Category Archives: Encryption
Five Eyes alliance warning: ‘Encryption creates severe risks to public safety’ – New Zealand Herald
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11 Oct, 2020 06:19 PM3 minutes to read
Encrypted messaging services pose a number of security risks. Photo / Getty Images
The governments of seven countries including the UK and the US have publicly warned technology companies that offering unbreakable encryption to their users "creates severe risks to public safety".
Ministers from the "Five Eyes" intelligence sharing alliance of the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand published a statement on Sunday which called on technology companies to build ways to regularly hand encrypted private messages to police and governments.
"We urge industry to address our serious concerns where encryption is applied in a way that wholly precludes any legal access to content," the countries wrote.
READ MORE: Cyber-security: Study finds most NZ small businesses tempting fate The Conversation: NZ's cyber security centre warns more attacks likely
Creating unbreakable encryption, where technology companies cannot read messages sent by their users, "poses significant challenges to public safety, including to highly vulnerable members of our societies like sexually exploited children," the governments added.
The countries stopped short of condemning all forms of encryption, however, and noted that strong encryption "plays a crucial role in protecting personal data, privacy, intellectual property, trade secrets and cyber security."
The statement was signed by home secretary Priti Patel as well as representatives of India and Japan, countries which are not formally part of the Five Eyes alliance.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said earlier this month that the UK is seeking to expand the Five Eyes alliance in order to "send a message to China".
"We would absolutely continue to explore working with new partners in Asia and deepening Five Eyes," Mr Wallace told a ConservativeHome event at the Conservative Party Conference.
Sunday's statement follows a similar warning by the Five Eyes alliance published in 2018 which called on technology companies to create "customised solutions" that would allow police to access private messages, bypassing encryption.
The governments warned that they could take action such as "technological, enforcement, legislative or other measures" in order to prevent police being denied access to material by unbreakable end-to-end encryption.
Last year, an alliance of technology companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft and WhatsApp signed an open letter condemning a proposal by the UK's GCHQ agency which suggested that law enforcement could be invisibly added as a recipient to private messages to avoid forcing companies to break their own encryption.
A Facebook spokesman said: "We've long argued that end-to-end encryption is necessary to protect people's most private information. In all of these countries, people prefer end-to-end encrypted messaging on various apps because it keeps their messages safe from hackers, criminals, and foreign interference. Facebook has led the industry in developing new ways to prevent, detect, and respond to abuse while maintaining high security and we will continue to do so."
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Five Eyes alliance warning: 'Encryption creates severe risks to public safety' - New Zealand Herald
Privateness or youngster safety? 7 governments, together with US & UK, argue Fb’s new encryption plan would profit PEDOPHILES – Editorials 360
The UK, and others, have criticized Fb over its plan to introduce end-to-end message encryption, arguing it might enable pedophiles freely share youngster abuse supplies as hundreds of thousands are attributed to the tech bigs platforms.
The US social media big has discovered itself on the middle of one more controversy as its initiative supposedly aimed toward defending the privateness of billions of individuals utilizing Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp came across the vehement opposition of the UK and the US, in addition to different nations. The governments argue the transfer would make the social networks a protected haven for pedophiles and terrorists.
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On Sunday, the UK Residence Secretary Priti Patel revealed a damning piece within the Solar, which stated Fbs plan would solely assist terrorists and paedophiles and accused the tech big of failing to give you any credible technique to combat youngster intercourse abuse. The change would make it near-impossible to get better on-line prison conversations, she wrote, citing some officers. Patel known as Fbs arguments overblown and stated it merely desires to show a blind eye to horrific abuse.
London didnt simply restrict itself to opinion items within the British media, although. The 5 Eyes group the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, additionally joined this time by India and Japan issued a joint assertion primarily demanding Fb present a backdoor for the safety providers to make use of to get entry to encrypted messages.
Tech firms ought to embody mechanisms within the design of their encrypted services whereby governments, performing with applicable authorized authority, can acquire entry to information in a readable and usable format, the assertion reads, encouraging the tech big to seek out mutually agreeable options to supposedly shield each privateness and public safety.
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Fbs intentions to totally encrypt communications in its messaging app and Instagram Direct, along with the already-encrypted WhatsApp, have been identified since at the least 2019. The potential change would imply that nobody apart from the message sender and recipient may see or modify its content material.
