House passes USA Freedom Act, ending NSA bulk collection of American phone records. It’s official: Password strength meters aren’t security theater. If you've ever been nagged about the weakness of your password while changing account credentials on Google, Facebook, or any number of other sites, you may have wondered: do these things actually make people choose stronger passcodes?
A team of scientists has concluded that the meters do work—or at least they have the potential to do so, assuming they're set up correctly. The researchers—from the University of California at Berkeley, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and Microsoft—are among the first to test the effect that the ubiquitous password meters have on real users choosing passwords.
They found that meters grading the strength of passwords had a measurable impact in helping users pick stronger passcodes that weren't used on other accounts. But the group also discovered these new, stronger passwords weren't any harder for users to remember than weaker ones. The scientists were quick to point out caveats to their findings. Now anyone can find you on Facebook. It may have been a long time coming, but those hidden in plain sight on Facebook are in for a rude awakening in the weeks ahead.
The social network said Thursday that it is, as promised 10 months ago , killing off a privacy setting that allowed members to prevent themselves from appearing in search results. Facebook first put the setting, called "Who can look up your Timeline by name? ," on life support in December of last year, removing it for people who weren't using it. Now, it's ready to finish off the job. United Nations signs off on 'right to privacy in the digital age' The United Nations (UN) has unanimously voted to adopt a resolution calling for online privacy to be recognised as a human right.
The gesture is politically notable because it shows the world is willing to be seen to do something in the wake of The Year Of Snowden. The resolution extends the general human right of privacy to the online world and clearly takes aim at the USA for its recently-revealed activities in clause 4, which “Calls upon all States” to perform the following actions. Sadly, UN resolutions of this sort aren't binding and can be flouted without consequence. On the upside, the UN has explicitly recognised “that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including the right to privacy” and noted that “the global and open nature of the Internet and the rapid advancement in information and communication technologies as a driving force in accelerating progress towards development in its various forms”.
Why Gmail and other e-mail services aren't really free. We may take it for granted now, but email has changed the way we interact with one another.
Ex-Microsoft employee pleads guilty to trade secret theft. News April 1, 2014 02:45 PM ET Computerworld - Former Microsoft employee Alex Kibkalo, who two weeks ago was charged with stealing -- then leaking -- company secrets, pleaded guilty on Monday in a Seattle federal court.
In a plea deal reached between U.S. prosecutors and Kibkalo's public defender, Kibkalo will plead guilty to theft of trade secrets. In return, prosecutors will recommend a three-month prison sentence. Kibkalo will also be required to pay Microsoft $22,500 in restitution, according to the agreement. Kibkalo, a Russian national who was working in Microsoft's Lebanon office when he was terminated in September 2012, allegedly stole pre-release copies of Windows RT and the Activation Server SDK (software development kit), internal-only code used to create the activation systems which validate product keys, Microsoft's primary anti-piracy technology.
How To Hide Your IP Address Using the Free Ixquick Proxy. You’ve probably heard about IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and how they can be used to track your activity online but did you know it’s fairly easy to obscure your IP address to cover your tracks?
Since IP addresses are one of the primary identifiers on the Internet the ability to hide your IP address is very important from a web privacy and anonymity standpoint. There are a few different tools you can use to hide your ip address: Come to think of it you could say these are all just variants of the proxy server idea. Today let’s look at a quick and easy way to use a free proxy server to mask our system’s ip address. It’s not particularly advanced but it can be handy for a level of anonymity especially for temporary use. Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower. Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency’s reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the globe, as it collects information about their phone calls, their email messages, their friends and contacts, how they spend their days and where they spend their nights.
The public learned in great detail how the agency has exceeded its mandate and abused its authority, prompting outrage at kitchen tables and at the desks of Congress, which may finally begin to limit these practices. The revelations have already prompted two federal judges to accuse the N.S.A. of violating the Constitution (although a third, unfortunately, found the dragnet surveillance to be legal). A panel appointed by President Obama issued a powerful indictment of the agency’s invasions of privacy and called for a major overhaul of its operations. Mr. The president said in August that Mr.
