encryption

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Yahoo to Encrypt All Products Amid NSA Spying

Marissa Mayer: We don't take users' trust 'for granted'

(Newser) - Yahoo is taking further steps to prevent NSA snooping: The company will encrypt all its products, and soon. In a blog post yesterday, CEO Marissa Mayer announced that by the end of Q1 next year, users will be able to have all data going to and from Yahoo encrypted if...

Google Attempts to NSA-Proof Its Data

Working to strongly encrypt its data amid PRISM fallout

(Newser) - Amid the fallout from the NSA's PRISM surveillance program , Google is scrambling to encrypt its data, in an effort to hide it from the prying eyes of intelligence agencies, the Washington Post reports. Of course, as we learned this week , the NSA can crack encrypted data too, but the...

NSA Can Read All Your Safely Encrypted Files

Agency has cracked every system out there, sometimes working with Internet providers

(Newser) - If you're under the impression that your online data is safe from prying eyes thanks to encryption, the New York Times , ProPublica , and the Guardian have some bad news, courtesy of Edward Snowden: The NSA can read pretty much everything that's out there. A key point from high...

Why Your Password Is Less Safe Than Ever

Advances in cracking technology and reuse of passwords leaves users vulnerable

(Newser) - Once upon a time, hackers tried to guess passwords using a list of words cobbled from a dictionary and fairly feeble computers. Back then, the one password you're using for all your sites was probably pretty safe. But that's not the case anymore, reports Ars Technica , citing huge...

Cryptographers Solve 'Unbreakable' Code

21 computers unravel 923-bit code in 148 days

(Newser) - A code that scientists thought should take at least thousands of years to unravel was cracked in a mere 148 days by 21 computers working in unison, reports CNET . The solution to the 278-character, 923-bit code broke a world record in cryptanalysis, and the victorious team of technologists used "...

Feds Bust Online 'Farmer's Market' for Drugs

'Farmer's Market' storefront matched buyers, sellers

(Newser) - Eight people have been arrested and a "Drug Dealing 2.0" operation has been shut down after a global sting operation, reports the LA Times . Prosecutors say the "Farmer's Market" operation sold more than $1 million in LSD, marijuana, and other drugs over three years to buyers...

Experts Find Key Internet Encryption Flaw

Small but significant number of cases vulnerable

(Newser) - Oops. Now that millions of people have downloaded encrypted information like credit card and bank account numbers onto the Internet, a team of mathematicians and cryptographers have located a crucial flaw in online encryption. The flaw concerns the way the system generates random numbers to create a code critical to...

FBI Wants You to Crack Code in 12-Year-Old Murder
FBI Wants You to Crack
Code in 12-Year-Old Murder
in case you missed it

FBI Wants You to Crack Code in 12-Year-Old Murder

They're hoping amateur puzzle fans can solve notes found on St. Louis man

(Newser) - The FBI’s best cryptanalysts haven’t been able to crack a mysterious code found in the pocket of a murder victim 12 years ago—so they’re hoping you can do it. Ricky McCormick, 41, was found dead in a Missouri field in 1999, and the bizarre notes in...

German Hacker Cracks Cell Phone Code

Expert warns 80% of cell phones lack proper protection

(Newser) - A German hacker says he and his team have managed to crack the code that has protected most of the world's cell phone conversations for over 20 years. Karsten Nohl told a hackers' conference in Berlin that cracking the encryption code for GSM communications—which secures 80% of cellular communications—...

New Software Can Delete Emails Permanently

Software scatters encryption keys among temporary BitTorrent nodes

(Newser) - Email is inherently insecure, because it has a long shelf-life—even deleted messages can be stored infinitely on the email service of the sender or recipient. Now a team of scientists is poised to unveil software later this month to make them disappear for keeps, reports the Economist. “Vanish”...

200-Year-Old Presidential Code Cracked

Mathematician unravels cipher that stumped Jefferson

(Newser) - A code that stumped Thomas Jefferson and other cryptologists for over two centuries has finally been cracked, the Wall Street Journal reports. The cipher—sent to Jefferson in 1801 by mathematician Robert Patterson as an example of the perfect code—piqued the interest of defense cryptologist Lawren Smithline, who tackled...

Prez's Pimped-Out BlackBerry Nearly Ready

The NSA begins final tests on encryption software this month

(Newser) - President Obama’s super-secure, high-powered new BlackBerry could soon get the thumbs-up from the National Security Agency, which is about to begin final tests on its encryption software. The president could be texting, emailing, calling and Facebooking other high-security personnel—like Michelle O.—within months, the Washington Times reports,...

Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry
 Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry 

Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry

Spy-proof smartphone tech means Obama won't have to give up beloved 'BarackBerry'

(Newser) - Security agents aren't going to have to pry the BlackBerry out of Barack Obama's hands after all, Marc Ambinder reports in the Atlantic. A government agency has added super-encryption technology to a standard BlackBerry, which the president will be allowed to use for routine and personal messages. It's not known...

Google Agrees to Give Viacom Encrypted Data

YouTube visitor data will be 'anonymized' before release

(Newser) - In a deal reached last night, Google has agreed to hand over YouTube user data Viacom had demanded in its copyright lawsuit, but only after replacing user names and IP addresses with unique substitutes to protect users’ privacy, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move will allow Viacom and other...

Pirate Bay Treasure: Total Web Encryption for Privacy

Project could protect all data exchanged between computers from prying eyes

(Newser) - The founders of hugely popular torrent site Pirate Bay have announced ambitious plans to develop technology to encrypt all web traffic to ensure users absolute privacy, reports NewTeeVee. "Transparent end-to-end encryption for the internet"—or IPETEE—would protect all information sent from or received by a PC, including...

Eavesdropping on Internet Calls Is Easy

Researchers find potential encryption security problems

(Newser) - Not only are most Internet phone calls not encrypted, but a bandwidth-saving technique could undermine encryption once it’s implemented. Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that a compression method called variable-bit-rate encoding makes it possible for eavesdroppers to identify given phrases in an encrypted VoIP call 50% of the time,...

Open-Source Security Flaw Exposes Millions

Encryption error went undetected for nearly 2 years

(Newser) - A programming error discovered last week makes at least four open-source operating systems and 25 applications vulnerable to hacking, and a patch distributed to fix it doesn’t solve the problem. Worse, the vulnerability can extend to computers not even running the deficient code, reports Technology Review. The mistake went...

Patients' Info Swiped Along With Laptop

Unencrypted data on 2,500 government study subjects missing

(Newser) - A government laptop loaded with personal medical info on thousands of patients just “fell through the cracks,” a top exec with an NIH subsidiary says. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute machine was stolen Feb. 23, apparently at random, from an employee’s car trunk. None of...

Website Offers Post-Mortem Security
Website Offers Post-Mortem Security

Website Offers Post-Mortem Security

Departed users can leave wills, photos, passwords to family

(Newser) - Think of it as a safe deposit box for the dearly departed: A website in California allows subscribers to store digital versions of important stuff—wills, photos, credit card numbers, bicycle lock combinations, you name it—so beneficiaries don't have to scramble after the funeral, the San Francisco Chronicle reports....

Data Encryption Isn't So Secure, After All

Researchers find easy method to steal protected information

(Newser) - Accessing encrypted data can be as simple as chilling a computer memory chip, according to a Princeton research group. The researchers were able to break through encryption in Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems, reports the New York Times, calling into question the security methods that companies, government agencies, and...

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