government
Stanford professor scrutinizes India’s biometric identification program
The cutting edge of biometric identification — using fingerprints or eye scans to confirm a person’s identity — isn’t at the FBI or the Department of Homeland …
US DOJ asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cell phone search
“Kill switches” for mobile phones seems like a great idea for discouraging rampant mobile phone theft going on in the US. As a matter of fact, a bill introduced to …
FBI informant Sabu directed hacking of foreign govt sites
Hector Xavier Monsegur (aka “Sabu”), the infamous hacker and leader of the Lulzsec hacktivist group, has directed his associates to attack and compromise the …
NIST drops NSA-backed algorithm from encryption recommendations
“Following a public comment period and review, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has removed a cryptographic algorithm from its draft guidance on …
Appeals court overturns AT&T hacker’s sentence
A US federal appeals court has vacated the conviction and sentence received by Andrew “weev” Auernheimer for the AT&T iPad hack. Auernheimer, a hacker and …
Highest EU court rejects EU-wide Data Retention Directive
It’s a good thing that the European Union is working on a new Data Retention Directive, as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled on Tuesday that the one issued …
Barrett Brown signs (sealed) plea agreement
Barrett Brown, the American journalist that – among other things – is accused of crimes related to the Stratfor hack, has reached a plea agreement with US …
NSA and GCHQ spied on German satcomms, world governments’ leaders
Another week, another explosive revelation coming from Edward Snowden’s archive of NSA documents. This time they reveal the widespread compromise of several German …
Federal agencies face outsider threats and internal ignorance
A SolarWinds cybersecurity survey among federal IT pros revealed that while the majority of respondents describe their agencies as cybersecurity-ready, many still face attacks …
Additional NSA-backed code found in RSA crypto products
A group of professors and researchers from several universities in the US and the Netherlands have tested the exploitability of various implementations of the infamous …
ACLU probes US police’s use of fake cell towers
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is on a mission to find out which local and state law enforcement forces in the US are using “stingrays” and how, but are …
NSA compromised Huawei’s servers, spied on its executives
For years, the US government has been very vocal about its distrust of Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei, pointedly blocking acquisitions and takeovers that would allow …