Page 3,688«..1020..3,6873,6883,6893,690..3,7003,710..»

Cyberattacks on endpoints will rise by up to 40 per cent unless we act quickly – Techerati

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Whether its organised cyber-criminals for whom the current health crisis has just broadened their attack landscape, or malevolent opportunistic hackers with time on their hands, theres no doubting the rise in cyberattacks in recent weeks.

Every day we are seeing reports of phishing and hacking attempts which have grown with the enforcement of remote working.

Sad as it is to acknowledge, despite every kind deed we witness during this period, the world is full of people with no good intent and we are inadvertently opening the backdoor and inviting them in. What is more, we can stop this, and we need to do it now.

The main issue is that the workforce, by setting up at home, has moved away from the security blanket of the workplace. In many cases employees are relying on personal laptops, home computers, possibly shared computers, and even mobile phones to connect with their corporate networks. These endpoints are notoriously vulnerable, with as many as 42% being unprotected at any given time, according to the Absolute 2019 Global Endpoint Security Trend Report. With so many people using compromised devices, a weak link in the security chain is being prised open, and this could cause potentially devastating damage to businesses at what is already a very testing time.

Most enterprises have little or no control over what software is running on the endpoints their employees are using at home, or what programmes have previously been executed, and the rush to set up from home and protect the health of workers has left them with limited options for checking and addressing any deficiencies. Some will be using anti-virus or internet security software, but for employers theres no knowing whether its up to date, or indeed sufficient to protect them, particularly when they are then logging in to the corporate network. For this reason, during the course of the coronavirus crisis, we believe that cyber attacks on endpoints will rise by between 30 and 40%.

One particular danger is phishing attacks. Researchers have reported that hundreds of thousands of spear phishing attacks have been launched. These include emails from bogus delivery companies offering an update on how coronavirus is impacting its operations, through to scammers posing as representatives of the World Health Organisation asking the potential victim to click on a link or open an attachment. Of course, if the attachment is opened, malware including Emotet, NanoCore and Azorult can be installed, which gives attackers the opportunity not only to steal personal data, but to also gain backdoor access into corporate networks.

Another problem is with ransomware. Just this week, the Sodinokibi ransomware has tried to exploit a vulnerability with one particular virtual private network (VPN), which despite being patched quickly, was not fast enough to stop people from being targeted. VPNs are increasingly being used by enterprises to stop the corporate network from being exposed to the public internet, but any chink in the armour that allows malicious code to bypass perimeter security controls is dangerous.

Security companies, including ourselves, are doing everything they can to try and help businesses and their employees prevent and manage the onslaught. The challenge is that none of us know where the next attack will come from, and its very difficult to educate our new remote workforce, accustomed to the stringent security of their corporate infrastructure, in how to protect themselves.

Our advice to organisations is to use security solutions that are specifically designed to protect data entry on Bring-Your-Own-Device and unmanaged devices, particularly into remote access apps like Citrix, VMWare, Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), web browsers, Microsoft Office applications and VPNs. Browsers that access the corporate network should be locked down, including URL whitelisting, enforced certificate checking and enforced https. This is just a baseline of security, but it will deliver sufficient protection to ward off most attacks.

When it comes to phishing, we take a slightly different approach to most companies, but one which protects against a new phishing attack from the instant it goes live. Phishing pages look to the average user like a real login page. We have created a digital fingerprint of the typical target login pages, which are usually well-known banks, online shopping sites, payment services, etc. When employees are surfing the internet, our software compares each page they visit against our set of digital fingerprints. If theres a match we check to see whether its genuine. If it fails this check, its flagged as a phishing site and is blocked from loading. This technique works as soon as a new phishing attack is launched, and is therefore proactive in the sense that it doesnt need prior knowledge of the phishing attack before its effective.

With attacks ramping up, its important for enterprises to identify endpoint security solutions that can be deployed rapidly within 24 hours and which do not involve specially configured software or hardware a simple download and install from pre-configured software is a better option. This means selecting proven anti-keylogging software that can protect every keystroke into any application and prevent screen-scraping malware from stealing credentials and sensitive corporate data. Its also important that there is access to a portal that allows simple configuration by administrators.

Even in normal times we face an ongoing battle with cyber-criminals. The coronavirus crisis has just seen inordinate numbers come crawling out of the woodwork, intent on exploiting the vulnerabilities presented by people working from home. Help is out there however, and its important to source this, and deploy the right solution as quickly as possible to keep risk at bay.

Read more:
Cyberattacks on endpoints will rise by up to 40 per cent unless we act quickly - Techerati

Read More..
Posted in Internet Security | Leave a Comment

RBR’s CyberPatriots Continue their Winning Ways – The Two River Times

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

LITTLE SILVER If it was a sports team, the Red Bank Regional CyberPatriots would have paraded through town amid endless media attention. While not a traditional sport, there is a scoreboard for the six-person team that competes in the world of cybersecurity. And the numbers dont lie.

Competing in three stages in an international competition that is organized by the U.S. Air Force, RBRs top team, dubbed The Swashbucklers, finished as the state champion in New Jersey and 32nd out of over 6,200 teams from North America.

Three stages throughout the school year gave the team a real-world set of problems to solve in a six-hour window. The Bucs team looks for vulnerabilities within machines using four operating systems, Windows, Windows Server 2019, Ubuntu and Debian, and answers forensic questions.

CyberPatriot is a great opportunity because it encourages us to consult guidelines and recommendations actual security experts use, junior Connor Costic said. We read countless hours of documentation from the Center of Internet Security as well as the Department of Defenses Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs).

Red Bank Regional has been at the forefront of cybersecurity, winning the first open CyberPatriots national championship in 2011 with 678 teams competing. In 2017, RBR placed second in the nation against 4,404 teams. With four juniors and two sophomores, the entire Swashbucklers team is back next year, determined to qualify for the Top 12 national finals in the nations capital.

Our goal for next year is to make it to nationals, junior Luke Chrampanis said. We all definitely share the desire and that is apparent in our commitment. What works in our favor is that we experienced all the rounds up to nationals this year and were better for it.

