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Why the US government is questioning WhatsApp’s encryption – CNBC

On December 2nd, 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire on the city of San Bernardino, California, leaving 14 people, and the two shooters, dead. During the investigation the FBI obtained Farook's iPhone, but could not access it through the passcode. They went Apple to unlock it, and Apple couldn't help.

The iPhone's encryption methods were so secure, according to Apple, that Apple itself couldn't access the data on the phone. As a result, the U.S. government wanted Apple to purposefully weaken the encryption of its iPhones, putting a "backdoor" in the iOS framework that would allow the FBI to access the contents of iPhones everywhere. But this would also leave the operating system much more vulnerable to hackers and other governments.

The battle over online privacy has been waging on since the popularization of the internet itself. These discussions with Apple in particular have brought privacy activists and law enforcement head to head, fighting over who can utilize the privacy provided by encryption and what they can use that encryption for.

Messaging apps like Signal, WhatsApp and iMessage are encrypted. That means the messages are kept private from everyone except the intended recipient. And while these platforms are far from perfect Jeff Bezos' phone was recently accessed through a malicious video message via WhatsApp many people rely on the privacy encryption provides daily.

Esra'a Al Shafei, for example, built a social platform called Ahwaa where individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ can virtually meet and talk with each other in Middle Eastern and North African countries such as Egypt, where homosexuality is not expressly illegal, but where the government has used laws against what they call debauchery, among others, to criminalize LGBTQ+ individuals.

Ahwaa is an online platform for individuals in the Middle East and North Africa who identify as LGBTQ+

Ahwaa.org

Al Shafei says that, if encryption were to be forcibly weakened, she would have to shut down the platform. She said, "the Internet as a whole will lose so many voices, so many communities, so many narratives, so many perspectives."

Michael Daniel, President and CEO of Cyber Threat Alliance and former Cybersecurity Coordinator on the National Security Council Staff under Barack Obama, says that "there are situations where we would want the government to be able to get access to certain information." For Michael, it's important to make a distinction between information that should remain encrypted, like bank data and health data, and information that might be beneficial to make available to law enforcement, like text message.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation disagrees. "I don't think it's appropriate for the government to decide that they get security and we don't," says Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Amnesty International agreed with this sentiment in an open letter to Facebook, urging the company to stay strong on its decision to implement end-to-end encryption on its messaging platforms, saying "there is no middle ground: if law enforcement is allowed to circumvent encryption, then anybody can."

The debate continues, and is likely to continue, until a compromise can be made. Whether that will ever happen has yet to be seen.

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No Backdoor on Human Rights: Why Encryption Cannot Be Compromised – Bitcoin News

In April 2019, the UK issued an Online Harms White Paper to announce its campaign to rein in harmful speech on social media sites such as Facebook and TikTok. The public consultation period has ended and a full consultation response is expected in Spring 2020. (Initial Consultation Response here.) Legislation to criminalize freedom of speech will follow quickly.

Also read: Cryptocurrency Is Agorism in Action

The United Kingdom has become the first Western nation to move ahead with large-scale censorship of the internet Boris Johnson has unveiled rules that will punish internet companies with fines, and even imprisonment, if they fail to protect users from harmful and illegal content. Couched in language that suggests this is being done to protect children from pedophiles and vulnerable people from cyberbullying, the proposals will place a massive burden on small companies. Further, they will ultimately make it impossible for those not of the pervasive politically correct ideology to produce and share content. Mark Angelides, Britain allows the internet to be censored, a warning for the U.S.

The bills exact language is not known, but its thrust is clear. Internet companies with user-generated content will need to enforce anti-harm rules in order to avoid fines, imprisonment, or their sites being blocked. Home Secretary Priti Patel explained, It is incumbent on tech firms to balance issues of privacy and technological advances with child protection.

The main target of attack is end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messages that can be read only by a sender and a recipient by using unique cryptographic keys as decoders. Third parties cannot access the content. E2EE is the most effective privacy tool that is both easy to use and available to everyone, often for free. To comply with UK law, however, companies will need to eschew encryption or to install backdoorsportals that allow someone to enter a system in an undetected manner.

Angelidess warning to the U.S. is timely because Congress is considering a similar measure: the EARN It Act. Again, the Acts justification is to protect children and to thwart evil-doers. After all, who else needs encryption? According to the United Nations, everyone.

