"JACOBYTES"

Companies can lower the risk of massive fines under the new European Union privacy regime by embracing encryption of personal data, privacy attorneys and data security professionals told Bloomberg BNA. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect in May 2018, instructs privacy regulators to consider whether data are encrypted in setting fines for data breaches, which can reach maximums of 20 million euros ($21.9 million) or 4 percent of a company’s glo

Privacy advocates have criticized U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd after she called for security services to be able to access encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp in order to fight terrorism. Rudd said there must be “no place for terrorists to hide” following Wednesday’s attack in London that killed four people. Police believe the perpetrator had accessed WhatsApp two minutes before carrying out the attack. “We need to make sure that organizations like WhatsApp, and ther

Despite 83 per cent of financial services professionals using email more than any other form of communication, 23 per cent either do not use or are unaware of any email and file sharing encryption technology in place. You would think that simple and secure communication with employees and customers would be top of any financial services firm’s checklist, wouldn’t you? That the need for confidentiality and regulatory compliance had never been greater? Especially given that fin

The Email Privacy Act, a persistent attempt to update the antiquated U.S. electronic privacy law, has returned to Capitol Hill for the third time since 2013. The bill aims to amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, which created a legislative framework that impacts internet communications to this day. Amongst the provisions of the 1986 law is one which allows government agencies to obtain the electronic communications of U.S. citizens without a warrant

Three quarters of organisations plan to expand their data protection capabilities with encryption as GDPR deadline looms. Email encryption is a “critical” or “very important” business priority for 53 percent of organisations, despite only being used “extensively” by 40 percent of organisations. Only two in five (40 percent) organisations reported “extensive” use of encryption. When asked what the barriers are preventing more widespread use of the technology, more than half (5

Though already widely used, encryption awareness will rise and grow stronger. When thinking about topics to cover for those who are new to security, opportunities abound. New threats emerge every day, along with new technologies to help combat those threats. Everyone is itching to know what they need to do to defend the crown jewels, which in itself is a new concept in cybersecurity. Even though there is nothing 'new' about encryption--it remains a vital tool in terms of secu

Don't panic, there's nothing to fear, insists green messenger. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption can be potentially exploited by determined snoops to intercept and read encrypted messages, it was claimed today. Essentially, if an attacker can reroute a redelivered encrypted message, it is possible to decrypt the text. Facebook-owned WhatsApp stresses this is not a serious flaw nor a deliberate backdoor in its code. Users can detect and stop the surveillance, if it happens, by

A reported 'backdoor' in WhatsApp could undermine the security of private messages. WhatsApp has a backdoor that could allow Facebook to intercept and read encrypted messages, it is claimed. According to a report in The Guardian, the way WhatsApp has implemented its end-to-end encryption protocol makes it possible for the company to access private messages, at least in theory. As the report explains, WhatsApp's encryption "relies on the generation of unique security keys", cr

A security researcher has discovered a vulnerability in the way WhatsApp implements encryption, raising concerns that it will be exploited by governments to spy on users. Facebook has come under fire for a serious vulnerability in WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption system, which puts users under the risk of surveillance. The criticism and warning comes after a security researcher has found a security backdoor in the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging service that could provide a

Canada’s Public Consultation on National Security: The notion that we are being watched digitally has, seemingly overnight, become something many people now accept as a fact of life in the modern, post-Snowden world. Much of the news around citizen privacy, as always, has been focused on the US, but are we on the sidelines? Canada is an active participant in the five-eyes program, has rolled out the now politically toxic Bill C-51, and as members of NATO, NORAD, and enough ac