Extra gasoline has been added to the hearth as a US Congress-founded youngsterss charity launched information suggesting Fb accounts for a whopping 94 p.c of all circumstances of kid intercourse abuse supplies being shared on the web, as reported by US tech firms. Out of just about 17 million studies involving distribution of over 69 million youngster intercourse exploitation photographs and movies, greater than 15.eight million had been filed by Fb, the Nationwide Middle for Lacking & Exploited Youngsters (NCMEC) stated in its latest report.
Fb has to date not reacted to this newest flurry of requests and calls for made by the governments. But, earlier, the tech big already promised to look into bettering youngster safety on its networks forward of the deliberate change.
Options offered by Fb again in autumn 2019 targeted on stopping pedophiles from contacting potential victims within the first place. It additionally in the end concerned a complete lot of recent monitoring procedures that may vary from flagging somebody in search of to contact minors they have no idea and analyzing age gaps between individuals speaking privately on its platforms.
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Optical Encryption Market Analysis And Demand With Forecast Overview To 2025 – Express Journal
The research report on Optical Encryption market consists of significant information regarding the growth drivers, opportunities, and the challenges & restraints that define the business scenario in the subsequent years.
According to the report, the Optical Encryption market is predicted to record a CAGR of XX% and generate lucrative revenues during the forecast period. (2020-2025)
The advent of coronavirus outbreak has resulted in enforcement of temporary lockdowns in order to flatten the curve, which in turn has resulted in business and factory shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, and economic slowdown across various nations.
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Most of the businesses operating in various sectors have revised their respective budget plans to re-establish profit trajectory in the ensuing years. Thus, the research report offers crucial analysis regarding the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the overall industry remuneration and deciphers strategies capable of drawing attractive gains.
Additionally, the study provides a comprehensive assessment of the market segmentations and evaluates their respective performance.
Major pointers of the Optical Encryption market report:
Optical Encryption Market Segmentations:
Regional spectrum: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa, South East Asia
Product types: OTN or Layer 1, MACsec or Layer 2 and IPsec or Layer 3
Applications scope: Banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), Government, Healthcare, Data center and cloud, Energy and utilities and Others
Competitive scenario: The major players covered in Optical Encryption are:, Ciena, Infinera, ECI Telecom, Adva, Microchip Technology, Nokia, Acacia Communications, Huawei, Cisco, Arista Networks, Centurylink, Broadcom, Thales E-Security, Juniper Networks and Packetlight Networks
Market segmentation
The Optical Encryption market is split by Type and by Application. For the period 2020-2025, the growth among segments provides accurate calculations and forecasts for sales by Type and by Application in terms of volume and value. This analysis can help you expand your business by targeting qualified niche markets.
Research Objective:
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Key questions answered in the report:
MAJOR TOC OF THE REPORT:
Chapter 1 Industry Overview
Chapter 2 Production Market Analysis
Chapter 3 Sales Market Analysis
Chapter 4 Consumption Market Analysis
Chapter 5 Production, Sales and Consumption Market Comparison Analysis
Chapter 6 Major Manufacturers Production and Sales Market Comparison Analysis
Chapter 7 Major Product Analysis
Chapter 8 Major Application Analysis
Chapter 9 Industry Chain Analysis
Chapter 10 Global and Regional Market Forecast
Chapter 11 Major Manufacturers Analysis
Chapter 12 New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis
Chapter 13 Conclusions
Chapter 14 Appendix
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Optical Encryption Market Analysis And Demand With Forecast Overview To 2025 - Express Journal
EARN IT Act a Dire Threat to Encryption, Speech Online, Critics Say – Decrypt
In brief
The controversial EARN IT Act has been watered down for its recent move to the US House of Representatives, but encryption and cryptocurrency experts are still echoing what theyve said for months: Legislation that could regulate the internet is inherently dangerous. The proposed law would erode Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online platform providersanyone from Facebook to small website ownersfrom being held liable for what their users post.
But under the EARN IT Act, which made its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee in September and was introduced in the House last week, platforms could be sued for users content as long as the complaint is related to crimes against children, like child pornography.
