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Tuesday, 30 December 2014

NSA Had Trouble Breaking Into These Encryption Tools.

  Author : Harmanpreet Singh     No comments
13:13


Edward Snowden is now globally known as the man who blew the whistle on U.S. National Security Agency’s spying programs. He leaked a treasure trove of top secret documents detailing vast spying plans over the past year and he’s not stopping now. Der Spiegel has a new report up, backed by documents provided by Snowden, which reveal some of the encryption tools that proved a bit too much for the NSA to break into.

One of the tools that the NSA had “Major Problems” with is the infamous Tor network. It was difficult for the agency to follow users across the global anonymity network. Email messages sent through Zoho, an email provider that promises strong encryption, were troublesome as well. So were files encrypted with TrueCrypt, which was an open source disk-encryption program that was pulled a few months back.

Even if the NSA had problems with some tools this doesn’t mean it wasn’t able to break into many others. Leaked files show that the agency considers decrypting emails sent through Mail.ru, a popular Russian service, “moderate.” Documents also show that the NSA is building capacity to snoop on 20,000 VPN connections per hour, which is alarming to say the least.

The report also reveals how NSA was able to go past the HTTPS system, commonly used to secure connections between web browsers and websites. Documents from late 2012 show that the agency had capacity to capture 10 million HTTPS connections every single day.

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Monday, 29 December 2014

NSA Reportedly Siphoning Off Personal Data Through Popular Mobile Apps.

  Author : Harmanpreet Singh     No comments
14:14


Another day, another round of leaks from former CIA technical analyst Edward Snowden. This man blew the whistle on U.S. National Security Agency’s electronic spying programs, and he continues to leak highly classified documents. Documents provided to The New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica reveal that the NSA has been siphoning off personal data through popular mobile applications, internally referred to as “leaky apps.” Apparently the NSA has collaborated with its British counterpart on this program, the Government Communications Headquarter or GCHQ.
iPhone Intrusion.
As per the documents, this program was called “the mobile surge,” and was being put in place as far back as 2007. Apparently both the NSA and GCHQ have “traded recipes” for siphoning location and planning data whenever a target uses Google Maps, they also pick up address books, phone logs, buddy lists, geo data in photos and posts sent through mobile sites of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr and more. In one slide, iPhone and Android smartphones are referred to as “Golden Nugget!,” an analyst merely points out that they are excellent resources for picking up data without being detected. The agencies’ ability to do this apparently hasn’t been broken by newer apps, even popular games like Angry Birds have been named, so while users flick birds at pigs, the NSA and GCHQ can lift their personal data without them even knowing.

Android Intrusion.
Even though the leaked documents detail how mobile applications are used for spying, The New York Times reports that nothing in the documents addressed whether or not the companies that created those apps were cooperating with the agencies.

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Sunday, 28 December 2014

Amazon Glitch Leads to Items being Sold for almost Nothing.

  Author : Harmanpreet Singh     No comments
14:24

In the UK, many items on Amazon suddenly appear for a price of one penny. Retailers rail, while Amazon blames third-party software.


Christmas is a time of giving but, as far as retailers are concerned, it isn't necessarily a time of giving away.

Yet on Saturday, some UK-based retailers were aghast as their wares were suddenly being sold on Amazon for one penny.

No, this wasn't an attempt by Amazon to wipe out a recalcitrant book publisher or diaper maker. Instead, it was an alleged glitch that affected some of those on Amazon's Marketplace who used the Repricer Express function.

This, Repricer Express boasts on its site, is "trusted by more than 2,025 happy Amazon sellers across eight international markets." The service automatically changes the price on items to ensure that retailers are competitive with similar wares online.

However, as Sky News reports, some UK retailers began to see that the word competitive had been taken to dire extremes. Some items were for sale at a penny.

This all happened between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday, when so much Christmas shopping was being done.

Oddly, though the prices were absurdly cheap, Amazon's fees had reportedly not been altered. The company issued a statement to Sky News that said: "We are aware that a number of Marketplace sellers listed incorrect prices for a short period of time as a result of the third party software they use to price their items on Amazon.co.uk."

Amazon said that the majority of the orders had been canceled, with no cost to retailers. I have, though, contacted the company to ask how those retailers who might have been affected would be compensated. I also asked about the nature of the third-party glitch. I will update, should I hear.

Some retailers are in an unforgiving mood. One, called Belle, told Sky News that she feared losing £30,000 (around $47,000 or AU$57,000) on her toys and games. "It's disgusting really because this third-party software, that is their business," she said, "this should not have happened, this is 2014."

For its part, Repricer Express CEO Brendan Doherty said in reply to one complaining retailer on his company's site: "We have received communication that Amazon will not penalize sellers for this error. We are continuing to work to identify how this problem occurred and to put measures in place to ensure that it does not happen again."

Doherty added: "We've been in business for over 10 years and we've always taken pride in the levels of service we provide -- so everyone here is devastated and disappointed that you have experienced this problem."

This didn't appease some retailers. One, Stuart Cameron, wrote in response to Doherty: "Just sold my entire inventory in under two hours. Heads are going to role [sic]. Solicitor [lawyer] first thing Monday morning. This has just cost me thousands and now have to stock check my entire warehouse."

I contacted Repricer Express to ask what specific measures Amazon and/or Repricer Express is taking and will also update, should I hear.

Amid all the rancor and rage, one imagines there might be one or two happy people -- those who bought a coveted gift for a piffling pittance. At least they might have a merry Christmas.

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