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41471789 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed%20file%20system%20for%20cloud | Distributed file system for cloud | A distributed file system for cloud is a file system that allows many clients to have access to data and supports operations (create, delete, modify, read, write) on that data. Each data file may be partitioned into several parts called chunks. Each chunk may be stored on different remote machines, facilitating the parallel execution of applications. Typically, data is stored in files in a hierarchical tree, where the nodes represent directories. There are several ways to share files in a distributed architecture: each solution must be suitable for a certain type of application, depending on how complex the application is. Meanwhile, the security of the system must be ensured. Confidentiality, availability and integrity are the main keys for a secure system.
Users can share computing resources through the Internet thanks to cloud computing which is typically characterized by scalable and elastic resources – such as physical servers, applications and any services that are virtualized and allocated dynamically. Synchronization is required to make sure that all devices are up-to-date.
Distributed file systems enable many big, medium, and small enterprises to store and access their remote data as they do local data, facilitating the use of variable resources.
Overview
History
Today, there are many implementations of distributed file systems. The first file servers were developed by researchers in the 1970s. Sun Microsystem's Network File System became available in the 1980s. Before that, people who wanted to share files used the sneakernet method, physically transporting files on storage media from place to place. Once computer networks started to proliferate, it became obvious that the existing file systems had many limitations and were unsuitable for multi-user environments. Users initially used FTP to share files. FTP first ran on the PDP-10 at the end of 1973. Even with FTP, files needed to be copied from the source computer onto a server and then from the server onto the destination computer. Users were required to know the physical addresses of all computers involved with the file sharing.
Supporting techniques
Modern data centers must support large, heterogenous environments, consisting of large numbers of computers of varying capacities. Cloud computing coordinates the operation of all such systems, with techniques such as data center networking (DCN), the MapReduce framework, which supports data-intensive computing applications in parallel and distributed systems, and virtualization techniques that provide dynamic resource allocation, allowing multiple operating systems to coexist on the same physical server.
Applications
Cloud computing provides large-scale computing thanks to its ability to provide the needed CPU and storage resources to the user with complete transparency. This makes cloud computing particularly suited to support different types of applications that require large-scale distributed processing. This data-intensive computing needs a high performance file system that can share data between virtual machines (VM).
Cloud computing dynamically allocates the needed resources, releasing them once a task is finished, requiring users to pay only for needed services, often via a service-level agreement. Cloud computing and cluster computing paradigms are becoming increasingly important to industrial data processing and scientific applications such as astronomy and physics, which frequently require the availability of large numbers of computers to carry out experiments.
Architectures
Most distributed file systems are built on the client-server architecture, but other, decentralized, solutions exist as well.
Client-server architecture
Network File System (NFS) uses a client-server architecture, which allows sharing files between a number of machines on a network as if they were located locally, providing a standardized view. The NFS protocol allows heterogeneous clients' processes, probably running on different machines and under different operating systems, to access files on a distant server, ignoring the actual location of files. Relying on a single server results in the NFS protocol suffering from potentially low availability and poor scalability. Using multiple servers does not solve the availability problem since each server is working independently. The model of NFS is a remote file service. This model is also called the remote access model, which is in contrast with the upload/download model:
Remote access model: Provides transparency, the client has access to a file. He send requests to the remote file (while the file remains on the server).
Upload/download model: The client can access the file only locally. It means that the client has to download the file, make modifications, and upload it again, to be used by others' clients.
The file system used by NFS is almost the same as the one used by Unix systems. Files are hierarchically organized into a naming graph in which directories and files are represented by nodes.
Cluster-based architectures
A cluster-based architecture ameliorates some of the issues in client-server architectures, improving the execution of applications in parallel. The technique used here is file-striping: a file is split into multiple chunks, which are "striped" across several storage servers. The goal is to allow access to different parts of a file in parallel. If the application does not benefit from this technique, then it would be more convenient to store different files on different servers. However, when it comes to organizing a distributed file system for large data centers, such as Amazon and Google, that offer services to web clients allowing multiple operations (reading, updating, deleting,...) to a large number of files distributed among a large number of computers, then cluster-based solutions become more beneficial. Note that having a large number of computers may mean more hardware failures. Two of the most widely used distributed file systems (DFS) of this type are the Google File System (GFS) and the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). The file systems of both are implemented by user level processes running on top of a standard operating system (Linux in the case of GFS).
Design principles
Goals
Google File System (GFS) and Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) are specifically built for handling batch processing on very large data sets.
For that, the following hypotheses must be taken into account:
High availability: the cluster can contain thousands of file servers and some of them can be down at any time
A server belongs to a rack, a room, a data center, a country, and a continent, in order to precisely identify its geographical location
The size of a file can vary from many gigabytes to many terabytes. The file system should be able to support a massive number of files
The need to support append operations and allow file contents to be visible even while a file is being written
Communication is reliable among working machines: TCP/IP is used with a remote procedure call RPC communication abstraction. TCP allows the client to know almost immediately when there is a problem and a need to make a new connection.
Load balancing
Load balancing is essential for efficient operation in distributed environments. It means distributing work among different servers, fairly, in order to get more work done in the same amount of time and to serve clients faster. In a system containing N chunkservers in a cloud (N being 1000, 10000, or more), where a certain number of files are stored, each file is split into several parts or chunks of fixed size (for example, 64 megabytes), the load of each chunkserver being proportional to the number of chunks hosted by the server. In a load-balanced cloud, resources can be efficiently used while maximizing the performance of MapReduce-based applications.
Load rebalancing
In a cloud computing environment, failure is the norm, and chunkservers may be upgraded, replaced, and added to the system. Files can also be dynamically created, deleted, and appended. That leads to load imbalance in a distributed file system, meaning that the file chunks are not distributed equitably between the servers.
Distributed file systems in clouds such as GFS and HDFS rely on central or master servers or nodes (Master for GFS and NameNode for HDFS) to manage the metadata and the load balancing. The master rebalances replicas periodically: data must be moved from one DataNode/chunkserver to another if free space on the first server falls below a certain threshold. However, this centralized approach can become a bottleneck for those master servers, if they become unable to manage a large number of file accesses, as it increases their already heavy loads. The load rebalance problem is NP-hard.
In order to get large number of chunkservers to work in collaboration, and to solve the problem of load balancing in distributed file systems, several approaches have been proposed, such as reallocating file chunks so that the chunks can be distributed as uniformly as possible while reducing the movement cost as much as possible.
Google file system
Description
Google, one of the biggest internet companies, has created its own distributed file system, named Google File System (GFS), to meet the rapidly growing demands of Google's data processing needs, and it is used for all cloud services. GFS is a scalable distributed file system for data-intensive applications. It provides fault-tolerant, high-performance data storage a large number of clients accessing it simultaneously.
GFS uses MapReduce, which allows users to create programs and run them on multiple machines without thinking about parallelization and load-balancing issues. GFS architecture is based on having a single master server for multiple chunkservers and multiple clients.
The master server running in dedicated node is responsible for coordinating storage resources and managing files's metadata (the equivalent of, for example, inodes in classical file systems).
Each file is split to multiple chunks of 64 megabytes. Each chunk is stored in a chunk server. A chunk is identified by a chunk handle, which is a globally unique 64-bit number that is assigned by the master when the chunk is first created.
The master maintains all of the files's metadata, including file names, directories, and the mapping of files to the list of chunks that contain each file's data. The metadata is kept in the master server's main memory, along with the mapping of files to chunks. Updates to this data are logged to an operation log on disk. This operation log is replicated onto remote machines. When the log become too large, a checkpoint is made and the main-memory data is stored in a B-tree structure to facilitate mapping back into main memory.
Fault tolerance
To facilitate fault tolerance, each chunk is replicated onto multiple (default, three) chunk servers. A chunk is available on at least one chunk server. The advantage of this scheme is simplicity. The master is responsible for allocating the chunk servers for each chunk and is contacted only for metadata information. For all other data, the client has to interact with the chunk servers.
The master keeps track of where a chunk is located. However, it does not attempt to maintain the chunk locations precisely but only occasionally contacts the chunk servers to see which chunks they have stored. This allows for scalability, and helps prevent bottlenecks due to increased workload.
In GFS, most files are modified by appending new data and not overwriting existing data. Once written, the files are usually only read sequentially rather than randomly, and that makes this DFS the most suitable for scenarios in which many large files are created once but read many times.
File processing
When a client wants to write-to/update a file, the master will assign a replica, which will be the primary replica if it is the first modification. The process of writing is composed of two steps:
Sending: First, and by far the most important, the client contacts the master to find out which chunk servers hold the data. The client is given a list of replicas identifying the primary and secondary chunk servers. The client then contacts the nearest replica chunk server, and sends the data to it. This server will send the data to the next closest one, which then forwards it to yet another replica, and so on. The data is then propagated and cached in memory but not yet written to a file.
Writing: When all the replicas have received the data, the client sends a write request to the primary chunk server, identifying the data that was sent in the sending phase. The primary server will then assign a sequence number to the write operations that it has received, apply the writes to the file in serial-number order, and forward the write requests in that order to the secondaries. Meanwhile, the master is kept out of the loop.
Consequently, we can differentiate two types of flows: the data flow and the control flow. Data flow is associated with the sending phase and control flow is associated to the writing phase. This assures that the primary chunk server takes control of the write order.
Note that when the master assigns the write operation to a replica, it increments the chunk version number and informs all of the replicas containing that chunk of the new version number. Chunk version numbers allow for update error-detection, if a replica wasn't updated because its chunk server was down.
Some new Google applications did not work well with the 64-megabyte chunk size. To solve that problem, GFS started, in 2004, to implement the Bigtable approach.
Hadoop distributed file system
, developed by the Apache Software Foundation, is a distributed file system designed to hold very large amounts of data (terabytes or even petabytes). Its architecture is similar to GFS, i.e. a master/slave architecture. The HDFS is normally installed on a cluster of computers.
The design concept of Hadoop is informed by Google's, with Google File System, Google MapReduce and Bigtable, being implemented by Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Hadoop MapReduce, and Hadoop Base (HBase) respectively. Like GFS, HDFS is suited for scenarios with write-once-read-many file access, and supports file appends and truncates in lieu of random reads and writes to simplify data coherency issues.
An HDFS cluster consists of a single NameNode and several DataNode machines. The NameNode, a master server, manages and maintains the metadata of storage DataNodes in its RAM. DataNodes manage storage attached to the nodes that they run on. NameNode and DataNode are software designed to run on everyday-use machines, which typically run under a Linux OS. HDFS can be run on any machine that supports Java and therefore can run either a NameNode or the Datanode software.
On an HDFS cluster, a file is split into one or more equal-size blocks, except for the possibility of the last block being smaller. Each block is stored on multiple DataNodes, and each may be replicated on multiple DataNodes to guarantee availability. By default, each block is replicated three times, a process called "Block Level Replication".
The NameNode manages the file system namespace operations such as opening, closing, and renaming files and directories, and regulates file access. It also determines the mapping of blocks to DataNodes. The DataNodes are responsible for servicing read and write requests from the file system's clients, managing the block allocation or deletion, and replicating blocks.
When a client wants to read or write data, it contacts the NameNode and the NameNode checks where the data should be read from or written to. After that, the client has the location of the DataNode and can send read or write requests to it.
The HDFS is typically characterized by its compatibility with data rebalancing schemes. In general, managing the free space on a DataNode is very important. Data must be moved from one DataNode to another, if free space is not adequate; and in the case of creating additional replicas, data should be moved to assure system balance.
Other examples
Distributed file systems can be optimized for different purposes. Some, such as those designed for internet services, including GFS, are optimized for scalability. Other designs for distributed file systems support performance-intensive applications usually executed in parallel. Some examples include: MapR File System (MapR-FS), Ceph-FS, Fraunhofer File System (BeeGFS), Lustre File System, IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS), and Parallel Virtual File System.
MapR-FS is a distributed file system that is the basis of the MapR Converged Platform, with capabilities for distributed file storage, a NoSQL database with multiple APIs, and an integrated message streaming system. MapR-FS is optimized for scalability, performance, reliability, and availability. Its file storage capability is compatible with the Apache Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) API but with several design characteristics that distinguish it from HDFS. Among the most notable differences are that MapR-FS is a fully read/write filesystem with metadata for files and directories distributed across the namespace, so there is no NameNode.
Ceph-FS is a distributed file system that provides excellent performance and reliability. It answers the challenges of dealing with huge files and directories, coordinating the activity of thousands of disks, providing parallel access to metadata on a massive scale, manipulating both scientific and general-purpose workloads, authenticating and encrypting on a large scale, and increasing or decreasing dynamically due to frequent device decommissioning, device failures, and cluster expansions.
BeeGFS is the high-performance parallel file system from the Fraunhofer Competence Centre for High Performance Computing. The distributed metadata architecture of BeeGFS has been designed to provide the scalability and flexibility needed to run HPC and similar applications with high I/O demands.
Lustre File System has been designed and implemented to deal with the issue of bottlenecks traditionally found in distributed systems. Lustre is characterized by its efficiency, scalability, and redundancy. GPFS was also designed with the goal of removing such bottlenecks.
Communication
High performance of distributed file systems requires efficient communication between computing nodes and fast access to the storage systems. Operations such as open, close, read, write, send, and receive need to be fast, to ensure that performance. For example, each read or write request accesses disk storage, which introduces seek, rotational, and network latencies.
The data communication (send/receive) operations transfer data from the application buffer to the machine kernel, TCP controlling the process and being implemented in the kernel. However, in case of network congestion or errors, TCP may not send the data directly. While transferring data from a buffer in the kernel to the application, the machine does not read the byte stream from the remote machine. In fact, TCP is responsible for buffering the data for the application.
Choosing the buffer-size, for file reading and writing, or file sending and receiving, is done at the application level. The buffer is maintained using a circular linked list. It consists of a set of BufferNodes. Each BufferNode has a DataField. The DataField contains the data and a pointer called NextBufferNode that points to the next BufferNode. To find the current position, two pointers are used: CurrentBufferNode and EndBufferNode, that represent the position in the BufferNode for the last write and read positions.
If the BufferNode has no free space, it will send a wait signal to the client to wait until there is available space.
Cloud-based Synchronization of Distributed File System
More and more users have multiple devices with ad hoc connectivity. The data sets replicated on these devices need to be synchronized among an arbitrary number of servers. This is useful for backups and also for offline operation. Indeed, when user network conditions are not good, then the user device will selectively replicate a part of data that will be modified later and off-line. Once the network conditions become good, the device is synchronized. Two approaches exist to tackle the distributed synchronization issue: user-controlled peer-to-peer synchronization and cloud master-replica synchronization.
user-controlled peer-to-peer: software such as rsync must be installed in all users' computers that contain their data. The files are synchronized by peer-to-peer synchronization where users must specify network addresses and synchronization parameters, and is thus a manual process.
cloud master-replica synchronization: widely used by cloud services, in which a master replica is maintained in the cloud, and all updates and synchronization operations are to this master copy, offering a high level of availability and reliability in case of failures.
Security keys
In cloud computing, the most important security concepts are confidentiality, integrity, and availability ("CIA"). Confidentiality becomes indispensable in order to keep private data from being disclosed. Integrity ensures that data is not corrupted.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means that data and computation tasks are confidential: neither cloud provider nor other clients can access the client's data. Much research has been done about confidentiality, because it is one of the crucial points that still presents challenges for cloud computing. A lack of trust in the cloud providers is also a related issue. The infrastructure of the cloud must ensure that customers' data will not be accessed by unauthorized parties.
The environment becomes insecure if the service provider can do all of the following:
locate the consumer's data in the cloud
access and retrieve consumer's data
understand the meaning of the data (types of data, functionalities and interfaces of the application and format of the data).
The geographic location of data helps determine privacy and confidentiality. The location of clients should be taken into account. For example, clients in Europe won't be interested in using datacenters located in United States, because that affects the guarantee of the confidentiality of data. In order to deal with that problem, some cloud computing vendors have included the geographic location of the host as a parameter of the service-level agreement made with the customer, allowing users to choose themselves the locations of the servers that will host their data.
Another approach to confidentiality involves data encryption. Otherwise, there will be serious risk of unauthorized use. A variety of solutions exists, such as encrypting only sensitive data, and supporting only some operations, in order to simplify computation. Furthermore, cryptographic techniques and tools as FHE, are used to preserve privacy in the cloud.
Integrity
Integrity in cloud computing implies data integrity as well as computing integrity. Such integrity means that data has to be stored correctly on cloud servers and, in case of failures or incorrect computing, that problems have to be detected.
Data integrity can be affected by malicious events or from administration errors (e.g. during backup and restore, data migration, or changing memberships in P2P systems).
Integrity is easy to achieve using cryptography (typically through message-authentication code, or MACs, on data blocks).
There exist checking mechanisms that effect data integrity. For instance:
HAIL (High-Availability and Integrity Layer) is a distributed cryptographic system that allows a set of servers to prove to a client that a stored file is intact and retrievable.
Hach PORs (proofs of retrievability for large files) is based on a symmetric cryptographic system, where there is only one verification key that must be stored in a file to improve its integrity. This method serves to encrypt a file F and then generate a random string named "sentinel" that must be added at the end of the encrypted file. The server cannot locate the sentinel, which is impossible differentiate from other blocks, so a small change would indicate whether the file has been changed or not.
PDP (provable data possession) checking is a class of efficient and practical methods that provide an efficient way to check data integrity on untrusted servers:
PDP: Before storing the data on a server, the client must store, locally, some meta-data. At a later time, and without downloading data, the client is able to ask the server to check that the data has not been falsified. This approach is used for static data.
Scalable PDP: This approach is premised upon a symmetric-key, which is more efficient than public-key encryption. It supports some dynamic operations (modification, deletion, and append) but it cannot be used for public verification.
Dynamic PDP: This approach extends the PDP model to support several update operations such as append, insert, modify, and delete, which is well suited for intensive computation.
Availability
Availability is generally effected by replication.
Meanwhile, consistency must be guaranteed. However, consistency and availability cannot be achieved at the same time; each is prioritized at some sacrifice of the other. A balance must be struck.
Data must have an identity to be accessible. For instance, Skute is a mechanism based on key/value storage that allows dynamic data allocation in an efficient way. Each server must be identified by a label in the form continent-country-datacenter-room-rack-server. The server can reference multiple virtual nodes, with each node having a selection of data (or multiple partitions of multiple data). Each piece of data is identified by a key space which is generated by a one-way cryptographic hash function (e.g. MD5) and is localised by the hash function value of this key. The key space may be partitioned into multiple partitions with each partition referring to a piece of data. To perform replication, virtual nodes must be replicated and referenced by other servers. To maximize data durability and data availability, the replicas must be placed on different servers and every server should be in a different geographical location, because data availability increases with geographical diversity. The process of replication includes an evaluation of space availability, which must be above a certain minimum thresh-hold on each chunk server. Otherwise, data are replicated to another chunk server. Each partition, i, has an availability value represented by the following formula:
where are the servers hosting the replicas, and are the confidence of servers and (relying on technical factors such as hardware components and non-technical ones like the economic and political situation of a country) and the diversity is the geographical distance between and .
Replication is a great solution to ensure data availability, but it costs too much in terms of memory space. DiskReduce is a modified version of HDFS that's based on RAID technology (RAID-5 and RAID-6) and allows asynchronous encoding of replicated data. Indeed, there is a background process which looks for widely replicated data and deletes extra copies after encoding it. Another approach is to replace replication with erasure coding. In addition, to ensure data availability there are many approaches that allow for data recovery. In fact, data must be coded, and if it is lost, it can be recovered from fragments which were constructed during the coding phase. Some other approaches that apply different mechanisms to guarantee availability are: Reed-Solomon code of Microsoft Azure and RaidNode for HDFS. Also Google is still working on a new approach based on an erasure-coding mechanism.
There is no RAID implementation for cloud storage.
Economic aspects
The cloud computing economy is growing rapidly. The US government has decided to spend 40% of its compound annual growth rate (CAGR), expected to be 7 billion dollars by 2015.
More and more companies have been utilizing cloud computing to manage the massive amount of data and to overcome the lack of storage capacity, and because it enables them to use such resources as a service, ensuring that their computing needs will be met without having to invest in infrastructure (Pay-as-you-go model).
Every application provider has to periodically pay the cost of each server where replicas of data are stored. The cost of a server is determined by the quality of the hardware, the storage capacities, and its query-processing and communication overhead. Cloud computing allows providers to scale their services according to client demands.
The pay-as-you-go model has also eased the burden on startup companies that wish to benefit from compute-intensive business. Cloud computing also offers an opportunity to many third-world countries that wouldn't have such computing resources otherwise. Cloud computing can lower IT barriers to innovation.
Despite the wide utilization of cloud computing, efficient sharing of large volumes of data in an untrusted cloud is still a challenge.
References
Bibliography
Architecture, structure, and design:
Security
Synchronization
Economic aspects
Cloud storage |
41479526 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSAFE | BSAFE | Dell BSAFE, formerly known as RSA BSAFE, is a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptography library, available in both C and Java. BSAFE was initially created by RSA Security, which was purchased by EMC and then, in turn, by Dell. When Dell sold the RSA business to Symphony Technology Group in 2020, Dell elected to retain the BSAFE product line. BSAFE was one of the most common encryption toolkits before the RSA patent expired in September 2000. It also contained implementations of the RCx ciphers, with the most common one being RC4. From 2004 to 2013 the default random number generator in the library was a NIST-approved RNG standard, widely known to be insecure from at least 2006, containing a kleptographic backdoor from the American National Security Agency (NSA), as part of its secret Bullrun program. In 2013 Reuters revealed that RSA had received a payment of $10 million to set the compromised algorithm as the default option. The RNG standard was subsequently withdrawn in 2014, and the RNG removed from BSAFE beginning in 2015.
Cryptography backdoors
Dual_EC_DRBG random number generator
From 2004 to 2013, the default cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) in BSAFE was Dual_EC_DRBG, which contained an alleged backdoor from NSA, in addition to being a biased and slow CSPRNG. The cryptographic community had been aware that Dual_EC_DRBG was a very poor CSPRNG since shortly after the specification was posted in 2005, and by 2007 it had become apparent that the CSPRNG seemed to be designed to contain a hidden backdoor for NSA, usable only by NSA via a secret key. In 2007, Bruce Schneier described the backdoor as "too obvious to trick anyone to use it." The backdoor was confirmed in the Snowden leaks in 2013, and it was insinuated that NSA had paid RSA Security US$10 million to use Dual_EC_DRBG by default in 2004, though RSA Security denied that they knew about the backdoor in 2004. The Reuters article which revealed the secret $10 million contract to use Dual_EC_DRBG described the deal as "handled by business leaders rather than pure technologists". RSA Security has largely declined to explain their choice to continue using Dual_EC_DRBG even after the defects and potential backdoor were discovered in 2006 and 2007, and has denied knowingly inserting the backdoor.
As a cryptographically secure random number generator is often the basis of cryptography, much data encrypted with BSAFE was not secure against NSA. Specifically it has been shown that the backdoor makes SSL/TLS completely breakable by the party having the private key to the backdoor (i.e. NSA). Since the US government and US companies have also used the vulnerable BSAFE, NSA can potentially have made US data less safe, if NSA's secret key to the backdoor had been stolen. It is also possible to derive the secret key by solving a single instance of the algorithm's elliptic curve problem (breaking an instance of elliptic curve cryptography is considered unlikely with current computers and algorithms, but a breakthrough may occur).
In June of 2013, Edward Snowden began leaking NSA documents. In November 2013, RSA switched the default to HMAC DRBG with SHA-256 as the default option. The following month, Reuters published the report based on the Snowden leaks stating that RSA had received a payment of $10 million to set Dual_EC_DRBG as the default.
With subsequent releases of Crypto-C Micro Edition 4.1.2 (April 2016), Micro Edition Suite 4.1.5 (April 2016) and Crypto-J 6.2 (March 2015), Dual_EC_DRBG was removed entirely.
Extended Random TLS extension
"Extended Random" was a proposed extension for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, submitted for standardization to IETF by an NSA employee, although it never became a standard. The extension would otherwise be harmless, but together with the Dual_EC_DRBG, it would make it easier to take advantage of the backdoor.
The extension was previously not known to be enabled in any implementations, but in December 2017, it was found enabled on some Canon printer models, which use the RSA BSAFE library, because the extension number conflicted a part of TLS version 1.3.
Varieties
Crypto-J is a Java encryption library. In 1997, RSA Data Security licensed Baltimore Technologies' J/CRYPTO library, with plans to integrate it as part of its new JSAFE encryption toolkit and released the first version of JSAFE the same year. JSAFE 1.0 was featured in the January 1998 edition of Byte magazine.
Cert-J is a Public Key Infrastructure API software library, written in Java. It contains the cryptographic support necessary to generate certificate requests, create and sign digital certificates, and create and distribute certificate revocation lists. As of Cert-J 6.2.4, the entire API has been deprecated in favor of similar functionality provided BSAFE Crypto-J JCE API.
BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition (Crypto-C ME) was initially released in June 2001 under the name "RSA BSAFE Wireless Core 1.0". The initial release targeted Microsoft Windows, EPOC, Linux, Solaris and Palm OS.
BSAFE Micro Edition Suite is a cryptography SDK in C. BSAFE Micro Edition Suite was initially announced in February 2002 as a combined offering of BSAFE SSL-C Micro Edition, BSAFE Cert-C Micro Edition and BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition. Both SSL-C Micro Edition and Cert-C Micro Edition reached EOL in September 2014, while Micro Edition Suite remains supported with Crypto-C Micro Edition as its FIPS-validated cryptographic provider.
SSL-C is an SSL toolkit in the BSAFE suite. It was originally written by Eric A. Young and Tim J. Hudson, as a fork of the open library SSLeay, that they developed prior to joining RSA. SSL-C reached End Of Life in December 2016.
SSL-J is a Java toolkit that implements TLS. SSL-J was released as part of RSA JSAFE initial product offering in 1997. Crypto-J is the default cryptographic provider of SSL-J.
Product suite support status
On November 25, 2015, RSA announced End of Life (EOL) dates for BSAFE. The End of Primary Support (EOPS) was to be reached on January 31, 2017, and the End of Extended Support (EOXS) was originally set to be January 31, 2019. That date was later further extended by RSA for some versions until January 31, 2022. During Extended Support, even though the support policy stated that only the most severe problems would be patched, new versions were released containing bugfixes, security fixes and new algorithms.
On December 12, 2020, Dell announced the reversal of RSA's past decision, allowing BSAFE product support beyond January 2022 as well as the possibility to soon acquire new licenses. Dell also announced it was rebranding the toolkits to Dell BSAFE.
References
External Links
BSAFE Cert-J Support Page
BSAFE Crypto-J Support Page
BSAFE SSL-J Support Page
BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition Support Page
BSAFE Micro Edition Suite Support Page
C (programming language) libraries
Cryptographic software
Transport Layer Security implementation
1996 software |
41494988 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew%20D.%20Green | Matthew D. Green | Matthew Daniel Green (born 1976) is an American cryptographer and security technologist. Green is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute. He specializes in applied cryptography, privacy-enhanced information storage systems, anonymous cryptocurrencies, elliptic curve crypto-systems, and satellite television piracy. He is a member of the teams that developed the Zerocoin anonymous cryptocurrency and Zerocash. He has also been influential in the development of the Zcash system. He has been involved in the groups that exposed vulnerabilities in RSA BSAFE, Speedpass and E-ZPass.
Education
Green received a B.S. from Oberlin College (Computer Science), a B.M. from Oberlin College (Electronic Music), a Master's from Johns Hopkins University (Computer Science), and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University (Computer Science). His dissertation was titled "Cryptography for Secure and Private Databases: Enabling Practical Data Access without Compromising Privacy".
Blog
Green is the author of the blog, "A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering". In September 2013, a blog post by Green summarizing and speculating on NSA's programs to weaken cryptography, titled "On the NSA", was controversially taken down by Green's academic dean at Johns Hopkins for "contain[ing] a link or links to classified material and also [using] the NSA logo". As Ars Technica notes, this was "a strange request on its face", as this use of the NSA logo by Green was not "reasonably calculated to convey the impression that such use is approved, endorsed, or authorized by the National Security Agency", and linking classified information published by news organizations is legally entirely uncontroversial. The university later apologized to Green, and the blog post was restored (sans NSA logo), with a Johns Hopkins spokesman saying that "I'm not saying that there was a great deal of legal analysis done" as explanation for the legally unmotivated takedown.
In addition to general blog posts about NSA, encryption, and security, Green's blog entries on NSA's backdoor in Dual_EC_DRBG, and RSA Security's usage of the backdoored cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG), have been widely cited in the mainstream news media.
Work
Green currently holds the position of Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute. He teaches courses pertaining to practical cryptography.
Green is part of the group which developed Zerocoin, an anonymous cryptocurrency protocol. Zerocoin is a proposed extension to the Bitcoin protocol that would add anonymity to Bitcoin transactions. Zerocoin provides anonymity by the introduction of a separate zerocoin cryptocurrency that is stored in the Bitcoin block chain. Though originally proposed for use with the Bitcoin network, zerocoin could be integrated into any cryptocurrency. His research team has exposed flaws in more than one third of SSL/TLS encrypted web sites as well as vulnerabilities in encryption technologies, including RSA BSAFE, Exxon/Mobil Speedpass, E-ZPass, and automotive security systems. In 2015, Green was a member of the research team that identified the Logjam vulnerability in the TLS protocol.
Green started his career in 1999 at AT&T Laboratories in Florham Park, New Jersey. At AT&T Labs he worked on a variety of projects including audio coding/secure content distribution, streaming video and wireless localization services. As a graduate student he co-founded Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) with two fellow students and Avi Rubin in 2005. Green served as CTO of ISE until his departure in 2011.
Green is a member of the technical advisory board for the Linux Foundation Core Infrastructure Initiative, formed to address critical Internet security concerns in the wake of the Heartbleed security bug disclosed in April 2014 in the OpenSSL cryptography library. He sits on the technical advisory boards for CipherCloud, Overnest and Mozilla Cybersecurity Delphi. Green co-founded and serves on the Board for Directors of the Open Crypto Audit Project (OCAP), which undertook a security audit of the TrueCrypt software.
References
External links
Matthew D. Green his personal page at Johns Hopkins University
A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering his personal crypto blog
CE' website his company page
1976 births
Living people
Oberlin College alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Johns Hopkins University faculty
Modern cryptographers |
41501305 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram%20%28software%29 | Telegram (software) | Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging (IM) service. The service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features. It was launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android in October 2013. The servers of Telegram are distributed worldwide to decrease frequent data load with five data centers in different regions, while the operational center is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Various client apps are available for desktop and mobile platforms including official apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux (although registration requires an iOS or Android device and a working phone number). There are also two official Telegram web twin apps, WebK and WebZ, and numerous unofficial clients that make use of Telegram's protocol. All of Telegram's official components are open source, with the exception of the server which is closed-sourced and proprietary.
Telegram provides end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls and optional end-to-end encrypted "secret" chats. Cloud chats and groups are encrypted between the app and the server, so that ISPs and other third-parties on the network can't access data, but the Telegram server can. Users can send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share an unlimited number of images, documents (2 GB per file), user locations, animated stickers, contacts, and audio files. In January 2021, Telegram surpassed 500 million monthly active users. It was the most downloaded app worldwide in January 2021 with 1 billion downloads globally as of late August 2021.
History
Development
Telegram was launched in 2013 by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov. Previously, the pair founded the Russian social network VK, which they left in 2014 after claiming it had been taken over by President Putin's allies. Pavel Durov sold his remaining stake in VK and left Russia after resisting government pressure. Nikolai Durov created the MTProto protocol that is the basis for the messenger, while Pavel Durov provided financial support and infrastructure through his Digital Fortress fund. Telegram Messenger states that its end goal is not to bring profit, but it is not structured as a non-profit organization.
Telegram is registered as an American LLC. It does not disclose where it rents offices or which legal entities it uses to rent them, citing the need to "shelter the team from unnecessary influence" and protect users from governmental data requests. Pavel Durov said that the service was headquartered in Berlin, Germany, between 2014 and early 2015, but moved to different jurisdictions after failing to obtain residence permits for everyone on the team. After Pavel Durov left Russia, he is said to be moving from country to country with a small group of computer programmers consisting of 15 core members. According to press reports, Telegram had employees in Saint Petersburg. The Telegram team is based in Dubai as of 2017. Users can report apps issues and recommend development ideas on the dedicated "Bugs and Suggestions" platform.
Usage numbers
In October 2013, Telegram announced that it had 100,000 daily active users. On 24 March 2014, Telegram announced that it had reached 35 million monthly users and 15 million daily active users. In October 2014, South Korean governmental surveillance plans drove many of its citizens to switch to Telegram. In December 2014, Telegram announced that it had 50 million active users, generating 1 billion daily messages, and that it had 1 million new users signing up on its service every week, traffic doubled in five months with 2 billion daily messages. In September 2015, Telegram announced that the app had 60 million active users and delivered 12 billion daily messages.
In February 2016, Telegram announced that it had 100 million monthly active users, with 350,000 new users signing up every day, delivering 15 billion messages daily. In December 2017, Telegram reached 180 million monthly active users. In March 2018, Telegram reached 200 million monthly active users. On 14 March 2019, Pavel Durov claimed that "3 million new users signed up for Telegram within the last 24 hours." Durov did not specify what prompted this flood of new sign-ups, but the period matched a prolonged technical outage experienced by Facebook and its family of apps, including Instagram.
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of monthly Telegram users as of October 2019 is 300 million people worldwide.
On 24 April 2020, Telegram announced that it had reached 400 million monthly active users. On 8 January 2021, Durov announced in a blog post that Telegram had reached "about 500 million" monthly active users.
On 5 October 2021, Telegram gained over 70 million new users as a result of an outage which affected Facebook and its affiliates.
Features
Account
Telegram accounts are tied to telephone numbers and are verified by SMS. Account creation requires an iOS or Android device regardless of the platform intended to be used. Users can add multiple devices to their account and receive messages on all of them. Connected devices can be removed individually or all at once. The associated number can be changed at any time and when doing so, the user's contacts will receive the new number automatically. In addition, a user can set up a username as an alias that allows them to send and receive messages without exposing their phone number. Telegram accounts can be deleted at any time and they are deleted automatically after six months of inactivity by default, which can optionally be changed from 1 month at the shortest up to 12 months at most with a range between. Users can replace exact "last seen" timestamps with broader messages such as "last seen recently".
The default method of authentication that Telegram uses for logins is SMS-based single-factor authentication. A one-time passcode that is sent via SMS to the user's phone number is required to log into the account by default. Users also have the option to create a password as a form of two-step verification.
Telegram allows groups, bots and channels with a verified social media or Wikipedia page to be verified but not user accounts.
Cloud-based messages
Telegram's default messages are cloud-based and can be accessed on any of the user's connected devices. Users can share photos, videos, audio messages and other files (up to 2 gigabytes per file). Users can send messages to other users individually or in groups of up to 200,000 members. Sent messages can be edited up to 48 hours after they have been sent and can be deleted at any time on both sides. Messages in all chats, including groups and channels, can be set to auto-delete after 24 hours, 7 days or a month, although this will only apply to messages sent after the auto-delete timer is enabled.
Telegram offers drafts which sync across user devices, such as when a user starts typing a message on one device and can later continue on another. The draft will persist in the editing area on any device until it is sent or removed. All chats, including groups and channels, can be sorted into custom folders set by the user. Users have the option to schedule messages in personal chats to be sent when the other side comes online. Users can also import chat history, including both messages and media, from WhatsApp, Line and Kakaotalk due to data portability, either making a new chat to hold the messages or adding them to an existing one.
The transmission of cloud messages to Telegram's servers is encrypted with the service's MTProto protocol, while 'Secret Chats' use end-to-end encryption based on the same protocol. According to Telegram's privacy policy, "all data is stored heavily encrypted and the encryption keys in each case are stored in several other data centers in different jurisdictions. This way local engineers or physical intruders cannot get access to users' data". Telegram's local message database is not encrypted by default. Some Telegram clients allow users to encrypt the local message database by setting a passphrase.
Telegram users can share their live location in a chat for either 15 minutes, one hour, or eight hours. If multiple users share their live location within a group, they are shown on an interactive map. Sharing the 'live location' can be stopped at any time.
Secret chats
Messages can also be sent with client-to-client encryption in so-called secret chats. These messages are encrypted with the service's MTProto protocol. Unlike Telegram's cloud-based messages, messages sent within a secret chat can be accessed only on the device upon which the secret chat was initiated and the device upon which the secret chat was accepted. Messages sent within secret chats can, in principle, be deleted at any time and can optionally self-destruct.
Secret chats have to be initiated and accepted via an invitation, upon which the encryption keys for the session are exchanged. Users in a secret chat can verify that no man-in-the-middle attack has occurred by comparing pictures that visualize their public key fingerprints.
According to Telegram, secret chats have supported perfect forward secrecy since December 2014. Encryption keys are periodically changed after a key has been used more than 100 times or has been in use for more than a week. Old encryption keys are destroyed.
Secret Chats are only available on the Android, iOS and macOS clients of the app.
Channels
In September 2015, Telegram added channels. Channels are a form of one-way messaging where admins are able to post messages but other users are not. Any user is able to create and subscribe to channels. Channels can be created for broadcasting messages to an unlimited number of subscribers. Channels can be publicly available with an alias and a permanent URL so anyone can join. Users who join a channel can see the entire message history. Users can join and leave channels at any time. Depending on a channel's settings, messages may be signed with the channel's name or with the username of the admin who posted them. Non-admin users are unable to see other users who've subscribed to the channel. The admin of the channel can view statistics about channel activity as each message has its own view counter, showing how many users have seen this message, including views from forwarded messages. As of May 2019, the creator of a channel can add a discussion group, a separate group where messages in the channel are automatically posted for subscribers to communicate. This enables comments for posts in the channel.
In December 2019, Bloomberg moved their messenger-based newsletter service from WhatsApp to Telegram after the former banned bulk and automated messaging. The news service is attempting to grow its audience outside the U.S.
In December 2021, content protection features were introduced that allow admins of private channels and groups to disable screenshots, message forwarding and saving data in their communities.
Video and voice calls
At the end of March 2017, Telegram introduced its own end-to-end encrypted voice calls. Connection is established as peer-to-peer whenever possible, otherwise the closest server to the client is used. According to Telegram, there is a neural network working to learn various technical parameters about a call to provide better quality of the service for future uses.
Telegram added group voice chats in December 2020. Any group or channel admin can launch a chat, which will be open to all members and ongoing even if no one is currently using it. Admins can mute members by default or selectively as well as create invite links that will add people as muted by default. Members can use the Raise Hand button to signal their desire to speak. A push-to-talk option is available on mobile versions, as well as key shortcuts to mute and unmute oneself on Telegram Desktop. Admins of groups or channels have the option to join as their group or channel, hiding their personal account. Users can also record chats with a red dot shown as a warning during the recording period.
Telegram announced in April 2020 that they would include group video calls by the end of the year. On 15 August 2020, Telegram added video calling with end-to-end encryption. Picture-in-picture mode is also available so that users have the option to use the other functions of the app while remaining on the call. In June 2021, Telegram implemented group video calls across all of its clients. Users can stream video from their camera, share their screen or do both simultaneously. The company stated that the group calls are capped at 30 people temporarily and the limit will be raised "soon". Group calls have support for selective screen sharing, split screen view and improved noise suppression. In July 2021, an update of Telegram introduced the ability for up to 1000 people to watch the streamed video. livestreams were updated with unlimited participants.
Bots
In June 2015, Telegram launched a platform for third-party developers to create bots. Bots are Telegram accounts operated by programs. They can respond to messages or mentions, can be invited into groups and can be integrated into other programs. It also accepts online payments with credit cards and Apple Pay. Dutch website Tweakers reported that an invited bot can potentially read all group messages when the bot controller changes the access settings silently at a later point in time. Telegram pointed out that it considered implementing a feature that would announce such a status change within the relevant group. There are also inline bots, which can be used from any chat screen. In order to activate an inline bot, user needs to type in the message field a bot's username and query. The bot then will offer its content. User can choose from that content and send it within a chat.
Bots can also handle transactions provided by Paymentwall, Yandex.Money, Stripe, Ravepay, Razorpay, QiWi and Google Pay for different countries.
Bots also power Telegram's gaming platform, which utilizes HTML5, so games are loaded on-demand as needed, like ordinary webpages. Games work on iPhones 4 and newer and on Android 4.4 devices and newer.
People can use Internet Of Things (IoT) services with two-ways interaction for IFTTT implemented within Telegram.
In April 2021, the Payments 2.0 upgrade enabled bot payments within any chat, using third-party services such as Sberbank, Tranzoo, Payme, CLICK, LiqPay and ECOMMPAY to process the credit card information.
In February 2018, Telegram launched their social login feature to its users, named Telegram Login. It features a website widget that could be embedded into websites, allowing users to sign into a third party website with their Telegram account. The gateway sends users' Telegram name, username, and profile picture to the website owner, while users' phone number remains hidden. The gateway is integrated with a bot, which is linked with the developer's specific website domain.
Comments.App, is a tool for commenting on pages, channel posts, it lets you add a comments widget to your website.
With the widget in place, Telegram users will be able to log in with just two taps and leave comments with text and photos, as well as like, dislike and reply to comments from others.
They can also subscribe to comments and get notifications from @DiscussBot. Widgets are configurable. Developers can change the color theme, use different colors for names, change the design to a dark theme, change the maximum number of comments on the page, change the height, assign moderators, and block user spam; the mode of filled and outlined icons is also supported.
In June 2021, an update introduced a new bot menu where users can browse and send commands while in a chat with a bot.
Instant View
Instant View is a way to view web articles with zero page load time. With Instant View, Telegram users can read articles from mass media or blogs in a uniform and readable way. Instant View pages support text and media of any type and work even if the original website was not optimized for mobile devices.
On top of this, Instant View pages are extremely lightweight and cached on the Telegram servers, so they load instantly on pretty much any connection.
Telegraph
Telegraph is a publishing tool used to create formatted posts with photos and embedded media. It is designed in a minimalist style, the article pages do not contain any controls. Each article on the website is separate, there is no possibility to merge articles into groups or hierarchies. For each article, the author specifies a title and optionally a subtitle, usually used for the author's name. In addition, the title of the article indicates the date of the first publication, which the author of the article cannot influence.
Text formatting options are also minimal: two levels of headings, single-level lists, bold, italics, quotes, and hyperlinks are supported. Authors can upload images and videos to the page, with a limit of 5mb. When an author adds links to YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitter, the service allows you to embed their content directly in the article.
When an article is first published, the URL is generated automatically from its title. Non-Latin characters are transliterated, spaces are replaced with hyphens, and the date of publication is added to the address. For example, an article titled "Telegraph (blog platform)" published on November 17 would receive the URL /Telegraph-blog-platform-11-17.
Stickers and animated emoji
Telegram has more than 20,000 stickers. Stickers are cloud-based, high-resolution images intended to provide more expressive emoji. When typing in an emoji, the user is offered to send the respective sticker instead. Stickers come in collections called "packs", and multiple stickers can be offered for one emoji. Telegram comes with one default sticker pack, but users can install additional sticker packs provided by third-party contributors. Sticker sets installed from one client become automatically available to all other clients. Sticker images use WebP file format, which is better optimized to be transmitted over the internet. The Telegram clients also support animated emoji.
Real-life identification
In July 2018, Telegram introduced their online authorisation and identity management system, Telegram Passport, for platforms that require real-life identification. It asks users to upload their own official documents such as passport, identity card, driver license, etc. When an online service requires such identification documents and verification, it forwards the information to the platform with the user's permission. Telegram stated that it does not have access to the data, while the platform will only share the information to the authorised recipient. However, the service was criticised for being vulnerable to online brute force attacks.
Polls
Polls are available on Android, iOS, and desktop applications. Polls have the option to be anonymous or visible. A user can enter multiple options into the poll. Quiz mode can also be enabled where a user can select the right answer for their poll and leave it to the group to guess. Quiz bots can also be added to track correct answers and even provide a global leaderboard.
People Nearby and Groups Nearby
People Nearby can help users meet new friends by turning on phone GPS location and opting-in contacts and through Groups Nearby people can create a local group by adding location data to groups.
Architecture
Encryption scheme
Telegram uses a symmetric encryption scheme called MTProto. The protocol was developed by Nikolai Durov and other developers at Telegram and is based on 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption and Diffie–Hellman key exchange.
Servers
As with most instant messaging protocols, Telegram uses centralized servers. Telegram Messenger LLP has servers in a number of countries throughout the world to improve the response time of their service. Telegram's server-side software is closed-source and proprietary. Pavel Durov said that it would require a major architectural redesign of the server-side software to connect independent servers to the Telegram cloud.
For users who signed in from the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are supported by storing data only on servers in the Netherlands, and designating a London-based company as their responsible data controller.
Client apps
Telegram has various client apps, some developed by Telegram Messenger LLP and some by the community. Most of them are free and open-source and released under the GNU General Public Licence or 3. The official clients support sending any file format extensions. The built-in media viewer supports common media formats - JPEG, PNG, WebP for images and H.264 and HEVC in videos in MP4 container and MP3, FLAC, Vorbis, Opus and AAC for audio.
In 2021, the Telegram team announced a direct build of its Android app. Telegram for Android is available directly from the Telegram website.
It is automatically updated and will most likely get new versions faster than the apps in the Play Store and App Store.
Also, a distinctive feature of this version is the ability to view channels/groups on a specific topic without censorship, which cannot be viewed from an app distributed from Google Play or the Apple Store due to their policies.
Common specifications:
No cloud backup option for secret chat
APIs
Telegram has public APIs with which developers can access the same functionality as Telegram's official apps to build their own messaging applications. In February 2015, creators of the unofficial Whatsapp+ client released the Telegram Plus app, later renamed to Plus Messenger, after their original project got a cease-and-desist order from WhatsApp. In September 2015, Samsung released a messaging application based on these APIs.
Telegram also offers an API that allows developers to create bots, which are accounts controlled by programs. Such bots are used, among other things, to emulate and play old games in the app and inform users about vaccine availability for COVID-19.
In addition, Telegram offers functions for making payments directly within the platform, alongside an external service such as Stripe.
Monetization and funding
The company was initially supported by its CEO's personal funds after the sale of his stake in VK. In January 2018, it launched an ICO and collected $1.7 billion from investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital and Benchmark. After the shutdown of the TON project, the company needed to repay the investors the money that was not spent on the development during 2018 and the beginning of 2019, when the project was active.
On 15 March 2021, Telegram conducted a five-year public bonds placement worth $1 billion. The funding was required to cover the debts amounting to $625.7 million, including $433 million to investors who bought futures for Gram tokens in 2018 and included purchasers such as David Yakobashvili. On 23 March, Telegram also sold additional bonds worth $150 million to the Abu Dhabi Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners. A day later, the Mubadala Investment Company stated that Russia's sovereign wealth fund participated in its deal undisclosed through the Russia-UAE joint investment platform to buy convertible bonds. A Telegram spokesperson stated: "RDIF is not in the list of investors we sold bonds to. We wouldn’t be open to any transaction with this fund" and "[t]he funds that did invest, including Mubadala, confirmed to us that RDIF was not among their LPs." According to the contract, the holders of the bonds will be provided with an option to convert them to shares at a 10% discount if the company conducts an open IPO. The company's CEO has stated that the move aimed to "enable Telegram to continue growing globally while sticking to its values and remaining independent". According to press reports, prior to the bonds placement, Durov had rejected an investment offer for a 5-10% stake in the company as well as several undisclosed ones, valuing the company in a $30–40 billion range.
Advertising and paid features
Telegram has stated that the company will never serve advertisements in private chats. In late 2020, Durov announced that the company was working on its own ad platform, and will integrate non-targeted ads in public one-to-many channels, that already sell and display ads in the form of regular messages. Ads began to appear in channels with more than 1000 followers in October 2021. Durov has stated that Telegram is considering a paid subscription that would hide ads, while allowing users to directly support the app.
Durov announced that Telegram will also consider adding paid features aimed at enterprise clients. According to him, these features will require more bandwidth and the added cost will be covered by the feature prices, in addition to covering some of the costs incurred by regular users.
Telegram Open Network
In 2017, in an attempt to monetize Telegram without advertising, the company began the development of a blockchain platform dubbed either "The Open Network" or "Telegram Open Network" (TON) and its native cryptocurrency "Gram". The project was announced in mid-December 2017 and its 132-page technical paper became available in January 2018. The codebase behind TON was developed by Pavel Durov's brother Nikolai Durov, the core developer of Telegram's MTProto protocol. In January 2018 a 23-page white paper and a detailed 132-page technical paper for TON blockchain became available.
Durov planned to power TON with the existing Telegram user base, and turn it into the largest blockchain and a platform for apps and services akin to a decentralized WeChat, Google Play, and App Store. Besides, the TON had the potential to become a decentralized alternative to Visa and MasterCard due to its ability to scale and support millions of transactions per second. In January and February 2018 the company ran a private sale of futures contracts for Grams, raising around $1.7 billion. No public offering took place.
The development of TON took place in a completely isolated manner, and the release was postponed several times. The test network was launched in January 2019. The launch of the TON main network was scheduled for October 31. Yet on October 30, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a temporary restrictive order to prevent the distribution of Grams to initial purchasers; the regulator considered the legal scheme employed by Telegram as an unregistered securities offering with initial buyers acting as underwriters.
The judge hearing the Telegram v. SEC case, P. Kevin Castel, ultimately agreed with the SEC's argument and kept the restrictions on Gram distribution in force. The ban applied to non-U.S.-based purchasers as well, because Telegram couldn't prevent the re-sale of Grams to U.S. citizens on a secondary market, as the anonymity of users was one of the key features of TON. Following that, Durov announced the end of Telegram's active involvement with TON. On June 26, the judge approved the settlement between Telegram and SEC. The company agreed to pay an $18.5 million penalty and return $1.22 billion to Gram purchasers. In March 2021, Telegram launched a bonds offering to cover the debt and fund further growth of the app.
Use by fringe groups
Telegram has been used for illegal activities such as spreading hate messages, illegal pornography, contact between criminals and trading of illegal goods and services such as drugs, contraband and stolen personal data.
Jihadists
In September 2015, in response to a question about the use of Telegram by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Pavel Durov stated: "I think that privacy, ultimately, and our right for privacy is more important than our fear of bad things happening, like terrorism." Durov sarcastically suggested to ban words because terrorists use them for communication. ISIS recommended Telegram to its supporters and members and in October 2015 they were able to double the number of followers of their official channel to 9,000. In November 2015, Telegram announced that it had blocked 78 public channels operated by ISIS for spreading propaganda and mass communication. Telegram stated that it would block public channels and bots that are related to terrorism, but it would not honor "politically-motivated censorship" based on "local restrictions on freedom of speech" and that it allowed "peaceful expression of alternative opinions." ISIS's usage of Telegram reignited the encryption debate and encrypted messaging applications faced new scrutiny.
In August 2016, French anti-terrorism investigators asserted that the two ISIS-directed terrorists who murdered a priest in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, France, and videoed the murder, had communicated via Telegram and "used the app to coordinate their plans for the attack". ISIS's media wing subsequently posted a video on Telegram, showing the pair pledging allegiance. A CNN news report stated that Telegram had "become known as a preferred means of communication for the terror group ISIS and was used by the ISIS cell that plotted the Paris terror attacks in November" after the attacks. Daily Mirror called Telegram a "jihadi messaging app".
In June 2017, the Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor hinted at the possibility of blocking Telegram in Russia due to its usage by terrorists.
In July 2017, Director General of Application and Informatics of the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said eleven Telegram DNS servers were blocked because many channels in the service "promoted radicalism, terrorism, hatred, bomb assembly, civil attack, disturbing images, and other propaganda contrary to Indonesian laws and regulations." In August 2017, Indonesia lifted the block after countermeasures against negative content were deployed in association with Telegram LLP.
In November 2019, Telegram participated in Europol's Internet Referral Action Day. As a result, Telegram expanded and strengthened its terrorist content detection and removal efforts. Over 43,000 terrorist-related bots and channels were removed from Telegram. According to U.S. officials, the crackdown on Telegram was especially effective and seems to be having lasting impact. According to Europol, Telegram has put forth considerable effort in removing abusers of its platform.
Far-right groups
Mother Jones magazine reported that neo-Nazi and fascist hate groups used the Telegram app to organize a gun rally in Richmond, Virginia, US while the Anti-Defamation League has called Telegram a white supremacist "safe haven" and a valuable tool for right-wing extremists. The neo-Nazi white separatist paramilitary hate group The Base switched to Telegram after being blocked on most social media platforms, including Twitter, YouTube and Gab. After a number of arrests of The Base members in January 2020, a note appeared on its official Telegram account warning people to stop posting. In August 2019 white supremacist Christopher Cantwell posted anti-Semitic comments on Telegram.
The Anti-Defamation League notes that Telegram was founded by the same two Russian brothers who founded VKontakte (VK), which is known for its lack of moderation when it comes to white supremacy. While Telegram's terms of service prohibit the promotion of violence, they have allowed violent videos posted by mass shooters Brenton Tarrant (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Stephan Balliet (Halle, Germany), although other social media platforms had removed them. The League also points to the RapeWaffen Division channel, which openly advocates rape and murder as part of a race war.
Telegram has also been used by the alt-right organization Proud Boys to coordinate throughout the United States. In the United Kingdom, Telegram is one of the main platforms for far-right publication TR.news, maintained by Tommy Robinson, and Britain First, whose pages were blocked by major social media platforms. Weblinks related to these channels received more views on Telegram in 2018 and 2019 than some well-known mainstream news outlets, including The Guardian or the Daily Mail. However, with a relatively small user base and no algorithmic timeline, such groups struggle to build a larger audience on Telegram.
In January 2021, Telegram confirmed that it blocked "hundreds" of neo-Nazi and white supremacist channels with tens of thousands of followers for inciting violence. A 2021 Institute for Strategic Dialogue report on the far-right in Ireland found that messages from Irish far-right groups on the app increased from a total of 801 in 2019 to over 60 000 in 2020.
On 27 August 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives select committee investigating the 2021 United States Capitol attack demanded records from Telegram (alongside 14 other social media companies) going back to the spring of 2020.
Child and teenage pornography
The app has been used for distribution of pornographic material, including child and teenage pornography. Telegram's internal reporting system has an option to report content that contains 'Child Abuse', including specific messages in groups and channels. The company has a verified channel called "Stop Child Abuse", where daily statistics on the number of groups and channels banned for sharing illegal materials are posted. It also provides an email address dedicated to reports of content related to child abuse.
In January 2021, North Macedonian media outlets reported that a now-banned Telegram group, with more than 7,000 members, titled "Public Room" ("Јавна соба") was used to share nude photos of women, often young teenage girls. Along with the shared photographs, anonymous accounts shared private information of the women, including phone numbers and social media profiles, encouraging members of the group to contact the women and ask for sexual favours. This was done without prior agreement or knowledge of the women, causing intense public backlash and demand for the group to be shut down. The President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski, along with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev, demanded an immediate reaction from Telegram and threatened to completely restrict access to the app in the country if no actions were taken. The group was banned after reports from users and media, although no public statement was made.
Bot abuse
In 2021, a bot was found selling leaked phone numbers from Facebook.
The chairman of the public organization "Electronic Democracy" Volodymyr Flents on 11 May 2020 announced that a Telegram bot appeared on the Web, which sold the personal data of Ukrainian citizens. It is estimated that the bot contains data from 26 million Ukrainians registered in the Dіia application. However, subsequently, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov denied any data from the app being leaked.
The criminal activity of 25 people has already been confirmed and copies of 30 databases were seized.
A Telegram bot was blocked by Apple in 2020 after posting deepfake pornography.
Telegram reportedly banned more than 350,000 bots and channels in 2020, including those that contained child abuse and terrorism-related content.
Reception
Censorship
Telegram has been blocked temporarily or permanently by some governments including Iran, China and Pakistan. The Russian government blocked Telegram for several years before lifting the ban in 2020. The company's founder has said he wants the app to have an anti-censorship tool for Iran and China similar to the app's role in fighting censorship in Russia.
2021 shutdown of Russian political bots
In September 2021, prior to the regional elections in Russia, Telegram suspended several bots spreading information about the election, including a bot run by the opposition party and critics of incumbent president Vladimir Putin's government, citing election silence as the reason, though a blog post by the company's CEO implied the company was following Apple and Google, which "dictate the rules of the game to developers". The block of the main Smart Voting bot was criticized by allies of Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic and former opposition leader. Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh called the block and the deletion of the tactical voting app from app stores "censorship [...] imposed by private companies". In a later blog post, Durov directly stated that the block was a result of pressure from Google and Apple as refusal to comply with their policies would result "in an immediate shutdown of Telegram for millions of users". The post included a screenshot showing an internal email sent by the App Store to developers, demanding the takedown of content related to Navalny.
Security
Telegram's security model has received notable criticism by cryptography experts. They criticized how the general security model permanently stores all contacts, messages and media together with their decryption keys on its servers by default and that it does not enable end-to-end encryption for messages by default. Pavel Durov has argued that this is because it helps to avoid third-party unsecured backups, and to allow users to access messages and files from any device. Cryptography experts have furthermore criticized Telegram's use of a custom-designed encryption protocol that has not been proven reliable and secure. However, in December 2020, a study titled "Automated Symbolic Verification of Telegram’s MTProto 2.0" was published, confirming the security of the updated MTProto 2.0 and reviewing it. The paper provides "fully automated proof of the soundness of MTProto 2.0’s authentication, normal chat, end-to-end encrypted chat, and re-keying mechanisms with respect to several security properties, including authentication, integrity, confidentiality and perfect forward secrecy" and "proves the formal correctness of MTProto 2.0". This partially addresses the concern about the lack of scrutiny while confirming the security of the protocol's latest version.
The desktop clients (excluding macOS client) do not feature options for end-to-end encrypted messages. When the user assigns a local password in the desktop application, data is locally encrypted also. Telegram has defended the lack of ubiquitous end-to-end encryption by claiming the online-backups that do not use client-side encryption are "the most secure solution currently possible".
Critics have also disputed claims by Telegram that it is "more secure than mass market messengers like WhatsApp and Line", because WhatsApp applies end-to-end encryption to all of its traffic by default and uses the Signal Protocol, which has been "reviewed and endorsed by leading security experts", while Telegram does neither and stores all messages, media and contacts in their cloud. Since July 2016, Line has also applied end-to-end encryption to all of its messages by default, though it has also been criticized for being susceptible to replay attacks and the lack of forward secrecy between clients.
In 2013, an author on the Russian programming website Habr discovered a weakness in the first version of MTProto that would allow an attacker to mount a man-in-the-middle attack and prevent the victim from being alerted by changed key fingerprint. The bug was fixed on the day of the publication with a $100,000 payout to the author and a statement on the official blog.
On 26 February 2014, the German consumer organization Stiftung Warentest evaluated several data-protection aspects of Telegram, along with other popular instant-messaging clients. Among the aspects considered were: the security of the data transmission, the service's terms of use, the accessibility of the source code, and the distribution of the app. Telegram was rated 'problematic' () overall. The organization was favorable to Telegram's secure chats and partially free code but criticized the mandatory transfer of contact data to Telegram's servers and the lack of an imprint or address on the service's website. It noted that while the message data is encrypted on the device, it could not analyse the transmission due to a lack of source code.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) listed Telegram on its "Secure Messaging Scorecard" in February 2015. Telegram's default chat function received a score of 4 out of 7 points on the scorecard. It received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having its code open to independent review, having the security design properly documented, and having completed a recent independent security audit. Telegram's default chat function missed points because the communications were not encrypted with keys the provider didn't have access to, users could not verify contacts' identities, and past messages were not secure if the encryption keys were stolen. Telegram's optional secret chat function, which provides end-to-end encryption, received a score of 7 out of 7 points on the scorecard. The EFF said that the results "should not be read as endorsements of individual tools or guarantees of their security", and that they were merely indications that the projects were "on the right track".
In December 2015, two researchers from Aarhus University published a report in which they demonstrated that MTProto 1.0 did not achieve indistinguishability under chosen-ciphertext attack (IND-CCA) or authenticated encryption. The researchers stressed that the attack was of a theoretical nature and they "did not see any way of turning the attack into a full plaintext-recovery attack". Nevertheless, they said they saw "no reason why [Telegram] should use a less secure encryption scheme when more secure (and at least as efficient) solutions exist". The Telegram team responded that the flaw does not affect message security and that "a future patch would address the concern". Telegram 4.6, released in December 2017, supports MTProto 2.0, which now satisfied the conditions for IND-CCA. MTProto 2.0 is seen by qualified cryptographers as a vast improvement to Telegram's security.
In April 2016, accounts of several Russian opposition members were hijacked by intercepting the SMS messages used for login authorization. In response, Telegram recommended using the optional two-factor authentication feature. In May 2016, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Nate Cardozo, senior staff attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, recommended against using Telegram because of "its lack of end-to-end encryption [by default] and its use of non-standard MTProto encryption protocol, which has been publicly criticized by cryptography researchers, including Matthew Green".
On 2 August 2016, Reuters reported that Iranian hackers compromised more than a dozen Telegram accounts and identified the phone numbers of 15 million Iranian users, as well as the associated user IDs. Researchers said the hackers belonged to a group known as Rocket Kitten. Rocket Kitten's attacks were similar to ones attributed to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The attackers took advantage of a programming interface built into Telegram. According to Telegram, these mass checks are no longer possible because of limitations introduced into its API earlier in 2016.
Login SMS messages are known to have been intercepted in Iran, Russia and Germany, possibly in coordination with phone companies. Pavel Durov has said that Telegram users in "troubled countries" should enable two-factor authentication by creating passwords in order to prevent this.
In June 2017, Pavel Durov in an interview claimed that U.S. intelligence agencies tried to bribe the company's developers to weaken Telegram's encryption or install a backdoor during their visit to the U.S. in 2016.
In 2018, Telegram sent a message to all Iranian users stating that the Telegram Talai and Hotgram unofficial clients are not secure.
Telegram promised since at least March 2014 that "all code will be released eventually", including all the various client applications (Android, iOS, desktop, etc.) and the server-side code. As of May 2021, Telegram still hasn't published their server-side source code. In January 2021, Durov explained his rationale for not releasing server-side code, citing reasons such as inability for end-users to verify that the released code is the same code run on servers, and a government that wanted to acquire the server code and make a messaging app that would end competitors.
On 9 June 2019, The Intercept released leaked Telegram messages exchanged between current Brazilian Minister of Justice and former judge Sérgio Moro and federal prosecutors. The hypothesis is that either mobile devices were hacked by SIM swap or the targets’ computers were compromised. The Telegram team tweeted that it was either because the user had malware or they were not using two-step verification.
On 12 June 2019, Telegram confirmed that it suffered a denial-of-service attack which disrupted normal app functionality for approximately one hour. Pavel Durov tweeted that the IP addresses used in the attack mostly came from China.
In December 2019, multiple Russian businessmen suffered account takeovers that involved bypassing SMS single-factor authentication. Security company Group-IB suggested SS7 mobile signalling protocol weaknesses, illegal usage of surveillance equipment, or telecom insider attacks.
On 30 March 2020, an Elasticsearch database holding 42 million records containing user IDs and phone numbers of Iranian users was exposed online without a password. The accounts were extracted from an unofficial government-sanctioned version of Telegram. It took 11 days for the database to be taken down, but the researchers say the data was accessed by other parties, including a hacker who reported the information to a specialized forum.
In September 2020, it was reported that Iran's RampantKitten ran a phishing and surveillance campaign against dissidents on Telegram. The attack relied on people downloading a malware-infected file from any source, at which point it would replace Telegram files on the device and 'clone' session data. David Wolpoff, a former Department of Defense contractor, has stated that the weak link in the attack was the device itself and not any of the affected apps: "There’s no way for a secure communication app to keep a user safe when the end devices are compromised."
In July 2021, researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London and ETH Zurich published an analysis of the MTProto protocol, concluding that the protocol could provide a "confidential and integrity-protected channel" for communication. They also found that attackers had the theoretical ability to reorder messages coming from the client to the server though the attacker would not be able to see the content of the messages. Several other theoretical vulnerabilities were reported as well, in response to which Telegram released a document stating that the MITM attack on the key exchange was impossible as well as detailing the changes made to the protocol to protect from it in the future. All issues were patched before the paper's publication with a security bounty paid out to the researchers.
In September 2021, a Russian researcher published details about a bug with the self-destruct feature that allowed the user to recover deleted photos from their own device. The bug was patched prior to publication and Telegram representatives offered a €1,000 bug bounty. The researcher did not sign the NDA that came with the offer and did not receive the award, opting to disclose the bug.
Cryptography contests
Telegram has organized two cryptography contests to challenge its own security. Third parties were asked to break the service's cryptography and disclose the information contained within a secret chat between two computer-controlled users. A reward of respectively and was offered. Both of these contests expired with no winners. Security researcher Moxie Marlinspike, founder of the competing Signal messenger, and commenters on Hacker News criticized the first contest for being rigged or framed in Telegram's favor and said that Telegram's statements on the value of these contests as proof of the cryptography's quality are misleading. This was because the cryptography contest could not be won even with completely broken algorithms such as MD2 (hash function) used as key stream extractor, and primitives such as the Dual EC DRBG that is known to be backdoored.
2019 Puerto Rico "Telegramgate"
Telegram was the main subject surrounding the 2019 Puerto Rico riots that ended up in the resignation of then-Governor Ricardo Rosselló. Hundreds of pages of a group chat between Rosselló and members of his staff were leaked. The messages were considered vulgar, racist, and homophobic toward several individuals and groups, and discussed how they would use the media to target potential political opponents.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Internet privacy
Secure instant messaging
References
Further reading
External links
2013 software
Alt-tech
Communication software
Cross-platform software
Free and open-source Android software
Instant messaging clients
IOS software
Linux software
Software that uses Qt
Windows Phone software |
41518933 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatSecure | ChatSecure | ChatSecure is a messaging application for iOS which allows OTR and OMEMO encryption for the XMPP protocol. ChatSecure is free and open source software available under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.
ChatSecure has been used by international individuals and governments, businesses, and those spreading jihadi propaganda.
History
ChatSecure was originally released in 2011 and was the first iOS application to support OTR messaging. In 2012 ChatSecure formed a partnership with The Guardian Project and the Gibberbot app was rebranded to "ChatSecure Android".
In late 2016, the Android branding partnership was ended, with ChatSecure Android becoming 'Zom', and ChatSecure iOS remaining as ChatSecure. ChatSecure iOS remains in active development and is unaffected by this change. Version 4.0 was released on January 17, 2017.
