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Real people don’t (just) need encryption / Boing Boing – Boing Boing

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Earlier this month, UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd idiotically insisted that "real people" don't need encrypted messaging apps; but as foolish a statement as that was, there was a kernel of truth to it.

Because real people don't just need encrypted messaging apps that offer end-to-end protection, they also need end-point security -- the kinds of thoughtful design and expedient updating and transparent code that enables them to defend their devices from attackers who gain access to their messages by compromising their phones and computers.

Computer scientist Megan Square writes in The Conversation that "Inventing new ways to protect our digital endpoints without reducing their usefulness is very challenging, but some new technologies just over the horizon might help."

Suppose a criminal organization or bad government, EvilRegime, wants to spy on you and everyone you communicate with. To protect yourself, you've installed an end-to-end encryption tool, such as Signal, for messaging. This makes eavesdropping even with a court's permission that much more difficult for EvilRegime.

But what if EvilRegime tricks you into installing spyware on your device? For example, they could swap out a legitimate upgrade of your favorite game, "ClashBirds," with a compromised version. Or, EvilRegime could use a malware "network investigative technique" as a backdoor into your machine. With control of your endpoint, EvilRegime can read your messages as you type them, even before they are encrypted.

To guard against either type of EvilRegime's trickery, we need to improve our endpoint security game in a few key ways, making sure that:

* EvilRegime isn't masquerading as the company that makes "ClashBirds" when we install our software.

* No one has tampered with our "ClashBirds" app before or after installation.

* The app doesn't have any backdoors or security holes that could be exploited by EvilRegime after we install it.

In addition, it would be ideal if users could control their apps' security themselves, rather than having to rely on app store security provided by yet another vulnerable corporation.

End-to-end encryption isn't enough security for 'real people' [Megan Squire/The Conversation]

(Image: johnnymip, CC-BY)

A group of researchers from Oxford and TU Berlin will present their paper, White-Stingray: Evaluating IMSI Catchers Detection Applications at the Usenix Workshop on Offensive Technologies, demonstrating countermeasures that Stingray vendors could use to beat Stingrays and other cell-site simulators (AKA IMSI catchers).

The $469 LockState RemoteLock 6i is a smart lock that is sold to Airbnb operators through a partnership with the company, allowing Airbnb hosts to generate and expire unique, per-tenant unlock codes.

Ziemowit Pierzycki bought a $1500 used lens from an Amazon seller who turned out to be a scammer with an ingenious trick: the crook researched a recently widowed person across town and sent them a parcel with a couple of baking mats addressed to the deceased or current resident.

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Real people don't (just) need encryption / Boing Boing - Boing Boing

Top 10 Enterprise Encryption Products – eSecurity Planet

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A decade ago, encryption was hot enterprise security news. As a measure of its effectiveness as a technology, it has been incorporated as a key feature in many security suites since. But that doesn't mean it has faded in importance. With so many incidents of ransomware, fraud and data breaches in the news, encrypting sensitive data remains a vital necessity. (For more on how encryption works and how to evaluate encryption products, see the eSecurity Planet article Full Disk Encryption Buyer's Guide.)

The encryption products covered here are those that have stood the test of time. In the early years of the millennium, there were scores of encryption tools available. But through consolidation, acquisition and attrition, these are the ones that have emerged in what can now be considered a mature market.

Research and product evaluation are necessities, as there remains great diversity among the various options. Some tools work well in certain environments and poorly in others. Incompatibility issues can arise. And the sheer volume of data in existence means that datasets have to be prioritized as part of enterprise encryption management it may not be feasible, in some cases, to encrypt everything.

"Many vendors' encryption products are using proprietary interfaces that are incompatible with other vendor key managers," said Gartner analyst Brian Lowans. "The wide variety of encryption products and vendors makes the selection process problematic."

Here, then, are ten of the top enterprise encryption vendors and their products, followed by a chart comparing encryption product features. Key features include endpoint encryption (hard drive and removable media, email encryption, file encryption, on premises and in the cloud cloud), centralized management, key management, authentication, and integration with other security tools.

IBM Guardium Data Encryption performs encryption and decryption operations with minimal performance impact. Features include centralized key and policy management, compliance-ready, and granular encryption of files and folders, as well as volumes of data, each protected under its own encryption key.

