Bruce Schneier

February 22, 2016

The Lowdown on the Apple-FBI Showdown

This post was originally published on this siteMany readers have asked for a primer summarizing the privacy and security issues at stake in the the dispute between Apple and the U.S. Justice Department, which last week convinced a judge in California to order Apple to unlock an iPhone used by one of assailants in the recent San Bernardino massacres. I don’t have much original reporting to contribute on this important debate, but I’m visiting it here because it’s a complex topic that deserves the broadest possible public scrutiny. Image: Elin Korneliussen (@elincello) A federal magistrate in California approved an order (PDF) granting the […]
October 8, 2016

Europe to Push New Security Rules Amid IoT Mess

This post was originally published on this siteThe European Commission is drafting new cybersecurity requirements to beef up security around so-called Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as Web-connected security cameras, routers and digital video recorders (DVRs). News of the expected proposal comes as security firms are warning that a great many IoT devices are equipped with little or no security protections. According to a report at Euractive.com, the Commission is planning the new IoT rules as part of a new plan to overhaul the European Union’s telecommunications laws. “The Commission would encourage companies to come up with a labeling system […]
November 16, 2016

Chinese IoT Firm Siphoned Text Messages, Call Records

This post was originally published on this siteA Chinese technology firm has been siphoning text messages and call records from cheap Android-based mobile smart phones and secretly sending the data to servers in China, researchers revealed this week. The revelations came the same day the White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued sweeping guidelines aimed at building security into Internet-connected devices, and just hours before a key congressional panel sought recommendations from industry in regulating basic security standards for so-called “Internet of Things” devices. At the center of the spyware controversy is software made by Shanghai ADUPS Technology, […]