Reception
In November 2014, "ChatSecure + Orbot" received a perfect score on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Secure Messaging Scorecard"; the combination received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having communications encrypted with keys the provider doesn't have access to (end-to-end encryption), making it possible for users to independently verify their correspondents' identities, having past communications secure if the keys are stolen (forward secrecy), having the code open to independent review (open source), having the security designs well-documented, and having a recent independent security audit.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
List of free and open-source iOS applications
References
External links
IOS software
Free software
Free mobile software
Free XMPP clients |
41525158 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark%20Mail%20Alliance | Dark Mail Alliance | The Dark Mail Alliance is an organization dedicated to creating an email protocol and architecture with end-to-end encryption.
In October 2013, Silent Circle and Lavabit announced a project to create a more secure alternative to email and began a fundraising effort. The Dark Mail Alliance team consists of Phil Zimmermann, Jon Callas, Mike Janke, and Ladar Levison.
DIME
Dark Internet Mail Environment (DIME) aims to be a secure communication platform for asynchronous messaging across the Internet. It was presented by Ladar Levison and Stephen Watt at DEF CON on August 8, 2014.
Specifications
There have been multiple revisions for DIME specifications. The latest revision is presented as a preliminary draft.
First public revision, December 2014
Preliminary draft, March 2015
Protocols
Dark Mail Transfer Protocol (DMTP)
Dark Mail Access Protocol (DMAP)
Data formats
Signet Data Format
Message Data Format (D/MIME)
Implementations
Server-side
Magma is the reference MIME server implementation. It supports server side encryption, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Client-side
Volcano, a Thunderbird fork with DIME support.
See also
Email encryption
Email privacy
Kolab Now
Pretty Good Privacy
pretty Easy privacy
References
External links
Dark Mail Alliance web site
Email
Privacy of telecommunications
Internet privacy organizations
Computer security organizations
2013 establishments |
41568902 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher%20Department%20of%20the%20High%20Command%20of%20the%20Wehrmacht | Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht | The Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht () (also Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Chiffrierabteilung or Chiffrierabteilung of the High Command of the Wehrmacht or Chiffrierabteilung of the OKW or OKW/Chi or Chi) was the Signal Intelligence Agency of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces of the German Armed Forces before and during World War II. OKW/Chi, within the formal order of battle hierarchy OKW/WFsT/Ag WNV/Chi, dealt with the cryptanalysis and deciphering of enemy and neutral states' message traffic and security control of its own key processes and machinery, such as the rotor cipher machine ENIGMA machine. It was the successor to the former Chi bureau () of the Reichswehr Ministry.
Short name
The letter "Chi" for the Chiffrierabteilung ("cipher department") is, contrary to what one might expect, not the Greek letter Chi, nor anything to do with the chi-squared test, a common cryptographic test used as part of deciphering of enciphered message, and invented by Solomon Kullback, but simply the first three letters of the word Chiffrierabteilung.
German cryptology service structure during World War II
From the early 1930s to the start of the war, Germany had a good understanding of, and indeed a lead in, both cryptoanalytic and cryptographic cryptology services. The various agencies had cracked the French–English inter-allied cipher, the Germans with some help from the Italian Communications Intelligence Organization stole American diplomatic codes, and codes taken from the British embassy in Rome, that enabled the breaking of the cipher, leading to some gains early in the war. Although the Germans worked to ensure its cryptologic services were effective at the outbreak of the war, the service offerings fragmented considerably among the German armed forces. OKW/Chi had jurisdiction over all the military cryptologic bureaus, chairing the executive committee. However, for several reasons, including specialization against opposing forces of a similar type, the inherent independence of agencies, and agencies vying for power and favour from Hitler, it was inevitable that the three military branches of German forces operated independently.
In total eight organizations operated within the forces, each operating on its own terms, even though OKW/Chi was considered the premier organization controlling both cipher creation and decipherment of enemy crypts. These eight bureaus which practiced cryptology were split between military and civilian control:
Military
OKW/Chi: The highest cryptologic bureau for the Wehrmacht supreme command.
General der Nachrichtenaufklärung: The high command of the German Army (Wehrmacht) OKH/Chi cipher bureau.
Luftnachrichten Abteilung 350: The OKL/Chi cipher bureau for high command of the Luftwaffe.
B-Dienst: (Observation Service) The Navy High Command OKM/Chi cipher bureau.
Abwehr: Military intelligence gathering and cipher bureau from 1941 to 1944.
Civilian
AA/Pers Z S: (AA) Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office Personnel Department) (Pers Z) Sonderdienst (Special Service of Unit Z) The Foreign Office cipher bureau decrypting diplomatic signals.
RSHA: The Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office), the main cipher bureau for Hitler's personal staff including the SS.
Forschungsamt: (Research bureau). Part of OKL and Göring's personnel cipher bureau.
Although OKW/Chi continually pushed for the integration of all five military services, it was last blocked in Autumn 1943 by Ribbentrop, Göring, and Himmler. It was not until 9 November 1944, that OKW/Chi was formally made responsible for control of all signals intelligence activities across all forces, by the order of Hitler.
Background
The OKW/Chi was one of the highest military agencies of the Wehrmacht, but with a dual focus: on cryptography, creating Germany's own secure communication systems, and the monitoring of enemy broadcasts and news analysis. As far as cryptanalysis was concerned, OKW/Chi tended to act as troubleshooter, providing the highest service to the Wehrmacht, instead of setting policy as its power to set military SIGINT was limited.
The unit began as the cipher section of the German Defense Ministry () in 1922. The Cipher Bureau () followed later in the 1930s. They were more interested in diplomatic communications than foreign military communications, which were in short supply, and viewed the diplomatic communications as a way to train staff during peacetime. With the rise of the Nazis, the unit grew from 10 people in 1937 to almost 200 people by the outbreak of World War II. By the end of the war, it had almost 800 individuals working there, and its focus had changed to strategy.
It was true that a certain amount of development and security work was always done. The original charter was obscure, but since the Army, Navy and the Air Force was each responsible for its own security development, the only defining commitment of OKW/Chi was to develop ciphers for the agents of the Abwehr. The separate branches were free to submit their own systems to OKW for security scrutiny. This was changed in Oct 1942, ensuring that no new ciphers could be introduced by the Armed Forces unless they were first checked by the OKW. OKW/Chi made some efforts to set up an additional section in section IV, but this work was buried within the organization with OKW/Chi remaining an organization that produced military intelligence.
Contrast this with Bletchley Park, the UK Government Code and Cypher School during World War II, the direct opponent of OKW/Chi, which had almost 12,000 personnel working at the end of the war. It had a singular focus on cryptanalysis services and an integrated strategy across all the services from the start of the war.
OKW/Chi was one of the primary targets of TICOM, the operation by the United States to seize military assets after the war. This article consists in part of material from those reports (See: Notes).
Key personnel
The most important individual at OKW/Chi was Chief Cryptologist Director Wilhelm Fenner, who was the Head of Main Group B, including Group IV Analytical cryptanalysis working with Specialist Dr. Erich Hüttenhain. A German by birth, Wilhelm Fenner went to high school in St Petersburg. His father was an editor of a German language newspaper. He moved back to Germany in 1909 to study Berlin Royal Institute of Technology but was drafted into the Army when World War I started, eventually joining the Tenth Army, serving as an intelligence officer. After the war, Fenner met Professor Peter Novopaschenny, a former Tsarist cryptanalyst who taught Fenner the Black Arts of Cryptography, and who went on to become Chief of the Russian subsection of OKW/Chi. They both joined the Cipher Bureau in autumn 1922, initially working in temporary positions. The following year, Fenner was made chief of the Bureau. He worked there until just after the war, discharged on 19 June, eventually working as a car and cycle mechanic in Straubing.
Chief Cryptanalyst Specialist Dr. Erich Hüttenhain was a mathematician hired in 1937 to create a specialized cryptanalytic research unit to investigate enemy cryptologic systems and to test Germany's own cryptologic systems and processes. Together with Dr. Walter Fricke, Chief evaluator, also a mathematician of some distinction, and his assistant, he was also moved to England to be interrogated by TICOM after the war. Walter Fricke was then considered the official historian of OKW/Chi.
Colonel Hugo Kettler was an administrator who had commanded OKW/Chi from October 1943. His intimate knowledge of the working of OKW/Chi, enabled him to provide information to TICOM that the OKW/Chi archive papers had been moved to Schliersee.
Lieutenant Colonel Metting was a signals officer who worked up to command the Germany Armies cryptologic centre, Inspectorate 7/VI from November 1941 to June 1943. After working in the Signals Battalion on the Eastern Front for several months, he was assigned second in command of OKW/Chi in December 1943. After the war he was considered such a high-value target that he was moved to England to be interrogated by TICOM. He was Head of Main Group A.
Organization
The following information was prepared by TICOM agents, by comparing the interrogation documents of Colonel Hugo Kettler, Director Wilhelm Fenner, Dr. Walter Fricke and Dr. Erich Hüttenhain. TICOM believed that the information was correct.
1939 to summer 1944
OKW/Chi passed from peace to war without change to its organization. Preparations had been made in 1938 to define staff numbers but at outbreak, personnel were increased by about 30%. In 1939, OKW/Chi was called The Cryptologic Bureau (German: Chiffrierstelle) and was a part of the Inspectorate of the Signal Troops. At the start of the war The Cryptologic Bureau was commanded by Oberstlt (Colonel) Fritz Boetzel as Director of Operations with his deputy being Major Andrae. He was replaced by Colonel Hugo Kettler during summer of 1943.
The organization of OKW/Chi was broken down into four groups which were named Group I to Group IV.
In 1938, OKW/Chi had no mechanical aids to use for the quick decryption of enemy messages once the cipher was broken. Although major attempts were made to mechanize the process, it was realized only in late 1943 that additional specialist personnel would be needed, and they were not available.
OKW/Chi was primarily an intelligence gathering organization at this point, with its only commitment to develop ciphers for Military Intelligence (Abwehr) Each branch of the armed forces were free to submit their system for testing, but were under no obligation to do so. In October 1943, OKW/Chi gained control for cipher development across all military agencies by an order of Field Marshall Keitel, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command Armed Forces (OKW).
Summer 1944 to March 1945
The organisation and mission of OKW/Chi changed significantly in the summer of 1944, principally centered on the attempted assassination of Hitler. Whereas OKW/Chi had supposed jurisdiction over all cipher agencies within the Armed Forces, after Summer 1944, Director Wilhelm Fenner persuaded Generalleutnant Albert Praun, General of the Communications Troops of the need to centralise all results and efforts within OKW/Chi, and to issue an order to that effect. After the order, OKW/Chi no longer acted like a service agency, but instead set policy and became the primary jurisdiction for all work done on cipher development, message decryption and associated machinery design and construction. The organisation changed significantly, with new commanding officers, more focus for Chi IV function and increased staffing levels.
OKW/Chi classified the manner of how they would work with other agencies. How they were classified depended on whether a particular agency had influential Nazi party members in their leadership. The Army had close ties with OKW/Chi but other classifications, for example, the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe proved more difficult to control and were never subordinate to OKW. Agreement was needed to ensure common process, control and cipher machinery. The Waffen-SS was considered a third classification. OKW had no control over it and special orders had to be issued to enable liaison to start.
OKW/Chi was organised into four principal groups heading by Colonel Kettler, with his deputy Major Mettig. These were the personnel section, Main Group A, Main Group B and Group X. Group A contained Section I, Section II and Section III. Group B contained Section a, Section b and Section c. Group A assignment was the development of their own cryptographic systems and the interception of foreign radios and cables. Group B assignment was cryptanalysis of foreign government communications, the development of mechanical cryptanalysis devices including training in such devices. Group X assignment was the scanning and forwarding of deciphered telegrams to suitable offices including the keeping of a day book recording the most important data.
Chi I: Commanded by Captain (Hauptmann) Grotz. Also called Section 1, it controlled the interception of class 1 traffic. The job was one of liaison. The section head was briefed by the head of OKW/Chi and was also in contact with the cryptanalysts. On that basis he would give instructions to the intercept stations. It consisted of some 420 staff at the end of 1944 including the intercept station traffic. It consisted of three sections:
Referat Ia: It had control of signal intelligence cover for inter-state communications and control of fixed intercept stations and their branch stations. It contained two staff.
Referat Ib: Study of communications systems of foreign countries and consisted of two staff.
Referat Ic: Responsible for both the Abwehr and OKW/Chi's own telecommunications equipment, including deployment and upkeep. It contained two officers and 24 staff.
Chi II: Its position was similar to Chi I but while Chi I was a liaison organisation, Chi II was the interception organisation. It controlled directly the personnel at the main intercept stations at Ludwigsfelds and of the subsidiary stations at Treuenbrietzen and Lauf which was used to intercept encrypted diplomatic Morse network signals. The broadcasts picked up at Ludwigsfelds and other stations were carried by line to Berlin. They were immediately translated. It also developed and allocated German code and cypher systems. It consisted of three sections:
Referat IIa: Section IIa's activities varied, and included the following. Camouflage systems for use in German telephonic and radio communications. Passing of requests to monitoring services. Preparation of code and cypher manuals and working instructions. Ownership of key allocation policy. Security scrutiny. Investigation of loss and compromise. Captain Bernsdorf was in control of IIa and had some six staff.
Referat IIb: Developed German code and cypher systems (camouflage, codes and cyphers and telephone secrecy) and also advised on the production of keys and the supervision of production. Specialist Dr Fricke was in control of IIb and had some 14 staff.
Referat IIc: Controlled by Inspector Fritz Menzer with a staff of 25. Codes and cyphers for agents. Fritz Menzer was considered a Cryptographic Inventor Extraordinaire by cryptographic historian David P Mowry.
Chi III: Managed by Major Metzger. Its assignment was the monitoring of foreign press and propaganda transmissions. It evaluated those transmissions, reproduced and distributed the most important broadcasts. It also made and improved the radio receiving stations, managed the telegram system to and from Chi and ensured the operation provided a 24-hour service. It consisted of around 100 individuals by the end of the war. It was also responsible for the distribution of keys. It controlled the production, printing and distribution and control of outstations responsible for production of keys. It was controlled by Major Metzger and was managed by 25 officers and 215 staff.
Chi IV: Managed by Dr. Erich Hüttenhain, with the department name (German: Analytische Kryptanalyse), was the code breaking and translation service which took the raw material from Chi I intercept stations for decryption. This was considered the most important section of the service from an operational viewpoint. The bulk of the personal in Chi IV were linguists, engaged in code-breaking and translation. Also in Chi IV, from 1939, was a group of mathematicians headed by Dr Erich Hüttenhain, and organised on the same level as the linguists. By 1942, the mathematicians were grouped in a new subsection, Chi IVc, in recognition of their increasing importance. The mathematicians were considered a research group, whose job was to make the initial break into more difficult ciphers. When the cipher decryption became routine, it was handed to a linguist. In addition, Chi IV contained a subsection devoted to cipher development and security improvements. In connection of security improvements, an additional subsection was created in 1942, tasked with the development of cryptanalytic machines. It was managed by Dr Hüttenhain with two administrative staff. It consisted of four sections:
Referat IVa: Managed by Dr Karl Stein with a staff of 11. Its duties were the testing of accepted and new cypher procedures and devices (camouflage, codes and cyphers, and telephone security). The section's purpose was to determine the degree of security of devices and processes. It also tested newly invented devices.
Referat IVb: Managed by Wilhelm Rotscheidt with a staff of 28. Its duties were the development and construction of decoding devices and the deployment of decoding devices. This was specifically for the decoding offices of Chi and various departments of the Armed Forces and several Government departments.
Referat IVc: Managed by Prof Dr Wolfgang Franz, it had a staff of 48. Its duties were the scientific decoding of enemy crypts, the development of code breaking methods and working on re-cyphering systems not solved by practical decoding.
Referat IVd: Managed by Dr Hüttenhain, he provided training and instructions. Conducted lectures and prepared tutorial materials.
Chi V: Managed by Dr Wendland with an administrative staff of two, with 22 desks. It was in charge of the teleprinter connections between Chi I and the intercept stations, and in addition provided a Siemens ADOLF teleprinter network for the Abwehr, at home and abroad. It ran the special communications service of Chi, also for the German High Command, Luftwaffe, Funkabwehr, Abwehr and AA/Pers Z. Monthly message rates were of 18-20000 teleprints.
It also conducted practical decoding of codes and cyphers of foreign governments, military attaches and agents.
Chi VI: Managed by Colonel Kaehler with an administrative staff of two and its main duty was the monitoring of radio and press. It was staffed mostly by personnel with newspaper experience and who prepared a daily news summary. In addition, special reports were occasionally created and sent to those departments which had a need for the material. Chi VI consisted of four desks.
Referat VIa: It conducted wireless interception and managed the sound recording machinery. It was also in charge of listening station Ludwigsfelde, provided analytical solutions to foreign re-encipherments, was in charge of communication between intercept stations and controlled the wireless equipment. It consisted of some 60 individuals.
Referat VIb: It managed radio news services and photographic image transmission. It consisted of some 60 individuals.
Referat VIc: It intercepted and monitored non-German radio broadcast services. It consisted of some 30 personnel.
Referat VId: This section evaluated radio broadcasts and press news. It published the Chi-bulletins, and created normal and special reports according to subject. It consisted of 12 personnel.
Chi VII: Managed by Oberstltn. Dr Kalckstein. Sometimes called Group X, its task was mainly administrative in nature. It scanned and forwarded deciphered telegrams, kept a day book, and consisted of four officers and nine other personnel. It consisted of two sections.
Referat VIIa: It kept the day book, and also evaluated and distributed VN-bulletins as necessary.
Referat VIIb: It organised and indexed messages into categories including family name, place names and subjects such as politics. It also distributed the information on cards as necessary.
Group Z: The department's duties was entirely administrative in nature. It also looked after quarters, accounts, and staff deployments. Managed the organisation of internal offices and ran the political commissariat. It had a staff of 13.
Disintegration
By end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, Chi had begun to disintegrate. Increasing bombing and difficult working conditions in Berlin forced Chi to transfer to Army Signal School () (LNS) Halle (Saale) in Halle on 13 February 1945, with the cryptanalytic machinery left lying in the cellar of the Haus des Fremdenverkehrs, Potsdamer Straße, in Berlin. Message decryption continued on a limited scale. On 13 April 1945, Chi partially dissolved when Colonel Hugo Kettler dismissed all staff who wanted to go home. All remaining personnel of Chi again moved on 14 April by military train to Werfen station in Austria. It ceased to exist the next day. All papers and machinery was destroyed by burning in anticipation of the American forces, the American Ninth Army arriving in the next few days. All burnt material was thrown into the River Salzach next to the Werfen station.
No Verlässliche Nachrichten's (V.N's) (described below) were thrown into the River Salzach. V.N's from 1922 to 1939 were deposited in the archive of the Chef des Heeres in Potsdam. The V.N's for 1940-1943 were deposited at the Tirpitzufer 38-42, later renamed the Bendlerblock. The V.N's for the last year were all burnt.
Operations
Reports
Evaluation output
During the period of 1 January 1944 to 25 June 1944, Chi II, the evaluation of foreign language transmissions section, processed an average of 253 broadcast transmissions and 234 wireless news service reports were dealt with daily. Apart from the daily Chi reports, i.e. military, political, economic situation and commentaries, a further P/W report was issued on an average daily, and an espionage report nearly every day. In addition, special reports were sent to the following daily.
Amtsgruppe Ausland (Abwehr Foreign Intelligence Group) and Abwehr main group. These were sent about 45 separate reports daily.
Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This was sent current material, especially for Soviet Legionaries.
Department of the Oberkommando der Marine Seekriegsleitung III, Naval Command, B-Dienst. This was sent all current Naval material, including about 57 communiques of the British Admiralty per day.
Department of the Foreign Armies West. All reports and material concerning the Invasion of Normandy.
Field Economics Office, Funkabwehr, Ag. Ansl., General Erich Fellgiebel, later Albert Praun, General Wilhelm Gimmler, OKH.
Chi II achieved these results in spite of having to work since the outbreak of the war without pause in day and night shifts, and since August 1943, owing to bomb damage, in a deep cellar and in cramped quarters.
Solution output
The number of encrypted intercepts that were solved, over the life of the Chi IV unit:
93,891 line messages
150,847 wireless messages
244,738 cypher and code messages.
12.5% of this amount was due to traffic intercept received from Hungary. Around 33% of solutions to diplomatic traffic was received from the Forschungsamt. Rejects amount to 0.25%. Forty-one European and extra-European countries were monitored on a regular basis as well as Allied agents' codes and cyphers. Government codes and cyphers of 33 European and extra-European countries were worked on and solved.
Damage to working materials, e.g. burnt one-time pads, recyphering and cypher texts, caused by air attacks were regularly made good by copies that had been safely stored elsewhere.
Linguistic output
The final output from Chi IVb, i.e. from the linguists, was the translation of decoded traffic into a product called Reliable Reports (), and were classified as Top Secret (German: Geheime Kommandosache). Article Reliable Report contains an example VN.
The principal recipient of the most important VNs was General Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations and Hitler, with a copies being sent to other agencies and archives and used for additional processing, for example, cribbing. That material which was considered of no importance was discarded. The linguistic section produced an average of 3000 VNs per month. Statistics on a month per month basis demonstrate the number of VN's produced, after sorting and rejection of unimportant texts. Note: the following statistics do not include the 6000 agent messages handed to the Funkabwehr (FU III).
TICOM seized most of the VNs which represent the traffic of 29 countries and are now available at the US National Archives for viewing. A Combined British and American team combed the VNs for Intelligence after the war and it was known that Churchill read a number.
Production process
All traffic intercepts were written out as a telegram card and sorted in the telegram registry. The telegram registry was a very large card index system that was designed to be as comprehensive as possible. The telegram was assigned various property values which uniquely defined it. The telegram was delivered as quickly as possible to the section head of the appropriate country desk. There the telegrams were divided according to four points of view:
Messages which could be read currently.
Messages worked on but not presently decipherable.
Unknown systems, i.e. those not yet analysed, but not presently deciperable, insofar as the telegram has failed to eliminate these.
The telegrams containing currently solved codes were stripped of encipherment and decoded at once. Messages enciphered with a code or cipher/cypher that was not solved was assigned to a cryptanalyst. Unknown telegrams were stored in the telegram registry, and observed for like types, frequencies, frequency of message intercept that Chi would like to be cleared before starting a systematic study of the code. Fenner stated that he did not think any clever cryptanalyst was allowed to work on more than two plain codes unless solution had reached a point where only decoding was involved. When messages were decoded the selection began.
Selection process
The practiced cryptanalyst can quickly determine whether a message contains a political or political, military-political news, administrative messages or those messages that content that could be used to provide intelligence. So call Passport messages, i.e. those messages sent to confirm the identity of an individual seeking a passport, were quickly spotted, likewise those only reporting press reports. Very few messages were of objective interest. Moreover, nothing was so apt to reduce the value of a particular VN, than to publish trivial information. Hence in selecting the VN's it was considered important to give:
daily situation reports of diplomatic representatives as the specific attitude of a particular countries government could be understood.
Information that helped to solve certain outstanding problems
new reports and instructions from foreign central government authorities to its Ambassadors, government minister, and other Plenipotentiaries and from them to the home office. after observations covering many years, about 7 times as many telegrams were deciphered as were issued as VN's.
Occasionally instructions were received regarding information that was of a particular or special interest and effort was focused but such instructions regularly coincided with what Fenner generally knew about current event. Fenner gave his colleagues as much leeway as possible in their choice of selection and it was possible since most cryptanalysts were professionals and professional objectivity was expected of the role. The many passport messages and messages containing information of an economic nature were of no interest to German High Command, and if they were included sometimes in a particular VN, as were even less significant items, it was usually due to the cryptanalyst attributing some additional significance, perhaps from personal information, that the eventual end reader of the VN, in the High Command did not know, as they were less informed, and ultimately less prepared. The question: What was the most important information? was, of course, never correctly answered, as the whole process was subjective, and can therefore never really be answered, and what seemed important and intensely interesting today, in two years’ time could be unimportant and vice versa. Hence, Fenner and his colleagues took the view that it was better to issue some unimportant VN's than to fail to include some important ones. Fenner's attitude in this matter, could best be described by TICOM as
Let the senior command sift the grain from the chaff.
When army radiograms were solved, there was no hard or fast criteria for evaluation. A seemingly irrelevant message in which some new unit was named might, under certain circumstances, be more important than an order to attack, of which one already had knowledge from other sources. For this reason, deciphered army radiograms were never included in the daily VN's. They were termed VN's but followed a different process and given the appropriate attention, in a different section. This process was separate from e.g. diplomatic intercepts, and involved evaluation of Call signs, the attempt to find some periodicity in the scheduling of call-signs and wavelengths; with preliminary evaluation, updates to the card index registry, the actual evaluation of the message and final evaluation resulting in an appropriate report.
Translation process
Good translations was the task that had the greatest importance attached to it within OKW/Chi. Translation was necessary due to the number of different languages used in intercepted messages. It was inconceivable that the officers engaged in dealing with the solved intercepts would be able to understand them all, especially since the grammar in messages often departed from normal conversational usage. At each desk, there was at least one translator analyst who knew the foreign language specific to that desk and German well enough too, such that in doubtful cases the translation could be shown to him for checking. It was expected that e.g. the language differences as the following should be handled directly:
gewisslich certainement
sicherlich surement
nur plus de, seulement
bloss pas autrement, simple
anscheinend probable
scheinbar apparent
Designations of offices and officials had to be translated correctly as well. Missing words or garbled messages were replaced by dots. Doubtful translations were enclosed by parentheses with a question mark. However, in the view of the multitude of newly appearing technical terms () with one or another, may not have been correctly rendered. The deciding factor was always the grammatical sense and word structure of the VN, and any attempt at free elaboration of an incomplete reliable report was strictly forbidden. Personal remarks made on the VN were also strictly forbidden, otherwise it would have ceased to be a Verlässliche Nachricht. Therefore, if an item seemed important enough to be issued as a VN and if it was translated correctly it was issued as a VN.
Distribution
Each VN bore in the heading the designation OKW/Chi and VN, also an indicator whether sent by radio or cable. Then a note of nationality since language alone was not enough. Egypt, for instance, employed a French code. Furthermore, each VN had to contain data which made it a bona fide document; Date of message, and if present, the Journal number, or issuing office. Finally, each VN had in the lower-left corner a Distribution mark, e.g. Abw. 4 x.. This meant that a total of four copies had been supplied to the Abwehr. This mark remained long after Chi ceased to be a part of the Abwehr, even when other offices were supplied copies. No exact list of recipients was on the sheet, so it was decided to write Abw ... x.. In the lower right hand corner, also on the last sheet, was a brief indication of the system, e.g. F 21. This meant France, system 21, i.e. the 21st system solved by OKW/Chi since World War I. The notation was sometimes more explicit, i.e. the entire formula for the code or cipher was given, e.g. P4ZüZw4 meaning Polish 4-digit code enciphered by an additive sequence (Zahenwurm), fourth system solved. Later these notations were usually made on the copy which remained in the section, and was only understood by the section anyway. A VN was not considered genuine without all these identity indicators. On many VNs, the initials of the responsible worker was written, and sometimes Fenner added his own initials that were added later, since it was impossible to read all VNs. VNs were reproduced using a typewriter and using Carbon paper, and a lack of paper meant the available supply became worse and worse as the war progressed. Not until 1944 did Fenner obtain permission to use Wachsplatten, a device created to print multiple copies. As soon as the copies were made they were sent to Leutnant Kalckstein who was changed with all further details. He kept the one copy which ultimately went to the Archive. These copies were inserted in binders, ordered in yearly, then monthly and delivered to the Chef der Heeresarchive, located in 8 Hans von Seeckt Strasse, Potsdam, whenever it was assumed that Chi had no longer an active interest in them. All VNs up to about 1930 were delivered there. Before distribution, the most important passages in the messages were underscored by Kalckstein and his assistants. Fenner objected to this predigestion owing to the danger that the reader would scan these valuable documents just as fleetingly as he did others. They maintained that VNs should only reach the hands of those who had time to read them and most importantly understand them.
Publication
Publication of VNs was strictly forbidden. Each VN was classified as secret (German:Geheime Kommandosache) and was marked with the highest security protection. It was forbidden to speak about the VN outside the cipher bureau itself, and only inside with the immediate group a particular individual worked with. Every serious cryptanalyst knew the consequences of publication of a VN. When Ambassador Walter Page published the Zimmermann Telegram after World War I, the unit used this to prove how important exact decipherment is and how important it was that every cryptographic system was to be tested before being put into use.
Day to day operations
Friction in day-to-day activities occurred between Fenner and other personnel and military agencies, and was not considered satisfactory from an efficiency standpoint. Neither the head of Abwehr, nor indeed head of OKW/Chi really understood the difficulties involved in cryptanalysis, nor the operational resources required for a specific task. A directive was issued to Fenner to break a particular American strip system by a particular Sunday. This was completed, purely by chance and hard work, and met the deadline. As Dr Hüttenhain stated:
From that point on, personnel were continually concerned that specific ciphers were to be broken to order.
OKW/Chi managed to keep up a continuous stream of VNs even when conditions started to become intolerable, primarily due to the continual bombing. OKW/Chi had been bombed out of its regular headquarters in the Tirpltzufer section in Berlin by November 1943, close to the Abwehr headquarters. From that point it was moved to temporary buildings which were unheated and sometimes without doors and windows. During the last three years of the war, a continual thinning of the ranks, reduced active personnel in Main Group B down to about 321 from a peak in 1941.
Interception
Interception input
All intercepts were centrally controlled, by the unit in order that it did justice to the requirements of the recipients and the technical demands of deciphering at the same time to remove unnecessary duplication. The monthly averages for the period of January 1944 to June 1944 were as follows:
Wireless messages: 36,480
Press reports: 7,280
R/T transmission 20 minutes: 7,340
Line messages: 12,330
Intercept networks
OKW/Chi ran two distinct interception networks, which included legacy systems from previous agencies. The first system that was subordinated to Chi I, intercepted inter-state wireless traffic of enemy and neutral stations, that included enciphered and unenciphered telegraphic communications of diplomatic and military attache messages sent in Morse code and most messages were encrypted and received from enemy and neutral states. Messages picked up on this system were sent to OKW/Chi for decipherment. The second network's mission, which was subordinated to Chi II and Chi III, was to monitor foreign wireless news broadcasts, with all traffic sent in clear text, and included such news agencies as Reuters, and Domei, picture transmission as well as enemy multiple Morse code wireless transmissions, also of illicit transmissions, agents' messages and the secret press in Europe. The second system was also used for testing of new or special equipment.
The first network and by far the largest consisted of two large fixed signals intercept stations at Lauf, one at Treuenbrietzen, and outstations at Lörrach, Tennenlohe and branch stations at Libourne, Madrid, Sofia. These stations were subordinated to Chi I.
The Treuenbrietzen station was created in 1933 and used to pick up diplomatic traffic before the war. It was subordinated by OKW/Chi in 1939, but little is known about it since staff escaped to Werfen at the end of the war and they were never interrogated by TICOM. The Lauf station started life intercepting diplomatic traffic in 1933, but was also subordinated by OKW/Chi in 1939 and expanded considerably. It had three small intercept stations on its own. These were branch stations at Lörrach with eight intercept sets to track Swiss traffic, Tennenlohe was a backup/emergency station with five sets and there was a small station at Libourne in France, operating nine sets from 1943 and used to track Swedish and Turkish Traffic.
Lauf had between 200-250 people running it, including outstations with over 80 women after January 1944. It used around 90 receiving sets. TICOM primary witness to the running of Lauf was Specialist Flicke, who stated:
[Lauf's primary] mission was to intercept all diplomatic traffic including the traffic from the Polish underground.
Wilhelm F. Flicke (1897-1957) would later write a book at the request of the German Military in the 1950s of his experiences at Lauf. The book was called War Secrets in the Ether (which was restricted (English translation) by the NSA, and Britain, until the early 1970s). The Lauf station was intercepting 25000 messages per day by late 1942, but this changed when closer control was instigated in early 1943 to only focus on specific messages groups, dropping the message count down to about 10000 per day.
Flicke also conducted intercept operation against both the Soviet espionage group, the Red Orchestra, operating in France, Germany and the Low Countries, but also, chiefly against the Rote Drei, a Soviet espionage network operating within Switzerland. In 1949, Flicke wrote the Die rote Kapelle, Kreuzlinger, 1949, . The information in the book is inaccurate and occasionally misleading. After the war, his reputation was damaged mainly due to his sister and estranged wife were living in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. Flicke died on 1 October 1857.
Out stations
The intercept network ran special stations called Out Stations, described by Colonel Mettig as being directly subordinated to Group I at OKW/Chi instead of Lauf and deemed to be fairly small and often in foreign countries. They were administered by the Abwehr. Two were known to exist, one in Spain and one in Sofia. The Sofia outstations had considerable difficulty in contact OKW/Chi often using shortwave radio. The Intercept organisation in Spain was called Striker (German:Stuermer).
The Spain outstation employed around 50 men, around 1941. Communication between this outstation and OKW/Chi was by wireless and courier. One outstation was first located in the German consulate in Madrid, later in 1942 it moved to a night club and later to the edge of the city in 1942 to avoid conflicting radio signals. Other branch stations existed, one in a cattle ranch in Seville. The Seville branch station was established to listen to West African colonial traffic, with a staff of about 8 men. A branch station also existed in Barcelona and on Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. The Barcelona outstation was designed to monitor naval radio traffic in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and had a staff of about 10 men. The Las Palmas branch station was established to intercept Portuguese colonial transmitters, French West Africa Army radio stations and specific transmitters in international communities. It was staffed with four radio operators with two receivers. The Seville branch station had to be closed down to save it from being raided by the Spanish police and removed it to Seville itself. The Seville and Barcelona stations were closed down in the summer of 1944, after the Normandy landings with only Madrid remaining and operated until May 1945.
The outstations conducted work with the official approval of the host country, e.g. in Spain. Extreme and elaborate security precautions were continually in operation to keep the network secret. Outstation personnel were forbidden to mix with the locals, ordered to travel in small groups, married men could not contact their wives and single men were forbidden to marry Spanish women. Certainly it was known that certain men conducted clandestine meetings with Spanish women who were known to be in high positions in both the Spanish government and military.
Other outstations existed in Rome, Belgrade, Vienna, Budapest, Bordeaux, also in Greece.
The interception system control loop was controlled by Group I of OKW/Chi. Colonel Mettig would prepare a monthly report in conjunction with Chief Cryptologist Wilhelm Fenner, of the most interesting links (that a listening station had made) as he appreciated them, based on this knowledge. This was sent to Section IV who examined the links, made decisions as to what to listen for, and this was fed back to the intercept station in question via the Abwehr. The control loop was continually refined to ensure that language desks who were solving specific traffic received new intercepts specific to that desk.
OKW/Chi would also receive traffic from other military agencies. These included the Reichspost, OKW/Fu and the Forschungsamt (Research bureau)Hermann Göring's personnel cipher bureau.
Around 500 people worked on the Lauf interception network when outstations were included.
Second system
Little is known about the second intercept system, which had its main station at Ludwigsfelde with branch stations at Koenigsberg, Gleiwitz, Muenster and Husum, except that it was subordinated to Chi II and Chi III, and that Ludwigsfelde station was very well equipped with 80 receiving sets. It was completely destroyed by an air attack on 2 January 1944 and was not back in operation until the autumn of 1944. Colonel Kettler stated under TICOM interrogation that it kept up a monthly average of 7,280 press reports, 7340 phone transmissions, 36,460 wireless messages and 12,330 line messages during the period from 1 January to 25 June 1944.
The bulk of interception was either ordinary Morse code or radio telephone, with little attempt to expand into other traffic types, e.g. Baudot
Personnel
Application process
Applicants to the unit were generally academics who had achieved a doctorate, or individuals who had passed the First major State Examination e.g. Staatsexamen. These included philologists, jurists, mathematicians and natural scientists with full command with one foreign language and some acquaintance with another. Mathematicians only required one language. A normal requirement for entry included a good civic reputation and be physically fit, with excellent vision. Candidates had to pass an examination to prove their linguistic or mathematical skills. If they passed the examination, and the candidate was assigned a probationary position, they became a planmässiger (temporary) or if they achieved a permanent position, they assigned Uberplanmässiger (permanent).
Training
Training was a regular occurrence at OKW. Occasionally training would be provided in elementary cryptology for those personnel who were considered neither a strategic ally, nor an ally who was not directly involved with Wehrmacht operations. Sometimes advanced courses would be undertaken, for particular groups within Wehrmacht. However, most of the training was for OKW personnel. When Dr Hüttenhain started in 1937, he was trained for six months and practiced on low grade Spanish government military systems. Generally, when a new member joined, who could speak a foreign language, they started as linguists and were gradually introduced into cryptology, working for two days per week in the six winter months. Later, advanced courses for more able candidates were undertaken, but the candidates were expected to undertake significant research work and work on new problems almost immediately after completion. In November 1944, the courses were dropped.
Assignment of duties was the same for all candidates, except those candidates who had been assigned to a section, who had an Assessor. In that case, the candidate had to write and post a report every three months. A record of activities was all kept in a diary by the candidate that was shown every month to the section head. The candidate also had to show proficiency in a lower course in cryptology taken over two years. At the earliest, the candidate could apply after three years for admission to the Second major State Examination for life to become a Beamter of the Higher Foreign Language Service of the Armed Forces. Admission to the examination required the permission of the section head and the chief cryptanalyst. In preparation for the examination, the candidate undertook lectures on diplomacy, Armed Forces organisation, Patent law and organisation disciplinary law.
Examination process
On the first day, the candidate had to translate 20 lines of cryptographic text from a foreign language into German; testing some simple cryptographic system, e.g. a linear slide or disc or some similar device. Solution required the solving of some basic systems with an attached analysis and criticism. Mathematicians followed a slightly different approach, solving a problem from cryptologic mathematics. The total length of the course was 6 hours.
An Examination Commission that consisted of Wilhelm Fenner, Dr Erich Hüttenhain, one of the candidate's teachers and a representative of the Armed Forces Administrative Office.
The commission rated the candidates' results in 9 grades ranging from deficient to praise worthy. If a candidate intended to become an administrator in the legal branches, one point extra would be given on the legal portion was given preference, before averaging. In case of ties, that candidate was given preference whose character was rated higher. If the candidate failed, they were allowed to try again after a year. No third examination was allowed.
Government councillor
Candidates who passed the examination were appointed as Regierungsrät (Governing Counciller) with all the attendant rights and privileges of a senior position in the German civil service, including the legal right to old age pensions and provision for widows. As they were now officials of the Armed Forces they were permitted to wear the uniform of that branch of the German Armed Forces and took the appropriate oath.
Since Fenner and Hüttenhain had no experience to tell whether the requirement for new personnel in the time allowed would be met, nor if the course and examination was sufficient to create competent cryptanalysts, provisions were made that changes were effected by agreement between the examining commission and the office concerned, e.g. omissions of certain legal questions, extension of time added to enable the solving of the cryptanalytic problem. There was no desire to make the course a deadly formal test that was quite out of accord with realities. It was also agreed that only such Beamte who had served their required terms, should wear a uniform, lest the public criticize the unit adversely, since only an expert could tell the Beamten officer uniform.
Fenner believed the new rules were of value. Now anybody could know who could and who could not become an official, and those promoted had the satisfaction of knowing they had won the promotion by merit.
The examination was a Pro forma matter, as it called for proof of real knowledge and ability. Both examiner and examinee were expected to concentrate. Weeks of hard preparation went into the examinations since, despite the constant changes, they had to be kept equally difficult. Conscientious observance of all regulations and adherence to established channels called for real knowledge of the subject and real responsibility was undertaken by Fenner.
Liaison and relations
Liaison with Hungary
Hungary was the first country that Germany established signal intelligence relations in 1922. In the early 1920s OKW/Chi tried to make an agreement with the Austrian cipher bureau in the Ballhausplatz, but they refused to collaborate. The Austrians had personal contact with the Hungarian cipher bureau, who learned of the matter and within weeks sent two men to Berlin, including Wilhelm Kabina, and within a few hours of arriving, an agreement was worked out to collaborate. The agreement remained in effect for over 20 years and the terms were loyally observed. All material and results were exchanged with the Hungarian cipher bureau, and an attempt was even made to divide the work between the two departments, but this had not worked in practice. In urgent cases, messages were passed from Budapest to OKW/Chi by telegraph. In cases where they had failed to intercept an important message, a telephonic request would be sent to Budapest, and any gaps would be filled by telegraph. The Hungarians were considered excellent at solving plain balkan codes, but had never had any success with Greek traffic. Hungary helped OKW/Chi to solve the American military Attaché system, called the Black Code, by providing materials covertly extracted and photographed from American diplomatic baggage. Wilhelm Fenner however, considered them on the whole indifferent cryptanalysts and not as good as OKW/Chi.
Liaison with Finland
The liaison with Finland cipher bureau, the Signals Intelligence Office () was less complete. Fenner visited the agency in Helsinki in 1927 to explore collaboration with Chi, but found that the Finnish had barely any organisation, but three years later it was an equal partner in cypher work. The Finnish contribution was exact clever decipherment rather than an exchange of intercepts. Reino Hallamaa was the Director. They worked on plain allied codes, the Brown and Gray codes and the strip cypher. The Finnish has a slight liaison with the Hungarians and had an exchange of visits but no material was exchanged. The Hungarian cipher bureau also had a liaison with the Italian cipher bureau, Servizio Informazioni Militare but again no material was exchanged.
Liaison with Japan
At the beginning of the war, a representative from the Japanese cipher bureau visited OKW/Chi and give them the originals of the Brown and Gray Codes. Wilhelm Fenner never found out how they obtained the originals. No material was exchanged with the Japanese cipher bureau at any point.
Liaison with Italy
A representative from the Servizio Informazioni Militare (SIM), Brigadier General Vittorio Gamba visited OKW/Chi at the beginning of the war, and OKW/Chi was surprised. Chi had heard that the Italian bureau had some kind of organisation, but did not realise that the bureau would approach Berlin without an invitation. Gamba's two-day visit led to an arrangement to collaborate on French material. Fenner visited Gamba in Italy to organise matters, but during the entire stay, Fenner never saw a table of organisation or other information which would give him any insight into the size and workings of the bureau. However, Fenner considered them good bargainers and thieves. The Servizio Informazioni Militare provided OKW/Chi with a captured Swedish diplomatic codebook, and in return they exchanged their workings on Romanian and Yugoslavian positions. The enciphered Yugoslavian system had called for a lot of patient work to solve and it had bothered Chi. The Italians also had a Turkish code that Chi was trying hard to break. The Servizio Informazioni Militare was also interested in the French Army and diplomatic codes and cyphers and these were exchanged by courier, as these were its weakest points. Later OKW/Chi received a solved American code that was used by the Military Attache in Cairo. Fenner suspected that they had captured the code book, as OKW/Chi had previously worked on solving the code, but had set it aside as possibly too difficult. OKW/Chi was reading all Italian codes and cyphers.
At the time when Rome was insisted in help with French systems, OKW/Chi considered the codes too weak, and insisted that Italian codes be improved, as the risk of important leaks was too great. Fenner did not think that the SIM was actually trying to block, merely that it was unable to do anything satisfactory due to lack of competent personnel. Also there was not the same honesty as was found with the Hungarian and Finnish agencies. Then some of the cryptanalysts in Italy began to complain that Gamba was too old. After the Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy when Benito Mussolini was deposed on 24–25 July 1943, the Servizio Informazioni Militare turned to OKW/Chi for help and cooperation. Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, however, forbade any further liaison, and from that point on, no agency contact was made or material exchanged.
Relations with Auswärtiges Amt
Dr Erich Hüttenhain stated that fierce resistance was met from other departments at any attempt to control the security of all the ciphers and key processes. The OKW/Chi was never allowed to know details of the ciphers used by Foreign office. Even in mid 1944, when Generalleutnant Albert Praun issued a decree [Ref 5.2], that unified the security of own key processes of all the cipher bureaux within OKW/Chi, Pers Z S ignored the order. Kurt Selchow the Director of Pers Z S, was strongly opposed to the idea and preferred to remain independent.
Defensive cryptology
Defensive cryptology in this context enables secure communication between two individuals, in the presence of a third party. During World War II, defensive cryptology was synonymous with encryption, i.e. the conversion of information from a readable state to apparent nonsense. The originator of an encrypted message shared the decoding technique needed to recover the original information only with intended recipients, thereby precluding unwanted people from doing the same. German Armed Forces relied on a series of devices and processes to accomplish this task.
German high-level cryptologic systems were insecure for a number of reasons, although they were considered brilliantly conceived by TICOM agents. Large outlays of both personnel and resources by the Allies cost Germany dear, from 1942 onwards. For example, Admiral Doenitz stated at his Nuremberg trial:
The Battle of the Atlantic was nearly won prior to July 1942; when German losses were within reasonable limits. But they jumped 300 per cent when Allied aircraft, aided by radar; which came like an epileptic stroke, were used in the fight. He reported 640 to 670 submarines and 30,000 men lost as a result of British and American action.
The OKW/Chi cipher department report blamed Radar on new aircraft. It was never realized, even to the end of the war and the trials, that cryptanalysts of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park had broken the Air Force (Luftwaffe) Enigma and read all Air Force communications from 1942 onwards.
The chief German cryptological machine for defense, was the Enigma machine.
It seemed inconceivable that OKW/Chi and the German armed forces failed to understand how insecure the system was. The Wehrmacht had a generally uneasy feeling regarding Enigma and their own key processes and missed a number of opportunities to definitively prove this. These were:
In October 1939, captured Polish prisoners of war, one called Ruźek stated under interrogation that the Enigma was being worked on [in Poland] in conjunction with the French. This was the result of three deciphered German messages being found by the Germans in a captured Spanish ship in 1939. Three separate interrogations took place between 1939 and 1943 with the last in Berlin. No word of the Polish Bombe or Bletchley Park was ever leaked. This became known as Case Wicher and they convinced themselves that the Enigma indicator system was probably at fault. It was followed up by OKW but testing never recovered any weaknesses.
In early 1944, mounting losses at Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, resulted in a navy cryptanalyst Frotiwein, being ordered to test the four rotor navy Enigma. He broke the machine with known wheels on a crib of 25 letters. The evidence was not strong enough to discontinue the use of the device. OKW/Chi helped conduct the test using their own machine and soon afterwards started development of the variable-notch rotor (German: Lueckenfuellerwalz).
After the War, interrogations by TICOM of Dr Hüttenhain revealed the following:
One Allied PW in North Africa had said the United States and British operated with a very large joint 'park' of IBM (Hollerith) machinery, but this interrogation was never followed up. No personalities whatever were known.
German military cryptographers failed to realize that their Enigma, T52 and other systems were insecure. Although many attempts were made to try and validate the security of the Enigma, which the whole of the Wehrmacht secure communication cryptographic infrastructure rested on, they failed. The reason for this, was they were unable to conduct sufficiently deep security tests to determine how secure they were. They were also unable to put forth the costly practical effort required to solve them. Their security tests were theoretical only, and they were unable to imagine what a large concerted effort at traffic analysis could achieve. A security measure which would have proved productive, was the issue of new Enigma rotors. However, so many Enigma machines were out in the field, that it would prove impractical to update them. OKW/Chi also felt that even if a particular Enigma unit was captured, it would still be considered secure, since no process was known by OKW/Chi that could break it. They also had not advanced sufficiently in cryptology to realize what could be achieved by a large combined engineering team. The Allies had undertaken that effort and had been reward with huge successes Also Germany was unable to cryptanalyze British and American high-grade systems (Ultra) carrying critical Allied data. As a result, OKW/Chi had no hint that their own high-grade systems were insecure.
Curiously, a number of systems were under development at OKW/Chi and at other agencies which would have been considered secure. The introduction of the pluggable reflector (German: Umkehrwalze D) called Uncle Dick at Bletchley Park. It was introduced in Spring 1945 and made obsolete the Bombe. This necessitated, the development of the new updated Bombe, called the Duenna. Dr. Huettenhain said in TICOM interrogation:
The [Air Force] had introduced the pluggable reflector, but the Army said it was too much trouble.
A number of other possibly secure systems were developed including Fritz Menzer’s cipher device 39 (SG-39) (German: Schlüsselgerät 39). Although invented in 1939, it was designed to replace the Enigma machine, but delays over its design ensured it was never rolled out. Only three devices were built. The cycle for an unmodified ENIGMA is 16,900. When configured according to Menzer's instructions, the SG-39 had a cycle length of 2.7 × 108 characters—more than 15,000 times as long as the Enigma.
Although it was unknown whether these new systems would have made OKW/Chi processes and devices secure, it would probably have complicated the allied cryptanalytic effort.
Mechanical aids
Development of OKW/Chi cipher machines rested with the Ordnance office. Although OKW/Chi remit was to analyze a number of devices to find their perceived weaknesses, they never constructed any themselves.
The chief German cryptological machine was the Enigma machine. It was invented by the German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I, was regarded as antiquated and was considered secure only when used properly, which was generally not the case later in the war. Director Fenner was instrumental in getting them introduced into use. One item alone, the variable-notch rotor () would have made the Enigma secure after 1942.
The Siemens and Halske T52-E (German:Geheimschreiber) i.e. the G-Schreiber was considered a secure teleprinter. It was considered modern but not mobile enough. By the end of 1944 planned developments were halted with no further practical work undertaken.
Safety testing the cipher machines
Enigma
In October 1942, after starting work at OKW/Chi, the mathematician Gisbert Hasenjaeger was trained in cryptology by Dr. Hüttenhain. Hasenjaeger was put into a newly formed department, whose principal responsibility was the defensive testing and security control of their own methods and devices. Hasenjaeger was ordered, by the mathematician Karl Stein (who was also conscripted at OKW/Chi), to examine the Enigma machine for cryptologic weaknesses, while Stein was to examine the Siemens and Halske T52 and the Lorenz SZ-42. The Enigma machine that Hasenjaeger examined was a variation that worked with three rotors and had no plug board. Germany sold this version to neutral countries to accrue foreign exchange. Hasenjaeger was presented with a 100 character encrypted message for analysis. He subsequently found a weakness which enabled the identification of the correct wiring rotors, and also the appropriate rotor positions, which enabled him to successfully decrypt the messages. Further success eluded him however. He crucially failed to identify the primary and most important weakness of the Enigma machine: the lack of fixed points (letters encrypting to themselves), due to the reflector, was missed. Hasenjaeger could take some comfort from the fact that even Alan Turing missed the weakness. Instead, the prize was left to Gordon Welchman, who used this knowledge to decrypt several hundred thousand Enigma messages during the war.
Siemens & Halske T-43
The Siemens & Halske T43 T-43 (German:Schlüssel-Fernschreibmaschine) was a cipher teleprinter, which used a one-time key tape to supply a sequence of keying characters instead of mechanical rotor wheels as in other T-series models. The teleprinter was developed in 1943 and introduced in 1944. A serious defect was discovered in the T-43 by Section IVa head Dr Stein in early 1944, but this was corrected. The defect enabled the reading of T-43 messages. Later when TICOM found the device, it was tested and found that the key tape was only pseudo-random, confirming the T-43 was insecure.
Siemens and Halske T-52
The T52 secure teleprinter, was tested on an ongoing basis over the war period. Versions T-52A and T52-B were tested by Dr. Hüttenhain in 1939 and found in his words: to be extraordinarily insecure. Versions A and B was already in production. T-52C was tested by Dr Doering, Mathematician stationed at Inspectorate 7/VI, in 1942 was found to be insecure and could be broken using a text of 1000 letters. T-52D was also tested by Doering with help from OKW/Chi decipherment machinery and found to be insecure. Both Versions C and D were still being produced even though they were known to be insecure. OKW/Chi had no control over production, with difficulties presented by Army high command accepting their faults. Version T52-E was tested by Dr. Hüttenhain using the new decryption machinery and found to be also insecure. By the end of 1944, production had ceased.
Lorenz SZ-40
The original Lorenz SZ-40 began development in 1937 by the Army Ordnance Development and Testing Group Signal Branch, in conjunction with C. Lorenz AG. Originally no help from OKW/Chi was requested, but in late 1937, Dr. Hüttenhain, Senior Inspector Menzer of OKW/Chi and Dr. Werner Liebknecht, a cryptologic tester from C. Lorenz AG, tested the first SZ-40 and found it could be broken with 1000 letters of text without cribs. Only 100 of these were produced. Model SZ-42 was produced and found to be insecure. Versions A, B and C were designed in conjunction with Dr Hüttenhain and his assistant Dr Karl Stein. It is unknown if versions B and C were tested, however, it was found that version A was also tested and found to be insecure.
Offensive cryptology
Given some encrypted messages ("ciphertext"), the goal of the offensive cryptologist in this context, is for the cryptanalyst to gain as much information as possible about the original, unencrypted data ("plaintext") through whatever means possible.
Insufficient cooperation in the development of one’s own procedures, faulty production and distribution of key documents, incomplete keying procedures, overlooked possibilities for compromises during the introduction of keying procedures, and many other causes can provide the unauthorized decryptor with opportunities.
Dr. Erich Hüttenhain 1978
Rapid analytic machinery
Although OKW/Chi were ahead in the use of mechanical aids before the war, these were mostly electro-mechanical devices, and little use was found for newer valve or electronic based devices. In fact the use of electro mechanical cryptanalytic devices fell during the war. Although some work was done to prototype working models, in general it was mostly experimental work. Experiments did show one thing, that paper tape was far too slow, and that the future was photo-electric scanning of text.
OKW/Chi developed a series of teleprinter tape devices, to examine the periodicity or repetition of text, which employed early designs of photo-electric readers. They employed paper tapes, rather than celluloid film, which was used by the allies. By the end of the war, the first German film device was in construction. TICOM reported that it was similar to the USA developed Tetragraph-Tester (Tetragraph). It had speed of around 10k letters per second, against the USA development device at 500k letters per second.
Interrogation of Dr Hüttenhain of OKW/Chi IVa by TICOM revealed:
By 1941, it had become clear that machines would be necessary for the dual - offensive and defensive - task of research, but engineers were not obtained until Autumn 1942 when the following were appointed: Two graduate engineers, Willi Jensen and Wilhelm Rotscheidt. both telecom experts; three working engineers, TODT, Schaeffer and Krachel and 25 mechanics.
They decided to use IBM Hollerith machines wherever possible, but it was found that this machinery was not suitable for all problems. The machines which resulted were built in a more generalized way than the immediate problem demanded so that they could be used again.
The following machines were built.
Digraph weight recorder
The digraph, i.e. Bigrams weight recorder (German: Bigramm-Suchgerät) was a search apparatus for making frequency evaluations of digraphs and recording the results. It was used to find expected sequences of Bigrams, which with a certain probability attached, indicated a possible weak point in a cryptographic system. It was built at a cost of ℛℳ6400 Reichsmarks, $5800 at 1945 conversion rate, and was the most expensive machine owned by OKW/Chi.
It was used to break the Japanese two-letter code (J-19) and would find a solution in less than two hours. According to Dr Hüttenhain:
The machine was once used to work on an English meteorology cipher... used by the Air Force Weather Service
The device made the solutions of a single transposition (Transposition cipher) easy. A message being studied must be broken into likely columns, with these matched against each other, with the resulting bigrams (Digraphs) examined for their suitability.
It consisted of a two teleprinter reading head, a relay-bank interpreter circuit, a plugboard weight assigner and a recording pen and drum. Each head read the tape using a photo-electric reader at a speed to 75 characters per second. The interpreter took the two readings and translating then from two separate letters reading into one digraphic reading, which it sent to the plugboard.
The plugboard contained 676 relays on its left side, corresponding to the number of Bigrams available in the Latin alphabet. These could be wired at will to any jack in any one of the five different sets of relays on the right hand side of the plugboard; these sets representing weights, i.e. each bigram could be assigned a weight from 1 to 5. For example, (D->5), (I->3),(O->1),(P->1). In this manner, the digraph DE was given the weight 5, the digraph IL the weight 3, the digraph PC and OX the weight 1. All other bigrams had a weight 0.
The recording device was paper drum pen recorder, with the recording consisting of a cylindrical spiral, with undulations being recorded, whose heights varying with the weights assigned to the digraph. Two tapes with the message to be decrypted, were looped, with one tape being one or more character longer, so they would slide relative to each other. The result would be Kappa plot indicating, bigram by bigram, for every possible juxtaposition of the whole message against itself.
Analysis of the results would show visually (by dense undulations of the plot), along its length, the probability of a good match at each point along its length, became apparent.
It could also be used to discover coincidences (‘parallels’), which would be used to find interrupted repetitions.
Polygraphic coincidence counter
The Polygraphic coincidence counter (Frequency analysis) (German:Sägebock, English:Sawbuck) was a machine for recording the frequency of polygraphs occurring in a message, or for recording the frequency of polygraphic coincidences between messages. It was particularly useful for periodic substitutions. Polygraph sizes includes decagraphs. It had a cost of ℛℳ1580 Reichsmarks, $1200 at 1945 conversion rate.
The apparatus consisted of two teleprinters with paper tape photo-electric reading heads, a calculator (not described by TICOM) and ten different recorders. Each reader had a reading speed of 75 characters per second. Each recorder used a pen which made a dash on a paper strip 30 cm wide, wherever a signal was read from the calculator. During the first read of the full loop, each recorder would make a small vertical stroke every time a coincidence occurred. Thus, if there were 10 digraphic coincidences during the first full looping, the recorder number 2 made 10 small strokes, each above the other and so on. Another device, the trigram recording device output was chained to the bigram, and in a manner up to the Hasgram (10-gram) device. The devices automatically gave a Kappa plot for single characters, bigrams, etc. Although a hundred times faster that doing the method manually, working at 50 characters a second scanning speed for a text of 600 characters, it took two hours.
Dr Hüttenhain and Walther Fricke his assistant did not identify the types of cryptographic systems this device was constructed for. Dr Hüttenhain did state however:
The problem was to determine the periods in short periodic substitution by finding the distance between repeats in a message...It (the counter) could also find two Enigma machine messages in depth.
These types of machines were considered a class of Phase and Periodic Frequency Searching machines (German: Phase neuchgereat) also (German:Perioden-und-Phasensuchgerat) .
Statistical Depth Increaser
The statistical depth increaser (German:Turmuhr, English:Tower clock) was a machine for testing sequences of 30 letters statistically against a given depth of similar sequences, to determine whether message belonged to a given depth. (Substitution cipher)
It was used to decrypt the US Strip cipher when cribbing (Substitution cipher) was impossible. It cost of ℛℳ1100 Reichsmarks, $1015 at 1945 conversion rate.
The apparatus consisted of a single paper tape read with a standard teleprinter head, at a speed of 1.5 symbols per second. To paraphase TICOM - A storage device, by which any one of five different scores could be assigned, on a basis of frequency, to each of the letters in the 30 separate monoalphabets that resulted from the 30 columns of depth; a distributor that rotated in synchronization with the tape stepping, and selected which set of 30 scores were to be used as basis for evaluating the successive cipher letters. A pen recording device was used.
Enciphered sections of encrypted test on the same generatrix (A curve that, when rotated about an axis, produces a solid figure), were superimposed properly. As a result, the letters within columns fell into successive and separate mono alphabets with characteristic frequencies. A new section of 30 letters of cipher text would have to "match" these alphabets, i.e., show a greater than random number of coincidences with them, before it could be added to this depth. The machine was used to test the probability of such a match. Weights were assigned each letter in each of the basic thirty alphabets, depending on the frequencies therein, and these weights were "stored" in the machine. Paper tape was read in sequences of 30 characters in succession. A long resultant stroke by the recording pen meant a greater total weight, therefore a long resultant stroke probably belonged to the basis set of superimposed sequences.
Dr Hüttenhain and Fricke stated:
The cipher text passages already recognized as the same key are stored in the calculating apparatus (not described to TICOM) of the tower clock as a basis on which to start. In such a way that each of the different substitution alphabets receive different scores according to the frequency of the cipher texts...
The machine was called Tower Clock because it ticked at every set of calculations.
Differencing calculator (non recording)
The Differencing calculator was a manually operated device which was designed to assist additive recovery in super-enciphered cipher coded messages, by speeding the differencing of depth of super-enciphered (codegroups) and the trail of likely additives therein. The machine cost of ℛℳ46 Reichsmarks, $40.00 at 1945 conversion rates. It was identical to the US Navy CXDG-CNN-10ADW, code name "Fruit" often called the NCR differencing calculator.
The German version had a capacity of thirty 5-figure code groups, as against the NCR capacity of 20. The German device was much slower to operate, though far simpler in operation.
This device could be operated by the cryptanalyst at their own desk.
Differencing calculator (recording)
The differencing calculator with recording (German:Differenzen Rechengereat, English:Differencing Calculating Apparatus) was a machine designed to compute a flag of difference for a set of enciphered code groups and record them. It consisted of two teleprinter tapes with photoelectric reading heads, a set of calculating relays and a recording electric teleprinter. The read heads operated at seven characters a second, bounded by the speed of the teleprinter where time was lost by the carriage return and line feed. It cost ℛℳ920 Reichsmarks, $800.00 at 1945 conversion rates.
The figure groups between which differences were to be made were on punched tape. A duplicate of the tape was made, with one blank group added with the two tapes looped and read at the same time. The calculating relays computed the difference (modulo 10) between the two groups and the teleprinter recorded it; the two tapes then stepped simultaneously and the difference between the second and third was computed and recorded; then between the third and fourth; and so on. On the second time around, since the duplicate tape was one group longer than the original, the offset was automatically changed so that the first group was now differenced with the third group, the second with the fourth, and so on. In this way every group was differenced with all other groups.
Likely additive selector
The likely additive selector (German:Witzkiste:English:Brainbox") was a simple device for removing additives from a column of super-enciphered codegroups arranged in depth. It could be used with any four-digit encrypted code, whose frequency of decrypted code groups had been discovered from previous removal of additives. Five-digit codes used the differencing calculator. The cost of the device was unknown, but estimates put its price at less than ℛℳ57.5 Reichsmarks, $50.00 at 1945 conversion rates.
Simple counting apparatus
Dr Hüttenhain described it as follows:
By means of a simple counting apparatus, it is possible to quickly work our statistics, when there are more than 100 different elements.
100 counting machines, (which were general post office machines), were put side by side. The text for which statistics are to be worked out in punched on tape. The perforated strip is read and a symbol in each case put in the corresponding counter. The counters are read off and their position photo recorded.
In practice this apparatus was used with success within the scope of the investigations into the security of our own system
The devices cost was approximately ℛℳ57.5 Reichsmarks, $600.00 at 1945 conversion rates.
Proposed repeat finder
The proposed repeat finder (German:Parallel Stellengeraet) was one of the first ultra high speed machines, planned and in production but not finished. It was designed to study from 20 to 25 letters for repetitions of 5 of more characters. Each message could be 500 letters in length, with the study of 10k letter of the message at any one time. Dr Hüttenhain states as follows:
The 10,000 letters were recorded one after another as 5-unit alphabetical symbols onto an ordinary film. A duplicate was made. Both strips were now to pass at high speed in front of a photocell reader. In the event the two strips being completely identical for at least 5 letters, this passage would be likewise registered without inertia [photocell].
The strips were to pass before the reading device at a speed of 10000 symbols per second. Accordingly, not quite three hours would have been required to [Work through 10000 letters] i.e. (10,000 x 10000 =100,000,000 comparisons.).
The US rapid analytic machine that was most nearly like the German device was the Tetragraph Tester by the Eastman Kodak Company for OP-20-G and the Army Security Agency. When Alan Turing arrived at OP-20-G on 20 November 1942, he was shown a run of the machine at that time. No report of the meeting was kept, but a report surfaced on 23 January 1943, RAM-2, [Indicating this was the second version, 2 of 3], that prior to 8 January, the device was working in an unreliable fashion. During testing, it was missing as much as 60% of hits which were known to exist which had been previously analyzed by hand. Although the Americans eventually perfected the machines, OKW/Chi found the device to be too sensitive for continuous use and with the very limited availability of materials and personnel, it was never completed.
Achievements
According to the TICOM interrogations during 1945, the following information about OKW/Chi successes was recorded and a table prepared which was recorded in Table 2-1 in Vol 1 Synopsis.
Mettig's response
When Colonel Mettig was asked point blank what was the greatest achievement of OKW/Chi, he hesitated. It became apparent that OKW/Chi had not achieved any outstanding cryptanalytic successes. However, OKW/Chi did have a number of successes, but generally its cryptologic successes were in what was considered by TICOM to be low and medium grade or medium security cipher systems.
OKW/Chi's cryptanalysis was not outstandingly successful against systems of high security. This may have been not only because the Allies high security systems were actually high security, in some part unsolvable to the Allies' cryptanalysts as well, but because the OKW/Chi cryptanalysts never became technically proficient enough to undertake the solution to these high-security systems.
TICOM agents considered OKW/Chi's greatest achievements were, the fast design and construction of Rapid Analytic Machinery, which were often built quickly under war conditions, e.g. bombing, and where lack of materials was an ever consistent and increasing concern and the continual productions of VN's, (Reliable Reports), up to 3000 per month, even when the war was almost over in January, February 1945, which was a remarkable achievement.
Fenner's response
Wilhelm Fenner was also asked point blank. Fenner stated that the greatest cryptanalytic triumph of OKW was the reading of the London-Warsaw traffic, which provided radio intelligence of the highest value. The messages were intercepted at Lauf and Treuenbrietzen and had 16 people engaged on solving them. Normally, messages which came in during the morning were solved by 1700 hours. In particular, the Polish High Command had an agent working in the Führer Headquarters (), who always sent the most accurate plans of the German High Command. When asked by TICOM if they were able to take any action, Fenner stated that as a result of reading these messages, that sometimes they were able to change the place or time of an attack but that usually the reports were of a long term strategic nature and there was little they could do about it. They never succeeded in tracking down the agent.
Fenner placed the reading of the Turkish cyphers, second in importance. The most important intelligence came from the American Cairo traffic, although this was not solved by OKW/Chi.
Cryptanalysis Successes By Country
Further developments
However, in the last few decades, a number of military historians have continued the examination of military documentation in relation to World War II and a number of facts have emerged which seem to contradict the TICOM findings, which were highlighted by the Christos Website.
According to the TICOM reports in Volume 1, Table 2.1, the Japanese Purple [cipher] had not been read by the Germans, although it was attacked by AA/Pers Z. No mention was made of attacks by OKW/Chi or other German Axis agencies.
In TICOM Vol 2, it states, "Although they were successful with the Japanese "Red" machine, they did not solve its successor, the "purple" machine."
