Tag: encryption

  • Tim Cook’s speech on encryption and privacy

    Matthew Panzarino wrote on TechCrunch about [Tim Cook’s blistering speech on encryption and privacy]((http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/apples-tim-cook-delivers-blistering-speech-on-encryption-privacy/) at EPIC’s Champions of Freedom event. Cook lost no time in directing comments at companies (obviously, though not explicitly) like Facebook and Google, which rely on advertising to users based on the data they collect from them for a portion, if…

  • Google backtracks from Android Lollipop encryption

    Ars Technica reported on Google backtracking from compulsory encryption for Android Lollipop devices. Last year, Google made headlines when it revealed that its next version of Android would require full-disk encryption on all new phones. Older versions of Android had supported optional disk encryption, but Android 5.0 Lollipop would make it a standard feature. But…

  • FBI is wrong about Apple’s encryption

    Ken Gude wrote on WIRED about Apple’s encryption of data on iOS 8. Apple’s new operating system, iOS 8, makes two changes to the encryption of data on the device that dramatically increases the security of those data. First, it now encrypts and passcode protects virtually all data on the device—such as text messages, photos,…

  • US law enforcement seeks to halt Apple-Google encryption of mobile data

    Bloomberg reported on US law enforcement officials seeking to halt smartphone encryption. “This is a very bad idea,” said Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, in an interview. Smartphone communication is “going to be the preferred method of the pedophile and the criminal. We are going to lose a lot of investigative…

  • Compromise needed on smartphone encryption?

    Washington Post wrote about the need for a compromise on smartphone encryption. How to resolve this? A police “back door” for all smartphones is undesirable — a back door can and will be exploited by bad guys, too. However, with all their wizardry, perhaps Apple and Google could invent a kind of secure golden key…

  • FBI says iPhone encryption will help kidnappers

    Trevor Timm wrote for The Guardian about the misleading information FBI is disseminating regarding phone encryption. FBI director James Comey: I am a huge believer in the rule of law, but I also believe that no one in this country is beyond the law. … What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly…

  • Android L will have built-in encryption, just like iOS

    Digital Trends reported on built-in encryption for Andriod L. The next major version of Android is going to come with one feature that will please the security-conscious: built-in encryption. It means anyone who grabs hold of your mobile device—from petty thief to law enforcement officer—will find it much more difficult to extract data from it.…

  • Did the RSA collaborate with the NSA for just $10 million?

    There are always two sides to a coin, but at this point, the RSA’s image is definitely going to take a beating. Whether it entered into such an agreement willingly or not doesn’t take away the fact that there are vulnerabilities in some of the current encryption standards. This is very disturbing indeed. Exclusive: Secret…

  • CyanogenMod defaults to encrypted text messaging

    Thanks to Edward Snowden, encrypted messaging has been increasingly in demand. While there are already solutions out there like iMessage, the effectiveness of it is still debatable. There are also other independant solutions being developed, such as Hemlis. Now CyanogenMod is going to give users a hand too. It has teamed up with Open Whisper…

  • How Apple’s Touch ID works

    WIRED.com writes about Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint reader. Fingerprint reading is accomplished through a complex method. Touch ID is composed of an 8 x 8 millimeter, 170-micron-thick capacitive sensor located just beneath the home button on the 5s. This is used to capture a 500-pixel-per-inch (ppi) resolution image of your fingerprint. The sensor can read…