Apple Delays Requirement for App Transport Security
Apple has pushed back a deadline for developers to support a key transport security technology in apps submitted to the company’s app stores. Officials said at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this year that developers would have to support Apple Transport Security by the end of 2016. But on Wednesday, the company announced that […]
House Working Group Says Don’t Weaken Encryption
In a year-end report, a key congressional working group on encryption said that any governmental initiative to backdoor encryption systems is against the interests of the country and that there is no clear solution to the battle over encryption right now. The Encryption Working Group, comprised of members of the House Judiciary Committee and House Energy […]
Prosecutor: Some Encryption a ‘Threat to Our Ability to Protect’ Americans
The deployment of default strong encryption on mobile devices and U.S. companies storing user data in foreign countries is hampering the ability of law enforcement to protect Americans from cyber crime and other threats, a top U.S. prosecutor said. In a speech Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said prosecutors and law enforcement agencies across the country are […]
Google, Facebook, Twitter Ask Trump to Protect Strong Crypto
A group of powerful technology vendors and Internet firms, including Google, Twitter, Uber, Amazon, and Facebook, have sent a letter to Donald Trump’s transition team asking the president-elect to protect the use of strong encryption and consider reforms of the mass surveillance laws. The letter, written by the Internet Association, includes several pages of policy […]
Audit of Signal Protocol Finds it Secure and Trustworthy
A group of academic security researchers has reviewed the security of the Signal protocol, which is used in the Signal encrypted messaging app as well as in many third-party apps, and found that it is both secure and resistant to attack. The review, conducted by researchers from universities in the U.K., Canada, and Australia, looked at […]
More Than Half of All Pages on Chrome Loaded Over HTTPS
After years of encouraging site owners to transition to HTTPS by default, Google officials say that the effort has begun to pay off. The company’s data now shows that more than half of all pages loaded by Chrome on desktop platforms are served over HTTPS. Google has been among the louder advocates for the increased […]
Mozilla to Ship TLS 1.3 in Firefox 52
Mozilla plans to implement the next version of the TLS specification in an upcoming release of its Mozilla browser. TLS 1.3 will be shipped in Firefox 52, which is scheduled for release in March 2017. Mozilla’s Martin Thomson said in an email to the Mozilla development group Wednesday that the company will include TLS 1.3 […]
Congress Wants Answers on Yahoo Email Scanning
Nearly 50 members of Congress are demanding information from the director of national intelligence about the email scanning order that the Department of Justice reportedly delivered to Yahoo last year. The order, which was revealed earlier this month in stories by Reuters, reportedly required the company to create a system that would inspect all incoming emails […]
Signal Adds Expiring Messages to Encrypted Chats
The steady march toward greater use of encryption and increased privacy in mobile communications has taken another step forward with Signal, the encrypted messaging app, introducing disappearing messages. The newest version of Signal for both iOS and Android, as well as the desktop app, include the feature, which enables users to set timers for when […]