The solving of the Japanese Purple, considered unbreakable by the Japanese, would indicate the OKW/Chi and the other German agencies were capable of solving high-level security systems. Certainly the Germans knew by 1941 (Purple Cipher - Weaknesses and cryptanalysis), that the purple cipher was insecure, although it is unknown whether OKW/Chi learned this.
The evidence for this revolves around Cort Rave. Professor Dr Cort Rave had started working at OKW/Chi in 1941 and worked as a translator in the Japanese desk of Section IVb and had been detached in December 1943 to the Foreign Office cryptanalytic Section (AA/Pers Z) for training in the Chinese and Japanese Desks. He is listed as an OKW/Chi employee by TICOM, but was considered a minor light by TICOM with an inconsistent memory. However, Rave took the time to conduct personnel communication between the German naval historian Jürgen Rohwer and mathematician Dr. Otto Leiberich, while in advanced old age, as part of a fact finding process conducted by Rohwer, regarding German cryptological successes during World War II.
Rohwer is a naval historian who has written over 400 books and essays.
Dr. Otto Leiberich worked in OKW/Chi, but would work in the new German Chiffrierstelle from 1953, and from 1973, was the boss of Dr. Erich Hüttenhain, who was Director of the Central office of Encryption (ZfCh) between 1956 and 1973 and who was the boss of Leiberich. Leiberich became founder of Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in 1990.
The contents of Dr Rave's letter, dated 01.03.96, were published in Dr Rohwer's book Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs with the letter reference on page 143.
Rave stated that:
...the Purple (cipher) has been broken by the Foreign Office and OKW/Chi....
A further piece of evidence was offered by author Dr Wilhelm F. Flicke, who is also described as an employee of OKW/Chi working in the intercept network at Lauf
and whose book, War Secrets in the Ether (which was restricted (English translation) by the NSA, and Britain, until the early 1970s) described how many messages between Japanese military attache and later Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Ōshima to Nazi Germany, in Berlin, were intercepted at Lauf and deciphered by OKW/Chi.
The mathematician Otto Leiberich believed that the Purple cipher had been broken and considered certain individuals of OKW/Chi to have sufficient capability, insight and technical knowledge to break the cipher, even within certain constraints and the TICOM documentation seems to support it (TICOM I-25). However, no absolute proof exists to prove it.
German mathematicians who worked at OKW
From an examination of Friedrich L. Bauer book, Decrypted Secrets. Methods and Maxims of cryptography and the TICOM documentations, the following German mathematicians worked in or in conjunction with OKW:
Karl Stein - Head of the Division IVa (security of own process). Discoverer of Stein manifold
Gisbert Hasenjaeger - Tester of the Enigma. Discovered new proof of the completeness theorem of Kurt Gödel for predicate logic.
Walter Fricke Mathematicians who worked on security of German ciphers.
Heinrich Scholz - Worked in Division IVa.
Fritz Menzer Senior Inspector. Chief of section IIc. Dealt with development and production of special ciphers for government departments, industry, and the Main Reich Security Office (RSHA), developing of deciphering aids for agents.
Gottfried Köthe - theory of Topological Vector Spaces
Ernst Witt - Member of Mathematical Research department. Mathematical Discoveries Named After Ernst Witt
Helmut Grunsky - He worked in complex analysis and geometric function theory. He introduced Grunsky's theorem and the Grunsky inequalities
Georg Hamel
Oswald Teichmüller - Only temporarily employed at OKW. Introduced quasiconformal mappings and differential geometric methods into complex analysis. Described by Friedrich L. Bauer as an extreme Nazi and a true genius.
Wolfgang Franz - Member of Mathematical Research department. Expert in US diplomatic cipher. Made significant discoveries in Topology
Werner Kunz - Accurate proofreader.
Werner Weber - Member of section IVc.
Georg Aumann - Member of section IVc. Initial breaking of most difficult ciphers. Cryptanalytic theory. His doctoral student was Friedrich L. Bauer.
Otto Leiberich - Number theorist.
Alexander Aigner - Number theorist. Member of section IVc.
Johann Friedrich Schultz - Member of section IVc.
Notes
TICOM documentation archive consists of 11 primary documents Volume I to Volume IX. These primary volumes, are aggregate summary documentation, each volume targeting a specific German military agency. The archive also consists of Team Reports, DF-Series, I-Series, IF-Series and M-series reports which cover various aspects of TICOM interrogation.
Volume III which covers OKW/Chi contains over 160 references to the I-Series TICOM documents which are TICOM Intelligence reports, and covers references to the full gamut of the other types of reports, e.g. DF-Series, IF-Series, of which there are over 1500 reports.
See also
German code breaking in World War II
References
Further reading
Friedrich L. Bauer : Decrypted Secrets. Methods and Maxims of cryptography. 3 revised and expanded edition. Springer, Berlin et al. 2000, .
Target Intelligence Committee (TICOM) Archive
Rebecca Ratcliffe: Searching for Security. The German Investigations into Enigma's security. In: Intelligence and National Security 14 (1999) Issue 1 (Special Issue) S.146-167.
Rebecca Ratcliffe: How Statistics led the Germans to believe Enigma Secure and Why They Were Wrong: neglecting the practical Mathematics of Ciper machines Add:. Brian J. angle (eds.) The German Enigma Cipher Machine. Artech House: Boston, London of 2005.
Cryptography organizations
History of telecommunications in Germany
Signals intelligence agencies
Signals intelligence of World War II
Research and development in Nazi Germany
Military history of Germany during World War II |
41577351 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon%20Valley%20%28TV%20series%29 | Silicon Valley (TV series) | Silicon Valley is an American comedy television series created by Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky. It premiered on HBO on April 6, 2014, running six seasons for a total of 53 episodes. The series finale aired on December 8, 2019. The series, a parody of Silicon Valley culture, focuses on Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), a programmer who founds a startup company called Pied Piper, and chronicles his struggles trying to maintain his company while facing competition from larger entities. Co-stars of the series include T.J. Miller, Josh Brener, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, Amanda Crew, Matt Ross, and Jimmy O. Yang.
Silicon Valley has received critical acclaim since its airing, with praise for its writing and humor. The show has been nominated for numerous accolades, including five consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Plot
Season 1
Richard Hendricks, employee of a tech company named Hooli, creates an app known as Pied Piper, which contains a revolutionary data compression algorithm. Peter Gregory acquires a stake in Pied Piper, and Richard hires the residents of Erlich Bachman's business incubator, including Bertram Gilfoyle and Dinesh Chugtai, along with Jared Dunn, who also defected from Hooli. Meanwhile, Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti chooses to accept a substantial promotion at Hooli instead, despite his lack of merit for the job.
Gavin Belson instructs his Hooli employees to reverse engineer Pied Piper's algorithm and develops a copycat product called Nucleus. Both companies are scheduled to present at TechCrunch Disrupt. Pied Piper rushes to produce a feature-rich cloud storage platform based on their compression technology. At the TechCrunch event, Belson presents Nucleus, which is integrated with all of Hooli's services and has compression performance equal to Pied Piper. However, Richard has a new idea and spends the entire night coding. The next morning, Richard makes Pied Piper's final presentation and demonstrates a product that strongly outperforms Nucleus, then is mobbed by eager investors.
Season 2
In the immediate aftermath of their TechCrunch Disrupt victory, multiple venture capital firms offer to finance Pied Piper's Series A round. Peter Gregory has died and is replaced by Laurie Bream to run Raviga Capital. Richard finds out that Hooli is suing Pied Piper for copyright infringement, claiming that Richard developed Pied Piper's compression algorithm on Hooli time using company equipment. As a result, Raviga and all the other VC firms retract their offers. Richard turns down Hooli's buyout and accepts funding from controversial billionaire Russ Hanneman, though Richard quickly begins questioning his decision after learning about Hanneman's mercurial reputation and his excessive interference in day-to-day operations.
Belson promotes Big Head to Hooli [xyz], to make people think he created the compression algorithm and that Richard stole it to create Pied Piper. Belson agrees to drop the lawsuit in favor of binding arbitration to prevent the press from finding out about how bad Nucleus is. Due to a clause in Richard's Hooli contract, the lawsuit is ruled in Pied Piper's favor. Raviga buys out Hanneman's stake in Pied Piper, securing three of Pied Piper's five board seats. However, they decide to remove Richard from the CEO position due to previous incidents.
Season 3
After a failed stint with Jack Barker as CEO of Pied Piper, Richard eventually regains his CEO position. Due to Jack wasting all their money on offices and useless marketing, a cash strapped Richard hires contract engineers from around the world to help construct their application platform. Big Head receives a $20 million severance package from Hooli in exchange for non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements. Big Head uses his money to set up his own incubator and Erlich partners with him. However, because of their spending habits, they declare bankruptcy, and Erlich is forced to sell his stake in Pied Piper to repay the debts. Gavin Belson hires Jack Barker as the new head of development at Hooli.
After release, their platform is positively reviewed by members of the industry. However, only a small fraction of the people installing the platform remain as daily active users due to its complex interface design. Meanwhile, Jared secretly employs a click farm to artificially inflate usage statistics. An anxious Richard reveals the source of the uptick at a Series B funding signing meeting, leading to the deal being scrapped. Laurie no longer wishes for Raviga to be associated with Pied Piper and moves to sell majority control to any investor. Erlich and Big Head are able to buy control of the company after an unexpected windfall from the sale of a blog they bought. Pied Piper now prepares to pivot again, this time to become a video chat company, based on the sudden popularity of Dinesh's video chat application which he included on the platform.
Season 4
Richard steps down as CEO of Pied Piper, and instead begins working on a new project: a decentralized, peer-to-peer internet, that would be powered by a network of cell phones without any firewalls, viruses, or government regulations. Gavin Belson is removed as CEO of Hooli after an incident involving COPPA violations from when he seized PiperChat. Jack Barker takes his place as CEO. Gavin temporarily works with Richard, until he has an existential crisis and leaves Palo Alto for Tibet.
Laurie and Monica form their own VC company, Bream/Hall. Big Head becomes a lecturer at Stanford University's Department of Computer Science. Erlich gets into business with Keenan Feldspar, whose VR headset is the Valley's latest sensation. However, Erlich is left out of a signing deal and is abandoned by Feldspar, leaving Erlich disillusioned. Erlich then goes to Tibet to meet with Gavin. While Gavin eventually returns home, Erlich stays.
Richard gets into business with FGI, an insurance company, who uses Pied Piper for their data storage needs. After a crisis involving FGI's data storage, the team discovers that the decentralized internet is a working concept after the data from their Pied Piper server had backed itself up to Jian-Yang's smart refrigerator, as Gilfoyle used some of the Pied Piper code when he was trying to hack it, which in turn connected itself to a network of other refrigerators like it and distributing the data. Gavin ousts Jack from Hooli and regains his position as CEO. He offers a very generous acquisition deal to Richard, who turns it down and decides to be funded by Bream/Hall.
Season 5
In the fifth season, the Pied Piper team gets new offices and hires a large team of coders to help work on Richard's new internet. Meanwhile, Jian-Yang manages to convince a judge that Erlich is dead so that he can inherit Erlich's estate, including the idea incubator and the 10% share of Pied Piper. Richard promotes Jared to be the new chief operating officer for Pied Piper, and Jian-Yang goes to China to build a knock-off version of Pied Piper.
Bream/Hall forces Richard to team up with Eklow, an AI team, and Pied Piper puts together a group of developers. When Eklow's CEO almost destroys Pied Piper's credibility, Richard becomes fed up with Laurie and considers using Gilfoyle's idea to create a cryptocurrency for Pied Piper as a way to secure an independent source of funding. After initially opposing the idea, Monica realizes that Laurie plans to make Richard sell ads for his decentralized internet, and warns him. In gratitude, Richard offers her the newly vacated role of CFO at Pied Piper, and she accepts, finally cutting ties with Laurie.
After unimpressive results from their cryptocurrency, Pied Piper is distraught when Laurie teams up with a wealthy Chinese manufacturer, Yao, who had been working with Belson to steal Jian-Yang's Pied Piper patent. Yao and Laurie add users to Pied Piper's network via a large number of newly manufactured phones, and prepare for a 51% attack against Pied Piper's network in order to take control of developing it. Richard asks Belson to put their software onto Hooli's Signature Box 3 network in order to stop Yao and Laurie, and Belson does so, but betrays Richard by teaming up with Laurie and Yao to delete Pied Piper. At the last minute, Pied Piper recruits Colin, another developer betrayed by Laurie, to run his popular video game Gates of Galloo on the Pied Piper network, adding users and allowing Pied Piper to maintain control of enough of the network to block Yao's and Hooli's machines from accessing it. Meanwhile, due to the losses incurred in launching the unsuccessful Signature Box 3, Hooli's board of directors announce plans that force Belson to sell the company to Amazon and Jeff Bezos. PiedPiperCoin gains traction, and the season ends with the Pied Piper team moving into a huge new office space.
Season 6
Pied Piper has become a large company of 500 employees with Richard speaking before Congress on his ideology of a new internet that doesn't collect user data. He is shocked to learn that Colin's online game Gates of Galloo, part of the Pied Piper family, has been collecting user data the entire time. Colin refuses to stop, but Pied Piper depends on his game's revenue, so Richard seeks new investment in order to cut Colin loose. He finds shady Chilean billionaire Maximo Reyes, who offers Richard $1 billion. When Richard turns him down, Maximo begins staging a hostile takeover of Pied Piper. Meanwhile, Richard's right-hand man Jared has left Pied Piper to seek a new up-and-coming talent in need of his support. Hooli, once a tech giant headed by Richard's rival Gavin Belson, downsizes drastically after most of the company is sold to Amazon. Pied Piper purchases what remains of Hooli, including its subsidiary FoxHole. CFIUS judges foreign ownership of FoxHole to be a threat to national security, and Maximo is forced to sell all of his shares of Pied Piper. Gavin, free from his Hooli position, launches a new campaign for "Tethics" (tech ethics) which leads to an investigation that would tie up Pied Piper's business dealings. Richard is able to maneuver out of this with the help of Russ Hanneman. However, Pied Piper must now help Russ with his music festival RussFest. At RussFest, Richard suspects Laurie may be sabotaging their software as it is failing. It turns out that neither Yao Net USA nor Pied Piper scale. Instead of quitting, Richard integrates Gilfoyle's AI (with some edits from Dinesh) into PiperNet and it works better than anyone could have expected, allowing Pied Piper to close a deal with AT&T. However, the team soon realizes that in this effort to maximize compression and efficiency, PiperNet's AI has found a way to bypass all encryption, causing a potential global threat if launched. Thus PiedPiper is forced to intentionally fail in order to save the world from their own creation. They are successful in crashing the launch. There is a 10 year flash forward to see where everyone is, ending with Richard misplacing a flash drive with the potential world security-threatening code on it.
Cast and characters
Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendricks, a coder and founder/CEO of Pied Piper.
T.J. Miller as Erlich Bachman (seasons 1–4), an entrepreneur who runs an innovation incubator in his house and owns 10% of Pied Piper.
Josh Brener as Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti, Richard's best friend who works at Hooli. Despite possessing few skills as a programmer, he often finds himself being promoted and finding success.
Martin Starr as Bertram Gilfoyle, the network engineer of Pied Piper who is known for his stolid and sardonic personality. Gilfoyle is a LaVeyan Satanist.
Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh Chugtai, a programmer specializing in Java and member of Pied Piper. He is often the victim of Gilfoyle's ridicule, pranks, and racist slurs.
Christopher Evan Welch as Peter Gregory (season 1), the socially awkward billionaire founder and CEO of Raviga Capital as well as a 5% equity owner of Pied Piper after his $200,000 investment.
Amanda Crew as Monica Hall, an employee of Raviga Capital and associate partner.
Zach Woods as Donald "Jared" Dunn, an ex-VP of Hooli who quits the company in order to join the Pied Piper team as its COO and business advisor.
Matt Ross as Gavin Belson (seasons 2–6; recurring season 1), the CEO and founder of Hooli and the series' main antagonist.
Suzanne Cryer as Laurie Bream (seasons 2–6), the replacement for Peter Gregory as CEO of Raviga Capital, and later co-founder of Bream Hall Capital with Monica. Like her predecessor, she is highly intelligent and socially inept.
Jimmy O. Yang as Jian-Yang (seasons 2–6; recurring season 1), another tenant of Erlich's incubator, but has no involvement with Pied Piper. He and Erlich have frequent disagreements.
Stephen Tobolowsky as "Action" Jack Barker (season 4; recurring season 3), briefly CEO of Pied Piper and later Hooli.
Chris Diamantopoulos as Russ Hanneman (seasons 4, 6; recurring season 2–3; guest season 5), a brash, loud and fiery billionaire investor who provides Pied Piper with their Series A.
Production
Co-creator and executive producer Mike Judge had worked in a Silicon Valley startup early in his career. In 1987, he was a programmer at Parallax, a company with about 40 employees. Judge disliked the company's culture and his colleagues ("The people I met were like Stepford Wives. They were true believers in something and I don't know what it was") and quit after less than three months, but the experience gave him the background to later create a show about the region's people and companies. He recollects also how startup companies pitched to him to make a Flash-based animation in the past as material for the first episode: "It was one person after another going, 'In two years, you will not own a TV set!' I had a meeting that was like a gathering of acolytes around a cult leader. 'Has he met Bill?' 'Oh, I'm the VP and I only get to see Bill once a month.' And then another guy chimed in, 'For 10 minutes, but the 10 minutes is amazing!
The idea of Pied Piper is inspired by real attempts for creating a decentralized web by a company called MaidSafe. Several of its team members served as advisors and consulted on the series.
Filming for the pilot of Silicon Valley began on March 12, 2013, in Palo Alto, California. HBO green-lit the series on May 16, 2013.
Christopher Evan Welch, who played billionaire Peter Gregory, died in December 2013 of lung cancer, having finished his scenes for the first five episodes. The production team decided against recasting the role and reshooting his scenes; on his death, Judge commented: "The brilliance of Chris' performance is irreplaceable, and inspired us in our writing of the series." He went on to say, "The entire ordeal was heartbreaking. But we are incredibly grateful to have worked with him in the brief time we had together. Our show and our lives are vastly richer for his having been in them." In the eighth episode of season 1, a memoriam is made in his honor at the end of the credits roll. The character of Peter Gregory was not killed off until the premiere of Season 2.
The show refers to a metric in comparing the compression rates of applications called the Weissman score, which did not exist before the show's run. It was created by Stanford Professor Tsachy Weissman and graduate student Vinith Misra at the request of the show's producers.
Clay Tarver was named co-showrunner in April 2017 alongside Mike Judge and Alec Berg, also serving as an executive producer. In May 2017, it was announced that T.J. Miller would be exiting the series after the fourth season.
Reception
Critical response
Silicon Valley has received critical acclaim since its premiere. Rotten Tomatoes presented the first season with a 95% "Certified Fresh" rating and an average score of 7.94 out of 10 based on 57 reviews, with the critical consensus "Silicon Valley is a relevant, often hilarious take on contemporary technology and the geeks who create it that benefits from co-creator Mike Judge's real-life experience in the industry." Metacritic, a website that gathers critics' reviews, presents the first season with an 84 out of 100 Metascore based on 36 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said "HBO finds its best and funniest full-on comedy in years with this Mike Judge creation, and it may even tap into that most elusive thing, a wide audience." Matt Roush of TV Guide said "The deft, resonant satire that helped make Judge's Office Space a cult hit takes on farcical new dimension in Silicon Valley, which introduces a socially maladroit posse of computer misfits every bit the comic equal of The Big Bang Theorys science nerds." Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club said "It feels weirdly like a tech-world Entourage—and that's meant as more of a compliment than it seems." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com praised the jokes of the series but commented on the slow progression of the character development in the first two episodes and the reliance on common stereotypes in technology, including "the nerd who can't even look at a girl much less talk to her or touch her, the young businessman who literally shakes when faced with career potential." He went on to say that the lack of depth to the characters creates "this odd push and pull; I want the show to be more realistic but I don't care about these characters enough when it chooses to be so."
David Auerbach of Slate stated that the show did not go far enough to be called risky or a biting commentary of the tech industry. "Because I'm a software engineer, Silicon Valley might portray me with my pants up to my armpits, nerdily and nasally complaining that Thomas' compression algorithm is impossible or that nine times F in hexadecimal is 87, not 'fleventy five' (as Erlich says), but I would forgive such slips in a second if the show were funny." Auerbach claimed that he used to work for Google, and that his wife also worked for them at the time of the review.
The second season received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 86 out of 100 based on nine reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 96% approval rating with an average rating of 8.51 out of 10 based on 23 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Silicon Valley re-ups its comedy quotient with an episode that smooths out the rough edges left behind by the loss of a beloved cast member."
The third season also received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.78 out of 10 based on 24 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Silicon Valleys satirical take on the follies of the tech industry is sharper than ever in this very funny third season." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 90 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
The series continued to receive critical acclaim in its fourth season. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season's approval rating is 94%, with an average rating of 7.64 out of 10 based on 34 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Silicon Valleys fourth season advances the veteran comedy's overall arc while adding enough new wrinkles – and delivering more than enough laughs – to stay fresh." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
The fifth season received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season's approval rating dipped to 89%, with an average rating of 7.25 out of 10 based on 28 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Five seasons in, Silicon Valley finds a new way to up the ante with tighter, less predictable plots, while still maintaining its clever brand of comedic commentary." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 5 reviews.
The sixth and final season received very positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season's approval is 94%, with an average rating of 7 out of 10 based on 18 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Though the strangeness of reality threatens to one-up it, Silicon Valleys final season is funny, fearless, and still playing by its own rules to the very end." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 78 out of 100 based on 4 reviews.
Other reactions
Businessman Elon Musk, after viewing the first episode of the show, said: "I really feel like Mike Judge has never been to Burning Man, which is Silicon Valley [...] If you haven't been, you just don't get it. You could take the craziest L.A. party and multiply it by a thousand, and it doesn't even get close to what's in Silicon Valley. The show didn't have any of that." In response to Musk's comments, actor T.J. Miller, who plays Erlich on the show, pointed out that "if the billionaire power players don't get the joke, it's because they're not comfortable being satirized... I'm sorry, but you could tell everything was true. You guys do have bike meetings, motherfucker." Other software engineers who also attended the same premiere stated that they felt like they were watching their "reflection". Musk later changed his mind on the show. He said "It starts to get very accurate around episode 4...so it took a few episodes to kinda get grounded. The first episodes struck me as Hollywood making fun of Hollywood's idea of Silicon Valley...which is not on point. But by about the 4th or 5th episode of Season 1 it starts to get good, and by Season 2, it's amazing."
In January 2017, in an audience interaction by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Gates recounted the episode in Silicon Valley in which the protagonists try to pitch their product to various venture capitalists, saying it reminded him of his own experiences. Gates would later go on to have a cameo in the series finale.
In conference talks, Douglas Crockford has called Silicon Valley "the best show ever made about programming". He goes on to cite the episode "Bachmanity Insanity" to illustrate the absurdity of the tabs versus spaces argument.
Accolades
Home media
The complete first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 31, 2015; bonus features include audio commentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes. The second season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 19, 2016; bonus features include six audio commentaries, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and deleted scenes. The third season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 11, 2017; bonus features include deleted scenes. The fourth season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 12, 2017; bonus features include deleted scenes.
International broadcast
In Australia, the series premiered on April 9, 2014, and aired on The Comedy Channel. In the United Kingdom, it premiered on July 16, 2014, airing on Sky Atlantic, while also being available on internet view-on-demand services such as Blinkbox. In New Zealand, the series airs on SoHo (owned by Sky Network Television Limited) and the series is available for streaming on Sky GO and NEON. In India, the series is available for streaming on Hotstar.
References
External links
Silicon Valley on Rotten Tomatoes
In-universe websites: Pied Piper, Hooli, Code/Rag, Aviato, Homicide, BreamHall
2010s American workplace comedy television series
2014 American television series debuts
2019 American television series endings
2010s American single-camera sitcoms
Television shows set in Santa Clara County, California
Television series created by Mike Judge
HBO original programming
Television series about computing
Television series created by John Altschuler
Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment
Television series created by Dave Krinsky |
41589814 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth%20Amendment%20Protection%20Act | Fourth Amendment Protection Act | The Fourth Amendment Protection Acts, are a collection of state legislation aimed at withdrawing state support for bulk data (metadata) collection and ban the use of warrant-less data in state courts. They are proposed nullification laws that, if enacted as law, would prohibit the state governments from co-operating with the National Security Agency, whose mass surveillance efforts are seen as unconstitutional by the proposals' proponents. Specific examples include the Kansas Fourth Amendment Preservation and Protection Act and the Arizona Fourth Amendment Protection Act. The original proposals were made in 2013 and 2014 by legislators in the American states of Utah, Washington, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and California. Some of the bills would require a warrant before information could be released, whereas others would forbid state universities from doing NSA research or hosting NSA recruiters, or prevent the provision of services such as water to NSA facilities.
History
The events of the 9/11 terrorist attacks led to some sweeping changes in national security policies. Through the enactment of Title II: Enhanced Surveillance Procedures of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, many government agencies were granted increased power of surveillance. Controversy arose from the increased surveillance that was granted. Proponents of the act argued that the increased surveillance measures were necessary for the protection and safety of the country, while detractors argued that the increased power of surveillance infringed upon Fourth Amendment protections.
Among the controversial programs that were put into place was the President's Surveillance Program, which embodied the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Through this surveillance program, President George W. Bush authorized the NSA to wiretap international calls where one party was suspected of having affiliations with Al Qaeda. It also reportedly allowed for data mining of emails, internet activity, text messaging and telephone call records, stored in a NSA call database.
The Terrorist Surveillance Program became publicly known after several NSA whistleblowers, William E. Binney, Ed Loomis, Thomas A. Drake and J. Kirk Wiebe, came forward with information about the agency's database collection program, Trailblazer, which eliminated the privacy protections for U.S. citizens that its predecessor, the ThinThread Project, promised. The information presented by Binney, Loomis, Drake and Wiebe brought the controversial practices of the NSA to the public eye, further inciting the controversy around the increased power that government agencies were granted. Information continued to come forward through many national news sources over the next several years about continuation of data collection programs carried out by government agencies.
In 2013, former NSA whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, came forward with information about continued surveillance on US Citizens through the PRISM surveillance project, that allowed the NSA to collect communications from providers like Google Inc., Yahoo and Verizon among others. Collected data was stored in the NSA database Boundless Informant and collected through the NSA Analytical tool XKeyscore, which allowed for the collection of most any form of data, from emails, to social media, and web browsing history. Snowden's revelations and released documents detailed that the NSA's data collection programs were much broader, deeper, and insidious than previously released information had shown, and included collection of data even from users of Xbox Live, World of Warcraft and Second Life, as well as NSA agents spying on their own love interests.
In 2014, former U.S. State Department whistle-blower, John Tye, wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post, outlining his concerns over data collection under Executive Order 12333. Part 2.3 (i) allows that "incidentally obtained information that may indicate involvement in activities that may violate federal, state, local or foreign laws" may be collected, retained and disseminated.
In light of all of the information that came out over the previous 12–13 years, many states began invoking their Tenth Amendment rights to propose and enact Fourth Amendment Protection Acts in order to stop NSA collection within those states, or to disallow any unconstitutionally collected data to be utilized in state courts. Some states proposed actions to stop NSA Centers from accessing state controlled utilities, such as water and electricity, in an effort to block NSA data collections from within the state.
Fourth Amendment Protection Act By State
California
On January 6, 2014, the state of California proposed Senate Bill 828 (2013–14). It was introduced by senators Ted Lieu and Joel Anderson, with the intention of adding Chapter 32.5 (commencing with Section 7599) to the state government's code. Its intention aimed to prohibit providing any resources, participation, or aid of any sort to requests made by federal agencies that attempt to collect metadata by means in which the state finds illegal. Furthermore, it would prohibit agencies such as the NSA from using public universities as recruitment centers, as well as prohibiting such agencies from performing research on campus grounds. On November 30, 2014, it was approved by the governor and was accepted into California State law.
Washington
In the state of Washington, multiple bills have been proposed in order to offer protections from certain NSA data collection operations. Specifically, those conducted without warrants. In 2017, House Bill 1193 (2017-18) was introduced, and given its first reading on January 13. Its primary intention was to prevent the use of data and online information obtained without a proper warrant from being used as evidence against individuals being prosecuted in a court of law. It would also prohibit the utilization of state resources and services for data collection operations that the state deems unconstitutional. In addition, any persons or corporations found to have been providing services to federal agencies for unconstitutional purposes would be guilty of misdemeanors. As of 2018, the bill remains in committee. An earlier version of the bill was proposed in 2013 as House Bill 2272.
Arizona
Similar to California's Fourth Amendment Protection Act, Arizona State had also proposed their own protections under Senate Bill 1156 (2014). It was supported by many members of the Senate, including its president at the time, Andy Biggs. In Arizona, it would have prevented digital information obtained without a warrant from being used in court, prohibited federal agencies from using state funding to carry out data collection without proper warrants, and eliminated numerous gray areas not mentioned in the Fourth Amendment. It was intended to go into effect on January 1, 2015. However, this bill did not pass.
Federal Level
On June 2, 2015, President Barack Obama signed a revised version of the USA Freedom Act. Under Section 215 the mass collection of phone data was no longer allowed. Phone records could now only be obtained through the Federal Courts. Companies also now had the ability to publicly report the number of records requests they had received, making it even harder for massive amounts of information to be requested. This was the first time such protections were added for citizens since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Many Americans had concerns after Snowden's information leaks, causing data privacy and security concerns to become much larger and widely discussed issues. Still, others in government, such as Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, were pushing for more terrorism protections and would realize that this bill, while losing some ground on their end, was still their best chance, as protections granted from the previous bill had already expired.
Even as the Government was adding privacy protections, the advancements in technology were making surveillance practices easier. Devices such as satellites, cell phones, smart cars, smart-grid power reading, smart televisions, drones and automatic license place readers, to name a few, were becoming more and more prevalent in the surveillance world and the ways that information is gathered. New technology such as stingray surveillance technology is now used to create a more prominent signal for devices to gain connectivity to the internet, or cell phone towers, which, in turn, grants access to the information stored on connected devices. These types of devices have been used by many law enforcement agencies, growing the public's concern, and need for more privacy protection laws.
Two large technology companies, Microsoft and Apple, were involved in litigation with the US Government in 2016 on the basis of protecting the privacy of their consumers. In February 2016 Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, filed a lawsuit against the US Government for breaking the US Constitution by not allowing Microsoft to "inform their customers when federal agencies sought their information." Apple was involved in court proceedings in relations to a cell phone connected to a mass shooting in December 2015. The FBI was requesting that they unlock an encrypted cell phone so that they could gain access to the phone. This would have required Apple to write new software to bypass the password encryption on the phone. Apple felt that by doing this for this case, they would be opening this up for future cases, and removing the security of the password on the cell phones.
The Supreme Court was involved in another case involving a string of robberies throughout Michigan and Ohio. A self-confessed robber in the case, gave the name and cell phone number of Timothy Carpenter to FBI agents, stating that he was involved. The FBI was able to use the location records of Timothy's cell phone to place him near the crimes, of which he was later convicted of aiding and abetting. His attorneys had argued that the cell phone records were not legally able to be used as evidence, due to lack of search warrant. However, the court had ruled that the cell phone data was not protected. After appeals, the final ruling was that "the records in this case fall on the unprotected side of the Fourth Amendment." Chief Justice John Roberts was later quoted as saying, "[...]some of the courts most challenging cases involve applying long held rules created by the courts to quickly developing technology."
S. 139 was introduced on January 12, 2017, sponsored by Senator Orrin G. Hatch. The bill will continue Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that allows the NSA and FBI to further continue warrantless access to personal social media and conversation activities of foreigners to America, that also involves U.S citizens' private communications, for an additional six years. The S. 139 bill has made minor key changes to potentially enhance more effective ways to protect privacy in the United States while still tracking possible terrorist attacks. A few changes will now require the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to approve specified query procedures every year, as well as have the Inspector General of the Department of Justice over look the query procedures and practices of the FBI, and have limited use of Section 702 to not allow information found to be used against U.S citizens for criminal cases. Section 702 originally expired on December 31, 2017 but was then continued until January 19, 2018 where the vote ruled in favor of the extension by 256–164. President Donald Trump signed to enact S. 139 which became Public Law No: 115-118 that same day. On November 29, 2017 H.R. 4478 FISA Reauthorization Act of 2017, was introduced, sponsored by Republican Devin Nunes to extend Section 702. Representatives Justin Amish and Zoe Lofgren offered the USA Rights Act, pertaining a more balanced scale between security and liberty as this bill protects the 4th amendment along with eliminating the warrantless backdoor searches, that would then require government officials to obtain warrants in order to seize and view American citizens' data when the NSA and FBI tack into foreigner activities seeking any relations to terrorism. The bill resulted as a loss by a vote of 183–233.
See also
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Arizona Fourth Amendment Protection Act
References
Mass surveillance
Privacy law in the United States |
41595915 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston%20Community%20Information%20System | Boston Community Information System | The Boston Community Information System (also called BCIS or Boston COMINS) transmitted up-to-the-minute Associated Press and New York Times wire reports to subscribers in Boston from April 1984 to January 1988.
The Boston Community Information System was the first system to propose and implement "hybrid broadcasting", combining both push technology and pull technology.
The Boston Community Information System (BCIS)
used an FM radio channel to broadcast news to
people who decoded the information with radio receivers connected to personal computers.
The BCIS system was designed and implemented by David K. Gifford and his research group at MIT.
In order to deny service to nonpaying customers, and in order to allow each customer to subscribe to any subset of information streams, Gifford developed a conditional access system that used a different randomly chosen ephemeral key to encrypt each news article, before broadcasting the encrypted article on a subcarrier of MIT's FM radio station WMBR.
Unlike many other broadcast encryption systems, Gifford's cipher was unbroken for almost a decade, during the entire operation of the BCIS.
References
Mass media in Boston |
41610893 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister%20%28software%29 | Twister (software) | Twister is an experimental peer-to-peer microblogging program. It is decentralized, meaning that no one is able to shut it down, as there is no single point to attack. The system uses end-to-end encryption to safeguard communications. It is based on both BitTorrent and Bitcoin-like protocols and is considered a (distributed) Twitter clone.
Overview
Twister is a Twitter-like microblogging platform that utilizes the same blockchain technology as Bitcoin, and the file exchange method from BitTorrent, both based on P2P technologies.
Twister is experimental software in alpha phase, implemented as a distributed file sharing system. User registration and authentication is provided by a Bitcoin-like network, so it is completely distributed and does not depend on any central authority. Distribution of posts uses Kademlia distributed hash table (DHT) network and BitTorrent-like swarms, both provided by libtorrent. Included versions of both Bitcoin and are highly patched, and intentionally not interoperable with the already existing networks.
Miguel Freitas, aiming to build a censor-resistant public posting platform, began development on Twister in July 2013 to address the concerns of free speech and privacy. Building off the work of Bitcoin and Bittorrent, he was able to have the core working by October 2013. Lucas Leal was hired to create HTML and CSS for the user interface, with Miguel writing required JavaScript code. 2,500 user accounts were registered in the first six days of operation.
As a completely decentralized network, no one is capable of incapacitating Twister since there is not a unique point of attack to the system. Twister uses end-to-end encryption to protect the communications. Furthermore, Twister is designed to prevent other users from knowing a user's GSM localization, IP address, and who the user is following. Users can publish public messages as with other microblogging platforms, but when they send direct messages and private messages to other users, these are protected from unsolicited access.
History
The Brazilian computer engineer and programmer, Miguel Freitas, started developing the new social network after learning about the massive spy programs of the USA's National Security Agency (NSA) as revealed by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. He started to worry about the accessibility of that amount of information under the control of a single company under American jurisdiction.
According to Freitas, Twitter has been the social network that has helped the most to promote democracy and to organize protests, as the magazine Wired claims. He believes that massive surveillance by the likes of the NSA makes it dangerous to provide personal information to the social networks that currently exist. For this reason he decided to build a new system based on privacy-preserving technology.
Freitas used to believe that in the future, social networks would be based on decentralized protocols and with no central point of control. But on learning that existing social networks were already massively compromised by the state he began to take action with the development an alternative service based closely on Twitter.
After a while, Miguel and his developer, Lucas Leal, considered the alpha version of the application for Android, Linux and OS X. Versions for Windows and iPhone are not planned, but, since it is open source, any of them is free to migrate the application for other operating systems.
Even though the project is in this moment in alpha phase, Brian Armstrong, co-founder of Coinbase, believes that it is a great example of how the open protocol of Bitcoin can be used with diverse purposes.
Technology
Protocols
Twister is a distributed system, it works as a peer-to-peer program. Unlike other decentralized networks (like pump.io/Identi.ca, StatusNet/GNU social or Diaspora), it does not require the user to use their own server and does not require a user to trust a third-party server in order to use it.
Bitcoin
This is achieved through the Bitcoin protocol, though not through the network used by the cryptocurrency. The protocol handles the register of users and the accesses. In the same way miners verify transactions on the Bitcoin network to secure that no one makes a double spent, the Twister network verifies the user's names and that the messages belonging to a specific user are really from that user.
BitTorrent
The messages are driven through the BitTorrent protocol. This allows keeping a distribution system of a great number of messages along the network in a fast and efficient way; and also, allows the users to receive notifications almost instantly about new messages and alerts – all of it without the necessity of a central server.
Since Twister uses end-to-end encryption, if intercepted, the private direct messages cannot be read by any other person apart from the addressee. The code used is the elliptic curve cryptography (different from the one used by the NSA) that is used in Bitcoin. It is thought to give a security level similar to a RSA code of 3072 bits. The data is not stored anywhere, so it cannot be used by any other cut. As a consequence, if a user loses their entry password, it is impossible for them to access their private messages.
Because it is a peer-to-peer system, there is not a central server from which your publications may be compiled (see PRISM).
As Freitas explains, the system is designed in a way that the users cannot know if the other is online, their IP address, or what messages have been read. This information is not registered anywhere. Despite this, Freitas warns to the users that anonymity may not be total depending on the circumstances.
Platforms
Twister was developed under the Linux environment.
Freitas has migrated successfully the system to Android and OS X.
One of the long-term objectives of the program is to move the whole cryptographic code of the implementation to the interface of the user of the browser. This way, users would be capable of accessing Twister through any client platform that they use, choosing any third-party server and still maintaining the security of their private passwords at all times.
Functionality
The first Twister prototype is intended for reproducing the basic characteristics of any microblogging platform, including:
Searching users and profiles of navigation
Follow/unfollow
Sending text messages limited to 140 characters
Broadcasting and answering messages
Browsing through mailing routes, mentions, hashtags and direct messages (private)
Private messages require the addressee to following of the speaker, which is a common requisite in most of the existing platforms.
Some other characteristics can be difficult to implement in a completely decentralized system, requiring more effort. This includes the arbitrary register of the words in the posts and the recompilation of hashtags to find out the main tendencies.
Security
Twister uses the same parameters of elliptic curves as Bitcoin: . This is not the curve that was usually implicated by the NSA, called sec256r1. A 256 bits of public-key cryptography (no comprometido), ECC must proportionate a security similar to a key RSA of 3072 bits (at least that is what is said by the experts) .
They usually stimulate the people who try to break the security in the systems with something that everyone desires, money. There are millions of $ USD on the table, coded with keys secp256k1 Bitcoin.
The direct application of messages encoding is based on an example code that was published on the Internet by Ladar Levison of Lavabit. It is known that Ladar took his service down because he denied cooperating with the US government that allows the control of all its clients.
Decentralized Net
Twister is a platform of microblogging peer-to-peer.
This means that the communication is established between computers without going through a central node that would be the one who recorded the information.
There is not a company behind that provides the server or the machinery used, and that can detect in that case the conversations.
Censored
People who run a node can delete a user's posts in the DHT, but not block the user's account.
Completely private
Due to the fact that the messages are sent directly from a user to another, without going through a central node, and also, in an encrypted way, – from beginning to end, it is encrypted on the exit and decrypted on the arrival – they travel in a private way through the web as a black-box. Besides, the IP directions are also protected.
Anonymity
In this application, the IP address is not recorded at any time, which avoids being tracked by an entity or company.
According to Freitas, this guarantees anonymity but does not mean that the IP address will not be detected from the ISP (Internet service provider); rather, it means the content of the message will not be visible except to someone who can decrypt it, breaking the algorithms.
In order to be 100% anonymous, the user would have to use a browser that masks the IP address, such as Tor or similar.
References
External links
Building a Better Twitter: A Study of the Twitter Alternatives GNU Social, Quitter, rstat.us, and Twister
Distributed computing
Text messaging
Social networking services
Free software
Microblogging software
Android (operating system) software
Anonymity networks
Peer-to-peer computing
Brazilian inventions
Software using the BSD license
Software using the MIT license |
41630273 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B1%20%28archive%20format%29 | B1 (archive format) | B1 is an open archive file format that supports data compression and archiving. B1 files use the file extension ".b1" or ".B1" and the MIME media type application/x-b1. B1 incorporates the LZMA compression algorithm.
B1 archive combines a number of files and folders into one or more volumes, optionally adding compression and encryption. Construction of the B1 archive involves creating a binary stream of records and building volumes of that stream. The B1 archive format supports password-based AES-256 encryption.
B1 files are created and opened with its native open-source B1 Pack Tool, as well as B1 Free Archiver utility.
B1 Pack Project
B1 Pack is an open-source software project that produces a cross-platform command-line tool and a Java library for creating and extracting file archives in the B1 archive format. Source code of the project is published at GitHub.
B1 Pack Project is released under the Apache License. The B1 Pack Tool module builds a single executable JAR file which can create, list, and extract B1 archive files from a command-line interface.
B1 format features
Support for Unicode names for files inside an archive.
Archives and the files inside it can be of any size.
Support for split archives, that consist of several parts.
Integrity check with the Adler-32 algorithm.
Data compression using the LZMA algorithm.
Supports encryption with the AES algorithm.
API features
Instant creation of an archive without reading from/writing to a file system.
Producing only a byte range of an archive, e.g. for resuming downloads.
Streaming archive content without prior knowledge of all the files being packaged.
References
External links
B1 Pack Project
Archive formats
Open formats |
41643625 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20albums%20containing%20a%20hidden%20track%3A%20M | List of albums containing a hidden track: M | This list contains the names of albums that contain a hidden track and also information on how to find them. Not all printings of an album contain the same track arrangements, so some copies of a particular album may not have the hidden track(s) listed below. Some of these tracks may be hidden in the pregap, and some hidden simply as a track following the listed tracks. The list is ordered by artist name using the surname where appropriate.
M83:
M83 on the North American re-release has an untitled track following almost five minutes of silence after "I'm Happy, She Said."
Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts Has an untitled song plays following a silence after "Beauties Can Die."
M.I.A., Arular: After a short silence at the end of "Galang," there's an additional song—"M.I.A.."
Mac DeMarco:
Salad Days: There is a short message from Mac DeMarco after a short silence at the end of "Jonny's Odyssey", who says "Hi guys, this is Mac, thank you for joining me, see again soon, bye bye."
Here Comes the Cowboy: The final track "Bye Bye Bye" ends at 4:33, followed by 47 seconds of Japanese people's voices before "The Cattleman's Prayer" starts.
Amy Macdonald, A Curious Thing: Track 12 contains a life version of "Dancing in the Dark" after a short silence (Starts at mark 6:02 of Track 12).
Macabre: On the album "Murder Metal," the last track, named "Fritz Haarman der Metzger" is 13 minutes, and contains an unnamed hidden track.
Madness, One Step Beyond...: On the original release, the unlisted song "Madness" is between tracks 13 ("Mummy's Boy") and 14 ("Chipmunks Are Go!").
Madness, The Business - the Definitive Singles Collection: There is an unlisted introduction which takes up track 1 on CD1.
Magalí Bachor: Magalí: After about 10 minutes after "Éste Momento," in her debut Album you can hear a nice remix of the second song, "Baby."
The Maine (band): One Pack of Smokes from Broke: After some time after "Waiting for my Sun to Shine," in the Album "Pioneer".
The Magic Numbers, Hymn For Her: Unlisted song appears after a pause following final track "Try"
Man or Astro-man?, EEVIAC operational index and reference guide, including other modern computational devices: Final track, "Automated Liner Notes Sequence," is unlisted.
Destroy All Astromen!: At the end of the album, well after the final track, a voice says (in an exaggerated Southern accent), "Boy, whatchu waitin' around for? There ain't no mystery track on this durn CD!"
maNga, maNga: "Kal Yanimda 2" can be found after final track "Kapanis."
Manic Street Preachers, Know Your Enemy: "We Are All Bourgeois Now" at 8:40 of the final track. It is a cover of a song by McCarthy and later featured on the B-sides and rarities compilation Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers).
Send Away the Tigers: A cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" follows final track "Winterlovers."
Journal for Plague Lovers: "Bag Lady" follows final track "Willam's Last Words."
Mansun, Attack of the Grey Lantern: After the Dark Mavis, you will get early b-side, "An Open Letter to the Lyrical Trainspotter."
Kleptomania: "The Dog From 2 Doors Down" follows a gap after "Good Intentions Heal The Soul"; on CD 3, after "Taxloss (Live)," 3 tracks are included: "Witness to an Opera," "Thief (Re-Recorded)" and "Wide Open Space (Mike Hunter Version)"
Marduk, Nightwing: Track "Nightwing" is a hidden track and is not mentioned on the rear cover but there are lyrics in the booklet.
Marillion, This Strange Engine: After a long silence after end of last song, Steve Hogarth can be heard laughing over piano intro to "Man of a Thousand Faces"
Brave: On the vinyl double album, Side 4 has two grooves. Each contains a different ending according to where one drops the stylus on the record.
Clutching at Straws and Afraid of Sunlight both have hidden tracks that can only be heard when played on a PC with an encryption that steers the webbrowser to the Marillion website.
Marilyn Manson:
Smells Like Children: Track 16 is untitled and unlisted.
Antichrist Superstar: "Empty Sounds of Hate" can be found at track 99, and works as both a prologue and epilogue to the album when played on loop as it seems to extend from the final song "Man That You Fear" and leads into the first track, "Irresponsible Hate Anthem."
Mechanical Animals: "Untitled" can be found if CD is played in a computer.
Damian Marley, Halfway Tree: "And You Be Loved" is found after the end of "Stand a Chance"
Laura Marling: On her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim there is a hidden track of the same name during "Your Only Doll (Dora)".
Sarah Masen, The Dreamlife of Angels: The hidden song "Longing Unknown" is hidden in the "minus track" of the first song, and can be found by rewinding approximately 3:30.
Mass of Atoms, Enhance the Chaos: A cover of the Rheostatics' "Public Square" is the unlisted final track on the cassette.
Massacration, Gates of Metal Fried Chicken of Death: A disco-like version of "Metal Massacre Attack (Aruê Aruô)" appears at the end of the disk.
Mastodon, Blood Mountain: The album's last song, "Pendulous Skin," contains a secret "fan letter" from Josh Homme, who provided guest vocals on the album.
Matchbook Romance, Voices: Untitled track at the end of the album
Stories and Alibis: Tracks 12 through 83 are three to four seconds of scilence and once it reaches track 84, there is a hidden track with a man speaking, people laughing, and weird noises.
Matchbox Twenty: :Mad Season: Orchestral reprise of "You Won't Be Mine" following the original track, approximately 7:45 in.
More Than You Think You Are: "So Sad, So Lonely" after silence at the end of the album
Kevin Max, Stereotype Be: "You" (starts at approximately 3:09 of track 14)
The Imposter: "Letting Go" after silence at the end of "Fade to Red."
Maxwell, Embrya (1998): A hidden track, "Gestation: Mythos," appears in the pregap of the first track.
Brian May, Another World: After the last track a piano version of the song "Business" is played.
Mayhem, Grand Declaration of War: It features hidden track situated in pregap before track 1.
Edwin McCain, Misguided Roses: At the end of Track 12, "Holy City" there is a long pause that leads into the hidden track "Through the Floor."
Paul McCartney:
McCartney: A seconds-long unlisted fragment of an unreleased track called "Suicide" plays during the final moments of "Hot As Sun/Glasses." The same track would be included in full as a bonus track on a 2011 reissue of the album.
Wild Life: In this album there are two unlisted jamming tracks called "Bip Bop Link" after the end of "I Am Your Singer" and "Mumbo Link" after the closing track "Dear Friend".
Band on the Run: After the closing track "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five," a brief reprise of the opening track "Band on the Run" plays.
Off the Ground: After the end of the closing track "C'mon People," an unlisted track called "Cosmically Conscious" (a shorter edit of the longer version on the "Off The Ground" single) is played.
Driving Rain: The album contains an uncredited sixteenth track, "Freedom."
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard: An instrumental, "I've Only Got Two Hands," is heard after the end of "Anyway."
New: "Scared" after the end of "Road." On the album's Deluxe Edition, it appears after the end of "Get Me Out of Here."
Jesse McCartney, Beautiful Soul: After the track "The Stupid Things," the hidden track "Good Life" starts to play.
McFly, Room on the Third Floor (2004): A hidden track, "Get Over You," previously released as a B-side, appears in the pregap of the first track.
Motion in the Ocean (2006): A hidden track, "Silence Is a Scary Sound," appears after approximately five minutes of silence at the end of track 12, "Don't Stop Me Now."
Above the Noise (2010): Numerous clips throughout the album, including the riff from "Supreme" in "I Need a Woman."
Pat McGee Band, Shine: Immediately after the title track ends, an instrumental reprise of "I Know" begins. It was split into a separate track for its release on the iTunes Music Store.
Stephanie McIntosh, Tightrope (2006): "I'd Be You" is located 60 seconds after the album's final song, "The Night of My Life," ends.
Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: a solo piano version of "Possession" after silence at the end of the album.
The Freedom Sessions: a solo piano version of "Hold On" appears a couple minutes after "Ol' 55."
Mclusky:
My Pain and Sadness is More Sad and Painful Than Yours: "Evil Frankie" at the end of the final track (5:10 into World Cup Drumming)
Mclusky Do Dallas: "Reviewing the Reviewers" after the final track
Meat Loaf, Couldn't Have Said It Better: "Mercury Blues" approximately 2 minutes after the end of "Forever Young"
Meat Puppets, Too High to Die: An unlisted remake of "Lake of Fire" (originally on Meat Puppets II) begins at 3:46 of the final song on the album, "Comin' Down."
Megadeth, Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years: Untitled collage of Megadeth's music, approximately 33 seconds after the end of "Peace Sells," at the end of the album. (In the Japanese version this track is not hidden but is instead track 16.)
Mêlée: Everyday Behavior: Untitled song at the end of track 11, approximately 2:10 after the end of "Pennsylvania"
John Mellencamp:
Big Daddy: Cover version of The Hombres' "Let It All Hang Out" at the end of track 11, "J.M.'s Question
Freedom's Road: Song about George W. Bush titled "Rodeo Clown" at the end of track 10, "Heaven is a Lonely Place"
Melt-Banana, Teeny Shiny: Untitled track at the end of the album
Melys: Casting Pearls: Untitled instrumental track hidden in the pregap of the first track.
Natalie Merchant, Ophelia: Orchestral reprise of "Ophelia" following the last track
Mercury Rev, Deserter's Songs: Untitled track at the end of the album
MercyMe, Coming Up to Breathe: "Have Fun" begins after a long silence at the end of "I Would Die For You."
Merz (musician): Loveheart: 'The Winter Song' appears after a silent gap on the last track 'Loveheart'.
Merzbow, Merzbient, disc 2: Untitled track number 2 is unlisted on the back cover.
Meshuggah, None: The hidden kicks can be heard at the end of the final track.
Metallica, Garage Inc., disc 1: After 30–60 seconds of silence, Metallica jam to the later half of Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs at the end of Track 11: "The More I See" by Discharge.
Garage Inc., disc 2 (The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited): At the end of "Last Caress/Green Hell," there is a mock performance of the intro to Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills which fades out.
Method of Escape, Method of Escape (2014): "To Keep You" starts playing after the last track "Broken Jar" ends.
Metz, Metz: "--))--" is the unlisted final track.
MewithoutYou, [A→B] Life After approximately 5:00 of complete silence (starting at 5:43), an abruptly-starting acoustic version of the song "I Never Said I Was Brave" is sung by guitarist Mike Weiss.
Mew, Half the World Is Watching Me The song "Ending" can be found on the first issue of the album by rewinding past 0:00 on the first track "Am I Wry? No."
No More Stories...: When the first track, "New Terrain," is reversed, it reveals a hidden track called "Nervous."
Micachu, Jewellery (album): After the final track on CD version, song "Hardcore" appears after 20 minutes of silence.
George Michael, Songs from the Last Century: After the last track and a few minutes of silence the listener will hear "It's All Right with Me."
Midnight Oil, Scream in Blue: track 13 is an unlisted 5:04 acoustic version of "Burnie"
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Ska-Core, the Devil, and More: A live version of "Howwhywuz Howwhyam" after the final track "Drugs and Kittens"/"I'll Drink to That," preceded by a few minutes of silence
Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion (2007): A hidden track, "Over My Shoulder," appears at 5:43 minutes in track 10's love ballad, "Happy Ending." On the UK release, a bonus track called "Ring Ring" is featured after the entire track 10 as track 11, making "Over My Shoulder" appear before the album has ended.
Ministry, Dark Side of the Spoon: "Everybody" as track 42 (Unofficially titled as "Linda Summertime")
Houses of the Molé: "Psalm 23" as track 23, an alternative version of "No W" without Carmina Burana samples, preceded by a rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. Later versions of album include "No W" without Carmina Burana samples and "Psalm 23" is replaced by the track "Bloodlines" (composed for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines game). Also, there is a second hidden song at track 69, called "Walrus."
Rio Grande Blood: Unlisted 13th track which is "Gangreen" intro without guitars.
Dannii Minogue:
Girl: A cover version of Harry Nilsson's song "Coconut" is hidden at the end of the album, after "Movin' Up."
Neon Nights: A remix of "Come and Get It" (Sebastian Krieg Remix) appears after closing track, "It Won't Work Out."
Kylie Minogue, Light Years: "Password" hidden in the album's pregap
Minor Threat, Out of Step: Untitled track at end of side 2 on vinyl and cassette release. Track is listed as Cashing in on CD release and Complete Discography
Mint Condition, Life's Aquarium: The hidden bonus tracks "DeCuervo's Revenge" and "If We Play Our Cards Right" start at the end of the last song "Leave Me Alone" following two minutes of silence.
Mistle Thrush, Agus Amàrach: After 21 tracks of silence following the final credited song, there is an untitled 2:10 ambient wash of sound spread across five tracks.
The Misfits, American Psycho: "Hell Night" starts about 5 minutes after the last listed track, "Don't Open 'til Doomsday." On the vinyl version this track is replaced with "Dead kings rise", which is not the demo version the is available on "Cuts from the crypt".
Kim Mitchell, Ain't Life Amazing There is a brief pause at the end of the eneventh track, before "Fill your head with rock" begins to play. This song is not listed on the packaging.
Super Refraction: On the final track of the album, after the credited song ends, there is 1:30 of silence, followed by a 22:32 sound collage pieced together from samples of the singer's vocals.
Moby, Hotel: The fifteenth track is an unlisted slow instrumental called "35 Minutes."
Last Night: "Lucy Vida" is hidden after a brief amount of silence following the last track on the album.
Modest Mouse: "Sad Sappy Sucker": Of the 24 tracks on the CD, only 23 are listed, with an extra song—"Classy Plastic Lumber"—inserted as track four, off-setting the track numbers for the remainder of the songs.
Modjo, Modjo: An acoustic version of "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" was played after the final track, "Savior Eyes".
moe., Dither: An alternate version of "Captain America" starts after roughly 14 minutes of silence following the album-ending "Opium."
Mouse on Mars, Vulvaland: An untitled track after several minutes of silence lasting 6:05 in duration.
The Moffatts, Submodalities: There are two tracks hidden within the deceptively long (24:43 mins) final listed track, "Spy," appearing at 11:52 ("Destiny") and 22:04 ("Kill the Seagull," also known as the "Submodalities Chant" before the name was released) respectively.
Moloko, Do You Like My Tight Sweater?: Untitled track after the last track, "Who Shot the Go Go Dancer"
Monaco, Music For Pleasure The song "Sedona" ends at minute 5:50. At minute 6:50, after 1 minute of silence, begins a brief hidden track: it's an outro message that says "Oi! You can turn it off now".
Mono Puff, It's Fun to Steal: A untitled track appears in the pregap before the first track.
Monrose, Ladylike: "I Surrender" appear at 5:18 of "Mono."
Monster Magnet, Dopes to Infinity: On the CD version, an extended noise piece, "Forbidden Planet," appears at the end of the album following several minutes of silence. The song also appears on the two-disc LP version (filling the entire second side of the second disc) and as a B-side.
Monster Magnet, Tab: Some releases of the album include two tracks, "Murder" and "Tractor," which are not listed on the cover. Both tracks had appeared earlier on their eponymous debut album.
Gary Moore, A Different Beat After the last track and a few minutes silence you will hear another version of "Surrender"
Dark Days in Paradise: Untitled track at end of album following "Business as Usual" - on the remaster it is credited; it is actually the title track of the CD, "Dark Days In Paradise"
Geoff Moore & the Distance: Threads: A cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand!" following the final track "The Letter."
Morbid Angel, Heretic: The album has 30 unlisted tracks, most are silent, four contain isolated guitar leads, one is ambient, and one is an instrumental version of another song on the album.
Alanis Morissette:
Jagged Little Pill: Track 13 contains an alternate take of "You Oughta Know" and, following silence, at 5:12, "Your House," a solo a cappella song which she performed at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.
Jagged Little Pill Acoustic: Track 12 "Wake Up" is followed by silence and at 6:18 "Your House" accompanied by instruments.
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie: a demo of "Uninvited," with only pianos and vocals at the end of the Australian edition of the album.
Mortician, The Final Bloodbath Session: Track 28 is unlisted on the back cover.
The Move, Looking On: After the last song, "Feel Too Good," has finished, an unlisted song titled "The Duke of Edinburgh's Lettuce" begins.
The Movement, Set Sail: Following the final track, "Kind," Jordan Miller performs a solo acoustic song titled "Breathe."
Mr. Bungle:
OU818: At the end of the tape you can hear outtakes from the Intro of "Mr. Nice Guy" with all the band members cracking up in laughter.
Disco Volante: "The Secret Song" (labeled "Spy" in setlists). On the CD, this song plays on track 3 after the listed song, "Carry Stress in the Jaw." On the vinyl LP, this song is recorded on a separate groove between the grooves of "Carry Stress in the Jaw" — the record needle must be manually moved to hear it. There is also a hidden track at the end of the final song, "Merry Go Bye Bye," which seems to be a recording of the band jamming.
Jason Mraz: At the end of the Mr. A-Z CD, after Song For a Friend a song plays with a church choir singing.
Ms. Dynamite: Follow the last track "Ramp" is about two minutes of silence, followed by "Get Up, Stand Up!"
Mudhoney, My Brother the Cow: "woC eht rehtorB yM," 13th unlisted track, which is the whole album played backwards (tracks 12 to 1 in reverse)
Municipal Waste (band): At the end of the Waste 'em All CD, there is a sixteenth song after the song titled "Mountain Wizard." It is about flying a kite.
Muse:
Hullabaloo Soundtrack: "What He's Building," a poem read by Tom Waits, is hidden in the pregap of the second disc.
Random 1-8: Three hidden remixes of "Sunburn" at the end.
Starlight: A hidden song, which is referred to as fans and the band as "You Fucking Motherfucker" can be found by placing the DVD version into a DVD player and going to Title 4.
HAARP: On the H.A.A.R.P. DVD, Sing For Absolution is a hidden track on Title 2. While on the CD, the a riff from the song "Maggie's Farm" is played at the end of track 5, "Map of the Problematique."
Absolution Tour: Various other live performances are hidden on the DVD. When in the Extras menu, go down to 'Stockholm Syndrome', press the left button and the 'X' in 'Extras' should light up. Then press play. On the US release of the Black Holes and Revelations album + the Absolution Tour as a bonus disc, when in the extras menu, go down to "Groove in the States" and then press right (or left, depending on your remote) and the 'X' in 'Extras' should light up, press play and they will play.
Mushroomhead:
Mushroomhead: Untitled hidden track number 43 (tracks 14-42 are 5 seconds each of blank audio). This is a mash-up of some of the tracks, including Slow Thing, Too Much Nothing, Indifferent, 2nd Thoughts, Mommy and 43.
M3: Track number 99 "Dark And Evil Joe" (tracks 11-98 are 7 seconds each of blank audio). This is a prank phone call.
XX: A hidden prank phone call starts sometime after the freestyle rap of JMann. This is only available on the Eclipse Records release of the album.
XIII: A cover of Seal's "Crazy" is at about 5:25 of the end of the final track.
Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material: Musgraves' cover of "Are You Sure" by Willie Nelson is a part of track 13, "Fine", on CD pressings of the album and on Spotify (giving track 13 a length of 7:50), but a separate track on all other digital platforms. The song features vocals from Nelson.
The Music:
The Music Limited Edition CD: "New Instrumental" hidden in the pregap for 5:09 before track 1
Welcome to the North: 'The Walls Get Smaller' is hidden after silence at the end of the last track 'Open Your Mind'
Strength in Numbers: 'No Danger' is found after a silent gap at the end of the last track 'Inconceivable Odds'
MxPx, Secret Weapon: "Song About Nothing" is after the last track ("Throw Your Body in the Air" in the special edition, otherwise "Tightly Wound").
My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade: Track called "Blood" hidden at the end of the album, on track 14 at 1:30. This track is only available on explicit versions of the album
My Little Pony, Winning Streak (1995): There is a pregap consisting that Howie b. Reynolds talking about Yom Kippur... also used on Less Than Jake's Losing Streak Album.
Anthem (2004): After the bonus track on the cassette edition, there's a track which consists that the Cutie Mark Crusaders thinking the hidden track should start... but it didn't. Followed by 2 minute silence. After all that, there's the demo version of "The Ghost of You and Me" which is recorded at the summer of 2003.
Mr. Spring: "Not for Sale" on the 8-track Cart edition 2008 . Track called "Aquarious" left off original CD master and another 6 unnamed tracks on the cart issue to fill the tapes. Cat IRT404/08
Mor ve Ötesi, Dünya Yalan Söylüyor (The World is Lying) (2004) 230.000+ copies sold in TR: Track called "Uyan" hidden at the end of the album on track 10, "27:26 Minutes"
Mystery Jets, Twenty One: Twenty One appears after two minutes' silence on the final track.
See also
List of backmasked messages
List of albums with tracks hidden in the pregap
References
M |
41664890 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted%20Data%20Format | Trusted Data Format | The Trusted Data Format (TDF) is a data object encoding specification for the purposes of enabling data tagging and cryptographic security features. These features include assertion of data properties or tags, cryptographic binding and data encryption. The TDF is freely available with no restrictions and requires no use of proprietary or patented technology and is thus open for anyone to use.
Overview
The TDF Specification is based on a Trusted Data Object (TDO) which can be grouped together into a Trusted Data Collection (TDC). Each TDO consists of a data payload which can be associated with an unlimited number of metadata objects. The TDO supports the cryptographic binding of the metadata objects to the payload data object. In addition, both data and metadata objects can be associated with a block of encryption information which is used by any TDF consumer to decrypt the associated data or metadata if it had been encrypted. A TDC allows for additional metadata objects to apply to a set of TDOs.
Implementations
The United States Intelligence Community maintains the IC-TDF, which includes government-specific tagging requirements on top of the core TDF capabilities mentioned above, in an XML Data Encoding Specification.
Virtru offers client-side email and file encryption based on the TDF.
The United States Department of Defense uses TDF to implement the Department of Defense Discovery Metadata Specification (DDMS).
References
External links
US Office of the Director of National Intelligence website on the TDF Specification
Wood, Mollie, Easier Ways to Protect Email From Unwanted Prying Eyes, New York Times, July 16, 2014 video and article
Cryptography standards
XML-based standards |
41677798 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20people%20from%20Southern%20Italy | List of people from Southern Italy | This is a list of notable southern Italians.
Architects
Pirro Ligorio (c. 1510 – 1583), was a famous architect of the late Italian Renaissance.
Giacomo del Duca (c. 1520 – 1604), architect, sculptor, garden designer and assistant to Michelangelo.
Filippo Juvarra (1678–1736), architect of the late baroque and early rococo periods.
Filippo Raguzzini (1690–1771), was an architect. A master of Roman Rococo.
Rosario Gagliardi (1698–1762), was one of the leading architects working in the Sicilian Baroque.
Luigi Vanvitelli (1700–1773), "architect whose enormous Royal Palace at Caserta was one of the last triumphs of the Italian Baroque."
Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1702–1768), "leading architect of the Sicilian Baroque."
Antonio Rinaldi (с. 1709 – 1794), was an architect who taught and worked in St. Petersburg.
Vincenzo Sinatra (1720–1765), "worked as a stone cutter, a capomaestro, a tax estimator, and an architect in the city of Noto in southeastern Sicily."
Carlo Rossi (1775–1849), architect, was one of the last great exponents of Neoclassicism in Saint Petersburg.
Ernesto Basile (1857–1932), was an architect, teacher and designer, son of Giovan Battista Filippo Basile.
Simon Rodia (1879–1965), was an architect. His most famous creation are the Watts Towers.
Clorindo Testa (1923–2013), was a renowned architect and artist, famous for designing The National Library in Buenos Aires.
Chess players
Paolo Boi (1528–1598), was a chess player. "He is widely considered the 3rd unofficial chess champion of the world from 1587–1598."
Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona (1542–1587), was a "Neapolitan lawyer and one of the strongest players of his time."
Giulio Cesare Polerio (c. 1550 – c. 1610), was a master who made significant contributions to chess analysis and theory.
Alessandro Salvio (c. 1570 – c. 1640), was a "chess player who was considered by many to be the 4th unofficial world champion between the years 1598 and 1620."
Pietro Carrera (1573–1647), was a priest, chess player and author from Militello, Sicily.
Gioachino Greco (c. 1600 – c. 1634), also known as Il Calabrese, was "the most famous [chess] player of the seventeenth century."
Fabiano Caruana (born 1992), is a former chess prodigy. One of the youngest grandmasters of all times.
Cinematography
Elvira Notari (1875–1946), "was the first Italian female filmmaker."
Ricciotto Canudo (1877–1923), was a writer, critic and film theoretician, lived in Paris from about 1902.
Robert G. Vignola (1882–1953), actor, screenwriter and film director, considered "one of the silent screen's most prolific directors".
Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926), an actor who was idolized as the "Great Lover" of the 1920s.
Frank Capra (1897–1991), motion-picture director who was the most prominent filmmaker of the 1930s, during which he won three Academy Awards as best director.
