Computer security tools for journalists lacking in a post-Snowden world
University of Washington – Despite heightened awareness of surveillance tactics and privacy breaches, existing computer security tools aren’t meeting the needs of journalists working with sensitive...
View ArticleResearchers tackle issues surrounding security tools for software developers
For software programmers, security tools are analytic software that can scan or run their code to expose vulnerabilities long before the software goes to market. But these tools can have shortcomings,...
View ArticleMIT: Simple security for wireless
In early August, at the Def Con conference — a major annual gathering of computer hackers — someone apparently hacked into many of the attendees’ cell phones, in what may have been the first successful...
View ArticleApple Hack mars smooth iOS9 release-sneaky poison software defeated just in...
Big guys stumble. Google did it with ‘+.’ Microsoft does it every other operating system. Apple’s last version, iOS8, had a rocky start. It raises a question: If tech giants design with large budgets...
View ArticleCyberattacks studied through the lens of EEG and eye tracking
Researchers tested users’ abilities to detect malware and phishing attacks while measuring the neurophysiological behavior underlying these tasks. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have...
View ArticleWhen apps talk behind your back
Almost 9 percent of popular apps downloaded from Google Play interact with websites that could compromise users’ security and privacy, according to a study released in December by researchers at the...
View ArticleCyberwar is here to stay
Last week, The New York Times revealed that the Obama administration had prepared a cyberattack plan to be carried out against Iran in the event diplomatic negotiations failed to limit that country’s...
View ArticleWhat if the FBI tried to crack an Android phone? We attacked one to find out
The Justice Department has managed to unlock an iPhone 5c used by the gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December. The high-profile case...
View ArticleHow Anonymous hacked Donald Trump
When Anonymous declared “total war” on Donald Trump in early March, the hacktivist group set a countdown clock, calling on “everyone to target Trump websites” on April 1. But that may not have been its...
View ArticleIt’s the year 2020…how’s your cybersecurity?
What if, in 2020, wearable devices did not care about how many steps you took, and instead were concerned with your real-time emotional state? With networked devices tracking hormone levels, heart...
View ArticleCybersecurity’s weakest link: humans
There is a common thread that connects the hack into the sluicegate controllers of the Bowman Avenue dam in Rye, New York; the breach that compromised 20 million federal employee records at the Office...
View ArticleDon’t let cybercriminals hide from the FBI
Imagine that a criminal investigator has identified one or more computers that are part of ongoing criminal activity. Unfortunately, the people operating these computers are hiding them. The machines...
View ArticleHow Vulnerable To Hacking Is The US Election Cyber Infrastructure?
Following the hack of Democratic National Committee emails and reports of a new cyberattack against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, worries abound that foreign nations may be...
View ArticleAfter The NSA Hack: Cybersecurity In An Even More Vulnerable World
It is looking increasingly likely that computer hackers have in fact successfully attacked what had been the pinnacle of cybersecurity – the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). A few days ago, reports...
View ArticleJulian Assange and WikiLeaks are Harming Diplomacy More than the Clinton...
Paul Webster Hare, Boston University The U.S. election has given WikiLeaks an opportunity to revive its image as a world leader in “transparency” leaks. For several years, its leader, Julian Assange,...
View ArticleComputer Scientists Work to Prevent Hackers from Remotely Controlling Cars
A luxury vehicle today contains multiple computers. During an hour’s drive, it thus produces multiple gigabytes of data. Even less expensive vehicles are now brimming with information technology. The...
View ArticleAttackers Can Make It Impossible To Dial 911
It’s not often that any one of us needs to dial 911, but we know how important it is for it to work when one needs it. It is critical that 911 services always be available – both for the practicality...
View ArticleThe WikiLeaks CIA Release: When Will We Learn?
Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Anupam Joshi, University of Maryland, Baltimore County This week’s WikiLeaks release of what is apparently a trove of Central Intelligence...
View ArticleThe Age Of Hacking Brings A Return To The Physical Key
Jungwoo Ryoo, Pennsylvania State University Hacking The Age Of Hacking Brings A Return To The Physical Key With all the news about Yahoo accounts being hacked and other breaches of digital security,...
View ArticleProtect Your Privacy During Turbulent Times: A Hacker’s Guide to being...
Protecting individual privacy from government intrusion is older than American democracy. In 1604, the attorney general of England, Sir Edward Coke, ruled that a man’s house is his castle. This was the...
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