In 2015, the UN issued a report on encryption and anonymity in the context of human rights. The report found encryption to be key to the right of privacy. In turn, privacy enabled freedom of speech through which people could explore basic aspects of their identity, including religion and sexuality. The reports author David Kaye cautioned against using backdoors because of the unprecedented capacity of authorities, companies, criminals, and the malicious to attack peoples ability to share information safely. Kaye acknowledged the alleged need of law enforcement to read encrypted messages but on a case-by-case basis rather than blanket approach.

This a long-held position for the UN. In 2016, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, published a warning entitled Apple-FBI case could have serious global ramifications for human rights. Zeid cautioned:

Encryption tools are widely used around the world, including by human rights defenders, civil society, journalists, whistle-blowers and political dissidents facing persecution and harassment Encryption and anonymity are needed as enablers of both freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to privacy. It is neither fanciful nor an exaggeration to say that, without encryption tools, lives may be endangered. In the worst cases, a Governments ability to break into its citizens phones may lead to the persecution of individuals who are simply exercising their fundamental human rights.

Amnesty International agrees. A 2016 article, Encryption: A Matter of Human Rights, argued, Forcing companies to provide backdoors to the encryption deployed constitutes a significant interference with users rights to privacy and freedom of expression. Given that such measures indiscriminately affect all users online privacy by undermining the security of their electronic communications and private data, Amnesty International believes they are inherently disproportionate, and thus impermissible under international human rights law.

Why, then, are states rushing to crack open encryption? Because information is power. It is a prerequisite to demanding money and imposing social control. For decades, surveillance functioned from the shadows but now it openly demands access to peoples thoughts and lives. Who else but evil-doers would say no?

U.S. Attorney General William Barr has been loud in his demand that law enforcement be able to access encrypted communicationsusually through a backdoor. Barr wants this access even when there is no cybersecurity risk or alleged crime. He may soon get what he wants so badly.

The EARN It ActEliminating Abusive and Rampant Negligent of Interactive Technologies Actwould establish a National Commission on Online Child Exploitation Prevention to be headed by Barr, who has the authority to overrule it to become a one-man power. As well as child exploitation prevention, the Act asserts a vague mandate and for other purposes. This is a blank check, with only the elimination of election misinformation being specifically mentioned. Republican Lindsey Graham and Democratic Richard Blumenthal are pushing the measure in the Senate on a bipartisan basis.

The draft bill does not mention encryption, but it requires tech companies to assist law enforcement in identifying, reporting, and removing or preserving evidence about child exploitation and for other purposes. E2EE would make it impossible for those companies to provide such assistance.

The EARN It Act would de facto prohibit the E2EE offered by services such as WhatsApp; it would short circuit Facebooks plans to encrypt its messaging apps; companies like Apple would be in legal jeopardy if they refused to insert backdoors in their software and devices.

Legal jeopardy is the Acts enforcement mechanism. A non-compliant tech company would lose Section 230 immunity in both civil and criminal courts for child exploitation and for as-yet-unspecified offenses that occur on its site or over its platform. The free-speech champion Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explained the significance of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act; it is the most important law protecting free speech online. The protection is based on distinguishing between a platform and a publisher. Section 230 states, No provider or user of an interactive computer service [platform] shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

A platform provides services, tools, and products with which users create their own content; it bears no more legal responsibility for this content than a phone company does for the conversations that flow over it. By contrast, a publisher edits or otherwise controls content, which makes it legally liable.

EFF continued, Section 230 enforces the common-sense principle that if you say something illegal online, you should be the one held responsible, not the website or platform where you said it (with some important exceptions) Without it, social media as we know it today wouldnt exist And it doesnt just protect tech platforms either: if youve ever forwarded an email, thank Section 230 that you could do that without inviting legal risk on yourself.

EARN It not only strips immunity from non-compliant companies, it also weakens the standard by which they can be sued. It is now necessary for a plaintiff to prove that a company knew an offense was occurring in order to sue; EARN It would require a plaintiff only to show that the company acted recklessly. In a keynote address at the 2019 International Conference on Cyber Security, A.G. Barr defined E2EE as inherently irresponsible. The costs of irresponsible encryption that blocks legitimate law enforcement access is ultimately measured in a mounting number of victims men, women, and children who are the victims of crimes crimes that could have been prevented if law enforcement had been given lawful access to encrypted evidence. To Barr, the mere presence of backdoor-free E2EE constitutes recklessness.