The bill features a last-minute amendment guaranteeing legal protection to platforms that use end-to-end encryption, a system by which platforms cant read users messages. But experts are still wary, partly because they think website owners will bump up content surveillance to avoid pricey litigation battles in the first place, said Marta Belcher, a blockchain law expert and special counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
If you have platforms that suddenly are going to be subject to these lawsuits, they're going to have to really closely monitor and censor users, she said.
The acts original version was more stringent, and interest groups called it a thinly veiled attempt to allow law enforcement access to private content. But even with its new protections, the bills current version still has serious loopholes when it comes to encryption, Belcher said.
For instance, CDA 230 prevents states from passing laws to control the internet. But if the EARN IT Act passes, this door would then open, giving non-federal jurisdictions more regulatory leeway.
I can definitely see governments using this as a hammer to go after any service that allows any kind of encrypted communication, said Matthew Green, a cryptography professor at Johns Hopkins University and one of the developers of the protocol behind the Zcash cryptocurrency.The effects the proposed legislation would have on the cryptocurrency sphere remain murky. Some crypto networks use encryption to host user contentwhich could leave them vulnerable to lawsuits under the EARN IT Actand others dont. Either way, the bill is a direct departure from the cypherpunk ethos that created cryptocurrency, said Chris Troutner, who founded the Bitcoin Cash-powered messaging service bch-encrypt.
We need end-to-end encryption, and we need uncensorable money, Troutner said. These arent nice-to-haves. Theyre absolute requirements.
The leadership behind the EARN IT Act is also raising red flags for the crypto community. If passed, the law would create a commission that recommends ways to prevent child exploitation online. U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who favors backdoor access to encrypted data, would lead the 19-member group. In turn, the commissions recommendations could disincentivize state legislatures from upholding privacy practices, said India McKinney, director of federal affairs with the EFF.
This kind of legislation isnt new. Bipartisan efforts to bypass encryption protocols have been around for years, and the EARN IT Act is just the latest gimmick, Matthew Green said.
It is something to be worried about, even if we dont know how its going to develop, said Green.
Editor's note: This article was updated after publication to clarify that India McKinney is EFF's director of federal affairs.
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EARN IT Act a Dire Threat to Encryption, Speech Online, Critics Say - Decrypt
Encrypted messages don’t always stay private. Here’s what that means for you – CNET
Encrypted messaging locks down your chats -- but only while they're traveling to the recipients.
As a group of alleged conspirators recently learned, encrypted messaging isn't a guarantee that your private conversations will stay between you and the recipient. The FBI arrested six men on Thursday for allegedlyplotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. How did the feds get the information they needed? They read the group's encrypted conversations.
To be clear, accessing the communications wasn't a highly technical effort. The FBI had a confidential informant who participated in the group message threads in which much of the conspiracy was laid out, according to a criminal complaint. That kept the FBI in the loop even when the group changed messaging apps to avoid detection.
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"Because the group still included [the informant], the FBI has maintained the ability to consensually monitor the chat communications," FBI special agent Richard J. Trask II said in the complaint.
The incident underscores a basic fact about encrypted messaging apps, like Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp. While they all offer a layer of privacy, there are plenty of ways for someone to access your messages from these services.
That's good news and bad news. On the bright side, it means criminals plotting violence can't rely completely on encrypted messaging services to hide their plans from the police. While law enforcement has warned that encryption threatens to make their investigations into the worst criminals "go dark," this case is one example of how investigators can continue to read messages sent with encrypted services.
On the other hand, it means regular users who want to protect their data from hackers, creeps and foreign governments need to rethink what encrypted messaging really does for them. It isn't a magic wand. Here's what you should know about what encryption does -- and doesn't do -- to protect your privacy.
It's OK, most people don't have a handle on just what encrypted messaging apps like Signal, Telegram and Facebook-owned WhatsApp do. They look and act like regular text messaging tools. But behind the scenes, the services scramble up your messages as they travel across cellular communications systems and the internet to get to the intended recipient's phone.
That means no one involved in sending the message -- including the encrypted messaging service -- can read your messages. Regular SMS messaging is sent in plaintext and doesn't have this layer of protection, so your SMS messages are vulnerable to interception at multiple points as they travel from your phone to the recipient's device.
