Fighting Chinese cyber-espionage could cost U.S. 5G dominance

As the U.S. government works to neutralize its Chinese counterparts’ efforts to conduct surveillance via commercial telecom products, it may unintentionally jeopardize the United States’ bid to beat China to a nationwide 5G network.   This summer, U.S. officials, policymakers and allies have cracked down on Huawei and ZTE, two large Chinese smartphone and telecommunications equipment manufacturers. The pair are believed to have a cozy relationship with the Chinese Communist Party and People’s Liberation Army. Washington fears that relationship could lead Beijing to tap into equipment owned by those companies to siphon sensitive information and possibly lay the groundwork for cyberattacks.   But many industry, trade and technological experts are worried the measures may come at a steep price. The quest to upend China’s surveillance capabilities may be hurting America’s competitiveness in the race to develop and roll out 5G wireless technology. The dilemma presents the latest — and perhaps fiercest — technological showdown between Washington […]

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New tool can help prevent government-mandated backdoors in software, Swiss researchers say

A new framework from a lab in Switzerland could help prevent malware like Petya from spreading, but would also make it difficult — if not impossible — for governments to force software companies to deliver backdoored software updates in secret. The Petya ransomware, and its wiperware variant NotPetya, spread on the wings of a software update unwittingly issued by Ukrainian accounting software company M.E. Doc. An attacker, who many believe to be agents of the Russian government, owned M.E. Doc’s network and injected malicious code into a legitimate software update. This new proof-of-concept technology, dubbed “Chainiac” by the Decentralized/Distributed Systems (DEDIS) lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), offers a decentralized framework that eliminates such single points of failure and enforces transparency, making it possible for security analysts to continuously review updates for potential vulnerabilities. “What Chainiac is trying to do,” Bryan Ford, leader of the group that […]

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Pre-installed Backdoor On 700 Million Android Phones Sending Users’ Data To China

Do you own an Android smartphone? You could be one of those 700 Million users whose phone is secretly sending text messages to China every 72 hours.

You heard that right. Over 700 Million Android smartphones contain a secret ‘backdoor’ that surreptiti… Continue reading Pre-installed Backdoor On 700 Million Android Phones Sending Users’ Data To China

Apple hires Encryption Expert to Beef Up Security on its Devices

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have waged legal war on encryption and privacy technologies.

You may have heard many news stories about the legal battle between Apple and the FBI over unlocking an iPhone that belonged to the San Bernardino… Continue reading Apple hires Encryption Expert to Beef Up Security on its Devices