WhatsApp has been in the news recently after changes to its privacy policy caused a surge of interest in rival messaging app Signal. Initial reports may have worried a lot of folks, leading to inevitable clarifications and corrections. But what, you may ask, actually happened? Is there a problem? Are you at risk? Or should you keep using your apps as you wer

They come in the mail — ominous-looking envelopes that are devoid of branding and obvious marketing embellishments. Plain white, marked with often-unrecognizable return addresses, and relatively thin — the contents of which will spoil your day and cause you to lose yet a bit more faith in humanity. No, it’s not a tax bill; rather, it&rsquo

As we all are patiently waiting for 2020 to be over, it is easy to say that humanity has become significantly more dependent on technology, especially online communications. Nowadays, most of the communications that we do on personal and business levels are conducted online using smartphones, tablets, and computers. Many messages and video conferencing provi

The best way to protect your data is to encrypt your files, ensuring that, even if they get into the hands of hackers or cybercriminals, no one can access your personal data. macOS provides a suite of tools to protect you, and, in this article, I’ll discuss the many ways you can use built-in macOS features to provide unbreakable encryption. (Unbreakabl

We recently discovered a new file-encrypting Trojan built as an ELF executable and intended to encrypt data on machines controlled by Linux-based operating systems. After the initial analysis we noticed similarities in the code of the Trojan, the text of the ransom notes and the general approach to extortion, which suggested that we had in fact encountered a

Quantum computing is just around the corner, and it will affect the way computer security works. Strong passwords and encryption will be cracked, and we’ll need new ways to secure our data and identity. We also discuss complaints against Apple’s coming anti-tracking protection in iOS, and we revisit the suggestions that Apple may build its own se

One of the key elements in securing or data and our identities is the use of strong passwords. Using passwords that can’t be guessed—unlike the perennial favorites 123456 or password—helps ensure that hackers and cybercriminals can’t access your computer, mobile device, or websites where you’ve created accounts, and can’t steal your i

Members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance once again call for tech firms to engineer backdoors into end-to-end and device encryption. States of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), plus Japan and India, once again call for tech firms to implement backdoors into end-to-end and device encryption. “We, the

Cybercriminals are making headlines using ransomware to block organizations from accessing their own critical business data to extort ransoms. Recently, the University of California San Francisco fell victim to a ransomware attack on key academic and research data (the institution is known to be working on a cure for COVID-19) and ended up paying over $1.14

As more work shifts to remote, organizations continue dealing with security challenges. Employees are now connecting to internal network resources from varied devices, and many may be connecting with personal devices. Working from off-site locations presents more chances for accidental and malicious data disclosure alike. Protecting personally identifiable

Human history is full of examples of encryption playing pivotal roles in war, competition and transitions of power. Throughout recorded time, people have employed encryption as a tactical tool to keep information private. That data could involve military campaigns, plots to overthrow political leaders or political dealings. In some cases, the use of en

Due to the level of sophistication of the attack, and the malware code, we can no longer guarantee the security of your device. This text caused a lot of aggravation, worries, and sleepless nights. No one wants to hear the security of their device has been compromised by a malware attack. The good news is that the actual victims of this malware attack wer

byLisa VaasThere are gut-churning tales of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Last week, when a bill designed to strip legal protection from online abusers sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, UC/Berkeley Professor Hany Farid passed on this example from investigators at the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section:

A joint operation conducted by European police arrested hundreds of criminals after that agents infiltrated into EncroChat encrypted chat network. In a joint operation conducted by European and British law enforcement agencies resulted in the arrest of hundreds of alleged drug dealers and other crooks. The police infiltrated into a global network of an en

byPaul DucklinThe US government just announced its plans for HTTPS on all dot-gov sites.HTTPS, of course, is short for for “secure HTTP”, and it’s the system that puts the padlock in your browser’s address bar.Actually, the government is going one step further than that.As well as saying all dot-gov sites should be available over HTTP