If you use an iPhone, the data on your phone is encrypted when the device is locked. On Android phones, users have to enable disk encryption themselves. Device encryption will protect your messages as long as the phone is locked.
Apple describes this form of encryption as essential to users' privacy. For one thing, it protects all the personal data on your phone if it gets stolen. Think private messages and photos, as well as access to your email account and financial information.
Like encrypted messaging, device encryption has been a sore subject with law enforcement. The FBI tried to get a court order in 2016 to force Apple to help it access encrypted messages on an iPhone used by an extremist shooter. After Apple refused, the agency was eventually able to access the data on the phone with another technique.
As the Michigan case shows, anyone you send a message can share it with a wider circle of people, regardless of whether it's sent on an encrypted service. The same goes for anyone who has the ability to unlock your phone, which disables device encryption. If you don't lock your device at all, anyone who gets your phone can access your messages.
Then there's hacking, which is used by law enforcement, as well as criminals and foreign governments, to target someone's phone with malicious software. Once the device is compromised, the malware can read messages on the device just like someone looking over your shoulder to watch you type. These tools are sophisticated, can be very expensive, and require someone to target you specifically.
Another form of malware that can get your communications is called stalkerware. That's phone monitoring software that many people admit to using to spy on their partners or exes, and it usually requires the person to have access to your phone. There are steps you can take if you're worried your device has stalkerware.
Finally, there are your backups. Data on your cloud accounts might not be encrypted, and anyone who has the password could access your backed-up messages there. Some stalkerware works by accessing your phone's cloud backup. That's a great argument for using a unique, hard-to-guess password to protect your cloud accounts, and using a password manager.
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Encrypted messages don't always stay private. Here's what that means for you - CNET
Analyzing Impacts of Covid-19 on Cloud Encryption Software Market Effects, Aftermath, Global Industry Challenges, Business Overview and Forecast To…
Global Cloud Encryption Software Market research report provides excellent vision to analysis Global as well as regional industry. This research report delivers a detailed analysis of distinguishable strategies for industrial growth that will help to determine commanding segments and know distinct factors. Scope of different segments and applications that can potentially influence the global Cloud Encryption Software market in the future has been analyzed further in the report. The report acknowledges major industry vendors, key regions, demand & supply, applications, innovations, revenue cost, and challenges. The report covers trends, restraints, and drivers that transform the global Cloud Encryption Software market in either a positive or negative manner.
The Cloud Encryption Software Market research report presents a comprehensive analysis of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It additionally contains projections applying a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application, and industry by considering major players.
Moreover, the Cloud Encryption Software Market report clarifies the Industry segmentation based on various parameters and attributes that can be classified on geographical region, product types and market applications.
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Key players in the global Cloud Encryption Software market covered in Chapter 4:CiphercloudBoxcryptorTrend MicroSophosPerspecsysVoltage SecuritySkycryptGoogleSafenetVaultiveHitachiPorticorViivoSymantec.HPVormetric
In Chapter 11 and 13.3, on the basis of types, the Cloud Encryption Software market from 2015 to 2026 is primarily split into:Infrastructure-as-a-ServiceSoftware-as-a-ServicePlatform-as-a-Service
In Chapter 12 and 13.4, on the basis of applications, the Cloud Encryption Software market from 2015 to 2026 covers:Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)HealthcareGovernment and Public UtilitiesTelecom and ITRetailAerospace and DefenseOthers (manufacturing, education, and media and entertainment)
Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2015-2026) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13:North America (Covered in Chapter 6 and 13)United StatesCanadaMexicoEurope (Covered in Chapter 7 and 13)GermanyUKFranceItalySpainRussiaOthersAsia-Pacific (Covered in Chapter 8 and 13)ChinaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndiaSoutheast AsiaOthersMiddle East and Africa (Covered in Chapter 9 and 13)Saudi ArabiaUAEEgyptNigeriaSouth AfricaOthersSouth America (Covered in Chapter 10 and 13)BrazilArgentinaColumbiaChileOthers
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Major Points from Table of Contents:
Chapter One: Study Scope IntroductionMarket Definition, Study Scope, Regions Markets Covered, Types Markets Covered, Applications Markets Covered, Currency and Pricing, Stakeholders ,..
