seeking to replace the nation’s approximately 900,000 physicians with software that will have access to everyone’s sensitive personal health information.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/06/27/watsons-next-feat-taking-on-cancer/

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IRS: You Can’t Sue Us Unless We Say You Can

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“Department of Justice lawyers claimed Wednesday the IRS cannot be sued for damages by the estimated 330,000 taxpayers victimized by hackers who earlier this year breached the federal tax agency’s computer files.  Plaintiffs Becky Welborn and Wendy Windrich’s claim of damage under the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act cannot be pursued because the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity, which holds the federal government immune to damage claims unless it agrees to such litigation.  Without such an agreement from the IRS, the federal courts have no jurisdiction over the damage claim filed by Welborn and Windrich, according to Justice Department lawyers.”

http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/19/irs-you-cant-sue-us-unless-we-say-you-can/

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Department of Homeland Security Giving Firms Free Penetration Tests

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“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been quietly launching stealthy cyber attacks against a range of private U.S. companies — mostly banks and energy firms. These digital intrusion attempts, commissioned in advance by the private sector targets themselves, are part of a little-known program at DHS designed to help ‘critical infrastructure’ companies shore up their computer and network defenses against real-world adversaries. And it’s all free of charge (well, on the U.S. taxpayer’s dime).  According to data provided by DHS, the majority of the program’s private sector participation come from the energy and financial services industries.”

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/12/dhs-giving-firms-free-penetration-tests/

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GCHQ admits for the first time to ‘persistent’ hacking in the UK and abroad

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“The UK’s digital spy agency, GCHQ, has admitted for the first time in court that it hacks computers, smartphones, and networks in the UK and abroad.  In evidence published this week, GCHQ says it undertakes ‘persistent’ hacking, leaving monitoring software on targeted devices. GCHQ also admitted that it does not need to seek individual warrants before hacking a target device. Instead, the agency primarily relies on ‘thematic’ or ‘class’ warrants, which give permission to intercept communications from ‘a defined group or network.’  Jaffey stated that this definition is interpreted as broadly as possible, letting, for example, the agency target ‘all mobile phones’ in a given city.”

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/2/9834316/gchq-hacking-international-privacy-tribunal

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TSA inadvertently shows the dangers of master baggage keys

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“Security researchers have long warned of the dangers of using master-keyed locks — if thieves get their hands on just one key, they compromise all of the compatible locks at the same time. And unfortunately, the US’ Transportation Security Administration is learning this lesson the hard way. It briefly let the Washington Post show a photo (we’ve blurred the details) of the master baggage keys it uses for approved locks, giving crooks a crude guide to making duplicates. And you can’t just switch to a non-standard lock to get around this, since TSA agents will rip it off if they catch it during an inspection.”

http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/22/tsa-reveals-master-baggage-keys/

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Taxpayers Sue IRS For Illegal Account Access In Data Breach

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“The action was filed [after] 330,000 taxpayer accounts were illegally accessed by criminals using the ‘Get Transcript’ application on the IRS web site.  The complaint alleges that the illegal access of the system ‘would have been prevented, had the IRS fixed the known security deficits in its data storage system,’ that IRS security was inadequate despite the fact that IRS ‘knew that cyber-criminals were highly motivated to hack the IRS system in order to steal taxpayer information that has significant value in the black market.’ Finally, the suit says that IRS ‘deliberately and intentionally decided not to implement the security measures needed to prevent the subject data breach.'”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2015/08/21/taxpayers-sue-irs-for-illegal-account-access-in-data-breach/print/

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