Totò (1898–1967), was a comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter. He has been compared to such figures as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Eduardo De Filippo (1900–1984), one of the twentieth century's greatest playwrights, was also an original interpreter of his plays and a cinema actor as well.
Vittorio De Sica (1901–1974), film director and actor. His Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thief, and Umberto D. are classics of postwar Italian neorealism.
Peppino De Filippo (1903–1980), was a comic actor of the screen and stage.
Amedeo Nazzari (1907–1979), real name Salvatore Amedeo Buffa, was a famous actor from Sardinia.
Ennio Flaiano (1910–1972), "screenwriter, playwright, novelist, journalist, and drama critic."
Dino De Laurentiis (1919–2010), was "one of the most colorful, prolific, and successful producers in the contemporary motion picture business."
Vincent Gardenia (January 1920 – 1992), was a performer who had an award-winning career as a character actor on stage, films and television.
Ugo Pirro (April 1920 – 2008), was a scriptwriter who co-wrote two Oscar-winning films.
Adolfo Celi (July 1922 – 1986), "gained renown as a 'renaissance' man of theater and films, doing triple duty as an actor, writer and director."
Francesco Rosi (November 1922), is a film director, best known for his masterpiece Salvatore Giuliano.
Nanni Loy (1925–1995), film director. He was well known for his film The Four Days of Naples, which was nominated in 1963 for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Pasqualino De Santis (1927–1996), was a cinematographer. In 1969, he earned an Academy Award for his superb photography of Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.
Bud Spencer (born 1929), an actor and filmmaker. He is best known for starring in multiple action and western films together with his longtime film partner Terence Hill.
Ettore Scola (born 1931), is among the most daring, creative, innovative, and committed of the great Italian writer-directors.
Pier Angeli (19 June 1932 – 1971), was a popular actress in the fifties. She received an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe.
Marisa Pavan (19 June 1932), actress and twin sister of Pier Angeli. She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for her work in The Rose Tattoo.
Sophia Loren (born 1934), film actress. She won a best actress Academy Award for Two Women. Other films include Marriage Italian Style.
Claudia Cardinale (born 1938), is an actress who appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s.
Ruggero Deodato (born 1939), is a film director, actor and screenwriter, famous for his 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust., considered the precursor of the found footage genre.
Dario Argento (born 1940), is a film director known for his mastery of the horror genre. Deep Red along with Suspiria is one of the best Argento films.
Gianni Amelio (born 1945), one of Italy's most revered modern directors, whose 1992 film The Stolen Children won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Michele Placido (born 1946), is an internationally known actor and director.
Gabriele Salvatores (born 1950), is best known as the director of the war drama Mediterraneo, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign language Film in 1992.
Massimo Troisi (1953–1994), was an actor, film director, and poet. He is internationally known due to the success of the movie Il Postino.
Ornella Muti (born 1955), is an actress, known for Oscar, Flash Gordon, and Un couple épatant.
Giuseppe Tornatore (born 1956), film director and screenwriter. He earned international acclaim in 1988 with his second film, Cinema Paradiso.
Giuliana De Sio (born 1957), is an actress, known for The Pool Hustlers, The Wicked, and Scusate il ritardo.
Mauro Fiore (born 1964), Academy Award-winning cinematographer for Avatar.
Valeria Golino (born 1965), is a famous actress, known to a large audience for her interest in different types of genres of movies and roles.
Paolo Sorrentino (born 1970), film director and screenwriter. Internationally known for his film The Great Beauty.
Giovanna Mezzogiorno (born 1974), is an actress and producer, known for Facing Windows, Vincere, and The Last Kiss.
Criminals
Bandits
Fra Diavolo (1771–1806), bandit and military leader who fought the French occupation of Naples.
Ciro Annunchiarico (1775–1817), Apulian priest and brigand.
Carmine Crocco (1830–1905), the most famous brigand of the Italian unification, noted for heading 2.000 men and for his brilliant guerrilla warfare.
Giuseppe Musolino (1876–1956), brigand from Calabria.
Salvatore Giuliano (1922–1950), bandit, active in Sicily during the Second World War.
Mafia
Vito Cascioferro (1862–1943), was a member of the Inglese Mafia family in Palermo, Sicily, and had fled to New York in 1900 to avoid a murder charge.
James Colosimo (1877–1920), "crime czar in Chicago from about 1902 until his death, owner of plush brothels, saloons, and a nightclub."
Johnny Torrio (1882–1957), was a gangster who became a top crime boss in Chicago.
Joe Masseria (17 January 1886 – 1931), "leading crime boss of New York City from the early 1920s until his murder in 1931."
Frank Nitti (27 January 1886 – 1943), a gangster who was Al Capone's chief enforcer and inherited Capone's criminal empire when Capone went to prison in 1931.
Frank Costello (1891–1973), nicknamed "The Prime Minister of the Underworld," he became one of the most powerful and influential mob bosses in American history.
Joe Profaci (October 1897 – 1962), was "one of the most powerful bosses in U.S. organized crime from the 1940s to the early 1960s."
Lucky Luciano (24 November 1897 – 1962), mobster who is credited as the father of modern organized crime in the United States.
Vito Genovese (27 November 1897 – 1969), was one of the most powerful figures in the history of organized crime in the United States.
Carlo Gambino (August 1902 – 1976), was the most powerful crime figure in the United States before his death in 1976.
Albert Anastasia (September 1902 – 1957), was one of the most ruthless and feared Cosa Nostra mobsters in U. S. history.
Antonio Macrì (c. 1902 – 1975), was a historical and charismatic boss of the 'Ndrangheta.
Michele Navarra (5 January 1905 – 1958), doctor and Mafia boss in Corleone; murdered in 1958 by his fosterson, Luciano Leggio.
Joseph Bonanno (18 January 1905 – 2002), was a mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family.
Luciano Leggio (1925–1993), was a criminal and leading figure of the Sicilian Mafia.
Tommaso Buscetta (1928–2000), was an influential Sicilian mafioso from Palermo.
Salvatore Riina (born 1930), is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. The most powerful member of the criminal organization in the early 1980s.
Giuseppe Calò (born 1931), is a Sicilian Mafia boss, also known as the "Mafia's cashier."
Bernardo Provenzano (born 1933), is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. The boss of bosses of the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006.
Giuseppe Morabito (born 1934), is a criminal and a historical boss of the 'Ndrangheta.
Benedetto Santapaola (born 1938), better known as Nitto is a prominent mafioso from Catania.
Stefano Bontade (1939–1981), was an influential member of the Sicilian Mafia.
Raffaele Cutolo (born 1941), is a crime boss and the charismatic leader of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata.
Leoluca Bagarella (February 1942), is a member of the Sicilian Mafia.
Salvatore Lo Piccolo (July 1942), is a Sicilian mafioso and one of the most powerful bosses of Palermo.
Luigi Giuliano (born 1949), is a former Camorrista who was the boss of the powerful Giuliano clan, based in the district of Forcella, Naples.
Francesco Schiavone (January 1953), is an influential member of the Camorra.
Paolo Di Lauro (August 1953), is a crime boss, leader of the Di Lauro Clan, a Camorra crime organization.
Edoardo Contini (born 1955), is a Camorra boss. He is the founder and head of the Contini clan.
Giovanni Brusca (born 1957), is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia.
Michele Zagaria (born 1958), is a boss of the Camorra clan Casalesi.
Matteo Messina Denaro (born 1962), is a Sicilian mafioso. According to Forbes magazine he is among the ten most wanted criminals in the world.
Antimafia
Joseph Petrosino (1860–1909), a police detective who was killed by the Mafia in Palermo in 1909.
Cesare Terranova (1921–1979), a magistrate and member of the Italian parliament who was murdered by the Mafia.
Libero Grassi (1924–1991), a Palermo small businessman who had made public his refusal to pay protection money, was killed outside his home.
Rocco Chinnici (January 1925 – 1983), an investigative magistrate, was killed by the Mafia in the summer of 1983.
Giuseppe Fava (September 1925 – 1984), was a writer, journalist, playwright, and Antimafia activist who was killed by the Mafia.
Pio La Torre (1927–1982), the Communist member of parliament, and author of the law which bears his name on combating the Mafia, was killed in 1982.
Pino Puglisi (1937–1993), was a parish priest in Palermo, well known for his Antimafia position.
Giovanni Falcone (1939–1992), was an Antimafia magistrate. He was killed along with his wife and three bodyguards.
Paolo Borsellino (1940–1992), was an Antimafia prosecutor who was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo.
Pietro Grasso (born 1945), former Antimafia magistrate, was born in Licata, on 1 January 1945.
Giuseppe Impastato (1948–1978), was a political activist who opposed the Mafia that ordered his murder in 1978.
Rosario Livatino (1952–1990), a brave young Antimafia prosecutor who was killed by Mafia.
Rita Atria (1974–1992), was a key witness in a major Mafia investigation in Sicily. A powerful symbol of the fight for truth, justice, and the defeat of the Mafia.
Roberto Saviano (born 1979), is a writer and journalist. Author of Gomorrah, a best-selling exposé of the Camorra Mafia in Naples.
Economists
Ferdinando Galiani (1728–1787), also called Abbe Galiani, was a man of letters, economist and wit, friend of the Parisian philosophes.
Enrico Barone (1859–1924), was "a mathematical economist and disciple of Vilfredo Pareto."
Francesco Saverio Nitti (1868–1953), was an "economist, promoter of southern economic development, and liberal leader."
Ignazio Visco (born 1949), was Chief Economist and Director of the Economic Department of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (1997–2002).
Engineers
Luigi Giura (1795–1865), was an engineer and architect. He built the magnificent bridge in the Garigliano, the first suspended iron bridge built in Italy.
Nicola Romeo (1876–1938), an engineer and entrepreneur, was the founder of Alfa Romeo.
Giovanni Agusta (1879–1927), an aviation engineer, was the founder of Agusta, now part of AgustaWestland.
Corradino D'Ascanio (1891–1981), was an aeronautical engineer who prior to designing the Vespa, designed the first production helicopter for Agusta.
Giuseppe Gabrielli (1903–1987), was an "aeronautical and mechanical engineer."
Explorers
Henri de Tonti (1649/50 – 1704), explorer and colonizer, companion of the Sieur de La Salle during his North American explorations.
Umberto Nobile (1885–1978), aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. He was one of the first men to fly over the North Pole.
Fashion designers
Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973), was one of the most highly renowned fashion innovators in the period leading up to World War II.
Salvatore Ferragamo (1898–1960), was a famous shoe designer, founder of the company that bears his name.
Rocco Barocco (born 1944), is a fashion designer who has registered his name as a trademark in several countries in the field of fashion, design and accessories.
Gianni Versace (1946–1997), was a fashion designer known for his daring fashions and glamorous lifestyle.
Donatella Versace (born 1955), is one of best known names in fashion today. She is the younger sister of the late designer Gianni Versace.
Domenico Dolce (born 1958), is a famous fashion designer. He is the co-founder of Dolce & Gabbana.
Ennio Capasa (born 1960), is a fashion designer and founder of Costume National.
Fashion models
Valeria Marini (born 1967), is a model, actress, showgirl, and fashion designer.
Maria Grazia Cucinotta (July 1968), is a model, actress, producer, and screenwriter.
Roberta Capua (December 1968), is a former model and television personality.
Mara Carfagna (born 1975), is a former model and showgirl and current Italian politician.
Alessia Fabiani (born 1976), is a model, showgirl, and TV presenter.
Manuela Arcuri (born 1977), is a model, actress, and television host.
Elisabetta Canalis (born 1978), is a model, actress, and showgirl.
Elisabetta Gregoraci (born 1980), is a model and TV personality.
Giorgia Palmas (March 1982), is a model and actress.
Valeria Bilello (May 1982), is a model and actress.
Eva Riccobono (born 1983), is a model and actress.
Miriam Leone (born 1985), is a model, TV presenter, and actress.
Raffaella Fico (born 1988), is a model and showgirl.
Military figures
Bohemond I of Antioch (c. 1058 – 1111), was prince of Otranto and prince of Antioch, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, who conquered Antioch.
Maio of Bari (1115–1160), was the Grand Admiral of William I of Sicily between 1154 and 1160.
Roger of Lauria (c. 1245 – 1305), admiral of Aragon and Sicily, was "the most prominent figure in the naval war which arose directly from the Sicilian Vespers."
Roger de Flor (1267–1305), was a Knight Templar and military adventurer, Grand Duke and Caesar of the Byzantine Empire.
Angelo Tartaglia (1350 or 1370 – 1421), was a great soldier of fortune, captain of the Papal Army, lord of Lavello and Toscanella.
Giorgio Basta (1544–1607), was a celebrated general who won fame in campaigns in Eastern Europe, and wrote on military affairs.
Domenico Millelire (1761–1827), was a Sardegna's fleet captain. He gave the first defeat to Napoleon Bonaparte.
Pietro Colletta (1775–1831), "Neapolitan general and historian, served in the Neapolitan artillery against the French in 1798."
Guglielmo Pepe (1783–1855), was a "general and liberal patriot who fought for Italian independence."
Carlo Pisacane (1818–1857), "military figure, patriot, social commentator, and theorist."
Enrico Cosenz (1820–1898), was a soldier, born at Gaeta on 12 January 1820, served in the Neapolitan artillery against the Austrians in 1848.
Armando Diaz (1861–1928), was a general. As a reward for his military successes, he was named Duke of Victory in 1921 and appointed marshal in 1924.
Giulio Douhet (1869–1930), was an army general and "the father of strategic air power."
Giovanni Messe (1883–1968), was a soldier, later politician and likely the most distinguished Italian Field marshal.
Fulco Ruffo di Calabria (1884–1946), was a World War I flying ace (20 victories).
Luigi Rizzo (1887–1951), was the famous naval officer who sank the Austrian dreadnought Szent István in June 1918.
Achille Starace (1889–1945), was a "veteran of the First World War and national secretary of Mussolini's Fascist Party between 1931 and 1939."
Tito Minniti (1909–1935), was an aviator. He is still commemorated in his hometown every year as a military hero.
Salvo D'Acquisto (1920–1943), was a carabiniere who sacrificed his own life to save the lives of 22 civilian hostages at the time of the Nazi occupation.
Missionaries
John of Montecorvino (1247–1328), "was the first Catholic missionary to Asia."
Alessandro Valignano (1539–1606), was a "Jesuit missionary who helped introduce Christianity to the Far East, especially to Japan."
Giordano Ansaloni (1598–1634), a Sicilian missionary, who in 1632 visited Japan, where he was put to death in 1634.
Lodovico Buglio (1606–1682), was a "Jesuit missionary in China."
Francis de Geronimo (1642–1716), was a Jesuit priest and missionary also known as Francis Jerome.
Matteo Ripa (1682–1746), was a missionary, painter, and founder of the Collegio dei Cinesi in Naples.
Angelo Zottoli (1826–1902), was born in Acerno. He came to China in 1848 and spent all his missionary life in Zikawei, Shanghai.
Musicians
Carlo Gesualdo (1560–1613), composer famed for his chromatic madrigals and motets.
Sigismondo d'India (c. 1582 – 1629), was the most important composer active in Sicily during the early part of the 17th century.
Luigi Rossi (c. 1597 – 1653), was a Baroque composer of chamber cantatas, operas, and church music.
Francesco Provenzale (c. 1626 – 1704), "Neapolitan composer – one of the driving forces behind the establishment of Neapolitan opera – and teacher."
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725), prolific and influential composer of the Baroque era.
Michele Mascitti (1664–1760), violinist and Baroque composer. He was considered comparable to Corelli and Albinoni.
Pietro Filippo Scarlatti (1679–1750), was a composer, organist, and choirmaster who was a prominent member of the Italian Baroque School.
Francesco Durante (1684–1755), was a leading composer of church music in the early 18th century, as well as an internationally renowned teacher in Naples.
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757), harpsichordist and composer. His harpsichord sonatas are highly distinctive and original.
Nicola Porpora (1686–1768), composer. He was a prominent master of the Neapolitan operatic style.
Leonardo Vinci (1690–1730), "composer who was one of the originators of the Neapolitan style of opera."
Francesco Feo (1691–1761), was a composer lauded by Reichardt in 1791 as "one of the greatest of all composers of church music in Italy."
Leonardo Leo (1694–1744), prolific composer, teacher, and conservatory administrator.
Farinelli (1705–1782), "legendary soprano castrato, composer of arias and keyboard works, and theatrical producer."
Egidio Duni (1708–1775), was one of the chief opéra comique composers of his day.
Caffarelli (1710–1783), was a mezzo-soprano castrato. "As a singer he was ranked second only to Farinelli with an enchanting voice and fine execution."
Niccolò Jommelli (1714–1774), composer of religious music and operas, notable as an innovator in his use of the orchestra.
Ignazio Fiorillo (1715–1787), was a "composer of fourteen operas, symphonies, sonatas, an oratorio and church music; pupil of Leo and Durante."
Tommaso Traetta (1727–1779), was an opera composer who in some senses anticipated Gluck's reforms of the medium.
Niccolò Piccinni (1728–1800), was better known for his comic operas, though he was equally adept in the realm of opera seria.
Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816), composer of operas admired for their robust realism and dramatic power.
Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801), operatic composer. He wrote almost 80 operas, which were successfully produced in Rome, Naples, Vienna, and St. Petersburg.
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (1752–1837), was "one of the principal Italian composers of operas and religious music of his time."
Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841), was an important guitarist, composer and teacher.
Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829), was "the most important guitarist and composer of guitar music of his time."
Michele Carafa (1787–1872), was "one of the most prolific opera composers of his day."
Luigi Lablache (1794–1858), was a well-known bass of the Classical and early Romantic eras.
Saverio Mercadante (1795–1870), was an important opera composer who studied at the Naples Conservatory and began composing in 1819.
Salvadore Cammarano (March 1801 – 1852), was among the most prolific writers for Italian romantic opera.
Vincenzo Bellini (November 1801 – 1835), composer of operas. His most notable works were Norma and La sonnambula, and I puritani.
Federico Ricci (1809–1877), was a famous composer, brother of Luigi Ricci.
Giovanni Matteo Mario (1810–1883), Cavaliere di Candia, better known simply as Mario, was a world-famous opera singer.
Errico Petrella (1813–1877), was an influential opera composer.
Gaetano Braga (1829–1907), was an eminent cellist and composer who lived mainly in London and Paris.
Luigi Denza (February 1846 – 1922), was the composer of the immortal Neapolitan Piedigrotta song Funiculì, Funiculà.
Paolo Tosti (April 1846 – 1916), eminent composer of songs, was born in Ortona, Abruzzi, on 9 April 1846.
Giuseppe Martucci (1856–1909), "was a pioneer in restoring instrumental music to a place of prominence in nineteenth-century operatic Italy."
Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857–1919), composer and librettist who wrote the opera Pagliacci.
Eduardo di Capua (1865–1917), was the composer of several of the greatest Neapolitan songs, including 'O sole mio, Maria, Marì, and I' te vurria vasà.
Francesco Cilea (1866–1950), composer whose operas are distinguished by their melodic charm.
Umberto Giordano (1867–1948), composer. His most famous work is the richly melodic Andrea Chénier. Fedora and Madame Sans-Gêne are also well known.
Vittorio Monti (1868–1922), was "an eminent composer, mandolinist and conductor."
Enrico Caruso (1873–1921), was considered one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. He "is for many the Italian tenor par excellence."
Franco Alfano (March 1875 – 1954), was an "eminent composer and teacher."
Leonardo De Lorenzo (August 1875 – 1962), was one of the world's foremost flutists.
Giuseppe Anselmi (1876–1929), was a gifted lyrico-spinto tenor of Sicilian birth.
E. A. Mario (1884–1961), was a prolific author of songs in dialect and in Italian (La leggenda del Piave, Vipera, and Balocchi e profumi to mention only a few).
Tito Schipa (1888–1965), tenor. He sang in Italy from 1910, specializing in lyrical roles.
Maria Caniglia (1905–1979), was "the leading Italian lyric-dramatic soprano of the 1930s."
Licia Albanese (born 1913), operatic soprano who was a great favorite of Arturo Toscanini.
Carlo Maria Giulini (1914–2005), "was the leading Italian conductor of his generation."
Renato Carosone (1920–2001), was a cabaret singer. A key figure in Italian music, Carosone recorded the 1957 hit Torero.
Giuseppe Di Stefano (1921–2008), lyric tenor who was hailed as one of the finest operatic tenors of his generation.
Domenico Modugno (1928–1994), singer, songwriter, and actor. He was best known for singing the international hit Volare, which Modugno co-wrote.
Dalida (1933–1987), was a singer, achieved immense popularity on the international pop and disco music scene between the 1950s and the 1980s.
Adriano Celentano (born 1938), is a celebrated singer, actor, comedian, and director. He is the best-selling male Italian singer.
Peppino di Capri (born 1939), is one of the most famous Italian songs in the world.
Nicola Di Bari (born 1940), is a celebrated pop singer. He won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1971 and 1972.
Riccardo Muti (July 1941), is a "conductor in the old style – fiery, demanding, and charismatic."
Salvatore Accardo (September 1941), is considered one of the greatest violin talents of the Italian school of the 20th century.
Mario Trevi (November 1941), is a well-known Neapolitan singer.
Albano Carrisi (born 1943), is one of the most celebrated singers of Italian modern music.
Franco Battiato (1945–2021), was one of the most important avant-garde composers.
Salvatore Sciarrino (April 1947), "is one of Europe's most prolific composers."
Mia Martini (September 1947 – 1995), pseudonym of Domenica Berté, was a popular and critically acclaimed Italian singer.
Rino Gaetano (1950–1981), was an original and innovative singer and musician, who died prematurely in a car crash.
Massimo Ranieri (born 1951), pop singer and actor. He is a big name in music in Italy.
Mango (1954–2014), "Italian rock fusion innovator".
Pino Daniele (1955–2015), is a famous Neapolitan singer.
Raf (born 1959), singer and songwriter. He is the author of the original version of "Self Control."
Fabio Biondi (March 1961), is a violinist and conductor most renowned for his interpretation of the Italian baroque repertoire.
Anna Oxa (April 1961), is a singer. She won the Sanremo Music Festival twice, in 1989 with Ti lascerò and in 1999 with Senza pietà.
Gigi D'Alessio (born 1967), is a popular singer and Neapolitan singer-songwriter.
Salvatore Licitra (1968–2011), was a tenor known in his Italian homeland as the "new Pavarotti" for his potent voice and considerable stamina.
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (born 1969), is a bass-baritone. He "has established himself as one of the most exciting singers of his generation."
Caparezza (born 1973), is the pseudonym of Michele Salvemini. He is a famous Apulian rapper.
Carmen Consoli (born 1974), is a singer-songwriter. One of Italy's leading popular musicians.
Painters
Niccolò Antonio Colantonio (c. 1420 – c. 1460), was a painter. "The leading figure at the court of King René of Anjou at Naples."
Antonello da Messina (c. 1430 – 1479), was one of the most groundbreaking and influential painters of the quattrocento.
Girolamo Alibrandi (1470–1524), was a distinguished painter, called "the Raphael of Messina."
Scipione Pulzone (c. 1542 or 1543 – 1598), was a painter. "He painted historical and religious subjects and was a celebrated portraitist."
Mario Minniti (1577–1640), was a painter. "With Alonzo Rodriguez he represents the most direct Sicilian response to the new art of Caravaggio."
Battistello Caracciolo (1578–1635), was an important Neapolitan follower of Caravaggio – and only a few years younger.
Massimo Stanzione (c. 1586 – c. 1656), was a talented painter. This earned him the nickname of "Napolitan Guido Reni."
Andrea Vaccaro (May 1600 – 1670), was a tenebrist painter.
Aniello Falcone (November 1600 – 1656), was a painter known principally for his depictions of battlefields.
Pietro Novelli (1603–1647), was a renowned painter otherwise known as il Monrealese.
Francesco Cozza (1605–1682), was a painter of the Baroque period. He was born at Stilo, in Calabria.
Mattia Preti (1613–1699), painter. One of the most talented southern artists, who did much of his best work for the Knights of Malta.
Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), painter and polymath. His best-known paintings represent scenes of wild, un trammeled nature, populated with small genre figures.
Bernardo Cavallino (1616–1656), was a famous Neapolitan painter of the first half of the 17th century.
Antonio de Bellis (c. 1616 – c. 1656), was a painter. "He worked primarily in Naples in a formidable naturalistic style deeply influenced by Jusepe de Ribera."
Giuseppe Recco (June 1634 – 1695), "was the most celebrated Neapolitan still-life painter of his day."
Luca Giordano (October 1634 – 1705), painter and draughtsman. He was one of the most celebrated artists of the Neapolitan Baroque.
Francesco Solimena (1657–1747), was one of the great Italian artists of the Baroque era.
Sebastiano Conca (1680–1764), was a Neapolitan painter and a pupil of Solimena.
Corrado Giaquinto (1703–1765), was a famous Rococo painter.
Giuseppe Bonito (1707–1789), was a painter. "One of the most influential artists of the Neapolitan school in the 18th century."
Vito D'Anna (1718–1769), was a painter. One of the most important artists of Sicily.
Gaspare Traversi (c. 1722 – 1770), an important Neapolitan painter, was the creator of elegant and sometimes raucous genre scenes.
Domenico Morelli (1826–1901), was a leading exponent of the Neapolitan school of painting in the second half of the 19th century.
Francesco Lojacono (1838–1915), was a Sicilian landscape and seascape painter.
Giacomo Di Chirico (1844–1883), painter. He was one of the most elite Neapolitan artists of the 19th century.
Giuseppe De Nittis (1846–1884), was an influential painter. "Early in his career he was associated with the Macchiaioli."
Francesco Paolo Michetti (1851–1929), was "one of the most important painters of the second half of the 19th century."
Eliseu Visconti (1866–1944), was one of the most important painters in Brazil in the early 20th century.
Joseph Stella (1877–1946), was a painter. He is best known for his cubist- and futurist-inspired paintings executed in the years around 1920.
Mario Sironi (1885–1961), painter, sculptor, architect, stage designer and illustrator.
Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978), painter, writer, theatre designer, sculptor and printmaker. De Chirico was one of the originators of pittura metafisica.
Michele Cascella (1892–1989), was a painter, ceramist, and lithographer. In 1937 he won the gold medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle.
Antonio Sicurezza (1905–1979), was a famous painter, born at Santa Maria Capua Vetere, in Campania.
Renato Guttuso (1912–1987), painter. "He was a forceful personality and Italy's leading exponent of Social Realism in the 20th century."
Antonio Cardile (1914–1986), was an artist of the Roman School of painting.
Luigi Malice (born 1937), is a famous painter and sculptor.
Mimmo Paladino (born 1948), is a painter, sculptor and printmaker. He was a key figure in the so-called Transavantgarde movement.
Silvio Vigliaturo (born 1949), is a master of glass-fusing, famous for his paintings, sculptures, stained-glass windows and floors.
Francesco Clemente (born 1952), painter and draftsman. He worked collaboratively with other artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.
Political figures
Main articles: Politicians of Abruzzo, Politicians of Molise, Politicians of Campania, Politicians of Apulia,
Politicians of Basilicata, Politicians of Calabria, Politicians of Sicily, and Politicians of Sardinia
Roger II of Sicily (1095–1154), was "the most able ruler in 12th-century Europe."
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250), also known as Frederick II of Sicily, was one of the most brilliant rulers of the Middle Ages.
Manfred, King of Sicily (1232–1266), effective king of Sicily from 1258, during a period of civil wars and succession disputes between imperial claimants and the House of Anjou.
Marianus IV of Arborea (1329–1376), called the Great, was the Giudice of Arborea from 1347 to his death.
Eleanor of Arborea (1347–1404), reconquered Sardinia, sustaining a two years' war against the Aragonese, and distinguished herself as a legislator.
Ladislaus of Naples (1377–1414), was a skilled political and military leader, protector and controller of Pope Innocent VII.
Cardinal Mazarin (1602–1661), was a political genius and priest, later cardinal, who served as the chief minister of France from 1642 until his death.
Francesco Crispi (1818–1901), was a statesman. He was among the key figures of Italy's unification in 1860.
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (1860–1952), was a statesman and prime minister during the concluding years of World War I.
Luigi Sturzo (1871–1959), was a Catholic political leader and leading opponent of Fascism.
Enrico De Nicola (1877–1959), was a "member of parliament and first head of state of the Italian republic."
Carlo Tresca (1879–1943), was a newspaper editor, anarchist, and early opponent of Italian fascism.
Antonio Segni (1891–1972), was a statesman, twice premier (1955–1957, 1959–1960), and fourth president (1962–1964) of Italy.
Giovanni Leone (1908–2001), was a politician and statesman. Professor of the law of criminal procedure. Prominent member of the Christian Democratic Party.
Aldo Moro (1916–1978), was a prominent leader of Italy's Christian Democratic Party. In 1978 he was kidnapped and then murdered by the Red Brigades.
Emilio Colombo (1920–2013), was a political leader. He is "credited with having written much of the Treaty of Rome, which established (1958) the European Economic Community."
Enrico Berlinguer (1922–1984), was secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1972 to his sudden death in 1984.
Giorgio Napolitano (born 1925), also known as King George, is a politician and former lifetime senator, the 11th President of Italy since 2006.
Francesco Cossiga (1928–2010), was a politician, the 43rd Prime Minister and the eighth President of the Italian Republic.
Popes
Pope Victor III (c. 1026 – 1087), original name Daufer, was pope from 1086 to 1087.
Pope Gregory VIII (c. 1100/1105 – 1187), original name Alberto di Morra, was pope from 25 October to 17 December 1187.
Pope Celestine V (1215–1296), original name Pietro Angelerio, was pope from 5 July to 13 December 1294, the first pontiff to abdicate.
Pope Urban VI (c. 1318 – 1389), original name Bartolomeo Prignano, was pope from 1378 to 1389.
Pope Innocent VII (1336–1406), original name Cosimo de' Migliorati, was pope from 1404 to 1406.
Pope Boniface IX (c. 1350 – 1404), original name Piero Tomacelli, was pope from 1389 to 1404.
Pope Paul IV (1476–1559), original name Gian Pietro Carafa, was pope from 1555 to 1559.
Pope Innocent XII (1615–1700), original name Antonio Pignatelli, was pope from 1691 to 1700.
Pope Benedict XIII (1650–1730), original name Pietro Francesco Orsini, was pope from 1724 to 1730.
Saints
Nicodemus of Mammola (c. 900 – 990), was a Calabrian ascetic and monastic founder.
Nilus the Younger (910–1005), was a monk, abbot, and founder of Italo-Greek monasticism in southern Italy.
Alferius (930–1050), was an abbot and saint. He was the founder of the monastery of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni.
John Theristus (1049–1129), was a Benedictine monk, called Theristus (or "Harvester").
Constabilis (c. 1070 – 1124), was an abbot. Constabilis built the town of Castellabate, where he is now venerated as patron.
Saint Rosalia (1130–1166), is the patron saint of Palermo.
John of Capistrano (1386–1456), was "one of the greatest Franciscan preachers of the 15th century."
Francis of Paola (1416–1507), was a mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims.
Eustochia Smeralda Calafato (1434–1485), was a Franciscan abbess of Messina.
Andrew Avellino (1521–1608), was a Theologian, founder of monasteries, and friend of St. Charles Borromeo.
Benedict the Moor (1526–1589), ex-slave born in Sicily of African parents. A Franciscan friar, he was canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1807.
Camillus de Lellis (1550–1614), was a Catholic priest, founder of the Ministers of the Sick.
Francis Caracciolo (1563–1608), was a Catholic priest, founder with Father Augustine Adorno of the Clerics Regular Minor.
Humilis of Bisignano (1582–1637), was a Franciscan friar born in Bisignano.
Joseph of Cupertino (1603–1663), was a Franciscan mystic. Also known as Joseph of Copertino.
Bernard of Corleone (1605–1667), converted swordsman and saint from Sicily.
Giuseppe Maria Tomasi (1649–1713), was a Cardinal, noted for his learning, humility, and zeal for reform.
Francis Fasani (1681–1742), was a Franciscan, also called Francis of Lucera.
Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori (1696–1787), doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians.
Ignatius of Laconi (1701–1781), was a "Franciscan mystic and confessor, also called Francis Ignatius Peis."
Mary Frances of the Five Wounds (March 1715 – 1791), a saint, was born in Naples, Italy.
Felix of Nicosia (November 1715 – 1787), a Capuchin monk, was known in his time for his gifts of charity and humility.
Gerard Majella (1726–1755), was a religious. He is the patron of expectant mothers.
Gaetano Errico (1791–1860), was a priest and founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Caterina Volpicelli (1839–1894), was a nun, "foundress of the Servants of the Sacred Heart."
Filippo Smaldone (1848–1923), was a priest of the archdiocese of Lecce, Italy; and founder of the Congregation of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts.
Annibale Maria di Francia (1851–1927), was a religious and founder of religious congregations.
Giuseppe Moscati (1860–1927), was an influential physician. He gave his wages and skills to caring for the sick and the poor and was a model of piety and faith.
Gaetano Catanoso (1879–1963), was a cleric who encouraged Marian and Eucharistic devotion and vocations to the priesthood.
Pio of Pietrelcina (1887–1968), priest and saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
Maria Gabriella Sagheddu (1914–1939), "is called the saint of unity because she offered her life in the cause of ecumenism."
Scientists
Trotula (fl. 11th – 12th centuries), was a physician, obstetrician, gynaecologist, health planner and experimenter, responsible for major advances in female medicine.
Luca Gaurico (1475–1558), was "perhaps the most renowned astrologer of the first half of the sixteenth century."
Bartolomeo Maranta (1500–1571), was a physician and botanist. He is remembered in the name of the prayer plant – Maranta leuconeura.
Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia (1510–1580), was Professor of Anatomy and Medicine in Naples, and later in Palermo. He discovered the stapes in 1546.
Aloysius Lilius (c. 1510 – 1576), was a medic and astronomer responsible for the Gregorian Calendar.
Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615), Renaissance scientist and polymath. His first and most internationally famous work was Magia Naturalis.
Fabio Colonna (1567–1640), naturalist, was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei.
Marco Aurelio Severino (1580–1656), wrote the "First Test of Surgical Pathology." He was also the first to include illustrations of pathological lesions in his books.
Giovanni Battista Zupi (c. 1590 – 1650), astronomer who discovered that Mercury had orbital phases.
Giovanni Battista Hodierna (1597–1660), was an astronomer, mathematician, and scientist at the court of the duke of Montechiaro.
Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608–1679), was an extremely influential scientist and polymath.
Agostino Scilla (1629–1700), was a painter, paleontologist, and geologist. He inaugurated "the modern scientific study of fossils."
Paolo Boccone (1633–1704), was "one of the leading Sicilian naturalists of the time."
Tommaso Campailla (April 1668 – 1740), physician. He fought syphilis rheumatism in a "modern" way, using the "guaiacum barrels" or "vapour stovens" that he had invented.
Gjuro Baglivi (September 1668 – 1707), was a scientist, professor at the Sapienza in Rome.
Leonardo Ximenes (1716–1786), physicist, astronomer, geographer and hydrographer from Trapani, founded the Ximenes Observatory in Florence in 1756.
Vincenzo Petagna (1734–1810), was a "physician, entomologist, and professor of botany." The plant Petagnaea gussonei is named in his honour.
Domenico Cotugno (1736–1822), "was a Neapolitan physician and was the first to provide descriptions of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and sciatica."
Bernardino da Ucria (9 April 1739 – 1796), was a Franciscan friar with an interest in botany and the Linnean system of classification.
Domenico Cirillo (10 April 1739 – 1799), was an eminent botanist and student of medicine from Naples.
Alessandro Cagliostro (1743–1795), adventurer, magician, and alchemist. "One of the greatest occult figures of all time."
Giuseppe Saverio Poli (1746–1825), was "one of the leading scientists of Naples."
Tiberius Cavallo (1749–1809), was "one of the best known experimental scientists of his time."
Joseph Forlenze (1757–1833), surgeon under the First French Empire, decreed "chirurgien oculiste of the lycees, the civil hospices and all the charitable institutions of the departments of the Empire".
Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856), was a chemist and is known for the constant that bears his name.
Guglielmo Gasparrini (January 1803 – 1866), was a botanist who is noted for his study on the cultivation of the sweet potato.
Giovanni Spano (March 1803 – 1878), was "the most important Sardinian archaeologist and linguist of the 19th century."
Luigi Palmieri (1807–1896), physicist and meteorologist, inventor of the mercury seismometer.
Raffaele Piria (1814–1865), a chemist, was "the first to successfully synthesize salicylic acid." The active ingredient in aspirin.
Ferdinando Palasciano (1815–1891), was a physician whose work is considered crucial to having helped lay the foundations of the International Red Cross.
Filippo Parlatore (1816–1877), was born at Palermo; Director of the Royal Museum of Natural History at Florence and Professor of Botany.
Agostino Todaro (1818–1892), was a lawyer and botanist at Palermo.
Annibale de Gasparis (1819–1892), was an astronomer. He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1851.
Stanislao Cannizzaro (1826–1910), was an influential chemist. In 1853 he discovered the reaction known as Cannizzaro's reaction.
Francesco Todaro (1839–1918), was an anatomist. He described a fibrous extension of the Eustachian valve, now referred to as the Tendon of Todaro.
Emanuele Paternò (1847–1935), was a chemist, discoverer of the Paternò–Büchi reaction.
Carlo Emery (1848–1925), was Professor of Zoology at the University of Cagliari in 1878 and later Professor of Zoology at the University of Bologna.
Vincenzo Cerulli (1859–1927), was an astronomer. "He was especially known for his work on Mars and Venus, and his discovery of the planetoid 704 Interamnia."
Giuseppe Oddo (1865–1954), was a chemist and co-discoverer of the Oddo-Harkins rule.
Vincenzo Tiberio (1869–1915), physician and researcher, was a precursor of penicillin studies.
Orso Mario Corbino (1876–1937), a renowned physicist who was a founder of the Rome School of Nuclear Physics. He discovered the Corbino effect.
Gaetano Crocco (1877–1968), was a leading aeronautical scientist in the middle of the 20th century.
Antonino Lo Surdo (1880–1949), was a physicist and co-discoverer of the Stark effect.
Amedeo Maiuri (1886–1963), was a renowned archaeologist "famous for his excavations at Pompeii."
Giuseppe Brotzu (1895–1976), was a pharmacologist and politician. He is very well known for his discovery of cephalosporin.
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), was a genius. Of significant note, since the 1980s, he has been frequently called the "last universal physicist."
Ettore Majorana (1906–1938), "was a genius, a prodigy in arithmetic, a portent of insight and thinking power, the most profound and critical mind at the physics building."
Renato Dulbecco (1914–2012), was a virologist who shared a Nobel Prize in 1975 for his role in drawing a link between genetic mutations and cancer.
Antonino Zichichi (born 1929), is a theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Bologna.
Michele Parrinello (born 1945), is a physicist. One of the fathers of the Car–Parrinello method.
Silvio Micali (born 1954), is a theoretical computer scientist. He has received the Turing Award, the Gödel Prize, and the RSA Award (in encryption).
Mathematicians
Barlaam of Seminara (c. 1290 – c. 1348), "bishop of Geraci, studied in Constantinople and wrote on computing, astronomy, the science of numbers, algebra, and Book II of Euclid."
Giordano Vitale (1633–1711), was a mathematician. He is best known for his theorem on Saccheri quadrilaterals.
Ernesto Cesàro (1859–1906), was a prolific mathematician and professor at the universities of Palermo and Naples.
Giuseppe Lauricella (1867–1913), was an analyst and mathematical physicist.
Francesco Paolo Cantelli (1875–1966), was a mathematician. He is remembered through the Borel–Cantelli lemma, the Glivenko–Cantelli theorem, and Cantelli's inequality.
Michele Cipolla (1880–1947), was a mathematician, mainly specializing in number theory.
Leonida Tonelli (April 1885 – 1946), mathematician; worked on the calculus of variations.
Mauro Picone (May 1885 – 1977), was a mathematician. He is known for the Picone identity and for the Sturm-Picone comparison theorem.
Giacomo Albanese (1890–1948), was a mathematician. In advanced abstract mathematics, the concept of albanese variety refers to him.
Francesco Tricomi (1897–1978), was a professor in Torino and a prolific researcher in classical mathematical analysis.
Renato Caccioppoli (1904–1959), was an outstanding mathematician who carried out seminal work on linear and nonlinear differential equations.
Gaetano Fichera (1922–1996), was one of the great Italian masters of mathematics.
Ennio de Giorgi (1928–1996), was a brilliant mathematician. He solved 19th Hilbert problem on the regularity of solutions of elliptic partial differential equations.
Carlo Cercignani (1939–2010), was a well-known mathematician in the field of kinetic theory. He received the Humboldt Prize in 1994.
Mariano Giaquinta (born 1947), is a mathematician. In 1990 he was awarded with Humboldt research award and in 2006 with the Amerio prize.
Sculptors
Nicola Pisano (c. 1220/1225 – c. 1284), also known as Nicholas of Apulia, was the founder of modern sculpture.
Niccolò dell'Arca (c. 1435/1440 – 1494), was an early Renaissance sculptor, most probably of Apulian origin.
Giovanni da Nola (1478–1559), was "one of the most important sculptors in the Italian High Renaissance."
Girolamo Santacroce (c. 1502 – c. 1537), Neapolitan sculptor, architect and medallist, was active in Naples, where he produced statues, altars and funerary monuments.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), artistic polymath. He was "perhaps the greatest sculptor of the 17th century and an outstanding architect as well."
Dionisio Lazzari (1617–1689), was a sculptor and architect from Naples.
Giacomo Serpotta (1652–1732), was a master stucco sculptor.
Gaetano Giulio Zumbo (1656–1701), "sculptor of the celebrated Plague waxworks, was the most enigmatic artist in the Florence of the last Medicis."
Domenico Antonio Vaccaro (1678–1745), "was one of the leading Neapolitan sculptors of the first half of the 18th century."
Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720–1793), arguably the finest sculptor of his time.
Alfonso Balzico (1825–1901), was a famous sculptor. In 1900 he won the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, with the statue Flavio Gioia.
Vincenzo Ragusa (1841–1927), taught sculpture from 1876 to 1882, and introduced European fine arts to Japan.
Vincenzo Gemito (1852–1929), was the greater sculptor of Neapolitan impressionism.
Ettore Ximenes (1855–1926), was a renowned sculptor whose work was associated with Brazilian nationalism.
Mario Rutelli (1859–1941), was a well-known sculptor who has made a number of works on display around Italy.
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916), was an influential futurist theoretician, painter, and sculptor.
Francesco Messina (1900–1995), was one of the most important Italian sculptors of the 20th century.
Costantino Nivola (1911–1988), was "a painter, designer, and sculptor" born in Orani who became famous especially in the United States.
Emilio Greco (1913–1995), was a sculptor of bronze and marble figurative works, primarily female nudes and portraits.
Pietro Consagra (1920–2005), was an abstract sculptor known for his works in iron and bronze.
Arturo Di Modica (born 1941), is a sculptor. He is best known for his iconic sculpture, Charging Bull (also known as the Wall Street Bull).
Writers and philosophers
See also :Category:Writers from Sicily and Sardinian Literary Spring
John Italus (fl. 11th century), was a Neoplatonic philosopher of Calabrian origin.
Goffredo Malaterra (fl. 11th century), a Benedictin and historian, was the author of De rebus gestis Rogerii et Roberti, which chronicles the history of the Normans in Italy.
Ibn Hamdis (c. 1056 – c. 1133), was the greatest Arab-Sicilian poet. He "considered himself a Sicilian."
Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135 – 1202), mystic, theologian, biblical commentator, and philosopher of history. In 1196 he founded the order of San Giovanni in Fiore.
Pietro della Vigna (c. 1190 – 1249), was a "jurist, poet, and man of letters." An exponent of the formal style of Latin prose called ars dictandi.
Thomas of Celano (c. 1200 – c. 1265), was a Franciscan friar, poet, and hagiographical writer. He probably composed the sequence Dies Irae and its celebrated plainsong.
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), genius, philosopher, and theologian. The major works of Aquinas include the Summa Theologica and the Summa contra Gentiles.
Giacomo da Lentini (fl. 13th century), poet. He is traditionally credited with the invention of the sonnet.
Antonio Beccadelli (1394–1471), was a scholar and poet born in Palermo, who was known for his fine Latin verse.
Masuccio Salernitano (1410–1475), was a poet who wrote Il Novellino, a collection of fifty short stories.
Iovianus Pontanus (1426–1503), was "a famous humanist and poet."
Julius Pomponius Laetus (1428–1497), was a great writer, humanist, and founder of the Accademia Romana.
Jacopo Sannazzaro (1456–1530), a "poet whose Arcadia was the first pastoral romance."
Thomas Cajetan (1469–1534), "was the most renowned Dominican theologian and philosopher in the sixteenth century."
Bernardino Telesio (1509–1588), philosopher. He was a leader in the Renaissance movement against medieval Aristotelianism.
Isabella di Morra (c. 1520 – 1545/1546), poet, cited as a "precursor of Romantic poets".
Lorenzo Scupoli (c. 1530 – 1610), was a writer, philosopher, and priest of the Theatine Congregation. He was the author of the great classic, The Spiritual Combat.
Caesar Baronius (1538–1607), was an ecclesiastical historian, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. His best known work are his Annales Ecclesiastici.
Antonio Veneziano (1543–1593), was the greatest poet of the Sicilian cinquecento.
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595), a genius, was the "greatest Italian poet of the late Renaissance."
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), philosopher and polymath whose theories anticipated modern science.
Giambattista Basile (1566–1632), soldier, public official, poet, and short-story writer.
Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639), was a philosopher, polymath, and child prodigy. He is best remembered for his socialistic work The City of the Sun.
Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), "poet, founder of the school of Marinism (later Secentismo), which dominated 17th-century Italian poetry."
Lucilio Vanini (1585–1619), a famous philosopher and free-thinker who was burnt at the stake for the atheism of his publications.
Gemelli Careri (1651–1725), was a famous writer and traveler. Author of Giro Del Mondo (1699).
Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (1664–1718), was "an eminent jurist and writer, born at Roggiano [Gravina], in Calabria."
Giambattista Vico (1668–1744), was a philosopher and polymath who is recognized today as a forerunner of cultural anthropology, or ethnology.
Raimondo di Sangro (1710–1771), was a writer, polymath, and Grand Master of Naples's first Masonic lodge.
Antonio Genovesi (1713–1769), was a priest, professor of philosophy, and pioneer in ethical studies and economic theory.
Giovanni Meli (1740–1815), was a poet and man of letters. He is "commonly considered one of the most important dialect poets of eighteenth-century Italy."
Francesco Mario Pagano (1748–1799), politician, jurist and writer, was professor of law at the university of Naples.
Pasquale Galluppi (1770–1846), was an epistemologist and moral philosopher, was born in Tropea.
Gabriele Rossetti (1783–1854), was a patriotic poet, commentator on Dante. Professor of Italian at King's College London, 1831–47.
Michele Amari (1806–1889), was a patriot, historian and orientalist, author of Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia (History of the Muslims of Sicily) 1854.
Girolamo de Rada (1814–1903), was a poet and writer, founding father of Arbëresh literature and culture.
Ferdinando Petruccelli della Gattina (1815–1890), was a revolutionary and writer. One of the greatest journalists of the 19th century and a pioneer of modern journalism.
Francesco de Sanctis (March 1817 – 1883), critic, educator, and legislator. He was the foremost Italian literary historian of the 19th century.
Bertrando Spaventa (June 1817 – 1883), historian of philosophy, was a major force in the tradition of Italian Hegelianism.
Goffredo Mameli (1827–1849), was a poet and patriot of the Risorgimento. Author of the Italian national anthem, Inno di Mameli, popularly known as Il Canto degli Italiani.
Luigi Capuana (1839–1915), novelist, journalist, critic, and the leading theorist of Italian verismo.
Giovanni Verga (1840–1922), novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, most important of the Italian verismo school of novelists.
Salvatore Farina (1846–1918), was a novelist. He enjoyed great popularity in his lifetime, to the point that many critics referred to him as the "Italian Charles Dickens."
Errico Malatesta (1853–1932), was an anarchist writer and revolutionary. His most important works are Anarchy and Fra Contadini (Between peasants).
Matilde Serao (1856-1927), was a novelist, journalist and newspaper proprietor who published around 40 novels focussing on the lives of women, including in the Verismo style.
Gaetano Mosca (1858–1941), was a jurist, philosopher, and proponent of the theory of élite domination.
Nicola Zingarelli (1860–1935), was a philologist and man of letters. The founder of the Zingarelli Italian dictionary.
Federico De Roberto (1861–1927), was a renowned verismo writer. His best-known work is I Vicerè (The Viceroys) 1894.
Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938), "poet, novelist, dramatist, short-story writer, journalist, military hero, and political leader."
Benedetto Croce (1866–1952), "historian, humanist, and foremost Italian philosopher of the first half of the 20th century."
Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936), playwright, novelist, and short-story writer, winner of the 1934 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Grazia Deledda (1871–1936), novelist and short-story writer. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926.
Gaetano Salvemini (1873–1957), was a writer, historian, and politician who fought for universal suffrage and the uplift of the Italian South.
Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), major figure in Italian idealist philosophy, politician, educator, and editor.
Emilio Lussu (1890–1975), was a writer and politician, minister in the first Republican governments.
Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937), a writer and polymath. He was one of the most important Marxist thinkers in the 20th century.
Corrado Alvaro (1895–1956), novelist and journalist whose works investigated the social and political pressures of life in the 20th century.
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896–1957), novelist. Internationally renowned for his work, The Leopard, published posthumously in 1958.
Julius Evola (1898–1974), was a philosopher and polymath. The historian Mircea Eliade described him as "one of the most interesting minds of the war [WW I] generation."
Leonida Repaci (1898 - 1985), novelist. He won the Bagutta Prize in 1933 and was one of the originators of the Viareggio Prize.
Ignazio Silone (1900–1978), novelist, short-story writer, and political leader. Internationally known for his novel Fontamara.'
Nicola Abbagnano (July 1901 – 1990), a famous philosopher. He "was the first and most important Italian existentialist."
Salvatore Quasimodo (August 1901 – 1968), poet, critic, and translator. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
Lanza del Vasto (September 1901 – 1981), was a writer, philosopher, and follower of Gandhi's movement for non-violence.
Vitaliano Brancati (1907–1954), was a writer of ironic and sometimes erotic novels.
Elio Vittorini (July 1908 – 1966), novelist, translator, and critic. Conversations in Sicily, which clearly expresses his antifascist feelings, is his most important novel.
Tommaso Landolfi (August 1908 – 1979), was a writer of fiction and literary critic.
Alfonso Gatto (1909–1976), renowned poet who was also an editor, journalist, and cultural broadcaster.
Elsa Morante (1912–1985), was one of the most important novelists of the postwar period, author of the bestseller La storia.
Gesualdo Bufalino (1920–1996), was a "novelist who, saw his literary career blossom after his retirement from teaching in 1976."
Leonardo Sciascia (1921–1989), writer noted for his metaphysical examinations of political corruption and arbitrary power.
Italo Calvino (1923–1985), journalist, short-story writer, and novelist. One of the most important Italian fiction writers in the 20th century.
Andrea Camilleri (6 September 1925), popular novelist who was formerly a theatre director and television producer in Rome.
Luciano De Crescenzo (born 1928), is one of the most popular Neapolitan writers.
Vincenzo Consolo (1933–2012), was one of the most important Italian writers of the 20th century.
Gavino Ledda (born 1938), is a Sardinian shepherd and self-taught student who became a famous writer.
Giulio Angioni (born 1939), writer and anthropologist. He is the author of about twenty books of fiction and a dozen volumes of essays in anthropology.
Erri De Luca (born 1950), is one of the most important contemporary Italian writers.
Caterina Davinio (born 1957), is a poet, writer, and new media artist. Initiator of Italian Net-poetry in 1998.
Other notables
Claudio Acquaviva (1543–1615), was a Jesuit priest, fifth general of the Society of Jesus, 1581–1615.
Carlo Pellegrini (1839–1889), famous Victorian caricaturist, who lived in England from 1864 until his death.
Diomede Falconio (1842–1917), Cardinal, apostolic delegate to the United States, was born 20 September 1842, in Pescocostanzo, Abruzzi.
Giovanni Passannante (1849–1910), was an anarchist who attempted to assassinate King Umberto I of Italy.
Benito Jacovitti (1923–1997), was a comic artist, probably best known for his Wild West humor series Cocco Bill. Eugenio Barba (born 1936), is a theatre director, an actor trainer and a writer.
Achille Bonito Oliva (born 1939), is an art historian, critic, and founder of the Transavantgarde artistic movement.
Sergio Marchionne (born 1952), is chief executive officer of Fiat S.p.A. and of Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.
Antonio Serra (born 1963), comics writer. He is one of the creators of Nathan Never.''
Floria Sigismondi (born 1965), is a photographer and director.
Luca Parmitano (born 1976), is a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut and a Major of the Italian Air Force.
See also
List of central Italians
List of people from Sicily
List of people from Calabria
List of people from Sardinia
Footnotes
References
Lists of Italian people
Southern Italy |
41693409 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECT%20Ultra%20Low%20Energy | DECT Ultra Low Energy | DECT Ultra Low Energy (DECT ULE) is a wireless communication standard used to design wireless sensor and actuator networks for smart home applications. DECT ULE originated from the DECT and NG-DECT (Cat-iq) technology. DECT ULE devices are used in home automation, home security, and climate control.
In May 2013 ETSI released the specification of the ULE standard (Technical Specification TS 102 939-01).
The ULE technology is promoted by the ULE Alliance, a non-profit organization, located in Bern, Switzerland.
Overview
The basic ULE wireless network uses a “star network topology”; i.e. there is one main device, called “base”, which controls the network; the “base” is wirelessly connected to “nodes”, which usually are devices with dedicated functions, such as sensors, remote controls, actuators, smart meters, etc. Some examples of node devices – door locks, smoke detectors, motion detectors, remote controls, gas and electricity meters, baby monitors, elderly care, etc.
ULE communication range is among the longest in the short range wireless communication technologies: over 50 meters in buildings and up to 300 meters in the open air. For the few cases where this range is not sufficient, repeaters can be used to extend the range. Similarly to DECT, ULE can also use more complex network architecture, with several bases connected with each other to cover extended areas (such as offices and larger buildings).
ULE enables simultaneous data and voice communication; this means that sensors are not limited to indicating the event, but also enable voice interface. A good example is a pendant device for elderly care, which in case of emergency enables person carrying it not only indicate of an emergency situation, but also communicate with a remotely located caretaker, or service station as with regular cordless phone, but all with the simple press of a button.
Enhancements were made to the DECT transport layer level by ETSI Technical Group DECT to adapt it to the requirements of the ULE wireless sensor networks:
Low power operation, which enables ULE devices to operate on batteries for extended time period of years
Extended security – ULE is using strong 128 bit AES encryption scheme vs. 64 bit encryption of DECT
Similarly to DECT, ULE uses a dedicated radio frequency, outmatching other technologies, such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth and others in terms of stability.
Primary application areas of ULE based wireless networks are for home automation, home security and climate control. Each of these application areas represent variety of dedicated devices. Many home gateways, deployed worldwide integrate DECT and implementing the DECT base functionality. These gateways are usually software upgradable. A home gateway which already has DECT functionality can become ULE enabled by software upgrade.
ULE Transport and Physical layers are defined and standardized by ETSI. The ULE physical layer is identical to DECT physical layer, while the Transport layer was enhanced to better fit requirements of wireless sensor networks.
ULE Alliance developed and defined HAN-FUN application layer protocol (Home Area Network FUNctional protocol). The HAN FUN protocol defines the profiles of devices and sets requirements for application level interoperability of ULE based devices. The first version of HAN FUN (released in November 2013) defines profiles of over two dozen different devices.
Standards
ETSI TS 102 939. Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) Ultra Low Energy (ULE) Machine to Machine Communications
ETSI TS 102 939-1 V1.3.1. (2017-10) Part 1: Home Automation Network (phase 1)
ETSI TS 102 939-2 V1.3.1. (2019-01) Part 2: Home Automation Network (phase 2)
External links
ULE Alliance
ETSI publishes first specification for Ultra Low Energy DECT – and expects to lead the field in the M2M market"
Mobile telecommunications standards |
41697650 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted%20Challenge%20Response%20Authentication%20Mechanism | Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism | In cryptography, the Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism (SCRAM) is a family of modern, password-based challenge–response authentication mechanisms providing authentication of a user to a server. As it is specified for Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), it can be used for password-based logins to services like SMTP and IMAP (e-mail), or XMPP (chat). For XMPP, supporting it is mandatory.
Motivation
Alice wants to log into Bob's server. She needs to prove she is who she claims to be. For solving this authentication problem, Alice and Bob have agreed upon a password, which Alice knows, and which Bob knows how to verify.
Now Alice could send her password over an unencrypted connection to Bob in a clear text form, for him to verify. That would however make the password accessible to Mallory, who is wiretapping the line. Alice and Bob could try to bypass this by encrypting the connection. However, Alice doesn't know whether the encryption was set up by Bob, and not by Mallory by doing a man-in-the-middle attack. Therefore, Alice sends a hashed version of her password instead, like in CRAM-MD5 or DIGEST-MD5. As it is a hash, Mallory doesn't get the password itself. And because the hash is salted with a challenge, Mallory could use it only for one login process. However, Alice wants to give some confidential information to Bob, and she wants to be sure it's Bob and not Mallory.
For solving this, Bob has registered himself to a certificate authority (CA), which signed his certificate. Alice could solely rely on that signature system, but she knows it has weaknesses. To give her additional assurance that there is no man-in-the-middle attack, Bob creates a proof that he knows the password (or a salted hash thereof), and includes his certificate into this proof. This inclusion is called channel binding, as the lower encryption channel is 'bound' to the higher application channel.
Alice then has an authentication of Bob, and Bob has authentication of Alice. Taken together, they have mutual authentication. DIGEST-MD5 already enabled mutual authentication, but it was often incorrectly implemented.
When Mallory runs a man-in-the-middle attack and forges a CA signature, she could retrieve a hash of the password. But she couldn't impersonate Alice even for a single login session, as Alice included into her hash the encryption key of Mallory, resulting in a login-fail from Bob. To make a fully transparent attack, Mallory would need to know the password used by Alice, or the secret encryption key of Bob.
Bob has heard of data breaches of server databases, and he decided that he doesn't want to store the passwords of his users in clear text. He has heard of the CRAM-MD5 and DIGEST-MD5 login schemes, but he knows, for offering these login schemes to his users, he would have to store weakly hashed, un-salted passwords. He doesn't like the idea, and therefore he chooses to demand the passwords in plain text. Then he can hash them with secure hashing schemes like bcrypt, scrypt or PBKDF2, and salt them as he wants. However, then Bob and Alice would still face the problems described above. To solve this problem, they use SCRAM, where Bob can store his password in a salted format, using PBKDF2. During login, Bob sends Alice his salt and the iteration count of the PBKDF2 algorithm, and then Alice uses these to calculate the hashed password that Bob has in his database. All further calculations in SCRAM base on this value which both know.
Protocol overview
Although all clients and servers have to support the SHA-1 hashing algorithm, SCRAM is, unlike CRAM-MD5 or DIGEST-MD5, independent from the underlying hash function. All hash functions defined by the IANA can be used instead. As mentioned in the Motivation section, SCRAM uses the PBKDF2 mechanism, which increases the strength against brute-force attacks, when a data leak has happened on the server. Let H be the selected hash function, given by the name of the algorithm advertised by the server and chosen by the client. 'SCRAM-SHA-1' for instance, uses SHA-1 as hash function.
Password-based derived key, or salted password
The client derives a key, or salted password, from the password, a salt, and a number of computational iterations as follows:
SaltedPassword = Hi(password, salt, iteration-count) = PBKDF2(HMAC, password, salt, iteration-count, output length of H).
Messages
RFC 5802 names four consecutive messages between server and client:
client-first The client-first message consists of a GS2 header (comprising a channel binding flag, and optional name for authorization information), the desired username, and a randomly generated client nonce c-nonce.
server-first The server appends to this client nonce its own nonce s-nonce, and adds it to the server-first message, which also contains a salt used by the server for salting the user's password hash, and an iteration count iteration-count.
client-final After that the client sends the client-final message containing channel-binding, the GS2 header and channel binding data encoded in base64, the concatenation of the client and the server nonce, and the client proof, proof.
server-final The communication closes with the server-final message, which contains the server signature, verifier.
Proofs
The client and the server prove to each other they have the same Auth variable, consisting of:
Auth = client-first-without-header + , + server-first + , + client-final-without-proof (concatenated with commas)
More concretely, this takes the form:
= r=cnonce,[extensions,]r=cnonce‖snonce,s=salt,i=iterationcount,[extensions,]c=base64(channelflag,[a=authzid],channelbinding),r=cnonce‖snonce[,extensions]
The proofs are calculated as follows:
ClientKey = HMAC(SaltedPassword, 'Client Key')
ServerKey = HMAC(SaltedPassword, 'Server Key')
ClientProof = p = ClientKey XOR HMAC(H(ClientKey), Auth)
ServerSignature = v = HMAC(ServerKey, Auth)
where the XOR operation is applied to byte strings of the same length, H(ClientKey) is a normal hash of ClientKey. 'Client Key' and 'Server Key' are verbatim strings.
The server can authorize the client by computing ClientKey from ClientProof and then comparing H(ClientKey) with the stored value.
The client can authorize the server by computing and comparing ServerSignature directly.
Stored password
The server stores only the username, salt, iteration-count, H(ClientKey), ServerKey. The server has transient access to ClientKey as it is recovered from the client proof, having been encrypted with H(ClientKey).
The client needs only the password.
Channel binding
The term channel binding describes the man-in-the-middle attack prevention strategy to 'bind' an application layer, which provides mutual authentication, to a lower (mostly encryption) layer, ensuring that the endpoints of a connection are the same in both layers. There are two general directions for channel binding: unique and endpoint channel binding. The first ensures that a specific connection is used, the second that the endpoints are the same.
There are several channel binding types, where every single type has a channel binding unique prefix. Every channel binding type specifies the content of the channel binding data, which provides unique information over the channel and the endpoints. For instance, for the tls-server-end-point channel binding, it is the server's TLS certificate.
An example use case of channel binding with SCRAM as application layer, could be with Transport Layer Security (TLS) as lower layer. TLS protects from passive eavesdropping, as the communication is encrypted. However, if the client doesn't authenticate the server (e.g. by verifying the server's certificate), this doesn't prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. For this, the endpoints need to assure their identities to each other, which can be provided by SCRAM.
The gs2-cbind-flag SCRAM variable specifies whether the client supports channel binding or not, or thinks the server doesn't support channel binding, and c-bind-input contains the gs2-cbind-flag together with the channel binding unique prefix and the channel binding data themselves.
Channel binding is optional in SCRAM, and the gs2-cbind-flag variable prevents from downgrade attacks.
When a server supports channel binding, it adds the character sequence '-PLUS' to the advertised SCRAM algorithm name.
Strengths
Strong password storage: When implemented in a right way, the server can store the passwords in a salted, iterated hash format, making offline attacks harder, and decreasing the impact of database breaches.
Simplicity: Implementing SCRAM is easier than DIGEST-MD5.
International interoperability: the RFC requires UTF-8 to be used for usernames and passwords, unlike CRAM-MD5.
Because only the salted and hashed version of a password is used in the whole login process, and the salt on the server doesn't change, a client storing passwords can store the hashed versions, and not expose the clear text password to attackers. Such hashed versions are bound to one server, which makes this useful on password reuse.
References
External links
, SCRAM for SASL and GSS-API
, SCRAM-SHA-256 and SCRAM-SHA-256-PLUS
, SCRAM in HTTP
GNU Network Security Labyrinth (presentation similar to Motivation section)
Cryptographic protocols |
41777477 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director%20of%20National%20Intelligence%20Review%20Group%20on%20Intelligence%20and%20Communications%20Technologies | Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies | The Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies was a review group formed by the Director of National Intelligence of the United States in light of the global surveillance disclosures of 2013. In December 2013, the five-member group produced a public report.
Formation
On August 12, 2013, President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, to form a "Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies". Obama instructed that "The Review Group will assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust."
The memorandum called for an interim report within 60 days of establishment and a final report by December 15, 2013.
Membership
The group included former counter-terrorism czar Richard A. Clarke, former Acting Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Morell, University of Chicago Law professor Geoffrey Stone, former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein and Professor and former Chief Counselor for Privacy in the Office of Management and Budget Peter Swire.
Report
The 300-page report, entitled "Liberty and Security in a Changing World", was released on December 12, 2013. It contained over 40 recommendations. Since the report's publications, a number of its 40 recommendations have been adopted into law with the USA FREEDOM Act in particular addressing 7.
Reactions
The Electronic Frontier Foundation released a statement criticizing the report, saying "we’re disappointed that the recommendations suggest a path to continue untargeted spying. Mass surveillance is still heinous, even if private company servers are holding the data instead of government data centers."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a statement welcoming the report, saying "We welcome this report, which advocates for many of the ACLU's positions, including an end to the government's dragnet collection of telephone metadata and its undermining of encryption standards."
References
External links
Official site of the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies
Official report of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies
Official site for the Princeton University Press publication of The NSA Report: Liberty and Security in a Changing World
Global surveillance
United States intelligence agencies
Working groups |
41789500 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%20surveillance%20in%20popular%20culture | Mass surveillance in popular culture |
Critical of mass surveillance
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel by George Orwell depicting life under an omnipresent totalitarian state, and is probably the most prominent of the media listed; the 'Big Brother' who watches over the novel's characters is now used to describe any form of spying on or interfering with the public, such as CCTV cameras.
We, a 1920 novel by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, that predates Nineteen Eighty-Four and was read by its author George Orwell.
Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, depicts the all-seeing Eye of Sauron.
The Transparent Society by David Brin, discusses various scenarios for the future considering the spread of cheap web-cameras, increases in government security initiatives, and the possible death of encryption if quantum computing becomes reality.
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, set in San Francisco after a major terrorist attack; the DHS uses technologies such as RFIDs and surveillance cameras to create a totalitarian system of control.
The Minority Report, a story by Philip K. Dick about a society that arrests people for crimes they have yet to commit (made into a movie in 2002).
A Scanner Darkly, another novel by Philip K. Dick, examines how close we are as a society to complete surveillance by law enforcement.
THX 1138, a 1971 film by George Lucas depicting life in an underground dystopia where all human activities are monitored centrally at all times. A high level of control is exerted upon the populace through ever-present faceless, android police officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, including sexual desire. The film was first made as a student project in the University of Southern California and called Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.