Chapter Two: Cloud Encryption Software Industry Chain AnalysisIndustry Chain Structure, Upstream Analysis, Downstream Analysis, Market Dynamics, Mergers & Acquisitions, Production Technology Development ,..
Chapter Three: Global Cloud Encryption Software Market Analysis by PlayersGlobal Consumption (Unit) and Market Share (%) by PlayersGlobal Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2019-2020)Global Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2015-2020)Global Gross Margin by Players (2015-2020)
Chapter Four: Global Cloud Encryption Software Production Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Cloud Encryption Software Production (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Regions (Market Production and Growth Rate Analysis in USA, Europe, China, Japan, India, Middle East, South America , South Africa)Global Price (USD/Unit) by Region (2015-2020)Global Production Value (Million USD) and Share by Regions (2015-2020)Global Gross Margin by Regions (2015-2020)
Chapter Five: Global Cloud Encryption Software Consumption Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Cloud Encryption Software Consumption (Unit) Market by Regions (Market Production, Consumption, Import and Export Analysis Globally and in regions like USA, Europe, China, Japan, India, South America, South Africa)
Chapter Six: Global Cloud Encryption Software Market Analysis by Types
Chapter Seven: Global Cloud Encryption Software Market Analysis by Applications
Chapter Eight: Global Main Cloud Encryption Software Market Players Analysis
Chapter Nine: Global Cloud Encryption Software Market Forecast (2018-2023)
Chapter Ten: Cloud Encryption Software Market Research Methodology
Chapter Eleven: Cloud Encryption Software Market Research Conclusions
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Parts of the Election System Are Ripe for Hacking: ‘Encryption? We Don’t Do That’ – Josh Kurtz
There is no evidence, despite partisan claims to the contrary, that mail-in ballots are rife with voting fraud but there are parts of the election system that security researchers say are at far greater risk for malicious activity.
National elections like the one in November, when Americans will decide whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden will lead the country for the next four years, are really thousands of smaller elections administered by state and county governments. And each of those governments has its own procedures for ensuring ballot and information security, and for purchasing, maintaining and testing the equipment that it uses to conduct its election.
For instance, even though more than 30 states allow overseas voters to cast their ballots by email, fax or through other electronic means, there are no standards for even basic security measures like encryption.
Encryption? We dont do that, Cochise County, Ariz., Recorder David Stevens told Arizona Mirror about the ballots his office accepts by email. We probably should.
The Cochise County Recorders Office accepts only federal ballots not those with state or local contests via email, Stevens said, and only in specific circumstances, such as voters who are in the military and stationed overseas.
Most overseas and military voters use a secure online portal provided by the Secretary of State, though some counties told the Mirror that they still accept ballots via fax or email.
Lax or nonexistent security on those systems, as well as the physical machines used to cast or count ballots, open the door to election hacking.
Hackers and security researchers at the annual DEFCON conference have in recent years made a point of looking at how secure or insecure the nations voting infrastructure is, known as the DEFCON Voting Village.
This year, instead of the hands-on hacking of election machines that have grabbed headlines in years past, the Voting Village focused on in-depth discussions about the integrity and security of our election infrastructure. Among the topics of discussion were the vulnerabilities to election systems presented by fax machines, email voting and more.
Hack the vote
Earlier this month, a Russian newspaper reported that the personal information of 7.5 million Michiganders was posted on a Russian hacker site. It appeared to show the their voter identification number and polling places. The paper claimed the site had been hacked in an attempt to solicit money from the U.S. government.
But Michigans Department of Statedenied that this was a data breach of any sort, as the information being posted is already publicly available.
Public voter information in Michigan and elsewhere is accessible to anyone through a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request. Our system has not been hacked, secretary of State spokesperson Jake Rollow told Michigan Advance in an email.
That focus on infosec was a big part of DEFCON talk this year by Forrest Senti, director of government and business affairs for the National Cybersecurity Center, and Caleb Gardner, a fellow with Secure the Vote.
The talk focused on how certain fax machines that are used to accept ballots can present a vulnerability to election offices, with election officials frequently unaware of the security issues stemming from a fax number that is often posted online.
Without proper security, all a hacker would need is the phone number to take over an election officials fax machine, allowing them to search other computers that are on the same network or install a malicious program to steal documents.