The targets of EARN It seem to be the internet giants that have aroused bipartisan rage. At a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled Encryption and Lawful Access: Evaluating Benefits and Risks to Public Safety and Privacy, Apple and Facebook were attacked for using warrant-proof encryption that prevented authorities from investigating terrorism, organized crime and child sexual exploitation. Internet giants might not be the main victims of EARN It, however.

EFF explained, Undermining Section 230 does far more to hurt new startups than to hurt Facebook and Google. 2018s poorly-named Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA)the only major change to Section 230 since it passed in 1996was endorsed by nearly every major Internet company. One consequence of FOSTA was the closure of a number of online dating services, a niche that Facebook set about filling just weeks after the law passed. The legal need to screen or filter content placed smaller companies at a competitive disadvantage with the likes of Google.

Unfortunately, an ongoing backlash against Big Tech may propel EARN It through Congress. Moreover, Congress undoubtedly wants to have better control over social media before the 2020 elections. The EARN It Act will arrive with a cry of Save our children! But its impact will be to stifle freedom of speech across the spectrum, to hobble small businesses, and to make all users more vulnerable to criminals, including agents of the state.

Op-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Wendy McElroy is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. She was a co-founder of the Voluntaryist magazine and modern movement in 1982, and has authored over a dozen books, scripted dozens of documentaries, worked several years for FOX News and written hundreds of articles in periodicals ranging from scholarly journals to Penthouse. She has been a vocal defender of WikiLeaks and its head Julian Assange.

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Backdoor to encryption back on agenda in absurdly named bill – 9to5Mac

An absurdly named bill is set to form the latest attempt to create legislation requiring tech giants to provide a backdoor to encryption.

The Eliminating Abuse and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2019 (EARN IT Act) is co-sponsored by Lindsey Graham (R-SC), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)

The acronym is intended to suggest that tech companies should be required to earn the right to Section 230 protections, which mean that companies proving communication platforms cant be held legally liable for things posted by users.

Reuters reports that the bill seeks to impose conditions on this protection, and that providing a backdoor to encryption is believed to be one of them.

The bill threatens this key immunity unless companies comply with a set of best practices, which will be determined by a 15-member commission led by the Attorney General []

The sources said the US tech industry fears these best practices will be used to condemn end-to-end encryption a technology for privacy and security that scrambles messages so that they can be deciphered only by the sender and intended recipient. Federal law enforcement agencies have complained that such encryption hinders their investigations.

Online platforms are exempted from letting law enforcement access their encrypted networks. The proposed legislation provides a workaround to bypass that, the sources said.

Graham (pictured above) has previously criticized Apple for using strong encryption in iPhones, and suggested that the company either needs to voluntarily provide a backdoor or have one forced on it by law.

Committee chairman Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned the representatives of the tech companies, Youre gonna find a way to do this or were going to do it for you.

Graham didnt appear to understand the contradictory stance he was taking, saying on the one hand that he appreciated that people cannot hack into my phone while at the same time asking Apple to create a vulnerability that would inevitably be discovered by others and used to do just that.

Apple has persistently come under government pressure to compromise the privacy of iPhone owners, the San Bernardino, California, case being the highest-profile example, followed by the more recent Pensacola, Florida, shooting. Weve previously outlined the arguments for Apples stance, both before and after the San Bernardino shooting.

Currently, the company appears to have opted for a compromise: Refusing to do anything to weaken iPhones, but deliberately using a weaker encryption method for iCloud backups. Apple doesnt use end-to-end encryption for these, meaning it holds a key and is able to provide a copy of most data stored on an iPhone when served with a court order to do so.

It had been suggested that Apple abandoned plans to adopt end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups after pressure from the FBI, though doubt was soon cast on this version of events.

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cloudAshur, hands on: Encrypt, share and manage your files locally and in the cloud – ZDNet

Cloud storage and collaboration services like Dropbox are convenient, but not every business is comfortable with the level of security provided. If employees are sharing files with customer information or details of your next product launch, how do you make that more secure? You can hope that employees use a strong password and don't get phished; you can hope that they use multi-factor authentication (MFA); or you can use an identity service like Okta or AzureAD that wraps those services in a single sign-on system and enforces MFA.

Or if you want to be a bit more hands-on about it and get more control over where and when employees can work on cloud files, iStorage's cloudAshur (pronounced 'assure') is a 99 (ex. VAT) rugged hardware key for PCs and Macs that stores encryption keys (AES-ECB or AES-XTS 256-bit) and authenticates the computer when you plug it into a USB port (USB-B rather than USB-C).

