Confidesk Makes Public Key Encryption Accessible to Everyday Users

(PRWEB) July 17, 2014

Confidesk has created two new tools that help its users safely and easily manage public key encryptions. The service is provided as part of a comprehensive suite of encryption tools, available on 5 platforms, including desktop and mobile devices.

The new feature-set allows users to individually generate or import encryption keys to their Confidesk accounts, easily transfer them to multiple devices, and use them for client side encryption. If a user configures a device, it can act as a secure extension to the users account, enabling the full protection of Confidesks platform to be accessible on-demand.

A single subscription allows users up to 6 accounts, with any changes made on one device automatically and securely updated across all approved devices. The service supports IOS, Android, Windows desktop, OSX and Linux through Confidesk's own applications.

Client Side Encryption is extremely important for any user working with personal, private and sensitive data, says Kyle Greenfield, Director of Marketing. The service helps minimize exposure to data leakage by encrypting files locally, while maintaining the accessibility and virtualization our users expect.

The focus of this release is to provide a user-friendly approach to encryption. The service provides real-time notifications when it is encrypting or decrypting your data, allowing the user to see first-hand when their data is transferred securely.

About Confidesk:

Confidesk AG offers affordable state-of-the-art encryption packages for individual and business clients. Headquartered in Switzerland to ensure the highest standard of individual privacy, Confidesk offers a suite of mobile and desktop applications for local encryption and secure mail and file storage. Visit http://www.confidesk.com for more information.

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Confidesk Makes Public Key Encryption Accessible to Everyday Users

Net neutrality becomes a key battleground in encryption fight

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By Stephen Lawson

July 18, 2014 01:42 PM ET

IDG News Service - Plans to favor some Internet packets over others threaten consumers' hard-won right to use encryption, a digital privacy advocate says.

Activists and tech companies fended off efforts in the U.S. in the 1990s to ban Internet encryption or give the government ways around it, but an even bigger battle over cryptography is brewing now, according to Sascha Meinrath, director of X-Lab, a digital civil-rights think tank launched earlier this year. One of the most contested issues in that battle will be net neutrality, Meinrath said.

The new fight will be even more fierce than the last one, because Internet service providers now see dollars and cents in the details of packets traversing their networks. They want to charge content providers for priority delivery of their packets across the network, something that a controversial Federal Communications Commission proposal could allow under certain conditions. Friday is the filing deadline for the first round of public comments on that plan.

Encrypted traffic can't be given special treatment because it can't be identified, Meinrath said. That could eliminate a major revenue source for ISPs, giving them a strong reason to oppose the use of encrypted services and potentially an indirect way to degrade their performance, he said. Meinrath laid out parts of this argument in a recent essay in the June issue of Critical Studies in Media Communication, called "Crypto War II" and written with tech policy activist Sean Vitka.

The U.S. government once sought to keep the country's cryptographic technology to itself or to hold onto the keys to all encrypted data. Opponents won out and opened the door to encrypted services people use every day, such as shopping and email. But the ability to use encryption is under fire both from government and potentially from ISPs' new business models, the essay said. The looming cryptography debate will also involve several other hot topics, including government surveillance spreading from networks into individual devices and the privacy of data generated by the "Internet of Things," the authors wrote.

Net neutrality could be important to the use of encryption in at least two ways, according to Meinrath. For one thing, if broadband capacity is scarce on a busy service-provider network, and some traffic gets paid priority, then other traffic could suffer. Encrypted traffic is likely to get the short end of that deal. For example, a streaming video service that was encrypted and couldn't be prioritized might stall or have longer buffer times if it had to share a crowded pipe with favored video streams.

In addition, ISPs might start to block encrypted traffic in order to maintain their business model. For example, if carriers can discriminate among applications, they can make some exempt from a user's data consumption cap. AT&T has already announced plans for such a service, called Sponsored Data, on its cellular data network. Among other things, this could allow content providers to cover the cost of delivering their data to consumers, making their content more attractive.

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Net neutrality becomes a key battleground in encryption fight

IEEE Projects 2014 |A Lightweight Encryption Scheme for Network-Coded Mobile Ad Hoc Networks – Video


IEEE Projects 2014 |A Lightweight Encryption Scheme for Network-Coded Mobile Ad Hoc Networks
Including Packages ======================= * Base Paper * Complete Source Code * Complete Documentation * Complete Presentation Slides * Flow Diagram * Datab...

