“Current and former top executives at SolarWinds are blaming a company intern for a critical lapse in password security that apparently went undiagnosed for years,” reports CNN. The password in question, “solarwinds123,” was discovered in 2019 on the public internet by an independent security researcher who warned the company that the leak had exposed a SolarWinds file server… It is still…
Tag: spying
After Researchers Raise Spying Concerns, Clubhouse Promises Blocks on Transmitting to Chinese Servers
“The developers of audio chat room app Clubhouse plan to add additional encryption to prevent it from transmitting pings to servers in China,” reports The Verge, “after Stanford researchers said they found vulnerabilities in its infrastructure.” In a new report, the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) said it confirmed that Shanghai-based company Agora Inc., which makes real-time engagement software, “supplies back-end infrastructure…
US: Hack of Federal Agencies ‘Likely Russian In Origin’
Top national security agencies in a rare joint statement Tuesday confirmed that Russia was likely responsible for a massive hack of U.S. government departments and corporations, rejecting President Donald Trump’s claim that China might be to blame. The Associated Press reports: The statement represented the U.S. government’s first formal attempt to assign responsibility for the breaches at multiple agencies and to…
Edward Snowden Urges Donations to the EFF
In October, Edward Snowden was granted permanent residency in Russia. A new web page by the EFF applauds his past activities as a U.S. whistleblower. “His revelations about secret surveillance programs opened the world’s eyes to a new level of government misconduct, and reinvigorated EFF’s continuing work in the courts and with lawmakers to end unlawful mass spying.” And then they…
China Accused of Spying On Americans Via Caribbean Phone Networks
“A mobile security expert has accused China of exploiting cellphone networks in the Caribbean to conduct ‘mass surveillance’ on Americans,” reports Newsweek: Gary Miller, a former vice president of network security at California-based analytics company Mobileum, told The Guardian he had amassed evidence of espionage conducted via “decades-old vulnerabilities” in the global telecommunications system. While not explicitly mentioned in the report,…
Report Claims Huawei Finance Chief Meng Wanzhou Could Be Set Free In Exchange of Admitting Guilt
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC.ca: The U.S. Justice Department is talking to representatives of Meng Wanzhou about a potential deal that would allow the Chinese telecom executive to return home from Canada in exchange for signing a deferred prosecution agreement admitting criminal wrongdoing, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Meng, the chief financial officer of…
ZTE’s Designation as Security Threat Affirmed by US FCC
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission affirmed its decision to designate ZTE as a national security threat over concerns telecommunications gear made by the Chinese company could be used for spying. From a report: The action shows that the FCC remains determined to drive ZTE and fellow Shenzhen-based manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co. from the U.S. market, where small rural carriers rely on…
Apple Responds To Gatekeeper Issue With Upcoming Fixes
Apple has updated a documentation page detailing the company’s next steps to prevent last week’s Gatekeeper bug from happening again. The company plans to implement the fixes over the next year. From a report: Apple had a difficult launch day last week. The company released macOS Big Sur, a major update for macOS. Apple then suffered from server-side issues. Third-party apps…
Your Computer Isn’t Yours
Security researcher Jeffrey Paul, writes in a blog post: On modern versions of macOS, you simply can’t power on your computer, launch a text editor or eBook reader, and write or read, without a log of your activity being transmitted and stored. It turns out that in the current version of the macOS, the OS sends to Apple a hash (unique…
Swiss Report Reveals New Details On CIA Spying Operation
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Washington Post: The CIA and German intelligence jeopardized Switzerland’s historic reputation for neutrality by using a Swiss company as a platform for a global espionage operation for decades, according to a report released Tuesday by members of the Swiss parliament. Investigators concluded that Swiss authorities were aware of, and at times complicit in,…