Give each employee a key and the cloudAshur software, and both local files and files stored in the cloud and shared with colleagues via cloudAshur can be encrypted. They can only be viewed or edited after the physical key is placed into a USB port, a 7-15 digit PIN typed in on the keypad, and a username and password entered into the cloudAshur software to sign into the cloud account. An attacker who successfully phishes for the cloud storage credentials will only see encrypted .IST files that they can't open or even preview -- and so will the user until they plug in the USB key, enter the PIN and sign in.

The inconvenience of having to do all that just to get some work done is balanced by the way cloudAshur brings together files from different cloud services. You see an extra cloudAshur drive in Explorer or the Finder with virtual folders for each cloud service you use, with the files that have been shared with you, and you drag files you want to encrypt into the folder.

The PIN-protected cloudAshur USB dongle from iStorage lets you share enrypted files with other users -- so long as they have matching devices and have logged into the client app.

You can use cloudAshur individually, to protect your own files, and set it up yourself. But if you want to share encrypted files with colleagues, they need their own cloudAshur that's been provisioned with the same encryption key as yours. That means buying the iStorage KeyWriter software, which uses one cloudAshur as the master key and clones the encryption keys to more cloudAshur devices for other people to use.

You can clone cloudAshur dongles from a master device using the KeyWriter software.

If you do that, your organisation can also use the iStorage cloudAshur Remote Management Console (RMC) software to manage users and devices. This gives an admin much more control: you can see who is using the devices and where they are, (including a log of times and files accessed) and if you see unauthorised use you can disable the cloudAshur remotely. You can also set the times and physical locations where the keys can be used, if you want to limit them to business hours and business locations. You can only set one location , using a postcode and a radius around it, which isn't convenient if you want to allow people to work from your different office locations but not from home (and there are no exceptions for VPN connections).

You can also add extra security with the cloudAshure RMC software; encrypting file names so they don't give away any clues, blacklisting known bad IP addresses (annoyingly, you can only do that individually, rather than by specifying the far shorter list of IP addresses you want to allow) and blocking specific file types. The latter is referred to as 'blacklisting', which is confusing when it's next to the IP control setting; we'd also like to see iStorage join other vendors in moving to less contentious terms like 'block' and 'approve'.

The cloudAshur Remote Management Console (RMC) lets you manage users and devices.

Getting the PIN wrong ten times in a row locks the device. You can use the RMC software to change how many wrong attempts you want before this brute-force protection kicks in, and you can use the admin PIN to create a new user PIN. You can also set a one-time recovery PIN that you can give a remote user so they can create their own new PIN. Getting the admin PIN wrong ten times in a row deletes the user PINs and the encryption key. You can't set up the device without changing the default admin PIN -- a fiddly sequence of pressing the shift and lock keys on the device individually and in combination and watching the three colour LEDs blink or turn solid. Even with the limitations of a numeric keyboard, this seems unnecessarily complex.

If someone loses a device or leaves the company without giving it back, you can remotely kill the cloudAshur hardware; you can also temporarily disable a key if it's misplaced (and having both options stops users delaying reporting a key they hope to track down because having to get it reset or replaced will be inconvenient). You can also reset and redeploy a key, so if someone leaves the company you can safely reuse their key (and at this price, you'll want to).

A security system isn't much use if it can be physically cracked open and tampered with. The cloudAshur packaging comes with security seals over both ends of the box, although we were able to peel them off carefully without leaving any marks on the packaging, so a really dedicated adversary who managed to intercept your order could replace them with their own security seal.

The case is extruded aluminium that would be hard to open without leaving marks: iStorage says the design meets FIPs Level 3 for showing visible evidence of tampering and the components are coated in epoxy resin so they can't be swapped out.

The number keyboard is polymer coated to stop the keys you use for your PIN showing enough wear to give attackers a hint. The keys have a nice positive action, so you know when you've pressed them, and the lanyard hole on the end is large enough to fit onto a keyring or security badge lanyard. There's an aluminium sleeve to protect the key from water and dirt -- the device is IP68 rated. The sleeve also stops the battery getting run down if the keypad gets knocked in your bag.

Using cloudAshur isn't particularly complicated, but it is a bit more work than just using a cloud storage service. There are drawbacks like the inability to see previews in the cloud site to check you're opening the right file, and not being able to work offline -- even with a cloud service that syncs files to your device. And any mistakes about the times and locations where people can work could inconvenience employees on business trips.

