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The Rise of Decentralized P2P Crypto-Currency Lending – NEWSBTC – newsBTC

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Cryptocurrency lending is about to boom. Today, crypto-currency lending is a field that does not have a plausible service provider due to the pseudo-anonymous nature of crypto-currency. The underlying issue with crypto-lending is the repayments of loans. How do people that do not know each other trust each other?

Trustless lending. ETHLend is a decentralized crypto-currency lending application that runs on Ethereum network, which is accessible through MetaMask, an Ethereum network browser. ETHLend solves the issue of trust by allowing the borrower to secure a crypto-loan with ERC-20 compatible Ethereum-based tokens. ERC-20 tokens can represent any value (such as shares or commodities). If the borrower does not repay the loan, the pledged tokens are transferred to the lender, who can sell the tokens on exchange to regain any losses.

Today, tokens are used mainly for fundraising. However, there are tokens that represent value from the real world, such as the DigixDAO token. Each DigixDAO token represents 1 gram of gold by tokenization. Even if tokens are associated with volatility, factually tokens are sufficient for securing a loan. First, the market price of tokens are usually available at different exchanges. Secondly, the volatility can be assessed and taken into account.

Alternatively, ETHLend provides another option, where the borrower can use Ethereum Name Service domain (ENS domain) as a collateral for the loan. ENS domains by design locks Ether (ETH) when the domain name is auctioned. Since ENS domains are transferrable, they can be easily used as a collateral against Ether loans. For example, borrower has ENS domain that has locked 10 ETH. The borrower cannot use this locked Ether. However, the borrower can pledge this domain for a loan to receive 10 ETH. If the borrower does not repay the loan back, the ENS domain is transferred to the lender (who can auction it to regain any losses).

Decentralized lending removes barriers and lowers costs on interest. ETHLend aims to provide a global liquidity pool between peers. The decentralized model and the use of crypto-currency is the proper solution to achieve ETHLends goal. Global liquidity pool means that a borrower in the US would not be limited solely to local lenders and US banks. Instead, the borrower can access funding from all parts of the world, such as Asia and Europe. Moreover, ETHLend wants to remind that there is 2 billion people without the access to any banking system. Lending crypto-currency would mean additionally access to finance for the unbanked.

Big plans for ETHLend. According to the white paper, there are lot of technical upgrades coming up for ETHLend, such as unsecured lending where borrower does not need a collateral to get a loan. Moreover, lending reputation system is about to be launched, where the borrower is rewarded with ETHLends native Credit Token (CRE), which can be used as a collateral by sparing other ERC-20 tokens.

We interviewed the Founder of ETHLend, a law student from Finland and a blockchain developer, to get more insights over the project.

Who are the people behind ETHLend?

We are a dedicated team of 14 people. We are working hard to provide blockchain technology for the mainstream. We want to democratize lending. This means that we want to remove interest rate differences between different countries and provide liquidity to lower interest rates in general. This would mean that borrowers would pay less in interest costs when there is more competition in a global scale. Moreover, we want to serve people that the banks are not serving due to the lack of banking infrastructure.

Is lending secure on ETHLend?

ETHLend is a decentralized application that runs on Ethereum blockchain network. We use Smart Contracts for the loan transactions. This means that each loan that is deployed on Ethereum blockchain cannot be changed, stopped or compromised by a third party (not even ETHLend).

Moreover, since all transactions are decentralized, we do not hold any assets or data. All assets such as ETH, ERC-20 tokens or ENS domains are held by the Smart Contracts. Any lender or borrower can explore loans on blockexplorer, therefore we are transparent by design.

What crypto-currencies can I borrow and lend?

Now, Ether (ETH) lending is available. We chose to use ETH since that is the native token of the Ethereum network that we have built our application on. We are planning to add other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and other altcoins. To get ETHLend to the mainstream, we think that Bitcoin is essential.

Why did you build on top of Ethereum network?

We decided to use Ethereum for three reasons. First, Ethereum has well established Smart Contracts, which allows to perform complex transactions such as lending and handling the collateral. Secondly, by using ETH, we do not have to communicate with two blockchains, which would not be ideal way to start a simple DAPP development. Lastly, even though ETH has a different purpose than Bitcoin, ETH is widely used as cryptocurrency.

