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Toronto police to buy encrypted radios
The Toronto police will spend CAN$35 million on encrypted radios; new system may shut out public eavesdroppers -- by tow-truck drivers, the media, scanning enthusiasts -- starting with the June 2010 G20 summit
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German court says EU phone, e-mail data retention policy must be changed
In 2006 the EU approved a law requiring phone and e-mail providers to hold customer data for six months in case the data is needed by law enforcement; a German Federal Constitution Court called the law "inadmissable" and ruled that changes would be needed to limit its scope
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FBI wants two year retention for ISP data
Since 1986 U.S. phone companies have been obliged to keep records of who makes calls, who they call, when they call, and how long the call lasts; Now, the Feds want to include Web activity tools; it is not clear is whether the FBI means which Web sites are visited or the specific URLs
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Tories say they will set up a permanent “War Cabinet”
The Conservative Party is favored to win the next general elections in Britain, which will be held before the summer; on Friday the party’s leader, David Cameron, set out the party’s national security plan, emphasizing cybersecurity
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Flaw in federal wiretaps may allow surveillance targets to circumvent eavesdropping
The 1994 CALEA standard require telecoms to design their network architecture to make it easy for authorities to tap calls transmitted over digitally switched phone networks; the standard allows for very little bandwidth for the transmission of data about phone calls, which can be overwhelmed in a DoS attack
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Canadian government finds support for Internet surveillance scheme
The Canadian federal government wants to broaden its Internet surveillance capabilities; the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the watch-dog over Canada's spy agencies, supports the idea
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Israel says it will continue to listen-in on Hezbollah communication
Hezbollah has its own communication network in Lebanon, separate and independent from the government's sanctioned carrier networks; Israel says that bugging the organization's network does not amount to a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty
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U.S. intelligence community invests in firm that that monitors blogs, Tweets
In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA, puts money into a company that specializes in monitoring social media; move seen is part of a broader trend within the U.S. intelligence community to get better at using "open source intelligence"
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TrendRobust hierarchical metropolitan quantum cryptography network
The security of a majority of classical cryptography is based on the complexity of the cipher algorithms and the development of distributed computing and specific hacking chips; this may no longer be sufficient, as quantum computing has become a serious threat to classical cryptography; the solution: quantum encryption
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Cloud computing and securityUK.gov's G Cloud may have security silver lining after all
Cloud computing offers many benefits, but enhanced security is not one of them -- or is it? An expert says that the emergence of cloud computing is making it possible to take a new approach to security; until now, the U.K. government has kept its work on information security in specialist bodies such as GCHQ and CESG, separate from the development of business functions; "The cloud gives us the opportunity to get the specification right before we get too far down the track," he says
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The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, II
The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to "phish" for personal information such as bank details
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The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, I
The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to "phish" for personal information such as bank details
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Russian security services step up snooping
The heightened interest might stem from authorities' fear about possible public unrest connected to the economic crisis; in the first half of this year, the secret services filed nearly 77,200 requests for search warrants, more than 66,000 requests to tap phones and nearly 7,800 requests to read mail
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Source code for Skype spyware released
The programmer who wrote the malware for intercepting and recording VoIP phone calls, has posted the source code online to draw attention to vulnerabilities in Skype
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Age of surveillanceU.K. authorities made more than 500,000 surveillance requests last year
U.K. police, councils, and the intelligence services made about 1,500 surveillance requests every day last year; this is the annual equivalent to one in every 78 people being targeted
The Long View
Spyware big seller in China
The Chinese government no longer has a monopoly over domestic spying; sales of James Bond-like hidden surveillance tools such as cameras disguised as pens or buttons to companies and individuals soar
U.K. government grants itself even more data sharing power
A U.K. government proposal debated in Parliament this week would increase the ability of different government arms to share data