The biggest threat with cloudAshur may not be hackers but employees who find it too much extra work and just don't encrypt files. This means you'll need to explain why you're asking them to carry a dongle and jump through these extra hoops.

Overall, cloudAshur is fairly well designed and offers a useful security boost -- as long as you can persuade employees to actually use it.

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Signal is the European Union’s encrypted messaging app of choice – Cult of Mac

The European Commission doesnt want its staff using WhatsApp or iMessage for internal communications. Instead, they must start using end-to-end-encrypted messaging app Signal as part of a push toward greater security.

Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging, noted an instruction that reportedly appeared on internal EC messaging boards in early February.

Signal was developed in 2013 with a focus on privacy. On Signal, conversations are fully encrypted by default, along with metadata with information such as who you are talking to. Messages can be made to self-destruct and can also be sent anonymously. Evidence of how little data it holds was seen in 2016. That year, Signal was subpoenaed and only had access to data about when an account was created and the last date a user accessed its servers.

Its like Facebooks WhatsApp and Apples iMessage but its based on an encryption protocol thats very innovative, Bart Preneel, cryptography expert at the University of Leuven, told Politico, which first reported the story. Because its open-source, you can check whats happening under the hood, he added.

The use of Signal by EU staff is recommended primarily for communication sent by staff to people outside the institution.

Apple and WhatsApp are no slouches when it comes to privacy, either. Apple in particular has been particularly outspoken aboutprivacy as a fundamental human right. Over the years, Apple has taken a hard stance against lawmakers demands to add backdoors to encryption.

Interestingly, while the EU is seemingly keen to keen correspondence private, its not always been unanimously on the side of privacy. A December 2019 article for Politico notes that:

Some European Union governments are mulling a revisit of so-called data retention rules, requirements that telecom providers keep hold of peoples online messages for a set period of time in case law enforcement agencies need to access them.

The fact that the EU is promoting Signal one the one hand, while some lawmakers are battling against strong encryption on the other is interesting.In the US, Apple has faced multiple legal challenges when it comes to its pro-privacy stance on encryption. That battle is still ongoing and has still not yet been settled.

Signal is available to download via the App Store.

Source: Politico

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Cygilant to Highlight the Need for Encrypted Traffic Visibility at RSA Conference 2020 – Business Wire

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RSA Conference Cygilant, provider of Cybersecurity-as-a-Service to mid-sized organizations, today announced that it will be attending the annual RSAC 2020, taking place from Feb. 24-28, 2020 in San Francisco.

The company will be located at booth, #1647D, alongside Barac, its newly announced partner and provider of the only solution that uses AI metadata analysis to protect organizations against malware hidden in encrypted traffic. Experts from both companies will be available to discuss the need for visibility into encrypted traffic and to demonstrate the joint solution.

As the use of encryption becomes the industry standard, companies of all sizes need a solution that will let them understand whats in the encrypted traffic entering their network, so they can block attempts by cybercriminals to mask their intentions, said Kevin Landt, VP of Product Management at Cygilant. Decrypting the data isnt a solution, as that will violate several privacy regulations.

Baracs Encrypted Traffic Visibility (ETV) platform is the only solution that inspects inbound and outbound encrypted network traffic for malicious threats in real-time, without the need for decryption. Combining the power of Baracs encrypted traffic visibility technology with our cybersecurity expertise and world-class service will give small and mid-sized businesses who typically struggle with limited resources the ability to protect their networks and maintain compliance, added Landt.

Baracs ETV scans the metadata of the encrypted traffic, not its contents, using behavioral analytics and AI to uncover anomalies. This method does not put companies in breach of compliance regulations, as no data is decrypted.

Cygilant protects its customers from the latest cybersecurity threats through a combination of automated tools and personalized advice. The company provides dedicated Cybersecurity Advisors (CSAs), who work directly with customers as an extension of their team; global 247 Security Operation Centers (SOCs) which constantly monitor customers networks, using the latest threat hunting, detection, patch management and incident response technologies; and the companys SOCVue Platform, which consolidates multiple streams of security data to help detect and respond to threats faster.

For more information about the partnership, please see this link or watch a recent video about the news here.

About CygilantAt Cygilant, we believe everyone deserves to be secure. Our SOC Advisors and SOCVue Platform enable organizations to achieve sustainable 24x7 visibility and control of enterprise-class security. We deliver security intelligence with custom threat hunting, detection and response so you can sleep at night. For more information, please visit http://www.cygilant.com, read the company blog, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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ASIO: Relentless advance of technology was outstripping our capabilities – ZDNet

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General of Security Mike Burgess has praised the introduction of new powers such as those contained within Australia's encryption legislation to help the spy agency combat the new battleground that technology has created.