See our in-depth look at IBM Guardium Data Encryption.

The Check Point Full Disk Encryption Software Blade provides automatic security for all information on endpoint hard drives, including user data, operating system files and temporary and erased files. Multi-factor pre-boot authentication ensures user identity.

See our in-depth look at Check Point Full Disk Encryption Software Blade.

DESlock encryption by ESET has a web-based management console that allows multi-user administration across the network. Additional features include remote device wipe, simplified key sharing, and encryption policy setting and enforcement. Centralized management delivers the ability to control devices anywhere in the world.

See our in-depth look at Eset DESlock.

Dell Encryption Enterprise provides software-based, data-centric encryption that protects all data types on multiple endpoints and operating systems. It integrates with existing security platforms and tools, and enables IT to manage encryption policies for multiple endpoints from a single management console. In addition, the encryption tool allows IT to rapidly enforce encryption policies on system drives or external media without end-user intervention.

See our in-depth look at Dell Encryption Enterprise.

McAfee Complete Data Protection comprises data loss prevention, full-disk encryption, device control, and protection for cloud storage as part of an integrated suite. Centralized policy management is provided by the McAfee ePO management console to provide remote access.

See our in-depth look at McAfee Complete Data Protection.

HPE SecureData provides an end-to-end data-centric approach to enterprise data protection, securing data persistently at rest, in motion and in use. It protects data at the field level, preserves format and context, and provides granular policy controls. It offers security controls for Big Data applications too.

See our in-depth look at HPE SecureData.

GravityZone Full Disk Encryption leverages encryption capabilities provided by Windows (BitLocker) and Mac (FileVault) platforms. Encryption management is done from the same cloud or on-premises console used for endpoint protection.

See our in-depth look at Bitdefender GravityZone.

Sophos encryption products include mobile recovery of BitLocker or FileVault recovery keys, and granting of access to encrypted files based on the security state of the endpoint. Further, they provide full disk encryption, central management for Windows BitLocker and macOS FileVault, service-to-service key recovery, role-based access, and application-based encryption.

See our in-depth look at Sophos SafeGuard.

Symantec's integrated encryption product line includes endpoint, email and file encryption. Endpoint encryption encompasses full disk encryption, cloud data encryption, policy enforcement integration, and encryption of messages from Apple iOS and Android.

See our in-depth look at Symantec Encryption.

Trend Micro Endpoint Encryption provides full disk encryption, folder and file encryption, and removable media encryption. A single management console allows clients to manage encryption along with other Trend Micro security products.

See our in-depth look at Trend Micro Endpoint Encryption.

Below is a chart comparing key features of top enterprise encryption products.

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Top 10 Enterprise Encryption Products - eSecurity Planet

Innovation may be outpacing security in cars – ITProPortal

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As the UK governments car cybersec guidelines recognise, innovation may be outpacing security in cars. When you put new technology into cars, youll inevitably run into security challenges. For example:

Vehicle manufacturers need to adopt a cybersecurity approach that addresses not only obvious exposures in their cars software, but also the hidden vulnerabilities that could be introduced by open source components in that software.

Software Used in Autos is Built on a Core of Open Source

Open source use is pervasive across every industry vertical, including the automotive industry. A study conducted in early 2017 by Black Ducks Center for Open Source Research and Innovation (COSRI) examining findings from the anonymised data of more than 1,000 commercial applications found open source components in 96% of the applications scanned. On average, open source comprised 36% of the code base in these applications.

When it comes to software, every auto manufacturer and their suppliers want to spend less time on what are becoming commoditiessuch as the core operating system and components connecting the various pieces togetherand focus on features that will differentiate their brand. The open source model supports that objective by expediting every aspect of agile product development.

Open source software is not more secure nor less secure than proprietary software; its software, and therefore will have vulnerabilities. But the argument could be made that vulnerabilities in open source are more prone to attack since those vulnerabilities are often widely reported. Open source exploits are also often published simultaneously with the announcement of a vulnerability. With open source components making up as much as 90 percent or more of the average commercial application, open source is a rich target for hackers; a single exploit could compromise multiple software and applications, giving attackers the biggest bang for their hacking chops.