In retrospect, Mr. NSA: White House task force recommends surveillance curbs. 19 December 2013Last updated at 14:15 GMT Former NSA director Hayden analyses the panel's report in an interview with the BBC's Katty Kay A White House panel has recommended significant curbs on the National Security Agency's sweeping electronic surveillance programmes.
Among its 46 recommendations, the five-member panel said the NSA should cease storing vast amounts of data on calls processed by US phone companies. Details of the snooping programme were leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, now a fugitive in Russia. The review comes after a federal judge found the programme unconstitutional. Exclusive: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer. Obama Says NSA's Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data Will End. Obama orders curbs on NSA data use. 17 January 2014Last updated at 20:02 GMT President Obama; ''We will not monitor the communications of... our close friends and allies'' President Barack Obama has ordered curbs on the use of bulk data collected by US intelligence agencies, saying civil liberties must be respected.
Mr Obama said such data had prevented terror attacks at home and abroad, but that in tackling threats the government risked over-reaching itself. However civil liberties groups have said the changes do not go far enough. The announcement follows widespread anger after leaks revealed the full extent of US surveillance operations. US privacy watchdog advises NSA spying is illegal.
23 January 2014Last updated at 16:27 ET The bulk collection of phone call data by US intelligence agencies is illegal and has had only "minimal" benefits in preventing terrorism, an independent US privacy watchdog has ruled.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board advised by a 3-2 majority that the programme should end. In a major speech last week, President Barack Obama said he was ordering curbs on the use of such mass data. Edward Snowden and ACLU at SXSW. N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images. The is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents.
The spy agency’s reliance on facial recognition technology has grown significantly over the last four years as the agency has turned to new software to exploit the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other communications, the N.S.A. documents reveal. Agency officials believe that technological advances could revolutionize the way that the N.S.A. finds intelligence targets around the world, the documents show. Mathematicians Urge Colleagues To Refuse To Work For The NSA. The media genius of Edward Snowden. Reading Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place To Hide, it’s striking how meticulously Edward Snowden planned virtually every possible element of blowing the whistle on the National Security Agency.
And now, one year after the initial publication of the leaks, it’s abundantly clear it was no accident that the revelations seemed deftly choreographed to maximize the damage they would do to the U.S. surveillance state. In short: Edward Snowden may be a media genius. Apps must respect privacy over data, says Information Commissioner. 19 December 2013Last updated at 00:01 GMT By Carolyn Rice Technology reporter, BBC News App developers are being reminded about their data protection obligations App developers should ensure they do not misuse customers' data, says the Information Commissioner's Office in new guidance.
The ICO says nearly half of all app users have decided not to download an app because of concerns over privacy. It wants developers to be clear about what data is being accessed and why. Smartphone PIN revealed by camera and microphone. 11 November 2013Last updated at 13:19 GMT Cameras and microphones on smartphones can reveal the user's PIN The Pin for a smartphone can be revealed by its camera and microphone, researchers have warned. Using a program called PIN Skimmer, a team from the University of Cambridge found that codes entered on a number-only soft keypad could be identified. Can’t Remember Your Password? - Issue 6: Secret Codes.
The core Internet institutions abandon the US Government. Beyond Bitcoin: Crypto-Ownership Companies Hope You're Ready To Decentralize Everything On The Internet. That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles: Microsoft’s At Work on a New Idea. Is Windows 8 a Trojan horse for the NSA? The German Government thinks so. The German Government is now deeply suspicious that the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology built into a growing number of Windows 8 PCs and tablets is creating a gigantic back door for NSA surveillance, leaked documents have suggested.