Delivering his first annual threat assessment since he took the helm of ASIO, Burgess said encrypted communications do damage to intelligence coverage in 90% of priority counter-terrorism cases.

"And that's just counter-terrorism. In the counter-espionage world we are dealing with even more sophisticated targets," he explained.

"The government recognises this dilemma as do senior executives in the tech sector.

"We need to work together to help organisations like ASIO and the police defeat the threats posed by malicious use of the Internet, while protecting the opportunities and freedoms it offers for all Australians."

See also: AFP vows to damage tech giant reputations if found obstructing law enforcement

According to Burgess, the right way forward is to be open about the need for balance between privacy and security. That also means balancing the importance of a free society with providing the "right response" to security threats.

"Technology should not be beyond the rule of law," the spy chief said.

Pointing to the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 (TOLA), Burgess said such "contemporary" legislation offers a clear case in point.

"The relentless advance of technology was outstripping our technical capabilities to monitor threats and protect our fellow Australians. Remember, encrypted communications impacts intelligence coverage in nine out of 10 priority counter-terrorism cases," he said.

"So we needed some changes in legislation to allow us to deal with the effects of that technology while still preserving the essential integrity and privacy of those communications for ordinary Australians."

With ASIO having previously disclosed it had used its TOLA powers, Burgess repeated what he told the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor last week, that the power was in fact accessed within the first 10 days of the law coming into effect.

"A clear indication of its significance to our mission," he said. "And I'm happy to report that the internet did not break as a result!

"The bottom line was this, these new powers helped ASIO prevent a real risk of injury to Australians."

Burgess conceded that TOLA doesn't solve the challenge, but said investing "judiciously" in technology and people would help fill the void.

"We are continuing to balance the need for new powers alongside privacy and other concerns to ensure that we can continue to deliver on our mission," he said.

"Having the right technology applied to the right problems is, of course, vital. But it is our people that have always been the critical element of our success and I am confident that by putting the right people with the necessary legal authorities onto the right problems we will succeed."

"Australia is currently the target of sophisticated and persistent espionage and foreign interference activities from a range of nations," Burgess reiterated Monday night.

"ASIO has uncovered cases where foreign spies have travelled to Australia with the intention of setting up sophisticated hacking infrastructure targeting computers containing sensitive and classified information."

Burgess said this has seen visiting scientists and academics ingratiating themselves into university life with the aim of conducting clandestine intelligence collection.

"This strikes at the very heart of our notions of free and fair academic exchange," he said.

According to Burgess, there are more foreign intelligence officers and their proxies operating in Australia now than at the height of the Cold War.

While he previously said that attempted recruitment was time-intensive, expensive, and risky, now, thanks to the internet, many can work from the safety of their overseas headquarters to launch cyber operations against Australian networks and "send thousands of friend and networking requests to unsuspecting targets with the click of a mouse".

"Many of the attributes that make social media so valuable also make it vulnerable," Burgess said.

"Critically, those same platforms then offer those hostile services a low-cost and easily disguised method to approach their targets and so we are working to help educate people on these threats."

Burgess said over the last few years, ASIO has consistently detected and regularly disrupted espionage operations in Australia.

"As an organisation, we have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure that we can meet the challenges of technology and data that are impacting our operations," he said.

"But I am confident that with the thoughtful and innovative plans we already have in place, we will be able to bring the right technology and the right people together to solve those issues."

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Encryption Software Market 2020 Emerging Trends, Growing Demand, Leading Companies, Applications, Overview and Regional Analysis 2026 – News Times

The encryption software market is anticipated to reach over $11,600 million by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the BFSI segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America was to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue in 2017.The growing need for protection of critical data, and increasing number of data breaches has boosted the adoption of encryption software. The rising penetration of mobile devices, and increasing trend of BYOD to primarily support the growth of encryption software market during the forecast period. Similarly, the rising adoption of virtualization, cloud, and big data analytics has also positively influenced the encryption software market growth over the years. Furthermore, increasing investments by vendors in technological advancements coupled with growing demand for cloud-based encryption software would accelerate the growth of this market during the forecast period. However, high costs and complexities associated with advanced encryption solutions, and lack of awareness among small and medium enterprises hinder the market growth during the forecast period. Growing demand from emerging economies, ad technological advancements are expected to provide numerous growth opportunities in the coming years.

