Cyber Security

If we learned anything this past year, it’s that information we store online is exceptionally vulnerable. Our metadata (the data that describes who we are and what we do) is in the hands of people who are about as successful at protecting it as 1850’s bankers were at protecting money in the Old West. Sure, Continue Reading →

Facebook is being sued by two users for intercepting the “content of the users’ communications,” including private messages, with the intent to “mine user data and profit from those data by sharing them with third parties—namely, advertisers, marketers, and other data aggregators.” The plaintiffs argue in a December 30 class action complaint that Facebook’s use Continue Reading →

In room-size metal boxes, secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world. According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build “a cryptologically useful Continue Reading →

Snapchat said on Thursday it would alter its app to make it harder for malicious users to collect and leak millions of usernames connected to phone numbers. The move comes after a group calling itself SnapchatDB rang in the New Year by leaking 4.6 million partially redacted phone numbers, in a stunt they said was Continue Reading →

  Skype is starting 2014 with a security issue of its own. It appears the official Skype Twitter account has been compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army. The hacking group has taken over the account today, posting several tweets in what appears to be a classic case of phishing. The most recent fake tweet advises Continue Reading →

Last week security researchers published a way to skim Snapchat’s full database, and it appears someone did it before the vulnerability — which, according to those researchers had been known for months — was addressed. A website called SnapchatDB! has appeared posting SQL/CSV files that it claims contain the username and associated phone number for Continue Reading →

The US National Security Agency can reportedly sniff out every last bit of data from your iPhone, according to leaked NSA documents published by German magazine Der Spiegel. Known as DROPOUTJEEP, the spyware is said to be one of the tools employed by the NSA’s ANT (Advanced or Access Network Technology) division to gain backdoor Continue Reading →

What if your home caught on fire? Assuming that you, your family and your beloved pets were able to get out safely, what would you grieve for the most? A fire can destroy every possession in your home, leaving little to nothing of any salvageable value. Even if you have a good homeowner’s insurance policy, Continue Reading →

Attendees at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg this weekend got a surprising rundown of the NSA’s surveillance capabilities, courtesy of security researcher Jacob Appelbaum. Appelbaum, who co-wrote the Der Spiegel article that first revealed the NSA catalog, went into further detail onstage, describing several individual devices in the catalog and their intended purposes. Alongside Continue Reading →

The insert method and other variants of QUANTUM are closely linked to a shadow network operated by the NSA alongside the Internet, with its own, well-hidden infrastructure comprised of “covert” routers and servers. It appears the NSA also incorporates routers and servers from non-NSA networks into its covert network by infecting these networks with “implants” Continue Reading →