Four privacy settings you should enable in iOS 7 immediately. Top EU court rejects EU-wide data retention law. 8 April 2014Last updated at 11:39 GMT. Uld iPhone's fingerprint sensor help kill off passwords? 10 September 2013Last updated at 19:26 ET By Joe Miller BBC News. Google: Cloud users have 'no legitimate expectation of privacy' High performance access to file storage. Unauthorised YouTube adverts exposed by security firm. 14 August 2013Last updated at 09:25 ET. City of London calls halt to smartphone tracking bins. 12 August 2013Last updated at 08:41 ET By Joe Miller BBC News. Lavabit is defunct – so what's a fan of secure email to do now? Postal Service Confirms Photographing All U.S. Mail. SIM Cards Have Finally Been Hacked, And The Flaw Could Affect Millions Of Phones.
Huawei Spies For China, Former NSA Director Says - Security - ACLU raises privacy concerns about police technology tracking drivers. HP Keeps Installing Secret Backdoors in Enterprise Storage. Inner workings of a top-secret spy program. It’s Time to Encrypt the Entire Internet. WhatdoestheWorldaskGoogletocensor_51ce13aa359fe.png (PNG Image, 1362 × 798 pixels) Ryan Block: Why I'm Quitting Instagram. We need encryption for private communications. Baltasar Garzón, judge who pursued dictators, brought down by wiretapping. How Browsers Store Your Passwords (and Why You Shouldn't Let Them) Technology - The darker side of data science. Firefox getting smarter about third-party cookies. The Privacy-Invading Potential of Eye Tracking Technology. OK Glass, RIP Privacy: The Democratization Of Surveillance. Hash - What is the recommended replacement for MD5? - Cryptography Beta - Stack Exchange.
Cispa bill on cyber security passed by the US House. How Banks Can Block a DDoS Attack. How to eradicate Google from Firefox. Facebook's release of 'home' spurs privacy worries. Communicators. Big Data and a Renewed Debate Over Privacy. Mobile location data 'present anonymity risk' Google Opens Universal Analytics Beta To All, Brings Analytics To More Devices And Online/Offline Interactions. A guide to Web security for newbies. Feds Storm Metra Train After Detecting Nuclear Risk 2013. Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state. Crooks Spy on Casino Card Games With Hacked Security Cameras, Win $33M. Warning over unintentional file leak from storage sites. Safety Deposit Boxes, Bank Safe Deposit Box. Castles Made Of Sand - where do we put our data? Smart TVs subverted by radio attack. Webmasters help for hacked sites – Google. GCHQ and NSA 'track Google cookies' Orwell vs. Huxley. Which Encryption Apps Are Strong Enough to Help You Take Down a Government?
RSA warns over NSA link to encryption algorithm. RSA denies link with US spying agency. Why I Pulled Out Of The RSA Conference. Report: RSA endowed crypto product with second NSA-influenced code. Majority of doctors opposed to full access to your own electronic records. Authentication System from Microchip Technology Would Use the Body to Secure Guns and Gadgets.
Your Thought Is the Password. Evernote breaks own security rule in data-breach email. Frozen Android phones give up data secrets. Facebook changes led users to reveal more, study finds (Update) iOS Apps Collect More Personal Information than Android apps, says Study. Google Privacy Case in Spain Has Global Implications for Online Content. Seattle dive bar becomes first to ban Google Glass. US politicians quiz Google on Glass privacy. GoogleGlassLtr_051613.pdf. Google's Schmidt: Teens' mistakes will never go away. Google Chrome 'Fails to Protect Sensitive Personal Data' Google halts student Gmail advertisement scans. US internet 'six strikes' anti-piracy campaign begins. Brazil: Internet 'bill of rights' approved in key vote. End of the line for online passwords, says PayPal. NSA Whistleblower: Everyone in US under virtual surveillance, all info stored, no matter the post.
Classified documents show rules for NSA surveillance without a warrant. US spy chief Clapper defends Prism and phone surveillance. First Lawsuit Over NSA Phone Scandal Targets Obama, Verizon. White House attacks plans to curb NSA data collection. Senate bill authorizes sanctions on Russia or any other country offering Snowden asylum.
DNI Clapper Declassifies and Releases Telephone Metadata Collection Documents. Q&A: NSA's Prism internet surveillance scheme. RSA Tells Its Developer Customers: Stop Using NSA-Linked Algorithm. The Criminal N.S.A.