North America generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global encryption software market throughout the forecast period. The increase in number of cyber-attacks, and growing number of data breaches to drive this market growth in North America. The growing trend of BYOD, IoT, big data analytics, and virtualization necessitates the need of encryption software for data protection and data loss. The growing penetration of mobile devices, and technological advancements further support market growth in the region. The increasing spending on data protection in BFSI and defense sectors in the region further to also promote encryption software market growth in coming years. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to growing need for data privacy across various industries in the developing countries of the region.

The major players in the encryption software market include Microsoft Corporation, Symantec Corporation, IBM Corporation, EMC Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Security, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Oracle Corporation, Trend Micro, Inc., and Sophos Group PLC among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

Table of Contents

1. Overview and Scope1.1. Research goal & scope1.2. Research assumptions1.3. Research Methodology1.3.1. Primary data sources1.3.2. Secondary data sources1.4. Key take-away1.5. Stakeholders2. Executive Summary2.1. Market Definition2.2. Market Segmentation3. Encryption Software Market Insights3.1. Encryption Software Industry snapshot3.2. Encryption Software Ecosystem analysis3.3. Encryption Software Market Dynamics3.3.1. Encryption Software Market Forces3.3.1.1. Encryption Software Market Driver Analysis3.3.1.2. Encryption Software Market Restraint/Challenges analysis3.3.1.3. Encryption Software Market Opportunity Analysis3.4. Industry analysis Porters five force3.4.1. Bargaining power of supplier3.4.2. Bargaining power of buyer3.4.3. Threat of substitute3.4.4. Threat of new entrant3.4.5. Degree of competition3.5. Encryption Software Market PEST Analysis, 20163.6. Encryption Software Market Value Chain Analysis3.7. Encryption Software Industry Trends3.8. Competitive Ranking Analysis4. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Deployment Model, 2018-20264.1. Key Findings4.2. On-Premise4.3. Cloud-Based5. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Organization Size, 2018-20265.1. Key Findings5.2. Large Enterprises5.3. Small and Medium Businesses6. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Application, 2018-20266.1. Key Findings6.2. File Encryption6.3. Disk Encryption6.4. Database Encryption6.5. Cloud Encryption6.6. Communication Encryption6.7. Others7. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by End-User, 2018-20267.1. Key Findings7.2. BFSI7.3. Healthcare7.4. Aerospace and Defense7.5. Government and Public Utilities7.6. Retail7.7. Others8. Encryption Software Market Size and Forecast by Region, 2018-20268.1. Key Findings8.2. North America8.2.1. U.S.8.2.2. Canada8.2.3. Mexico8.3. Europe8.3.1. Germany8.3.2. UK8.3.3. France8.3.4. Italy8.3.5. Rest of Europe8.4. Asia-Pacific8.4.1. China8.4.2. India8.4.3. Japan8.4.4. Rest of Asia-Pacific8.5. Latin America8.5.1. Brazil8.6. Middle East & Africa9. Company Profiles9.1. Microsoft Corporation9.1.1. Overview9.1.2. Financials9.1.3. Product Benchmarking9.1.4. Recent Developments9.2. Symantec Corporation9.2.1. Overview9.2.2. Financials9.2.3. Product Benchmarking9.2.4. Recent Developments9.3. IBM Corporation9.3.1. Overview9.3.2. Financials9.3.3. Product Benchmarking9.3.4. Recent Developments9.4. EMC Corporation9.4.1. Overview9.4.2. Financials9.4.3. Product Benchmarking9.4.4. Recent Developments9.5. Cisco Systems, Inc.9.5.1. Overview9.5.2. Financials9.5.3. Product Benchmarking9.5.4. Recent Developments9.6. Intel Security9.6.1. Overview9.6.2. Financials9.6.3. Product Benchmarking9.6.4. Recent Developments9.7. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.9.7.1. Overview9.7.2. Financials9.7.3. Product Benchmarking9.7.4. Recent Developments9.8. Oracle Corporation9.8.1. Overview9.8.2. Financials9.8.3. Product Benchmarking9.8.4. Recent Developments9.9. Trend Micro, Inc.9.9.1. Overview9.9.2. Financials9.9.3. Product Benchmarking9.9.4. Recent Developments9.10. Sophos Group PLC9.10.1. Overview9.10.2. Financials9.10.3. Product Benchmarking9.10.4. Recent Developments

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Encryption Software Market 2020 Emerging Trends, Growing Demand, Leading Companies, Applications, Overview and Regional Analysis 2026 - News Times

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US bill seen threatening encryption on tech platforms – EJ Insight

US legislation will be introduced in the coming weeks that could hurt technology companies ability to offer end-to-end encryption, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, and it aims to curb the distribution of child sexual abuse material on such platforms.