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IEEE Projects 2014 |A Lightweight Encryption Scheme for Network-Coded Mobile Ad Hoc Networks - Video

Everything Is Broken

https://medium.com/message/everything-is-broken-81e5f33a24e1

Everything is Broken

Once upon a time, a friend of mine accidentally took over thousands of computers. He had found a vulnerability in a piece of software and started playing with it. In the process, he figured out how to get total administration access over a network. He put it in a script, and ran it to see what would happen, then went to bed for about four hours. Next morning on the way to work he checked on it, and discovered he was now lord and master of about 50,000 computers. After nearly vomiting in fear he killed the whole thing and deleted all the files associated with it. In the end he said he threw the hard drive into a bonfire. I can’t tell you who he is because he doesn’t want to go to Federal prison, which is what could have happened if he’d told anyone that could do anything about the bug he’d found. Did that bug get fixed? Probably eventually, but not by my friend. This story isn’t extraordinary at all. Spend much time in the hacker and security scene, you’ll hear stories like this and worse.
It’s hard to explain to regular people how much technology barely works, how much the infrastructure of our lives is held together by the IT equivalent of baling wire.
Computers, and computing, are broken.

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Enlocked Introduces Next Generation Encrypted Email Service

New Version Combines Superior Security with Unmatched Ease-of-Use; Ideal for Small Businesses, Independent Professionals & Privacy-Conscious Consumers

Enlocked, Inc. recently announced its next generation secure email encryption solution that brings military-grade email security to small businesses and independent professionals, without any of the complexities of traditional encryption technologies.

Users have become increasingly aware of the threat to their privacy, a result of mounting disclosures of data breaches and government monitoring. Despite that, email encryption has remained a cumbersome method to prevent the interception of secure digital communications and to comply with privacy laws.

The latest release of Enlocked encrypts and decrypts messages locally on the users computer, tablet or smartphone with a key that can only be unlocked with the users secure passphrase a passphrase that even Enlocked will never know. Messages are then sent over users own email services, so Enlocked never sees the unencrypted content. This means no one gaining access to a users email inbox, not even an email service provider or a government entity with a court order, can read Enlocked-secured messages.

Enlocked makes using email encryption as easy as sending any other email, with versions available as a browser-based client which requires no installation, called Enlocked Anywhere, as a plug-in for popular email clients including Google Gmail and Microsoft Outlook, or as an app for Apple or Android mobile devices. To send a secure email, just draft and address it as with any other message, and then press the Send Secure button when ready. There is no need to exchange keys in advance, or even to notify users that you will be sending a secure message. Recipients, even first time users of Enlocked, are able to quickly read messages after confirming their identity.

With its next generation of secure email services, Enlocked has brought to market the easiest way for doctors, attorneys, accountants and other business people who must send private information to patients, clients or customers; to be certain that it will be seen solely by the designated recipients, said Peter Swire, professor in the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Institute of Technology, who also served recently on President Obamas Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies.

This level of privacy is critical today not simply to comply with more stringent regulations and privacy laws but to better contend with the expanding rash of security breaches. Mounting evidence indicates smaller businesses are more vulnerable to such intrusions. Enlocked effectively reduces their exposure, said Swire, one of the framers of the HIPAA rules when he served as chief counselor for privacy in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration.

Modern healthcare involves the exchange of sensitive health issues and billing details with patients, other providers, and payers. Enlocked not only makes the secure email exchange of this private information easier and quicker, it also complies with HIPAA requirements for privacy of electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI).

HIPAA regulations made secure e-mail inevitable, said Jo Thomas, office manager of Idaho Falls, Idaho-based Zohner Neuro Psychiatric Services. Our doctors needed a safe yet simple way to get reports and dictation emailed to transcriptionists outside the office. We looked at a number of options and found Enlocked to be the least complicated and very affordable. I would not hesitate to recommend Enlocked to other providers, Thomas said.

Special Limited Time Offer for New Users Enlocked also announced today that any new users who register for the service by July 31, 2014 will receive a free gold subscription good until December 31, 2014, allowing up to 2,000 secure messages to be sent each month. A savings of more than $100, this offer is valid for any individual user, or for the first 10 email addresses at private businesses. See the Enlocked home page for details or to sign up. For larger organizations, please contact Enlocked to get 10 free users plus discounted rates for any additional users.

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Enlocked Introduces Next Generation Encrypted Email Service

NSA Spying Hurts Cybersecurity for All of Us Say Privacy Advocates

Some commentary from security advocates, including cryptography writer Bruce Schneier.

http://time.com/2966463/nsa-spying-surveillance-cybersecurity-privacy-advocates-schneier/

NSA Spying Hurts Cybersecurity for All of Us Say Privacy Advocates

The surveillance debate has focused on the legality of spying on Americans but some say the biggest danger is in the methods the NSA uses

Privacy advocates Monday slammed the National Security Agency for conducting surveillance in a way they say undermines cybersecurity for everyone and harms U.S. tech companies.

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