How ETHLend differs from other blockchain projects?

We started by developing the application. We first created the decentralized application, instead of writing a white paper and opening a flashy website. I personally wanted to understand how decentralized lending would work in practice. As coming from a legal background and not from technical, I wanted to try it first and then write an analysis on my practical findings, the white paper.

Moreover, we have an amazing team working on ETHLend. I have never seen such extensive collaboration that we have at ETHLend. Practically we are all living in different parts of the world, but initially we have the same goal: to provide fair lending for all by using blockchain technology. We are also happy to have more people involved through our Slack.

What is your focus on the development?

Since we have an Ethereum-based application that runs stable, we are now focusing on adding more functionalities and user experience. Our goal here is to make decentralized lending as easy and accessible as possible. We want to keep the learning curve as low as possible. As a part of the user experience, we are adding more languages and ways to easily calculate the value of the collateral to avoid unnecessary loan requests.

Is there going to be an ICO?

We are going to have a token sale on early September. Our aim is to fund the further development of ETHLend and provide the largest lending market that works on a global scale. We want our future token holders to be part of it.

How the tokens are distributed?

We are distributing 1 billion Credit Tokens (CRE) for sale. There will be no follow up sales and all unsold CRE is burned. Additionally, 300 million CRE is allocated to the development fund as an incentive for our founders and developers to remain with the project. The development fund tokens will have a 24-month vesting model, which means that during this period, tokens are gradually released from lockup on each 6-months-period.

Getting ready for token sale. According to Stani, the ETHLend team is preparing for the upcoming token sale. The aim is to provide decentralized, secure, fair and democratic token sale. ETHLend is currently developing the Smart Contract for the token sale. However, the precise date of the token sale is not disclosed. ETHLend will inform the date of the token sale within couple of weeks.

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The Rise of Decentralized P2P Crypto-Currency Lending - NEWSBTC - newsBTC

FBI Says Hackers Managed to Extort $28 Million in Cryptocurrencies – The Merkle

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On June 22, the FBI presented their annualInternet Crime Report, this one for 2016. By using the reports from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, they are able topublish the yearly document outlining trends and instances of Internet crimes. Still, these reports maynot be enough if they want to view the wholesituation since it is suspected that only 15% of victims actually report their situation.

Multiple hot topics fromthe last year were highlighted, including the massive BEC loss. BEC (Business Email Compromise) was an incident that ended with the loss of over $360 million. Currently, this is the largest known attackfrom last yearwith countlessvictims. BEC turned out to be a very sophisticated scam, and it only targeted foreign and international companies.

Another major point in the report is ransomware, which is growing more and more popular as an attack form. Ransomware works by locking the infected devices and holding documents for ransom. The criminals are able to use it to send messages to their victims, and those mostly include a ransom demand. More often than not, they would put a bitcoin price and a link to the bitcoin wallet. Over $2.4 million was lost to ransomware last year, and 2,673 reports were identified.

Othermajor attacksoutlined in the reportare tech support frauds. Tech fraudscammers managed to steal $7.8 million. The scam pretty much follows the same process every time. The scammer gets on the phone with their victims by various means. They then try to convince the victim that something is wrong with their device. The criminalstry to get control of the computer and then offer their services in dealing with the problem in return for money or gift cards.

Over 17,146 individual cases of extortion were recorded as well, and the total loss here is over $15 million, all of which happened online. FBIs report mostly points out physical threats that were made via the internet. Basically, criminals demand money or something valuable, or they will cause the victim physical injuries. There were also reports of threats like releasing sensitive data, and even sextortion.

Other forms of online crimes include DDoS attacks, schemes revolving around government impersonations, hitman schemes, as well as loan schemes, and even breaches of high-profile data. Criminals mostly demand payment in Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency. It is easier to move around, and also has more security layers which make it harder to trace.

Reportedonline crimes rose 3.7% in 2016. Apart from the US, the most infected foreign countries are Canada, India, UK, Australia, and France. When it comes to the individual states within the US, California suffered the most. It is followed by Texas and Florida which both had over 21,000 reports.