Even if you dont get any ballots through a fax machine, it still represents a vulnerability, Senti said to the Mirror.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia allow voters to return ballots by email and fax, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Maryland, when voters receive an emailed ballot and return it by email, it is printed out by elections officials and counted by hand.
In the 2016 election, 455 ballots were cast by overseas voters in Cochise County, according to data by the United States Election Assistance Commission. That includes votes cast via the countys un-encrypted email system, faxed or through an online portal run by the Arizona Secretary of States Office.
In 2018, some 29,000 ballots were cast across the country by voters overseas using some form of online portal, email or fax, according to the data.
While Senti and others say this number is not statistically significant, the shortcomings pose an outsized risk.
The greater fear is that the ballots themselves could be compromised.
In the DEFCON Voting Villages 2019 report, hackers and researchers found that voting machines had a number of vulnerabilities. Some had security features turned off when they were shipped, some had voter data easily accessible, some had no passwords set and one even had an unencrypted hard drive.
Several states across the country use those machines.
The ES&S Automark is used in many states to help voters with disabilities mark their ballots. The machines have been in use for years, and the Voting Village found some concerning vulnerabilities.
Immediate root access to the device was available simply by hitting the Windows key on the keyboard, the report states. A user who gains root access on the device can see and potentially change any files or other systems.
The ES&S Automark obtained by the Voting Village was using software from 2007 and appeared to have last been used in a 2018 special election. The PIN code to replace the firmware on the entire device was listed as 1111.
But there are no national guidelines for how election officials conduct these sorts of audits or tests on electronic voting devices; instead, it is up to each jurisdiction to develop its own methods of checking the devices.
For example, in Colorado, election officials roll a series of 10-sided die on a webcast in order to generate a random number that determines which machine-tallied election results will be checked for discrepancies.
These jurisdictions have a lot of autonomy in what they do, Mattie Gullixson, program manager for Secure the Vote, said.
Information warfare
Some of the jurisdictions may also not have the manpower needed to institute the changes required to ensure safe election procedures.
Its estimated that a nationwide vote by mail effort could cost up to $1.4 billion, compared to $272 million for in-person voting. Localities could get monies from the Help America Vote Act or the CARES Act to offset costs associated with voting this election cycle, but election hacking and its interplay with COVID-19 will present an acute financial impact, according to Gullixson and Senti.
And hacking isnt limited to computer systems: Disinformation from foreign actors is commonly referred to as social hacking for its manipulation of social behavior.
How do you (fight) against messages that say, because of COVID, this voting center has been shut down? Gullixson said. Those levels of mis- or disinformation could be one of the stronger negative drivers in people voting this year.
Gullilxsons background is in election administration and shortly after the 2016 election, she said that mis- or disinformation led many voters to call the elections office confused, asking questions that were fueled by disinformation circulating on social media.
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has already issued an alert urging Americans to be on the lookout for new websites or changes to existing websites made by foreign or malicious actors with the intention of spreading such misinformation.
Information warfare has been around as long as warfare has been around, Gullixson said.
In fact, in 1985, the Russians started a disinformation campaign dubbed Operation INFEKTION that aimed to make the world believe the United States had created AIDS, a conspiracy theory that is still active today.
So far in 2020, Russian, Chinese and Iranian hackers have been caught by Microsoft in attempts to target both the campaigns of Trump and Biden.
China has also been caught by Facebook using fake accounts to speak on election matters. And just this month, Facebook and Twitter removed dozens of Russian accounts aimed at dissuading left-leaning voters from voting for Biden.
So how does one combat this type of warfare?
It starts with voters.
There are growing efforts to try to tackle that but it starts with the voter realizing they could be manipulated in that way, Gullixson said.
The FBI has shared similar advice, saying that voters should make sure to get their election information from their state and county officials instead of Facebook pages, as they could very well be hacked or fake pages.
Despite what may seem like a lot of doom and gloom, Gullixson and her colleagues are hopeful that the attention these issues have been getting will help shape policy around voting for the next 15 years for the better.
We just have to make sure we can get through it unscathed, she said.
