In The News

iOS Trojan Spies on Hong Kong Protesters

Stephanie Mlot October 2, 2014
A massive group of protesters using smart phones, all eager for specific news about their event, clicking on links, is a ripe target for cyber-surveillance. Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong suspect that China has infiltrated their phones with a fake application that is really a Trojan for the Apple mobile operating system, or iOS. Similar reports have emerged about Android phones, too....

Targeting Turkey: How Germany Spies on Its Friends

Nikolaus Blome, Hubert Gude, Sven Röbel, Jörg Schindler and Fidelius Schmid August 20, 2014
Germany has been a leading critic of the widespread US National Security Agency surveillance program, yet the country has also done its share of spying on friends and allies, including former and current secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry as well as Turkey. The intended target for the US officials was Islamic terrorists, but “intelligence sources now say that US office holders...

The Social Laboratory

Shane Harris August 4, 2014
Big data – “emails, phone logs, Internet searches, airline reservations, hotel bookings, credit card transactions, medical reports” – can point to patterns in motivation and behavior. Eager to expand such programs for security purposes, some US officials envy Singapore’s law-and-order attitudes and the uninterrupted power of the People's Action Party since 1959: “They are drawn not just to...

Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

Kim Zitter July 30, 2014
Politicians in the United States have not considered the economic ramifications of intrusive National Security Agency surveillance, bulk collection of data stored for future examination and a cavalier attitude that security fears trump privacy protections. Exposure of the surveillance capabilities have “had a profound impact on the economy, the security of the internet and the credibility of the...

Russia Clampdown Stokes Fears of Balkanization of the Web

Kathrin Hille July 11, 2014
Governments and tech companies continue to tussle over control of the internet. Russia’s parliament approved “a bill requiring all technology companies to store the personal data of their Russian users in the country,” reports Kathrin Hille for the Financial Times. “The Russian clampdown is the first serious move to assert national control over segments of the web in the wake of the revelation of...

US Secret Service Wants Sarcasm-Detection Tool for Twitter

Sophie Curtis June 23, 2014
Understanding the tone and trends of social media is essential in the modern world. The US Secret Service monitors the short, fast messages in search of security targets and has put out a request for proposals on a software system that can analyze social-media data with the ability to "detect sarcasm and false positives," reports Sophie Curtis for the Telegraph. “As well as detecting...

China’s Cyberespionage Presents a 21st-Century Challenge

Fareed Zakaria May 23, 2014
China, with budget surpluses and plenty of cash, balances old and new strategies in foreign relations. Trade, energy deals, assertive territorial claims, aid, spying are all part of the mix, suggests Fareed Zakaria in an opinion essay for the Washington Post. The United States has charged five Chinese military personnel for economic cyberespionage conducted against US companies. Analysts suggest...