Whether open source or proprietary code, most known vulnerabilities also have patches available on the date of their disclosure. The open source community generally does a good job in discovering and reporting vulnerabilities. Over 3,600 open source vulnerabilities were reported in 2016 alone. But an alarming number of companies and individuals simply do not apply patches, sometimes due to lack of time, money, and resources or concerns that the patch might break a currently-working system.

In other cases, its a lack of insightpeople or organisations are simply unaware of a critical vulnerability or its patch until theyre under attack. Another reason of concern for use of open source in voting machines is, that unlike most proprietary software, open source has a pull support model. That is, you are responsible for keeping track of the open source you use, as well as monitoring for vulnerabilities and installing fixes and updates for the open source your voting machine might use. Unless an organisation is aware that a vulnerable open source component is in its software, its highly probable that that component will remain unpatched and open to exploit.

Just as lean manufacturing and ISO-9000 practices brought greater agility and quality to the automotive industry, visibility and control over open source will be essential to maintaining the security of automotive software applications.

Examining the Key Principles of Vehicle Cyber Security

The car cybersecurity guidelines follow good security practices, including executive support (Principle 1), risk assessments both internally and through the supply chain (Principle 2), and a plan for addressing vulnerabilities as they arise (Principle 3). It reflects its automotive and manufacturing focus most clearly, however, in Principle 6: the security of all software is managed throughout its lifetime.

To mass produce automobiles and maintain an accurate and responsive supply chain, a list of parts is required. The industry solved this over 100 years ago by adopting a bill of materials listing every part down to the individual screws and bolts. When a defective part was discovered, using the bill of materials made it simple to track where those parts were used and quickly remediate the issue. Principle 6 reimagines this for tracking and maintaining the hundreds of millions of lines of software in todays cars.

The Automotive Supply Chain Makes Tracking Code Difficult

Classically we think of software being created by internal development teams. But auto manufacturers rely on hundreds of independent vendors supplying hardware and software components to Tier 1 and 2 vendors as well as directly to OEMs.

The software from each of those vendors is likely to be a mix of custom code written by the vendor and third-party code, both proprietary and open source. With tens of millions of lines of code executing on a growing number of microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs) networked throughout the car, understanding exactly which open source components are part of the mix can be extremely difficult for the OEMs. When you add in the fact that over 3,000 open source vulnerabilities are reported every year, the security implications are disturbing.

Product Lifecycles Present Long-term Maintenance Challenges

The average cell phone has a life of 2-3 years, and receives regular operating systems updates and probably hundreds of app updates each year. Similarly, most laptops are replaced after a few years of use, and receive regular updates and patches, and will likely be replaced after 3-5 years. This is the typical lifecycle software vendors are used to addressing.

A modern car, however, is in design for years prior to production, and the average vehicle may be on the road for 10-15 years. Supporting software over that period of time will require a different thought process. Vendors (and open source communities) need to be considered in light of the operational risk they present. Questions vendors need to ask include:

When Car Safety Becomes a Function of Software, Software Security is Essential

Lets be clear. The software included in todays vehicles makes driving safer. Whether its collision avoidance or airbags, we have the benefit of sensors and software helping protect drivers and the general public. The terrorist truck attack in Berlins Christmas market last year could have been much worse, had the vehicles anti-collision software not stopped the truck.

The increased use of software and open source requires a new approach to product safety, and is captured well by the UK guidelines. When a supplier or auto OEM is not aware all the open source in use in its products software, it cant defend against attacks targeting vulnerabilities in those open source components. As open source use continues to increase in the auto industry, effective management of open source security and license compliance risk will become increasingly important.

To defend against open source security threats and compliance risks, both auto OEMS and their suppliers should adopt open source management practices that:

By integrating risk management processes and automated solutions into their software supply chain, automakers, suppliers, and technology companies servicing the automotive industry can maximise the benefits of open source while effectively managing their risks.

Mike Pittenger, Vice President Security Strategy, Black Duck Software

Image Credit: Gargantiopa / Shutterstock

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David Sacks: Cryptocurrency fulfills the ‘original vision’ we tried to build at PayPal – CNBC

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Jackson: That brings to mind the recent investor letter which Oaktree's Howard Marks sent out in which he said that Bitcoin and other digital assets aren't real. What do you say to that?