Jerod-MacDonald-Evoy is a reporter at the Arizona Mirror. Michigan Advance reporter Laina G. Stebbins, Maine Beacon reporter Evan Popp and Colorado Newsline reporter Chase Woodruff contributed to this report.
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Parts of the Election System Are Ripe for Hacking: 'Encryption? We Don't Do That' - Josh Kurtz
WikiLeaks led the way for newsrooms to use encryption to protect sources, says Italian journalist – ComputerWeekly.com
WikiLeaks pioneered the use of encryption and air-gapped computers to protect sources and confidential documents later used in mainstream news rooms, according to evidence by an Italian investigative journalist.
Stefania Maurizi said that the organisation had taken extensive measures to protect thousands of state department documents leaked by Chelsea Manning in 2010.
She gave written evidence during the four-week extradition trial of Julian Assange at the Old Bailey, which ended 1 October 2020.
According to her evidence, US cables published by WikiLeaks showed that the US had successfully placed pressure on Italian politicians not to extradite and prosecute the CIA officers responsible for the kidnap and torture of an Egyptian cleric seized from the streets of Milan.
Assange is accused of offences under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and 17 counts under the Espionage Act after receiving and publishing thousands of classified documents from former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
US prosecutors have alleged that Assange knowingly published thousands of unredacted state department documents which put US informants at risk.
Maurizi, a journalist with newspapers lEspresso and La Repubblica,worked as a media partner with WikiLeaks for more than 9 months to analyse US State Department cables related to Italy, and used local knowledge to redact the names of individuals who might be at risk if their names were disclosed.
Maurizi, who has a degree in maths and wrote a dissertation on cryptography, said that WikiLeaks had pioneered the use of encryption to protect journalistic sources.
Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were pioneering the use of encryption to protect journalistic sources, and this was of great interest to me both as an investigative journalist and a mathematician, she said.
At the time, no major newsroom was using cryptography to systematically protect sources, and it would be years before other newsrooms such as the Guardian and the Washington Post introduced cryptography.
WikiLeaks made original documents available on its websites so that people could access the original documentation and check the accuracy of published media reports. Assange called it scientific journalism, said Maurizi.
The journalist worked with Assange on the Iraq War logs in 2010 and was given access to more than 4,000 State Department cables in 2011.
I was given an encrypted USB stick and once I returned to Italy I was given a password that would then allow opening the file. Everything was done with the utmost responsibility and attention, she said.
Maurizi used an air-gapped computer, which she never left unattended, to analyse the cables, and adopted other security measures.
Even the work done by close colleagues on stories regarding the Italian Mafia requiring extreme caution and security never reached these levels, she said.
Maurizi said that she redacted any sensitive names using 12 Xs, so that the length of the name did not provide any clue to the identity before they were published by WikiLeaks.
The diplomatic cables shed light on extremely serious human rights violations including torture and kidnapping, said Maurizi.
They revealed that the US had put pressure on Italian politicians not to extradite US citizens and CIA agents held responsible for the kidnapping and extraordinary rendition of Abu Omar from the streets of Milan.
Omar was taken to Egypt in 2003 where he was held in cell, blindfolded, handcuffed and repeatedly tortured for 14 months, according to an investigation by Mother Jones.
Omar was sentenced in his absence to six years onterrorism charges ina decision confirmed by the Italian Supreme Court in 2015.
Thanks to a series of blunders by the US agents, Italian prosecutors identified 26 US citizens, mostly CIA officers, responsible for the kidnapping.
They were tried in absentia and convicted by the Italian supreme court between 2012 and 2014 to sentences of between six and nine years.
Under US pressure, successive Italian justice ministers refused to issue extradition requests to the US to put the suspects on trial in Italy, and several of the suspects received presidential pardons.
Without WikiLeaks publication of US diplomatic cables, it would have been impossible to acquire factual and solid evidence about the US pressures on the Italian politicians, said Maurizi.
Maurizi said that she learned that one of WikiLeaks media partners passwords had been compromised during a trip to visit Assange, who was then a guest at Ellingham Hall, a country house in Norfolk, in August 2011.
The password had been disclosed in a book on WikiLeaks, Inside Julian Assanges war on secrecy, written by Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding.
Later, the German newspaper Der Freitag published a story that did not reveal the password, but made it possible for people to connect the dots.
