Researchers hack Verizon device, turn it into mobile spy station: Two security experts said they have figured out how to spy on Verizon Wireless mobile phone customers by hacking into devices the U.S. carrier sells to boost wireless signals indoors. The finding, which the experts demonstrated to Reuters and will further detail at two hacking conferences […]

Zambia, a country under Deep Packet Inspection: the grass roots online newspaper Zambianwatchdog.com was being blocked inside Zambia. This report provides technical evidence of the unlawful presence of Deep Packet Inspection in the country to monitor the Internet communications and stop users from browsing the website.

Twitter account hack warning: Last night I learned about one attack targeting Twitter users. Attackers have a simple goal: they want to hack your Twitter account. The first step is a Direct Message (DM) or e-mail coming from one of your followers. Attackers have used messages like these: Hey this person is threatening to expose something really […]

Attention, Shoppers – Store Is Tracking Your Cell: Like dozens of other brick-and-mortar retailers, Nordstrom wanted to learn more about its customers — how many came through the doors, how many were repeat visitors — the kind of information that e-commerce sites like Amazon have in spades. So last fall the company started testing new technology […]

Duck Duck Go: Illusion of Privacy: There have been several articles in the press recently about users flocking to DuckDuckGo in the wake of the recent NSA snooping revelations.  If you are in this category this post is meant for you. If you use DuckDuckGo solely for the myriad of other benefits, such as reducing advertiser […]

Merkel wants tough EU line on Internet firms after spying outcry: Merkel said tighter European rules were needed. “Germany will make clear that we want Internet firms to tell us in Europe who they are giving data to,” she told ARD. “We have a great data protection law. But if Facebook is registered in Ireland, then […]

Operator of remote control helicopter dies: The man’s body was discovered on Wednesday night by a pedestrian in the Mauensee area, about 25 kilometres northwest of Lucerne, cantonal police said in a statement.The dead man, from the canton of Nidwalden, suffered severe head and arm injuries, police said.Investigators assume he suffered the fatal injuries while operating […]

France Has A PRISM-Like Program With Millions Of Trillions Of Metadata Elements: For phone data, the DGSE uses electromagnetic technologies to collect the metadata. The caller’s location is recorded as well. That’s why a former DGSE official claims that the program isn’t illegal. It doesn’t actually record your calls. The DGSE is on the fringe of […]

Novel ransomware tactic locks users’ PCs, demands that they participate in a survey to get the unlock code: From managed ransomware as a service ‘solutions‘ to DIY ransomware generating tools, this malicious market segment is as hot as ever with cybercriminals continuing to push new variants, and sometimes, literally introducing novel approaches to monetize locked PCs. […]

How cryptography is a key weapon in the fight against empire states: The original cypherpunks were mostly Californian libertarians. I was from a different tradition but we all sought to protect individual freedom from state tyranny. Cryptography was our secret weapon. It has been forgotten how subversive this was. Cryptography was then the exclusive property of […]