keys

Around one in a million computer encryption keys are faulty and could be compromised according to researchers. While it sounds like an obscure issue, it could be exploited by security agencies at both friendly and hostile governments. The problem is ... with the RSA encryption that's widely used for online security. It works by users having two security keys (lengthy codes), one public and one private. The public key is used for encrypting data, while the private key is needed to decrypt it. The system also allows users to "sign" encrypted messages so that recipients know the supposed sender is ... (view more)

The FBI says it disrupted a major ransomware network that had already taken around $100 million in payments. It says its work to infiltrate the Hive group saved a potential $130 million in future demands. The group is said to have compromised ... networks run by hospitals and schools among other organizations. The $100 million compares with an estimated annual total of $886 million payments in the US across all ransomware attacks. (Source: nbcnews.com ) Scammers Pay Royalties Hive is one of the more notorious "ransomware-as-a-service" groups. Its business model means individual attackers will use ... (view more)

Google is giving free USB security keys to around 10,000 users whose accounts are at particular risk. They include politicians and human rights activists. The move follows a targeted campaign linked to Russian hackers to try to trick such users into ... revealing their passwords. The attackers could then not only look for sensitive information in email archives but also use the hijacked accounts to spread misinformation. The USB keys use the two-factor authentication approach , adding an extra level of protection, meaning that simply getting somebody's password wasn't necessarily enough to get ... (view more)

Hackers have forced a hotel to ditch its electronic room key system and return to physical keys. But reports that guests were locked in and out of their room turned out to be overblown. The Seehotel Jaegewirt in Austria has been targeted by at least ... four different attacks on its computer system. The most recent involved the system data being encrypted and the hackers demanding a payment in the virtual currency Bitcoin equivalent to around $1,600. The hotel mentioned the attack in a press release designed to raise awareness and warn other hotels of the need to maintain security. A news agency ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed it automatically uploads Windows 10 disk encryption keys to its servers. The company says it was a deliberate decision based on weighing up the worst case scenarios. The encryption key in question is not related to logging ... into and running Windows itself. Instead its an encryption of the entire hard drive of the device running Windows 10. This means that if somebody physically steals your computer, they can't make any sense of the data, even if it's been copied to another device (using a disk image backup, for example). Encryption Key Would Help Computer Thieves ... (view more)

Google's chief executive officer is promising Google users that their data is safe from the prying eyes of National Security Agency (NSA) officials. Eric Schmidt made that claim before a large audience at the South by Southwest Interactive ... conference, which is being held in Austin, Texas. When asked how he felt after it was revealed that the NSA had worked with Britain's top surveillance agency, the GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) to infiltrate Google's data centers, Schmidt admitted that he was shocked. "The very fact that they did this was very suspicious to ... (view more)