Like on any team, everyone on the RBR roster has their role to play in getting the assignments done in the quickest time possible with the fewest mistakes. Costic handles Windows Server 2019 while Chrampanis looks after Windows 10. Sean OMara and Dennis Dayan monitor Ubuntu. Matthew Schmitt covers Debian and Cole Zucosky rounds things out with Cisco networking. The Swashbucklers work well together and put in the extra time that pays off with great results when its time to compete. Led by teacher and coach Jeremy Milonas, the team has gone above and beyond a weekly meeting.

Were a very dedicated team. Every weekend we meet for 3-4 hours doing lots of research and creating new strategies, Costic said. It doesnt just end there. At home and in school we take it a step further and try to automate the process and free up time to work on more difficult challenges.

The global cybersecurity market is currently worth $173 billion and is forecasted to reach $270 billion by 2026 according to the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network.

I feel this experience is so important because each of us will begin with a strong head start in the cybersecurity field, Chrampanis said.

Business leaders of any size know the importance of cybersecurity and Red Bank Regional is producing elite talent in this rapidly expanding field.

This article originally appeared in the April 9th, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.

Continued here:
RBR's CyberPatriots Continue their Winning Ways - The Two River Times

Read More..
Posted in Internet Security | Leave a Comment

The Weaponization of Dogs on the Internet – Lawfare

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

In 1993, Pete Steiner published the New Yorkers most reproduced cartoon of all time: A mutt on a computer commenting to a fellow hound, On the Internet, nobody knows youre a dog.

At the time, Steiners cartoon captured an amusing point about the early days of going online, and how hard it was to figure out who was really who. Twenty-seven years later, those dogs are long-dead (because dog years), yet the cartoon is truer than ever.

If anything, the problem has gotten worse. In 2020, dogs on the internet are being actively weaponized. Identity is the most commonly exploited attack vector used to breach systems and commit cybercrimes. A report published in 2019 showed that more than 80 percent of breaches could be traced to some sort of compromised digital identity. More recently, dogs on the internet have been exploited by foreign adversaries to interfere in our democracy through social media manipulation.

There is a reason why we are still struggling with this issue 27 years later: Its a very hard problem to solve. But we are getting closer to some useful answers and, with some timely investments in digital identity infrastructure, we can make a dent in the problem.

* * *

As the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) pointed out in a 2017 publication:

Digital identity presents a technical challenge because this process often involves proofing individuals over an open network, and always involves the authentication of individual subjects over an open network . The processes and technologies to establish and use digital identities offer multiple opportunities for impersonation and other attacks.

The problem has only been exacerbated by recent events. As the United States shifts to social distancing because of the coronavirus, the challenges with dogs on the internet are taking on new, more complex dimensions:

But it doesnt have to be this way. Indeed, most of our peerssuch as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Uniondo not have the same problems (at least not to the same degree as we do). As a March 24 European Commission announcement boasted:

Thanks to the trust enablers eID and the eIDAS regulation, citizens do not need to leave their homes to interact with public administrations, they do not have to meet face-to-face to sign or even mail documents. In times of crisis, this is another way to achieve social distancing.

Why is the U.S. so far behind? While our international peers have invested in digital identity solutions, our federal and state governments have stayed stubbornly rooted to paper and plastic credentials.

In the governments absence, industry has tried to fill the gap. They have built products such as knowledge-based verification (KBV) as an alternative to government-verified identity. But KBV can get you only so farand today attackers often know the answers to the questions in KBV quizzes, just as they know the last four digits of your Social Security number. As attackers have caught up with these solutionsand identity fraud has risenit has become clear that there is no substitute for the unique role that government plays as the authoritative source conferring legal identity.

The governments unique role in identity verification arises because it has proved to be in the best position to address our challenges and make identity better. Not by issuing a national ID but by allowing consumers to request the government to stand behind the paper and plastic credentials it already issues in the physical world.

As Congress and the Trump administration prepare to consider a fourth coronavirus stimulus bill, they should recognize that most of the economy has shifted to a digital basis and invest in foundational building blocks of digital infrastructure. Digital identity is one such building block.

Where should the government focus? Echoing recommendations from the Better Identity Coalition, we offer three suggestions.

First, the government should establish a Federal Digital Identity Task Force (with sufficient funding) assigned to craft and implement a government-wide approach to digital identity. Today, some agencies dabble in digital identity solutionseither for supporting their own online services or for providing limited data-validation tools for the private sectorbut there is no coordinated approach. What is needed is leadership, a government-wide approach for agencies to stand up new privacy-enhanced identity-validation services rooted in consumer consent, along with seed money (we estimate that no more than $50 million is necessary, which is a pittance in the post-pandemic world) for agencies to establish new digital identity services.

Second, NIST should create a Digital Identity Framework to ensure that any government agency, be it at the federal, state, or local level, can follow a standard approach to creating digital identity services that is secure, is designed around the needs of consumers and protects their privacy. This, too, will require only modest funding.

The idea of government taking a bigger role in digital identity raises concerns about the impact new identity services might have on security and privacy. The best way to mitigate these concerns is to make sure that any deployed services follow standards that set a high bar for security and privacy, thereby making sure new identity tools preserve privacy and empower consumers rather than create risks.

Third, yet more money. (Yes, it is a theme, but the benefits are so great that we think it worthwhile.) The federal government should fund new grants to the states for digital identity. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is the one place where almost every adult American goes through a robust, in-person identity-proofing process that is based on a federal standard (REAL ID). DMVs are ideally suited to help improve identity through mobile drivers license applications and other identity-validation services. But they have antiquated infrastructure, and DMVs dont have an incentive to focus on these issues.

These new grants could provide up to a billion dollars in seed money over five years to help states start to invest in closing the identity gapby rolling out new mobile drivers licenses and other digital identity solutions. Dollars could be spent only on solutions that implement the NIST Framework, thereby ensuring that federal investment fund systems set a high bar for privacy and security, and are interoperable across states.

While this is a large investment, the security and efficiency benefits to the country will be significant. States can leverage these solutions to enable more trusted online services, cut down on fraudulent benefits claims and protect citizen information. And by allowing their residents to ask the state to vouch for them online when they are looking to prove their identity in the private sector, states provide a critical service to businesses that are eager to know if prospective clients are internet dogs or legitimate customers.