Another part of the report also included the affected age groups. According to the FBI, those above 60 had suffered the most and lost over $339 million last year. Next are those between the ages of 30 and 39, who lost around $190 million. Lastly, the younger users, mostly those around and under 20 years of age were much fewer in number. They also suffered less damage, which was only estimated to be around $6.7 million.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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FBI Says Hackers Managed to Extort $28 Million in Cryptocurrencies - The Merkle

WikiLeaks reveals CIA targeting Linux users with OutlawCountry malware – Neowin

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Wikileaks, the controversial online data leaker which is known for exposing corruption within governments and corporations, has released a massive data dump which included some interesting news about what the CIA has been up to recently. According to the leak, the CIA has targeted Linux users, with an exploit that re-routes network traffic towards them for analysis.

The exploit called 'OutlawCountry', which is detailed in the report, essentially loads itself onto a vulnerable system as a Linux kernel module (nf_table_6_64.ko) and then creates a new exemption in the IPtables firewall protocol. Once this is done, it deletes itself. When all is said and done, the attacker can exploit the system to re-route all traffic to designated CIA servers.

The proactive community over on Linux is most likely already hard at work fixing this exploit, but it is still alarming. The CIA has been exploiting Windows systems for quite some time and it seems they want to have a peek inside the systems of the extremely private Linux user as well.

One good thing, however, is that this malware attack requires physical access to the system so that it can get elevated privileges, so if you're running the system and it's connected to the internet, you should be safe since it cannot run via an email attachment or like a lot of malware, download itself onto your system through ads in your browser.

Source: HotHardware | Image via HotHardware

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WikiLeaks reveals CIA targeting Linux users with OutlawCountry malware - Neowin

WikiLeaks reveals CIA malware for hacking Linux computers – Digital Journal (press release)

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Generally, mainstream malware attacks tend to focus on consumer-oriented operating systems like Windows. It's rare that Linux is specifically targeted which makes this discovery concerning. Linux users may not be as secure as previously thought. The CIA has developed tools for every platform, letting them target all computer users. The hacking tool gives the CIA the power to redirect outbound network traffic from a target computer. It can be routed through a specially-designed gateway that allows operatives to inspect the traffic. It's a sophisticated surveillance tool that grants the CIA the ability to covertly monitor Linux PCs. It also opens the door to the scores of web servers that run on the operating system. The malware is effective but also hindered by several prerequisites needed for a successful attack. Most importantly, the CIA needs to have root access to the target machine before OutlawCountry can be deployed. This means the computer must have been previously compromised before the malware can be used. WikiLeaks said that the installation method is not fully detailed in the leaked software manual. The operator would need to use known lists of Linux exploits and backdoors to gain access to the system and set up a control chain. They could then push OutlawCountry onto the machine, allowing them to monitor its network traffic and begin surveillance of the target. Once the software is installed, the operator can remotely add traffic routing rules to the Linux kernel. These determine the path which Internet traffic takes between the computer and its destination. The new rules injected by OutlawCountry take precedence over the older ones, ensuring the CIA can snoop on any suspect traffic. The presence of the additional routing rules is hidden from the computer's user. The release of the tool is part of a wider WikiLeaks dump known as "Vault 7." The ongoing series of leaks comprises almost 9,000 secure documents sourced from an "isolated, high-security network" at the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. Many of the programs within have been described as "cyberweapons" with the potential to infiltrate individuals, opposition groups or entire states. Last week, WikiLeaks published documents on hacking tools "Elsa" and "Brutal Kangaroo." The former is a tracking tool that logs the movements of a target based on the Wi-Fi signals from their laptop. Brutal Kangaroo is an innovative approach to compromising "air-gapped" offline computers. It uses memory sticks to transfer files from closed networks that aren't connected to the web.

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WikiLeaks reveals CIA malware for hacking Linux computers - Digital Journal (press release)

Bradley Manning files for presidential pardon – Hot Air

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You probably thought that the story of Bradley Manning had come to a close, and for the most part youd be right. But there are still some inevitable legal details to play out, and one of those which everyone saw coming took place this week. Mannings defense team has officially requested a pardon from the President of the United States. (Ed noted that this was going to happen several weeks ago.) The Daily Mail covers the details, using the oh so politically correct trend of referring to Manning as a lady.

Chelsea Manning is seeking a presidential pardon for handing U.S state secrets to the WikiLeaks website because it was done out of a love for my country.