Oath of Fealty, a 1982 novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle describing a large arcology whose dwellers and visitors are constantly being of surveilled by a variety of technologies
Blue Thunder, 1983 movie starring Roy Scheider
Brazil, a film by Terry Gilliam depicting an oppressive total information awareness society
Pizza, a short Flash video by the American Civil Liberties Union depicting ordering pizza by phone in a Total Surveillance Society.
Discipline and Punish by the critical theorist Michel Foucault is generally taken as being one of the paradigmatic works on theories of surveillance and discipline
Equilibrium, 2002 film wherein a dystopian future society surviving the third world war takes an emotion-suppressing drug and where the general public is constantly watched by the government to make sure that no one breaks the equilibrium.
V for Vendetta
Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance and the Culture of Control by Social and Environmental philosopher, Derrick Jensen thoroughly examines the use of RFID chips, nanotechnology, military technology, science, and surveillance.
The Listening, a 2006 movie in which a rogue NSA employee fights against the agency's Echelon system and one of its corporate partners.
Eagle Eye, a 2008 movie which portrays how surveillance can get out of hand.
The Lives of Others, the 2006 German drama film, movingly conveys the terrible impact that constant surveillance has on the emotional wellbeing and life prospects of those subjected to it.
Tomorrow Never Dies, the eighteenth film in the James Bond series. The plot revolves around the ruthless Murdochesque media baron, Elliot Carver, whose newspapers print false stories that are related to Carver's secret agenda. A clear sign of his vanity and a reference to Big Brother, much of Carver's headquarters in Hamburg is decorated with vast, imposing banners, with Carver's face glaring out.
Enemy of the State, a 1998 film starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman, portrays an attorney who is the target of an NSA cover-up related to a bill in Congress that would expand the federal government's surveillance powers.
The Dark Knight, the 2008 summer blockbuster delved into whether the public security against the Joker's actions warranted Batman's mass scale spying on Gotham City's citizens using cell phone technology. Lucius Fox, Morgan Freeman's character, threatened to quit Wayne Enterprises over Batman's private surveillance of Gotham claiming that no one man should possess such power. However the hero of the movie, Batman, claimed that mass surveillance of citizens was vital to fight "terrorism". Batman came to Lucius opinion at the end of the film, when he destroyed the surveillance system.
The Last Enemy, a 2008 5 episode BBC television series which dealt with Total Information Awareness monitoring of near-future Britain, and the Government's use of race-specific remote drugs which could be triggered to affect one population, but not the other.
Person of Interest, a CBS TV series that aired from September 2011 to June 2016 that depicts a machine which spies on each citizen of the United States. The Machine makes extensive use of surveillance cameras, telephone conversations, internet usage, public records, satellite-driven technology and virtually any mean of physical/digital communication. It does so automatically, without any human interventions (only seven people in the world are aware of its existence). The Machine has the purpose of preventing terrorist attacks, but it sees crimes involving ordinary citizens. It provides the authorities with the SSN of the person of interest, which is either a target or a perpetrator. The NSA has been trying to access the Machine but the software is so well encrypted that no operating system can crack it. Harold Finch is convinced that the government would abuse the Machine if they can access it, and he vows to make sure that no one else gets hold of the Machine. In one episode, an employee of the NSA discovered the existence of the Machine and a black ops unit is ordered to kill him.
Freedom Wars is a PSVita action role-playing game which set in the dystopian future. Most of the human population were sentenced 1,000,000 years of imprisonment since they were born. They were dwelling inside the enclosed metropolitan cities named "Panopticon". The society were under heavy surveillance by numbers of "Accessory" androids. And the criminals were forced to hard labors of finding resources in the outside world, and then contribute to their government to exchange for few years amnesty or gain access to several human rights. In the game, the slogan "We gaze at you" is the parody of "Big Brother is watching you" in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Watch Dogs is an action-adventure video game released for PC and for seventh- and eighth-generation video game consoles. In the game, the protagonist Aiden Pearce is a master thief, hacker, and self-appointed vigilante who is able to hack into the city-wide mass surveillance and infrastructure control systems to gather information on and resources from any individual he wishes, to evade law enforcement, to stop crimes before or as they happen, to commit crimes himself if needed, and to manipulate various objects and function of the infrastructure to his advantage. He also discovers that the engineers of these integrated systems are also in the process of establishing a program that can predict human behavior and thus be used for mass social engineering purposes. On several occasions, these systems are also used against Aiden to send law enforcement or criminal enforcers after him in efforts to apprehend or kill him. The game also demonstrates the possibility of taking control of an entire city through unauthorized access and misuse of an integrated infrastructure.
The 2016 German-American biographical political thriller film Snowden directed by Oliver Stone follows Edward Snowden, an American computer professional leaking classified information on ongoing mass surveillance by the National Security Agency to the public in June 2013.
Optimistic about mass surveillance
The Light of Other Days is a science-fiction book that praises mass surveillance, under the condition that it is available to everyone. It shows a world in which a total lack of privacy results in a decrease in corruption and crime.
Digital Fortress, novel by Dan Brown, involving an NSA codebreaking machine called 'TRANSLTR', reading and decrypting email messages, with which the NSA allegedly foiled terrorist attacks and mass murders.
References
Mass surveillance
Topics in popular culture |
41792368 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network%20sovereignty | Network sovereignty | In internet governance, network sovereignty is the effort of a governing entity, such as a state, to create boundaries on a network and then exert a form of control, often in the form of law enforcement over such boundaries.
Much like states invoke sole power over their physical territorial boundaries, state sovereignty, such governing bodies also invoke sole power within the network boundaries they set and claim network sovereignty. In the context of the Internet, the intention is to govern the web and control it within the borders of the state. Often, that is witnessed as states seeking to control all information flowing into and within their borders.
The concept stems from questions of how states can maintain law over an entity such like the Internet, whose infrastructure exists in real space, but its entity itself exists in the intangible cyberspace. Some Internet Scholars, such as Joel R. Reidenberg, argue, "Networks have key attributes of sovereignty: participant/citizens via service provider membership agreements, 'constitutional' rights through contractual terms of service, and police powers through taxation (fees) and system operator sanctions." Indeed, many countries have pushed to ensure the protection of their citizens' privacy and of internal business longevity by data protection and information privacy legislation (see the EU's Data Protection Directive, the UK's Data Protection Act 1998).
Network sovereignty has implications for state security, Internet governance, and the users of the Internet's national and international networks.
Implications for state security
Networks are challenging places for states to extend their sovereign control. In her book Sociology in the Age of the Internet, communications professor Allison Cavanagh argues that state sovereignty has been drastically decreased by networks.
Other scholars such as Saskia Sassen and Joel R. Reidenberg agree. Sassen argues that the state's power is limited in cyberspace and that networks, particularly the numerous private tunnels for institutions such as banks. Sassen further postulates that these private tunnels create tensions within the state because the state itself is not one voice. Reidenberg refers to what he terms "Permeable National Borders," effectively echoing Sassen's arguments about the private tunnels, which pass through numerous networks. Reidenberg goes on to state that intellectual property can easily pass through such networks, which incentivizes businesses and content providers to encrypt their products. The various interests in a network are echoed within the state, by lobby groups.
Internet governance
Many governments are trying to exert some forms of control over the Internet. Some examples include the SOPA-PIPA debates in the United States, the Golden Shield Project in China, and new laws that grant greater power to the Roskomnadzor in Russia.
SOPA-PIPA
With the failed Stop Online Piracy Act, the United States would have allowed law enforcement agencies to prevent online piracy by blocking access to websites. The response from bipartisan lobbying groups was strong. Stanford Law Professors Mark Lemly, David Levin, and David Post published an article called "Don't Break the Internet." There were several protests against SOPA and PIPA, including a Wikipedia blackout in response to statements by Senator Patrick Leahy, who was responsible for introducing the PROTECT IP Act. Both acts viewed as good for mass media because they limited access to certain websites. The acts were viewed as an attack on net neutrality and so were seen as potential damaging to the networked public sphere.
Golden Shield Project
The Golden Shield Project, sometimes known as Great Firewall of China, prevents those with a Chinese IP address from accessing certain banned websites inside the country. People are prevented from accessing sites that the government deems problematic. That creates tension between the netizen community and the government, according to scholar Min Jiang.
Roskomnadzor
Russia's Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision in
the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications) was created in December 2008 in accordance with President's Decree No. 1715. The agency was created to protect personal data owners' rights. According to the Russian government, the agency has three primary objectives:
ensuring society demand in high-quality telecommunication services as well as information and communication technologies;
promoting mass communications and freedom of mass media;
ensuring protection of citizens' rights to privacy, personal and family confidentiality.
On 1 September 2015, a new data localization law provided Roskomnadzor with greater oversight. The law itself stipulates that any personal data collected from Russian citizens online must be stored in server databases that are physically located in Russia. It "creates a new procedure restricting access to
websites violating Russian laws on personal data." Even with staunch pressure from those who promote "free flow of information," President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin remain stolid in assertions of network sovereignty to protect Russian citizens.
Other examples
China's approach could also be repeated in many other countries around the world. One example was the Internet censorship in the Arab Spring, when the Egyptian government in particular tried to block access to Facebook and Twitter. Also, during the 2011 England riots, the British government tried to block Blackberry Messenger.
Response to Internet governance
Many believe that the government has no right to be on the Internet. As Law Professor David Post at the University of Georgetown argued, "'[States] are mapping statehood onto a domain that doesn't recognize physical boundaries,'" at least in the context on the internet. He went on to say, "'When 150 jurisdictions apply their law, it's a conflict-of-law nightmare.'" Some proponents of the internet, such as John Perry Barlow, argued that the current form of the Internet is ungovernable and should remain as open as possible. Barlow's essay was written about the 1990s Internet, and while it has changed very much since then, the ideas in his work are still salient in the ongoing debates surrounding the future of the Internet. In his essay A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, he advocated that governments should stay out of the internet.
Network Sovereignty can affect state security, law enforcement on the internet, and the ways that private citizens use the internet, as many people attempt to circumvent the protections and legal devices, placed by many governments on the Internet, by using tools such as VPNs.
Impact of VPNs
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are a significant tool to allow private citizens to get around network sovereignty and any restrictions their government may place on their access to the internet. VPNs allow a computer to route its Internet connection from one location to another. For example one would connect from a connection at point A to a connection at point B, and to others, it would appear that they are accessing the Internet from point B even if they are in point A. For example, in China, VPNs are used to access otherwise-blocked content. Yang gives the example of pornography stating that with VPN, "smut that's banned in the US can wind its way into American homes through electrical impulses in, say, Amsterdam." In that example, by using VPNs, an Internet user in the United States could access banned material that is hosted in Amsterdam by accessing through a server, hosted in Amsterdam, to make it appear that the user is in Amsterdam, based on the IP address. Therefore, citizens have a way around network sovereignty, simply by accessing a different server through a VPN. That greatly limits how governments can enforce network sovereignty and protect their cyberspace borders. Essentially, there is no way that a government could prevent every citizen from accessing banned content by means such as VPNs.
Rationales
Protection of national traffic
One of the most significant reasons for enforcing network sovereignty is to prevent the scanning of information that travels through other countries. For example, any internet traffic that travels through the United States is subject to the Patriot Act and so may be examined by the National Security Agency, regardless of the country of origin. Jonathan Obar and Andrew Clement refer to the routing of a transmission from a point in state A to another location in state A through state B as Boomerang Routing. They provide the example of traffic from Canada being routed through the United States before returning to Canada, which enables the United States to track and examine the Canadian traffic.
Copyright protection
Governments may want to enact network sovereignty to protect copyright within their borders. The purpose of SOPA-PIPA was to prevent what was effectively deemed theft. Content providers want their content to be used as intended because of the property rights associated with that content. One instance of such protection is in e-commerce.
E-commerce
Currently, private networks are suing others who interfere with their property rights. For the effective implementation of e-commerce on the Internet, merchants require restrictions on access and encryption to protect not only their content but also the information of content purchasers. Currently, one of the most effective ways to regulate e-commerce is to allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to regulate the market. The opposing argument to regulating the internet by network sovereignty to allow e-commerce is that it would break the Internet's egalitarian and open values because it would force governments and ISPs to regulate not only the Internet's content but also how the content is consumed.
Role of WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization is a United Nations body, designed to protect intellectual property across all of its member states. WIPO allows content to traverse various networks through their Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The PCT allows for international patents by providing security for content providers across state borders. It is up to states to enforce their own network sovereignty over these patents. Global standards for copyright and encryption are viewed as one way that governments could cooperate. With global standards it is easier to enforce network sovereignty because it builds respect for intellectual property and maintains the rights of content creators and providers. It is possible that governments may not be able to keep up with regulating these initiatives. For example, in the 1995 Clipper Chip system, the Clinton administration in the United States reneged on its original policy because it was deemed that it would soon be too easy to crack the chips. One alternative proposed was the implementation of the digital signature, which could be used to protect network sovereignty by having content providers and governments sign off the content, like for a digital envelope. This system has already been implemented in the use of Wi-Fi Protected Access Enterprise networks, some secured websites, and software distribution. It allows content to pass through borders without difficulty because it is facilitated through organizations such as WIPO.
Countries
In his 2015 book Data and Goliath, American security expert Bruce Schneier says the cyber sovereignty movement, in countries such as Russia, China, France and Saudi Arabia, was given an enormous boost by the 2013 revelations of widespread international NSA surveillance, which those countries pointed to as justification for their activities and evidence of U.S. hypocrisy on Internet freedom issues.
France
Project Andromède launched in 2009, with the aim to spend €285 million on "cloud souverain" or sovereign cloud. The government spent €75 million on each of its two national champions, Cloudwatt and Numergy, but these two sold only €8 million worth of services, combined. On January 1, 2020, all services were terminated and clients were advised their data was deleted.
See also
World Internet Conference
Cyber sovereignty
References
Internet censorship
Sovereignty |
41794922 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey%20encryption | Honey encryption | Honey encryption is a type of data encryption that "produces a ciphertext, which, when decrypted with an incorrect key as guessed by the attacker, presents a plausible-looking yet incorrect plaintext password or encryption key."
Creators
Ari Juels and Thomas Ristenpart of the University of Wisconsin, the developers of the encryption system, presented a paper on honey encryption at the 2014 Eurocrypt cryptography conference.
Method of protection
A brute-force attack involves repeated decryption with random keys; this is equivalent to picking random plaintexts from the space of all possible plaintexts with a uniform distribution. This is effective because even though the attacker is equally likely to see any given plaintext, most plaintexts are extremely unlikely to be legitimate i.e. the distribution of legitimate plaintexts is non-uniform. Honey encryption defeats such attacks by first transforming the plaintext into a space such that the distribution of legitimate plaintexts is uniform. Thus an attacker guessing keys will see legitimate-looking plaintexts frequently and random-looking plaintexts infrequently. This makes it difficult to determine when the correct key has been guessed. In effect, honey encryption "[serves] up fake data in response to every incorrect guess of the password or encryption key."
The security of honey encryption relies on the fact that the probability of an attacker judging a plaintext to be legitimate can be calculated (by the encrypting party) at the time of encryption. This makes honey encryption difficult to apply in certain applications e.g. where the space of plaintexts is very large or the distribution of plaintexts is unknown. It also means that honey encryption can be vulnerable to brute-force attacks if this probability is miscalculated. For example, it is vulnerable to known-plaintext attacks: if the attacker has a crib that a plaintext must match to be legitimate, they will be able to brute-force even Honey Encrypted data if the encryption did not take the crib into account.
Example
An encrypted credit card number is susceptible to brute-force attacks because not every string of digits is equally likely. The number of digits can range from 13 to 19, though 16 is the most common. Additionally, it must have a valid IIN and the last digit must match the checksum. An attacker can also take into account the popularity of various services: an IIN from MasterCard is probably more likely than an IIN from Diners Club Carte Blanche.
Honey encryption can protect against these attacks by first mapping credit card numbers to a larger space where they match their likelihood of legitimacy. Numbers with invalid IINs and checksums are not mapped at all (i.e. have probability 0 of legitimacy). Numbers from large brands like MasterCard and Visa map to large regions of this space, while less popular brands map to smaller regions, etc. An attacker brute-forcing such an encryption scheme would only see legitimate-looking credit card numbers when they brute-force, and the numbers would appear with the frequency the attacker would expect from the real world.
Application
Juels and Ristenpart aim to use honey encryption to protect data stored on password manager services. Juels stated that "password managers are a tasty target for criminals," and worries that "if criminals get a hold of a large collection of encrypted password vaults they could probably unlock many of them without too much trouble."
Hristo Bojinov, CEO and founder of Anfacto, noted that "Honey Encryption could help reduce their vulnerability. But he notes that not every type of data will be easy to protect this way. … Not all authentication or encryption system yield themselves to being honeyed."
References
External links
Eurocrypt 2014 Website
Werbegeschenke
Cryptography |
41799316 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack%20Obama%20on%20mass%20surveillance | Barack Obama on mass surveillance | U.S. president Barack Obama has received widespread criticism due to his support of government surveillance. President Obama had released many statements on mass surveillance as a result.
The Patriot Act
As a senator, Obama condemned the Patriot Act for violating the rights of American citizens. He argued that it allowed government agents to perform extensive and in-depth searches on American citizens without a search warrant. He also argued that it was possible to secure the United States against terrorist attacks while preserving individual liberty. However, in 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act, specifically provisions allowing roaming wiretaps and government searches of business records. Obama argued that the renewal was needed to protect the United States from terrorist attacks. In spite of this, the renewal was criticized by several members of Congress who argued that the provisions did not do enough to curtail excessive searches. Obama also received criticism for his reversal on privacy protection.
Initial reaction to NSA mass surveillance leaks
In June 2013, reports from a cache of top secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and its international partners had created a global system of surveillance that was responsible for the mass collection of information on American and foreign citizens.
Obama initially defended NSA mass surveillance programs when they were first leaked. He argued that NSA surveillance was transparent and claimed that the NSA is unable and had made no attempt to monitor the phone calls and emails of American citizens. Following Snowden's admission to leaking classified documents regarding national surveillance, Obama attempted to ignore the issue of NSA surveillance. It was speculated that Obama did this to avoid complicating the Department of Justice investigation into Snowden.
In August 2013, Obama argued that his administration was already in the process of reviewing the NSA surveillance programs when they were leaked by Snowden. Obama stated that it would have been best for the American people to have never learned about the programs. He also criticized Snowden for not using existing systems within the federal government for whistleblowers. The latter statement was criticized as Snowden would have been directed to one of the committees responsible for protecting the secrecy of NSA surveillance if he had used the existing whistle-blower system. However, he also promised to make public information about government surveillance and work with Congress to increase public confidence in the government.
January 17, 2014 speech
On January 17, 2014, President Obama gave a public address on mass surveillance. During the speech, Obama promised increased restrictions on data collection of American citizens, which would include the requirement of court approval for searches of telephone records. In addition, Obama called for increased oversight and admitted the dangers NSA surveillance posed to civil liberties.
Reactions
Obama's speech was criticized for being deliberately vague and not going far enough to protect civil liberties.
Representatives for Google, Facebook and Yahoo stated that Obama's proposed reforms represented positive progress, but that they did not ultimately do enough to protect privacy rights. A representative for Mozilla noted that mass surveillance had damaged the open Internet and caused balkanization and distrust.
Sen. Rand Paul criticized the remarks, saying:
Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated that all but two or three of the members of her committee support Obama. Likewise, she criticized "privacy people" for not understanding the threat terrorists pose to the United States. Mike Rogers, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, praised Obama's stance on NSA surveillance. Peter King, another member of the House Intelligence Committee, questioned the need for the proposed reform of NSA surveillance, but admitted that they were necessary to calm down the "ACLU types".
Reactions from global leaders were limited. Great Britain and Russia, both states with extensive surveillance programs, offered no comments. Dilma Rousseff, the current president of Brazil and an outspoken critic of NSA surveillance, also refused to comment. In Germany, a government spokesperson demanded greater protection for non-Americans in reaction to the speech. Der Spiegel accused the NSA of turning the internet into a weapons system. The European Union stated that Obama's pledge to reform the phone data collection is a step in the right direction, but demanded that actual laws be passed regarding this reform.
Scorecard
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Day We Fight Back released a report card" evaluating Obama's reform:
A full point was awarded in each category where Obama fully made the promised reform. However, partial points were awarded for reforms that had not been fully completed, but where the EFF and The Day We Fight Back felt that progress as being made. Obama received praise for adding independent advocates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts and opposing the FISA Improvements Act. However, it was also noted that Obama had not made any progress on giving metadata storage responsibility to a third party, ending the undermining of encryption standards, increasing transparency within the NSA and protecting whistleblowers.
Statements to the German people
On January 18, Obama spoke to ZDF in an attempt to improve the United States relations with Germany, which a German foreign office official said were "worse than … the low-point in 2003 during the Iraq War" due to the surveillance leaks. Obama promised that he would not let revelations about mass surveillance damage German-American relations and admitted that it would take a long time for the United States to regain the trust of the German people. However, he maintained that the surveillance was necessary for international security.
German reactions to the speeches given by Obama on January 17 and 18 ranged from skeptical to outright hostile. Members of the German media argued that they were hopeful that Obama would bring about needed reform. However, they also noted that his statements were vague and argued that they did not represent legitimate reform. Many German political leaders responded with outright hostility. Thomas Oppermann, the chairman of the German Social Democrats, demanded a no-spy treaty and stated that American surveillance constituted a crime. The German attorney general argued that there were grounds for a criminal investigation into the NSA's tapping of Angela Merkel's cell phone.
Proposed overhaul of NSA phone surveillance programs
On March 25, 2014, Obama promised to end the NSA's collection and storage of bulk phone-call data. Despite this promise, his administration continued to seek reauthorization of the telephone metadata program. It is approved every 90 days by the FISC, with the most recent authority set to expire June 1, 2015. In a plan submitted by the Obama Administration to Congress, the NSA would be required to conduct searches of data at phone companies. They would also need to receive a warrant from a federal judge to conduct the search.
The overhaul proposal received support from the American Civil Liberties Union. A representative of the organization claimed that it was a crucial first step in reining in NSA surveillance. The overhaul was criticized by several officials, however, because it would force telephone carriers to store customers' metadata that they were previously not legally obligated to keep, a representative of Sprint Corporation stated that the carrier was examining the president's proposal with great interest.
As of March 2015, the administration's proposals have not been implemented and the NSA retains the authority to collect and store telephone record metadata.
Abuses and 4th Amendment Violations by the NSA and FBI
On May 24, 2017, a declassified FISA report marked "Top Secret" was published, noting that the NSA routinely violated the 4th Amendment rights of Americans and abused intelligence tools to do so. The Obama administration self-disclosed the problems at a closed-door hearing on Oct. 26 before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, two weeks before the 2016 election. The report labeled the matter a “very serious Fourth Amendment issue," citing an "institutional lack of candor" on the part of the administration. It also criticized the NSA as having “disregard” for rules and “deficient” oversight.
More than 5 percent, or one out of every 20 searches seeking upstream Internet data on Americans inside the NSA's so-called Section 702 database, violated the safeguards the Obama administration vowed to follow in 2011. In addition, there was a three-fold increase in NSA data searches about Americans and a rise in the unmasking of U.S. person's identities in intelligence reports after the administration loosened privacy rules in 2011. Many of the searches involved any and all mentions of foreign targets.
Officials like former National Security Adviser Susan Rice have argued their activities were legal under the so-called minimization rule changes the Obama administration made, and that the intelligence agencies were strictly monitored to avoid abuses. The FISA court and the NSA's own internal watchdog entity disputes this claim, stating that the administration conducting such queries were "in violation of that prohibition, with much greater frequency than had been previously disclosed to the Court.”
Sharing of data by the FBI
The FISA report also indicated hundreds of incidences in which the FBI illegally shared raw surveillance data illegally obtained by the NSA with private entities. Earlier in May, then-FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers his agency used sensitive espionage data gathered about Americans without a warrant only when it was “lawfully collected, carefully overseen and checked.” The ruling in the report declared that “The Court is nonetheless concerned about the FBI’s apparent disregard of minimization rules and whether the FBI is engaging in similar disclosures of raw Section 702 information that have not been reported.”
In a declassified report from 2015, the internal watchdog had concerns as early as 2012 that the FBI was submitting "deficient” reports indicating it had a clean record complying with spy data gathered on Americans without a warrant. While Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Act, last updated by Congress in 2008, allowed the NSA to share with the FBI spy data collected without a warrant, the FISA report indicates FBI compliance problems began months after the updated legislation was implemented. The FBI's very first compliance report in 2009 declared it had not found any instances in which agents accessed NSA intercepts supposedly gathered overseas about an American who in fact was on U.S. soil. The Inspector General, however, said it reviewed the same data and easily found evidence that the FBI accessed NSA data gathered on a person who likely was in the United States, making it illegal to review without a warrant.
Reaction
On April 28, 2017, the NSA issued a rare press release indicating it will no longer monitor all internet communications that mention a foreign intelligence target.
Neema Singh Guliani, the ACLU's legislative counsel in Washington, DC stated, “I think what this emphasizes is the shocking lack of oversight of these programs." Chris Farrell, Director of Investigations for the watchdog group Judicial Watch asserted, "This is an abuse of power and authority like we have never seen in this country."
See also
Reactions to global surveillance disclosures
Political positions of Barack Obama
References
Mass surveillance
Global surveillance
Obama administration controversies
Articles containing video clips |
41825367 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20email%20archive%20software | List of email archive software | This article provides a list of software products and cloud-based services used for email archiving.
Email archiving has several objectives: long-term preservation of knowledge, regulatory compliance, legal protection, etc. Those different goals may call for different solutions. For example, the preservation of historical records may require a one-time migration (change of format) and storage, while regulatory compliance generally calls for the systematic and continuous archival of messages, using a solution that provides storage and retrieval of email over extended time periods.
Different products have been developed to meet those needs. They may be offered as a standalone computer appliance (possibly in the form of a virtual machine), as installable software that can be deployed on the user's premises, or as a cloud-based service. Those products may perform compression, de-duplication, encryption, indexing and advanced searching. They may work with a variety of email data sources (email systems and email storage file formats) and they may also support other types of messaging systems such as social media or instant messaging. Additionally, several collaborative software products (which commonly have messaging components) can also archive the data that they manage; however, those systems are not listed here since they generally do not archive third-party email data.
Components
In addition to a backup system, several other components are necessary for a useful email archiving system:
Message header/metadata.
Message body and related document attachments.
Search and retrieval.
Efficient storage.
Reliable gathering of email flow.
Policy enforcement, such as retention policy.
Compliance certification.
Notable products and services
See also
Comparison of mail servers
Electronic discovery
Electronic message journaling
Email archiving
File archive
Message transfer agent
References
Computer archives
Message transfer agents
Mail servers
Records management technology |
41854632 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitro | Mitro | Mitro was a password manager for individuals and teams that securely saved users' logins, and allowed users to log in and share access.
On October 6, 2015, the Mitro service shut down.
The successor to Mitro is named Passopolis; this is a password manager built upon the Mitro source code.
History
Mitro was founded in 2012 by Vijay Pandurangan, Evan Jones, and Adam Hilss.
On July 31, 2014, the Mitro team announced that they would join Twitter, and at the same time, they released the source code for Mitro on GitHub as free software under GPL.
The Mitro team announced the shuttering of the Mitro service with the following timeline:
July 11, 2015: Initial announcement that Mitro would be shut down
July 18, 2015: Creating new accounts was disabled
August 4, 2015: Final email warning about imminent shutdown was sent
September 24, 2015: Mitro become read-only
October 6, 2015: Mitro service was turned off
October 31, 2015: All Mitro user data permanently destroyed
The Mitro team explained the reason for shutting down the service was that the cost and administrative burden to maintain the service in their spare time with their own money had become too much. Given that they could not properly manage a service that people rely on for their security, they needed to stop running it.
Former customers were encouraged to move to Passopolis, and independent project that uses the open source Mitro code, or use alternatives such as 1Password, Dashlane, or LastPass.
On October 5, 2015, Mitro was officially terminated by Twitter.
Investors
Seed Funding
Mitro was backed by $1.2 million in seed funding from Google Ventures and Matrix Partners.
Features
Password generator
Password sharing
One-click login
Two factor authentication
Cross-platform and cross-browser compatibility
Browser extensions: Chrome, Firefox, Safari
Mobile solutions for Android and iOS
Security
Mitro uses Google's Keyczar on the server and Keyczar JS implementation on the browser.
Master key is a 128-bit AES key derived using PBKDF2 (SHA-1; 50000 iterations; 16 salt bytes)
RSA with 2048-bit keys using OAEP-SHA1 (separate signing and encryption keys)
AES with 128-bit keys in CBC mode with PKCS5 padding
All encrypted data includes a MAC (HMAC-SHA1)
See also
Comparison of password managers
List of password managers
Password manager
Cryptography
Notes
References
External links
Source code
American companies established in 2012
Computer security software companies
Cryptographic software
Free password managers
Free software programmed in C
Software companies based in New York (state)
Twitter acquisitions
2014 mergers and acquisitions
2012 establishments in New York (state)
Software companies established in 2012 |
41869796 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC%20Electronics | IEC Electronics | IEC Electronics Corp. was set up in 1966 and now is based in Newark, New York. The company focuses on electronic contract manufacturing services (EMS), such as the circuit cards, loads of cable and wire harness assemblies, and precision sheet metal components, for military, aerospace, medical devices, and other industry markets. In addition, the company provides services like testing and detection of counterfeit electronic parts, component risk mitigation and advanced failure analysis. IEC Electronics acquired Southern California Braiding, Inc. in 2010 to further develop IEC’s subsidiary, IEC Electronics Wire and Cable, Inc.. The company also has another subsidiary, namely Albuquerque. In October 2021, the company was acquired by Creation Technologies.
History
In June 2013, Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP, on behalf of investors of IEC, filed a class action lawsuit against the Company for issuing false and/or misleading statements.
On February 17, 2015, the company received a deficiency letter from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The reasons for deficiency included failure to file a quarterly report in a timely manner. The company has been actively trying to prevent their stock from being delisted. IEC had until May 11, 2015, to submit a plan to the NYSE. Failure to submit and follow their approved plan, would get them delisted.
In February 2018, IEC Electronics announced they would be building a new facility in Newark, New York to expand production capabilities. The new 150,000 square foot facility, which will be located at the Silver Hill Technology Park, is projected to open in mid-2020. This business expansion is expected to create 362 new jobs while retaining 463 positions in New York State.
Products
All the related products are based on the company’s on-site analytical laboratories, real-time and automated data surveillance, component tracking systems, and the new product incubation centers, under ISO 9001:2008, ISO 13485 and ISO 14001 and many other standards, with Six Sigma to manage quality.
In the market of medical, the company provides products like resuscitation systems, surgical navigation systems, imaging devices, and remote/wireless diagnostics; In the market of aerospace & defense, the company provides products like secured cockpit encryption systems, weapons/missile launch platforms, MRAP ground vehicles, UAV control systems, and rocket guidance & spacecraft navigation; In the market of Industrial & Transportation, the company provides products tracking & monitoring systems, railway signaling, bus/mass transit communication systems, commercial aircraft lighting, weather detection & ranging instruments.
Awards
IEC Electronics received:
Association for Manufacturing Excellence Manufacturing Excellence Award in 2011 and 2013;
Small Business Subcontractor of the Year by NASA in 2010;
Forbes Best Small Companies in America in 2012(6th), 2011(3rd), 2009(29th), IndustryWeek Best Plants in North America in 2010.
References
External links
Official IEC Electronics website
Electronics companies of the United States
Manufacturing companies based in New York (state)
Wayne County, New York
American companies established in 1966
Electronics companies established in 1966
1966 establishments in New York (state)
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq |
41909781 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline%20of%20global%20surveillance%20disclosures%20%282013%E2%80%93present%29 | Timeline of global surveillance disclosures (2013–present) | This timeline of global surveillance disclosures from 2013 to the present day is a chronological list of the global surveillance disclosures that began in 2013. The disclosures have been largely instigated by revelations from the former American National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
2012
In April 2012, Defense contractor Edward Snowden began downloading sensitive Western intelligence material while working for the American computer corporation Dell. By the end of the year, Snowden had made his first contact with journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian.
January–May 2013
In January 2013, Snowden contacted documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. In March 2013, Snowden took up a new job at Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii, specifically to gain access to additional top-secret documents that could be leaked. In April 2013, Poitras asked Greenwald to meet her in New York City. In May 2013, Snowden was permitted temporary leave from his position at the NSA in Hawaii, on the pretext of receiving treatment for his epilepsy. Towards the end of May, Snowden flew to Hong Kong.
June 2013
After the U.S.-based editor of The Guardian held several meetings in New York City, it was decided that Greenwald, Poitras, and The Guardians defence and intelligence correspondent Ewen MacAskill would fly to Hong Kong to meet Snowden. On June 5, in the first media report based on the leaked material, The Guardian exposed a top secret court order showing that the NSA had collected phone records from over 120 million Verizon subscribers. Under the order, the numbers of both parties on a call, as well as the location data, unique identifiers, time of call, and duration of call were handed over to the FBI, which turned over the records to the NSA. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Verizon order is part of a controversial data program, which seeks to stockpile records on all calls made in the U.S., but doesn't collect information directly from T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, in part because of their foreign ownership ties.
On June 7, 2013, the second media disclosure, the revelation of the PRISM surveillance program, was published simultaneously by The Guardian and The Washington Post.
Documents provided by Snowden to Der Spiegel revealed how the NSA spied on various diplomatic missions of the European Union (EU) including the EU's delegation to the United States in Washington D.C., the EU's delegation to the United Nations in New York, and the Council of the European Union in Brussels, as well as the United Nations Headquarters in New York. During specific episodes within a four-year period, the NSA hacked several Chinese mobile phone companies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the Asian fiber-optic network operator Pacnet. Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK are explicitly exempted from NSA attacks, whose main target in the EU is Germany. A method of bugging encrypted fax machines used at an EU embassy is codenamed Dropmire.
During the 2009 G-20 London summit, the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intercepted the communications of foreign diplomats. In addition, the GCHQ has been intercepting and storing mass quantities of fiber-optic traffic via Tempora. Two principal components of Tempora are called "Mastering the Internet" (MTI) and "Global Telecoms Exploitation". The data is preserved for three days while metadata is kept for thirty days. Data collected by the GCHQ under Tempora is shared with the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States.
From 2001 to 2011, the NSA collected vast amounts of metadata records detailing the email and internet usage of Americans via Stellar Wind, which was later terminated due to operational and resource constraints. It was subsequently replaced by newer surveillance programs such as ShellTrumpet, which "processed its one trillionth metadata record" by the end of December 2012.
According to the Boundless Informant, over 97 billion pieces of intelligence were collected over a 30-day period ending in March 2013. Out of all 97 billion sets of information, about 3 billion data sets originated from U.S. computer networks and around 500 million metadata records were collected from German networks.
Several weeks later, it was revealed that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) of Germany transfers massive amounts of metadata records to the NSA.
July 2013
According to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, the NSA spied on millions of emails and calls of Brazilian citizens, while Australia and New Zealand have been involved in the joint operation of the NSA's global analytical system XKeyscore. Among the numerous allied facilities contributing to XKeyscore are four installations in Australia and one in New Zealand:
Pine Gap near Alice Springs, Australia, which is partly operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The Shoal Bay Receiving Station near Darwin, Australia, is operated by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)
The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station near Geraldton, Australia, is operated by the ASD
HMAS Harman outside Canberra, Australia, is operated by the ASD
Waihopai Station near Blenheim, New Zealand, is operated by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)
O Globo released an NSA document titled "Primary FORNSAT Collection Operations", which revealed the specific locations and codenames of the FORNSAT intercept stations in 2002.
According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has established secret intelligence partnerships with many Western governments. The Foreign Affairs Directorate (FAD) of the NSA is responsible for these partnerships, which, according to Snowden, are organized such that foreign governments can "insulate their political leaders" from public outrage in the event that these global surveillance partnerships are leaked.
In an interview published by Der Spiegel, Snowden accused the NSA of being "in bed together with the Germans". The NSA granted the German intelligence agencies BND (foreign intelligence) and BfV (domestic intelligence) access to its controversial XKeyscore system. In return, the BND turned over copies of two systems named Mira4 and Veras, reported to exceed the NSA's SIGINT capabilities in certain areas. Every day, massive amounts of metadata records are collected by the BND and transferred to the NSA via the Bad Aibling Station near Munich, Germany. In December 2012 alone, the BND handed over 500 million metadata records to the NSA.
In a document dated January 2013, the NSA acknowledged the efforts of the BND to undermine privacy laws:
According to an NSA document dated April 2013, Germany has now become the NSA's "most prolific partner". Under a section of a separate document leaked by Snowden titled "Success Stories", the NSA acknowledged the efforts of the German government to expand the BND's international data sharing with partners:
In addition, the German government was well aware of the PRISM surveillance program long before Edward Snowden made details public. According to Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert, there are two separate PRISM programs - one is used by the NSA and the other is used by NATO forces in Afghanistan. Both surveillance programs are "not identical".
The Guardian revealed further details of the NSA's XKeyscore tool, which allows government analysts to search through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals without prior authorization. Microsoft "developed a surveillance capability to deal" with the interception of encrypted chats on Outlook.com, within five months after the service went into testing. NSA had access to Outlook.com emails because “Prism collects this data prior to encryption.”
In addition, Microsoft worked with the FBI to enable the NSA to gain access to its cloud storage service SkyDrive. An internal NSA document dating from 3 August 2012 described the PRISM surveillance program as a "team sport".
Even if there is no reason to suspect U.S. citizens of wrongdoing, the CIA's National Counterterrorism Center is allowed to examine federal government files for possible criminal behavior. Previously the NTC was barred to do so, unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an investigation.
Snowden also confirmed that Stuxnet was cooperatively developed by the United States and Israel. In a report unrelated to Edward Snowden, the French newspaper Le Monde revealed that France's DGSE was also undertaking mass surveillance, which it described as "illegal and outside any serious control".
August 2013
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden that were seen by Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk revealed that several telecom operators have played a key role in helping the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) tap into worldwide fiber-optic communications. The telecom operators are:
Verizon Business (codenamed "Dacron")
British Telecommunications (codenamed "Remedy")
Vodafone Cable (codenamed "Gerontic")
Global Crossing (codenamed "Pinnage")
Level 3 (codenamed "Little")
Viatel (codenamed "Vitreous")
Interoute (codenamed "Streetcar")
Each of them were assigned a particular area of the international fiber-optic network for which they were individually responsible. The following networks have been infiltrated by the GCHQ: TAT-14 (Europe-USA), Atlantic Crossing 1 (Europe-USA), Circe South (France-UK), Circe North (The Netherlands-UK), Flag Atlantic-1, Flag Europa-Asia, SEA-ME-WE 3 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe), SEA-ME-WE 4 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe), Solas (Ireland-UK), UK-France 3, UK-Netherlands 14, ULYSSES (Europe-UK), Yellow (UK-USA) and Pan European Crossing.
Telecommunication companies who participated were "forced" to do so and had "no choice in the matter". Some of the companies were subsequently paid by GCHQ for their participation in the infiltration of the cables. According to the SZ the GCHQ has access to the majority of internet and telephone communications flowing throughout Europe, can listen to phone calls, read emails and text messages, see which websites internet users from all around the world are visiting. It can also retain and analyse nearly the entire European internet traffic.
The GCHQ is collecting all data transmitted to and from the United Kingdom and Northern Europe via the undersea fibre optic telecommunications cable SEA-ME-WE 3. The Security and Intelligence Division (SID) of Singapore co-operates with Australia in accessing and sharing communications carried by the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable. The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is also in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fibre optic telecommunications cables that link Asia, the Middle East and Europe and carry much of Australia's international phone and internet traffic.
The U.S. runs a top-secret surveillance program known as the Special Collection Service (SCS), which is based in over 80 U.S. consulates and embassies worldwide. The NSA hacked the United Nations' video conferencing system in Summer 2012 in violation of a UN agreement.
The NSA is not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas, but also searching the contents of vast amounts of e-mail and text communications into and out of the country by Americans who mention information about foreigners under surveillance. It also spied on the Al Jazeera and gained access to its internal communications systems.
The NSA has built a surveillance network that has the capacity to reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic. U.S. Law-enforcement agencies use tools used by computer hackers to gather information on suspects. An internal NSA audit from May 2012 identified 2776 incidents i.e. violations of the rules or court orders for surveillance of Americans and foreign targets in the U.S. in the period from April 2011 through March 2012, while U.S. officials stressed that any mistakes are not intentional.
The FISA Court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the U.S. government's vast spying programs has limited ability to do and it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans. A legal opinion declassified on August 21, 2013 revealed that the NSA intercepted for three years as many as 56,000 electronic communications a year of Americans who weren't suspected of having links to terrorism, before FISC court that oversees surveillance found the operation unconstitutional in 2011. Under the Corporate Partner Access project, major U.S. telecommunications providers receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from the NSA. Voluntary cooperation between the NSA and the providers of global communications took off during the 1970s under the cover name BLARNEY.
A letter drafted by the Obama administration specifically to inform Congress of the government's mass collection of Americans’ telephone communications data was withheld from lawmakers by leaders of the House Intelligence Committee in the months before a key vote affecting the future of the program.
The NSA paid GCHQ over £100 Million between 2009 and 2012, in exchange for these funds GCHQ "must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight." Documents referenced in the article explain that the weaker British laws regarding spying are "a selling point" for the NSA. GCHQ is also developing the technology to "exploit any mobile phone at any time." The NSA has under a legal authority a secret backdoor into its databases gathered from large Internet companies enabling it to search for U.S. citizens' email and phone calls without a warrant.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board urged the U.S. intelligence chiefs to draft stronger US surveillance guidelines on domestic spying after finding that several of those guidelines have not been updated up to 30 years. U.S. intelligence analysts have deliberately broken rules designed to prevent them from spying on Americans by choosing to ignore so-called "minimisation procedures" aimed at protecting privacy.
After the U.S. Foreign Secret Intelligence Court ruled in October 2011 that some of the NSA's activities were unconstitutional, the agency paid millions of dollars to major internet companies to cover extra costs incurred in their involvement with the PRISM surveillance program.
"Mastering the Internet" (MTI) is part of the Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) of the British government that involves the insertion of thousands of DPI (deep packet inspection) "black boxes" at various internet service providers, as revealed by the British media in 2009.
In 2013, it was further revealed that the NSA had made a £17.2 million financial contribution to the project, which is capable of vacuuming signals from up to 200 fibre-optic cables at all physical points of entry into Great Britain.
September 2013
The Guardian and The New York Times reported on secret documents leaked by Snowden showing that the NSA has been in "collaboration with technology companies" as part of "an aggressive, multipronged effort" to weaken the encryption used in commercial software, and the GCHQ has a team dedicated to cracking "Hotmail, Google, Yahoo and Facebook" traffic.
Israel, Sweden and Italy are also cooperating with American and British intelligence agencies. Under a secret treaty codenamed "Lustre", French intelligence agencies transferred millions of metadata records to the NSA.
The Obama Administration secretly won permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency's use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases. The searches take place under a surveillance program Congress authorized in 2008 under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under that law, the target must be a foreigner “reasonably believed” to be outside the United States, and the court must approve the targeting procedures in an order good for one year. But a warrant for each target would thus no longer be required. That means that communications with Americans could be picked up without a court first determining that there is probable cause that the people they were talking to were terrorists, spies or “foreign powers.” The FISC extended the length of time that the NSA is allowed to retain intercepted U.S. communications from five years to six years with an extension possible for foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purposes. Both measures were done without public debate or any specific authority from Congress.
A special branch of the NSA called "Follow the Money" (FTM) monitors international payments, banking and credit card transactions and later stores the collected data in the NSA's own financial databank "Tracfin". The NSA monitored the communications of Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff and her top aides. The agency also spied on Brazil's oil firm Petrobras as well as French diplomats, and gained access to the private network of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France and the SWIFT network.
In the United States, the NSA uses the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs of American citizens to create sophisticated graphs of their social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information. The NSA routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about U.S. citizens.
In an effort codenamed GENIE, computer specialists can control foreign computer networks using "covert implants,” a form of remotely transmitted malware on tens of thousands of devices annually. As worldwide sales of smartphones began exceeding those of feature phones, the NSA decided to take advantage of the smartphone boom. This is particularly advantageous because the smartphone combines a myriad of data that would interest an intelligence agency, such as social contacts, user behavior, interests, location, photos and credit card numbers and passwords.
An internal NSA report from 2010 stated that the spread of the smartphone has been occurring "extremely rapidly"—developments that "certainly complicate traditional target analysis." According to the document, the NSA has set up task forces assigned to several smartphone manufacturers and operating systems, including Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iOS operating system, as well as Google's Android mobile operating system. Similarly, Britain's GCHQ assigned a team to study and crack the BlackBerry.
Under the heading "iPhone capability", the document notes that there are smaller NSA programs, known as "scripts", that can perform surveillance on 38 different features of the iOS 3 and iOS 4 operating systems. These include the mapping feature, voicemail and photos, as well as Google Earth, Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger.
October 2013
On October 4, 2013, The Washington Post and The Guardian jointly reported that the NSA and the GCHQ have made repeated attempts to spy on anonymous Internet users who have been communicating in secret via the anonymity network Tor. Several of these surveillance operations involve the implantation of malicious code into the computers of Tor users who visit particular websites. The NSA and GCHQ have partly succeeded in blocking access to the anonymous network, diverting Tor users to insecure channels. The government agencies were also able to uncover the identity of some anonymous Internet users.
The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been using a program called Olympia to map the communications of Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry by targeting the metadata of phone calls and emails to and from the ministry.
The Australian Federal Government knew about the PRISM surveillance program months before Edward Snowden made details public.
The NSA monitored the public email account of former Mexican president Felipe Calderón (thus gaining access to the communications of high-ranking cabinet members), the E-Mails of several high-ranking members of Mexico's security forces and text and the mobile phone communication of current Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto. The NSA tries to gather cellular and landline phone numbers—often obtained from American diplomats—for as many foreign officials as possible. The contents of the phone calls are stored in computer databases that can regularly be searched using keywords.
The NSA has been monitoring telephone conversations of 35 world leaders. The U.S. government's first public acknowledgment that it tapped the phones of world leaders was reported on October 28, 2013 by the Wall Street Journal after an internal U.S. government review turned up NSA monitoring of some 35 world leaders. The GCHQ has tried to keep its mass surveillance program a secret because it feared a "damaging public debate" on the scale of its activities which could lead to legal challenges against them.
The Guardian revealed that the NSA had been monitoring telephone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another U.S. government department. A confidential memo revealed that the NSA encouraged senior officials in such Departments as the White House, State and The Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the agency could add the telephone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems. Reacting to the news, German leader Angela Merkel, arriving in Brussels for an EU summit, accused the U.S. of a breach of trust, saying: "We need to have trust in our allies and partners, and this must now be established once again. I repeat that spying among friends is not at all acceptable against anyone, and that goes for every citizen in Germany." The NSA collected in 2010 data on ordinary Americans’ cellphone locations, but later discontinued it because it had no “operational value.”
Under Britain's MUSCULAR programme, the NSA and the GCHQ have secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world and thereby gained the ability to collect metadata and content at will from hundreds of millions of user accounts.
The mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel might have been tapped by U.S. intelligence. According to the Spiegel this monitoring goes back to 2002 and ended in the summer of 2013, while the New York Times reported that Germany has evidence that the NSA's surveillance of Merkel began during George W. Bush's tenure. After learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the NSA has been listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel compared the snooping practices of the NSA with those of the Stasi.
On October 31, 2013, Hans-Christian Ströbele, a member of the German Bundestag, met Snowden in Moscow and revealed the former intelligence contractor's readiness to brief the German government on NSA spying.
A highly sensitive signals intelligence collection program known as Stateroom involves the interception of radio, telecommunications and internet traffic. It is operated out of the diplomatic missions of the Five Eyes (Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, United States) in numerous locations around the world. The program conducted at U.S. diplomatic missions is run in concert by the U.S. intelligence agencies NSA and CIA in a joint venture group called "Special Collection Service" (SCS), whose members work undercover in shielded areas of the American Embassies and Consulates, where they are officially accredited as diplomats and as such enjoy special privileges. Under diplomatic protection, they are able to look and listen unhindered. The SCS for example used the American Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to monitor communications in Germany's government district with its parliament and the seat of the government.
Under the Stateroom surveillance programme, Australia operates clandestine surveillance facilities to intercept phone calls and data across much of Asia.
In France, the NSA targeted people belonging to the worlds of business, politics or French state administration. The NSA monitored and recorded the content of telephone communications and the history of the connections of each target i.e. the metadata. The actual surveillance operation was performed by French intelligence agencies on behalf of the NSA. The cooperation between France and the NSA was confirmed by the Director of the NSA, Keith B. Alexander, who asserted that foreign intelligence services collected phone records in "war zones" and "other areas outside their borders" and provided them to the NSA.
The French newspaper Le Monde also disclosed new PRISM and Upstream slides (See Page 4, 7 and 8) coming from the "PRISM/US-984XN Overview" presentation.
In Spain, the NSA intercepted the telephone conversations, text messages and emails of millions of Spaniards, and spied on members of the Spanish government. Between December 10, 2012 and January 8, 2013, the NSA collected metadata on 60 million telephone calls in Spain.
According to documents leaked by Snowden, the surveillance of Spanish citizens was jointly conducted by the NSA and the intelligence agencies of Spain.
November 2013
The New York Times reported that the NSA carries out an eavesdropping effort, dubbed Operation Dreadnought, against the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. During his 2009 visit to Iranian Kurdistan, the agency collaborated with the GCHQ and the U.S.'s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, collecting radio transmissions between aircraft and airports, examining Khamenei's convoy with satellite imagery, and enumerating military radar stations. According to the story, an objective of the operation is "communications fingerprinting": the ability to distinguish Khamenei's communications from those of other people in Iran.
The same story revealed an operation code-named Ironavenger, in which the NSA intercepted e-mails sent between a country allied with the United States and the government of "an adversary". The ally was conducting a spear-phishing attack: its e-mails contained malware. The NSA gathered documents and login credentials belonging to the enemy country, along with knowledge of the ally's capabilities for attacking computers.
According to the British newspaper The Independent, the British intelligence agency GCHQ maintains a listening post on the roof of the British Embassy in Berlin that is capable of intercepting mobile phone calls, wi-fi data and long-distance communications all over the German capital, including adjacent government buildings such as the Reichstag (seat of the German parliament) and the Chancellery (seat of Germany's head of government) clustered around the Brandenburg Gate.
Operating under the code-name "Quantum Insert", the GCHQ set up a fake website masquerading as LinkedIn, a social website used for professional networking, as part of its efforts to install surveillance software on the computers of the telecommunications operator Belgacom. In addition, the headquarters of the oil cartel OPEC were infiltrated by the GCHQ as well as the NSA, which bugged the computers of nine OPEC employees and monitored the General Secretary of OPEC.
For more than three years the GCHQ has been using an automated monitoring system code-named "Royal Concierge" to infiltrate the reservation systems of at least 350 upscale hotels in many different parts of the world in order to target, search and analyze reservations to detect diplomats and government officials. First tested in 2010, the aim of the "Royal Concierge" is to track down the travel plans of diplomats, and it is often supplemented with surveillance methods related to human intelligence (HUMINT). Other covert operations include the wiretapping of room telephones and fax machines used in targeted hotels as well as the monitoring of computers hooked up to the hotel network.
In November 2013, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Guardian revealed that the Australian Signals Directorate (DSD) had attempted to listen to the private phone calls of the president of Indonesia and his wife. The Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, confirmed that he and the president had contacted the ambassador in Canberra. Natalegawa said any tapping of Indonesian politicians’ personal phones “violates every single decent and legal instrument I can think of—national in Indonesia, national in Australia, international as well”.
Other high-ranking Indonesian politicians targeted by the DSD include:
Boediono (Vice President)
Jusuf Kalla (Former Vice President)
Dino Patti Djalal (Ambassador to the United States)
Andi Mallarangeng (Government spokesperson)
Hatta Rajasa (State Secretary)
Sri Mulyani Indrawati (Former Finance Minister and current managing director of the World Bank)
Widodo Adi Sutjipto (Former Commander-in-Chief of the military)
Sofyan Djalil (Senior government advisor)
Carrying the title "3G impact and update", a classified presentation leaked by Snowden revealed the attempts of the ASD/DSD to keep up to pace with the rollout of 3G technology in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia. The ASD/DSD motto placed at the bottom of each page reads: "Reveal their secrets—protect our own."
Under a secret deal approved by British intelligence officials, the NSA has been storing and analyzing the internet and email records of British citizens since 2007. The NSA also proposed in 2005 a procedure for spying on the citizens of the UK and other Five-Eyes nations alliance, even where the partner government has explicitly denied the U.S. permission to do so. Under the proposal, partner countries must neither be informed about this particular type of surveillance, nor the procedure of doing so.
Towards the end of November, The New York Times released an internal NSA report outlining the agency's efforts to expand its surveillance abilities. The five-page document asserts that the law of the United States has not kept up with the needs of the NSA to conduct mass surveillance in the "golden age" of signals intelligence, but there are grounds for optimism because, in the NSA's own words:
The report, titled "SIGNT Strategy 2012–2016", also said that the U.S. will try to influence the "global commercial encryption market" through "commercial relationships", and emphasized the need to "revolutionize" the analysis of its vast data collection to "radically increase operational impact".
On November 23, 2013, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported that the Netherlands was targeted by U.S. intelligence agencies in the immediate aftermath of World War II. This period of surveillance lasted from 1946 to 1968, and also included the interception of the communications of other European countries including Belgium, France, West Germany and Norway. The Dutch Newspaper also reported that NSA infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide, often covertly, with malicious spy software, sometimes in cooperation with local authorities, designed to steal sensitive information.
December 2013
According to the classified documents leaked by Snowden, the Australian Signals Directorate, formerly known as the Defence Signals Directorate, had offered to share information on Australian citizens with the other intelligence agencies of the UKUSA Agreement. Data shared with foreign countries include "bulk, unselected, unminimised metadata" such as "medical, legal or religious information".
The Washington Post revealed that the NSA has been tracking the locations of mobile phones from all over the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. In the process of doing so, the NSA collects more than five billion records of phone locations on a daily basis. This enables NSA analysts to map cellphone owners’ relationships by correlating their patterns of movement over time with thousands or millions of other phone users who cross their paths.
The Washington Post also reported that the NSA makes use of location data and advertising tracking files generated through normal internet browsing i.e. tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers from Google and others to get information on potential targets, to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.
The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS), which cooperates with the NSA, has gained access to Russian targets in the Kola Peninsula and other civilian targets. In general, the NIS provides information to the NSA about "Politicians", "Energy" and "Armament". A top secret memo of the NSA lists the following years as milestones of the Norway-United States of America SIGNT agreement, or NORUS Agreement:
1952 - Informal starting year of cooperation between the NIS and the NSA
1954 - Formalization of the agreement
1963 - Extension of the agreement for coverage of foreign instrumentation signals intelligence (FISINT)
1970 - Extension of the agreement for coverage of electronic intelligence (ELINT)
1994 - Extension of the agreement for coverage of communications intelligence (COMINT)
The NSA considers the NIS to be one of its most reliable partners. Both agencies also cooperate to crack the encryption systems of mutual targets. According to the NSA, Norway has made no objections to its requests from the NIS.
On 5 December, Sveriges Television reported that the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) has been conducting a clandestine surveillance operation in Sweden, targeting the internal politics of Russia. The operation was conducted on behalf of the NSA, receiving data handed over to it by the FRA. The Swedish-American surveillance operation also targeted Russian energy interests as well as the Baltic states. As part of the UKUSA Agreement, a secret treaty was signed in 1954 by Sweden with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, regarding collaboration and intelligence sharing.
As a result of Snowden's disclosures, the notion of Swedish neutrality in international politics was called into question. In an internal document dating from the year 2006, the NSA acknowledged that its "relationship" with Sweden is "protected at the TOP SECRET level because of that nation’s political neutrality." Specific details of Sweden's cooperation with members of the UKUSA Agreement include:
The FRA has been granted access to XKeyscore, an analytical database of the NSA.
Sweden updated the NSA on changes in Swedish legislation that provided the legal framework for information sharing between the FRA and the Swedish Security Service.
Since January 2013, a counterterrorism analyst of the NSA has been stationed in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
The NSA, the GCHQ and the FRA signed an agreement in 2004 that allows the FRA to directly collaborate with the NSA without having to consult the GCHQ.
In order to identify targets for government hacking and surveillance, both the GCHQ and the NSA have used advertising cookies operated by Google, known as Pref, to "pinpoint" targets. According to documents leaked by Snowden, the Special Source Operations of the NSA has been sharing information containing "logins, cookies, and GooglePREFID" with the Tailored Access Operations division of the NSA, as well as Britain's GCHQ agency.
During the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa was transformed into a security command post during a six-day spying operation that was conducted by the NSA and closely co-ordinated with the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). The goal of the spying operation was, among others, to obtain information on international development, banking reform, and to counter trade protectionism to support "U.S. policy goals." On behalf of the NSA, the CSEC has set up covert spying posts in 20 countries around the world.
In Italy the Special Collection Service of the NSA maintains two separate surveillance posts in Rome and Milan. According to a secret NSA memo dated September 2010, the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C. has been targeted by two spy operations of the NSA:
Under the codename "Bruneau", which refers to mission "Lifesaver", the NSA sucks out all the information stored in the embassy's computers and creates electronic images of hard disk drives.
Under the codename "Hemlock", which refers to mission "Highlands", the NSA gains access to the embassy's communications through physical "implants".
Due to concerns that terrorist or criminal networks may be secretly communicating via computer games, the NSA, the GCHQ, the CIA, and the FBI have been conducting surveillance and scooping up data from the networks of many online games, including massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, as well as virtual worlds such as Second Life, and the Xbox gaming console.
The NSA has cracked the most commonly used cellphone encryption technology, A5/1. According to a classified document leaked by Snowden, the agency can "process encrypted A5/1" even when it has not acquired an encryption key. In addition, the NSA uses various types of cellphone infrastructure, such as the links between carrier networks, to determine the location of a cellphone user tracked by Visitor Location Registers.
US district court judge for the District of Columbia, Richard Leon, declared on December 16, 2013, that the mass collection of metadata of Americans’ telephone records by the National Security Agency probably violates the fourth amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. Leon granted the request for a preliminary injunction that blocks the collection of phone data for two private plaintiffs (Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer, and Charles Strange, father of a cryptologist killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down in 2011) and ordered the government to destroy any of their records that have been gathered. But the judge stayed action on his ruling pending a government appeal, recognizing in his 68-page opinion the “significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues.”
However federal judge William H. Pauley III in New York City ruled the U.S. government's global telephone data-gathering system is needed to thwart potential terrorist attacks, and that it can only work if everyone's calls are swept in. U.S. District Judge Pauley also ruled that Congress legally set up the program and that it does not violate anyone's constitutional rights. The judge also concluded that the telephone data being swept up by NSA did not belong to telephone users, but to the telephone companies. He further ruled that when NSA obtains such data from the telephone companies, and then probes into it to find links between callers and potential terrorists, this further use of the data was not even a search under the Fourth Amendment. He also concluded that the controlling precedent is Smith v. Maryland: “Smith’s bedrock holding is that an individual has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information provided to third parties,” Judge Pauley wrote. The American Civil Liberties Union declared on January 2, 2012 that it will appeal Judge Pauley's ruling that NSA bulk the phone record collection is legal. "The government has a legitimate interest in tracking the associations of suspected terrorists, but tracking those associations does not require the government to subject every citizen to permanent surveillance,” deputy ACLU legal director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement.
In recent years, American and British intelligence agencies conducted surveillance on more than 1,100 targets, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies and a European Union official involved in antitrust battles with American technology businesses.
A catalog of high-tech gadgets and software developed by the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) was leaked by the German news magazine Der Spiegel. Dating from 2008, the catalog revealed the existence of special gadgets modified to capture computer screenshots and USB flash drives secretly fitted with radio transmitters to broadcast stolen data over the airwaves, and fake base stations intended to intercept mobile phone signals, as well as many other secret devices and software implants listed here:
The Tailored Access Operations (TAO) division of the NSA intercepted the shipping deliveries of computers and laptops in order to install spyware and physical implants on electronic gadgets. This was done in close cooperation with the FBI and the CIA. NSA officials responded to the Spiegel reports with a statement, which said: "Tailored Access Operations is a unique national asset that is on the front lines of enabling NSA to defend the nation and its allies. [TAO's] work is centred on computer network exploitation in support of foreign intelligence collection."
In a separate disclosure unrelated to Snowden, the French Trésor public, which runs a certificate authority, was found to have issued fake certificates impersonating Google in order to facilitate spying on French government employees via man-in-the-middle attacks.
January 2014
The NSA is working to build a powerful quantum computer capable of breaking all types of encryption. The effort is part of a US$79.7 million research program known as "Penetrating Hard Targets". It involves extensive research carried out in large, shielded rooms known as Faraday cages, which are designed to prevent electromagnetic radiation from entering or leaving. Currently, the NSA is close to producing basic building blocks that will allow the agency to gain "complete quantum control on two semiconductor qubits". Once a quantum computer is successfully built, it would enable the NSA to unlock the encryption that protects data held by banks, credit card companies, retailers, brokerages, governments and health care providers.
According to the New York Times the NSA is monitoring approximately 100.000 computers worldwide with spy software named Quantum. Quantum enables the NSA to conduct surveillance on those computers on the one hand and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks on the other hand. Among the targets are the Chinese and Russian military, but also trade institutions within the European Union. The NYT also reported that the NSA can access and alter computers which are not connected with the internet by a secret technology in use by the NSA since 2008. The prerequisite is the physically insertion of the radio frequency hardware by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user. The technology relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target. The technology can also transmit malware back to the infected computer.
Channel 4 and The Guardian revealed the existence of Dishfire, a massive database of the NSA that collects hundreds of millions of text messages on a daily basis. The GCHQ has been given full access to the database, which it uses to obtain personal information of Britons by exploiting a legal loophole.
Each day, the database receives and stores the following amounts of data:
Geolocation data of more than 76,000 text messages and other travel information
Over 110,000 names, gathered from electronic business cards
Over 800,000 financial transactions that are either gathered from text-to-text payments or by linking credit cards to phone users
Details of 1.6 million border crossings based on the interception of network roaming alerts
Over 5 million missed call alerts
About 200 million text messages from around the world
The database is supplemented with an analytical tool known as the Prefer program, which processes SMS messages to extract other types of information including contacts from missed call alerts.
According to a joint disclosure by the New York Times, the Guardian, and ProPublica, the NSA and the GCHQ have begun working together to collect and store data from dozens of smartphone application software by 2007 at the latest. A 2008 GCHQ report leaked by Snowden asserts that "anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system". The NSA and the GCHQ have traded recipes for various purposes such as grabbing location data and journey plans that are made when a target uses Google Maps, and vacuuming up address books, buddy lists, phone logs and geographic data embedded in photos posted on the mobile versions of numerous social networks such as Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services. In a separate 20-page report dated 2012, the GCHQ cited the popular smartphone game "Angry Birds" as an example of how an application could be used to extract user data. Taken together, such forms of data collection would allow the agencies to collect vital information about a user's life, including his or her home country, current location (through geolocation), age, gender, ZIP code, marital status, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education level, number of children, etc.
A GCHQ document dated August 2012 provided details of the Squeaky Dolphin surveillance program, which enables the GCHQ to conduct broad, real-time monitoring of various social media features and social media traffic such as YouTube video views, the Like button on Facebook, and Blogspot/Blogger visits without the knowledge or consent of the companies providing those social media features. The agency's “Squeaky Dolphin” program can collect, analyze and utilize YouTube, Facebook and Blogger data in specific situations in real time for analysis purposes. The program also collects the addresses from the billion of videos watched daily as well as some user information for analysis purposes.
During the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the NSA and its Five Eyes partners monitored the communications of delegates of numerous countries. This was done to give their own policymakers a negotiating advantage.
The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been tracking Canadian air passengers via free Wi-Fi services at a major Canadian airport. Passengers who exited the airport terminal continued to be tracked as they showed up at other Wi-Fi locations across Canada. In a CSEC document dated May 2012, the agency described how it had gained access to two communications systems with over 300,000 users in order to pinpoint a specific imaginary target. The operation was executed on behalf of the NSA as a trial run to test a new technology capable of tracking down "any target that makes occasional forays into other cities/regions." This technology was subsequently shared with Canada's Five Eyes partners - Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and the United States.
February 2014
According to research by Süddeutsche Zeitung and TV network NDR the mobile phone of former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder was monitored from 2002 onwards, reportedly because of his government's opposition to military intervention in Iraq. The source of the latest information is a document leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The document, containing information about the National Sigint Requirement List (NSRL), had previously been interpreted as referring only to Angela Merkel's mobile. However Süddeutsche Zeitung and NDR claim to have confirmation from NSA insiders that the surveillance authorisation pertains not to the individual, but the political post – which in 2002 was still held by Schröder. According to research by the two media outlets, Schröder was placed as number 388 on the list, which contains the names of persons and institutions to be put under surveillance by the NSA.
The GCHQ launched a cyber-attack on the activist network "Anonymous", using denial-of-service attack (DoS) to shut down a chatroom frequented by the network's members and to spy on them. The attack, dubbed Rolling Thunder, was conducted by a GCHQ unit known as the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG). The unit successfully uncovered the true identities of several Anonymous members.
The NSA Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program which seeks to stockpile records on all calls made in the U.S. is collecting less than 30 percent of all Americans’ call records because of an inability to keep pace with the explosion in cellphone use according to the Washington Post.. The controversial program permits the NSA after a warrant granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to record numbers, length and location of every call from the participating carriers in.