There was an ever-widening awareness that the files, until then considered to be safely encrypted, might nonetheless be public very soon, said Maurizi.
Copies of an encrypted file containing the unredacted State Department documents had been circulating on the internet.
Christian Grothoff, an expert in network security from the University of Applied Sciences in Bern, told the court on 21 September that the file was likely to have been distributed after people mirrored the contents of WikiLeaks following a denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
Maurizi said: WikiLeaks was in the position of its own data having been irreversibly and repeatedly embedded in the internet and it could not undo what had happened.
She said that Assange was acutely troubled by the situation and made urgent attempts to inform the State Department that information was circulating out of control.
When WikiLeaks published the unredacted documents, following their publication on the US web site Cryptome, Maurizi contacted security expert Bruce Schneier.
According to extracts quoted in Maurizis evidence, Schneier said in an email that both parties made dumb mistakes. He said that if I were to assess the blame, the Guardian made the worse mistake. Without the key, no one would have been able to brute force the file. No one, probably not even aliens with a planet-sized computer, he added.
A judge will rule whether the UK should grant the US request to extradite Assange on 4 January 2021.
The rest is here:
WikiLeaks led the way for newsrooms to use encryption to protect sources, says Italian journalist - ComputerWeekly.com
Global Encryption Software Market 2020 Industry Size, Shares and Upcoming Trends 2025 – Reported Times
Oct 5, 2020 3:06 AM ET iCrowd Newswire Oct 5, 2020
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Global Encryption Software Market 2020 Industry Size, Shares and Upcoming Trends 2025 - Reported Times
Encryption Software Market 2020 2027: Recent Trends, Growth Opportunities and Business Development Strategies By IBM, Trend Micro, Symantec, McaFee,…
The Insight Partnersdelivers well-researched industry-wide information on the Encryption Software market. It provides information on the markets essential aspects such as top participants, factors driving Encryption Software market growth, precise estimation of the Encryption Software market size, upcoming trends, changes in consumer behavioral pattern, markets competitive landscape, key market vendors, and other market features to gain an in-depth analysis of the market. Additionally, the report is a compilation of both qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry experts, as well as industry participants across the value chain. The report also focuses on the latest developments that can enhance the performance of various market segments.
This report strategically examines the micro-markets and sheds light on the impact of technology upgrades on the performance of the Encryption Software market. The report presents a broad assessment of the market and contains solicitous insights, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. The report offers market projections with the help of appropriate assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides information as per the market segments such as geographies, products, technologies, applications, and industries.
To get a sample Copy of the report, along with the TOC, Statistics, and Tables please visit @https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100000523/
Key vendors engaged in the Encryption Software market and covered in this report:
IBM Corporation, Trend Micro, Inc., Symantec Corporation, McaFee, EMC Corporation, Sophos Ltd., Checkpoint Software Technologies, Winmagic, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, SAS Institute, Inc.
Researchers also carry out a comprehensive analysis of the recent regulatory changes and their impact on the competitive landscape of the industry. The research assesses the recent progress in the competitive landscape including collaborations, joint ventures, product launches, acquisitions, and mergers, as well as investments in the sector for research and development.
Key points from Table of Content:
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Key takeaways
Chapter 3. Encryption Software Market landscape
Chapter 4. Encryption Software Market Key industry dynamics
Chapter 5. Encryption Software Market global market analysis
Chapter 6. Encryption Software Market revenue and forecasts to 2027 installation type
Chapter 7. Encryption Software Market revenue and forecasts to 2027 end-user
Chapter 8. Encryption Software Market revenue and forecasts to 2027 geographical analysis
Scope of the study:
The research on the Encryption Software market focuses on mining out valuable data on investment pockets, growth opportunities, and major market vendors to help clients understand their competitors methodologies. The research also segments the Encryption Software market on the basis of end user, product type, application, and demography for the forecast period 20202027. Comprehensive analysis of critical aspects such as impacting factors and competitive landscape are showcased with the help of vital resources, such as charts, tables, and infographics. This report strategically examines the micro-markets and sheds light on the impact of technology upgrades on the performance of the Encryption Software market.
Encryption Software Market Segmented by Region/Country: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Central & South America
Major highlights of the report:
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