According to documents released today, Mannings lawyer, David Coombs, has sent a Petition for Pardon to President Barack Obama.

The White House said last month that if Manning requested a presidential pardon she would be considered the same as anyone else.

In the petition she wrote that she had started questioning the morality of U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan while reading secret military reports.

She said: When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love for my country and sense of duty to others.

Manning acknowledged she had broken the law, adding, I regret if my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United States.

Manning signed the petition Bradley Manning, not Chelsea, as her name has not legally been changed.

This was a given, and virtually anyone who finds themselves convicted in a controversial case such as this with a national spotlight will often apply for a pardon. One of the legal experts contacted by the Daily Mail rated Mannings petition as having a zero per cent chance of success. And at least for the time being, that might not be a far fetched analysis. The President has already disappointed and disillusioned his most faithful, far Left allies by being the stingiest President of the modern era when it comes to the power of the pardon. (The Oval Office approves just 2% of applications these days.)

Of course, that may change quite a bit in 2016. Presidents are famous or infamous for granting a flurry of requests during the final months of their terms. Bill Clinton is an excellent example, having granted a total of 150 pardons over his eight years in office, but 140 of those all came on January 20, 2001. Would Obama do something similar? Some may believe that he would fret over his legacy in a case like this, and by the time he leaves office Manning would have only served roughly three years or less than 10% of his sentence. Thats far less time than convicts typically serve before getting a pardon. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.

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Bradley Manning files for presidential pardon - Hot Air

Edward Snowden On Chris Christie Sunbathing Pic: ‘The Politics Of An Era In One Frame’ – HuffPost

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WASHINGTON National Security Agency whistleblowerEdward Snowdensays aphotographer managed to capture the politics of an era when he snapped a photo of New Jersey Gov.Chris Christie(R) lounging with his family and friends on an otherwise empty stretch of beach.

Rarely does a photographer capture the politics of an era in one frame, Snowden posted Monday on Twitter, along with The Star-Ledgers front page showing Christiekicked back on a state beachthat hed ordered closed to the public amid a state government shutdown.

Snowden also retweeted a post from Steve Politi, the newspapers sports columnist, showing throngs of beachgoers crowded at one end of a long stretch of sandy shore.

On Sunday,NJ Advance Mediapublished several aerial photostaken by Andrew Mills showing Christie, along with family and friends, at New Jerseys Island Beach State Park, the site of an official governors residence.The park was one ofseveral closedover the holiday weekend after lawmakers failed to pass a state budget.

Inan interview with Fox 5in New York on Monday, Christie mocked local media, saying, What a great bit of journalism by The Star-Ledger and I really wonder about journalists who spend money flying planes to look whether people are actually where they said they would be. He said he announced his plans to vacation at the New Jersey residence regardless of whether a shutdown occurred and dismissed the idea that the beach closure was in any way his fault.

In a separate interview Monday withFox 29in Philadelphia, Christie was asked about people who are upset about not being able to enjoy the beach over the holiday weekend.

Im sorry theyre not the governor, he said. This is a residence.

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Edward Snowden On Chris Christie Sunbathing Pic: 'The Politics Of An Era In One Frame' - HuffPost

Risk’s Laura Poitras on her new Julian Assange documentary, Chelsea Manning and being under surveillance – The Independent

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I think hes brilliant, I think you can say hes a visionary in terms of understanding the internet, journalism and mass surveillance, Oscar-winning director Laura Poitras says of WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange, the subject of her new film Risk. It seems an enthusiastic enough endorsement but anyone expecting a hagiography of Assange will be surprised. As Poitrasquickly adds: I think he is a very flawed person in other ways.

At times, the documentary is extremely jarring. You think youre watching a film about whistleblowers, freedom of speech and hacking. Then, in footage of a meeting between Assange and lawyer Helena Kennedy, Assange uses casually sexist language. We see him having his hair cut, looking almost as if he is the Sun King in the Court of Versailles as followers and journalists scurry around him. His egotism becomes increasingly evident.

