MacBook webcam indicator light can be disabled to aid spying
Two researchers from Johns Hopkins University have proved, without a doubt, that it is possible to activate internal iSight webcams included in some legacy Apple machines …
Obama panel advises big changes to NSA surveillance practices
The “independent” Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies ordered to be created by US president Barack Obama in August has finally delivered …
Lead MEP presents preliminary conclusions on NSA inquiry
The European Parliament should consent to a trade deal with the US only if it makes no reference to data protection, says its Civil Liberties Committee in the preliminary …
NSA can easily decrypt private cell calls
A document from the seemingly inexhaustible trove delivered by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden shows that the NSA can easily break the old and weak algorithm still used …
Security implications of Google’s decision to display images in Gmail by default
This Thursday, Google announced that it will, once again, be displaying attached images in emails sent to Gmail users by default. Years back, Google decided to stop doing just …
One in four UK consumers have had online accounts hacked
As user engagement with ecommerce sites and online services inevitably increases in the run up to Christmas, almost a quarter (24 per cent) of UK consumers have had their …
What do people want to hide on their smartphone?
More than half of Americans (52%) would be embarrassed about friends or family seeing certain files or documents on their smartphone, according to Clean Master. The number one …
NSA uses Google cookies to track and target suspects
Newly published documents from Edward Snowden’s trove show that the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ use Google’s “preferences” cookies to follow …
Disqus security flaw used to deanonymize online commenters
A security flaw in the API of popular blog comment hosting service Disqus can be exploited to reveal the email addresses of users, and therefore occasionally even their …
US phone carriers and wireless surveillance of Americans
As part of his ongoing investigation into wireless surveillance of Americans by law enforcement, US Senator Edward J. Markey released responses from eight major wireless …
CyanogenMod introduces built-in SMS encryption
CyanogenMod developers have announced the fruit of several months of labor headed by Open Whisper Systems’ Moxie Marlinspike: a seamless implementation of TextSecure, …
Tech giants call for government surveillance reform
Eight Internet giants have formally urged the US president and Congress to reform and limit government surveillance, and have offered several suggestions on how to do it. AOL, …