* * *

Countless services, including banking, health care, government and e-commerce, depend on knowing who is on the other side of a transaction. In 2020, the ability to offer high-value transactions and services online is being tested more than ever, due in large part to the challenges of proving identity online. The lack of an easy, secure and reliable way for entities to verify identities of people they are dealing with online creates friction in commerce, leads to increased fraud and theft, degrades privacy, and hinders the availability of many services online.

The United States must act to improve identity verification. These three initiatives (a federal task force to lead the effort, standards from NIST and funding to help state DMVs upgrade their technology) will not solve every challenge in the identity space, but they represent three common-sense steps that are practical to implement and will be meaningful in their impact; they will make the state of digital identity better. And they will make the dogs on the internet entertainment, rather than nefarious weapons.

Here is the original post:
The Weaponization of Dogs on the Internet - Lawfare

Read More..
Posted in Internet Security | Leave a Comment

Matt Hancock has no answers for anything but he does have a six-point plan and a very small badge – The Independent

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Given that Matt Hancock is currently failing to reach his own targets oncoronavirustesting and ventilators, failing to have much of a clue how many thousands of people are dying from undiagnosed coronavirus in an unknown number of care homes, and failing to provide the proper protective equipment to prevent NHS doctors and nurses dying at work, youd think he perhaps wasnt looking forward to facing the first ever video conference-based version of the Health Select Committee.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Its week four oflockdown now and, according to sources, the atmosphere has become so tense in the Hancock household that even two hours being torn to shreds over the laptop comes as a welcome relief.

The decision to hold parliamentary hearingsover popular video conferencing service Zoom has been criticised by internet security experts since the moment it was announced, and it turns out they were right, as Russian hackers have leaked these extraordinary transcripts from Mr Hancocks house, recorded just moments before the meeting began.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Matt why havent you emptied the dishwasher?

Darling, I recognise, just as you do, that the dishwasher needs to be emptied. That is why today I am launching my five-pillar plan for dishwasher emptying. No dishwasher can hope to be emptied without engaging the plates, the cutlery, the mugs and the cereal bowls. Everyone must play their part. I get it. And that is why I am saying, today, that by the end of the month, that dishwasher will be empty.

Matt, I know youre busy but I cant do all the home schooling by myself. I just cant. Youre going to have to help.

Listen, since this crisis began, my sole focus has been on ensuring that you do not become overwhelmed. If you cant cope, that has knock-on effects for the whole family. That is why, today, I am launching my six-point Mini Hancock battle plan.

Point 1. Switch on the telly. Point 2. Put Paw Patrol on. Point 3. Go back to staring at my phone. Point 4. OK, point 4 well worry about later, because by the time were on to Point 2, Ill have launched a new seven-point plan anyway. But the point is this.I get it. I hear you. We will get through this crisis if we all do our bit.

Matt, I know youre the secretary of state for health at a time of the worlds biggest ever public health emergency, and compared to you, I am nothing, but its still your turn to take the bins out. Im not doing it again.

Look, I want you to know that you are valued in what you do. People like you are the backbone of the Hancock household. And that is why, today, I am giving you a very, very small badge, with the word BINWOMAN written on it in tiny letters. To give you the recognition that you deserve.

Matt, your mother phoned. She said, when you do the Health Select Committee thing later, and they ask you why youve not sorted out the testing, or the PPE, or the ventilators, or the care homes, or anything else, just try and give a proper answer. Dont just come out with some new load of old crap about six-point plans and five-point pillars and three-point turns and all the rest of it. No one believes a word of it, she said. She said youre just making a wally of yourself.

OK, tell her, Im going to level with her. The results on the Basic Credibility Of Her Son front are not where they should be. But that is why I am setting a new target, today, to stop talking complete bollocks, completely, by the end of April. As I said last week, we cannot get a grip on all the bollocks until we have a clear picture of where it is coming from. We have now completed that phase of the plan and we are now clear that the bollocks is coming from me.

Tell her that today I can announce that I have launched an independent inquiry into whether this new terrible outbreak of complete bollocks may even have escaped from a special Chinese bollocks laboratory that was secretly set up inside the UK secretary of state for health, which is to say, me.

A rose is delivered by drone to a woman on Mother's Day in Jounieh, Lebanon

AFP/Getty

Women dance on their balcony as a radio station plays music for a flash mob to raise spirits in Rome

Reuters

A skeleton stands on a balcony in Frankfurt, Germany

AP

The film Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna is projected on a building in Rome

AP

A woman uses a basket tied to a rope to pull a delivery of groceries up to her balcony in Naples, Italy

EPA

DJ Francesco Cellini plays for his neighbours from the rooftop terrace of his flat block in Rome

Reuters

A woman gestures from her balcony in Barcelona

EPA

Cellist Karina Nunez performs for her neighbours at the balcony of her flat in Panama City

Reuters

DJ Nash Petrovic live streams a set from his roof in Brooklyn

Reuters

People applaud medical workers from their balconies in Modiin, Israel

Reuters

A Brooklyn resident relaxes in a hammock hung on their balcony

Reuters

Residents toast during a "safe distance" aperitif time between neighbours in Anderlecht, Belgium

Reuters

Musician Adam Moser plays for neighbours from his balcony in Budapest, Hungary

Reuters

A man and his son on their balcony in Brooklyn

Reuters

A man sits alone on a roof terrace in Rome

Reuters

A rose is delivered by drone to a woman on Mother's Day in Jounieh, Lebanon

AFP/Getty

Women dance on their balcony as a radio station plays music for a flash mob to raise spirits in Rome

Reuters

A skeleton stands on a balcony in Frankfurt, Germany

AP

The film Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna is projected on a building in Rome

AP

A woman uses a basket tied to a rope to pull a delivery of groceries up to her balcony in Naples, Italy

EPA

DJ Francesco Cellini plays for his neighbours from the rooftop terrace of his flat block in Rome

Reuters

A woman gestures from her balcony in Barcelona

EPA

Cellist Karina Nunez performs for her neighbours at the balcony of her flat in Panama City

Reuters

DJ Nash Petrovic live streams a set from his roof in Brooklyn

Reuters

People applaud medical workers from their balconies in Modiin, Israel

Reuters

A Brooklyn resident relaxes in a hammock hung on their balcony

Reuters

Residents toast during a "safe distance" aperitif time between neighbours in Anderlecht, Belgium

Reuters

Musician Adam Moser plays for neighbours from his balcony in Budapest, Hungary

Reuters

A man and his son on their balcony in Brooklyn

Reuters

A man sits alone on a roof terrace in Rome

Reuters

Dominic Cummings has read a big book on Chinese Spies and he reckons Jeremy Hunts wifes done it. Eamonn Holmes was talking about it on the telly this morning. Says its got something to do with a giant lasagne theyre making inside Wembley Stadium.

