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Privacy

The Internet of Things: Legal Woes for CIOs | CIO

August 22, 2014 Paul Roberts

Stephanie Overby over at CIOs has an interesting piece today on the legal pitfalls that Internet of Things adoption may hold for chief information officers (CIOs). While the prospect of more, intelligent devices holds great promise for organizations across the economy, Overby notes that there are also risks – especially when it comes to the wholesale harvesting of customer data. “Many of the legal issues are not well understood even by sophisticated privacy practitioners,” the article quotes Christopher Wolf, a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells saying. “In the world of sensors rather than computer screens, the legal issues are challenging.” CIOs are advised to consider “self-regulating” around issues like privacy, security and consent, to stay on the right side of the evolving law. CIOs should scrutinize every decision to collect user information and ask whether the benefits to collecting the data outweigh the potential costs, especially in the event of […]

Report: Android Shield Adds Invisible Encryption To Mobile Apps

August 19, 2014 Paul Roberts

Wired reports on a team from Georgia Tech that has designed software that acts as an overlay on Android smartphones’ communication applications, encrypting communications to and from those apps, while mimicking their user interface. The researchers describe the technology as a “transparent window” over apps that prevents unencrypted messages from leaving the user’s device. “The window acts as a proxy between the user and the app. But the beauty of it is that users feel like they’re interacting with the original app without much, if any, change,” says Wenke Lee, the Georgia Tech professor who led the developers. “Our goal is to make security that’s as easy as air. You just breathe and don’t even think about it.” The researchers call their prototype Mimesis Aegis, or M-Aegis, Latin for “mimicry shield.” They plan to present their research at the Usenix Security conference this week. Read more via Wired: This Android Shield Could […]

McAfee sideshow eclipses Defcon’s real security breakthroughs | Security – InfoWorld

August 14, 2014 Paul Roberts

The onetime technology wunderkind, who left a job working for Lockheed to turn his curiosity about computer viruses into a thriving, global corporation showed up at two Las Vegas hacker cons last week: B-Sides Las Vegas and DEFCON. He offered some off-the-cuff rebukes to firms like Google. He also rambled long and hard about the dark forces that pursue him: the U.S. government, the government of Belize, Central American drug cartels and script kiddies desperate for his (virtual) scalp. Everywhere he goes, people take his picture. Who are they working for? The phones and computers he buys are bugged. His movements are being tracked. Those in attendance were admonished to beware of government snooping — especially via mobile applications. “Without privacy there is no freedom,” McAfee intoned. Listening to McAfee rant, it’s easy to forget there were plenty of folks walking the halls of Defcon, Black Hat, and B-Sides […]

Security Experts call for Action on Connected Auto Safety

August 8, 2014 Paul Roberts

A non-profit group that represents prominent computer security researchers has issued an open letter to the automotive industry calling for more collaboration on cyber security issues. The group, I Am The Cavalry said the automotive industry needs to elevate cyber security to put it on par with other vehicle safety issues. The announcement, on Friday at DEF CON 22 in Las Vegas – an annual hacker conference – included a letter to CEOs in the automotive industry, calling for the adoption of “five key capabilities that create a baseline for safety relating to the computer systems in cars.” The letter asks for safety to be built into the design of computer systems in vehicles. “Increasing reliance on computer systems and internet connectivity in cars is opening up a whole new area of consumer risk, much of which is still being investigated and understood,” the group said. “Modern cars are computers […]

Dan Geer’s Other Keynote: Embedded Devices Need A Time To Die

August 4, 2014 Paul Roberts

With the Black Hat Conference well under way and DEFCON starting later this week, the security world’s attention will turn to Las Vegas, where some of the cyber security industry’s top researchers and thinkers will be holding court. One of the most anticipated talks is the Black Hat Briefings opening keynote. This year, the honor goes to none other than Dr. Dan Geer, the CISO of In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the U.S. intelligence sector. Geer’s talk on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 is entitled “Cybersecurity as Realpolitik.” In anticipation of Dr. Geer’s Black Hat, we’re releasing another recent talk he gave: this one a keynote speech at our May, 2014 Security of Things Forum in Cambridge, MA. In this talk, Dan focused on the security of embedded devices and the fast-emerging Internet of Things. (A full transcript of the talk is available here.) “The embedded systems space, already bigger than what is normally thought of as […]