Sacks: Marks isn't wrong to raise an alarm bell about speculation, but he's wrong in saying it's not "real." That's like saying software isn't real. Of course it's real.

Did the U.S. dollar become less real when it stopped being backed by gold? Cryptocurrency is the next step in that same evolution to make currency more virtual.

In its purest form, currency is confidence. It's a network effect around an agreed-upon medium of exchange that has some promise of scarcity. Bitcoin enforces its scarcity through a combination of cryptography and economic incentives ("cryptoeconomics"). A lot of people find that more comforting than relying on the good faith of a government. In math we trust.

People in the U.S. and especially longtime participants in the U.S. financial system have tended to underestimate bitcoin because we have long enjoyed relatively stable political and financial systems. People in parts of the world with less trusted systems have gotten it sooner because almost anything would be preferable to having their life's work trapped in a fiat currency that could collapse or be confiscated at any moment.

Jackson: If the current moment with cryptocurrencies is like the dot-com era, does that make it a bubble, and if so are we in 1995 or 1999?

Sacks: The technology is probably 1995 and the pricing is either 1999 or getting close. It's a combination of something real with a lot of speculation.

What I've been trying to figure out is: Who are the good teams and interesting projects in the space? Also I've been trying to understand the future regulatory environment and invest only in companies that have structured correctly and are likely to survive the inevitable crackdown.

I think the trigger for a big correction is more likely to be regulatory than technical. The SEC provided some important guidance in its DAO report a couple of weeks ago, but we will learn a lot more if there's an enforcement action. That's going to be much more important to the future of this movement than the dreaded bitcoin fork that occurred a couple weeks ago and turned out to be a Y2K-like non-event.

Jackson: So is there going to be a similar three-year nuclear winter when the bubble bursts like what happened after the dot-com boom?

Sacks: Hopefully it will be a soft landing rather than a nuclear winter. It could be a positive thing if all the scammers and pumpers get washed out of the space.

There's going to be a correction though. Many of these ICOs are still just slideware but are getting a Series D type of valuation. They don't deserve that type of valuation at this stage of development. That will rationalize at some point.

Jackson: How are ICOs and future SEC regulation going to mesh?

Sacks: Hopefully the SEC distinguishes between "protocol coins" (which have an actual use in a software ecosystem and should not be viewed as securities) and "asset coins" (which are securities). The public policy think tank CoinCenter has done some excellent work in laying out the legal frameworks and policy rationales for this.

Until now, most of the action in ICOs has been in protocol coins. The better projects have worked hard to structure their tokens so they are not securities.

However, I believe we will soon see the emergence of asset coins (aka traditional asset tokens). These will be securities. It must be done correctly, but it's going to be an exciting area.

Jackson: What securities could tokenize?

Sacks: Almost any illiquid asset today lends itself well to moving onto the blockchain and becoming tokenized. It will create a deeper market with improved price discovery and should increase the value of those assets.

In the long run, even liquid assets like stocks could move onto a blockchain because of the benefits of this platform.

Ultimately this is a technology for maximizing the efficiency of every asset, means of ownership, fluidity of markets, and mechanism of payments. The goal is the optimization and maximization of the world economy. That may make it the biggest revolution of all.

Jackson: Are digital assets and tokenization a long-term threat to traditional venture capital?

Sacks: Yes in two ways.

First, a lot of start-ups that would have sought venture capital can now raise money through an ICO. I've called this "crypto capitalism" in contradistinction to venture capitalism.

The terms of crypto capital are more favorable to entrepreneurs than venture capital. So any start-up that can ICO will ICO. Whether a start-up can ICO will depend on technical and regulatory suitability, but it could ultimately be a very large category of start-ups.

If so, that will certainly challenge VC. Larger VCs who would typically invest after the ICO will have to compete with hedge funds, which is not a great place to be. VCs who want to invest before the ICO will have to compete with angels to offer a real value-add.