All I can say is that until that inquiry has concluded, please tell mum Ill do my best.

******

Hello secretary of state, its Jeremy Hunt here. Thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us why itisthat France estimates that 50 per cent of its Covid-19 deaths have happened in care homes, and your estimates put the figure in the UK at two per cent. Thats just not realistic, is it?

Well chair, what I can tell you is that today I am launching a twenty-two-sided triangle for social care, we are ramping upthat triangle and by the end of the month, it may even be a nine-point square. In the meantime, it is very important that

Read more here:
Matt Hancock has no answers for anything but he does have a six-point plan and a very small badge - The Independent

Read More..
Posted in Internet Security | Leave a Comment

Investment opportunities in the internet sector – Times of Malta

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Despite the fact that the impact of COVID-19 and the expected recession has far reaching implications, a sector which may offer interesting opportunities is the internet sector. The internet has grown to encompass a diverse range of businesses and underlying exposures, therefore individual company selection remain key at this point.

While the human and economic impact of COVID-19 is massive and far more important, the degree to which this crisis will serve to accelerate the adoption of new technologies, drive eCommerce share gains, and transform the online media and advertising industries seems difficult to understate. By way of example, Amazon Inc. made headlines on Tuesday for its share price reaching an all-time high in the midst of arguably the worst global crisis of our generation, now dubbed Corona Crisis. This was mainly attributed to the recent explosion in the companys online grocery business.

In short, the key is to identify businesses that have strong balance sheets, and ongoing revenue streams despite the crisis, such as Alphabet, Netflix and Paypal. Elsewhere though, travel and leisure and real estate such as Expedia and TripAdvisor are examples of companies which should be avoided at this stage.

Opportunities are being created due to a sharp increase in online engagement. This has been promulgated by the need to stay at home. Streaming services, social media, and online education, which are each large and mature categories, have all seen significant acceleration in traffic growth and time spent.

For subscription services like Netflix, it is safe to assume a large boost to subscriber net additions will be material and sustainable given the stickiness of these services and the disruption to the production schedules and live events at competitive services. For ad supported services like Alphabet, Facebook and Twitter, while there is a significant disruption to revenues as advertisers freeze spend, analysts are arguing that the increase in online engagement is creating long-term incremental ad inventory that will be positive as advertising resources will be allocated more favourably.

It is almost inevitable that eCommerce be considered as the most defensive/attractive sub-segment within the internet sector since the shutdown of brick and mortar retail stores in many parts of the world has pushed people to go online.

Even notoriously impacted retail companies such as Inditex and Next, who have an established online shopping store, are well positioned to benefit, mitigating at least in part the effect of the crisis. Investments currently being made in infrastructure and delivery could lead to a massive competitive advantage beyond the crisis.

The demand for and the development of new technologies has seen the emergence and explosion in the number of users for home technologies like Zoom and its emerging role as a social network has been the most notable example of the acceleration of technological adoption, within the internet sector.

Zoom recently experienced security issues related to privacy concerns, which highlights the continued importance of internet security companies as an attractive sub-segment of the internet sector. Also the explosion of at home fitness, most notably Peloton, will be sustained by 63 million gym members in the US that are likely to be slow to return given ongoing health concerns.

Similarly online dating services have seen increased usage (Tinders length of conversations have reportedly grown +10-30 per cent) and accelerated adoption of new features, such as live video. Beyond direct economic impacts, there is the question whether going forward we are at the dawn of a new way of living with the potential for a more sustained preference for 'work-from-home'.

This will have long-term implications for several businesses, highlighting the importance of the value of management execution, financial flexibility, and the ability to innovate, with household names like Amazon and Netflix set to benefit the most as well as any potential new technologies that service the industry.

Disclaimer: This article was issued by Simon Psaila, investment manager at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit http://www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice

Independent journalism costs money. Support Times of Malta for the price of a coffee.

See the rest here:
Investment opportunities in the internet sector - Times of Malta

Read More..
Posted in Internet Security | Leave a Comment

Best internet security suites of 2020: anti-virus and anti-malware cyber security – TechRadar

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Internet security suites offer a comprehensive range of protection for your online devices. While antivirus is the always the base feature, others that these packages might offer include ransomware protection, a VPN, and even a password manager. These really are all-singing all-dancing online security downloads for those wanting the best possible protection.

And it's not just desktops and laptops that can benefit from internet security suites as there are also versions for Android and iPhone smartphones. Because they cover multiple devices (usually five or more), you can protect all the gadgets of you and your family on one easy plan - Windows and Macs both included.

Some providers also offer a rescue disk feature to rollback any existing attack, and encryption software for added security protection is also commonly included. Many now also come with additional privacy features, and a firewall as standard.

While internet security suites and antivirus packages are commonly aimed at domestic consumers, also note services that are specifically aimed at businesses, such as cloud antivirus and endpoint protection to offer business grade protection. There are also online cyber security courses available to help improve staff awareness.

Which ever internet security suite you're looking for, and for whatever device, you'll end up with more than just basic software with our selection of the best. Here are the ones we think are currently best on the market.

Beefy protection across all fronts, plus PC maintenance tools

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 10 | Stand out features: Safepay online banking protection, high-quality ransomware defenses, web protection module

Huge range of features

Excellent web surfing protection

30-day trial (no card details needed)

Potential performance impact

Bitdefender Total Security is the well-respected security firms top-of-the-range package, and it comes positively bristling with features as a result.

You get deep breath antivirus plus impressively capable ransomware protection, a firewall, Wi-Fi security advisor, a secure browser (Safepay) for online banking, file shredder, vulnerability scanner, password manager, email spam filter, parental controls, webcam and microphone defenses, and more besides (including a superb web protection module for blocking malicious URLs).

