Category Archives: secure communications

Russia threatening to ban Telegram encrypted messaging app

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Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, is threatening to ban the use of popular encrypted messaging app Telegram. The request Roskomnadzor is a federal agency tasked with overseeing that the media, telecoms and other mass communications providers comply with existing laws and adequately protect the confidentiality of personal data being processed. It’s head, Alexander Zharov, claims that Telegram (the company) has not responded to repeated requests to fill in a form with information on the company that … More → Continue reading Russia threatening to ban Telegram encrypted messaging app→

As UK govt calls for encryption backdoors, EU lawmakers propose a ban on them

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As the UK gets hit by terror attacks one after the other, the government’s cry for making sure terrorists and criminals can’t find “safe spaces” online has become a constant. Some European legislators, on the other hand, are asking for European citizens’ right to end-to-end encryption in all forms of digital communications – current and future – to be enshrined in law. Respect for private life The proposal comes from the European Parliament’s Committee on … More → Continue reading As UK govt calls for encryption backdoors, EU lawmakers propose a ban on them→

What’s really stopping users from adopting secure communication tools?

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“Users’ goal to communicate with others overrides everything else, including security,” a group of researchers has concluded after interviewing sixty individuals about their experience with different communication tools and their perceptions of the tools’ security properties. Adoption of secure communication tools hinges on many things It has long been thought that usability issues are the main thing preventing users from adopting secure communication tools, but the results of their research show that it’s not the … More → Continue reading What’s really stopping users from adopting secure communication tools?→

Encrypted messaging app Confide suffers from many security issues

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Confide, the encrypted instant messaging application with a self-destructing messaging system that has become popular with White House staffers, is not so secure after all. IOActive released today the results of the company’s recent research into the app, and noted that they found several issues which could be exploited by an attacker to impersonate another user by hijacking their account session or by guessing their password, learn the contact details of all or specific Confide … More → Continue reading Encrypted messaging app Confide suffers from many security issues→

Internet freedom around the world keeps decreasing

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For the sixth year in a row, Internet freedom is declining. According to the latest Freedom on the Net report, 67 percent of all Internet users now live in countries where online criticism of the government, ruling family or the military is subjected to censorship, and such activity can result in individuals getting arrested. Also, more governments have come to realize the power of social media and messaging apps, and are actively trying to censor … More → Continue reading Internet freedom around the world keeps decreasing→

New users flock to ProtonMail in wake of Trump’s victory

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Following Donald Trump’s victory in the latest US presidential election, many people begun to worry about the surveillance capabilities that will now effectively be left in his hands once he assumes the position. Some have called on tech companies to make it impossible to provide information about users that might be the next targets of the nation’s intelligence agencies, and on users to preventatively protect themselves by encrypting their phone and computer, switching to end-to-end … More → Continue reading New users flock to ProtonMail in wake of Trump’s victory→

Signal Protocol’s crypto core has no major flaws, researchers find

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A group of computer science and cryptography professors and doctoral students has effected a security analysis of the secure messaging Signal Protocol – specifically, of its Key Agreement and Double Ratchet multi-stage key exchange protocol (the effective cryptographic core). The results of the analysis are encouraging. “We have found no major flaws in the design, and hope that our presentation and results can serve as a starting point for other analyses of this widely adopted … More → Continue reading Signal Protocol’s crypto core has no major flaws, researchers find→

Facebook Messenger end-to-end encryption rolled out for all users

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Facebook Messenger’s Secret Conversations feature, which allows end-to-end encryption of messages exchanged by two users that have enabled the option, has finally been rolled out to all Messenger users. Announced in July, Secret Conversations is based on the Open Whisper Systems’ Signal Protocol. The thing to keep in mind is that the feature is not turned on by default, so you have to actively choose to secure your messages. Another option that the feature gives … More → Continue reading Facebook Messenger end-to-end encryption rolled out for all users→

How the EFF was pushed to rethink its Secure Messaging Scorecard

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As good as the idea behind Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Secure Messaging Scorecard is, its initial version left much to be desired. The idea was to provide a guideline for users of communication technologies like chat clients, text messaging apps, emails apps, and technologies for voice and video calls, on which of those offerings might be more secure to use than others. Unfortunately, the seven criteria on which the EFF evaluated the solutions were simply not … More → Continue reading How the EFF was pushed to rethink its Secure Messaging Scorecard→