Second, at the level of the VC's own investors, I think LP interests are likely to be tokenized, along with most other illiquid assets. The prestige VC firms will resist this, but there are already a few new VC firms at the margins that are tokenizing. Soon, a few more will do it. Then a few more. Eventually, illiquidity will be a competitive disadvantage in fundraising that only the top firms will be able to justify.

All of this being said, the SEC's rulings in this area will have a huge impact on how this plays out. If those rulings support innovation, that will lead to a more competitive world for VCs, whose world is already quite competitive. But that world will also be more frictionless and efficient.

Sacks posted a tweet storm about this idea:

Jackson: What are the biggest challenges that still lie ahead for cryptocurrencies?

Sacks: I see three big areas for concern: scalability, slideware and regulatory.

First, the number of transactions per second that either bitcoin or ethereum can handle is still orders of magnitude less than what PayPal or the Visa network can do. It's been estimated that ethereum, which is the main developer platform for decentralized apps, would need a 250x improvement to run a 10 million user app and 25,000x improvement to run a billion-user app like Facebook. That improvement requires real work and involves some risk. There's a product roadmap, but it's going to take years.

Second, most of the ideas out there today for ICOs are still just white papers, or what we used to call "slideware." There is a lot of execution risk in turning these ideas into usable software that actually gets adopted. One fortunate effect of the crypto boom is that it has been helpful in attracting talent to the space. We will need that migration of talent to continue in order to realize the potential.

Third, as we've discussed, will be the extent and nature of regulatory acceptance. The eventual rules governing the application of securities laws to tokens will have a major impact on adoption and innovation in the space, at least in the United States. There is some risk that if the wrong regulatory regime gets adopted in the U.S., then the center of innovation could move to other countries. If blockchains are the next internet, that would be a very unfortunate development for the U.S.

Jackson: We have bitcoin and ethereum plus a number of smaller, lesser-known currencies out there including the new Filecoin ICO. What lesser-known currencies intrigue you most?

Sacks: I prefer to think in terms of use cases, rather than recommending specific currencies. The most promising use cases to date are: store of value, payments, crowdfunding, file storage, identity management and authentication, prediction markets, escrow, title chains, notary chains, provenance, and supply chains. There are 1,500 ICOs already launched or announced, plus many other blockchain companies, so there's a lot more to come. This is an extremely exciting and fast-moving space.

That said, one admonition I would make to your readers is that most probably shouldn't be investing in ICOs directly. We are seeing white papers for technology that doesn't truly belong on the blockchain or, worse, could be pump-and-dump schemes. Many of the scams originate outside of the United States, so they will be harder to regulate. Just like a lot of retail investors lost money in the dot-com era, the ICO era has the potential to do the same unless people really take the time to understand what they are investing in. A number of professionally managed crypto funds, with real technical expertise to evaluate ICOs, are starting to emerge and may be a safer way to participate than investing directly.

So I would just urge everyone to temper their excitement with sound business judgment. Or does that sound too much like Howard Marks?

Sign up for Eric's monthly Tech & Media Email. You can follow Eric on Twitter @ericjackson .

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David Sacks: Cryptocurrency fulfills the 'original vision' we tried to build at PayPal - CNBC

ChineseInvestors.com Launches Cryptocurrency Beat – ETHNews

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News business and finance

The predominant financial information website for Chinese speaking investors in the United States and abroad announced the launch of a cryptocurrency education and trading subscription service.

On August 14, 2017, ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (CIIX) launched a new subscription-based service that will cover the emerging world of cryptocurrencies. The new service will provide timely news and analysis for cryptocurrencies, like Ether, including pricing and industry trends.

CIIX is a periodical with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Shanghai serving the Chinese speaking population in the United States and abroad. CIIX offers a variety of subscription services and websites for investment and educational content. Such topics range from basic information about companies listed on US exchanges and real-time analysis and market quotes to trend analysis of market sectors and trading simulations highlighting different trading techniques for instructive purposes. CIIX is renowned for providing its customers with educational content regarding how to evaluate investments using fundamental and technical analysis methodologies.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have become a global phenomenon, stated Warren Wang, founder and CEO of CIIX. Since January 2015, the price of bitcoin has increased 500% from $200 to $1,000 in January 2017, and just spiked to a record high over $4,000 as US-North Korea tensions escalated. Likewise, Ethereum has surged from less than $10 to more than $300 this year.

