In the News: Government Malware Disguised as Android Apps
A report by Vice News [1] published last week points to a report made by the cybersecurity group Security Without Borders [2] about Android malware that disguises itself as innocuous apps on Google’s Play Store. While disguising malicious software as harmless applications is not a technique that is new [3], the article published by Vice […]
In the News: Reverse Location Search Warrant Leads Investigators to Google Location Users
Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have been using reverse location search warrants to find the identities of smartphone owners that were at a crime scene. They accomplish this by issuing a warrant for Google to send the identity, billing and contact information, and web browsing history of all smartphones that reported that their Google Location […]
In the News: Japanese Government to Test IoT Devices by Hacking
The Japanese government amended a law [1] on January 25, 2019 that would allow internet-connected devices to be tested in a trial by fire, or in this case, trial by hacking. Specifically, they want to test the robustness of the default passwords and security set by various Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, including smart doorbells, locks, lights, […]
Digital Identity Digest (October 2018)
Could facial recognition be a tool for dangerous mass surveillance? An Amazon employee published an anonymous op-ed on Medium speaking out against the company’s decision to sell its facial recognition product, Rekognition, to police in the U.S. They believe it’s a system for dangerous mass surveillance, which reinforces existing bias as demonstrated in a test […]
In the News: Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance: “Privacy is not Absolute”
Five Eyes (FVEY) Intelligence Alliance is a multi-national agreement for signals intelligence between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom [1]. This group emerged as a result of the 1943 Britain-United States of America Agreement (1943 BRUSA Agreement)[2]. Although the treaty was signed and enacted in 1943, the public was only […]
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