Cyber Essentials is a UK government scheme that outlines the basic steps that organisations can take to secure their systems. Implementing its five controls effectively will help you prevent about 80% of cyber attacks. In…
Eavesdropping on Phone Taps from Voice Assistants
The microphones on voice assistants are very sensitive, and can snoop on all sorts of data: In Hey Alexa what did I just type? we show that when sitting up to half a meter away,…
US Schools Are Buying Cell Phone Unlocking Systems
Gizmodo is reporting that schools in the US are buying equipment to unlock cell phones from companies like Cellebrite: Gizmodo has reviewed similar accounting documents from eight school districts, seven of which are in Texas,…
Mexican Drug Cartels with High-Tech Spyware
Sophisticated spyware, sold by surveillance tech companies to Mexican government agencies, are ending up in the hands of drug cartels: As many as 25 private companies — including the Israeli company NSO Group and the…
Google Responds to Warrants for “About” Searches
One of the things we learned from the Snowden documents is that the NSA conducts “about” searches. That is, searches based on activities and not identifiers. A normal search would be on a name, or…
The NSA is Refusing to Disclose its Policy…
Senator Ron Wyden asked, and the NSA didn’t answer: The NSA has long sought agreements with technology companies under which they would build special access for the spy agency into their products, according to disclosures…
IMSI-Catchers from Canada
Gizmodo is reporting that Harris Corp. is no longer selling Stingray IMSI-catchers (and, presumably, its follow-on models Hailstorm and Crossbow) to local governments: L3Harris Technologies, formerly known as the Harris Corporation, notified police agencies last…
On Executive Order 12333
Mark Jaycox has written a long article on the US Executive Order 12333: “No Oversight, No Limits, No Worries: A Primer on Presidential Spying and Executive Order 12,333“: Abstract: Executive Order 12,333 (“EO 12333”) is…
Former NSA Director Keith Alexander Joins Amazon’s Board…
This sounds like a bad idea.Read more: schneier.com