March 2014
The NSA has built an infrastructure which enables it to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process. The NSA relies on an automated system codenamed TURBINE which in essence enables the automated management and control of a large network of implants (a form of remotely transmitted malware on selected individual computer devices or in bulk on tens of thousands of devices). As quoted by The Intercept, TURBINE is designed to "allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants) by creating a system that does automated control implants by groups instead of individually." The NSA has shared many of its files on the use of implants with its counterparts in the so-called Five Eyes surveillance alliance – the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
Among other things due to TURBINE and its control over the implants the NSA is capable of:
breaking into targeted computers and to siphoning out data from foreign Internet and phone networks
infecting a target's computer and exfiltrating files from a hard drive
covertly recording audio from a computer's microphone and taking snapshots with its webcam
launching cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites
exfiltrating data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer
The TURBINE implants are linked to, and relies upon, a large network of clandestine surveillance "sensors" that the NSA has installed at locations across the world, including the agency's headquarters in Maryland and eavesdropping bases used by the agency in Misawa, Japan and Menwith Hill, England. Codenamed as TURMOIL, the sensors operate as a sort of high-tech surveillance dragnet, monitoring packets of data as they are sent across the Internet. When TURBINE implants exfiltrate data from infected computer systems, the TURMOIL sensors automatically identify the data and return it to the NSA for analysis. And when targets are communicating, the TURMOIL system can be used to send alerts or "tips" to TURBINE, enabling the initiation of a malware attack. To identify surveillance targets, the NSA uses a series of data "selectors" as they flow across Internet cables. These selectors can include email addresses, IP addresses, or the unique "cookies" containing a username or other identifying information that are sent to a user's computer by websites such as Google, Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Twitter, unique Google advertising cookies that track browsing habits, unique encryption key fingerprints that can be traced to a specific user, and computer IDs that are sent across the Internet when a Windows computer crashes or updates.
The CIA was accused by U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of spying on a stand-alone computer network established for the committee in its investigation of allegations of CIA abuse in a George W. Bush-era detention and interrogation program.
A voice interception program codenamed MYSTIC began in 2009. Along with RETRO, short for "retrospective retrieval" (RETRO is voice audio recording buffer that allows retrieval of captured content up to 30 days into the past), the MYSTIC program is capable of recording "100 percent" of a foreign country's telephone calls, enabling the NSA to rewind and review conversations up to 30 days and the relating metadata. With the capability to store up to 30 days of recorded conversations MYSTIC enables the NSA to pull an instant history of the person's movements, associates and plans.
On March 21, Le Monde published slides from an internal presentation of the Communications Security Establishment Canada, which attributed a piece of malicious software to French intelligence. The CSEC presentation concluded that the list of malware victims matched French intelligence priorities and found French cultural reference in the malware's code, including the name Babar, a popular French children's character, and the developer name "Titi".
The French telecommunications corporation Orange S.A. shares its call data with the French intelligence agency DGSE, which hands over the intercepted data to GCHQ.
The NSA has spied on the Chinese technology company Huawei. Huawei is a leading manufacturer of smartphones, tablets, mobile phone infrastructure, and WLAN routers and installs fiber optic cable. According to Der Spiegel this "kind of technology […] is decisive in the NSA's battle for data supremacy." The NSA, in an operation named "Shotgiant", was able to access Huawei's email archive and the source code for Huawei's communications products. The US government has had longstanding concerns that Huawei may not be independent of the People's Liberation Army and that the Chinese government might use equipment manufactured by Huawei to conduct cyberespionage or cyberwarfare. The goals of the NSA operation were to assess the relationship between Huawei and the PLA, to learn more the Chinese government's plans and to use information from Huawei to spy on Huawei's customers, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, and Cuba. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Chinese Trade Ministry, banks, as well as telecommunications companies were also targeted by the NSA.
The Intercept published a document of an NSA employee discussing how to build a database of IP addresses, webmail, and Facebook accounts associated with system administrators so that the NSA can gain access to the networks and systems they administer.
At the end of March 2014, Der Spiegel and The Intercept published, based on a series of classified files from the archive provided to reporters by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, articles related to espionage efforts by GCHQ and NSA in Germany. The British GCHQ targeted three German internet firms for information about Internet traffic passing through internet exchange points, important customers of the German internet providers, their technology suppliers as well as future technical trends in their business sector and company employees. The NSA was granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the authority for blanket surveillance of Germany, its people and institutions, regardless whether those affected are suspected of having committed an offense or not, without an individualized court order specifying on March 7, 2013. In addition Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel was listed in a surveillance search machine and database named Nymrod along with 121 others foreign leaders. As The Intercept wrote: "The NSA uses the Nymrod system to 'find information relating to targets that would otherwise be tough to track down,' according to internal NSA documents. Nymrod sifts through secret reports based on intercepted communications as well as full transcripts of faxes, phone calls, and communications collected from computer systems. More than 300 'cites' for Merkel are listed as available in intelligence reports and transcripts for NSA operatives to read."
April 2014
Towards the end of April, Edward Snowden said that the United States surveillance agencies spy on Americans more than anyone else in the world, contrary to anything that has been said by the government up until this point.
May 2014
An article published by Ars Technica shows NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) employees intercepting a Cisco router.
The Intercept and WikiLeaks revealed information about which countries were having their communications collected as part of the MYSTIC surveillance program. On May 19, The Intercept reported that the NSA is recording and archiving nearly every cell phone conversation in the Bahamas with a system called SOMALGET, a subprogram of MYSTIC. The mass surveillance has been occurring without the Bahamian government's permission. Aside from the Bahamas, The Intercept reported NSA interception of cell phone metadata in Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico and a fifth country it did not name due to "credible concerns that doing so could lead to increased violence." WikiLeaks released a statement on May 23 claiming that Afghanistan was the unnamed nation.
In a statement responding to the revelations, the NSA said "the implication that NSA's foreign intelligence collection is arbitrary and unconstrained is false."
Through its global surveillance operations the NSA exploits the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other communications to harvest millions of images. These images are then used by the NSA in sophisticated facial recognition programs to track suspected terrorists and other intelligence targets.
June 2014
Vodafone revealed that there were secret wires that allowed government agencies direct access to their networks. This access does not require warrants and the direct access wire is often equipment in a locked room. In six countries where Vodafone operates, the law requires telecommunication companies to install such access or allows governments to do so. Vodafone did not name these countries in case some governments retaliated by imprisoning their staff. Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty said "For governments to access phone calls at the flick of a switch is unprecedented and terrifying. Snowden revealed the internet was already treated as fair game. Bluster that all is well is wearing pretty thin – our analogue laws need a digital overhaul." Vodafone published its first Law Enforcement Disclosure Report on June 6, 2014. Vodafone group privacy officer Stephen Deadman said "These pipes exist, the direct access model exists. We are making a call to end direct access as a means of government agencies obtaining people's communication data. Without an official warrant, there is no external visibility. If we receive a demand we can push back against the agency. The fact that a government has to issue a piece of paper is an important constraint on how powers are used." Gus Hosein, director of Privacy International said "I never thought the telcos would be so complicit. It's a brave step by Vodafone and hopefully the other telcos will become more brave with disclosure, but what we need is for them to be braver about fighting back against the illegal requests and the laws themselves."
Above-top-secret documentation of a covert surveillance program named Overseas Processing Centre 1 (OPC-1) (codenamed "CIRCUIT") by GCHQ was published by The Register. Based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden, GCHQ taps into undersea fiber optic cables via secret spy bases near the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen. BT and Vodafone are implicated.
The Danish newspaper Dagbladet Information and The Intercept revealed on June 19, 2014, the NSA mass surveillance program codenamed RAMPART-A. Under RAMPART-A, 'third party' countries tap into fiber optic cables carrying the majority of the world's electronic communications and are secretly allowing the NSA to install surveillance equipment on these fiber-optic cables. The foreign partners of the NSA turn massive amounts of data like the content of phone calls, faxes, e-mails, internet chats, data from virtual private networks, and calls made using Voice over IP software like Skype over to the NSA. In return these partners receive access to the NSA's sophisticated surveillance equipment so that they too can spy on the mass of data that flows in and out of their territory. Among the partners participating in the NSA mass surveillance program are Denmark and Germany.
July 2014
During the week of July 4, a 31-year-old male employee of Germany's intelligence service BND was arrested on suspicion of spying for the United States. The employee is suspected of spying on the German Parliamentary Committee investigating the NSA spying scandal.
Former NSA official and whistleblower William Binney spoke at a Centre for Investigative Journalism conference in London. According to Binney, "at least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores." He also stated that the majority of fiber optic cables run through the U.S., which "is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in."
The Washington Post released a review of a cache provided by Snowden containing roughly 160,000 text messages and e-mails intercepted by the NSA between 2009 and 2012. The newspaper concluded that nine out of ten account holders whose conversations were recorded by the agency "were not the intended surveillance targets but were caught in a net the agency had cast for somebody else." In its analysis, The Post also noted that many of the account holders were Americans.
On July 9, a soldier working within Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) fell under suspicion of spying for the United States. As a result of the July 4 case and this one, the German government expelled the CIA station chief in Germany on July 17.
On July 18, former State Department official John Tye released an editorial in The Washington Post, highlighting concerns over data collection under Executive Order 12333. Tye's concerns are rooted in classified material he had access to through the State Department, though he has not publicly released any classified materials.
August 2014
The Intercept reported that the NSA is "secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government agencies with a 'Google-like' search engine" called ICREACH. The database, The Intercept reported, is accessible to domestic law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration and was built to contain more than 850 billion metadata records about phone calls, emails, cellphone locations, and text messages.
February 2015
Based on documents obtained from Snowden, The Intercept reported that the NSA and GCHQ had broken into the internal computer network of Gemalto and stolen the encryption keys that are used in SIM cards no later than 2010. , the company is the world's largest manufacturer of SIM cards, making about two billion cards a year. With the keys, the intelligence agencies could eavesdrop on cell phones without the knowledge of mobile phone operators or foreign governments.
March 2015
The New Zealand Herald, in partnership with The Intercept, revealed that the New Zealand government used XKeyscore to spy on candidates for the position of World Trade Organization director general and also members of the Solomon Islands government.
April 2015
In January 2015, the DEA revealed that it had been collecting metadata records for all telephone calls made by Americans to 116 countries linked to drug trafficking. The DEA's program was separate from the telephony metadata programs run by the NSA. In April, USA Today reported that the DEA's data collection program began in 1992 and included all telephone calls between the United States and from Canada and Mexico. Current and former DEA officials described the program as the precursor of the NSA's similar programs. The DEA said its program was suspended in September 2013, after a review of the NSA's programs and that it was "ultimately terminated."
January 2016
NSA documents show the US and UK spied on Israeli military drones and fighter jets.
August 2016
A group called The Shadow Brokers says it infiltrated NSA's Equation Group and teases files including some named in documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
References
Global surveillance
Technology timelines
21st century in technology |
41912128 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES67 | AES67 | AES67 is a technical standard for audio over IP and audio over Ethernet (AoE) interoperability. The standard was developed by the Audio Engineering Society and first published in September 2013. It is a layer 3 protocol suite based on existing standards and is designed to allow interoperability between various IP-based audio networking systems such as RAVENNA, Livewire, Q-LAN and Dante.
AES67 promises interoperability between previously competing networked audio systems and long-term network interoperation between systems. It also provides interoperability with layer 2 technologies, like Audio Video Bridging (AVB). Since its publication, AES67 has been implemented independently by several manufacturers and adopted by many others.
Overview
AES67 defines requirements for synchronizing clocks, setting QoS priorities for media traffic, and initiating media streams with standard protocols from the Internet protocol suite. AES67 also defines audio sample format and sample rate, supported number of channels, as well as IP data packet size and latency/buffering requirements.
The standard calls out several protocol options for device discovery but does not require any to be implemented. Session Initiation Protocol is used for unicast connection management. No connection management protocol is defined for multicast connections.
Synchronization
AES67 uses IEEE 1588-2008 Precision Time Protocol (PTPv2) for clock synchronisation.
For standard networking equipment, AES67 defines configuration parameters for a "PTP profile for media applications", based on IEEE 1588 delay request-response sync and (optionally) peer-to-peer sync (IEEE 1588 Annexes J.3 and J4); event messages are encapsulated in IPv4 packets over UDP transport (IEEE 1588 Annex D). Some of the default parameters are adjusted, specifically, logSyncInterval and logMinDelayReqInterval are reduced to improve accuracy and startup time.
Clock Grade 2 as defined in AES11 Digital Audio Reference Signal (DARS) is signaled with clockClass.
Network equipment conforming to IEEE 1588-2008 uses default PTP profiles; for video streams, SMPTE 2059-2 PTP profile can be used.
In AVB/TSN networks, synchronization is achieved with IEEE 802.1AS profile for Time-Sensitive Applications.
The media clock is based on synchronized network time with an IEEE 1588 epoch (1 January 1970 00:00:00 TAI). Clock rates are fixed at audio sampling frequencies of 44,1 kHz, 48 kHz and 96 kHz (i.e. thousand samples per second).
RTP transport works with a fixed time offset to network clock.
Transport
Media data is transported in IPv4 packets and attempts to avoid IP fragmentation.
Real-time Transport Protocol with RTP Profile for Audio and Video (L24 and L16 formats) is used over UDP transport. RTP payload is limited to 1460 bytes, to prevent fragmentation with default Ethernet MTU of 1500 bytes (after subtracting IP/UDP/RTP overhead of
20+8+12=40 Bytes).
Contributing source (CSRC) identifiers and TLS encryption are not supported.
Time synchronization, media stream delivery, and discovery protocols may use IP multicasting with IGMPv2 (optionally IGMPv3) negotiation. Each media stream is assigned a unique multicast address (in the range from 239.0.0.0 to
239.255.255.255); only one device can send to this address (many-to-many connections are not supported).
To monitor keepalive status and allocate bandwidth, devices may use RTCP report interval, SIP session timers and OPTIONS ping, or ICMP Echo request (ping).
AES67 uses DiffServ to set QoS traffic priorities in the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) field of the IP packet. Three classes should be supported at a minimum:
Announce, Sync, Follow_Up, Delay_Req, Delay_Resp, Pdelay_Req, Pdelay_Resp, Pdelay_Resp_Follow_Up
250 μs maximum delay may be required for time-critical applications to prevent drops of audio. To prioritize critical media streams in a large network, applications may use additional values in the Assured Forwarding class 4 with low-drop probability (AF41), typically implemented as a weighted round-robin queue. Clock traffic is assigned to the Expedited Forwarding (EF) class, which typically implements strict priority per-hop behavior (PHB). All other traffic is handled on a best effort basis with Default Forwarding.
RTP Clock Source Signalling procedure is used to specify PTP domain and grandmaster ID for each media stream.
Audio encoding
Sample formats include 16-bit and 24-bit Linear PCM with 48 kHz sampling frequency, and optional 24-bit 96 kHz and 16-bit 44.1 kHz. Other RTP audio video formats may be supported.
Multiple sample frequencies are optional. Devices may enforce a global sample frequency setting.
Media packets are scheduled according to 'packet time' - transmission duration of a standard Ethernet packet. Packet time is negotiated by the stream source for each streaming session. Short packet times provide low latency and high transmission rate, but introduce high overhead and require high-performance equipment and links. Long packet times increase latencies and require more buffering. A range from 125 μs to 4 ms is defined, though it is recommended that devices shall adapt to packet time changes and/or determine packet time by analyzing RTP timestamps.
Packet time determines RTP payload size according to a supported sample rate. 1 ms is required for all devices. Devices should support a minimum of 1 to 8 channels per stream.
MTU size restrictions limit a 96 kHz audio stream using 4-ms packet time to a single channel.
Latency
Network latency (link offset) is the time difference between the moment an audio stream enters the source (ingress time), marked by RTP timestamp in the media packet, and the moment it leaves the destination (egress time). Latency depends on packet time, propagation and queuing delays, packet processing overhead, and buffering in the destination device; thus minimum latency is the shortest packet time and network forwarding time, which can be less than 1 μs on a point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet link with minimum packet size, but in real-world networks could be twice the packet time.
Small buffers decrease latency but may result in drops of audio when media data does not arrive on time. Unexpected changes to network conditions and jitter from packet encoding and processing may require longer buffering and therefore higher latency. Destinations are required to use a buffer of 3 times the packet time, though at least 20 times the packet time (or 20 ms if smaller) is recommended. Sources are required to maintain transmission with jitter of less than 17 packet times (or 17 ms if shorter), though 1 packet time (or 1 ms if shorter) is recommended.
Interoperability with AVB
AES67 may transport media streams as IEEE 802.1BA AVB time-sensitive traffic Classes A and B on supported networks, with guaranteed latency of 2 ms and 50 ms respectively. Reservation of bandwidth with the Stream Reservation Protocol (SRP) specifies the amount of traffic generated through a measurement interval of 125 μs and 250 μs respectively. Multicast IP addresses have to be used, though only with a single source, as AVB networks only support Ethernet multicast destination addressing in the range from 01:00:5e:00:00:00 to 01:00:5e:7f:ff:ff.
An SRP talker advertise message shall be mapped as follows:
Under both IEEE 1588-2008 and IEEE 802.1AS, a PTP clock can be designated as an ordinary clock (OC), boundary clock (BC) or transparent clock (TC), though 802.1AS transparent clocks also have some boundary clock capabilities. A device may implement one or more of these capabilities.
OC may have as few as one port (network connection), while TC and BC must have two or more ports. BC and OC ports can work as a master (grandmaster) or a slave. An IEEE 1588 profile is associated with each port. TC can belong to multiple clock domains and profiles.
These provisions make it possible to synchronize IEEE 802.1AS clocks to IEEE 1588-2008 clocks used by AES67.
Development history
The standard was developed by the Audio Engineering Society beginning at the end of 2010. The standard was initially published September 2013. A second printing which added a patent statement from Audinate was published in March 2014.
The Media Networking Alliance was formed in October 2014 to promote adoption of AES67.
In October 2014 a plugfest was held to test interoperability achieved with AES67. A second plugfest was conducted in November 2015 and third in February 2017.
An update to the standard including clarifications and error corrections was issued in September 2015.
In May 2016, the AES published a report describing synchronization interoperability between AES67 and SMPTE 2059-2.
In June 2016, AES67 audio transport enhanced by AVB/TSN clock synchronisation and bandwidth reservation was demonstrated at InfoComm 2016.
In September 2017, SMPTE published ST 2110, a standard for professional video over IP. uses AES67 as the transport for audio accompanying the video.
In December 2017 the Media Networking Alliance merged with the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) combining efforts to promote standards-based network transport for audio and video.
In April 2018 AES67-2018 was published. The principal change in this revision is addition of a protocol implementation conformance statement (PICS).
The AES Standards Committee and AES67 editor, Kevin Gross, were recipients of a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 2019 for the development of synchronized multi-channel uncompressed audio transport over IP networks.
Adoption
The standard has been implemented by Lawo, Axia, AMX (in SVSI devices), Wheatstone, Extron Electronics, Riedel, Ross Video, ALC NetworX, Audinate, Archwave, Digigram, Sonifex, Yamaha, QSC, Neutrik, Attero Tech, Merging Technologies, Gallery SIENNA, Behringer and is supported by RAVENNA-enabled devices under its AES67 Operational Profile.
Shipping products
Over time this table will grow to become a resource for integration and compatibility between devices. The discovery methods supported by each device are critical for integration since the AES67 specification does not stipulate how this should be done, but instead provides a variety of options or suggestions. Also, AES67 specifies Multicast or Unicast but many AES67 devices only support Multicast.
References
External links
Media Networking Alliance
AIMS Alliance
Open-source AES67 implementation (proposed)
Audio network protocols
Networking standards
Audio engineering
Audio Engineering Society standards |
41914734 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careto%20%28malware%29 | Careto (malware) | Careto (Spanish for mask), sometimes called The Mask, is a piece of espionage malware discovered by Kaspersky Lab in 2014. Because of its high level of sophistication and professionalism, and a target list that included diplomatic offices and embassies, Careto is believed to be the work of a nation state. Kaspersky believes that the creators of the malware were Spanish-speaking.
Because of the focus on Spanish-speaking victims, the heavy targeting of Morocco, and the targeting of Gibraltar, Bruce Schneier speculates that Careto is operated by Spain.
Payload
Careto normally installs a second and more complex backdoor program called SGH. SGH is easily modifiable and also has a wider arsenal including the ability to intercept system events, file operations, and performing a wider range of surveillance features. The information gathered by SGH and Careto can include encryption keys, virtual private network configurations, and SSH keys and other communication channels.
Detection and removal
Careto is hard to discover and remove because of its use of stealth capabilities. In addition, most of the samples have been digitally signed. The signatures are issued from a Bulgarian company, TecSystem Ltd., but the authenticity of the company is unknown. One of the issued certificates was valid between June 28, 2011 and June 28, 2013. Another was valid from April 18, 2013 to July 18, 2016, but was revoked by Verisign.
Careto was discovered when it made attempts to circumvent Kaspersky security products. Upon discovery of Careto trying to exploit their software, Kaspersky started to investigate further. As part of collecting statistics, multiple sinkholes were placed on the command and control servers.
Currently most up-to-date antivirus software can discover and successfully remove the malware.
Distribution
On investigation of the command and control servers, discoveries showed that more than 380 victims were infected. From the information that has been uncovered, the victims were infected with the malware by clicking on a spear phishing link which redirected to websites that had software that Careto could exploit, such as Adobe Flash Player. The player has since been patched and is no longer exploitable by Careto. The websites that contained the exploitable software had names similar to popular newspapers, such as The Washington Post and The Independent.
The malware is said to have multiple backdoors to Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Evidence of a possible fourth type of backdoor to Android and IOS was discovered on the C&C servers, but no samples were found.
It is estimated that Careto has been compiled as far back as 2007. It is now known that the attacks ceased in January 2014.
References
Malware
Spyware
Rootkits
2014 in computing
Cyberwarfare |
41929833 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirStrato | AirStrato | AirStrato is a solar powered medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicle that was being developed by ARCAspace. There were two variants planned, AirStrato Explorer with a target flight ceiling of 18,000 m and AirStrato Pioneer with a target flight ceiling of 8000 m. It was planned to carry a 45 kg payload consisting of surveillance equipment, scientific instruments or additional battery pods for extended autonomy. The first prototype maiden flight took place on February 28, 2014. It was equipped with a fixed landing gear. Two more prototypes were constructed that lacked a landing gear. Instead ARCA opted for a pneumatic catapult as a launcher and landing skids and a recovery parachute for landing. Both prototypes performed take-off and landing testing and low altitude flights.
Development
AirStrato was first presented by ARCA on February 10, 2014, as an alternative to the stratospheric balloons that had been used before in missions involving the Helen and Stabilo programs and the high altitude flights for the ExoMars program. Although capable of carrying less payload than a helium or solar balloon, the aircraft had a much lower cost per mission and could stay in the stratosphere for longer periods of time. Unlike a weather balloon that could not be steered and relied on wind forecasts to predict its trajectory the AirStrato could be remote controlled by a pilot on the ground. At that time ARCA designed the UAV to fulfill its own requirements for high altitude equipment testing and had a commercial version of the aircraft for consideration. The first prototype was equipped with a fixed landing gear and had two electric motors.
After a series of runway testing on rough ground, suspensions were added to the landing gear to improve handling and the number of electric motors was increased to four. The first prototype flew on February 28, 2014. ARCA released several images of AirStrato taking off and flying at very low altitude. The press release stated that the right landing gear suspension was damaged on landing.
For nine months ARCA did not make public any news on the progress of the program, until November 10 when it released a short teaser on the aircraft featuring two other models in red and yellow colours performing flights. The two models lacked a landing gear. On its website it presented the aircraft as intended to fill a gap between large military grade UAV and small scale affordable drones for small businesses and individuals. On November 25 it made public the product website alongside a much longer video presenting the aircraft taking off from a pneumatic launcher and performing low altitudes flights. The aircraft were equipped with landing skids and deployable parachutes. Two versions of the aircraft are available, a larger stratospheric flying model with longer endurance, named Explorer and a slightly smaller version intended for lower altitudes and having less endurance, named Pioneer.
In 2015, ARCA received $215,000 of seed funding from Anova Technologies to develop the AirStrato UAV. Additional funding, totaling $750,000, was to be invested if ARCA met certain development milestones, including flight tests and FAA certification. However, after a series of business disputes about additional funding, the AirStrato program was sold to Anova Technologies.
Design
Airframe
The airframe is constructed entirely from composite materials making possible for radio antennae to be placed inside the fuselage instead of outside such is usual for normal aircraft. At the base of the fuselage, underneath the wings there are two skids used for mounting and sliding across the side rails of the pneumatic catapult. Another small skid is installed underneath the frontal part of the fuselage that attaches to the middle rail of the catapult. Two more large skids are placed at the far edge of the wings. The parachute container is installed in the frontal part of the fuselage. The parachute can be deployed for landing or in case of emergency.
Engines and power
Six electric driven propeller engines are installed on the wings that generate a combined thrust of 250 lbf at sea level. Although the power output remains constant as altitude increases the propellers lose their effectiveness but are still able to provide cruising speed of 152 km/h at altitude for the Explorer and 100 km/h for the Pioneer. The electrical motors are powered by internal batteries during night and solar panels during daytime. The solar panels generate 2800W for the Explorer and 1800W for the Pioneer.
Avionics and control
The aircraft are equipped with inertial flight stabilization and autopilot. The GPS is linked with the transponder providing both altitude and coordinates, capable of being integrated into the US NextGeneration Air Transportation System. The control is via internet, using GSM networks where available and satellite connection everywhere else. The autopilot prevents the aircraft from entering restricted areas, can automatically takeover flying in case all communication is lost and attempt to contact ARCA technical support in case of emergency. It also is able to fly to a predetermined secure area and automatically deploy the parachute in case connection can no longer be established. The autopilot can also control the on-board camera to target specific locations and film them for a pre-determined period of time. The connection between the aircraft and the ground pilot are encrypted using Transport Layer Security with AES 256 encryption standard.
Pneumatic launcher
A compressed air catapult is used as a takeoff method for both models. The internal pneumatic piston has a force of 2,200 lbf, able to propel the aircraft to take-off speed in less than a second. It is also constructed from composite materials and has an internal compressor that requires an external power source (power outlet or generator). It is made of three parts: the upper part that contains the rails, compressor and canister and the leg that is made of the main part and a crosspiece.
Variants
Explorer
It was the most expensive of the two models and with the projected highest performance. The Explorer was also the only one designed to be able to fly into the stratosphere, although no high-altitude flight tests were ever attempted to confirm its performance. It was also to include components such as transponder and satellite internet connection devices that are optional for the Pioneer. It was to have a larger wingspan, more solar cells and longer endurance. The selling price was advertised as $140,000.
Pioneer
Pioneer was advertised to have lower overall performance than the Explorer but greater maneuverability and rate of climb. It was to use the same ground station and the same connection protocol as the Explorer. It could be equipped with all the accessories of the Explorer, including transponder, satellite connection, 4K resolution gimbal camera, FLIR camera, deployable containers etc.
Specifications
AirStrato Explorer
AirStrato Pioneer
References
External links
AirStrato website
ARCA website
Solar-powered aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicles of Romania
ARCAspace |
41940042 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biclique%20attack | Biclique attack | A biclique attack is a variant of the meet-in-the-middle (MITM) method of cryptanalysis. It utilizes a biclique structure to extend the number of possibly attacked rounds by the MITM attack. Since biclique cryptanalysis is based on MITM attacks, it is applicable to both block ciphers and (iterated) hash-functions. Biclique attacks are known for having broken both full AES and full IDEA, though only with slight advantage over brute force. It has also been applied to the KASUMI cipher and preimage resistance of the Skein-512 and SHA-2 hash functions.
The biclique attack is still () the best publicly known single-key attack on AES. The computational complexity of the attack is , and for AES128, AES192 and AES256, respectively. It is the only publicly known single-key attack on AES that attacks the full number of rounds. Previous attacks have attacked round reduced variants (typically variants reduced to 7 or 8 rounds).
As the computational complexity of the attack is , it is a theoretical attack, which means the security of AES has not been broken, and the use of AES remains relatively secure. The biclique attack is nevertheless an interesting attack, which suggests a new approach to performing cryptanalysis on block ciphers. The attack has also rendered more information about AES, as it has brought into question the safety-margin in the number of rounds used therein.
History
The original MITM attack was first suggested by Diffie and Hellman in 1977, when they discussed the cryptanalytic properties of DES. They argued that the key-size was too small, and that reapplying DES multiple times with different keys could be a solution to the key-size; however, they advised against using double-DES and suggested triple-DES as a minimum, due to MITM attacks (MITM attacks can easily be applied to double-DES to reduce the security from to just , since one can independently bruteforce the first and the second DES-encryption if they have the plain- and ciphertext).
Since Diffie and Hellman suggested MITM attacks, many variations have emerged that are useful in situations, where the basic MITM attack is inapplicable. The biclique attack variant was first suggested by Dmitry Khovratovich, Rechberger and Savelieva for use with hash-function cryptanalysis. However, it was Bogdanov, Khovratovich and Rechberger who showed how to apply the concept of bicliques to the secret-key setting including block-cipher cryptanalysis, when they published their attack on AES. Prior to this, MITM attacks on AES and many other block ciphers had received little attention, mostly due to the need for independent key bits between the two 'MITM subciphers' in order to facilitate the MITM attack — something that is hard to achieve with many modern key schedules, such as that of AES.
The biclique
For a general explanation of what a biclique structure is, see the article for bicliques.
In a MITM attack, the keybits and , belonging to the first and second subcipher, need to be independent; that is, they need to be independent of each other, else the matched intermediate values for the plain- and ciphertext cannot be computed independently in the MITM attack (there are variants of MITM attacks, where the blocks can have shared key-bits. See the 3-subset MITM attack). This property is often hard to exploit over a larger number of rounds, due to the diffusion of the attacked cipher.
Simply put: The more rounds you attack, the larger subciphers you will have. The larger subciphers you have, the fewer independent key-bits between the subciphers you will have to bruteforce independently. Of course, the actual number of independent key-bits in each subcipher depends on the diffusion properties of the key-schedule.
The way the biclique helps with tackling the above, is that it allows one to, for instance, attack 7 rounds of AES using MITM attacks, and then by utilizing a biclique structure of length 3 (i.e. it covers 3 rounds of the cipher), you can map the intermediate state at the start of round 7 to the end of the last round, e.g. 10 (if it is AES128), thus attacking the full number of rounds of the cipher, even if it was not possible to attack that amount of rounds with a basic MITM attack.
The meaning of the biclique is thus to build a structure effectively, which can map an intermediate value at the end of the MITM attack to the ciphertext at the end. Which ciphertext the intermediate state gets mapped to at the end, of course depends on the key used for the encryption. The key used to map the state to the ciphertext in the biclique, is based on the keybits bruteforced in the first and second subcipher of the MITM attack.
The essence of biclique attacks is thus, besides the MITM attack, to be able to build a biclique structure effectively, that depending on the keybits and can map a certain intermediate state to the corresponding ciphertext.
How to build the biclique
Bruteforce
Get intermediate states and ciphertexts, then compute the keys that maps between them. This requires key-recoveries, since each intermediate state needs to be linked to all ciphertexts.
Independent related-key differentials
(This method was suggested by Bogdanov, Khovratovich and Rechberger in their paper: Biclique Cryptanalysis of the Full AES)
Preliminary:
Remember that the function of the biclique is to map the intermediate values, , to the ciphertext-values, , based on the key such that:
Procedure:
Step one: An intermediate state(), a ciphertext() and a key() is chosen such that: , where is the function that maps an intermediate state to a ciphertext using a given key. This is denoted as the base computation.
Step two: Two sets of related keys of size is chosen. The keys are chosen such that:
The first set of keys are keys, which fulfills the following differential-requirements over with respect to the base computation:
The second set of keys are keys, which fulfills the following differential-requirements over with respect to the base computation:
The keys are chosen such that the trails of the - and -differentials are independent – i.e. they do not share any active non-linear components.
In other words:
An input difference of 0 should map to an output difference of under a key difference of . All differences are in respect to the base computation.
An input difference of should map to an output difference of 0 under a key difference of . All differences are in respect to the base computation.
Step three: Since the trails do not share any non-linear components (such as S-boxes), the trails can be combined to get: ,
which conforms to the definitions of both the differentials from step 2.
It is trivial to see that the tuple from the base computation, also conforms by definition to both the differentials, as the differentials are in respect to the base computation. Substituting into any of the two definitions, will yield since and .
This means that the tuple of the base computation, can also be XOR'ed to the combined trails:
Step four: It is trivial to see that:
If this is substituted into the above combined differential trails, the result will be:
Which is the same as the definition, there was earlier had above for a biclique:
It is thus possible to create a biclique of size ( since all keys of the first set of keys, can be combined with the keys from the second set of keys). This means a biclique of size can be created using only computations of the differentials and over . If for then all of the keys will also be different in the biclique.
This way is how the biclique is constructed in the leading biclique attack on AES. There are some practical limitations in constructing bicliques with this technique. The longer the biclique is, the more rounds the differential trails has to cover. The diffusion properties of the cipher, thus plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of constructing the biclique.
Other ways of constructing the biclique
Bogdanov, Khovratovich and Rechberger also describe another way to construct the biclique, called 'Interleaving Related-Key Differential Trails' in the article: "Biclique Cryptanalysis of the Full AES".
Biclique Cryptanalysis procedure
Step one: The attacker groups all possible keys into key-subsets of size for some , where the key in a group is indexed as in a matrix of size . The attacker splits the cipher into two sub-ciphers, and (such that ), as in a normal MITM attack. The set of keys for each of the sub-ciphers is of cardinality , and is called and . The combined key of the sub-ciphers is expressed with the aforementioned matrix .
Step two: The attacker builds a biclique for each group of keys. The biclique is of dimension-d, since it maps internal states, , to ciphertexts, , using keys. The section "How to build the biclique" suggests how to build the biclique using "Independent related-key differentials". The biclique is in that case built using the differentials of the set of keys, and , belonging to the sub-ciphers.
Step three: The attacker takes the possible ciphertexts, , and asks a decryption-oracle to provide the matching plaintexts, .
Step four: The attacker chooses an internal state, and the corresponding plaintext, , and performs the usual MITM attack over and by attacking from the internal state and the plaintext.
Step five: Whenever a key-candidate is found that matches with , that key is tested on another plain-/ciphertext pair. if the key validates on the other pair, it is highly likely that it is the correct key.
Example attack
The following example is based on the biclique attack on AES from the paper "Biclique Cryptanalysis of the Full AES".
The descriptions in the example uses the same terminology that the authors of the attack used (i.e. for variable names, etc).
For simplicity it is the attack on the AES128 variant that is covered below.
The attack consists of a 7-round MITM attack with the biclique covering the last 3 rounds.
Key partitioning
The key-space is partitioned into groups of keys, where each group consist of keys.
For each of the groups, a unique base-key for the base-computation is selected.
The base-key has two specific bytes set to zero, shown in the below table (which represents the key the same way AES does in a 4x4 matrix for AES128):
The remaining 14 bytes (112 bits) of the key is then enumerated. This yields unique base-keys; one for each group of keys.
The ordinary keys in each group is then chosen with respect to their base-key. They are chosen such that they are nearly identical to the base-key. They only vary in 2 bytes (either the 's or the 's) of the below shown 4 bytes:
This gives and , which combined gives different keys, . these keys constitute the keys in the group for a respective base key.
Biclique construction
bicliques is constructed using the "Independent related-key differentials" technique, as described in the "How to construct the biclique" section.
The requirement for using that technique, was that the forward- and backward-differential trails that need to be combined, did not share any active non-linear elements. How is it known that this is the case?
Due to the way the keys in step 1 is chosen in relation to the base key, the differential trails using the keys never share any active S-boxes (which is the only non-linear component in AES), with the differential trails using the key . It is therefore possible to XOR the differential trails and create the biclique.
MITM attack
When the bicliques are created, the MITM attack can almost begin. Before doing the MITM attack, the intermediate values from the plaintext:
,
the intermediate values from the ciphertext:
,
and the corresponding intermediate states and sub-keys or , are precomputed and stored, however.
Now the MITM attack can be carried out. In order to test a key , it is only necessary to recalculate the parts of the cipher, which is known will vary between and . For the backward computation from to , this is 4 S-boxes that needs to be recomputed. For the forwards computation from to , it is just 3 (an in-depth explanation for the amount of needed recalculation can be found in "Biclique Cryptanalysis of the full AES" paper, where this example is taken from).
When the intermediate values match, a key-candidate between and is found. The key-candidate is then tested on another plain-/ciphertext pair.
Results
This attack lowers the computational complexity of AES128 to , which is 3–5 times faster than a bruteforce approach. The data complexity of the attack is and the memory complexity is .
References
Cryptographic attacks |
41951062 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6lba%C5%9F%C4%B1%20Ground%20Station | Gölbaşı Ground Station | The Gölbaşı Ground Station () is a ground station designed as a terminal for telecommunication with Türksat spacecraft. Owned and operated by the state-owned telecommunications provider Türksat company, it is situated in Gölbaşı district of Ankara Province in Turkey.
The earth station was established in 1994 for servicing Turkey's first communications satellite Türksat 1B launched on August 11 that year. For the location of its backup facility, the campus of Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) was chosen, about away.
The ground station consists of equipment such as and parabolic antennas of high reliance, electronic devices, data processing system and uninterrupted power supply unit for telecommunication with the Türksat 1C, 2A 3A satellites currently in orbit. The backup station has a antenna available.
The facility features, in full backup, a satellite control center, an observation and control center, a communications observation center and a data encryption center. Further, a satellite simulator provides training for the operators, which is also used for approval purposes of procedures to be applied on the spacecraft.
Since the ground station in Gölbaşı is capable of servicing three satellites at a time only, it is projected to expand its capacity with regard of the launch of Türksat 4A satellite in 2014. The construction of a backup ground station in Konya is planned.
Earthquake risk
On December 20, 2007, an earthquake of 5.7 magnitude occurred in Balâ, Ankara, about far from Gölbaşı Ground Station. Although the ground station was not affected by the earthquake, the incident showed the possible risk of telecommunication blackout and loss of satellites in orbit in case of an earthquake. Due to proximity of the backup facility to the ground station, the earthquake risk is much high. It is required that the backup facility's location should be at least away.
A report states that when the link between the spacecraft and the earth station is interrupted for a period of 48 hours, the re-establishment of the link is unlikely.
References
Earth stations in Turkey
1994 establishments in Turkey
Buildings and structures completed in 1994
Buildings and structures in Ankara Province
Satellite Control Ground Center |
41981099 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tox%20%28protocol%29 | Tox (protocol) | Tox is a peer-to-peer instant-messaging and video-calling protocol that offers end-to-end encryption. The stated goal of the project is to provide secure yet easily accessible communication for everyone. A reference implementation of the protocol is published as free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later.
History
The initial commit to GitHub was pushed on June 23, 2013, by a user named irungentoo. Pre-alpha testing binaries were made available for users from February 3, 2014, onwards, and nightly builds of Tox are published by the Jenkins Automatron. On July 12, 2014, Tox entered an alpha stage in development and a redesigned download page was created for the occasion.
Features
Encryption of traffic
Users are assigned a public and private key, and they connect to each other directly in a fully distributed, peer-to-peer network. Users have the ability to message friends, join chat rooms with friends or strangers, voice/video chat, and send each other files. All traffic over Tox is end-to-end encrypted using the NaCl library, which provides authenticated encryption and perfect forward secrecy.
Revealing of IP address to friends
Tox makes no attempt to cloak your IP address when communicating with friends, as the whole point of a peer-to-peer network is to connect you directly to your friends. A workaround does exist in the form of tunneling your Tox connections through Tor. However, a non-friend user cannot easily discover your IP address using only a Tox ID; you reveal your IP address to someone only when you add them to your contacts list.
Additional messaging features
Tox clients aim to provide support for various secure and anonymised communication features; while every client supports messaging, additional features like group messaging, voice and video calling, voice and video conferencing, typing indicators, message read-receipts, file sharing, profile encryption, and desktop streaming are supported to various degrees by mobile and desktop clients. Additional features can be implemented by any client as long as they are supported by the core protocol. Features that are not related to the core networking system are left up to the client. Client developers are strongly encouraged to adhere to the Tox Client Standard in order to maintain cross-client compatibility and uphold best security practices.
Usability as an instant messenger
Though several apps that use the Tox protocol seem similar in function to regular instant messaging apps, the lack of central servers similar to XMPP or Matrix currently has the consequence that both parties of the chat need to be online for the message to be sent and received. The Tox enabled messengers deal with this in separate ways, some prevent the user from sending the message if the other party has disconnected while others show the message as being sent when in reality it is stored in the sender's phone waiting to be delivered when the receiving party reconnects to the network.
Architecture
Core
The Tox core is a library establishing the protocol and API. User front-ends, or clients, are built on the top of the core. Anyone can create a client utilizing the core.
Technical documents describing the design of the Core, written by the core developer irungentoo, are available publicly.
Protocol
The core of Tox is an implementation of the Tox protocol, an example of the application layer of the OSI model and arguably the presentation layer. Implementations of the Tox protocol not done by the project exist.
Tox uses the Opus audio format for audio streaming and the VP8 video compression format for video streaming.
Encryption
Tox uses the cryptographic primitives present in the NaCl crypto library, via libsodium. Specifically, Tox employs Curve25519 for its key exchanges, xsalsa20 for symmetric encryption, and Poly1305 for MACs. Because the tox protocol can be used by many different applications, and because the tox network broadcasts the used client, it is also possible for clients to use additional encryption when sending to clients which support the same features.
Clients
A client is a program that uses the Tox core library to communicate with other users of the Tox protocol. Various clients are available for a wide range of systems; the following list is incomplete.
There are also Tox protocol plugins for Pidgin (no longer maintained, but working as of 2018-03-30) and Miranda NG.
Disassociation with Tox Foundation
At July 11, 2015, Tox developers officially announced their disassociation with Tox Foundation, due to "a dispute over the misuse of donated funds" by Tox Foundation head and CEO, according to LWN.net. Due to domains being in control of the Tox Foundation, main development of the project was transferred to a new infrastructure, servers, and new domain.
Reception
Tox received some significant publicity in its early conceptual stage, catching the attention of global online tech news sites. On August 15, 2013, Tox was number five on GitHub's top trending list.
Concerns about metadata leaks were raised, and developers responded by implementing Onion routing for the friend-finding process. Tox was accepted into the Google Summer of Code as a Mentoring Organization in 2014 and 2015.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Comparison of instant messaging protocols
Comparison of VoIP software
List of free and open-source software packages
References
External links
2013 software
Android (operating system) software
Cross-platform software
Distributed computing
Free communication software
Free instant messaging clients
Free software programmed in C
Instant messaging clients
Instant messaging clients for Linux
Instant messaging clients that use GTK
IOS software
MacOS instant messaging clients
Secure communication
Videotelephony
VoIP protocols
VoIP software
Windows instant messaging clients
Onion routing
Peer-to-peer |
41993938 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zix%20Corp | Zix Corp | Zix Corporation (ZixCorp) was a security technology company that provides email encryption services, email data loss prevention (DLP) and mobile applications designed to address bring your own device (BYOD) corporate technology trend. Before being acquired by OpenText, Zix was headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and served customers that include divisions of the U.S. Treasury, federal financial regulators, health insurance providers and hospitals, and financial companies. As of December 2011, the company has served over thirty Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations, 1,200 hospitals, 1,600 banks, credit unions and associations. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) regulators are also the customers of the company. CIPROMS has signed a three-year renewal for the company in 2014.
The company generated money based on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) strategy and charge annual fees from its customers. ZixCorp was founded in 1983. The company operated its service supported by ZixData Center, a data center storing transaction processing data. In 2002, the company changed its name from Zixlt Corporation to Zix Corporation.
In 2017, Zix acquired Greenview Data for $6.5 million. In 2019, it acquired AppRiver, a provider of cloud-based cybersecurity solutions, for $275 million.
Products and services
The court case between Apple and the FBI, along with a slew of major security breaches from Experian to Ashley Madison, have popularized encryption as a way to protect messages, yet email encryption is also reported to be difficult to use for people unfamiliar with the encryption process. To simplify the encryption process, Zix email encryption uses an e-mail encryption directory called ZixDirectory that lists other email addresses protected by the encryption service to maintain a community of users who can send and receive e-mails to each other without having to use encryption keys.
Customers install a ZixGateway application and configure compliance and security policy requirements, then the application monitors outbound emails to determine whether messages should be encrypted, and then works in conjunction with secure servers in a SaaS (software-as-a-service) environment to encrypt outgoing communications and securely decrypt inbound messages from other users listed within the ZixDirectory. The email encryption service, ZixDirectory, is an international community with 30 million members.
In 2014, Google announced a partnership with ZixCorp to introduce a new commercial product for Google Apps accounts dubbed Google Apps Message Encryption (GAME), based on Zix Email Encryption. For a per-user subscription, the service allows Google Apps admins to configure encryption settings and routes from the Google Apps dashboard.
Several market and policies have emerged to address BYOD security concerns, including mobile device management (MDM), containerization and app virtualization.
In 2013, ZixCorp introduced ZixOne, a mobile email application for businesses coping with the BYOD trend of employees using personal devices for work, by protecting corporate data in email, while allowing employees to maintain privacy and control of their personal devices. The service provides access to corporate email in the cloud-based service, allowing employees to view messages and attachments without storing any data on the device. This approach differs mobile device management (MDM), which provides organizations with the ability to control applications and content on the device. Research has revealed controversy around MDM related to employee privacy and usability issues that lead to resistance in some organizations. Corporate liability issues have also emerged when businesses use MDM to wipe devices after employees leave the organization.
To help organizations that must comply with industry and federal regulations restricting content that can be sent via email, the company introduced ZixDLP to quarantine emails violating policies, and ZixDLP Insight to detect and analyze email policy violations without impeding communications or business workflows. The data protection service is offered as an add-on solution for customers who use ZixGateway, a policy-based email encryption service that automatically scans and encrypts outbound email containing sensitive information.
On November 8, 2021, Zix announced would be acquired by OpenText for $860 million. OpenText purchased all outstanding stocks, delisting Zix from Nasdaq, as well as acquiring all its outstanding cash and debt.
References
External links
Software companies established in 1988
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Companies based in Dallas
2021 mergers and acquisitions |
42012399 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surespot | Surespot | Surespot is an open-source instant messaging application for Android and iOS with a focus on privacy and security. For secure communication it uses end-to-end encryption by default.
History
In May 2015, Channel 4 News published an investigation in which they alleged that "at least 115 ISIS-linked people" appeared to have used Surespot between November 2014 and May 2015. In June 2015, a Surespot user wrote a blog post about how the Surespot developers had stopped responding to his repeated questions regarding "governmental demands for information", leading to the user alleging that the Surespot developers were "under a gag order".
Surespot was specifically mentioned in a plea agreement in which a 17-year-old US citizen was charged with providing material support to ISIS.
Reception
As of November 4, 2014, Surespot has a score of 5 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation secure messaging scorecard. It has received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having communications encrypted with keys the provider doesn't have access to (end-to-end encryption), making it possible for users to independently verify their correspondent's identities, having its code open to independent review (open-source), and for having its security design well-documented. It is missing points because past communications are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen (no forward secrecy) and because there has not been a recent independent security audit.
Features
Surespot provides offline backup via iTunes (PC or Mac) on the iOS version, or to local device storage on the Android version. App users can use multiple identities, for instance for private or business use.
The application supports the deletion of messages from the receiving device; the sending of pictures, audio messages (in the past only after an in-app purchase, currently for free), and Emoji icons; and user blocking.
So far there is no support for group messages and sending files other than photos.
Technology
Surespot uses 256 bit AES-GCM encryption using keys created with 521 bit ECDH.
It is a Public-key cryptography system with public and private keys in order to obtain a shared secret. The shared secret is used to exchange information securely.
Business model
The app is free to install and use. Via in-app purchases one can add functionality, such as a voice-message feature.
Apart from earning money via in-app purchases, surespot is donationware. Donations can be done via Bitcoins, creditcards or PayPal.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
References
External links
Surespot on GitHub
Instant messaging clients
Android (operating system) software
IOS software
Cross-platform software
Communication software |
42024712 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mailpile | Mailpile | Mailpile is a free and open-source email client with the main focus of privacy and usability. It is a webmail client, albeit one run from the user's computer, as a downloaded program launched as a local website.
Features
In the default setup of the program, the user is given a public and a private PGP key, for the purpose of (respectively) receiving encrypted email and then decrypting it. Mailpile uses PGP and stores all locally generated files in encrypted form on-disk. The client takes an opportunistic approach to finding other users to encrypt to, those that support it, and integrates this in the process of sending email.
History
Mailpile started out as a search engine in 2011.
Crowdfunding
The project gained recognition following an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, raising $163,192 between August and September 2013. In the middle of the campaign, PayPal froze a large portion of the raised funds, and subsequently released them after Mailpile took the issue to the public on blogs and social media platforms including Twitter.
Releases
Alpha
The first publicly tagged release 0.1.0 from January 2014 included an original typeface (also by the name of "Mailpile"), UI feedback of encryption and signatures, custom search engine, integrated spam-filtering support, and localization to around 30 languages.
Alpha II
July 2014 This release introduced storing logs encrypted, partial native IMAP support, and the spam filtering engine gained more ways to auto-classify e-mail. The graphical interface was revamped. A wizard was introduced to help users with account setup.
Beta
Mailpile released a beta version in September 2014.
Beta II
January 2015
1024 bit keys were no longer being generated, in favour of stronger, 4096 bit PGP keys.
Beta III
July 2015
Release Candidate
A preliminary version of the 1.0 version was released on 13 August at the Dutch SHA2017 Hacker Camp, where the main developer gave a talk about the project.
Notes
References
External links
Email clients
Free software programmed in Python
Software using the GNU AGPL license
Software using the Apache license
MacOS email clients
Email client software for Linux
Windows email clients
Free software webmail |
42053808 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel%20Management%20Engine | Intel Management Engine | The Intel Management Engine (ME), also known as the Intel Manageability Engine, is an autonomous subsystem that has been incorporated in virtually all of Intel's processor chipsets since 2008. It is located in the Platform Controller Hub of modern Intel motherboards.
The Intel Management Engine always runs as long as the motherboard is receiving power, even when the computer is turned off. This issue can be mitigated with deployment of a hardware device, which is able to disconnect mains power.
The Intel ME is an attractive target for hackers, since it has top level access to all devices and completely bypasses the operating system. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has voiced concern about Intel ME and some security researchers have voiced concern that it is a backdoor.
Intel's main competitor AMD has incorporated the equivalent AMD Secure Technology (formally called Platform Security Processor) in virtually all of its post-2013 CPUs.
Difference from Intel AMT
The Management Engine is often confused with Intel AMT (Intel Active Management Technology). AMT runs on the ME, but is only available on processors with vPro. AMT gives device owners remote administration of their computer, such as powering it on or off, and reinstalling the operating system.
However, the ME itself is built into all Intel chipsets since 2008, not only those with AMT. While AMT can be unprovisioned by the owner, there is no official, documented way to disable the ME.
Design
The subsystem primarily consists of proprietary firmware running on a separate microprocessor that performs tasks during boot-up, while the computer is running, and while it is asleep. As long as the chipset or SoC is connected to current (via battery or power supply), it continues to run even when the system is turned off. Intel claims the ME is required to provide full performance. Its exact workings are largely undocumented and its code is obfuscated using confidential Huffman tables stored directly in hardware, so the firmware does not contain the information necessary to decode its contents.
Hardware
Starting with ME 11, it is based on the Intel Quark x86-based 32-bit CPU and runs the MINIX 3 operating system. The ME state is stored in a partition of the SPI flash, using the Embedded Flash File System (EFFS). Previous versions were based on an ARC core, with the Management Engine running the ThreadX RTOS. Versions 1.x to 5.x of the ME used the ARCTangent-A4 (32-bit only instructions) whereas versions 6.x to 8.x used the newer ARCompact (mixed 32- and 16-bit instruction set architecture). Starting with ME 7.1, the ARC processor could also execute signed Java applets.
The ME has its own MAC and IP address for the out-of-band interface, with direct access to the Ethernet controller; one portion of the Ethernet traffic is diverted to the ME even before reaching the host's operating system, for what support exists in various Ethernet controllers, exported and made configurable via Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP). The ME also communicates with the host via PCI interface. Under Linux, communication between the host and the ME is done via or .
Until the release of Nehalem processors, the ME was usually embedded into the motherboard's northbridge, following the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) layout. With the newer Intel architectures (Intel 5 Series onwards), ME is integrated into the Platform Controller Hub (PCH).
Firmware
By Intel's current terminology as of 2017, ME is one of several firmware sets for the Converged Security and Manageability Engine (CSME). Prior to AMT version 11, CSME was called Intel Management Engine BIOS Extension (Intel MEBx).
Management Engine (ME) – mainstream chipsets
Server Platform Services (SPS) – server chipsets and SoCs
Trusted Execution Engine (TXE) – tablet/embedded/low power
The Russian company Positive Technologies (Dmitry Sklyarov) found that the ME firmware version 11 runs MINIX 3.
Modules
Active Management Technology (AMT)
Intel Boot Guard (IBG) and Secure Boot
Quiet System Technology (QST), formerly known as Advanced Fan Speed Control (AFSC), which provides support for acoustically-optimized fan speed control, and monitoring of temperature, voltage, current and fan speed sensors that are provided in the chipset, CPU and other devices present on the motherboard. Communication with the QST firmware subsystem is documented and available through the official software development kit (SDK).
Protected Audio Video Path
Intel Anti-Theft Technology (AT), discontinued in 2015.
Serial over LAN (SOL)
Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT), a firmware-based Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
Near Field Communication, a middleware for NFC readers and vendors to access NFC cards and provide secure element access, found in later MEI versions.
Security vulnerabilities
Several weaknesses have been found in the ME. On May 1, 2017, Intel confirmed a Remote Elevation of Privilege bug (SA-00075) in its Management Technology. Every Intel platform with provisioned Intel Standard Manageability, Active Management Technology, or Small Business Technology, from Nehalem in 2008 to Kaby Lake in 2017 has a remotely exploitable security hole in the ME. Several ways to disable the ME without authorization that could allow ME's functions to be sabotaged have been found. Additional major security flaws in the ME affecting a very large number of computers incorporating ME, Trusted Execution Engine (TXE), and Server Platform Services (SPS) firmware, from Skylake in 2015 to Coffee Lake in 2017, were confirmed by Intel on 20 November 2017 (SA-00086). Unlike SA-00075, this bug is even present if AMT is absent, not provisioned or if the ME was "disabled" by any of the known unofficial methods. In July 2018 another set of vulnerabilities was disclosed (SA-00112). In September 2018, yet another vulnerability was published (SA-00125).
Ring −3 rootkit
A ring −3 rootkit was demonstrated by Invisible Things Lab for the Q35 chipset; it does not work for the later Q45 chipset as Intel implemented additional protections. The exploit worked by remapping the normally protected memory region (top 16 MB of RAM) reserved for the ME. The ME rootkit could be installed regardless of whether the AMT is present or enabled on the system, as the chipset always contains the ARC ME coprocessor. (The "−3" designation was chosen because the ME coprocessor works even when the system is in the S3 state, thus it was considered a layer below the System Management Mode rootkits.) For the vulnerable Q35 chipset, a keystroke logger ME-based rootkit was demonstrated by Patrick Stewin.
Zero-touch provisioning
Another security evaluation by Vassilios Ververis showed serious weaknesses in the GM45 chipset implementation. In particular, it criticized AMT for transmitting unencrypted passwords in the SMB provisioning mode when the IDE redirection and Serial over LAN features are used. It also found that the "zero touch" provisioning mode (ZTC) is still enabled even when the AMT appears to be disabled in BIOS. For about 60 euros, Ververis purchased from Go Daddy a certificate that is accepted by the ME firmware and allows remote "zero touch" provisioning of (possibly unsuspecting) machines, which broadcast their HELLO packets to would-be configuration servers.
SA-00075 (a.k.a. Silent Bob is Silent)
In May 2017, Intel confirmed that many computers with AMT have had an unpatched critical privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2017-5689). The vulnerability, which was nicknamed "Silent Bob is Silent" by the researchers who had reported it to Intel, affects numerous laptops, desktops and servers sold by Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard (later Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc.), Intel, Lenovo, and possibly others. Those researchers claimed that the bug affects systems made in 2010 or later. Other reports claimed the bug also affects systems made as long ago as 2008. The vulnerability was described as giving remote attackers:
PLATINUM
In June 2017, the PLATINUM cybercrime group became notable for exploiting the serial over LAN (SOL) capabilities of AMT to perform data exfiltration of stolen documents. SOL is disabled by default, and must be enabled to exploit this vulnerability.
SA-00086
Some months after the previous bugs, and subsequent warnings from the EFF, security firm Positive Technologies claimed to have developed a working exploit. On 20 November, 2017 Intel confirmed that a number of serious flaws had been found in the Management Engine (mainstream), Trusted Execution Engine (tablet/mobile), and Server Platform Services (high end server) firmware, and released a "critical firmware update". Essentially every Intel-based computer for the last several years, including most desktops and servers, were found to be vulnerable to having their security compromised, although all the potential routes of exploitation were not entirely known. It is not possible to patch the problems from the operating system, and a firmware (UEFI, BIOS) update to the motherboard is required, which was anticipated to take quite some time for the many individual manufacturers to accomplish, if it ever would be for many systems.
Affected systems
Intel Atom – C3000 family
Intel Atom – Apollo Lake E3900 series
Intel Celeron – N and J series
Intel Core (i3, i5, i7, i9) – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th generation
Intel Pentium – Apollo Lake
Intel Xeon – E3-1200 v5 and v6 product family
Intel Xeon – Scalable family
Intel Xeon – W family
Mitigation
None of the known unofficial methods to disable the ME prevent exploitation of the vulnerability. A firmware update by the vendor is required. However, those who discovered the vulnerability note that firmware updates are not fully effective either, as an attacker with access to the ME firmware region can simply flash an old, vulnerable version and then exploit the bug.
SA-00112
In July 2018 Intel announced that three vulnerabilities () had been discovered and that a patch for the CSME firmware would be required. Intel indicated there would be no patch for 3rd generation Core processors or earlier despite chips or their chipsets as far back as Intel Core 2 Duo vPro and Intel Centrino 2 vPro being affected. However Intel AMT must be enabled and provisioned for the vulnerability to exist.
Assertions that ME is a backdoor
Critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Libreboot developers, and security expert Damien Zammit accused the ME of being a backdoor and a privacy concern. Zammit stresses that the ME has full access to memory (without the owner-controlled CPU cores having any knowledge), and has full access to the TCP/IP stack and can send and receive network packets independently of the operating system, thus bypassing its firewall.
Intel responded by saying that "Intel does not put back doors in its products nor do our products give Intel control or access to computing systems without the explicit permission of the end user." and "Intel does not and will not design backdoors for access into its products. Recent reports claiming otherwise are misinformed and blatantly false. Intel does not participate in any efforts to decrease security of its technology."
In the context of criticism of the Intel ME and AMD Secure Technology it has been pointed out that the National Security Agency (NSA) budget request for 2013 contained a Sigint Enabling Project with the goal to "Insert vulnerabilities into commercial encryption systems, IT systems, …" and it has been conjectured that Intel ME and AMD Secure Technology might be part of that program.
Disabling the ME
It is normally not possible for the user to disable the ME. Some undocumented methods to do so were discovered, but these methods are not supported by Intel. The ME's security architecture is designed to prevent disabling, and thus its possibility is considered by Intel to be a security vulnerability. For example, a virus could abuse it to make the computer lose some of the functionality that the typical end-user expects, such as the ability to play media with DRM. On the other hand, a malicious actor could use the ME to remotely compromise a system.
Strictly speaking, none of the known methods disable the ME completely, since it is required for booting the main CPU. All known methods merely make the ME go into abnormal states soon after boot, in which it seems not to have any working functionality. The ME is still physically connected to the system and its microprocessor continues to execute code.
Undocumented methods
Firmware neutralization
In 2016, the me_cleaner project found that the ME's integrity verification is broken. The ME is supposed to detect that it has been tampered with and, if this is the case, shut down the PC forcibly 30 minutes after system start. This prevents a compromised system from running undetected, yet allows the owner to fix the issue by flashing a valid version of the ME firmware during the grace period. As the project found out, by making unauthorized changes to the ME firmware, it was possible to force it into an abnormal error state that prevented triggering the shutdown even if large parts of the firmware had been overwritten and thus made inoperable.
"High Assurance Platform" mode
In August 2017, Positive Technologies (Dmitry Sklyarov) published a method to disable the ME via an undocumented built-in mode. As Intel has confirmed the ME contains a switch to enable government authorities such as the NSA to make the ME go into High-Assurance Platform (HAP) mode after boot. This mode disables most of ME's functions, and was intended to be available only in machines produced for specific purchasers like the US government; however, most machines sold on the retail market can be made to activate the switch. Manipulation of the HAP bit was quickly incorporated into the me_cleaner project.
Commercial ME disablement
From late 2017 on, several laptop vendors announced their intentions to ship laptops with the Intel ME disabled or let the end-users disable it manually:
Purism previously petitioned Intel to sell processors without the ME, or release its source code, calling it "a threat to users' digital rights". In March 2017, Purism announced that it had neutralized the ME by erasing the majority of the ME code from the flash memory. It further announced in October 2017 that new batches of their Debian-based Librem line of laptops will ship with the ME neutralized, and additionally disabling most ME operation via the HAP bit. Updates for existing Librem laptops were also announced.
In November, System76 announced their plan to disable the ME on their new and recent Ubuntu-based machines via the HAP bit.
In December, Dell began showing certain laptops on its website that offered the "Systems Management" option "Intel vPro - ME Inoperable, Custom Order" for an additional fee. Dell has not announced or publicly explained the methods used. In response to press requests, Dell stated that those systems had been offered for quite a while, but not for the general public, and had found their way to the website only inadvertently. The laptops are available only by custom order and only to military, government and intelligence agencies. They are specifically designed for covert operations, such as providing a very robust case and a "stealth" operating mode kill switch that disables display, LED lights, speaker, fan and any wireless technology.
In March 2018, Tuxedo Computers, a German company specialized in Linux powered PC, announced an option in the BIOS of their system to disable ME.
In February 2021 Nitrokey, a German company specialized in producing Security Tokens, announced NitroPC, a device identical to Purism's Librem Mini.
Effectiveness against vulnerabilities
Neither of the two methods to disable the ME discovered so far turned out to be an effective countermeasure against the SA-00086 vulnerability. This is because the vulnerability is in an early-loaded ME module that is essential to boot the main CPU.
Reactions
By Google
Google was attempting to eliminate proprietary firmware from its servers and found that the ME was a hurdle to that.
By AMD processor vendors
Shortly after SA-00086 was patched, vendors for AMD processor mainboards started shipping BIOS updates that allow disabling the AMD Secure Technology, a subsystem with similar function as the ME.
See also
AMD Platform Security Processor
Intel AMT versions
Intel vPro
Meltdown (security vulnerability)
Microsoft Pluton
Next-Generation Secure Computing Base
Samsung Knox
Spectre (security vulnerability)
Trusted Computing
Trusted Execution Technology
Trusted Platform Module
References
External links
Intel-SA-00086 security vulnerability detection tool
Slides by Igor Skochinsky:
Secret of Intel Management Engine
Rootkit in your laptop: Hidden code in your chipset and how to discover what exactly it does
Computer security
Remote administration software
Firmware
Intel
BIOS
MINIX |
42057646 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TextSecure | TextSecure | TextSecure was an encrypted messaging application for Android that was developed from 2010 to 2015. It was a predecessor to Signal and the first application to use the Signal Protocol, which has since been implemented into WhatsApp and other applications. TextSecure used end-to-end encryption to secure the transmission of text messages, group messages, attachments and media messages to other TextSecure users.
TextSecure was first developed by Whisper Systems, who were later acqui-hired by Twitter. The application's source code was then released under a free and open-source software license. In 2013, TextSecure's development was picked up by an independent group called Open Whisper Systems, who merged it with an encrypted voice calling application called RedPhone and renamed the product as Signal.
History
Whisper Systems and Twitter (2010–2011)
TextSecure started as an application for sending and receiving encrypted SMS messages. Its beta version was first launched on May 25, 2010, by Whisper Systems, a startup company co-founded by security researcher Moxie Marlinspike and roboticist Stuart Anderson. In addition to launching TextSecure, Whisper Systems produced a firewall, tools for encrypting other forms of data, and RedPhone, an application that provided encrypted voice calls. All of these were proprietary enterprise mobile security software.
In November 2011, Whisper Systems announced that it had been acquired by Twitter. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either company. The acquisition was done "primarily so that Mr. Marlinspike could help the then-startup improve its security". Shortly after the acquisition, Whisper Systems' RedPhone service was made unavailable. Some criticized the removal, arguing that the software was "specifically targeted [to help] people under repressive regimes" and that it left people like the Egyptians in "a dangerous position" during the events of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Twitter released TextSecure as free and open-source software under the GPLv3 license in December 2011. RedPhone was also released under the same license in July 2012. Marlinspike later left Twitter and founded Open Whisper Systems as a collaborative Open Source project for the continued development of TextSecure and RedPhone.
Open Whisper Systems (2013–2015)
Open Whisper Systems' website was launched in January 2013. Open Whisper Systems started working to bring TextSecure to iOS in March 2013.
In February 2014, Open Whisper Systems introduced the second version of their TextSecure Protocol (now Signal Protocol), which added group chat and push messaging capabilities to TextSecure. Toward the end of July 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced plans to unify its RedPhone and TextSecure applications as Signal. This announcement coincided with the initial release of Signal as a RedPhone counterpart for iOS. The developers said that their next steps would be to provide TextSecure instant messaging capabilities for iOS, unify the RedPhone and TextSecure applications on Android, and launch a web client. Signal was the first iOS app to enable easy, strongly encrypted voice calls for free.
TextSecure compatibility was added to the iOS application in March 2015. Later that month, Open Whisper Systems ended support for sending and receiving encrypted SMS/MMS messages on Android. From version 2.7.0 onward, TextSecure only supported sending and receiving encrypted messages via the data channel. Reasons for this included:
Complications with the SMS encryption procedure: Users needed to manually initiate a "key exchange", which required a full round trip before any messages could be exchanged. In addition to this, users could not always be sure whether the receiver could receive encrypted SMS/MMS messages or not.
Compatibility issues with iOS: Not possible to send or receive encrypted SMS/MMS messages on iOS due to the lack of APIs.
The large amounts of metadata that inevitably arise and are uncontrollable when using SMS/MMS for the transportation of messages.
Focus on software development: Maintaining SMS/MMS encryption and dealing with edge cases took up valuable resources and inhibited the development of the software.
Open Whisper Systems' abandonment of SMS/MMS encryption prompted some users to create a fork named Silence (initially called SMSSecure) that is meant solely for the encryption of SMS and MMS messages.
In November 2015, the RedPhone application was merged into TextSecure and it was renamed as Signal for Android.
Features
TextSecure allowed users to send encrypted text messages, audio messages, photos, videos, contact information, and a wide selection of emoticons over a data connection (e.g. Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G) to other TextSecure users with smartphones running Android. TextSecure also allowed users to exchange unencrypted SMS and MMS messages with people who did not have TextSecure.