As well as security features, Total Security provides various PC maintenance and optimization tools. These are somewhat useful in themselves, for cleaning out superfluous files and streamlining boot times but more importantly, Bitdefenders flagship package also covers more than just Windows devices, providing apps for Macs, along with Android and iOS mobiles.

As its only marginally more expensive than Bitdefender Internet Security the firms mid-tier security suite its well worth the upgrade to Total Security if you have multiple devices across different platforms to protect.

About the only fly in the ointment is that Bitdefender Total Security may exact a bit more of a toll on the performance front than the best of the competition, although we found it to be around average in terms of any slowdown caused on our PC. Your mileage may vary, and indeed you may notice nothing at all.

Another plus point with Total Security is that theres a 30-day trial, with no payment details needed; you just have to supply an email address. That means you can try out the security suite yourself for a full month, and see if theres any performance impact on your own PC, before committing to buying.

An intelligent security suite thats great value for money

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 10 | Stand out features: Safe Money secure web browser, intelligent adaptive protection, Safe Kids parental controls

Excellent virus engine

Top-notch parental controls

By far the best value in the Kaspersky range

Some features are only so-so quality

Kaspersky Total Security is another veteran of the security world, and as you might expect, it delivers top-quality defenses with some impressively intelligent adaptive protection capabilities (like warning you if a password youve just chosen is too weak).

One of the issues with the entry-level Kaspersky Anti-Virus package is that its rather flimsy when it comes to extra features, sticking to the core basics and not delivering much else. Which is why it makes good sense to go for Kaspersky Total Security, mainly because it provides far more functionality, and doesnt cost much more than Kaspersky Anti-Virus (in fact, with the discounts on plans at the time of writing, it can be the same price or even cheaper to get Total Security, so youd be foolish not to, really).

Total Security gives you all the basics, including fast, accurate and highly configurable virus scans. On top of that, you get an intelligent firewall (it doesnt plague you with pop-up messages asking what to do), a secure web browser, protection from webcam hijacking, a software updater, file backup tool, along with a solid password manager, and Kasperskys Safe Kids module.

The latter is an excellent parental controls system with some smart social media monitoring tools. While not all the features are up to this standard some extras, like the troubleshooting wizards, and spam filter, are wobbly around the edges overall, youre getting a hell of a lot for your money here.

Offers an integrated VPN, and keeps the whole family safe

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 5 | Stand out features: Parental controls, VPN, online backup, dark web monitoring (US)

Light on system resources

Fully integrated VPN

Superb parental controls

Theres no trial version

When we evaluated all of NortonLifeLocks security suite options, we picked out Norton 360 Deluxe as the best value all-round choice for anyone whos looking to protect more than a single device which is likely the majority of folks.

Theres a wealth of features here, including excellent antivirus protection coupled with a very light touch when it comes to resource usage, bundled with webcam protection, and dark web monitoring (for US users only, mind), and a system of parental controls.

The parental controls are top-notch, by the way, including in-depth monitoring systems to keep an eye on what your kids are doing online, and even GPS tracking for their mobile devices. Nortons even stronger than Kaspersky in this department, and thats saying something.

There are some truly worthwhile extras included here, too, like a fully integrated VPN (which could be a big money-saver in itself) and 50GB of online backup storage (ditto).

Norton 360 Deluxe will cover up to five devices (and that means you can use the VPN with those five bits of hardware as well), either Windows or Mac PCs, plus there are mobile apps for Android and iOS. Pricing is highly competitive compared to rivals, so you should definitely consider this Norton package particularly for family usage given the very thorough parental controls.

Sterling malware and ransomware protection in a beginner-friendly package

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 10 | Stand out features: Folder Shield anti-ransomware, high-quality URL filter, password manager

Multi-layer anti-ransomware

Streamlined user-friendly interface

Impressive range of features

Experts may want more configuration options

Theres a lot to like about Trend Micros flagship security suite - Trend Micro Maximum Security - not the least of which is its polished and user-friendly interface, backed up by robust virus protection and multi-layered anti-ransomware defenses.

The package also gives you better-than-average URL filtering for safer web browsing, and this system is smartly configurable, too. That said, one slight weak point with Trend Micros offering is that there isnt a huge amount of low-level control such as virus scan options so more demanding users may find it lacking here.

Maximum Security also provides parental controls, social network protection, and PC maintenance tools, although the latter isnt a strong suit. It also boasts data theft prevention countermeasures, a secure vault for storing sensitive files, and an impressive integrated password manager.

Less tech-savvy types will appreciate the ease of use here, which also goes for the capable mobile apps. Theres a 30-day trial as well, so you can thoroughly check all this out for yourself before buying.

A quality all-rounder security solution

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 10 | Stand out features: Ransomware Shield, Wi-Fi Inspector, SecureLine VPN

Well-featured suite

Bundled VPN

Plentiful configuration options

Some impact on PC performance

Upselling of other products is unwelcome

Avast is best known for its excellent free antivirus product, but the firm also provides an impressive all-round security solution in the form of Avast Ultimate. This is another offering which bundles a full VPN, giving you far more protection online than a typical antivirus suite, and making Avast Ultimate a value-packed buy for those who are also thinking of picking up a VPN.

Avasts SecureLine VPN may not compete with the best VPN providers out there, but it delivers a solid enough and importantly speedy enough service. Avast Ultimate also sports a decent password manager, a secure browser, and some excellent network protection measures.

This suite has plenty of options for experts to play with in terms of configuration, and has solid enough antivirus defenses, backed up by a very commendable Ransomware Shield for extra protection on that front.

There are some minor irritations here, notably some of Avasts unwelcome attempts to flog its other products in a paid-for suite, and we observed a little system slowdown in our review. But these niggles aside, if you need a VPN as well as antivirus, Avast Ultimate is a great choice.

Supremely streamlined and fast-performing security suite

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 5 | Stand out features: Password manager, identity protection, 70-day money-back offer

Unbelievably lightweight app

Really quick scan times

LastPass-powered password manager

Question marks over antivirus engine

iOS app is limited

Webroot majors in being incredibly lightweight and fast-performing. Indeed, it has a minuscule memory footprint, and takes up next to no space on your system drive, as the products virus definitions are all stored in the cloud.

