Tag Archives: encryption

Newly discovered ransomware uses BitLocker to encrypt victim data

reader comments 36 A previously unknown piece of ransomware, dubbed ShrinkLocker, encrypts victim data using the BitLocker feature built into the Windows operating system. BitLocker is a full-volume encryptor that debuted in 2007 with the release of Windows Vista. Users employ it to encrypt entire hard drives to prevent people from reading or modifying data… Read More »

Novel attack against virtually all VPN apps neuters their entire purpose

Getty Images reader comments 123 Researchers have devised an attack against nearly all virtual private network applications that forces them to send and receive some or all traffic outside of the encrypted tunnel designed to protect it from snooping or tampering. TunnelVision, as the researchers have named their attack, largely negates the entire purpose and… Read More »

Hackers infect users of antivirus service that delivered updates over HTTP

Getty Images reader comments 16 Hackers abused an antivirus service for five years in order to infect end users with malware. The attack worked because the service delivered updates over HTTP, a protocol vulnerable to attacks that corrupt or tamper with data as it travels over the Internet. The unknown hackers, who may have ties… Read More »

Hackers can read private AI assistant chats even though they’re encrypted

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images reader comments 22 AI assistants have been widely available for a little more than a year, and they already have access to our most private thoughts and business secrets. People ask them about becoming pregnant or terminating or preventing pregnancy, consult them when considering a divorce, seek information about drug… Read More »

SSH protects the world’s most sensitive networks. It just got a lot weaker

Enlarge / Terrapin is coming for your data. Aurich Lawson | Getty Images reader comments 65 Sometime around the start of 1995, an unknown person planted a password sniffer on the network backbone of Finland’s Helsinki University of Technology (now known as Aalto University). Once in place, this piece of dedicated hardware surreptitiously inhaled thousands… Read More »

The Signal Protocol used by 1+ billion people is getting a post-quantum makeover

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images reader comments 53 with The Signal Foundation, maker of the Signal Protocol that encrypts messages sent by more than a billion people, has rolled out an update designed to prepare for a very real prospect that’s never far from the thoughts of just about every security engineer on the planet:… Read More »

Researchers find deliberate backdoor in police radio encryption algorithm

reader comments 62 with For more than 25 years, a technology used for critical data and voice radio communications around the world has been shrouded in secrecy to prevent anyone from closely scrutinizing its security properties for vulnerabilities. But now it’s finally getting a public airing thanks to a small group of researchers in the… Read More »

The US Navy, NATO, and NASA are using a shady Chinese company’s encryption chips

reader comments 52 with From TikTok to Huawei routers to DJI drones, rising tensions between China and the US have made Americans—and the US government—increasingly wary of Chinese-owned technologies. But thanks to the complexity of the hardware supply chain, encryption chips sold by the subsidiary of a company specifically flagged in warnings from the US… Read More »

Hackers can steal cryptographic keys by video-recording power LEDs 60 feet away

Enlarge / Left: a smart card reader processing the encryption key of an inserted smart card. Right: a surveillance camera video records the reader’s power LED from 60 feet away. Nassi et al. reader comments 33 with Researchers have devised a novel attack that recovers the secret encryption keys stored in smart cards and smartphones… Read More »