Asia has been a relative hotbed for cryptocurrencies since their inception in 2008 and implementation in 2009. This move by CIIX serves as an indicator that demand for cryptocurrencies and related information is still growing in Asia. Countries like China, which possesses an estimated 85% market share of bitcoin, along with neighboring nations like Japan, which recently legalized bitcoin as a form of payment, stand to benefit greatly from CIIXs new service. Straightforward explanations of what cryptocurrencies are and how to use them will be included in the newly offered subscription. The news agency will also cater to experienced cryptocurrency users by providing content spanning from mining and blockchain technology to pricing trends and exchange traded funds.

Founded in 1999, CIIX has built a reputation primarily on real-time market commentary, advertising, and public relation related support services. In addition to its financial market services, CIIX also has a foothold in the US cannabis industry, investing in research, development, and distribution of cannabidiol (CBD) medicine and health products.

Jordan Daniell is a writer living in Los Angeles. He brings a decade of business intelligence experience, researching emerging technologies, to bear in reporting on blockchain and Ethereum developments. He is passionate about blockchain technologies and believes they will fundamentally shape the future. Jordan is a full-time staff writer for ETHNews.

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ChineseInvestors.com Launches Cryptocurrency Beat - ETHNews

National Bank Of Ukraine To Clarify Legal Status Of Cryptocurrency – ETHNews

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News world

In Ukraine, cryptocurrency does not have an official status. By the end of August 2017, the Eastern European nation will clarify its position through a meeting of the Financial Stability Council.

On August 11, 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine released a statement by deputy chairman Oleg Churiy. According to Churiy, the Financial Stability Council (FSC) will meet by the end of August 2017 to work out a joint position on the legal status of bitcoin and its regulation.

Although Churiys comments specifically single out bitcoin, it seems likely that the FSCs conversation will encompass additional blockchain-based digital assets. The term bitcoin often functions as a catch-all placeholder for government agencies.

To date, the National Bank of Ukraine has collaborated with many governmental agencies on the topic, including:

Ukraine is clearly taking a broad and holistic approach to its digital asset guidance. A multi-pronged approach is vital because of the many functions of virtual money. The Ukrainian government may consider instances where a digital asset serves as currency, provides utility to consumers, or even grants ownership in a company.

In his statement, Churiy references the diverse cryptocurrency regulatory schemes currently employed by the European Union, Israel, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the Peoples Bank of China. He notes that discordant regulatory schemes around the world have made it difficult to give bitcoin a definite status in Ukraine. The FSCs meeting should generate needed dialogue, if not a resolution.

In the meantime, a lack of government guidance has not prevented Ukrainian involvement in cryptocurrency. For example, a Ukrainian white hat helped rescue funds from wallets that were compromised during Julys Parity hack. More recently, the Kyiv Post reported that a group of Ukrainian entrepreneurs have invested in 150 bitcoin teller machines, to be installed across the country by January 2018.

Matthew is a writer with a passion for emerging technology. Prior to joining ETHNews, he interned for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the OECD. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University where he studied international economics. In his spare time, Matthew loves playing basketball and listening to podcasts. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

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National Bank Of Ukraine To Clarify Legal Status Of Cryptocurrency - ETHNews

‘Father of Financial Futures’ Seeks Cryptocurrency Hardware Patent – CoinDesk

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A U.S. economist and businessman known for his work in spearheading the early development offutures contracts is seeking a cryptocurrency patent.

Richard Sandor, a former Chicago Board of Trade chief economist and vice president, advanced the utilization of financial futures back in the 1970s, earning him the moniker "the father of financial futures" and, later, "the father of carbon trading," according to Time.

Notably, perhaps, Sandoris now listed as the first of three inventors for the "Secure Electronic Storage Devices for Physical Delivery of Digital Currencies When Trading" patent application, released on August 10 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Sandor is currently the chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products LLC, which is listed as the applicant for the patent.The application itself details a hardware concept for the storage of digital currencies tied to derivatives contracts.