Yet despite this minimal impact on your machine, Webroot Internet Security Plus comes with plenty of features. Theres online banking and identity theft protection, plus webcam protection, an accurate anti-phishing system, and a password manager (which is actually powered by LastPass one of the most trusted names in password management, so you can be assured of the quality here).

Downsides? Well, you might get lightning quick malware scans, but Webroots antivirus engine hasnt been evaluated by the big-name independent testing labs in recent times. Thats not necessarily bad, but from what weve seen ourselves and what ratings are out there theres something of a mixed picture of its antivirus accuracy. Also bear in mind that the iOS app doesnt offer malware scanning (it consists of a secure browser, backup, and password manager).

Still, Internet Security Plus is a well-rounded package, and a 70-day 100% money-back guarantee shows Webroots confidence in its suite.

Demanding users will really appreciate ESETs configurability

Operating system: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android | Maximum devices covered: 5 | Stand out features: Network protection, password manager, anti-theft feature

Highly configurable

Very light on system resources

Some features are underpowered

Independent lab test results arent the best

ESET Smart Security Premium packs in a lot of features. This includes parental controls, network monitoring, additional network protection, webcam protection, secure file encryption, and an anti-theft feature for Windows devices (allowing for location tracking, and more) is an interesting bonus.

That said, the quality of some features can vary: for example, the system of parental controls is pretty barebones, but the password manager is very well fleshed-out. ESET also offers plenty of configuration options, which will please experts, although computing novices may find it tricky to get to grips with in some respects.

ESETs core antivirus protection seems solid, albeit with some mixed evaluations from independent testing labs.

Bear in mind that ESET Smart Security Premium isnt a great value proposition for longer-term subscriptions either, but its fine for a one-year plan, and a decent shout for an all-round solid security suite (plus it covers Linux, too).

Way better value than McAfees entry-level antivirus

Operating system: Windows and Mac, Android and iOS | Maximum devices covered: 5 | Stand out features: Configurable firewall, password manager, performance boosting tools

Browsing and app performance boosters

High-quality spam filter

Decent value

Clunky interface

Only average malware protection

As the name suggests, McAfees baseline product, Total Protection Individual, only covers one individual device. And if youre thinking of buying it, and you own more than just a Windows PC, then youre almost certainly better off purchasing McAfee Total Protection Multi-Device. For not much more money, you get a sound security suite which protects up to five Windows or Mac computers, and Android or iOS devices. US customers also get a useful additional extra in the form of identity theft protection.

McAfees interface is simple and streamlined, which keeps things easy for beginners, although itll likely be too sparse for more experienced users. The UI also suffers from some annoying quirks.

Independent test lab reports suggest McAfee Total Protection offers solid enough antivirus defenses, if not class-leading. Overall, McAfees suite represents reasonable value and a decent choice in the Multi-Device package, with some nifty extras for boosting web browsing and app performance.

Read the original:
Best internet security suites of 2020: anti-virus and anti-malware cyber security - TechRadar

Read More..
Posted in Internet Security | Leave a Comment

Analysis of COVID-19-Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 | Rising Demand For Digitalization to Boost Growth | Technavio – Yahoo Finance

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Technavio has been monitoring the encryption management solutions market and it is poised to grow by USD 3.21 bn during 2019-2023, progressing at a CAGR of almost 14% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200417005010/en/

Technavio has announced the latest market research report titled Global Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact

The market is concentrated, and the degree of concentration will accelerate during the forecast period. Cisco Systems Inc., IBM Corp., McAfee LLC, Oracle Corp., Sophos Ltd., and Symantec Corp, are some of the major market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

Rising demand for digitalization has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market.

Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 : Segmentation

Encryption management solutions market is segmented as below:

To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR31232

Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 : Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our encryption management solutions market report covers the following areas:

This study identifies honey encryption as one of the prime reasons driving the encryption management solutions market growth during the next few years.

Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 : Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the encryption management solutions market, including some of the vendors such as Cisco Systems Inc., IBM Corp., McAfee LLC, Oracle Corp., Sophos Ltd., and Symantec Corp. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the encryption management solutions market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports.

Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform

Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 : Key Highlights

Table Of Contents :

PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT

PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE

PART 04: MARKET SIZING

PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION

PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE

PART 08: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY DEPLOYMENT

PART 09: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE

PART 10: DECISION FRAMEWORK

PART 11: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

PART 12: MARKET TRENDS

PART 13: VENDOR LANDSCAPE

PART 14: VENDOR ANALYSIS

PART 15: APPENDIX

PART 16: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavios report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavios comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200417005010/en/

Contacts

Technavio ResearchJesse MaidaMedia & Marketing ExecutiveUS: +1 844 364 1100UK: +44 203 893 3200Email: media@technavio.com Website: http://www.technavio.com/

Read the original post:
Analysis of COVID-19-Encryption Management Solutions Market 2019-2023 | Rising Demand For Digitalization to Boost Growth | Technavio - Yahoo Finance

Read More..
Posted in Encryption | Leave a Comment

Protecting consumers personal data becomes top reason for encryption, global study involving nCipher Security finds – Cambridge Independent

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Protecting consumers personal information has become the primary reason for deploying encryption technology, according to a study involving Cambridge-based nCipher Security.

It also found employee mistakes were the biggest threat to keeping sensitive data safe - outweighing concerns over hacking.

Some 6,457 individuals across multiple industry sectors in 17 countries were surveyed for the 15th annual Global Encryption Trends Study by the Ponemon Institute in collaboration with nCipher, an Entrust Datacard company focused on hardware security modules.

For the first time, protecting consumer data topped the reasons given for using encryption, with 54 per cent citing it as their top priority, while compliance (47 per cent) - traditionally a key driver - was fourth. It has been falling down the list since 2017, indicating that encryption is transitioning from a requirement to a proactive choice to safeguard critical information.

Dr Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute, said: Consumers expect brands to keep their data safe from breaches and have their best interests at heart. The survey found that IT leaders are taking this seriously, with protection of consumer data cited as the top driver of encryption growth for the first time.

Encryption use is at an all-time high with 48 per cent of respondents this year saying their organization has an overall encryption plan applied consistently across the entire enterprise, and a further 39 per cent having a limited plan or strategy applied to certain application and data types.