Messages sent with TextSecure to other TextSecure users were automatically end-to-end encrypted, which meant that they could only be read by the intended recipients. The keys that were used to encrypt the user's messages were stored on the device alone. In the user interface, encrypted messages were denoted by a lock icon.
TextSecure allowed the user to set a passphrase that encrypted the local message database and the user's encryption keys. This did not encrypt the user's contact database or message timestamps. The user could define a time period after which the application "forgot" the passphrase, providing an additional protection mechanism in case the phone was lost or stolen.
TextSecure had a built-in function for verifying that the user was communicating with the right person and that no man-in-the-middle attack had occurred. This verification could be done by comparing key fingerprints (in the form of QR codes) in person. The application would also notify the user if the correspondent's key fingerprint had changed.
TextSecure allowed users to chat with more than one person at a time. Group chats were automatically end-to-end encrypted and held over an available data connection if all participants were registered TextSecure users. Users could create groups with a title and avatar icon, add their friends, join or leave groups, and exchange messages/media, all with the same encryption properties pairwise TextSecure chats provided. The servers did not have access to group metadata such as lists of group members, the group title, or the group avatar icon.
The application could also function as a drop-in replacement for Android's native messaging application as it could fall back to sending unencrypted SMS and MMS messages.
Limitations
TextSecure required that the user had a phone number for verification. The number did not have to be the same as on the device's SIM card; it could also be a VoIP number or a landline as long as the user could receive the verification code and have a separate device to set-up the software. A number could only be registered to one device at a time.
The official TextSecure client required Google Play Services because the app was dependent on Google's GCM push messaging framework. From February 2014 to March 2015, TextSecure used GCM as the transport for message delivery over the data channel. From March 2015 forward, TextSecure's message delivery was done by Open Whisper Systems themselves and the client relied on GCM only for a wakeup event.
Architecture
Encryption protocol
TextSecure was the first application to use the Signal Protocol (then called the TextSecure Protocol), which has since been implemented into WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google Allo, encrypting the conversations of "more than a billion people worldwide". The protocol combines the Double Ratchet Algorithm, prekeys, and a 3-DH handshake. It uses Curve25519, AES-256, and HMAC-SHA256 as primitives.
The protocol provides confidentiality, integrity, authentication, participant consistency, destination validation, forward secrecy, backward secrecy (aka future secrecy), causality preservation, message unlinkability, message repudiation, participation repudiation, and asynchronicity. It does not provide anonymity preservation, and requires servers for the relaying of messages and storing of public key material.
The group chat protocol is a combination of a pairwise double ratchet and multicast encryption. In addition to the properties provided by the one-to-one protocol, the group chat protocol provides speaker consistency, out-of-order resilience, dropped message resilience, computational equality, trust equality, subgroup messaging, as well as contractible and expandable membership.
Servers
All client-server communications were protected by TLS. Once the server removed this layer of encryption, each message contained either the phone number of the sender or the receiver in plaintext. This metadata could in theory have allowed the creation of "a detailed overview on when and with whom users communicated". Open Whisper Systems asserted that their servers did not keep this metadata.
In order to determine which contacts were also TextSecure users, cryptographic hashes of the user's contact numbers were periodically transmitted to the server. The server then checked to see if those matched any of the SHA256 hashes of registered users and told the client if any matches were found. Moxie Marlinspike wrote that it is easy to calculate a map of all possible hash inputs to hash outputs and reverse the mapping because of the limited preimage space (the set of all possible hash inputs) of phone numbers, and that "practical privacy preserving contact discovery remains an unsolved problem".
The group messaging mechanism was designed so that the servers did not have access to the membership list, group title, or group icon. Instead, the creation, updating, joining, and leaving of groups was done by the clients, which delivered pairwise messages to the participants in the same way that one-to-one messages were delivered.
The server architecture was partially decentralized between December 2013 and February 2016. In December 2013, it was announced that the messaging protocol that was used by TextSecure had successfully been integrated into the Android-based open-source operating system CyanogenMod. From CyanogenMod 11.0 onward, the client logic was contained in a system app called WhisperPush. According to Open Whisper Systems, the Cyanogen team ran their own TextSecure server for WhisperPush clients, which federated with Open Whisper Systems' TextSecure server, so that both clients could exchange messages with each-other seamlessly. The CyanogenMod team discontinued WhisperPush in February 2016, and recommended that its users switch to Signal.
Licensing
The complete source code of TextSecure was available on GitHub under a free software license. The software that handled message routing for the TextSecure data channel was also open source.
Distribution
TextSecure was officially distributed only through Google Play. In October 2015, TextSecure had been installed over 1 000 000 times through Google Play.
TextSecure was briefly included in the F-Droid software repository in 2012, but was removed at the developer's request because it was an unverified build and exceptionally out of date. Open Whisper Systems have subsequently said that they will not support their applications being distributed through F-Droid because it does not provide timely software updates, relies on a centralized trust model and necessitates allowing the installation of apps from unknown sources which harms Android's security for average users.
Audits
In October 2013, iSEC Partners published a blog post in which they said that they had audited several of the projects supported by the Open Technology Fund over the past year, including TextSecure.
In October 2014, researchers from Ruhr University Bochum published an analysis of the TextSecure encryption protocol. Among other findings, they presented an unknown key-share attack on the protocol, but in general, they found that the encrypted chat client was secure.
Reception
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden endorsed TextSecure on multiple occasions. In his keynote speech at SXSW in March 2014, he praised TextSecure for its ease-of-use. During an interview with The New Yorker in October 2014, he recommended using "anything from Moxie Marlinspike and Open Whisper Systems". Asked about encrypted messaging apps during a Reddit AMA in May 2015, he recommended TextSecure.
In October 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) included TextSecure in their updated Surveillance Self-Defense guide. In November 2014, TextSecure received a perfect score on the EFF's Secure Messaging Scorecard. TextSecure received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having communications encrypted with keys the providers don't have access to (end-to-end encryption), making it possible for users to independently verify their correspondent's identities, having past communications secure if the keys are stolen (forward secrecy), having their code open to independent review (open-source), having their security designs well-documented, and having recent independent security audits. At the time, "ChatSecure + Orbot", Cryptocat, "Signal / RedPhone", Pidgin (with OTR), Silent Phone, Silent Text, and Telegram's optional secret chats also received seven out of seven points on the scorecard.
Developers and funding
TextSecure was developed by a nonprofit software group called Open Whisper Systems. The group is funded by a combination of donations and grants, and all of its products are published as free and open-source software.
, the project has received an unknown amount of donations from individual sponsors via the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Open Whisper Systems has received grants from the Knight Foundation, the Shuttleworth Foundation, and the Open Technology Fund, a U.S. government funded program that has also supported other privacy projects like the anonymity software Tor and the encrypted instant messaging app Cryptocat.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Internet privacy
Secure instant messaging
References
Literature
External links
TextSecure on GitHub
Open Whisper Systems. The developers' homepage.
Cryptographic software
Free and open-source Android software
Free security software
Internet privacy software
Free software programmed in Java (programming language)
Free instant messaging clients
Instant messaging clients programmed in Java
Software using the GNU AGPL license
Software using the GPL license
Formerly proprietary software |
42065740 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egress%20Software | Egress Software | Egress Software Technologies Ltd is a UK-based software company providing security software for e-mail, secure messaging, Document and Email Classification, and associated technologies to assist secure file sharing and handling.
History
Egress was founded in 2007 by Tony Pepper, Neil Larkins and John Goodyear. In 2011 Egress was awarded the
Security Innovation of the Year at the British Computer Society UK IT Industry Awards. The company experienced an influx of customers following the introduction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2018.
In June, 2021, Egress acquired Aquilai Ltd. for an undisclosed price.
Products
Egress software is for the secure transfer of emails and documents to non-secure email addresses.
Product certification and Agency approved listings
In October 2013, Egress Switch was certified by CESG against Desktop and Gateway Email Encryption Security Characteristics as part of their Commercial Product Assurance program. Egress Protect is certified by the UK's NCSC to handle Official and Official Sensitive under the UK government security classifications policy. this certification lies with National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and eas extended until 20 December 2019.
In May 2014, Egress Switch encryption services became available to procure via the G-Cloud 5 Framework, the UK Government's program committed to the adoption of Cloud services across the Public Sector. Through the G-Cloud Framework, Public Sector organizations are able to procure the following Egress Switch services: Switch Secure Email, Switch Secure File Transfer and Switch Secure Web Form via a number of Egress value added resellers.
Also in May 2014, Egress Switch Secure Email was listed in the NATO Information Assurance Product Catalogue, which provides the 28 NATO nations, as well as their civil and military bodies, with a directory of Information Assurance products, protection profiles and packages that are in use or available for procurement to meet operational requirements.
References
External links
Companies based in the London Borough of Islington
Computer security software companies
Software companies of the United Kingdom |
42081298 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%20Whisper%20Systems | Open Whisper Systems | Open Whisper Systems (abbreviated OWS) was a software development group that was founded by Moxie Marlinspike in 2013. The group picked up the open source development of TextSecure and RedPhone, and was later responsible for starting the development of the Signal Protocol and the Signal messaging app. In 2018, Signal Messenger was incorporated as an LLC by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton and then rolled under the independent 501c3 non-profit Signal Technology Foundation. Today, the Signal app is developed by Signal Messenger LLC, which is funded by the Signal Technology Foundation.
History
2010–2013: Background
Security researcher Moxie Marlinspike and roboticist Stuart Anderson co-founded a startup company called Whisper Systems in 2010. The company produced proprietary enterprise mobile security software. Among these were an encrypted texting program called TextSecure and an encrypted voice calling app called RedPhone. They also developed a firewall and tools for encrypting other forms of data.
In November 2011, Whisper Systems announced that it had been acquired by Twitter. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either company. The acquisition was done "primarily so that Mr. Marlinspike could help the then-startup improve its security". Shortly after the acquisition, Whisper Systems' RedPhone service was made unavailable. Some criticized the removal, arguing that the software was "specifically targeted [to help] people under repressive regimes" and that it left people like the Egyptians in "a dangerous position" during the events of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Twitter released TextSecure as free and open-source software under the GPLv3 license in December 2011. RedPhone was also released under the same license in July 2012. Marlinspike later left Twitter and founded Open Whisper Systems as a collaborative open source project for the continued development of TextSecure and RedPhone.
2013–2018: Open Whisper Systems
Marlinspike launched Open Whisper Systems' website in January 2013.
In February 2014, Open Whisper Systems introduced the second version of their TextSecure Protocol (now Signal Protocol), which added end-to-end encrypted group chat and instant messaging capabilities to TextSecure. Toward the end of July 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced plans to unify its RedPhone and TextSecure applications as Signal. These announcements coincided with the initial release of Signal as a RedPhone counterpart for iOS. The developers said that their next steps would be to provide TextSecure instant messaging capabilities for iOS, unify the RedPhone and TextSecure applications on Android, and launch a web client. Signal was the first iOS app to enable easy, strongly encrypted voice calls for free. TextSecure compatibility was added to the iOS application in March 2015.
On 18 November 2014, Open Whisper Systems announced a partnership with WhatsApp to provide end-to-end encryption by incorporating the Signal Protocol into each WhatsApp client platform. Open Whisper Systems said that they had already incorporated the protocol into the latest WhatsApp client for Android and that support for other clients, group/media messages, and key verification would be coming soon after. WhatsApp confirmed the partnership to reporters, but there was no announcement or documentation about the encryption feature on the official website, and further requests for comment were declined. On 5 April 2016, WhatsApp and Open Whisper Systems announced that they had finished adding end-to-end encryption to "every form of communication" on WhatsApp, and that users could now verify each other's keys. In September 2016, Google launched a new messaging app called Allo, which features an optional "incognito mode" that uses the Signal Protocol for end-to-end encryption. In October 2016, Facebook deployed an optional mode called "secret conversations" in Facebook Messenger mobile apps which provides end-to-end encryption using an implementation of the Signal Protocol.
In November 2015, the TextSecure and RedPhone applications on Android were merged to become Signal for Android. A month later, Open Whisper Systems announced Signal Desktop, a Chrome app that could link with a Signal client. At launch, the app could only be linked with the Android version of Signal. On 26 September 2016, Open Whisper Systems announced that Signal Desktop could now be linked with the iOS version of Signal as well. On 31 October 2017, Open Whisper Systems announced that the Chrome app was deprecated. At the same time, they announced the release of a standalone desktop client for certain Windows, MacOS and Linux distributions.
On 4 October 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Open Whisper Systems published a series of documents revealing that OWS had received a subpoena requiring them to provide information associated with two phone numbers for a federal grand jury investigation in the first half of 2016. Only one of the two phone numbers was registered on Signal, and because of how the service is designed, OWS was only able to provide "the time the user’s account had been created and the last time it had connected to the service". Along with the subpoena, OWS received a gag order requiring OWS not to tell anyone about the subpoena for one year. OWS approached the ACLU, and they were able to lift part of the gag order after challenging it in court. OWS said it was the first time they had received a subpoena, and that they were committed to treat "any future requests the same way".
2018–present: Signal Foundation
On February 21, 2018, Moxie Marlinspike and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton announced the formation of the Signal Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is "to support, accelerate, and broaden Signal’s mission of making private communication accessible and ubiquitous." The foundation was started with an initial $50 million in funding from Acton, who had left WhatsApp's parent company Facebook in September 2017. According to the announcement, Acton is the foundation's executive chairman and Marlinspike continued as CEO of Signal Messenger. The Freedom of the Press Foundation agreed to continue accepting donations on behalf of Signal while the Signal Foundation's non-profit status was pending. The Signal Foundation became officially tax-exempt in February 2019.
Funding
In May 2014, Moxie Marlinspike said that "Open Whisper Systems is a project rather than a company, and the project's objective is not financial profit." News media outlets later described Open Whisper Systems as a "non-profit software group" while the project was not registered as a non-profit organization. Between 2013 and 2016, Open Whisper Systems received grants from the Shuttleworth Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the Open Technology Fund.
Signal Messenger was initially funded by donations through the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which acted as Signal Messenger's fiscal sponsor while the Signal Foundation's non-profit status was pending. The Signal Foundation is officially tax-exempt as of February 2019.
In January 2021, the tech billionaire Elon Musk tweeted his support for the Signal app with two words "Use Signal", showing his favor for the app as an alternative to WhatsApp. Musk doubled down stating he had financially supported Signal in the past and that he will continue to do so. In addition to other platform mass migrations, Signal saw a large influx of new users and user donations.
Reception
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden endorsed Open Whisper Systems applications, including during an interview with The New Yorker in October 2014, and during a remote appearance at an event hosted by Ryerson University and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, in March 2015. Asked about encrypted messaging apps during a Reddit AMA in May 2015, he recommended “Signal for iOS, Redphone/TextSecure for Android”. In November 2015, Snowden tweeted that he used Signal "every day".
In October 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) included TextSecure, RedPhone, and Signal in their updated Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) guide. In November 2014, all three received top scores on the EFF's Secure Messaging Scorecard, along with Cryptocat, Silent Phone, and Silent Text. They received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having communications encrypted with keys the providers don't have access to (end-to-end encryption), making it possible for users to independently verify their correspondent's identities, having past communications secure if the keys are stolen (forward secrecy), having their code open to independent review (open source), having their security designs well-documented, and having recent independent security audits.
On 28 December 2014, Der Spiegel published slides from an internal NSA presentation dating to June 2012 in which the NSA deemed RedPhone on its own as a "major threat" to its mission, and when used in conjunction with other privacy tools such as Cspace, Tor, Tails, and TrueCrypt was ranked as "catastrophic," leading to a "near-total loss/lack of insight to target communications, presence..."
Projects
Over its five-year existence from 2013 to 2018, the Open Whisper Systems group managed multiple projects, which included:
Signal: An instant messaging, voice calling and video calling application for Android, iOS and desktop. It uses end-to-end encryption protocols to secure all communications to other Signal users. Signal can be used to send end-to-end encrypted group messages, attachments and media messages to other Signal users. The app uses 4 encryption algorithms to encrypt all text and media sent to and from the app: XEdDSA and VXEdDSA, Double Ratchet, X3DH, and Sesame. All calls are made over a Wi-Fi or data connection and are free of charge, including long distance and international. Signal has a built-in mechanism for verifying that no man-in-the-middle attack has occurred. Signal Messenger has set up dozens of servers to handle the encrypted calls in more than 10 countries around the world to minimize latency. The clients are published under the GPLv3 license.
Signal Protocol: A non-federated cryptographic protocol that can be used to provide end-to-end encryption. It combines the Double Ratchet algorithm, prekeys, and a 3-DH handshake. Signal Messenger maintains several open source Signal Protocol libraries on GitHub.
Signal Server: The software is published under the AGPLv3 license.
Contact Discovery Service: A microservice that "allows clients to discover which of their contacts are registered users, but does not reveal their contacts to the service operator or any party that may have compromised the service." The software is published under the AGPLv3 license. , the service is in beta.
Some of these projects were discontinued or merged into other projects:
BitHub: A service that would automatically pay a percentage of Bitcoin funds for every submission to a GitHub repository.
Flock: A service that synced calendar and contact information on Android devices. Users had the ability to host their own server. The developer cited technological choices that led to high server costs as a reason for discontinuing the service. Flock was discontinued 1 October 2015, but its source code is still available on GitHub under the GPLv3 license.
RedPhone: A stand-alone application for encrypted voice calling on Android. RedPhone integrated with the system dialler to make calls, but used ZRTP to set up an end-to-end encrypted VoIP channel for the actual call. RedPhone was designed specifically for mobile devices, using audio codecs and buffer algorithms tuned to the characteristics of mobile networks, and used push notifications to preserve the user's device's battery life while still remaining responsive. RedPhone was merged into TextSecure on 2 November 2015. TextSecure was then renamed as Signal for Android. RedPhone's source code was available under the GPLv3 license.
TextSecure: A stand-alone application for encrypted messaging on Android. TextSecure could be used to send and receive SMS, MMS, and instant messages. It used end-to-end encryption with forward secrecy and deniable authentication to secure all instant messages to other TextSecure users. TextSecure was merged with RedPhone to become Signal for Android, but lost its ability to encrypt SMS. The source code is available under the GPLv3 license.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Comparison of VoIP software
Internet privacy
List of free and open-source software organizations
Secure communication
References
Literature
External links
Free and open-source software organizations |
42082713 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaCl%20%28software%29 | NaCl (software) | NaCl (pronounced "salt") is an abbreviation for "Networking and Cryptography library", a public domain "...high-speed software library for network communication, encryption, decryption, signatures, etc".
NaCl was created by the mathematician and programmer Daniel J. Bernstein who is best known for the creation of qmail and Curve25519. The core team also includes Tanja Lange and Peter Schwabe. The main goal while creating NaCl, according to the paper, was to "avoid various types of cryptographic disasters suffered by previous cryptographic libraries".
Basic functions
Public-key cryptography
Signatures using Ed25519.
Key agreement using Curve25519.
Secret-key cryptography
Authenticated encryption using Salsa20-Poly1305.
Encryption using Salsa20 or AES.
Authentication using HMAC-SHA-512-256.
One-time authentication using Poly1305.
Low-level functions
Hashing using SHA-512 or SHA-256 or BLAKE2 using libsodium
String comparison.
Key derivation function (only libsodium)
Password hashing using argon2
Implementations
Reference implementation is written in C, often with several inline assembler. C++ and Python are handled as wrappers.
NaCl has a variety of programming language bindings such as PHP, and forms the basis for Libsodium, a cross-platform cryptography library created in 2013 which is API compatible with NaCl.
Alternative implementations
Libsodium — a portable, cross-compilable, installable, packageable, API-compatible version of NaCl.
dryoc — a pure-Rust implementation of libsodium/NaCl, with support for protected memory.
NaCl Pharo — a Pharo Smalltalk Extension.
TweetNaCl — a tiny C library, which fits in just 100 tweets (140 symbols each), but supports all NaCl functions.
NaCl for Tcl — a port to the Tcl language.
NaCl for JavaScript — a port of TweetNaCl/NaCl cryptographic library to the JavaScript language.
TweetNaCl for Java — a port of TweetNaCl/NaCl cryptographic library to the Java language.
SPARKNaCl — A re-write of TweetNaCl in the SPARK Ada subset, with formal and fully automatic proofs of type safety and some correctness properties.
Crypt::NaCl::Sodium Perl 5 binding to libsodium
See also
Comparison of cryptography libraries
List of free and open-source software packages
References
External links
Public-domain software
Cryptographic software
2008 software |
42100362 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calyx%20Institute | Calyx Institute | The Calyx Institute is a New York-based 501(c)(3) research and education nonprofit organization formed to make privacy and digital security more accessible. It was founded in 2010 by Nicholas Merrill, Micah Anderson, and Kobi Snitz.
History
The Calyx Institute was founded on May 19, 2010, through a filing with the New York Department of State. Its original office consisted of a single desk in a law firm in Manhattan.
In 2011, Calyx was described in an article in the New York Times and also entered into the Congressional Record as a new non-profit that "aims to study how to protect consumers' privacy". The same year, the Washington Post described it as an organization that "promotes 'best practices' with regard to privacy and freedom of expression in the telecommunications industry" In April 2012, Declan McCullagh at CNET published an in-depth profile of the Institute and its plans to develop best practices and proof-of-concept software for running a privacy-focused internet service provider and phone company. The following month, the security publication CSO Online described the organization's plan as: "By showing there is a market demand for privacy, The Calyx Institute hopes to nudge telecoms in a positive direction and intends to 'release all software developed under an open source model as well as all underlying policies and network designs.
On December 4, 2014, the Calyx Institute received its 501(c)(3) determination letter from the IRS, giving it the status of "public charity" and making donations to it tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
In 2017, it moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, renting office space in the Industry City development.
In 2020, the Calyx Institute was a signer of an open letter asking Google to be more transparent regarding user data being shared with law enforcement.
Leadership
The Calyx Institute's board of directors originally consisted of Nicholas Merrill, Micah Anderson, and Kobi Snitz; in 2016, attorney Carey Shenkman joined the board.
The Institute also has an advisory board, which consists of Enrique Piracés, Isabela Bagueros, Jonathan Askin, Matt Mitchell, Sandra Ordoñez, and Sascha Meinrath. Past advisors included Brian Snow, Susan N. Herman, John Perry Barlow, and Bob Barr.
Funding
The majority of the Calyx Institute's funding comes from its membership program. In its early years it received minor funding from Internews, the Wau Holland Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and NLnet.
DuckDuckGo donated $2,500 in 2017 to support Calyx's mission, and the following year selected it as a participating organization in its Privacy Challenge crowdfunding campaign, through which it raised over $18,000.
The Calyx Institute accepts donations in Bitcoin, which allows anonymity, but requires an email address for acknowledgement if desired.
Grantmaking
The Calyx Institute has given grants and other financial assistance to a number of organizations and projects including CryptoHarlem, MuckRock's Hacking History project, and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
Tools
CalyxOS is a fork of the Android Open Source Project that aims to give users better privacy and control over their personal data.
SeedVault is an open-source data backup application for Android. Calyx Institute is credited for LineageOS including SeedVault backup.
Datura is an open-source firewall application built in CalyxOS for controlling the per-app network access.
Calyx Institute runs CalyxVPN, a free VPN service that does not require an email address or any personally identifiable information from the user. It is based on an open-source system called LEAP, which uses OpenVPN.
In January 2014, The Calyx Institute announced it had set up a new XMPP chat service, Calyx XMPP Service, at that time unique in forcing the use of end-to-end encryption using off-the-record messaging and leveraging DNSSEC and DANE as well as making itself accessible as a Tor hidden service.
In 2015, a coalition of organizations consisting of the EFF, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, NYU Law, the Calyx Institute, and the Berkman Center created a website called Canary Watch in order to provide a compiled list of all companies providing warrant canaries, with prompt updates of any changes in a canary's state. It is often difficult for users to ascertain a canary's validity on their own and thus Canary Watch aimed to provide a simple display of all active canaries and any blocks of time that they were not active.
Conferences
The Calyx Institute has participated multiple times in the DEFCON hacker conference and the HOPE conference, and has also participated in the Hackers Next Door conference.
It has also sponsored and presented at the Internet Freedom Festival.
Reception
The Calyx Institute's membership program provides mobile Internet access as a benefit. This was recommended in September 2016 by Cory Doctorow in an article in Boing Boing entitled "I have found a secret tunnel that runs underneath the phone companies and emerges in paradise", and in January 2017 by Jake Swearingen in New York Magazine.
Since 2013, the Calyx Institute has been cited as an example of Internet users' being interested in protecting their privacy and related to Merrill's successful challenge of a national security letter. Its Internet offerings have been called "an exception not the norm".
In 2019, several Calyx Institute servers were included in a study of the oldest, longest-running Tor exit nodes.
In a 2021 review of CalyxVPN, TechRadar called Calyx Institute a "long established non-profit" and said it was unusual in being "powered by donations" without ads and using open-source software.
References
External links
Canary Watch website
CalyxOS website
Computer security organizations
Internet privacy organizations
501(c)(3) organizations
2010 establishments in New York City
Non-profit organizations based in Brooklyn |
42141799 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart%20onboard%20data%20interface%20module | Smart onboard data interface module | The Smart Onboard Data Interface Module (SMODIM) is used by the United States Army and foreign militaries for live simulated weapons training on military platforms. The SMODIM is the primary component of the Longbow Apache Tactical Engagement Simulation System (LBA TESS) that provides weapons systems training and collective Force-on-Force live training participation.
TESS is an advanced weapons training system developed for the AH-64 Apache to support force-on-force and force-on-target live training at U.S. Army Combat Training Centers (CTCs), Aviation Home Stations, and deployed locations. TESS integrates with aircraft and ground vehicles to provide collective opposing force participation in live training.
The Aerial Weapons Scoring System (AWSS) integration with LBA TESS provides the ability to conduct force-on-target engagements using live ammunition for 30 mm gun, rockets, and simulated Hellfire missiles. Gunnery scoring is supported by the SMODIM, which transmits aviation data from the LBA to the Exercise Control (EXCON). AWSS scores the pilot's live-fire gunnery performance and provides constructive After Action Review (AAR) feedback.
Designed and manufactured by Inter-Coastal Electronics, Inc (ICE), "The SMODIM is fully compatible with the multiple integrated laser engagement system (MILES) and laser-based direct fire weapons. Additionally, it eliminates the requirement for MILES-type lasers by providing the capability to geometrically pair weapon engagements".
Background
In 1992, Inter-Coastal Electronics was selected by U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command (CECOM) to provide the real-time casualty assessment (RTCA) interface for the AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter. This component was called the onboard data interface module (ODIM). As the Army incorporated new technologies, the SMODIM added GPS and telemetry and became the core component of live helicopter training systems at all U.S. Army Combat Training Centers (CTCs) with a fielding of over 240 systems. In 1997, the SMODIM was modified to provide a proof of concept for the upgraded AH-64 (D model) Longbow Apache. In 1998 the "Modular" SMODIM and the longbow tactical engagement simulation system (TESS) training system was fielded to all three CTCs and Aviation Home Stations, and became the U.S. Army's first fully integrated live aviation training system. Over the following 15 years, the SMODIM has deployed in multiple systems and platforms with over one thousand SMODIMs fielded in the U.S. and abroad. An "Advanced" SMODIM or "ASMODIM" is currently in development due to parts obsolescence and will provide an 80% increased processing performance. Security encryption is in accordance with FIPS 140-2 level 2. Advanced weapon simulation is augmented by digital terrain elevation data (DTED) and geometric ranging. Data communication and data transmission upgrades utilize RS-422 and RS-485 full duplex channels, and ARINC 429 technical standards.
Overview
The SMODIM includes a built-in GPS receiver, telemetry radio, data recorder, and MIL-STD-1553 mux bus processors. The SMODIM interfaces with the weapons systems and actively tracks, records and transmits data to the ground station or exercise control (EXCON). RTCA feedback is passed directly to the weapons processor and the ground station through the onboard telemetry radio. The SMODIM processes area weapons effects (AWE) data received from the EXCON and computes geometric pairing solutions for weapon engagements using the RF Hellfire, semi-automated laser (SAL) Hellfire, 30 mm chain gun, and rockets. It selects a target from its onboard player/position database in the appropriate weapons impact footprint, then uses the probability-of-hit (Ph) factor to determine the assessment (i.e., ‘hit’/‘miss’). Via the data link, it then informs the target it has been selected for assessment.
The SMODIM maintains a dynamic position database through player-to-player network communications. The onboard telemetry radio supports simultaneous distribution to multiple locations. The radio acts as a message repeater to overcome line of sight (LOS) interruptions. The SMODIM interfaces with distributed interactive simulation (DIS) networks using SMODIM tracking analysis and recording (SMOTAR), an advanced software suite that provides visual display and tracking of SMODIM instrumented players. GPS provides real-time position data as players are dynamically simulated, tracked and recorded over tactical maps and aerial photos for after-action review (AAR).
The TESS Aircraft System consists of an “A” kit that becomes part of the aircraft, and a “B” kit that is added to the aircraft for training exercises. The “A” kit includes the SMODIM Tray Assembly, modified software in the weapons display and systems processors, with cable connection provisions. The “B” kit includes the SMODIM, Eye-Safe Laser Range Finder/Designator (ESLRF/D), TESS Gun Control Unit (TGCU), Aircraft Internal Boresight Subassembly (AIBS), TESS Training Missile (TTM) with Flash Weapon Effects Signature Simulator (FlashWESS), GPS and telemetry antennas.
Monitored parameters
Aircraft Position Location and Heading
Aircraft Pitch, Roll and Yaw
Ammunition Inventories
Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE) Status (on/off)
Missile, Rocket and Gun Firing
Player ID
Radar Altitude
Range to Target
Real Time Casualty Assessment
Weapon Release
Selected Sight
Selected Designator Laser Code and Missile Seeker Code
Target Acquisition Designation Sight (TADS) Azimuth
Target Position
Qualifications
The SMODIM is qualified with an airworthiness release (AWR) through the Aviation Engineering Directorate (AED). Environmental and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) compliance tests include DO-160, MIL-STD-810E/F and ADS-37A-PRF.
Platforms
The SMODIM is used on the following platforms with applicable current contract information:
AH-64 Apache Longbow Attack Helicopter; FMS Royal Netherlands Air Force Longbow TESS
WAH-64 AgustaWestland Apache Helicopter; FMS United Kingdom (UK) Collective Training System
CH-47 Chinook Helicopter; AV TESS Supplemental Kits
UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter; AV TESS Supplemental Kits
OH-58 Kiowa Warrior Helicopter; KW CASUP TESS
UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter; Offensive Capability
Other platforms instrumented with the SMODIM include:
LYNX Attack Helicopter
Aircraft Survivability Equipment Trainer (ASET) IV
Avenger Air Defense
M270, M270A1 M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS)
U.S. army programs
The TESS training system and SMODIM are used by the U.S. Army at Aviation Homestations and CTCs (NTC, JRTC, JMRC). Permanent TESS training support is provided at Ft Hood, TX since 1998 for the 21st Cavalry Brigade, and is ongoing through the 166th Aviation Brigade and Foreign Military customers that train there. Permanent field support for TESS is also provided at the CTCs.
The UH-72A LUH Lakota is recently instrumented with the SMODIM and will deploy to Germany at the Joint Multinational Command Training Center (JMTC) to train pilots in combat engagements.
TESS provides the capability to track all LUH aircraft and provide OPFOR aircraft status (alive or killed) to the CTC EXCON. Simulated weapons capability allows Force-on-Force and Force-on-Target training engagements.
The SMODIM supports U.S. Army Homestation gunnery on digital range training system (DRTS), Digital Air Ground Integration Range (DAGIR), and Aviation Homestation Interim Package (AHIP) ranges. Upon proven success, the SMODIM has become a key component of the Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) AHIP modular After Action Review capability. Beginning in September 2013, five AHIP AAR systems that use SMOTAR software suite are being fielded to Ft Knox, KY, Ft Drum, NY, Ft Stewart, GA, Ft Hood, TX, and Grafenwoehr Germany. The objective solution is full integration of ground/air manned platforms and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) including Gray Eagle, Shadow, Raven, and Puma.
These programs are contracted by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), and Program Manager Training Devices (PM TRADE).
FMS & direct sales
Direct and foreign military sales (FMS) of the aviation TESS are currently in use by: Netherlands, Taiwan, Kuwait, Egypt, United Kingdom, Singapore, and United Arab Emirates.
Notes
References
Insight to Future Aviation Training, Army Aviation magazine, July 31, 2011
The Coming Homestation Training Revolution: Securing a Wedge for Army Aviation, Army Aviation magazine, July 31, 2011
AH-64-32A Interface Control Document for the Longbow Apache Tactical Engagement Simulation System (TESS), September 12, 2000
Avionics
Electronic engineering
Foreign Military Sales
Military education and training
Military lasers
Telemetry |
42154548 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldmont | Goldmont | Goldmont is a microarchitecture for low-power Atom, Celeron and Pentium branded processors used in systems on a chip (SoCs) made by Intel. They allow only one thread per core.
The Apollo Lake platform with 14 nm Goldmont core was unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Shenzhen, China, April 2016. The Goldmont architecture borrows heavily from the Skylake Core processors, so it offers a more than 30 percent performance boost compared to the previous Braswell platform, and it can be used to implement power-efficient low-end devices including Cloudbooks, 2-in-1 netbooks, small PCs, IP cameras, and in-car entertainment systems.
Design
Goldmont is the 2nd generation out-of-order low-power Atom microarchitecture designed for the entry level desktop and notebook computers. Goldmont is built on the 14 nm manufacturing process and supports up to four cores for the consumer devices. It includes the Intel Gen9 graphics architecture introduced with the Skylake.
The Goldmont microarchitecture builds on the success of the Silvermont microarchitecture, and provides the following enhancements:
An out-of-order execution engine with a 3-wide superscalar pipeline. Specifically:
The decoder can decode 3 instructions per cycle.
The microcode sequencer can send 3 µops per cycle for allocation into the reservation stations.
Retirement supports a peak rate of 3 per cycle.
Enhancement in branch prediction which de-couples the fetch pipeline from the instruction decoder.
Larger out-of-order execution window and buffers that enable deeper out-of-order execution across integer, FP/SIMD, and memory instruction types.
Fully out-of-order memory execution and disambiguation. The Goldmont microarchitecture can execute one load and one store per cycle (compared to one load or one store per cycle in the Silvermont microarchitecture). The memory execution pipeline also includes a second level TLB enhancement with 512 entries for 4KB pages.
Integer execution cluster in the Goldmont microarchitecture provides three pipelines and can execute up to three simple integer ALU operations per cycle.
SIMD integer and floating-point instructions execute in a 128-bit wide engine. Throughput and latency of many instructions have improved, including PSHUFB with 1-cycle throughput (versus 5 cycles for Silvermont microarchitecture) and many other SIMD instructions with doubled throughput.
Throughput and latency of instructions for accelerating encryption/decryption (AES) and carry-less multiplication (PCLMULQDQ) have been improved significantly in the Goldmont microarchitecture.
The Goldmont microarchitecture provides new instructions with hardware accelerated secure hashing algorithm, SHA1 and SHA256.
The Goldmont microarchitecture also adds support for the RDSEED instruction for random number generation meeting the NIST SP800-90C standard.
PAUSE instruction latency is optimized to enable better power efficiency.
Technology
A 14 nm manufacturing process
SoC (System on Chip) architecture
3D tri-gate transistors
Consumer chips up to quad-cores
Supports SSE4.2 instruction set
Supports Intel AESNI and PCLMUL instructions
Supports Intel RDRAND and RDSEED instructions
Supports Intel SHA extensions
Supports Intel MPX (Memory Protection Extensions)
Gen 9 Intel HD Graphics with DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6 with latest Windows 10 driver update (OpenGL 4.5 on Linux), OpenGL ES 3.2 and OpenCL 2.0 support.
HEVC Main10 & VP9 Profile0 hardware decoding support
10 W thermal design power (TDP) Desktop or Server processors
4.0 to 6.0 W TDP mobile processors
eMMC 5.0 technology to connect to NAND flash storage
USB 3.1 & USB-C specification
Support for DDR3L, LPDDR3, and LPDDR4 memory
Integrated Sensor Hub (ISH) which can sample and combine data from individual sensors and operate independently when the host platform is in a low power state
Image Signal Processor (ISP) supporting four concurrent camera streams
Audio controller supporting HD Audio and LPE Audio
Trusted Execution Engine 3.0 security subsystem
Erratum
Similar to previous Silvermont generation design flaws were found in processor circuitry resulting in cease of operation when processors are actively used for several years. Errata named APL46 "System May Experience Inability to Boot or May Cease Operation" was added to documentation in June 2017 stating that Low pin count (LPC), Real time clock (RTC), SD card and GPIO interfaces may stop functioning.
Mitigations were found to limit impact on systems. Firmware update for the LPC bus called LPC_CLKRUN# reduces the utilization of the LPC interface which in turn decreases (but not eliminates) LPC bus degradation - some systems are however not compatible with this new firmware. It is recommended not to use SD card as a boot device and to remove the card from the system when not in use, other possible solution being using only UHS-I cards and operating them at 1.8 V.
Congatec also states the issues impact USB buses and eMMC, although those are not mentioned in Intel's public documentation. USB should have a maximum of 12% active time and there is a 60TB transmit traffic life expectancy over the lifetime of the port. eMMC should have a maximum of 33% active time and should be set to D3 device low power state by the operating system when not in use.
Newer designs such as Atom C3000 Denverton do not seem to be affected.
List of Goldmont processors
Desktop processors (Apollo Lake)
List of desktop processors as follows:
Server processors (Denverton)
Mobile processors (Apollo Lake)
List of mobile processors as follows:
Embedded processors (Apollo Lake)
List of embedded processors as follows:
Automotive processors (Apollo Lake)
There is also an Atom A3900 series exclusively for automotive customers with AEC-Q100 qualification:
Tablet processors (Willow Trail)
Willow Trail platform was canceled. Apollo Lake will be offered instead.
See also
List of Intel CPU microarchitectures
List of Intel Pentium microprocessors
List of Intel Celeron microprocessors
List of Intel Atom microprocessors
Atom (system on chip)
References
Intel x86 microprocessors
Intel microarchitectures
X86 microarchitectures |
42178377 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen%20Trimberger | Stephen Trimberger | Stephen "Steve" Trimberger (born 1955) is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, philanthropist, and prolific inventor with 250 US utility patents as of August 26, 2021. He is a DARPA program manager of the microsystems technology office.
Education
Trimberger grew up in Sacramento, California, and earned his B.S. in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), M.S. in Information and Computer Science from the University of California at Irvine, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the California Institute of Technology.
While attending Caltech, Trimberger joined the Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS) project, with principal investigator Gene Shoemaker, operated by Eleanor "Glo" Helin. PCAS searched for asteroids that could potentially impact planets, including Earth. In recognition for his contributions to this project, minor planet 2990 was named "Trimberger."
Career
Trimberger joined VLSI Technology in 1982 where, as a member of the original Design Technology group, he developed a variety of computer-aided design software including interactive tools, simulation, physical design automation and logical design automation. During this time, he wrote An Introduction to CAD for VLSI, collecting and explaining the fundamental algorithms and techniques used in the early days of the CAE industry.
Since 1988, he has been employed at Xilinx, a fabless semiconductor company in San Jose, California. He was a member of the architecture definition group for the Xilinx XC4000 field-programmable gate array (FPGA), the first FPGA with dedicated arithmetic and memory. At the same time, he was the technical leader for the XC4000 design automation software. He led the architecture definition group for the Xilinx XC4000X device families. He developed a time-multiplexed FPGA and software to map to it in the 1990s, long before Tabula commercialized the time-folded FPGA. He is an inventor on approximately thirty patents in this area. In the early 1990s, he edited and co-wrote Field-Programmable Gate Array Technology, introducing the first generation of academic researchers to the industrial side of programmable-logic architecture, tools and design.
He designed the bitstream security system for the Xilinx Virtex-II [US Patent #7,058,177], the first bitstream encryption deployed in FPGAs. His inventions on that security system are the basis of security in all commercial FPGAs from Xilinx and others. He was also instrumental in bringing 3D packaging from a lab curiosity to a product in the mid-2000s [US Patent 7,605,458]. This was deployed by Xilinx as Stacked Silicon Interconnect Technology (SSIT).
Trimberger led the Xilinx Advanced Development group for many years and is currently Xilinx Fellow in Xilinx Research Labs in San Jose.
Trimberger has written three books on computer-aided design for integrated circuits and FPGAs. He has written dozens of papers on design automation and FPGA architectures. He is a four-time winner of the Ross Freeman Award, Xilinx’s annual award for technical innovation.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 for his contributions to solid state electronics.
References
1955 births
Living people
American computer scientists
American electrical engineers
California Institute of Technology alumni
University of California, Irvine alumni |
42183924 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TURBINE%20%28US%20government%20project%29 | TURBINE (US government project) | TURBINE is the codename of an automated system which in essence enables the automated management and control of a large network of implants (a form of remotely transmitted malware on selected individual computer devices or in bulk on tens of thousands of devices).
The NSA has built an infrastructure which enables it to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process. As quoted by The Intercept, TURBINE is designed to "allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants) by creating a system that does automated control implants by groups instead of individually." The NSA has shared many of its files on the use of implants with its counterparts in the so-called Five Eyes surveillance alliance – the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
Among other things due to TURBINE and its control over the implants the NSA is capable of:
breaking into targeted computers and to siphoning out data from foreign Internet and phone networks
infecting a target's computer and exfiltrating files from a hard drive
covertly recording audio from a computer's microphone and taking snapshots with its webcam
launching cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites
exfiltrating data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer
The TURBINE implants are linked to, and relies upon, a large network of clandestine surveillance "sensors" that the NSA has installed at locations across the world, including the agency's headquarters in Maryland (Fort George G. Meade) and eavesdropping bases used by the agency in Misawa, Japan (Misawa Air Base) and Menwith Hill, England (RAF Menwith Hill). Codenamed as TURMOIL, the sensors operate as a sort of high-tech surveillance dragnet, monitoring packets of data as they are sent across the Internet. When TURBINE implants exfiltrate data from infected computer systems, the TURMOIL sensors automatically identify the data and return it to the NSA for analysis. And when targets are communicating, the TURMOIL system can be used to send alerts or "tips" to TURBINE, enabling the initiation of a malware attack. To identify surveillance targets, the NSA uses a series of data "selectors" as they flow across Internet cables. These selectors can include email addresses, IP addresses, or the unique "cookies" containing a username or other identifying information that are sent to a user's computer by websites such as Google, Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Twitter, unique Google advertising cookies that track browsing habits, unique encryption key fingerprints that can be traced to a specific user, and computer IDs that are sent across the Internet when a Windows computer crashes or updates.
See also
Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)
PRISM (surveillance program)
Law Enforcement Information Exchange
References
Counter-terrorism in the United States
Crime in the United States
Espionage
Human rights in the United States
Mass surveillance
National Security Agency
Privacy in the United States
Privacy of telecommunications
Secret government programs
Surveillance scandals
United States national security policy
War on terror
Computer surveillance
American secret government programs |
42194234 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xor%E2%80%93encrypt%E2%80%93xor | Xor–encrypt–xor | The xor–encrypt–xor (XEX) is a (tweakable) mode of operation of a block cipher.
XEX-based tweaked-codebook mode with ciphertext stealing (XTS mode) is one of the more popular modes of operation for whole-disk encryption.
XEX is a common form of key whitening.
XEX is part of some smart card proposals.
History
In 1984, to protect DES against exhaustive search attacks, Ron Rivest proposed DESX:
XOR a prewhitening key to the plaintext, encrypt the result with DES using a secret key, and then XOR a postwhitening key to the encrypted result to produce the final ciphertext.
In 1991, motivated by Rivest's DESX construction, Even and Mansour proposed a much simpler scheme (the "two-key Even–Mansour scheme"), which they suggested was perhaps the simplest possible block cipher: XOR the plaintext with a prewhitening key, apply a publicly known unkeyed permutation (in practice, a pseudorandom permutation) to the result, and then XOR a postwhitening key to the permuted result to produce the final ciphertext.
Studying simple Even–Mansour style block ciphers gives insight into the security of Feistel ciphers (DES-like ciphers) and helps understand block cipher design in general.
Orr Dunkelman, Nathan Keller, and Adi Shamir later proved it was possible to simplify the Even–Mansour scheme even further and still retain the same provable security, producing the "single-key Even–Mansour scheme": XOR the plaintext with the key, apply a publicly known unkeyed permutation to the result, and then XOR the same key to the permuted result to produce the final ciphertext.
In 2004, Rogaway presented the XEX scheme.
Rogaway used XEX to allow efficient processing of consecutive blocks (with respect to the cipher used) within one data unit (e.g., a disk sector) for whole-disk encryption.
Many whole-disk encryption systems – BestCrypt, dm-crypt, FreeOTFE, TrueCrypt, DiskCryptor, FreeBSD's geli, OpenBSD softraid disk encryption software, and Mac OS X Lion's FileVault 2 – support XEX-based tweaked-codebook mode with ciphertext stealing (XTS mode).
References
Block cipher modes of operation
Key management |
42304634 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multibook | Multibook | A Multibook or a TACLANE Multibook is a single laptop that combines two to three different classified networks into a single device solution. Currently, most secure computing standards require the federal government and military personnel to maintain multiple PCs on different networks in an effort to allow users simultaneous access to unclassified and classified information. A multibook simply through a complex configuration allows separate enclaves and virtual machines through one display.
A Multibook has no hard drive and uses a cryptographic ignition key to create a virtual hard drive space with a Type 1 COMSEC element found inside the MultiBook’s integrated Suite B security module.
The security module known as a HAIPE protects information stored on the computer, as well as data being sent to and from networks classified Secret and below. Due to the lack of stored collateral data, multiBooks do not have any burdensome COMSEC handling requirements. There is no Data at Rest (DAR) when equipment is turned off.
Some multibooks are NSA certified to protect information classified Secret and below. They are approved for Suite B information/processing with data in transit (DIT) encryption protecting information when sent to and from classified networks.
The multibook security benefit for the user is that the device is a CHVP device and is not considered CCI like other devices used in collateral processing.
References
Computer network security
Laptops |
42306479 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avere%20Systems | Avere Systems | Avere Systems was a privately held technology company that produces computer data storage and data management infrastructure. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As of March 2017, the company had raised over $90 million in funding. On January 3, 2018, the company announced that it was being acquired by Microsoft.
Avere's clients include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Infectious Diseases, the Library of Congress, Turner Broadcasting and Rising Sun Pictures.
History
Avere Systems was founded in Pittsburgh in 2008 by Ronald Bianchini, Jr., Ph.D., Michael L. Kazar, Ph.D and Dan Nydick. In December 2008, Avere announced a $15 million investment led by Menlo Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. In August 2010, Avere raised $17 million, led by Tenaya Capital with participation of existing investors. In July 2012, Avere raised $20 million, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. In 2014, the company announced an additional $20 million in venture financing, bringing the total to $72 million. The series D round was led by Western Digital Capital. Kazar, the company's CTO, received a lifetime achievement award in 2013 for his contributions to data storage from the world's largest technology professional membership association. Avere Systems and its CEO, Ronald Bianchini Jr. won the Carnegie Science Award for Information Technology in 2014.
In 2014, the company announced an additional $20 million in venture financing, bringing the total to $72 million. The Series D round was led by Western Digital Capital. In 2015, Avere was named as Google's cloud platform technology partner of the year.
In March 2017, Avere raised an additional $14 million in a funding round that included previous investors and Google.
On January 3, 2018, the company announced that it was being acquired by Microsoft. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
Operations
Avere Systems released its first FXT Series storage appliances in November 2009. The FXT series uses automated storage tiering to process data. The company launched a virtual version of its filer, called the Virtual FXT Edge filer (vFXT) to enable customers to use cloud compute without moving data from on-premises storage. In 2016, Avere released the FXT 5000 series of edge filers, which doubled performance and capacity over previous models. The 5200 model was released for users with lower performance workloads in April 2016.
In September 2016, Avere released the C2N System, a hybrid NAS/object storage appliance.
Avere is a member of the Standards Performance Evaluation Corporation. and has active technology partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, HGST/Amplidata, IBM/Cleversafe, and SwiftStack. The Library of Congress uses Avere in its storage network for access to images and other digital resources requested by site visitors. In November 2014, Avere announced selection by the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Office of Infectious Diseases (OID) to power its genomic sequencing storage environment.
Avere's technology has been used by visual effects studios for rendering special effects as well as for cloud storage of data available to multiple users. The FXT Edge filers were designed to maximize storage performance to improve workload efficiency. All data is encrypted with AES-256 encryption and complies with federal security standard FIPS 140-2. Visual effects studios such as DreamWorks, Digital Domain, Image Engine and Framestore have been reported as using Avere technology.
References
External links
Computer companies established in 2008
2008 establishments in Pennsylvania
Companies based in Pittsburgh
Information technology companies of the United States
Cloud storage gateways
Microsoft acquisitions
Microsoft subsidiaries
2018 mergers and acquisitions |
42319754 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellphone%20surveillance | Cellphone surveillance | Cellphone surveillance (also known as cellphone spying) may involve tracking, bugging, monitoring, eavesdropping, and recording conversations and text messages on mobile phones. It also encompasses the monitoring of people's movements, which can be tracked using mobile phone signals when phones are turned on.
Mass cellphone surveillance
Stingray devices
StingRay devices are a technology that mimics a cellphone tower, causing nearby cellphones to connect and pass data through them instead of legitimate towers. This process is invisible to the end-user and allows the device operator full access to any communicated data. This technology is a form of man-in-the-middle attack.
StingRays are used by law enforcement agencies to track people's movements, and intercept and record conversations, names, phone numbers and text messages from mobile phones. Their use entails the monitoring and collection of data from all mobile phones within a target area. Law enforcement agencies in Northern California that have purchased StingRay devices include the Oakland Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, San Jose Police Department and Fremont Police Department. The Fremont Police Department's use of a StingRay device is in a partnership with the Oakland Police Department and Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
End-to-end encryption such as Signal protects traffic against StingRay devices via cryptographic strategies.
Tower dumps
A tower dump is the sharing of identifying information by a cell tower operator, which can be used to identify where a given individual was at a certain time. As mobile phone users move, their devices will connect to nearby cell towers in order to maintain a strong signal even while the phone is not actively in use. These towers record identifying information about cellphones connected to them which then can be used to track individuals.
In most of the United States, police can get many kinds of cellphone data without obtaining a warrant. Law-enforcement records show police can use initial data from a tower dump to ask for another court order for more information, including addresses, billing records and logs of calls, texts and locations.
Targeted surveillance
Software vulnerabilities
Cellphone bugs can be created by disabling the ringing feature on a mobile phone, allowing a caller to call a phone to access its microphone and listening. One example of this was the group FaceTime bug.
In the United States, the FBI has used "roving bugs", which entails the activation of microphones on mobile phones to the monitoring of conversations.
Cellphone spying software
Cellphone spying software is a type of cellphone bugging, tracking, and monitoring software that is surreptitiously installed on mobile phones. This software can enable conversations to be heard and recorded from phones upon which it is installed. Cellphone spying software can be downloaded onto cellphones. Cellphone spying software enables the monitoring or stalking of a target cellphone from a remote location with some of the following techniques:
Allowing remote observation of the target cellphone position in real-time on a map
Remotely enabling microphones to capture and forward conversations. Microphones can be activated during a call or when the phone is on standby for capturing conversations near the cellphone.
Receiving remote alerts and/or text messages each time somebody dials a number on the cellphone
Remotely reading text messages and call logs
Cellphone spying software can enable microphones on mobile phones when phones are not being used, and can be installed by mobile providers.
Bugging
Intentionally hiding a cell phone in a location is a bugging technique. Some hidden cellphone bugs rely on Wi-Fi hotspots, rather than cellular data, where the tracker rootkit software periodically "wakes up" and signs into a public Wi-Fi hotspot to upload tracker data onto a public internet server.
Lawful interception
Governments may sometimes legally monitor mobile phone communications - a procedure known as lawful interception.
In the United States, the government pays phone companies directly to record and collect cellular communications from specified individuals. U.S. law enforcement agencies can also legally track the movements of people from their mobile phone signals upon obtaining a court order to do so.
Real-time location data
In 2018, United States cellphone carriers that sell customers' real-time location data - AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint- publicly stated they would cease those data sales because the FCC found the companies had been negligent in protecting the personal privacy of their customers' data. Location aggregators, bounty hunters, and others including law enforcement agencies that did not obtain search warrants used that information. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai concluded that carriers had apparently violated federal law. However, in 2019, the carriers were continuing to sell real-time location data. In late February 2020, the FCC was seeking fines on the carriers in the case.
Occurrences
In 2005, the prime minister of Greece was advised that his, over 100 dignitaries', and the mayor of Athens' mobile phones were bugged. Kostas Tsalikidis, a Vodafone-Panafon employee, was implicated in the matter as using his position as head of the company's network planning to assist in the bugging. Tsalikidis was found hanged in his apartment the day before the leaders were notified about the bugging, which was reported as "an apparent suicide."
Security holes within Signalling System No. 7 (SS7), called Common Channel Signalling System 7 (CCSS7) in the US and Common Channel Interoffice Signaling 7 (CCIS7) in the UK, were demonstrated at Chaos Communication Congress, Hamburg in 2014.
During the coronavirus pandemic Israel authorized its internal security service, Shin Bet, to use its access to historic cellphone metadata to engage in location tracking of COVID-19 carriers.
Detection
Some indications of possible cellphone surveillance occurring may include a mobile phone waking up unexpectedly, using a lot of battery power when on idle or when not in use, hearing clicking or beeping sounds when conversations are occurring and the circuit board of the phone being warm despite the phone not being used. However, sophisticated surveillance methods can be completely invisible to the user and may be able to evade detection techniques currently employed by security researchers and ecosystem providers.
Prevention
Preventive measures against cellphone surveillance include not losing or allowing strangers to use a mobile phone and the utilization of an access password. Another technique would be turning off the phone and then also removing the battery when not in use. Jamming or a Faraday cage may also work, the latter obviating removal of the battery.
Another solution is a cellphone with a physical (electric) switch or isolated electronic switch that disconnects the microphone and the camera without bypass, meaning the switch can be operated by the user only - no software can connect it back.
See also
Bluesnarfing
Carpenter v. United States
Carrier IQ
Cellphone jammer
Cyber stalking
Mobile security
Telephone tapping
Vault 7
Voice activated recorders
Security switch
References
https://mfggang.com/read-messages/how-to-read-texts-from-another-phone/
Cybercrime
Cyberattacks
Espionage
Surveillance
Mobile phones |
42342018 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity-based%20security | Identity-based security | Identity-based security is a type of security that focuses on access to digital information or services based on the authenticated identity of an individual. It ensures that the users of these digital services are entitled to what they receive. The most common form of identity-based security involves the login of an account with a username and password. However, recent technology has evolved into fingerprinting or facial recognition.
While most forms of identity-based security are secure and reliable, none of them are perfect and each contains its own flaws and issues.
History
The earliest forms of Identity-based security was introduced in the 1960s by computer scientist Fernando Corbató. During this time, Corbató invented computer passwords to prevent users from going through other people's files, a problem evident in his Compatible Time-Sharing System (C.T.S.S.), which allowed multiple users access to a computer concurrently. Fingerprinting however, although not digital when first introduced, dates back even further to the 2nd and 3rd century, with King Hammurabi sealing contracts through his fingerprints in ancient Babylon. Evidence of fingerprinting was also discovered in ancient China as a method of identification in official courts and documents. It was then introduced in the U.S. during the early 20th century through prison systems as a method of identification. On the other hand, facial recognition was developed in the 1960s, funded by American intelligence agencies and the military.
Types of identity-based security
Account Login
The most common form of Identity-based security is password authentication involving the login of an online account. Most of the largest digital corporations rely on this form of security, such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon. Account logins are easy to register, difficult to compromise, and offer a simple solution to identity-based digital services.
Fingerprint
Fingerprint biometric authentication is another type of identity-based security. It is considered to be one of the most secure forms of identification due to its reliability and accessibility, in addition to it being extremely hard to fake. Fingerprints are also unique for every person, lasting a lifetime without significant change. Currently, fingerprint biometric authentication are most commonly used in police stations, security industries, as well as smart-phones.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition operates by first capturing an image of the face. Then, a computer algorithm determines the distinctiveness of the face, including but not limited to eye location, shape of chin, or distance from the nose. The algorithm then converts this information into a database, with each set of data having enough detail to distinguish one face from another.
Controversies and issues
Account Login
A problem of this form of security is the tendency for consumers to forget their passwords. On average, an individual is registered to 25 online accounts requiring a password, and most individuals vary passwords for each account. According to a study by Mastercard and the University of Oxford, "about a third of online purchases are abandoned at checkout because consumers cannot remember their passwords." If the consumer does forget their password, they will usually have to request a password reset sent to their linked email account, further delaying the purchasing process. According to an article published by Phys Org, 18.75% of consumers abandon checkout due to password reset issues.
When individuals set a uniform password across all online platforms, this makes the login process much simpler and hard to forget. However, by doing so, it introduces another issue where a security breach in one account will lead to similar breaches in all remaining accounts, jeopardizing their online security. This makes the solution to remembering all passwords much harder to achieve.
Fingerprint
While fingerprinting is generally considered to be secure and reliable, the physical condition of one's finger during the scan can drastically affect its results. For example, physical injuries, differing displacement, and skin conditions can all lead to faulty and unreliable biometric information that may deny one's authorization.
Another issue with fingerprinting is known as the biometric sensor attack. In such an attack, a fake finger or a print of the finger is used in replacement to fool the sensors and grant authentication to unauthorized personnel.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition relies on the face of an individual to identify and grant access to products, services, or information. However, it can be fraudulent due to limitations in technology (lighting, image resolution) as well as changes in facial structures over time.
There are two types of failure for facial recognition tests. The first is a false positive, where the database matches the image with a data set but not the data set of the actual user's image. The other type of failure is a false negative, where the database fails to recognize the face of the correct user. Both types of failure have trade-offs with accessibility and security, which make the percentage of each type of error significant. For instance, a facial recognition on a smart-phone would much rather have instances of false negatives rather than false positives since it is more optimal for you to take several tries logging in rather than randomly granting a stranger access to your phone.
While in ideal conditions with perfect lighting, positioning, and camera placement, facial recognition technology can be as accurate as 99.97%. However, such conditions are extremely rare and therefore unrealistic. In a study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), video-recorded facial recognition accuracy ranged from 94.4% to 36% depending on camera placement as well as the nature of the setting.
Aside from the technical deficiencies of Facial Recognition, racial bias has also emerged as a controversial subject. A federal study in 2019 concluded that facial recognition systems falsely identified Black and Asian faces 10 to 100 times more often than White faces.
See also
Attribute-based access control
Federated identity
Identity-based conditional proxy re-encryption
Identity driven networking
Identity management system
Network security
Self-sovereign identity
References
Computer access control |
42369224 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakai%E2%80%93Kasahara%20scheme | Sakai–Kasahara scheme | The Sakai–Kasahara scheme, also known as the Sakai–Kasahara key encryption algorithm (SAKKE), is an identity-based encryption (IBE) system proposed by Ryuichi Sakai and Masao Kasahara in 2003. Alongside the Boneh–Franklin scheme, this is one of a small number of commercially implemented identity-based encryption schemes. It is an application of pairings over elliptic curves and finite fields. A security proof for the algorithm was produced in 2005 by Chen and Cheng. SAKKE is described in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 6508.
As a specific method for identity-based encryption, the primary use case is to allow anyone to encrypt a message to a user when the sender only knows the public identity (e.g. email address) of the user. In this way, this scheme removes the requirement for users to share public certificates for the purpose of encryption.
Description of scheme
The Sakai–Kasahara scheme allows the encryption of a message to an receiver with a specific identity, . Only the entity with the private key, , associated to the identity, , will be capable of decrypting the message.
As part of the scheme, both the sender and receiver must trust a Private Key Generator (PKG), also known as a Key Management Server (KMS). The purpose of the PKG is to create the receiver's private key, , associated to the receiver's identity, . The PKG must securely deliver the identity-specific private key to the receiver, and PKG-specific public parameter, , to all parties. These distribution processes are not considered as part of the definition of this cryptographic scheme.
Preliminaries
The scheme uses two multiplicative groups and . It is assumed:
The Diffie-Hellman problem is hard in . Meaning that given two members of the group and , it is hard to find such that .
The Diffie-Hellman problem is hard in . Meaning that given two members of the group and , it is hard to find such that .
There is a bilinear map, a Tate-Lichtenbaum pairing, from E to G. This means that for a member of :
Frequently, is a supersingular elliptic curve, such as (over a finite field of prime order ). A generator of prime order is chosen in . The group is the image due to the pairing of the group generated by (in the extension field of degree 2 of the finite field of order p).
Two hash functions are also required, and . outputs a positive integer, , such that . outputs bits, where is the length of the message .
Key generation
The PKG has a master secret where , and a public key which is a point on . The PKG generates the private key, , for the user with identity as follows:
Encryption
To encrypt a non-repeating message , the sender requires receiver's identity, and the public PGK value . The sender performs the following operation.
Create:
The sender generates using
Generate the point in :
Create the masked message:
The encrypted output is:
Note that messages may not repeat, as a repeated message to the same identity results in a repeated ciphertext. There is an extension to the protocol should messages potentially repeat.
Decryption
To decrypt a message encrypted to , the receiver requires the private key, from the PKG and the public value . The decryption procedure is as follows:
Compute
Receive the encrypted message: .
Compute:
Extract the message:
To verify the message, compute , and only accept the message if:
Demonstration of algorithmic correctness
The following equations demonstrate the correctness of the algorithm:
By the bilinear property of the map:
As a result:
Standardisation
There are four standards relating to this protocol:
Initial standardisation of scheme was begun by IEEE in 2006.
The scheme was standardised by the IETF in 2012 within RFC 6508.
A key-exchange algorithm based on the scheme is the MIKEY-SAKKE protocol developed by the UK's national intelligence and security agency, GCHQ, and defined in RFC 6509.
Sakai-Kasahara, as specified in MIKEY-SAKKE, is the core key-exchange algorithm of the Secure Chorus encrypted Voice over IP standard.
Security
In common with other identity-based encryption schemes, Sakai-Kasahara requires that the Key Management Server (KMS) stores a master secret from which all users' private keys can be generated. Steven Murdoch has criticised MIKEY-SAKKE for creating a security vulnerability through allowing the KMS to decrypt every users' communication. Murdoch also noted that the lack of forward secrecy in MIKEY-SAKKE increases the harm that could result from the master secret being compromised. GCHQ, the creator of MIKEY-SAKKE, disputed this analysis, pointing out that the some organisations may consider such monitoring capabilities to be desirable for investigative or regulatory reasons, and that the KMS should be protected by an air-gap.
Cryptographic libraries and implementations
The scheme is part of the MIRACL cryptographic library.
See also
ID-based encryption
wolfSSL : A SSL/TLS library that has integration with MIKEY SAKKE
References
Public-key encryption schemes
Pairing-based cryptography
Identity-based cryptography
Elliptic curve cryptography |
42400900 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana%20Pi | Banana Pi | Banana Pi () is a line of single-board computers produced by the Chinese company Shenzhen SINOVOIP Co., Ltd. () and its spin-off Guangdong BiPai Technology Co., Ltd. (). The hardware design of the Banana Pi computers was influenced by the Raspberry Pi and both lines use the same 40 pin I/O connector.
Banana Pi also can run NetBSD, Android, Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, Raspbian operating systems, though the CPU complies with the requirements of the Debian armhf port. Most models use a MediaTek or Allwinner SoC (system on chip) with two or four ARM Cortex cores.
Banana Pi BPI-M1
The Banana Pi BPI-M1 is a single-board computer featuring a Allwinner dual-core SoC at 1 GHz, 1GB of DDR3 SDRAM, Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, USB, and HDMI connections, and built-in 3.7V Li-ion battery charging circuit. It can run a variety of operating systems including Android, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, Debian, and Raspbian.
Key Features:
Allwinner A20 Dual-core 1.0 GHz CPU
Mali-400 MP2 with Open GL ES 2.0/1.1.
1 GB DDR3 memory.
1x SATA interface.
1x Gigabit LAN
1x USB otg and 2x USB 2.0
1X MIC
Composite video out
HDMI out
IR
CSI camera interface
DSI display interface
26 PIN GPIO
BPI official Wiki Banana Pi BPI-M1 wiki page
Neither Banana Pi nor Shenzhen SINOVOIP Co., Ltd. have a direct relationship to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, though its similarities are clear. "Linux User & Developer" does not consider it a "direct clone, but a considerable evolution," whilst linux.com similarly sees it as a clone with improved performance. The board layout is very similar to the Raspberry Pi board, though it is about 10% larger and the relative spacing of some connectors varies. Not all Raspberry Pi accessories will fit as a result.
Banana Pi BPI-M1+
The Banana BPI-M1+ is a credit-card-sized and low-power single-board computer.
Note:
The Banana Pi M1+ (Plus) Board BPI wiki page Banana Pi BPI-M1+ (Plus) wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-M2+(BPI-M2 Plus)
The Banana PI BPI-M2+ was released in April 2016. It has an Allwinner H3 SoC with a quad-core CPU and an on-board Wi-Fi module.
It runs Android, Debian, Ubuntu, and Raspbian images for the Raspberry Pi. Banana Pi PBI-M2 hardware: 1Ghz ARM7 quad-core processor, 1GB DDR3 SDRAM, 8GB eMMC flash on board, and SDIO Wi-Fi module on board.
Note:
The Banana Pi M2+ (Plus) Board BPI wiki page Banana Pi M2+ (Plus) wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero
The Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero is a low-power single-board computer featuring a high-performance Allwinner quad-core SoC at 1.2 GHz, 512MB of DDR3 SDRAM, USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mini HDMI.
The BPI-M2 Zero PCB is the same size as the Raspberry Pi Zero W PCB, but it has extra parts on the back, so it may or may not fit Raspberry Pi Zero W cases depending on their exact dimensions.
Key Features
CPU: Allwinner H2+, Quad-core Cortex-A7.
512MB DDR3 SDRAM.
Wi-Fi (AP6212) & Bluetooth on board.
Mini HDMI.
40 PIN GPIO, It includes UART, SPI, I2C, IO etc.
The Banana Pi has the same GPIO headers as the Raspberry Pi 1 Model A & B, as seen below.
The Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero Board BPI wiki page Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero
The Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero is a low-power single-board computer featuring a high-performance Allwinner quad-core SoC at 1.2 GHz, 512 MB of DDR3 SDRAM, USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mini HDMI.
Key Features:
CPU: Allwinner H2+, Quad-core Cortex-A7.
