Group items tagged

This doesn't quite follow the guidelines of the blogging assignment, I don't think, but I found it pretty interesting, so I'll share this one too. This is basically about the people who are going to be holding the keys to the building blocks of the internet. I'm not sure I understand it completely, but it sounds fascinating!

Excellent find! I heard about this security system when the author of this piece, James Ball, was interviewed for the "On the Media" podcast: http://www.onthemedia.org/story/so-many-keys/. Great stuff.

Interesting that ~35% of 1000 surveyed have upped the strength of their passwords, but only 6% turned on two-factor ID, which was a major cause of the iCloud hacks going undetected for so long.

It seems that two-factor authentication would not have prevented those iCloud hacks (according to this piece: http://www.tuaw.com/2014/09/02/think-iclouds-two-factor-authentication-protects-your-privacy/), but since Apple has now changed the triggers for two-factor to include things like iCloud access, two-factor will be more helpful going forward. So it is a little surprising that more people haven't enabled it.

I'm also reminded of the ACLU's Chris Soghoian's point (https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/lessons-celebrity-icloud-photo-breach) that one reason people have crappy Apple passwords is that Apple makes you use your password so darn often. I know I get frustrated when I have to enter my (crazy long) Apple password on my iPhone just to download a free app.

Interesting how this article talks about the gait analysis being used for catching terrorists, while in Little Brother, it was used to keep track of the high school students. The technology is not quite ready to be used, but seems to be much more reliable than the gait trackers in the book.

Georgia Tech Research Institute is making gait recognition technology a reality. "The ultimate goal is to detect, classify and identify humans at distances up to 500 feet away under day or night, all-weather conditions. Such capabilities will enhance the protection of U.S. forces and facilities from terrorist attacks."

An overview of Al-Qaeda's use of encryption technology in their terrorist activities. Relevant to the debate about distributing powerful cryptography to everyone, including those with bad intentions.

An interesting account of how technology can now help "crack" codes which were once thought to be impervious.

Essentially, this paper goes through the types of gait recognition software that currently exist as well as the reliability of this software. There are a lot of different elements that influence a persons gait (like terrain, shoes, fatigue, etc.), which effects how well the software works. It's a pretty heavy read but it's really interesting if you want to just jump to a certain section and read in depth. This technology is very much out there and in development, and it is definitely being improved upon. Also, even though this paper is a little bit older, it is still being cited in a lot of more recent research papers and I thought it would give a good enough grasp on the science for our purposes.

Example of how improving technology requires new encryption that hasn't yet been cracked

This article, though very clearly biased, describes the ways in which the movements of citizens are being tracked by both technology and the police. The video/information slides are obviously carried out with bias, but the information is still there. The end of the article has some interesting (helpful?) information about what the judicial system is ruling on cases involving location tracking without warrants.

This is a PDF file of a chapter taken from a book that contains essays on many issues that arise from "big data." This chapter specifically pertains to our privacy versus security debate because it provides reasons as to why bulk data collection does not work as well as alternative options to mass surveillance.

Some retailers use Euclid Analytics, which uses the Wi-Fi antennas inside stores to see how many people are coming into a store, how long they stay and even which aisles they walk. It does this by using signals from each smartphone that comes near the store.

Advice: Never store sensitive information on websites; add a DNS service; ignore pop-ups

Good article about lawful deciphers for "better" security

This is a scholarly article from 2012 about how gait recognition is possible using technology based on Microsoft Kinect, a game for the XBOX 360.

Using data from cellphone locations in Kenya, analysts are better able to predict how malaria will spread.

Mobile devices offer incredibly low security or protection from criminals trying to decipher data.