Displaying items by tag: NSA

When the leaks about how widespread the NSA’s surveillance is hit the news there was (and still is) talk about how much of an impact this would have on privacy. We all knew that having an agency that was able to dig into your online life like the NSA was not a good thing. What was less expected (although some talked about it) is the widespread effect on free speech, and also the economic impact in the form of people moving away from the internet and businesses closing down.

Back in April of this year (2013) we published two articles that countered Apple’s claims that their iMessage application was not as secure as they claimed. The first was after an alleged DEA memo was leaked to CNet. This memo detailed the frustrations of the agency in their inability to acquire text messages sent using Apple iPhones. Sadly for the DEA the “leaked” memo ended up making them look rather foolish as they were trying to get the information from carriers instead of from Apple. Apple countered with their usual, there is no flaw and for many that was that.

After the general announcement that Google’s Chrome exposes user information to capture, Google has come back with a reply. It seems that Google does not want anyone to know that there is a security hole in their flagship browser. They are continuing to claim that it is “the most secure” browser and that Chrome maintains user data in an encrypted format. They feel that there is nothing wrong and that the information being presented by Information Finders is no big deal. If Chrome is storing data then it will be encrypted… if your OS supports it and that it only collects this information if the user asks it to. It is a very interesting statement to be made given the information presented.

There is a pretty interesting story about how the NSA has been targeting the TOR Network for the last couple of days. The news is just another piece of the much larger tapestry of US government surveillance being performed by the National Security Agency. Some of this surveillance appears to be at the behest of the administration while others pieces seem to be generated from within the agency and possibly outside their charter and license. It seems that the NSA is determined to bring all forms of communication under their domain. This is why we were not surprised to hear that the NSA has been working on being able to identify people using the TOR Network since at least 2007 (possibly before that).

Shortly after Edward Snowden revealed the massive surveillance programs being run by the NSA we all were treated to speeches and claims that these programs were essential to national security. These claims further talked about the vital role the NSA plays in protecting the US from the bad guys around the world. Of course they never touched on the violations individual rights protected by the constitution, but that was such a small matter than they felt it was not important.

Corrected 9-26-2013 12:48PM EST to add information from RSA and correct the headline from "RSA Says Not To Use Their Toolkit For Fear it Might Have an NSA Backdoor" to what it currently is.

A couple of weeks ago we reported on a claim that the NSA worked with many security companies and standards groups to help develop encryption algorithms. On the surface this was to help develop stronger and more secure encryption methods to protect US interests and data. However, it turned out that the NSA was actually working to introduce flaws into the system so that they could get back in at a later date. Some of these flaws might have even been exploited by hackers attempting to penetrate systems. We know that in recent years more and more data breaches are happening and the data recovered is often decrypted and sold off. Still until very recently there has not been much to hold up the original claims.

The impact of Edward Snowden is still being felt on a daily basis and is even growing due to the continued release of information in the form of classified slides from the NSA. In recent months the information coming out of these slides has been quite alarming and ranges from the fact that the NSA wrote the standard for most of the encryption used today to being able to break into our smartphones and harvest information almost at will. Of particular interest to the NSA was (and still is) the Apple iPhone. This is interesting simply because Apple has always touted the iPhone as more secure than everyone else’s. Of course, every other phone is still vulnerable to NSA eavesdropping, but the iPhone appeared to be much more vulnerable and had specific details listed in the slides released so far.

You know, the Internet is a scary enough place with all of the Malware, scams, hackers and other crap. No one needs to be worried about the government looking over their shoulders as well. However, this is what we reminded is happening when Edward Snowden released his cache of documents to the world (through the Guardian and other news sites). We found that under the guise of protecting us from terrorism and other real and imagined threats the US government has been collecting all of our internet data for a number of years. Now this was a great surprise to many people although it should not have been.

The fight for internet freedom, privacy and net neutrality has been a rough one. Over the past couple of years we have watched as a parade of laws have trotted past us. SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, and more have all shown us one certain thing; the powers that be have little to no regard for individual freedoms, free speech or the impact of restrictive laws on innovation, technology and the economy as a whole. However there was an underlying trend to these laws that disturbed us and many other privacy and right groups out there. The trend was a general trammeling of the right to free speech when it comes to any online sources; some would even say any source that had an opposing view point. Even the right to have protected sources was slowly being removed if you were an independent blogger (citizen journalist) and this effort is now being expanded.

Google has made the statement that users of Gmail not only have consented to any electronic snooping and scanning of their communication, but have no reasonable expectation that their mail will remain private anyway. The revelation comes through a brief filed by Google to dismiss a data-mining suit against them. In it they describe the act of sending email through their services as if you are handing your letter to someone else. They seem to forget that letters are processed by the post office (or other carrier) and during transit cannot legally be opened. This makes the analogy very inaccurate indeed.