Privacy

Think you're safe from spies because you're using Tails, the same Linux distribution that Edward Snowden uses to remain anonymous?

Unfortunately, you'll still have to be on your guard. Security firm Exodus Intelligence has revealed that the latest version of the OS, 1.1, is vulnerable to attacks that could be used to unmask your identity. The researchers say they won't publish details of the exploit until there's a patch, but the Tails team will have to wait up to a week before it gets a report it can use to whip up an emergency fix.

Information security has never been a more sensitive subject than it is these days, so it’s little surprise that allegations from a security researcher that iOS contains a ‘backdoor’ permitting access to users’ information provoked a strong response from Apple.

A presentation on a low-budget method to unmask users of a popular online privacy tool, TOR, will no longer go ahead at the Black Hat security conference early next month.

The talk was nixed by the legal counsel with Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute after a finding that materials from researcher Alexander Volynkin were not approved for public release, according to a notice on the conference’s website.

A number of undocumented features in iOS have been found to essentially create backdoors for siphoning large amounts of users' personal data from Apple devices.

Jonathan Zdziarski, a researcher who often trains federal and state law enforcement agencies in forensic techniques, revealed the existence of the mostly hidden features. The data-stealing avenues have evolved over the last few years and may have been used by the U.S. National Security Agency to collect data on potential targets, Zdziarski said.

Have you ever been curious as to what information the government has stored about you and your travel records? A Passenger Name Record (PNR) is a computerized travel record created by airlines or travel agencies for both domestic and international flights, as well as hotel bookings, car rentals, cruises, and train trips. Your PNR, which is given to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) if you travel internationally, can include details like your unredacted credit card number or IP addresses.

Just as civil liberties groups challenge the legality of the UK intelligence agency’s mass surveillance programs, a catalog of exploit tools for monitoring and manipulation is leaked online.

IF there’s a symbol for the idea that privacy is on people’s minds, it’s the Blackphone.

The Blackphone, which went on sale this week for $629, is billed as the first smartphone built solely with privacy and security in mind. It is definitely more secure than your average phone, but comes with trade-offs that most consumers might not need or enjoy. It’s probably best for reporters, dissidents and companies concerned with corporate security.

British intelligence agency, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), appears to be able to intercept most functions of Microsoft's Skype voice and messaging application, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

Published by The Intercept, the documents state that the GHCQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) has made it possible for government agencies to surveil Skype communications in real-time without users of the application being aware of it taking place.

Most of us would love a break on our health insurance. We would generally appreciate the convenience of seeing ads for things we're actually interested in buying, instead of irrelevant "clutter." A lot of us would like someone, or something, else keeping track of how effective our workouts are.

All that and more is available in a web-connected world. But those benefits come at a price -- personal information. In the case of health insurance, it means handing over some of the most intimate details of our lives, and lifestyles, in exchange for a couple hundred bucks a year.

In a carefully and respectfully worded post on Apple’s Chinese website the company denied claims made on Chinese television that iPhones were a concern to national security.