Some 54 per cent cited employee mistakes as the biggest threat to keeping sensitive data safe, with hackers (29 per cent), malicious insiders (20 per cent), lawful data requests (12 per cent) and government eavesdropping (11 per cent) well behind in the list.

The growth in digital initiatives, cloud use, mobility, IoT devices and the advent of 5G networks means that data discovery was cited by 67 per cent as the biggest challenge in planning and executing a data encryption strategy. The number of employees working remotely during the pandemic, and keeping extra copies on personal devices or in cloud storage, means this concern is only likely to increase.

John Grimm, vice president of strategy at nCipher, which has a base in Station Square, said:As the world goes digital, the impact of the global pandemic highlights how security and identity have become critical for organisations and individuals both at work and at home,

Organisations are under relentless pressure to deliver high security and seamless access protecting their customer data, business critical information and applications while ensuring business continuity. nCipher empowers customers by providing a high assurance security foundation that ensures the integrity and trustworthiness of their data, applications and intellectual property.

Other findings in the full report, which can be downloaded online, include:

Read more

nCipher acquisition completed by Entrust Datacard

nCipher Security looks forward to 'great synergies' with Entrust Datacard as Thales Group agrees to divest

See the original post here:
Protecting consumers personal data becomes top reason for encryption, global study involving nCipher Security finds - Cambridge Independent

Read More..
Posted in Encryption | Leave a Comment

Signal: Well be eaten alive by EARN IT Acts anti-encryption wolves – Naked Security

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Recent weeks have been rough, with droves of people turning to virtual communication for sensitive conversations theyd like to keep private medical visits, seeing friends faces and hearing their voices, or solace for those whove lost loved ones.

Understandably, the end-to-end (E2E) encrypted messaging app Signal has been signing up new users at unprecedented rates and flipping the switch on servers faster than we ever anticipated, Signals Joshua Lund said last week.

and you can say goodbye to any of that staying stateside if the EARN IT Act passes.

Signal claims that legal and liability concerns would make it impossible to operate in the US. That doesnt mean it would shut up shop entirely, but it could mean that the non-profit would need to move operations now based in the US.

Called the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (EARN IT Act), the bill was introduced last month. If it passes, EARN IT would require tech companies to meet safety requirements for children online before obtaining immunity from lawsuits. You can read the discussion draft here.

To kill that immunity, the bill would undercut Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) from certain apps and companies so that they could be held responsible for user-uploaded content. Section 230, considered the most important law protecting free speech online, states that websites arent liable for user-submitted content.

The proposed legislations details havent been ironed out yet, but at this early point, the bills intent to water down Section 230 turns that protection into a hypocritical bargaining chip, Lund wrote on Signals blog.

At a high level, what the bill proposes is a system where companies have to earn Section 230 protection by following a set of designed-by-committee best practices that are extraordinarily unlikely to allow end-to-end encryption. Anyone who doesnt comply with these recommendations will lose their Section 230 protection.

Maybe some of the tech behemoths could swing the potentially huge financial risk that would come with slews of lawsuits as they suddenly become responsible for whatever random things their users say, but not Signal, Lund said.

It would not be possible for a small nonprofit like Signal to continue to operate within the United States. Tech companies and organizations may be forced to relocate, and new startups may choose to begin in other countries instead.

Its bizarre that a government thats reliant on secure, private messaging would even contemplate gutting E2E encryption, Lund said. In February, the European Commission endorsed the messaging app, telling staff to switch to Signal for encrypted messaging. Lund listed other military and government endorsements, calling the proposed legislation troubling and confusing:

For a political body that devotes a lot of attention to national security, the implicit threat of revoking Section 230 protection from organizations that implement end-to-end encryption is both troubling and confusing. Signal is recommended* by the United States military. It is routinely used by senators and their staff. American allies in the EU Commission are Signal users too. End-to-end encryption is fundamental to the safety, security, and privacy of conversations worldwide.

*The US Military also recommends Wickr for encrypted messaging: both it and Signal feature auto-delete functions that erase messages after a set period of time.

The bills backers claim that theyre not targeting encryption. Rather, as with other attempts to legally enforce encryption backdoors, theyre claiming that their real goal is to get companies to accept responsibility for the enabling of online child sexual abuse.

But as has been explained by Riana Pfefferkorn, Associate Director of Surveillance and Cybersecurity at The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law, the bill doesnt have any tools to actually stop online child abuse. Furthermore, if it passes, it would actually make it much harder to prosecute pedophiles, she says.

As it now stands, online providers proactively, and voluntarily, scan for child abuse images by comparing their hash values to known abusive content.

Apple does it with iCloud content, Facebook has used hashing to stop millions of nude childrens images, and Google released a free artificial intelligence tool to help stamp out abusive material, among other voluntary efforts by major online platforms.

The key word is voluntarily, Pfefferkorn says. Those platforms are all private companies, as opposed to government agencies, which are required by Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search to get warrants before they rifle through our digital content, including email, chat discussions and cloud storage.

The reason that private companies like Facebook can, and do, do exactly that is that they are not the government, theyre private actors, so the Fourth Amendment doesnt apply to them.

Turning the private companies that provide those communications into agents of the state would, ironically, result in courts suppression of evidence of the child sexual exploitation crimes targeted by the bill, she said.

Pfefferkorn has also pointed out that the bill would give unprecedented power to Attorney General William Barr, a vocal critic of end-to-end encryption, who would become the arbiter of any recommendations from the best practices commission that the EARN IT bill would create.

The best practices approach came after pushback over the bills predicted effects on privacy and free speech. The best practices would be subject to approval or veto by Barr, who has issued a public call for backdoors; the Secretary of Homeland Security (ditto); and the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Basically, those wolves are going to eat smaller encryption providers alive, Lund said:

It is as though the Big Bad Wolf, after years of unsuccessfully trying to blow the brick house down, has instead introduced a legal framework that allows him to hold the three little pigs criminally responsible for being delicious and destroy the house anyway. When he is asked about this behavior, the Big Bad Wolf can credibly claim that nothing in the bill mentions huffing or puffing or the application of forceful breath to a brick-based domicile at all, but the end goal is still pretty clear to any outside observer.