As Poitras points out, it is not only his attitudes toward women and gender that rankle. I think he can hold views that are incredibly philosophical and complex and then others that are very reductive. Assange is manipulative and (as he puts it himself) ruthlessly pragmatic. Hes a strategist whose alliances will shift depending on who can best help him achieve his long term goals. Personally, I think its public that I have fallen out with him. I mean, we have it in the film where he says the film is a threat to his freedom and he is forced to treat it accordingly.

Assange asked Poitras to take out the scene in which he talks disparagingly about the Swedish women who made allegations of sexual assault against him. She refused. As she argues, she is only using his own words. There is the obvious irony in the fact that Assanges fame and notoriety rest on his willingness to disclose information others would rather see suppressed and yet he wants his own secrets to be protected.

A still from Riskabout WikiLeaksJulian Assange (above), in which his egotism becomes very apparent

Risk is in no way a hatchet job. Its portrayal of Assange is nuanced and complex. On camera, he is philosophical, articulate and charismatic. He is vain too but he is generally very measured. Just occasionally, we see glimpses of his volatility. There were a couple of times when he lost his temper and started yelling at me, Poitras remembers the moments her subject flew off the handle.

Poitras started filming Assange and WikiLeaks in 2011, two years before she was contacted anonymously by Edward Snowden, who leaked her thousands of National Security Agency documents.

At first, Poitras thought that Snowden and Assange might have fitted into the same documentary. Then, she realised there was no way theyd work together they were two separate stories. She set aside the Assange and WikiLeaks material and concentrated on the Snowden project, CitizenFour (2014) which won her an Oscar.

That left her with the problem of what to do with the earlier footage. By then, Assange, who had been frustrated that she hadnt entrusted him with the Snowden material, had already been living for several years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge. (He took refuge there in the summer of 2012 after he was threatened with deportation to Sweden to answer the allegations of sexual assault.)

An early version of Risk (one broadly sympathetic to Assange) was screened in Cannes in 2016 but the story was continuing to grow. Last year, WikiLeaks published emails from the Democratic National Committee and from former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta.

Poitras,who directed'Risk' about Assange(above), is now working on a Chelsea Manning documentary

Of course, I knew I had to keep filming, the director says of how Risk has kept on growing.

Poitras had long since lost her status as simply an observer, making fly on the wall documentaries. In the last two films, I have become more of a participant, a protagonist, because of the reporting I have done, she says of CitizenFour and Risk. It is very uncomfortable.

Thanks to her reporting on NSA mass surveillance and her famous, clandestine meeting with Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013, she is now a celebrity of sorts herself. She has also been targeted by the US authorities for well over a decade. in 2006, she was placed on a secret watch list by the US government. Underlining her new found fame, she was played on screen by Melissa Leo in Oliver Stones film Snowden (2016). No, she hasnt seen the movie and certainly doesnt sound too enthused by it.

Oliver Stone approached me when he was developing the project and I was still editing CitzienFour. He was trying to urge me to delay the release of my film because he was making a real movie, she says. He had been drinking. It wasnt a nice encounterand then they didnt invite me to any of the screenings - and I wasnt going to pay to see it.

The director insists that her films are always looking at the human factor as well as at the political dimension. CitizenFour may have caused a huge media furore but on one level it was a story about why a young person would risk his freedom to reveal information about mass surveillance. Risk isa character study as much as it is a political treatise. It can also be read as a film about everyday sexism. Assange isnt the only one whose behaviour toward women is called into question. It emerges that another charismatic figure in the story, journalist and hacker Jacob Appelbaum, has been accused of bullying and sexual harassment.

Thats one of the things I hope the film raises, what happens within organisations or movements or work environments when certain types of behaviour is tolerated over long periods of time, Poitras says. I think its something we see a lot of, right, baseline sexism I would call it and that I wanted to draw attention to. Weve heard stories about social movements in the past where we have contradictions between the larger philosophical and ideological goals and the internal politics, dynamics and power structures.

Poitras is currently executive-producing a new film about Chelsea Manning, the transgender US soldier formerly known as Bradley Manning who leaked documents to WikiLeaks. Chelsea is a hero and she risked her freedom to inform the public very much in the way that Edward Snowden did, Poitras suggests. The film will allow her for the first time to speak in her own voice."

She is also executive-producing a film about Peter Thiel, the billionaire who brought down celebrity blog Gawker in a case that many saw as an attack on the free press.