The bill, proposed by Senators Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Richard Blumenthal, aims to curb the distribution of child sexual abuse material onplatforms such as Facebook and Alphabets Google by making them liable for state prosecution and civil lawsuits.

It does so by threatening a key immunity the companies have under federal law called Section 230.

This law shields certain online platforms from being treated as the publisher or speaker of information they publish, and largely protects them from liability involving content posted by users.

The bill, The Eliminating Abuse and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2019, or the EARN IT Act, threatens this key immunity unless companies comply with a set of best practices, which will be determined by a 15-member commission led by the US attorney general.

The move is the latest example of how regulators and lawmakers in Washington are reconsidering the need for incentives that once helped online companies grow, but are increasingly viewed as impediments to curbing online crime, hate speech and extremism.

The sources said the US tech industry fears these best practices will be used to condemn end-to-end encryption a technology for privacy and security that scrambles messages so that they can be deciphered only by the sender and intended recipient.

Federal law enforcement agencies have complained that such encryption hinders their investigations.

Online platforms are exempted from letting law enforcement access their encrypted networks. The proposed legislation provides a workaround to bypass that, the sources said.

This a deeply dangerous and flawed piece of legislation that will put every Americans security at risk it is deeply irresponsible to try to undermine security for online communications, said Jesse Blumenthal, who leads technology and innovation at Stand Together, also known as the Koch network, funded by billionaire Charles Koch. The group sides with tech companies that have come under fire from lawmakers and regulators in Washington.

There is no such thing as a back door just for good guys that does not create a front door for bad guys, Blumenthal said.

On Wednesday last week, US Attorney General William Barr questioned whether Facebook, Google and other major online platforms still need the immunity from legal liability that has prevented them from being sued over material their users post.

During a Senate Judiciary hearing on encryption in December, a bipartisan group of senators warned tech companies that they must design their products encryption to comply with court orders.

Senator Graham issued a warning to Facebook and Apple: This time next year, if we havent found a way that you can live with, we will impose our will on you.

A spokeswoman for Senator Graham said on timing, other details, we dont have anything more to add right now.

She pointed Reuters to recent comments by the senator saying the legislation is not ready but getting close.

A spokeswoman for Senator Blumenthal said he was encouraged by the progress made by the bill.

A discussion draft of the EARN IT Act has been doing the rounds and has been criticized by technology companies. Reuters

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AES Encryption Software Market to Witness Increased Incremental Dollar Opportunity During the Forecast Period 2020 2026 | Dell, Eset, Gemalto, IBM,…

Global AES Encryption Software Market 2020 Report comprises of strong research of global business which empowers the consumer to look at the possible requirement as well as foresee the implementation. The restraints and drivers have been assembled following a deep study of the global AES Encryption Software Market proficiency. The development ratio thats requested from the viewpoint of the rational analysis offers detailed info of the global AES Encryption Software industry. AES Encryption Software Market Research report has analyzed all current trends and previous status of business under the supervision of business specialists. By which report supplies impending assessment of AES Encryption Software Market that includes market size in value and volume by region, manufacturers, kind and application.

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Top Companies in the AES Encryption Software Market Report:DellEsetGemaltoIBMMcafeeMicrosoftPkwareSophosSymantecThales E-SecurityTrend MicroCryptomathicStormshield

Description:

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AES Encryption Software Market Segmentation by Types:

On-premisesCloud

AES Encryption Software Market Segmentation by Applications:

Disk EncryptionFile/folder EncryptionDatabase EncryptionCommunication EncryptionCloud Encryption

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Table of Content:

1 Market Overview2 Companys Profiles3 Sales, Revenue and Market Share by companies4 Global Market Analysis by Regions5 North America by Country6 Europe by Country7 Asia-Pacific by Regions8 South America by Country9 Middle East & Africa by Countries10 Market Segment by Type11 Global AES Encryption Software Market Segment by Application12 Market Forecast13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers14 Research Findings and Conclusion15 Appendix

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AES Encryption Software Market to Witness Increased Incremental Dollar Opportunity During the Forecast Period 2020 2026 | Dell, Eset, Gemalto, IBM,...

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