It explains:

"The invention relates to a method to facilitate trading of digital currencies, which comprises electronically storing an amount of a digital currency on an electronic storage device or electronic registry; and physically storing the storage device or electronic registry in a secure, physical repository that is not publicly accessible with the storage device or electronic registry available for use in subsequent delivery of the digital currency."

It's the latest submission to focus on cryptocurrency-related derivatives, coming on the heels of news that options exchange CBOE is planning to launch products in this area later this year.

Firms like CME have also moved to obtain intellectual property tied to cryptocurrencies. As CoinDesk previously reported, CME's patent applications reveal an interest in bitcoin mining derivatives.

Richard Sandor image viaJon Lothian News/YouTube

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Will Cryptocurrency Replace Other Forms Of Payment? – Nasdaq

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Will Cryptocurrency Replace Other Forms of Payment? To answer that question I look to author Andrew Smith who iscredited with the quote. People fear what they dont understand and hate what they cant conquer. I believe this quote can be applied to many situations and still hold true.

For instance, one area in which this quote may hit the mark is with cryptocurrency. Of course, it may not be fear itself that is driving the cryptocurrency craze. Instead, it could be fueled more by FOMO, or fear of missing out.

This leads me to question whether or not cryptocurrency will replace other forms of payment.

Cryptocurrencyis a form of digital currency that uses encryption to make financial transactions secure. As a result, monetary exchanges are difficult to forge and do not require bank intervention to complete.

You cant hold cryptocurrency in your hand or pocket. The only place it exists is on computers through the exchange of digital currency.

There are a lot of reasons why cryptocurrency is currently making stronggains in popularityand use. When taken together these reasons could be enough to secure cryptocurrencies place in our society and replace other forms of payment in the future.

Cash is heavier, dirtier, easier to steal, and easier to forge than digital currency making it less appealing than its digital replacement. Checks, as an alternative, can also be easily stolen and forged and take up more room than cryptocurrency.

Other forms of payment, such as credit and debit cards, are similarly less appealing in comparison to digital currency because they can be hacked or stolen costing you thousands.

Transaction fees that banks charge for the exchange of money may be lower by using cryptocurrency or even avoided altogether, adding to the appeal.

With all of these reasons behind it you would think cryptocurrency would be the logical next step to replace other forms of payment. But there may be reasons to be wary of its use.

One reason to be cautious of using cryptocurrency as a means of payment is because of thewild changes in its value. Gold values, which are often still used as a comparison, have remained fairly steady over the past seven years. However, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin in particular, has seen values that have remained volatile over the same timeframe.

An additional reason to be cautious in the use of digital currency is legality. Not all countries yet recognize cryptocurrency as a means of payment for goods and services. The U.S., in fact, does not yet distinguish it as legal tender.

Cyber theft is another threat that could deter the widespread use of digital currency. Because cryptocurrency exists only in an intangible form on the internet it is vulnerable to theft by hackers.

Reportedly, some large corporations have used cryptocurrency to legally evade their taxes since the IRS does not recognize it as money. The IRS is trying to put a stop to this. But, as more businesses and citizens catch on to this loophole there could be further tax losses.

Some may fear cryptocurrency and others may embrace its use. But whether or not cryptocurrency will replace other forms of payment in the future is not yet clear. It is likely only time will tell.

This article was originally published on Due.com.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Will Cryptocurrency Replace Other Forms Of Payment? - Nasdaq

Julian Assange explains how WikiLeaks used an algorithm to catch the Clinton camp off-guard with email dumps – South China Morning Post

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By Eliza Relman

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange developed an algorithm last year used to randomly select for release emails hacked from Democratic politicians and staffers, according to a lengthy New Yorker report.

The publishing algorithm, which Assange named Stochastic Terminator, helped WikiLeaks publish sets of internal documents and communications, including those of Hillary Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta, with the goal of making it more difficult for the campaign to to adjust to the problem, to spin, to create antidote news beforehand, Assange told the New Yorkers Raffi Khatchadourian.

Assange explained that the algorithm, which he developed leading up to WikiLeaks first release of Podestas emails last September, was built on a random-number generator, modified by mathematical weights that reflected the pattern of the news cycle in a typical week, Khatchadourian wrote.

