nsa - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• California lawmakers move to bar state help to NSA

  Two California lawmakers this week introduced a bill that would prohibit state agencies and corporations from providing material support to the National Security Agency.

• Palo Alto Networks acquires stealthy start-up with NSA roots

  Next-generation firewall maker Palo Alto Networks today announced its first acquisition, an intriguing buyout of a stealthy Mountain View start-up called Morta Security whose founders hail from the NSA. The price of the purchase was not disclosed.

• NSA critic Bruce Schneier joins security firm Co3 as CTO

  The network security industry's legendary free thinker Bruce Schneier Monday said he's taken a job as CTO at Co3 Systems, but that this in no way will curtail his determination to speak and write candidly on important topics such as the National Security Agency's (NSA) practices.

• Costs of NSA phone records collection program outweigh the benefits

  An analysis of the NSA's controversial bulk telephone records collection initiative suggests that the cost of running and maintaining the effort may far outweigh any benefits.

• Unencrypted Windows crash reports give 'significant advantage' to hackers, spies

  Windows' error- and crash-reporting system sends a wealth of data unencrypted and in the clear, information that eavesdropping hackers or state security agencies can use to refine and pinpoint their attacks, a researcher said today.

• Apple, Cisco, Dell unhappy over alleged NSA back doors in their gear

  Germany's Der Spiegel reports that the NSA has compromised a wide range of hardware for years to enable its spying

• 3 Ways Enterprise IT Will Change in 2014

  Two of the biggest stories in tech in 2013 -- the NSA spying scandal and Steve Ballmer's announced departure from Microsoft -- will impact the way your IT organization operates in 2014 in three key ways.

• Court's NSA ruling sets stage for contentious battle over surveillance

  U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon's ruling in a case challenging the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone records sets up what's likely to be a contentious legal fight over government surveillance in the U.S.

• Snowden speech to EU parliament could torpedo US trade talks

  The head of the White House’s intelligence committee warned the European Parliament on Tuesday that inviting whistleblower Edward Snowden to address them could torpedo a transatlantic trade agreement worth more than €2 billion a year.

• Anonymous engineers claim BT gives spies backdoors to customer data

  Carrier BT provides the British intelligence agency GCHQ and its American counterpart the NSA with direct access to customer data through the Internet modems it supplies, claims a 50-page document posted anonymously on the Cryptome site today.

• Arizona lawmaker hopes to stop NSA spy efforts in her state

  An Arizona lawmaker is eyeing an unusual way of reigning in the National Security Agency, which has been under fire for questionable surveillance practices: Block it from operating in her state.

• NSA taps tracking cookies used by Google, others, to monitor surveillance targets

  The browser cookies that online companies use to track Internet customers for targeted advertising are also used by the National Security Agency to track surveillance targets and break into their systems.

• In Pictures: The biggest Internet security challenges of 2013

  From the attack on privacy and Cryptolocker to Eric Snowden and the NSA, it's been a challenging year

• Tech titans urge surveillance reform

  An industry consortium featuring some of the biggest names in technology – including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Reddit – is urging the Obama Administration to support a major overhaul of laws governing electronic surveillance.

• The NSA tracks World of Warcraft and other online games for terrorist clues

  American and British spy agencies apparently believe there are real-life terrorists lurking among the elves, gnomes and the trolls of online gaming worlds.