These days, Poitras is back in the US and based in New York, having lived for over two years in Berlin. She doesnt know how long she will be able to stay, though.

I know I am on a watchlist. With the Snowden material, I dont think they are ever going to stop paying attention. Its something you learn to live with, she says of the surveillance she is still subject to. I came back [to the US]largely because of the work that I do. As a documentary filmmaker, Ive been focusing on what the US is doing politically and globally. I think it is something important as a US citizen to document what my own country is engaged in. For now, it is OK for me to be here but the situation could change. The Trump Administration is no friend of the press and I might feel it is necessary to leave again.

On this slightly chilling note, with the thought that she may be forced to quit her homeland, the interview is brought to an end.

'Risk' is out now

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Risk's Laura Poitras on her new Julian Assange documentary, Chelsea Manning and being under surveillance - The Independent

Lindsay Mills Wiki: Everything You Need to Know about Edward Snowden’s Girlfriend – Earn The Necklace

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No matter how much time has passed, Edward Snowden will always be a person of interest. While he has taken asylum in Russia, what about his girlfriend? Is Edward Snowdens girlfriend living with him in Russia? Lets find out.

Who doesnt know Edward Snowden? Call him a hero or a traitor; the man has to live like a fugitive on the run. He has taken asylum in Russia, but we do see him live a normal life. He pops up on his girlfriend Lindsay Mills Instagram now and then doing regular couple stuff together. Their relationship looks just as amazing as in the movie Snowden if not better. Are they together in Snowdens Russian asylum? Heres everything to know about Snowdens girlfriend in our Lindsay Mills wiki.

Both Mills and Snowden are from Maryland. She graduated from Laurel High School in Maryland in 2003 and the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007. Shes a photographer, and her Instagram has several of her artistic self-portraits. Many of her self-portraits often have a deep meaning with political and social interpretations. One of her photographs Flecks has her posing in the dress she wore to the Oscars when Citizenfour won the best documentary feature.

Aside from being a photographer, shes also a pole dancer and acrobat. When she and Snowden were in Hawaii, she picked up pole-dancing. She posted a video of her dancing at the Honolulu Fringe Festival and was also part of a local acrobatic troupe. She travels all over the world to perform while continuing to photograph more self-portraits.

Snowden had moved to Hawaii with his girlfriend before he came forward to the press. Though they were living together, Mills had no idea about his whistleblowing plans. In the Oscar-winning documentary, Citizenfour, Snowden said he intentionally kept his plans a secret so he could protect her and their family.

Hours after Snowden came out to the press, Mills hinted she was blindsided by his move on her earlier blog, Adventures of a world-traveling, pole-dancing superhero. Since she did not commit any crime, she ran no risk staying in the US and was free to travel. She was portrayed as a woman abandoned in the media which he later said in an interview was unfair to her. Contrary to what was believed, Mills and Snowden are very much together and still going strong.

A couple of years ago, Snowden disappeared from the Internet scaring everyone that he had died. But Glenn Greenwald, his journalist friend and Snowden himself laid those death rumors to rest. As for an explanation for his disappearance, Mills revealed where he was during that time.

As it turns out, they were on vacation together. Mills tweeted a photo of herself and Snowden on vacation and wrote on her blog, with the end of summer drawing near. the sun setting minutes earlier each day. and cooler currents whipping in. a vacay was in order. successfully hijacked this guy (sorry Twitterverse for causing such a scare.)

After the former government contractor created the biggest scandal to hit the U.S. government by disclosing classified documents, he had to leave the U.S. He has been living in asylum in Russia, at an undisclosed location. But is he alone? Mills Instagram and blog are filled with pictures of the couple together, which reveals she is with him.

While Snowden is confined to Russia for an indefinite time, he perhaps has Mills to accompany him. Shortly after he left the U.S., she followed him to spend a majority of her time in Russia. She has no travel restrictions and can go anywhere she likes as a regular U.S. citizen. However, she has not moved in permanently to Russia because of Visa restrictions. But, when she does, she makes sure to update the Internet on her boyfriend.