Last month, Sen. Ron Wyden, who introduced the CDAs Section 230, said that the disastrous legislation is a Trojan horse that will give President Trump and Attorney General Barr the power to control online speech and require government access to every aspect of Americans lives.

The EARN IT Act is only the latest of many attempts to inject an encryption backdoor that the US government and law enforcement agencies have been trying to inflict for years.

Digital rights advocates say that the proposed act could harm free speech and data security, and Sophos concurs. For years, weve said #nobackdoors, agreeing with the Information Technology Industry Council that Weakening security with the aim of advancing security simply does not make sense.

The EARN IT Act is still working its way through Congress, not having seen a vote in either the House nor Senate.

Theres still time to stop it, Lund said. To reach out to elected officials, you can look up contact information on The Electronic Frontier Foundations Action Center.

Go here to see the original:
Signal: Well be eaten alive by EARN IT Acts anti-encryption wolves - Naked Security

Read More..
Posted in Encryption | Leave a Comment

Coronavirus tracing tech policy ‘more significant’ than the war on encryption – ZDNet

April 17, 2020 | Author: admin

Tech-savvy individuals and firms have been eager to apply their skills to the coronavirus pandemic, as they should be. Some of them are working with governments who have flexed their "special powers" and public health muscles, as governments should do.

Much of this tech effort, from all sides, has been put into contact tracing, which aims to find out who might have been exposed to the virus from an infectious person.

Contact tracing is already a routine process in most developed nations for battling things like meningococcal disease, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV.

Normally, this "painstaking and quick detective work" is labour-intensive and involves lots of phone calls and text messages. The new technologies that are being developed intend to improve that.

Australia's plan toadoptTraceTogether, the COVID-19 contract tracing app from Singapore, is one obvious example.

The remarkable partnership between Apple and Google to roll out APIs to enable contact tracing apps is another.

But how many of these players are thinking about the long-term implications?

TraceTogether's creators seem to have made a solid effort to protect users' privacy from each other. The co-called "Central Authority" server generates temporary IDs which are periodically refreshed, for example.

The data log only contains relative distance between users, as determined by the Bluetooth signal strength, not the exact location where the users came in close contact.

But a detailed analysis by researchers from the University of Melbourne and Macquarie University highlights a range of privacy flaws.

One key problem is that users must trust the Central Authority -- in Singapore, that's a Ministry of Health server -- to do the right thing.

"Even though the data logs are only sent to the Central Authority following user's consent, there is no check to ensure that the request from Central Authority is genuine or not, i.e., whether that user was in proximity of an infected user," the researchers wrote.

"Thus, a curious Central Authority might be able to obtain and decrypt data logs from a large number of users yielding to [a] potential mass-surveillance threat."

While the data logs held locally on users devices are deleted after 21 days, there's no guarantee that the data logs decrypted at the authority server would also be deleted.

As well as tweaks to provide more protection from the Central Authority, and less centralisation, the researchers also recommend that any future use of anonymised data logs "must be restricted".

"An important aspect of data gathered by the server is future use by epidemiologists and policymakers," they wrote.

"Although the information seems innocuous, it can be very sensitive and reveal a lot about the users."

The privacy of medical information is particularly important.

As the Australasian Contact Tracing Guidelines remind us, any disclosure that individuals have tested for, or are living with, such as HIV/AIDS or other STIs, can invite social stigma and discrimination.

"People may be reluctant to seek medical attention if they fear their information could be disclosed to others. This 'chilling effect' could have implications for the future prevention, treatment and study of medical conditions."

These risks are also present with COVID-19. Australia is already seeing racist vandalism and physical and verbal abuse. If specific individuals are ever identified, their situation would only get worse.

For this reason, the researchers say that the data shouldn't be made public, even if anonymised.

"A large percentage of the people might share their data. Even the contact graph, without locations, timestamps, phone numbers or explicit identities, can be linked to other data sources enabling user re-identification."

In fact, another University of Melbourne team found such a vulnerability with a supposedly anonymised public dataset in 2016 and had re-identified seven prominent Australiansin 2017.

The government didn't really fix the problem, however. They just tried to make data matching illegal. The legislation lapsed before the federal election in May 2019.

Digital Rights Watch Australia (DRW) has called for more transparency about the planned use of TraceTogether, along with "unimpeachable guarantees" that the data won't be used for anything else.

"They certainly need to do better than suggesting that privacy implications will be examined by the Attorney-General," said DRW chair Lizzie O'Shea on Wednesday.

"Everything about this needs to be transparent. The code must be independently audited. There needs to be a clear benchmark for when data will no longer be collected and the app deactivated."

O'Shea noted, as others have, that there's a real risk of false positivesand a need to preserve human rights even in the face of a pandemic.

"The existence of encryption-breaking laws like the government's own Assistance and Access [Act] undermines our capacity to keep such systems secure," she said.

"Such technological tools need a social licence to operate effectively, and the government has a long way to go before it comes close to earning it."

In a global context, Dr TJ McIntyre, an associate professor in the Sutherland School of Law at University College Dublin, went further.

"COVID-19 tracing is the most significant technology policy development of this generation -- even more so than the war against end to end cryptography -- and we're watching it happen at breakneck speed," McIntyre said.

"The role of tech firms vs states will be critical."

Genevieve Bell, director of the 3A Institute at the Australian National University wrote that the response to the coronavirus presents a chance to reinvent the way we collect and share personal data while protecting individual privacy.

"The speed of the virus and the response it demands shouldn't seduce us into thinking we need to build solutions that last forever," Bell wrote.

"There's a strong argument that much of what we build for this pandemic should have a sunset clause -- in particular when it comes to the private, intimate, and community data we might collect."

Of course, once governments gain certain powers or access to certain technologies, very rarely do they hand them back with a friendly "Thanks, we don't need that any more".

In fact, the opposite happens. There is always scope creep.

What makes the current situation in Australia even more worrisome is that TraceTogether has been fast-tracked through the review process at a time when Parliament and its various oversight committees have been shut down.

Yes, we need to fight the coronavirus with extraordinary measures, but we also need to have our wits about us.

Updated at 9.34am AEST, 16 April 2020 : Clarified status of lapsed data matching legislation.

View original post here:
Coronavirus tracing tech policy 'more significant' than the war on encryption - ZDNet

Read More..
Posted in Encryption | Leave a Comment