There are two types of encryption: one that will prevent your sister from reading your diary and one that will prevent your government. — Bruce Schneier
Weekly Tip
With Apple and the FBI scheduled to testify in court today (since postponed), and the release of iOS 9.3 yesterday, I wanted to talk about encryption.this week. Encryption; its use, weaknesses, and the stigma that gets attached by those that do not understand its intrinsic value is forefront in the news and my mind.
It is your right and duty to demand strong, secure, and unbreakable encryption if you are at all interested in protecting your personal information from those out to do you harm. Use the latest and most secure version of your phone and/or tablet’s operating system and make sure to enable encryption. Look for and demand that any online transactions are secure, be it a login, contact form, shopping cart, financial site, etc. If you must send something through email that you want to keep private and secure, make sure to use a secure email system such as Protonmail, ZSentry, PGP, or something else that can be vetted and trusted.
Encryption is at work in our lives everyday, from our banking, email, texting (sometimes), to our medical records, online shopping, and more. There have been times both recent and past where our government has legislated to weaken or disable encryption for a variety of reasons. Weakening export encryption, requiring backdoors, and requesting master keys is detrimental to the security of our everyday lives as well as our rights to privacy.
Interesting News
Big tech companies want to make email more secure
Symantec warns of serious security holes – in Symantec security kit
McAfee Uses Web Beacons That Can Be Used To Track Users, Serve Advertising
ProtonMail’s encrypted email is now available to all
FTC warns app developers against using audio monitoring software