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Lindsay Mills Wiki: Everything You Need to Know about Edward Snowden's Girlfriend - Earn The Necklace

You need to encrypt all your data. This is how it’s done – TNW

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The increasing amount of data were all generating is everywhere: in smartphones, laptops, thumb drives, and dozens of online services. How can we secure all of them against unwarranted access?

We virtually cant.

Smartphones get stolen, thumb drives get lost, email passwords get brute-forced, cloud servers get breached, unwary users get phished, WiFi networks get tapped, and eventually, malicious users obtain access to your data.

So how do you protect your data against unwelcome parties?

You encrypt it. In case you dont know it, encryption is the science of modifying data to prevent intruders from making sense of it. When you encrypt your data, only you and anyone else holding the decryption keys will be able to unlock and read it. This means that even if an attacker gains access to your data by breaking into a server or stealing your hard drive, they wont be able to make sense of it if they dont have the keys.

As Ive argued before, encryption is your last line of defense, the one thing that can protect your data when all else goes wrong.

So without further ado, heres are some of the key ways you can encrypt the data that youre scattering everywhere.

Email has become a de facto medium for exchanges of all sorts. We use email to send business secrets, financial data, personal data and various kinds of sensitive information. There are few things that are as damaging as a hacked email account.

You should obviously do everything you can to protect your email accounts, such as choosing strong passwords or enabling two-factor authentication. But in case your account does get breached, you have a few viable options to encrypt your messages and prevent hackers from actually seeing the contents of your messages.

One is the use of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), a tool that adds a layer of encryption to your emails. Basically, PGP generates a public and private encryption key and ties it to your email address. You publish the public key for everyone to see and keep the private key to yourself.

Anyone who wants to send you a confidential message will encrypt it with your public key before sending it to you. Only your private key will be able to decrypt the message, and as long as you keep it safe, you can rest assured that only you will be able to read those messages. This means that even the owner of the server where your emails are stored wont be able to read them.

There are a handful of free PGP tools such as Mailvelope, which work with all major webmail clients such as Gmail and Hotmail, and will get you started with encryption in a couple of easy steps.

Of course, if you want your outgoing messages to be encrypted as well, the recipient needs to have a PGP key too, so youll have to convince your friends to set up PGP accounts.

An alternative to PGP is using an end-to-end encrypted mail service such as ProtonMail or LavaBit. End-to-end encryption makes sure that anything that gets stored in your account is only viewable by you, the person who holds the key. No surveillance or massive databreach will give access to the content of your emails.

The same threats that can out your emails apply to the files you store in cloud services such as Google Drive and Dropbox. Even the biggest services you entrust with your files can get hacked, and the sensitive files youve stored in the cloud can fall into the wrong hands.

The most basic choice is to protect your files with a compression tool that supports encryption and password protection features, like zip, before storing them in your cloud server.

In case you find it too cumbersome to manually encrypt and decrypt your files, you can use tools such as Boxcryptor or Whisply, which integrate with most popular cloud services and add an easy-to-use layer of encryption.

Another alternative is to use an encrypted storage service such as SpiderOak One, Tresorit or Cryptobox, which have end-to-end encryption incorporated into their service. This means only you and whomever you share your files with will have access to the contents.

Messaging apps are perhaps the most popular applications we use on our phones. But theyre not all equally secure. Some applications will encrypt your messages in transition, but not in storage, which means your data can become exposed in case of data breaches or compromised accounts.

The most secure messaging apps are those that have end-to-end encryption features, making messages exclusively visible to the parties taking part in a conversation. Weve discussed how to evaluate messaging apps in terms of security here on The Next Web before.

Some of the viable options include Open Whisper Systems Signal, WhatsApp and Wickr, which are end-to-end encrypted by default. Telegram and Facebook Messenger also have end-to-end encryption, though youll have to enable them manually.

You might also want check out this interesting project by two Canadian students, who are working to add strong encryption to a variety of web communication tools.

While you consider the security of your online data, you shouldnt forget about the devices you physically own. Your phone, laptop, memory cards and flash drives hold quite a lot of sensitive information.

Your smartphone in particular is very vulnerable. It has a lot of functionality, it holds your communication apps and sensitive information and pictures, among others. And you carry it everywhere with you, which means theres a greater chance you might lose it or get it stolen from you.

