GSM mobile ... the insecure network - Security AffairsSecurity Affairs. The latest discovered vulnerability in GSM ( Global System for Mobile) technology is worrying many telecom operators of several countries due to their impact on an audience of billions users. Some experts in the Security Research Labs in Berlin have shown how to get the remote control of mobile phones to send SMS and make calls.
The bugs identified makes GSM technology vulnerable to tapping. The impact in terms of security is definitely noticeable and creates no little alarm among the telecom industry, concerns shared by the industry as producers in the same mobile device. The reality is that we are dealing with very old technology, backed by 20 years of operation and for which were not introduced significant improvement in terms of safety.
GSM is the 2G standard (2 nd generation) for mobile phone an it is currently most widely used. Just last year I remember an interesting presentation made by the researcher Chris Paget during Defcon security conference in Las Vegas. Share On. FBI Can Activate Your Android Phone's Microphone. The Wall Street Journal reports that based on court documents and interviews with people involved with federal agencies, law enforcement officials in the U.S. are resorting to tools typically used by hackers to gather information on suspects. Use of these tools under court order has grown as suspects look for new ways to communicate including various types of chat and encryption tools.
Sources said that the FBI has been developing its own hacking tools for more than a decade, but also purchases them from the private sector. One such tool allows the agency to remotely activate microphones on Android-based devices to record conversations. This same tool can also remotely access the microphone of a laptop to record conversations unknowing by the device owner. The Making of Dell's XPS 13 2-in-1 It's the laptop that made Windows notebooks cool — and knocked the MacBook Air off its pedestal MORE: How Secure is Microsoft SkyDrive? TrackMeNot.
Public awareness of the vulnerability of searches to systematic surveillance and logging by search engine companies, was initially raised in the wake of a case, initiated August 2005, in which the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a subpoena to Google for one week's worth of search query records (absent identifying information) and a random list of one million URLs from its Web index. This was cited as part of its defense of the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA).
When Google refused, the DOJ filed a motion in a Federal District Court to force compliance. Google argued that the request imposed a burden, would compromise trade secrets, undermine customers' trust in Google, and have a chilling effect on search activities. In March 2006, the Court granted a reduced version of the first motion, ordering Google to provide a random listing of 50,000 URLs, but denied the second motion, namely, the request for search queries. InformacamGuide. InformaCam is a system that uses the built-in sensors in modern smartphones for tracking movement, light and other environmental inputs, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular network information to capture a snapshot of the environment around you, while you are taking a photo or video.
This extra metadata (the data about the data!) Helps verify and validate the date, time and location of capture, and provides an entirely new layer of context and meaning out of “invisible” energy for use in any way you choose. Finally digital signatures and encryption ensure that your media hasn’t been tampered with since capture and that it can only be seen by the people you choose. Currently, you can use InformaCam by installing the CameraV app for Android smartphones.
CameraV uses V for Verification, Veritas (Truth!) And Vaulted (secured!). It is also evokes the “V” hand sign for victory and peace. Easy To Use Sensor Smart Crypto-Power Open and Free 3 Things You Can Quickly Do With CameraV Installation. Technology Advocacy. CameraV: Secure Verifiable Photo & Video Camera – Guardian Project.
CameraV is the easiest way to capture and share verifiable photos and video proof on a smartphone or tablet, all the while keeping it entirely secure and private. This is the official app from the InformaCam project, a partnership between the Guardian Project and WITNESS. CameraV is easy to learn and simple to use (and insanely secure & powerful under the covers…). All photos and videos you take are password-protected and 100% encrypted on your device. You can also add private notes and tags to any photo or video, and choose who you share them with. . * READ THE USER GUIDE: CameraV is based on the InformaCam platform, and was developed for use by activists, journalists, advocates and others, working in very difficult and high-risk situations, to capture and gather visual evidence and proof of abuse and rights violations.
Harlo Holmes, Research Fellow and Metadata Head, The Guardian Project. NSA Spying. The US government, with assistance from major telecommunications carriers including AT&T, has engaged in massive, illegal dragnet surveillance of the domestic communications and communications records of millions of ordinary Americans since at least 2001. Since this was first reported on by the press and discovered by the public in late 2005, EFF has been at the forefront of the effort to stop it and bring government surveillance programs back within the law and the Constitution. History of NSA Spying Information since 2005 (See EFF’s full timeline of events here) News reports in December 2005 first revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been intercepting Americans’ phone calls and Internet communications. Those news reports, combined with a USA Today story in May 2006 and the statements of several members of Congress, revealed that the NSA is also receiving wholesale copies of American's telephone and other communications records.
EFF Fights Back in the Courts Jewel v. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Block Tool For Cops To Surveil You On Social Media. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California announced that, after the organization obtained revealing documents through public records access requests, Facebook and Instagram have cut off data access to a company that sells surveillance products for law enforcement. Twitter has also curbed the surveillance product’s access. The product, called Geofeedia, is used by law enforcement to monitor social media on a large scale, and relies on social media sites’ APIs or other means of access. According to one internal email between a Geofeedia representative and police, the company claimed their product “covered Ferguson/Mike Brown nationally with great success,” in reference to to the fatal police shooting of a black teenager in Missouri in 2014, and subsequent protests.
“Our location-based intelligence platform enables hundreds of organizations around the world to predict, analyze, and act based on real-time social media signals,” the company’s website reads. Edward Snowden Calls Police Spying on Quebec Journalists a ‘Threat to Democracy’ In a speech to 600 people at McGill University in Montreal on Wednesday night, Edward Snowden described police spying on Quebec journalists a “threat to the traditional model of our democracy.” Though it had been announced months ago, the timing of Snowden’s conference was strangely appropriate. The event took place just hours after La Presse revealed the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), which is the provincial police force, had put at least six prominent journalists under surveillance. Two days earlier, the same Montreal daily had broken the story that its own star columnist, Patrick Lagacé, had been spied on by the Montreal police force (SPVM).
Appearing live from Russia, where he’s been living in exile since exposing top secret information about US intelligence and surveillance programs, Snowden did not mince words when discussing the behaviour of Quebec police. "You can find out anyone he met with, who did he call, how long he was on the phone" Meet the machines that steal your phone’s data.
The National Security Agency’s spying tactics are being intensely scrutinized following the recent leaks of secret documents. However, the NSA isn't the only US government agency using controversial surveillance methods. Monitoring citizens' cell phones without their knowledge is a booming business. From Arizona to California, Florida to Texas, state and federal authorities have been quietly investing millions of dollars acquiring clandestine mobile phone surveillance equipment in the past decade. Earlier this year, a covert tool called the “Stingray” that can gather data from hundreds of phones over targeted areas attracted international attention. Rights groups alleged that its use could be unlawful. Details about the devices are not disclosed on the Harris website, and marketing materials come with a warning that anyone distributing them outside law enforcement agencies or telecom firms could be committing a crime punishable by up to five years in jail.
“Stingray” “Gossamer”