Imagine it this way, Assange said. The WikiLeaks tank is coming down the road. You cant tell when it got on the road, when it is going to get off, how fast it is going, how big it is because it has a decoy exterior. They know that there are decoy parameters because I say it, and so you never know whats a decoy and what is not. It kind of paralyses their thinking.

Assange said that he was deliberately non-transparent about what information Wikileaks had before it was released, with the goal of keeping the Clinton camp on its toes. He compared his tactics to those of British intelligence agents during World War II.

The advantage is greater to be a bit crafty no, its not just being crafty. It comes, really, from what MI5 did in World War Two, Assange said, recalling Operation Mincemeat, in which the British famously planted fake intelligence documents on a corpse dressed in a British navy uniform, allowing the Germans to discover the body and the disinformation.

They stuffed secret information in his pockets, and had him wash up on the coast of Spain, and then they made it clear to the Germans that this was what they were doing, Assange said. So the Germans went from becoming fooled in one instance to doubting every instance.

Khatchadourian also reported that a source close to WikiLeaks told him that Guccifer 2.0, a hacker linked to Russian intelligence who claims to have given the Democratic documents to WikiLeaks, pressed Assange to release the first batch of hacked emails before the Democratic National Convention in July. Guccifer 2.0 complained to an American journalist that Assange was playing for time and reportedly offered the documents to journalist and researcher Emma Best.

A WikiLeaks staffer told Khatchadourian that the organisation was overwhelmed by the volume of information they received, and Assange said the group missed its original deadline of July 18 the Monday before the DNC by four days due to hiccups.

We had these hiccups that delayed us, and we were given a little more time Assange said, halting mid-sentence and then adding, to grow.

It was unclear who had given him time, but whoever it was clearly had leverage over his decisions, Khatchadourian wrote. Assange later claimed that his source did not mandate a publication time.

See Also: Trump addresses raid of Paul Manaforts home Trumps lawyer reportedly defended Paul Manafort in fiery email to reporter Expert saysyes, Trump could unilaterally decide to launch a nuclear weapon

Read the original article at Business Insider

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Julian Assange explains how WikiLeaks used an algorithm to catch the Clinton camp off-guard with email dumps - South China Morning Post

Wikileaks outs CIA ‘CouchPotato’ tool for hacking IoT cameras – The INQUIRER

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WHISTLEBLOWING DOCUMENT FOUNDATION WikiLeaks continues to add to its growing trove of alleged CIA documents, known as Vault 7, with a user guide for a programme called CouchPotato, which is designed to capture video from IoT cameras.

Critics of WikiLeaks have said that the documents posted to Vault 7 are several years out of date, but this document is relatively recent. dating back to February 2014.

The CouchPotato project is apparently intended to target RTSP/H.264 video streams coming from networked cameras; unlike Dumbo, it doesn't seem to require physical access to a PC.

The documents posted to WikiLeaks deal with the first version of the application, but it isn't clear whether or not other versions exist. If they did, we imagine that they would smooth out issues like the excess CPU time consumed by CouchPotato (which would increase its risk of being detected).

The guide states: "CPU usage of the process that CouchPotato is injected into can potentially be high depending on the number CPUs/Cores available. In development and testing, it was observed that on a Windows 7 64-bit VM allocated just one CPU core, the process that CouchPotato was injected into was using between 50-70% of available CPU while capturing images of significant change. Memory usage was between 45-50MB."

The document is also full of recommendations to use wisely', indicating that there are still bugs or other inefficiencies present.

In its own words: "CouchPotato is a remote tool for collection against RTSP/H.264 video streams. It provides the ability to collect either the stream as a video file (AVI) or capture still images (JPG) of frames from the stream that are of significant change from a previously captured frame.

"CouchPotato utilizes ffmpeg for video and image encoding and decoding as well as RTSP connectivity. In order to minimize size of the DLL binary, many of the audio and video codecs along with other unnecessary features have been removed from the version of ffmpeg that CouchPotato is built with. pHash, an image hashing algorithm, has been incorporated into ffmpeg's image2 demuxer to provide image change detection capabilities.

"CouchPotato relies on being launched in an ICE v3 Fire and Collect compatible loader."

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Wikileaks outs CIA 'CouchPotato' tool for hacking IoT cameras - The INQUIRER


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