Fortunately, most desktop and mobile operating systems support full-disk encryption, a feature that will encrypt everything on your phone, computer or flash drive. By enabling full-disk encryption, youll protect your on-device data against physical theft. Good encryption cant be circumvented, even by device manufacturers or government agenciesat least not without spending a huge bunch of money.

Credit: Juan Buis / TNW

In iOS version 8 and later, device encryption is turned on by default if your device has a passcode. Newer Android devices also come with device encryption enabled out of the box, but with the variety of devices available out there, you might want to verify to make sure yours is encrypted.

For your laptops and removable media, depending on which operating system you have, there are always good encryption tools available. Windows has BitLocker, which can easily encrypt your hard drives or removable storage in a few easy clicks. The Mac OS has a native encryption tool as well, called FileVault.

Hackers have many ways to steal your information on the fly, especially if youre using a public WiFi network. In fact, your internet service provider too might be interested in having a look at your internet traffic.

Adding a layer of encryption to your internet traffic will make sure you enjoy full privacy while surfing the web. One of your viable options is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPN services encrypt all your traffic and redirect them through their own servers. All eavesdroppers will be able to see is a bunch on encrypted data being exchanged between you and your VPN service.

VPN services are available for both mobile devices and desktop computers.

To be fair, VPN is not a perfect solution. Your VPN provider will have full visibility over your non-HTTPS traffic. Free VPN services in particular have a tendency to use customer data for commercial purposes. But its much safer than letting hackers scrutinize your traffic.

Encryption is not a complete security solution and it doesnt obviate the need for basic security measures such as keeping your operating system and software up to date with the latest security patches. And dont forget that encryption is only as secure as you make it, which means you have to keep your keys secure.

But encryption is definitely one of your best friends in the hostile world of digital information, connected devices and online services. Encrypt your data, and stay safe out there.

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Originally posted here:
You need to encrypt all your data. This is how it's done - TNW

Why India Urgently Needs A Strong Encryption Law – Huffington Post India

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The world has seen an exponential growth in internet usage. Today the internet is accessed not just through browsers, but also through mobile applications and internet-enabled smart devices which collect data. The data collected is then stored on servers which may either be in India, or abroad, locally or on the cloud, and may or may not be encrypted. In most cases, users remain unaware if such data is encrypted or not. For the uninitiated, "encryption" refers to the process of using an algorithm to transform information into a secret code, thereby ensuring it remains unreadable to unauthorised users.

The storage of data on servers has not been immune to cyber security breaches. In India, several incidents of servers being compromised have been reported in the past few months alone. For instance, it was reported in May this year that a popular restaurant search and discovery service had its servers compromised resulting in the personal data of 17 million users being stolen. It was also reported that an international fast-food chain's mobile application in India allegedly exposed personal information of its 2.2 million users. India's newspapers have also carried reports in relation to personal details contained in the Aadhaar cards of citizens being stolen.

Although encryption has been widely debated in the Indian context, India currently does not have a dedicated legislation on encryption technology. Section 84A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) provides that the "Central Government may, forsecure use of the electronic medium and for promotion of e-governance and e-commerce, prescribe the modes or methods of encryption." The Information Technology (Certifying Authorities) Rules, 2000 (IT Rules) sets out the standards of encryption for digital signatures. India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has mandated a minimum standard of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) of 128 bits encryption. These minimum standards need to be used for conducting all digital financial transactions, securing passwords and connection between computer servers and browsers. In 2015, the central government had published a draft National Policy on Encryption. However, this was withdrawn shortly thereafter due to criticism from users, advocacy groups and the information technology sector.

Though there is a provision for a regulatory framework in India in relation to encryption technologies, there are no minimum standards for encryption across technologies and platforms. While there is no guarantee that a device or a server which uses the highest standard of encryption is impenetrable to a cyber attack, the risk of personal information becoming public is reduced considerably. There is an urgent need for the government of India to provide for a comprehensive policy framework if it wants to promote its "Digital India" initiative. A galloping India cannot afford to remain behind in terms of adopting the globally established best practices in encryption. In the interim, and until such time as regulatory policies are formulated, each company needs to individually ensure that it has strong encryption protocols in place to protect itself, its employees and its users from cyber security breaches.

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Why India Urgently Needs A Strong Encryption Law - Huffington Post India


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