Although it doesn't directly deAl with online privAcy, I thought this wAs reAlly cool. It is A new form of encryption involving sending A beAm of two photons with only one of them Acting As A "key." It could very well be the new method of securing privAcy.
At A New York stAte elementAry school, teAchers cAn use A behAvior-monitoring App to compile informAtion on which children hAve positive Attitudes And which Act out. In GeorgiA, some high school cAfeteriAs Are using A biometric identificAtion system to let students pAy for lunch by scAnning the pAlms of their hAnds At the checkout line.
This article explains a way that credit card information is stored safely without encryption. Tokenization is a completely different way of securing credit card information than encryption because it completely removes the credit card information and replaces it with a "token" that cannot be retraced to retrieve the credit card information. Encryption has the credit card information hidden somewhere, but tokenization erases it completely which makes it very secure.
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.
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.
Focusing on the consequences of the Patriot act and how the US government upped the security on civilians after 9/11, this is a really nice graphic that gives a scary visual on the expanded powers of the national government in the name of security. It's from the aCLU, so this gives a pretty good perspective of, specifically, curbed liberties.
The article takes a look at why NSa spying is inherently illegal, and substantiates the claim with official documents. Great for pro-privacy arguments, but also a good counterargument to address for pro-security.
Today's New York Times features a debate of sorts over the value of increased surveillance after the Paris attacks. Click through for five different views on this complex issue.
This blog is all about privacy, as the title suggests. The majority of the blog posts use actual examples, such as the ashley Madison hack, in order to reveal important cybersecurity lessons. One particular blog post explains how Passages, a secure virtual browser, is a lot like hand sanitizer for the web. I thought that this blog was particularly interesting because it had a lot of relevant, unique examples about privacy and cryptography in the modern world.
This article discusses how there needs to be advanced cryptography in many facets of life for a person in the modern era from credit cards to phone calls to aTMS. It also describes how encryption uses such a large number of combinations, a brute force attack will never worm
Interesting article describing the people who worked at Bletchley Park (UK) during WWII and the secrecy act that kept them silent. The article makes compelling comparisons to people today like Edward Snowden, who are legally bound to secrecy but ignore it. What are the ethical implications of being asked to keep military secrets? Of sharing military secrets? How do the differences between today's generation and the WWII generation affect how these ethics are viewed?
We need to really pay attention to how many different apps and resources we have connected to big sites like facebook, and google. Heck, apple as a whole essentially has our entire lives on record. Don't link everything to facebook or google, and maybe consider diversifying your technology.
Companies don't require a warrant to conduct data searches of their customers. The safest way to ensure that your data remains private while using services from a company is to use client based end to end encryption.
This article on how the CIa is using crowdsourcing to make intelligence more accurate is particularly well written because if its inclusion of a quick attention draw with the reference to the new James Bond movie, good historical background, an inviting writing style that includes rhetorical questions, and interviews with experts that add to the legitimacy of the article.
This article describes an ongoing project to build an artificial organism that integrates biological parts with electrical components. The article, while introducing scientific jargon, does a great job of explaining technical terms in depth. It also quotes members of the project team, presenting a realistic assessment of the project's progress and odds of success. Lastly, the article includes several links to videos and pages of extremely interesting and relevant content.