512 MB DDR3 SDRAM.
Wi-Fi (AP6212) & Bluetooth on board.
Mini HDMI.
40 PIN GPIO, including UART, SPI, I2C, IO etc.
10/100 Ethernet
IEEE 802.3af PoE standard PoE module support
8GB eMMC flash on board.
There are just 3 differences from the BPI-M2 Zero. The rest of the hardware design is the same as the BPI-M2 Zero, so all the software is the same.
added 8 GB eMMC flash memory on board, which can be used as an IoT gateway.
BPI-P2 Zero with 10/100 Ethernet interface, BPI-M2 Zero with PIN define for 10/100 Ethernet, usage is the same.
PoE function support on board.
The Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero Board BPI wiki page Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero wiki Page
BPI-P2 Zero PoE module wiki :BPI-9600 IEEE 802.3af PoE module
Banana Pi BPI-M2 Ultra
Banana PI BPI-M2 Ultra (BPI-M2U) is an open source hardware platform, it uses Allwinner R40 system-on-chip, it supports Wi-Fi+BT on board, and supports SATA interface on board.
Banana PI PBI-M2 Ultra hardware: Quad Core ARM Cortex-A7, ARMv7 CPU, 2GB DDR3 SDRAM, 8GB eMMC flash on board, Gigabit Ethernet port, built-in 3.7V Li-ion battery charging circuit.
It can run Android smoothly, it supports 1080P video, and the 40 pin GPIO header is pin-compatible with the Raspberry Pi.
Note:
The Banana Pi M2 Ultra Board BPI wiki page Banana Pi M2 (Ultra) wiki Page
using a 3.5" HDD may require external power source for the disk; on-board power can not provide enough current.
Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry
Banana PI BPI-M2 Berry (BPI-M2B) is an open source hardware platform, it uses Allwinner V40 system-on-chip and it supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board.
Banana PI M2 Berry hardware: 32 Bit Quad Core ARM Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz CPU, 1GB DDR3 SDRAM, No eMMC, Gigabit Ethernet port.
Banana PI M2 Berry series can run Android, Debian, Ubuntu, Raspbian and other OS. It can run Android when resolution is under HD or GPU is not needed.
Since R40 and V40 chips are pin-to-pin compatible, they can be swapped in BPI-M2 Ultra and BPI-M2 Berry versions resulting in two hybrid products.
Note:
The Banana Pi M2 (Berry) Board BPI wiki page:Banana Pi M2 (Berry) wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-M2 Magic
Banana PI BPI-M2 Magic (BPI-M2M) is an single-board computer designed for internet-of-things applications, It uses Allwinner R16 System on a Chip, also can use Allwinner A33 chip on board, it can be used for home entertainment, home automation, and high wireless performance, etc.
Note:
1. BPI-M2 Magic not HDMI interface.
2. Does not support RJ45 interface.
The Banana Pi M2 (Magic) Board BPI wiki: Banana Pi BPI-M2 Magic wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-M3
Banana Pi M3 is an open source hardware platform, it is an octa-core version of Banana Pi, it supports onboard Wi-Fi and SATA Port. Banana Pi M3 is able to run Android 5.1.1, Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi and other OS.
Banana PI M3 hardware: 2Ghz ARM7 octa-core processor, 2GB LPDDR3 SDRAM, Gigabit ethernet port and the GPIO is compatible with Raspberry Pi B+.
Note:
The Banana Pi M3 Board BPI wiki page: Banana Pi M3 wiki Page
The Banana Pi M3 Board detailed document on Banana Pi M3 Gitbook Page
Banana Pi BPI-M4
Banana Pi BPI-M4 uses the Realtek RTD1395 System on a Chip. It features 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB eMMC. It also has onboard Wi-Fi for 802.11b/g/n/ac and BT 4.2. On the ports side, the BPI-M4 has 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB Type C port, 1 HDMI port, 1 audio jack. Supports M.2 Key E PCIE 2.0 interface.
The RTD1395 is equipped with a high-performance quad-core CPU, ARM cortex-A53, with 512K L2 cache embedded. the RTD1395 also integrates the ARM Mali-470 Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) to accelerate 2D and 3D graphics processing. For acceleration of this OSD and 2K user interface, the built-in Streaming Engine of the RTD1395 provides commonly used drawing functions. the CPU is dedicated to applications, while most of the functions of the RTD1395 is dedicated to manipulating, decoding video streams in various formats.e.g. decoding 4Kx2K H.265, Full HD MPEG1/2/4/H.264/H.264 MVC, AVC/VC-1, VP8, VP9, AVS, AVS plus, HD JPEG, etc. Video DSP can also handle encoding of up to Full HD with H.264 format. Video decoding and encoding can run simultaneously.
Note:
The Banana Pi M4 Board BPI wiki page : Banana Pi M4 wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-M64
Note:
The Banana Pi M64 Board BPI wiki page : Banana Pi M64 wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-F2
Banana Pi BPI-F2 uses the Freescale i.MX6 System on a Chip. i.MX6 with ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore 4×CPU processor (with TrustZone), this is the first Banana Pi board design with a Freescale SoC.
Note:
The Banana Pi BPI-F2 BPI wiki page : Banana Pi BPI-F2 wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-S64 core
Banana Pi BPI-S64 core uses the Actions S700 System on a Chip. S700 SoC with ARM Cortex-A53 Quad-Core CPU, Mali450 MP4 GPU. BPI-S64 core with 2GB LPDDR3 and 8GB eMMC flash on board.
BPI-S64 core modules are small enough to fit all kinds of hardware. In addition, S64 core also provides I/O boards with GPIO ports, as well as USB, Micro USB, CSI, DSI, HDMI, and MicroSD and many other interfaces.
BPI-S64 core development kit spec
Note:
The Banana Pi S64 core Board BPI wiki page : Banana Pi S64 core wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-R1
The Banana Pi R1 is a 300Mbit/s Wireless 802.11n Router with both wired and wireless network connections is designed specifically for smart home networking use. With 2T2R MIMO technology and two detachable antennas, the R1 is a dual core system that runs smoothly with Android 4.2.2 and has five Gigabit ethernet ports, SATA socket, supports games and 1080p high definition video output.
Note:
The Banana Pi R1 Board BPI wiki page: Banana Pi R1 wiki Page
The Banana Pi R1 Board detailed document on Banana Pi R1 Gitbook Page
Banana Pi BPI-R2
Banana PI BPI-R2 is a highly integrated multimedia network router; it can be used for high wireless performance, home entertainment, home automation, etc. BPI-R2 integrates a Quad-code ARM Cortex-A7 MPcore operating up to 1.3 GHz, The Router also includes a variety of peripherals, including HDMI TX, MIPI DSI, PCIe2.0, USB2.0 OTG, USB3.0 Port, SATA port，5 Gbit/s Port Gigabit Ethernet port, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi & BT4.1 on board, also supports 802.11ac/n WLAN connection through mini PCI-e port BPI-R2can run with Android 5.1 smoothly, while as of the time of this entry this board does not work properly with any known linux distribution. The size of Banana Pi BPI-R2 same as BPI-R1, it can easily run with games as it supports 1080p high definition video output.
Note:
The Banana Pi R2 Board BPI wiki page: Banana Pi R2 wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-R64
Banana PI BPI-R64 is a highly integrated multimedia network router; it can be used for high wireless performance, home entertainment, home automation, etc. The Banana Pi R64 is a router based development board, which can run on a variety of open source operating systems including OpenWRT and Linux. It has 4 Gigabit LAN ports, 1 Gigabit WAN, and AC Wi-Fi AP function.
Key Features
MediaTek MT7622, 1.35GHZ 64 bit dual-core ARM Cortex-A53
1GB DDR3 SDRAM
Mini PCIE interface supports 4G module
built-in 4x4n 802.11n/Bluetooth 5.0 system-on-chip
MediaTek MTK7615 4x4ac Wi-Fi on board
supports 1 SATA interface
MicroSD slot supports up to 256GB expansion
8GB eMMC flash (option 16/32/64G)
5 port 10/100/1000 Mb Ethernet port
(1) USB 3.0
Slow I/O:ADC, Audio Amplifier, GPIO, I2C, I2S, IR, PMIC I/F, PWM, RTC, SPI, UART
POE function support
Note:
The Banana Pi BPI-R64 Board BPI wiki page: Banana Pi BPI-R64 wiki Page
BPI-R64 PoE module wiki page: BPI-7402 IEEE 802.3at PoE module
Banana Pi BPI-W2
The Banana PI BPI-W2 is a highly integrated multimedia network router; it can be used for high wireless performance, home entertainment, home automation, etc.
The BPI-W2 integrates a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 MPcore operating up to 1.5 GHz. The Router also includes a variety of peripherals, including HDMI RX/TX, Mini DP, PCIe2.0, PCIe1.1 & SDIO, M.2 interface, USB2.0, USB3.0 Port, SATA port，2 Gbit/s Gigabit Ethernet port; it also supports a 802.11ac/n WLAN connection thru a PCI-e port.
The BPI-W2 can run with Android 6.0 smoothly, and also can run OpenWRT, Debian, Raspbian and other OSes. The size of the Banana Pi BPI-W2 is the same as the BPI-R2, and can easily run with 1080P high-definition video output. The GPIO is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 3.
Note:
The Banana Pi w2 Board BPI wiki page : Banana Pi BPI-W2 wiki Page
Banana Pi BPI-D1
The BPI-D1 is one of the smallest open-source development boards currently on the market, with a built-in HD mini camera. At 36mm (w) x36mm (l) and weighing in at 10g, it is claimed to be much smaller than other boards with comparable features. The board is specially suited to mini-cam applications, providing high-resolution image quality: both video and still capture at 1280x720p with a video capture rate of 30 fps.
The Banana Pi-D1 is designed to provide a set of multimedia tools in one small package, that can be run from an external battery source.
The features of the D1 include: HD mini-cam, audio sensor, microphone, CPU, GPIO, and Wi-Fi.
Note:
The Banana Pi D1 Board documentation: Banana Pi D1 Gitbook Page
Banana Pi BPI-G1
Banana Pi-G1 is an integrated IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (Wi-Fi wireless network), IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee), IEEE 802.11-2007 Standard (Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0) development board. All three wireless protocols can be used together, you can exchange any different transport protocols, and each wireless protocol is supported by its own single-chip SOC, which can facilitate Internet of Things (IoT) projects.
The Wi-Fi uses TI CC3200, which is a high-performance ARM Cortex-M4 wireless SOC, internally integrated TCP/IP protocol stack. This allows simple connection to the Internet using the BSD Socket.
The Zigbee uses TI CC2530, which integrates wireless capabilities and enhanced 8051 core SOC. After years of improvement, it is quite mature and stable. TI's Z-stack has achieved Zigbee 2007/Pro, you can use the 16's short address, you can use the 64-bit long address communication, face large local interconnect systems, providing advanced security encryption and mesh network structure support.
The Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE) uses TI CC2540/1, an integrated BLE stack and enhanced 8051 core, low-power wireless SOC. At present, most mobile phones have support for Bluetooth 4.0, both as a wearable device, or mobile interactive accessories, CC2540 can be easily completed. Meanwhile, BPI G1 also incorporates a high-performance STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller, which help in dealing with time-consuming data or transit, the three wireless SOC coordinated.
Therefore, the Banana Pi G1 supports a wide range of Internet of Things DIY wireless projects.
Note:
The Banana Pi G1 Board detailed document on Banana Pi G1 Gitbook Page
Powered by AXP209 power management unit, Banana Pi is able to output up to 1.6A, which means users can drive an external HDD without an extra power supply.
The Banana Pi board is similar to Cubieboard2.
Banana Pi BPI-M2
The Banana Pi M2 (BPI-M2) is a credit card-sized and low-power single-board computer. It is a quad core version of Banana Pi, and supports on board Wi-Fi. The Banana Pi M2 series runs Android, Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi images and other images.
Banana PI M2 hardware: 1Ghz ARM7 quad-core processor, 1GB DDR3 SDRAM, Gigabit ethernet port.
The Banana PI M2 is the same size as the Banana Pi M1. It supports 1080p video output, and the GPIO is compatible with Raspberry Pi B+.
Note:
Since June 2017, BPI-M2 is the first product that stopped production in Banana PI series. Allwinner A31S chip stopped production since 2016, and the company ran out of stock of the chip.
The Banana Pi M2 Board detailed document on Banana Pi M2 Gitbook Page
Banana Pi Pro
The Banana Pi Pro is a credit card-sized and low-power single-board computer developed in China by the LeMaker Team, with the goal of promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in schools.
Like its smaller sibling the Banana Pi, the Pro concept is heavily influenced by the Raspberry Pi, however the Banana Pro provides various enhancements over prior designs.
The Banana Pro has an Allwinner A20 system on a chip (SoC), which includes an ARM Cortex-A7 Dual-core (ARMv7-A) 1 GHz, Mali-400 MP2 GPU and 1GB DDR3 SDRAM.
The Banana Pro uses a microSD card for booting an OS, but also includes a SATA 2.0 interface to allow connection of a hard disk for additional storage, however you cannot boot from the hard disk.
Other differences from the Banana Pi include on-board Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n AP6181, integrated composite video and audio output into a 3.5 mm TRRS jack. This makes space for a 40-pin extension header.
Specifications
Available operating systems
Banana Pi
Android 4.2.2 & 4.4 for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.39+, 4.4 doesn't support Wi-Fi and has many bugs, 4.2.2 doesn't support all apps in Korea)
Archlinux for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103; 2014-12-26)
Armbian stable, with more kernel options, Debian or Ubuntu userland (3.4.113, 4.9.7, 4.11.0; 5.5.2017)
Bananian Linux (Debian based; Linux kernel 3.4.111; 2016-04-23)
CentOS 7 (1511)
Fedora for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103; 2014-12-26)
Kali Linux for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103)
Kano for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103)
Lubuntu for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103; 2014-12-26)
NetBSD 7.0
OpenMediaVault
OpenWrt
openSUSE for Banana Pi (openSUSE v1412; Linux kernel 3.4.103; 2014-12-26)
Raspbian for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103; 2014-12-26)
ROKOS for Banana Pi (Linux kernel 3.4.103; 2014-12-26)
Scratch for Banana Pi (Boot to Scratch directly) (Linux kernel 3.4.103)
The Banana Pi BPI-M1 is a business card-sized and low-power single-board computer featuring a high performance Allwinner dual-core SoC at 1 GHz, 1GB of DDR3 SDRAM, Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, USB, and HDMI connections. It can run a variety of operating systems including Android, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, Debian, and Raspbian.
See also
List of open-source hardware projects
References
External links
Official forum
Official wiki
Single-board computers
ARM architecture
Educational hardware
Linux-based devices
Microcontrollers |
42411494 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%20Cloud%20Platform | Google Cloud Platform | Google Cloud Platform (GCP), offered by Google, is a suite of cloud computing services that runs on the same infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products, such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Drive, and YouTube. Alongside a set of management tools, it provides a series of modular cloud services including computing, data storage, data analytics and machine learning. Registration requires a credit card or bank account details.
Google Cloud Platform provides infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and serverless computing environments.
In April 2008, Google announced App Engine, a platform for developing and hosting web applications in Google-managed data centers, which was the first cloud computing service from the company. The service became generally available in November 2011. Since the announcement of App Engine, Google added multiple cloud services to the platform.
Google Cloud Platform is a part of Google Cloud, which includes the Google Cloud Platform public cloud infrastructure, as well as Google Workspace (G Suite), enterprise versions of Android and Chrome OS, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for machine learning and enterprise mapping services.
Products
Google lists over 100 products under the Google Cloud brand. Some of the key services are listed below.
Compute
App Engine - Platform as a Service to deploy Java, PHP, Node.js, Python, C#, .Net, Ruby and Go applications.
Compute Engine - Infrastructure as a Service to run Microsoft Windows and Linux virtual machines.
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or GKE on-prem offered as part of Anthos platform - Containers as a Service based on Kubernetes.
Cloud Functions - Functions as a Service to run event-driven code written in Node.js, Java, Python, or Go.
Cloud Run - Compute execution environment based on Knative. Offered as Cloud Run (fully managed) or as Cloud Run for Anthos. Currently supports GCP, AWS and VMware management.
Storage & Databases
Cloud Storage - Object storage with integrated edge caching to store unstructured data.
Cloud SQL - Database as a Service based on MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server.
Cloud Bigtable - Managed NoSQL database service.
Cloud Spanner - Horizontally scalable, strongly consistent, relational database service.
Cloud Datastore - NoSQL database for web and mobile applications.
Persistent Disk - Block storage for Compute Engine virtual machines.
Cloud Memorystore - Managed in-memory data store based on Redis and Memcached.
Local SSD: High-performance, transient, local block storage.
Filestore: High-performance file storage for Google Cloud users.
Networking
VPC - Virtual Private Cloud for managing the software defined network of cloud resources.
Cloud Load Balancing - Software-defined, managed service for load balancing the traffic.
Cloud Armor - Web application firewall to protect workloads from DDoS attacks.
Cloud CDN - Content Delivery Network based on Google's globally distributed edge points of presence.
Cloud Interconnect - Service to connect a data center with Google Cloud Platform
Cloud DNS - Managed, authoritative DNS service running on the same infrastructure as Google.
Network Service Tiers - Option to choose Premium vs Standard network tier for higher-performing network.
Big Data
BigQuery - Scalable, managed enterprise data warehouse for analytics.
Cloud Dataflow - Managed service based on Apache Beam for stream and batch data processing.
Dataproc - Big data platform for running Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark jobs.
Cloud Composer - Managed workflow orchestration service built on Apache Airflow.
Cloud Datalab - Tool for data exploration, analysis, visualization and machine learning. This is a fully managed Jupyter Notebook service.
Cloud Dataprep - Data service based on Trifacta to visually explore, clean, and prepare data for analysis.
Cloud Pub/Sub - Scalable event ingestion service based on message queues.
Cloud Data Studio - Business intelligence tool to visualize data through dashboards and reports.
Cloud AI
Cloud AutoML - Service to train and deploy custom machine learning models. As of September 2018, the service is in Beta.
Cloud TPU - Accelerators used by Google to train machine learning models.
Cloud Machine Learning Engine - Managed service for training and building machine learning models based on mainstream frameworks.
Cloud Job Discovery - Service based on Google's search and machine learning capabilities for the recruiting ecosystem.
Dialogflow Enterprise - Development environment based on Google's machine learning for building conversational interfaces.
Cloud Natural Language - Text analysis service based on Google Deep Learning models.
Cloud Speech-to-Text - Speech to text conversion service based on machine learning.
Cloud Text-to-Speech - Text to speech conversion service based on machine learning.
Cloud Translation API - Service to dynamically translate between thousands of available language pairs
Cloud Vision API - Image analysis service based on machine learning
Cloud Video Intelligence - Video analysis service based on machine learning
Management Tools
Operations suite (formerly Stackdriver ) - Monitoring, logging, and diagnostics for applications on Google Cloud Platform and AWS.
Cloud Deployment Manager - Tool to deploy Google Cloud Platform resources defined in templates created in YAML, Python or Jinja2.
Cloud Console - Web interface to manage Google Cloud Platform resources.
Cloud Shell - Browser-based shell command-line access to manage Google Cloud Platform resources.
Cloud Console Mobile App - Android and iOS application to manage Google Cloud Platform resources.
Cloud APIs - APIs to programmatically access Google Cloud Platform resources
Identity & Security
Cloud Identity - Single sign-on (SSO) service based on SAML 2.0 and OpenID.
Cloud IAM - Identity & Access Management (IAM) service for defining policies based on role-based access control.
Cloud Identity-Aware Proxy - Service to control access to cloud applications running on Google Cloud Platform without using a VPN.
Cloud Data Loss Prevention API - Service to automatically discover, classify, and redact sensitive data.
Security Key Enforcement - Two-step verification service based on a security key.
Cloud Key Management Service - Cloud-hosted key management service integrated with IAM and audit logging.
Cloud Resource Manager - Service to manage resources by project, folder, and organization based on the hierarchy.
Cloud Security Command Center - Security and data risk platform for data and services running in Google Cloud Platform.
Cloud Security Scanner - Automated vulnerability scanning service for applications deployed in App Engine.
Access Transparency - Near real-time audit logs providing visibility to Google Cloud Platform administrators.
VPC Service Controls - Service to manage security perimeters for sensitive data in Google Cloud Platform services.
IoT
Cloud IoT Core - Secure device connection and management service for Internet of Things.
Edge TPU - Purpose-built ASIC designed to run inference at the edge. As of September 2018, this product is in private beta.
Cloud IoT Edge - Brings AI to the edge computing layer.
API Platform
Maps Platform - APIs for maps, routes, and places based on Google Maps.
Apigee API Platform - Lifecycle management platform to design, secure, deploy, monitor, and scale APIs.
API Monetization - Tool for API providers to create revenue models, reports, payment gateways, and developer portal integrations.
Developer Portal - Self-service platform for developers to publish and manage APIs.
API Analytics - Service to analyse API-driven programs through monitoring, measuring, and managing APIs.
Apigee Sense - Enables API security by identifying and alerting administrators to suspicious API behaviours.
Cloud Endpoints - An NGINX-based proxy to deploy and manage APIs.
Service Infrastructure - A set of foundational services for building Google Cloud products.
Regions and zones
As of Q1 2022, Google Cloud Platform is available in 29 regions and 88 zones.
Each region is located in an independent geographic area and is subdivided into zones.
A zone is a deployment area for Google Cloud Platform resources within a region. Zones should be considered single failure domains within a region.
All generally available regions have 3 zones, except for us-central1 which has 4. As of Q1 2022, Google Cloud Platform is available in the following regions and zones:
Similarity to services by other cloud service providers
For those familiar with other notable cloud service providers, a comparison of similar services may be helpful in understanding Google Cloud Platform's offerings.
Certifications
Similar to offerings by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Cloud, a series of Google Cloud Certified programs are available on the Google Cloud Platform. Participants can choose between online learning programs provided by Coursera, Pluralsight, or Qwiklabs as well as live workshops and webinars. Depending on the program, certifications can be earned online or at various testing centers located globally.
Associate Cloud Engineer
Professional Data Engineer
Professional Machine Learning Engineer
Professional Cloud Architect
Professional Cloud Developer
Professional Cloud Network Engineer
Professional Cloud Security Engineer
Professional Collaboration Engineer
Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
Google Workspace
Timeline
April 2008 - Google App Engine announced in preview
May 2010 - Google Cloud Storage launched
May 2010 - Google BigQuery and Prediction API announced in preview
October 2011 - Google Cloud SQL is announced in preview
June 2012 - Google Compute Engine is launched in preview
May 2013 - Google Compute Engine is released to GA
August 2013 - Cloud Storage begins automatically encrypting each Storage object's data and metadata under the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128), and each encryption key is itself encrypted with a regularly rotated set of master keys
February 2014 - Google Cloud SQL becomes GA
May 2014 - Stackdriver is acquired by Google
June 2014 - Kubernetes is announced as an open source container manager
June 2014 - Cloud Dataflow is announced in preview
October 2014 - Google acquires Firebase
November 2014 - Alpha release Google Kubernetes Engine (formerly Container Engine) is announced
January 2015 - Google Cloud Monitoring based on Stackdriver goes into Beta
March 2015 - Google Cloud Pub/Sub becomes available in Beta
April 2015 - Google Cloud DNS becomes generally available
April 2015 - Google Dataflow launched in beta
July 2015 - Google releases v1 of Kubernetes; Hands it over to The Cloud Native Computing Foundation
August 2015 - Google Cloud Dataflow, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, Google Kubernetes Engine, and Deployment Manager graduate to GA
November 2015 - Bebop is acquired, and Diane Greene joins Google
February 2016 - Google Cloud Functions becomes available in Alpha
September 2016 - Apigee, a provider of application programming interface (API) management company, is acquired by Google
September 2016 - Stackdriver becomes generally available
November 2016 - Qwiklabs, an EdTech company is acquired by Google
February 2017 - Cloud Spanner, highly available, globally-distributed database is released into Beta
March 2017 - Google acquires Kaggle, world's largest community of data scientists and machine learning enthusiasts
April 2017 - MIT professor Andrew Sutherland breaks the record for the largest ever Compute Engine cluster with 220,000 cores on Preemptible VMs.
May 2017 - Google Cloud IoT Core is launched in Beta
November 2017 - Google Kubernetes Engine gets certified by the CNCF
February 2018 - Google Cloud IoT Core becomes generally available
February 2018 - Google announces its intent to acquire Xively
February 2018 - Cloud TPUs, ML accelerators for Tensorflow, become available in Beta
May 2018 - Gartner names Google as a Leader in the 2018 Gartner Infrastructure as a Service Magic Quadrant
May 2018 - Google Cloud Memorystore becomes available in Beta
April 2019 - Google Cloud Run (fully managed) Beta release
April 2019 - Google Anthos announced
November 2019 - Google Cloud Run (fully managed) General availability release
March 2020 - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google Cloud postponed the online streaming version of its Google Cloud Next mega-conference, two weeks after it cancelled the in-person version.
October 2020 - Google Cloud announced that it will become a block producer candidate for the EOS network and EOS.IO protocol. Currently the top block producers are cryptocurrency exchanges like OKEx and Binance.
February 2021 Google Kubernetes Engine Autopilot introduced.
See also
Amazon Web Services
Google Workspace
Heroku
IBM Cloud
Infrastructure as a Service
Jelastic
Microsoft Azure
OpenStack
Oracle Cloud
Platform as a Service
Database as a Service
Google Fiber
References
External links
Google Cloud Latest Release Notes
Cloud Platform
Cloud computing providers
Cloud infrastructure
Cloud platforms
Web services
Computer-related introductions in 2011 |
42421206 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web%20blocking%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom | Web blocking in the United Kingdom | The precise number of websites blocked in the United Kingdom is unknown. Blocking techniques vary from one Internet service provider (ISP) to another with some sites or specific URLs blocked by some ISPs and not others. Websites and services are blocked using a combination of data feeds from private content-control technology companies, government agencies, NGOs, court orders in conjunction with the service administrators who may or may not have the power to unblock, additionally block, appeal or recategorise blocked content.
Overview
There are a number of different web blocking programmes in the UK. The high-profile default ISP filters and IWF filters have been referred to as a "pornwall", "porn filter", "Hadrian's Firewall", "Great Firewall of Britain" and the "Great Firewall of Cameron". However the programmes are usually referred to interchangeable or individually rather than collectively.
Inciting racial hatred was removed from the IWF's remit on the setting up of a police website for the purpose in April 2011.
The technical measures used to block sites include DNS hijacking, DNS blocking, IP address blocking, and Deep packet inspection, making consistent verification problematic. One known method is ISP scraping DNS of domains subject to blocking orders to produce a list of IPs to block.
The Open Rights Group has proposed adding the new HTTP status code '451' to help streamline and add transparency to the process of determining when a site is blocked.
Active programmes
Copyright
Court-ordered blocks
It is an established procedure in the UK for rights-holders to use 'Section 97' court orders to require ISPs to block copyright-infringing sites. For instance, court orders obtained by the BPI in October 2013 resulted in the blocking of 21 file-sharing sites including FilesTube and Torrentz. There is a private agreement in principle between leading ISPs and rights holders, made with encouragement from government, to quickly restrict access to websites when presented with court orders. The court orders are not made public and "overblocking" is sometimes reported, such as the accidental blocking of the Radio Times, Crystal Palace F.C., Taylor Swift and over 100 other websites in August 2013.
The practice originated as a result of a court order applied against an incidence of copyright infringement that was taken out by the Motion Picture Association in December 2010 at the request of Hollywood studios. The Association applied for an injunction to block access to NewzBin2, a site which provided a search service for UseNet content, indexing downloads of copyrighted content including movies and other material shared without permission. The application was lodged against BT, the largest Internet service provider in the United Kingdom with around six million customers. It required BT to use Cleanfeed to block its customers' access to the site. In July 2011 the High Court of Justice granted the injunction and in October 2011 BT was ordered to block access to the website within fourteen days, the first ruling of its kind under UK copyright law. The precedent set was described by the Open Rights Group as "dangerous".
BT did not appeal against the ruling and put the required block in place on 2 November 2011. Subsequent attempts to access the site from a BT IP address were met with the message "Error – site blocked". Newzbin released client software to circumvent the BT blocking, using encryption and the Tor network. Newzbin claimed that over 90% of its active UK users had downloaded its workaround software making the BT block ineffective. However, further court orders resulted in Sky blocking access to Newzbin in December 2011 and Virgin Media blocking access to the site in August 2012. On 28 November 2012 Newzbin announced the closure of its indexing service.
Meanwhile, in May 2012 the High Court ordered the blocking of The Pirate Bay by UK ISPs to prevent further copyright infringing movie and music downloads from the website. The blocks were said to be quickly bypassed and a spokesman for The Pirate Party said public interest in the service following the ban had boosted traffic to the party's website.
In December 2012, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) threatened legal action against The Pirate Party after the party refused demands sent at the end of November to remove their proxy to The Pirate Bay.
In September 2013 an Ofcom survey revealed that 2% of Internet users are responsible for 74% of all copyright-infringing downloads in the UK, and that 29% of all downloads are of content which violates copyright.
In October 2014 the first blocking order against trademark infringing consumer goods was passed against the major UK ISPs by Richemont, Cartier International and Montblanc to block several domains.
ISP Default network blocking
Internet customers in the UK are prohibited from accessing a range of web sites by default, because they have their Internet access filtered by their ISPs. The filtering program has applied to new ISP customers since the end of 2013, and has been extended to existing users on a rolling basis. A voluntary code of practice agreed by all four major ISPs
means that customers have to 'opt out' of the ISP filtering to gain access to the blocked content. However, the complex nature of the active monitoring systems means that users cannot usually opt out of the monitoring and re-routing of their data traffic, something which may render their data security vulnerable. The range of content blocked by ISPs can be varied over time. Categories blocked across the major ISPs include: Dating, Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco, File sharing, Gambling, Games, Pornography, Nudity, Social networking, Suicide and Self-harm, Weapons and violence, Obscenity, Criminal Skills, Hate, Media Streaming, Fashion and Beauty, Gore, Cyberbullying, Hacking and Web-blocking circumvention tools
History
The idea for default filtering originated from manifesto commitments concerning "the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood" given by the parties forming the Cameron–Clegg coalition government in 2010. This was followed by a review (the Bailey Review) and a consultation by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS). Campaigning by Claire Perry MP and the Daily Mail newspaper resulted in significant public support for the idea of Internet filtering for the purposes of child protection. By 2013 there had already been considerable adoption of in-home filtering, with 43% of homes with children aged 5–15 having filters installed on their family computer. Nevertheless, Prime Minister David Cameron made it clear in July 2013 that his aim was to ensure that by the end of 2013 all ISPs would have a filtering system in place. As a result, three of the Big 4 major ISPs (TalkTalk, Sky and BT) began applying default filtering to new customers in 2013 with the fourth major ISP, Virgin, doing so in February 2014. Default filtering of existing customers was implemented by all four major ISPs during 2014 with the aim of ensuring that the system applied to 95% of all households by the end of the year.
TalkTalk already had content-control software available to comply with government requirements. Their HomeSafe internet filtering system was introduced in May 2011 as an opt-in product and was used for default filtering of new customers from March 2012. HomeSafe was praised by Cameron and is controlled and operated by the Chinese company Huawei. After initial resistance other ISPs had to commission new filtering systems to fulfil Government demands. Some smaller ISPs expressed their reluctance to take part in filtering, citing concerns over costs and civil liberties but the government stated: "We expect the smaller ISPs to follow the lead being set by the larger providers". Cameron said ISPs should choose their own preferred technical solution, but would be monitored to ensure filtering was done correctly. Nevertheless, the ISP Andrews and Arnold does not censor any of its Internet connection all its broadband packages guarantee a 12-month notice should it start to censor any of its traffic.
In July 2014 Ofcom released a report into filter implementation and effectiveness across the fixed-line ISPs. At that point the Big 4 major fixed-line ISPs comprised 93% of the broadband market. They were all mandating filters be enabled as default for new customers, but overall take-up figures were low, with BT (5%), Sky (8%) and Virgin (4%). The figure was higher for TalkTalk (36%) as there had already been significant take-up of its system during the preceding three years. The industry average was 13%. In January 2015 Sky went further, blocking all material deemed unsuitable for children under the age of 13 for any of its five million customers who had not already opted out. In the same month Talk Talk announced that customers who had not chosen whether to activate the company's filtering system would have to opt out if they wished it to be turned off. In January 2016 Sky began sending all new and existing customers an email asking if they want to turn the filter on. Those customers who ignore the email have the filter turned on automatically.
Legal status
The initial legal status of ISP web blocking was voluntary, although there were a number of attempts to introduce legislation to move it onto a mandatory footing. David Cameron first announced such legislation in July 2013 but default filtering was rejected at the September 2013 conference of the Liberal Democrats (the Coalition Government's minor partner) and no Government legislation to this effect occurred during the 2010-15 Parliament.
Prior to the 2015 United Kingdom general election both the opposition Labour Party and the governing Conservative Party said that, if elected, they would legislate on the issue. Labour said that it would introduce mandatory filters based on BBFC ratings if it believed that voluntary filtering by ISPs had failed. The Conservatives said that they would give an independent regulator such as ATVOD the legal power to compel internet service providers to block sites which failed to include effective age verification. The Digital Economy Act 2017 placed the requirement for ISP filtering into law and introduced a requirement for ISPs to block pornographic sites with inadequate age verification.
Proposals to create a single digital market for European Union (EU) member states include rules for net neutrality. These rules require that all internet traffic has to be treated equally, without blocking or slowing down certain data. Net neutrality guidelines were announced in August 2016 by the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications. It was thought that the rules might restrict the legality of ISP filtering after 2016. In May 2014 the government suggested it would veto European net neutrality legislation due to its conflict with web blocking programmes. In May 2015, a leaked Council of the European Union document on the topic of net neutrality suggested users would have to opt into blocks, rather than opt out as per the current UK government's plans. John Carr of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety said of the proposals: "a major plank of the UK’s approach to online child protection will be destroyed at a stroke". However, the requirement that a UK government adheres to EU rules on net neutrality may disappear at some point in future when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
Overblocking and underblocking
Wide-scale inadvertent "overblocking" has been observed since ISP default filtering was introduced at the end of 2013. Legitimate sites are regularly blocked by the filters of some UK ISPs and mobile operators. In December 2013 the UK Council for Child Internet Safety met with ISPs, charities, representatives from government, the BBFC and mobile phone operators to seek ways to reduce the blocking of educational advice for young people. In January 2014 UKCCIS began constructing a whitelist of the charity-run educational sites for children that had been overblocked. The intention was to provide the list to ISPs to allow unblocking.
Examples of overblocked categories reported include:
sex education and advice on sexual health
help with sex and pornography addiction
support services for rape and domestic abuse
child protection services
suicide prevention
libraries
parliament, government and politicians
drug advice
The identification of overblocked sites is made particularly difficult by the fact that ISPs do not provide checking tools to allow website owners to determine whether their site is being blocked. In July 2014 the Open Rights Group launched an independent checking tool blocked.org.uk, a revamp of their mobile blocking site to report details of blocking on different fixed line ISPs and mobile providers. The tool revealed that 19% of 100,000 popularly visited websites were being blocked (with significant variation between ISPs) although the percentage of sites hosting legal pornographic material is thought to be around 4%.
In 2019 an in-depth investigation into overblocking by the Open Rights Group and digital privacy site Top10VPN.com found that thousands of websites were being incorrectly blocked. These included relatively harmless example from industries such as wedding planning and photography, to more damaging and dangerous mistakes like official websites for charities, schools and mental health support.
Significant underblocking has also been discovered, with ISPs failing to block up to 7% of adult sites tested. A study commissioned by the European Commission's Safer Internet Programme which tested parental control tools showed that underblocking for adult content ranged from 5-35%.
Criticism
In favour
Proponents of internet filtering primarily refer to the need to combat the early sexualisation of children. The government believes that "broadband providers should consider automatically blocking sex sites, with individuals being required to opt in to receive them, rather than opt out and use the available computer parental controls." In 2010 communications minister Ed Vaizey was quoted as saying, "This is a very serious matter. I think it is very important that it's the ISPs that come up with solutions to protect children."
Against
The Washington Post described the UK's ISP filtering systems as creating "some of the strictest curbs on pornography in the Western world". There is no public scrutiny of the filtering lists. This creates the potential for them to be expanded to stifle dissent for political ends, as has happened in some other countries. The British Prime Minister of the time David Cameron stated that Internet users will have the option to turn the filters off, but no legislation exists to ensure that option will remain available.
In March 2014, president Diane Duke of the United States-based Free Speech Coalition argued against the censorship rules at a London conference sponsored by Virgin Media. The discussion was titled "Switched on Families: Does the Online World Make Good Things Happen?". The panel included government representatives such as Member of Parliament Claire Perry, members of the press, and supporters of an open Internet such representatives from the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, the Family Online Safety Institute, and Big Brother Watch. A report on the meeting was printed in The Guardian on 5 March 2014. Duke was quoted as saying, "The filters Prime Minister Cameron supports block sexual health sites, they block domestic violence sites, they block gay and lesbian sites, they block information about eating disorders and a lot of information to which it's crucial young people have access. Rather than protect children from things like bullying and online predators, these filters leave children in the dark."
The Open Rights Group has been highly critical of the blocking programmes, especially mobile blocking and ISP default blocking. New Statesman magazine observed that overblocking means “the most vulnerable people in society are the most likely to be cut off from the help they need”.
Categories blocked
In July 2013 the Open Rights Group discovered from the ISPs that a wide range of content categories would be blocked. Blocking has subsequently been detected in all the categories listed by the ISPs apart from 'anorexia and eating disorder websites' and 'esoteric material'. More information was gained following the launch of blocked.org.uk by the Open Rights Group, when TalkTalk gave additional detail about their default blocked categories and BT identified their default filtering level (light).
Mobile Internet blocking
UK mobile phone operators began filtering Internet content in 2004 when Ofcom published a "UK code of practice for the self-regulation of new forms of content on mobiles". This provided a means of classifying mobile Internet content to enable consistency in filtering. All major UK operators now voluntarily filter content by default.
When users try to access blocked content they are redirected to a warning page. This tells them that they are not able to access an 'over 18 status' Internet site and a filtering mechanism has restricted their access. Categories that are listed as blocked include: adult / sexually explicit, chat, criminal skills, drugs, alcohol and tobacco, gambling, hacking, hate, personal and dating, violence, and weapons. Users who are adults may have the block lifted on request.
Guidelines published by the Independent Mobile Classification Body were used by mobile operators to classify sites until the British Board of Film Classification took over responsibility in 2013. Classification determines whether content is suitable for customers under 18 years old. The default assumption is that a user is under 18.
The following content types must be blocked from under 18's:
Suicide, Self-harm, Pro-Anorexia and eating disorders
Discriminatory language
Encouragement of Drug Use
Repeated / aggressive use of 'cunt'
Pornography Restrictions
Violence and Gore restrictions
Significant overblocking of Internet sites by mobile operators is reported, including the blocking of political satire, feminism and gay content. Research by the Open Rights Group highlighted the widespread nature of unjustified site blocking. In 2011 the group set up blocked.org.uk, a website allowing the reporting of sites and services that are 'blocked' on their mobile network. The website received hundreds of reports of the blocking of sites covering blogs, business, internet privacy and internet forums across multiple networks. The Open Rights Group also demonstrated that correcting the erroneous blocking of innocent sites can be difficult. No UK mobile operator provides an on-line tool for identifying blocked websites. The O2 Website status checker was available until the end of 2013 but was suspended in December
after it had been widely used to determine the extent of overblocking by O2. Not only were civil liberties and computing sites being blocked, but also Childline, the NSPCC and the Police. An additional opt-in whitelist service aimed at users under 12 years is provided by O2. The service only allows access to websites on a list of categories deemed suitable for that age group.
Internet Watch Foundation
Introduction
Between 2004 and 2006, BT Group introduced its Cleanfeed content blocking system technology to implement 'section 97A' orders. BT spokesman Jon Carter described Cleanfeed's function as "to block access to illegal Web sites that are listed by the Internet Watch Foundation", and described it as essentially a server hosting a filter that checked requested URLs for Web sites on the IWF list, and returning an error message of "Web site not found" for positive matches. Cleanfeed is a silent content filtering system, which means that Internet users cannot ascertain whether they are being regulated by Cleanfeed, experiencing connection failures, or if the page really does not exist. The proportion of Internet service providers using Cleanfeed by the beginning of 2006 was 80% and this rose to 95% by the middle of 2008. In February 2009, the Government said that it was looking at ways to cover the final 5%.
According to a small-sample survey conducted in 2008 by Nikolaos Koumartzis, an MA researcher at London College of Communication, the vast majority of UK based Internet users (90.21%) were unaware of the existence of Cleanfeed software. Moreover, nearly two thirds of the participants did not trust British Telecommunications or the IWF to be responsible for a silent censorship system in the UK. A majority would prefer to see a message stating that a given site was blocked and to have access to a form for unblocking a given site.
Cleanfeed originally targeted only alleged child sexual abuse content identified by the Internet Watch Foundation. However, no safeguards exist to stop the secret list of blocked sites being extended to include sites unrelated to child pornography. This had led to criticism of Cleanfeed's lack of transparency which gives it considerable potential for broad censorship. Further, Cleanfeed has been used to block access to copyright-infringing websites after a court order in 2011 required BT to block access to NewzBin2. This has led some to describe Cleanfeed as the most perfectly invisible censorship mechanism ever invented and to liken its powers of censorship to those employed currently by China. There are risks that increasing Internet regulation will lead the Internet to be even more restricted in the future.
Non-BT ISPs now implement the child abuse image content list with their in-house technologies to implement IWF blocking.
IWF/Wikipedia controversy
On 5 December 2008 the IWF system blacklisted a Wikipedia article on the Scorpions album Virgin Killer. A statement by the organisation's spokesman alleged that the album cover, displayed in the article, contained "a potentially illegal indecent image of a child under the age of 18". Users of major ISPs, including Virgin Media, Be/O2/Telefónica, EasyNet/UK Online, Demon and Opal, were unable to access the content, despite the album cover being available unfiltered on other major sites including Amazon.co.uk, and available for sale in the UK. The system also started proxying users, who accessed any Wikipedia article, via a minimal number of servers, which resulted in site administrators having to block them from editing Wikipedia or creating accounts. On 9 December, the IWF removed the article from its blacklist, stating: "IWF's overriding objective is to minimise the availability of indecent images of children on the Internet, however, on this occasion our efforts have had the opposite effect."
Public Wi-Fi
The vast majority of the Internet access provided by Wi-Fi systems in public places in the UK is filtered with many sites being blocked. The filtering is done voluntarily by the six largest providers of public Wi-Fi: Arqiva, BT, Sky, Nomad Digital, Virgin and O2, who together are responsible for 90% public Wi-Fi. The filtering was introduced as a result of an agreement put in place in November 2013 between the Government and the Wi-Fi providers. Pressure from the Government and the UK Council for Child Internet Safety had already led Virgin and O2 to install filtering on the Wi-Fi systems on the London Underground and McDonald's restaurants,
but half of all public Wi-Fi networks remained unfiltered in September 2013.
"Overblocking" is a problem reported with public Wi-Fi filters. Research in September 2013 indicated that poorly programmed filters blocked sites when a prohibited tag appeared coincidentally within an unrelated word. Religious sites were blocked by nearly half of public Wi-Fi filters and sex education sites were blocked by one third. In November 2013, there were complaints about the blocking of Gay websites that were not related to sex or nudity on the public Wi-Fi provided by train operating companies. The filtering was done by third party organisations and these were criticised for being both unidentified and unaccountable. Such blocking may breach the Equality Act 2010. The government arranged for the UK Council for Child Internet Safety to investigate whether filters were blocking advice to young people in areas such as sex education.
Libraries and educational institutions
Many libraries in the UK such as the British Library and local authority public libraries apply filters to Internet access. According to research conducted by the Radical Librarians Collective, at least 98% of public libraries apply filters; including categories such as "LGBT interest", "abortion" and "questionable". Some public libraries block Payday loan websites and Lambeth Council has called for other public Wi-fi providers to block these sites too.
The majority of schools and colleges use filters to block access to sites which contain adult material, gambling and sites which contain malware. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are often filtered by schools. Some universities also block access to sites containing a variety of material. Many students often use proxy servers to bypass this. Schools often censor pupils' Internet access in order to offer some protection against various perceived threats such as cyber-bullying and the perceived risk of grooming by paedophiles; as well as to maintain pupil attention during IT lessons. Examples of overblocking exist in the school context. For instance, in February 2014 the website of the Yes Scotland pro-independence campaign was blocked in a Glasgow school while the rival Better Together pro-union website was not blocked.
Planned programmes
Extremism
The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), which was set up in 2010 by the Association of Chief Police Officers and run by the Metropolitan Police Service, maintains a list of sites and content that in their opinion incites or glorifies terrorist acts under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2006. This list is passed to the public estate institutions so that access to the sites can be blocked. ISPs BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media incorporate the CTIRU block list into their filters. The CTIRU also issues removal requests if the Internet content is hosted in the UK. The UK is the only country in the world with such a unit. Home Office proposals in 2006 requiring ISPs to block access to articles "glorifying terrorism" were rejected and the government opted for a takedown approach at that time. However, in December 2013 the Prime Minister's extremism task force proposed that where such material is hosted overseas, ISPs should block the websites, and David Cameron gave orders that the CTIRU list be extended to UK ISPs. The UK government has defined extremism as: "Vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs."
This approach to web blocking has been criticised for being extra-parliamentary and extrajudicial and for being a proactive process where authorities actively seek out material to ban. Additionally, concerns have been expressed by ISPs and freedom of speech advocates that these measures could lead to the censorship of content that is “extremist” but not illegal. Indeed, the United Kingdom security minister James Brokenshire said in March 2014 that the government should also deal with material "that may not be illegal but certainly is unsavoury and may not be the sort of material that people would want to see or receive".
Unimplemented and pending proposals
Social media and communications
Private members' bills
A private members bill requiring ISPs, mobile phone operators and equipment manufacturers to filter adult content was introduced into the House of Lords in May 2012 by Baroness Howe of Idlicote. The Online Safety Bill was criticised for its potential to block any service that appears to provide adult material unless it is on an Ofcom-approved list. The original bill did not succeed due to a lack of Government support. It was re-introduced in May 2015 and failed a second time.
In September 2014 as a proposed addition to UK legislation against revenge porn, Geraint Davies MP introduced a private member's bill mandating devices that can access the Internet be filtered by default at the threat of fining non-compliant manufacturers.
After the bill's first reading there was no debate and the bill made no further progress.
Although these legislative approaches were unsuccessful as private member' bills, their measures may appear in a future Government Communications Bill.
Online Harms White Paper
In 2019, the UK government published its Online Harms White Paper, which covers many of the "online harms" discussed above.
The government's new proposed solution to these problems is to introduce a wide-ranging regime of Internet regulation in the United Kingdom, enforcing codes of practice on Internet companies, which would be subject to a statutory duty of care, and the threat of punishment or blocking if the codes are not complied with.
Online Safety Bill
Building on the Online Harms White Paper, in 2021 the UK government under Boris Johnson published a draft Online Safety Bill establishing a statutory duty of care of online platforms towards their users. If enacted, the bill would impose substantial fines on online platforms that fail to take action against illegal and "legal but harmful" content, and also grant Ofcom the power to block access to infringing websites. However, the bill would also oblige social media networks to protect journalistic as well as "democratically important" content, such as comments supporting or opposing particular political parties and policies, and ban discrimination against particular political viewpoints.
Technologies
By ISP
A service provider will integrate some or all its feeds into a single filtering device or stack, sometimes in conjunction with an upstream provider performing additional filtering. The following content-control technologies have been confirmed to be used to implement all types of web blocking (includes virtual operators):
Rulespace and O2 are the only known services with a public categorisation and blocking check tool.
By feed type
Circumvention
Site blocks can be circumvented using trivial methods through to complex methods such as use of Tor, VPNs, site specific and general web proxies, and other circumvention techniques.
Child abuse image content list
Due to the proxy server implementation of the IWF's child abuse image content list (formally Cleanfeed) system, websites that filter users by IP address, such as wikis and file lockers, will be significantly broken, even if only a tiny proportion of its content is flagged.
Copyright
In response to the increasing number of file sharing related blocks, a number of proxy aggregator sites, e.g. torrentproxies.com, have become popular. In addition to the following, proxy sites designed to circumvent blocks have been secretly blocked by ISPs, driving users to proxy comparison sites. The Pirate Bay created a version of Tor branded as the PirateBrowser specifically to encourage anonymity and circumvention of these blocks. On 5 August 2014, City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit arrested a 20-year-old man in Nottingham on suspicion of operating a proxy server that allowed internet users to bypass blocks on many popular sites.
ISP default network blocking
Downloadable software enabling web browsers to bypass the ISP filtering began appearing in December 2013, and in 2014 versions began appearing for mobile Internet platforms.
See also
Internet censorship
Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
Proposed UK Internet age verification system
List of content-control software
List of websites blocked in the United Kingdom
References
External links
blocked.org.uk – online checking tool for UK ISP web blocking
Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
Blacklisting in the United Kingdom |
42443120 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbleed | Heartbleed | Heartbleed was a security bug in the OpenSSL cryptography library, which is a widely used implementation of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. It was introduced into the software in 2012 and publicly disclosed in April 2014. Heartbleed could be exploited regardless of whether the vulnerable OpenSSL instance is running as a TLS server or client. It resulted from improper input validation (due to a missing bounds check) in the implementation of the TLS heartbeat extension. Thus, the bug's name derived from heartbeat. The vulnerability was classified as a buffer over-read, a situation where more data can be read than should be allowed.
Heartbleed was registered in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures database as . The federal Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre issued a security bulletin advising system administrators about the bug. A fixed version of OpenSSL was released on 7 April 2014, on the same day Heartbleed was publicly disclosed.
System administrators were frequently slow to patch their systems. , 1.5% of the 800,000 most popular TLS-enabled websites were still vulnerable to Heartbleed. , 309,197 public web servers remained vulnerable. , according to a report from Shodan, nearly 180,000 internet-connected devices were still vulnerable. , the number had dropped to 144,000, according to a search on shodan.io for "vuln:cve-2014-0160". , Shodan reported that 91,063 devices were vulnerable. The U.S. was first with 21,258 (23%), the top 10 countries had 56,537 (62%), and the remaining countries had 34,526 (38%). The report also broke the devices down by 10 other categories such as organization (the top 3 were wireless companies), product (Apache httpd, nginx), or service (https, 81%).
TLS implementations other than OpenSSL, such as GnuTLS, Mozilla's Network Security Services, and the Windows platform implementation of TLS, were not affected because the defect existed in the OpenSSL's implementation of TLS rather than in the protocol itself.
History
The Heartbeat Extension for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) protocols was proposed as a standard in February 2012 by . It provides a way to test and keep alive secure communication links without the need to renegotiate the connection each time. In 2011, one of the RFC's authors, Robin Seggelmann, then a Ph.D. student at the Fachhochschule Münster, implemented the Heartbeat Extension for OpenSSL. Following Seggelmann's request to put the result of his work into OpenSSL, his change was reviewed by Stephen N. Henson, one of OpenSSL's four core developers. Henson failed to notice a bug in Seggelmann's implementation, and introduced the flawed code into OpenSSL's source code repository on 31 December 2011. The defect spread with the release of OpenSSL version 1.0.1 on 14 March 2012. Heartbeat support was enabled by default, causing affected versions to be vulnerable.
Discovery
According to Mark J. Cox of OpenSSL, Neel Mehta of Google's security team privately reported Heartbleed to the OpenSSL team on 1 April 2014 11:09 UTC.
The bug was named by an engineer at Synopsys Software Integrity Group, a Finnish cyber security company that also created the bleeding heart logo and launched the domain to explain the bug to the public. While Google's security team reported Heartbleed to OpenSSL first, both Google and Codenomicon discovered it independently at approximately the same time. Codenomicon reports 3 April 2014 as their date of discovery and their date of notification of NCSC for vulnerability coordination.
At the time of disclosure, some 17% (around half a million) of the Internet's secure web servers certified by trusted authorities were believed to be vulnerable to the attack, allowing theft of the servers' private keys and users' session cookies and passwords. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Ars Technica, and Bruce Schneier all deemed the Heartbleed bug "catastrophic". Forbes cybersecurity columnist Joseph Steinberg wrote:
A British Cabinet spokesman recommended that: On the day of disclosure, The Tor Project advised:
The Sydney Morning Herald published a timeline of the discovery on 15 April 2014, showing that some organizations had been able to patch the bug before its public disclosure. In some cases, it is not clear how they found out.
Bugfix and deployment
Bodo Möller and Adam Langley of Google prepared the fix for Heartbleed. The resulting patch was added to Red Hat's issue tracker on 21 March 2014. Stephen N. Henson applied the fix to OpenSSL's version control system on 7 April. The first fixed version, 1.0.1g, was released on the same day. , 309,197 public web servers remained vulnerable. , according to a report from Shodan, nearly 180,000 internet-connected devices were still vulnerable. The number had dropped to 144,000 , according to a search on shodan.io for "vuln:cve-2014-0160".
Certificate renewal and revocation
According to Netcraft, about 30,000 of the 500,000+ X.509 certificates which could have been compromised due to Heartbleed had been reissued by 11 April 2014, although fewer had been revoked.
By 9 May 2014, only 43% of affected web sites had reissued their security certificates. In addition, 7% of the reissued security certificates used the potentially compromised keys. Netcraft stated:
eWeek said, "[Heartbleed is] likely to remain a risk for months, if not years, to come."
Exploitation
The Canada Revenue Agency reported a theft of Social Insurance Numbers belonging to 900 taxpayers, and said that they were accessed through an exploit of the bug during a 6-hour period on 8 April 2014. After the discovery of the attack, the agency shut down its website and extended the taxpayer filing deadline from 30 April to 5 May. The agency said it would provide credit protection services at no cost to anyone affected. On 16 April, the RCMP announced they had charged a computer science student in relation to the theft with unauthorized use of a computer and mischief in relation to data.
The UK parenting site Mumsnet had several user accounts hijacked, and its CEO was impersonated. The site later published an explanation of the incident saying it was due to Heartbleed and the technical staff patched it promptly.
Anti-malware researchers also exploited Heartbleed to their own advantage in order to access secret forums used by cybercriminals. Studies were also conducted by deliberately setting up vulnerable machines. For example, on 12 April 2014, at least two independent researchers were able to steal private keys from an experimental server intentionally set up for that purpose by CloudFlare. Also, on 15 April 2014, J. Alex Halderman, a professor at University of Michigan, reported that his honeypot server, an intentionally vulnerable server designed to attract attacks in order to study them, had received numerous attacks originating from China. Halderman concluded that because it was a fairly obscure server, these attacks were probably sweeping attacks affecting large areas of the Internet.
In August 2014, it was made public that the Heartbleed vulnerability enabled hackers to steal security keys from Community Health Systems, the second-biggest for-profit U.S. hospital chain in the United States, compromising the confidentiality of 4.5 million patient records. The breach happened a week after Heartbleed was first made public.
Possible prior knowledge and exploitation
Many major web sites patched the bug or disabled the Heartbeat Extension within days of its announcement, but it is unclear whether potential attackers were aware of it earlier and to what extent it was exploited.
Based on examinations of audit logs by researchers, it has been reported that some attackers may have exploited the flaw for at least five months before discovery and announcement. Errata Security pointed out that a widely used non-malicious program called Masscan, introduced six months before Heartbleed's disclosure, abruptly terminates the connection in the middle of handshaking in the same way as Heartbleed, generating the same server log messages, adding "Two new things producing the same error messages might seem like the two are correlated, but of course, they aren't."
According to Bloomberg News, two unnamed insider sources informed it that the United States' National Security Agency had been aware of the flaw since shortly after its appearance butinstead of reporting itkept it secret among other unreported zero-day vulnerabilities in order to exploit it for the NSA's own purposes. The NSA has denied this claim, as has Richard A. Clarke, a member of the National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies that reviewed the United States' electronic surveillance policy; he told Reuters on 11 April 2014 that the NSA had not known of Heartbleed. The allegation prompted the American government to make, for the first time, a public statement on its zero-day vulnerabilities policy, accepting the recommendation of the review group's 2013 report that had asserted "in almost all instances, for widely used code, it is in the national interest to eliminate software vulnerabilities rather than to use them for US intelligence collection", and saying that the decision to withhold should move from the NSA to the White House.
Behavior
The RFC 6520 Heartbeat Extension tests TLS/DTLS secure communication links by allowing a computer at one end of a connection to send a Heartbeat Request message, consisting of a payload, typically a text string, along with the payload's length as a 16-bit integer. The receiving computer then must send exactly the same payload back to the sender.
The affected versions of OpenSSL allocate a memory buffer for the message to be returned based on the length field in the requesting message, without regard to the actual size of that message's payload. Because of this failure to do proper bounds checking, the message returned consists of the payload, possibly followed by whatever else happened to be in the allocated memory buffer.
Heartbleed is therefore exploited by sending a malformed heartbeat request with a small payload and large length field to the vulnerable party (usually a server) in order to elicit the victim's response, permitting attackers to read up to 64 kilobytes of the victim's memory that was likely to have been used previously by OpenSSL. Where a Heartbeat Request might ask a party to "send back the four-letter word 'bird'", resulting in a response of "bird", a "Heartbleed Request" (a malicious heartbeat request) of "send back the 500-letter word 'bird'" would cause the victim to return "bird" followed by whatever 496 subsequent characters the victim happened to have in active memory. Attackers in this way could receive sensitive data, compromising the confidentiality of the victim's communications. Although an attacker has some control over the disclosed memory block's size, it has no control over its location, and therefore cannot choose what content is revealed.
Affected OpenSSL installations
The affected versions of OpenSSL are OpenSSL 1.0.1 through 1.0.1f (inclusive). Subsequent versions (1.0.1g and later) and previous versions (1.0.0 branch and older) are not vulnerable. Installations of the affected versions are vulnerable unless OpenSSL was compiled with -DOPENSSL_NO_HEARTBEATS.
Vulnerable program and function
The vulnerable program source files are t1_lib.c and d1_both.c and the vulnerable functions are tls1_process_heartbeat() and dtls1_process_heartbeat().
Patch
The problem can be fixed by ignoring Heartbeat Request messages that ask for more data than their payload need.
Version 1.0.1g of OpenSSL adds some bounds checks to prevent the buffer over-read. For example, the following test was introduced to determine whether a heartbeat request would trigger Heartbleed; it silently discards malicious requests.
if (1 + 2 + payload + 16 > s->s3->rrec.length) return 0; /* silently discard per RFC 6520 sec. 4 */
The OpenSSL version control system contains a complete list of changes.
Impact
The data obtained by a Heartbleed attack may include unencrypted exchanges between TLS parties likely to be confidential, including any form post data in users' requests. Moreover, the confidential data exposed could include authentication secrets such as session cookies and passwords, which might allow attackers to impersonate a user of the service.
An attack may also reveal private keys of compromised parties, which would enable attackers to decrypt communications (future or past stored traffic captured via passive eavesdropping, unless perfect forward secrecy is used, in which case only future traffic can be decrypted if intercepted via man-in-the-middle attacks).
An attacker having gained authentication material may impersonate the material's owner after the victim has patched Heartbleed, as long as the material is accepted (for example, until the password is changed or the private key revoked). Heartbleed therefore constitutes a critical threat to confidentiality. However, an attacker impersonating a victim may also alter data. Indirectly, Heartbleed's consequences may thus go far beyond a confidentiality breach for many systems.
A survey of American adults conducted in April 2014 showed that 60 percent had heard about Heartbleed. Among those using the Internet, 39 percent had protected their online accounts, for example by changing passwords or canceling accounts; 29 percent believed their personal information was put at risk because of the Heartbleed bug; and 6 percent believed their personal information had been stolen.
Client-side vulnerability
Although the bug received more attention due to the threat it represents for servers, TLS clients using affected OpenSSL instances are also vulnerable. In what The Guardian therefore dubbed Reverse Heartbleed, malicious servers are able to exploit Heartbleed to read data from a vulnerable client's memory. Security researcher Steve Gibson said of Heartbleed that:
The stolen data could contain usernames and passwords. Reverse Heartbleed affected millions of application instances. Some of the vulnerable applications are listed in the "Software applications" section below.
Specific systems affected
Cisco Systems has identified 78 of its products as vulnerable, including IP phone systems and telepresence (video conferencing) systems.
Websites and other online services
An analysis posted on GitHub of the most visited websites on 8 April 2014 revealed vulnerabilities in sites including Yahoo!, Imgur, Stack Overflow, Slate, and DuckDuckGo. The following sites have services affected or made announcements recommending that users update passwords in response to the bug:
Akamai Technologies
Amazon Web Services
Ars Technica
Bitbucket
BrandVerity
Freenode
GitHub
IFTTT
Internet Archive
Mojang
Mumsnet
PeerJ
Pinterest
Prezi
Reddit
Something Awful
SoundCloud
SourceForge
SparkFun
Stripe
Tumblr
All Wikimedia Foundation wikis (including Wikipedia in all languages)
Wunderlist
The Canadian federal government temporarily shut online services of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and several government departments over Heartbleed bug security concerns. Before the CRA online services were shut down, a hacker obtained approximately 900 social insurance numbers. Another Canadian Government agency, Statistics Canada, had its servers compromised due to the bug and also temporarily took its services offline.
Platform maintainers like the Wikimedia Foundation advised their users to change passwords.
The servers of LastPass were vulnerable, but due to additional encryption and forward secrecy, potential attacks were not able to exploit this bug. However, LastPass recommended that its users change passwords for vulnerable websites.
The Tor Project recommended that Tor relay operators and hidden service operators revoke and generate fresh keys after patching OpenSSL, but noted that Tor relays use two sets of keys and that Tor's multi-hop design minimizes the impact of exploiting a single relay. 586 relays later found to be susceptible to the Heartbleed bug were taken off-line as a precautionary measure.
Game-related services including Steam, Minecraft, Wargaming, League of Legends, GOG.com, Origin, Sony Online Entertainment, Humble Bundle, and Path of Exile were affected and subsequently fixed.
Software applications
Vulnerable software applications include:
Several Hewlett-Packard server applications, such as HP System Management Homepage (SMH) for Linux and Windows.
Some versions of FileMaker 13
LibreOffice 4.2.0 to 4.2.2 (fixed in 4.2.3)
LogMeIn claimed to have "updated many products and parts of our services that rely on OpenSSL".
Multiple McAfee products, in particular some versions of software providing anti-viral coverage for Microsoft Exchange, software firewalls, and McAfee Email and Web Gateways
Oracle MySQL Connector/C 6.1.0-6.1.3 and Connector/ODBC 5.1.13, 5.2.5-5.2.6, 5.3.2
Oracle Big Data Appliance (includes Oracle Linux 6)
Primavera P6 Professional Project Management (includes Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management)
WinSCP (FTP client for Windows) 5.5.2 and some earlier versions (only vulnerable with FTP over TLS/SSL, fixed in 5.5.3)
Multiple VMware products, including VMware ESXi 5.5, VMware Player 6.0, VMware Workstation 10 and the series of Horizon products, emulators and cloud computing suites
Several other Oracle Corporation applications were affected.
Operating systems/firmware
Several Linux distributions were affected, including Debian (and derivatives such as Linux Mint and Ubuntu) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (and derivatives such as CentOS, Oracle Linux 6 and Amazon Linux), as well as the following operating systems and firmware implementations:
Android 4.1.1, used in various portable devices. Chris Smith writes in Boy Genius Report that just this one version of Android is affected but that it is a popular version of Android (Chitika claim 4.1.1 is on 50 million devices; Google describe it as less than 10% of activated Android devices). Other Android versions are not vulnerable as they either have heartbeats disabled or use an unaffected version of OpenSSL.
Firmware for some AirPort base stations
Firmware for some Cisco Systems routers
Firmware for some Juniper Networks routers
pfSense 2.1.0 and 2.1.1 (fixed in 2.1.2)
DD-WRT versions between and including 19163 and 23881 (fixed in 23882)
Western Digital My Cloud product family firmware
Vulnerability testing services
Several services have been made available to test whether Heartbleed affects a given site. However, many services have been claimed to be ineffective for detecting the bug. The available tools include:
Tripwire SecureScan
AppCheck – static binary scan and fuzzing, from Synopsys Software Integrity Group (formerly Codenomicon)
Arbor Network's Pravail Security Analytics
Norton Safeweb Heartbleed Check Tool
Heartbleed testing tool by a European IT security company
Heartbleed test by Italian cryptographer Filippo Valsorda
Heartbleed Vulnerability Test by Cyberoam
Critical Watch Free Online Heartbleed Tester
Metasploit Heartbleed scanner module
Heartbleed Server Scanner by Rehmann
Lookout Mobile Security Heartbleed Detector, an app for Android devices that determines the OpenSSL version of the device and indicates whether the vulnerable heartbeat is enabled
Heartbleed checker hosted by LastPass
Online network range scanner for Heartbleed vulnerability by Pentest-Tools.com
Official Red Hat offline scanner written in the Python language
Qualys SSL Labs' SSL Server Test which not only looks for the Heartbleed bug, but can also find other SSL/TLS implementation errors.
Browser extensions, such as Chromebleed and FoxBleed
SSL Diagnos
CrowdStrike Heartbleed Scanner – Scans routers, printers and other devices connected inside a network including intranet web sites.
Netcraft Site Report – indicates whether a website's confidentiality could be jeopardized due to a past exploitation of Heartbleed by checking data from Netcraft's SSL Survey to determine whether a site offered the heartbeat TLS Extension prior to the Heartbleed disclosure. The Netcraft Extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Opera also perform this check, whilst looking for potentially compromised certificates.
Other security tools have added support for finding this bug. For example, Tenable Network Security wrote a plugin for its Nessus vulnerability scanner that can scan for this fault. The Nmap security scanner includes a Heartbleed detection script from version 6.45.
Sourcefire has released Snort rules to detect Heartbleed attack traffic and possible Heartbleed response traffic. Open source packet analysis software such as Wireshark and tcpdump can identify Heartbleed packets using specific BPF packet filters that can be used on stored packet captures or live traffic.
Remediation
Vulnerability to Heartbleed is resolved by updating OpenSSL to a patched version (1.0.1g or later). OpenSSL can be used either as a standalone program, a dynamic shared object, or a statically-linked library; therefore, the updating process can require restarting processes loaded with a vulnerable version of OpenSSL as well as re-linking programs and libraries that linked it statically. In practice this means updating packages that link OpenSSL statically, and restarting running programs to remove the in-memory copy of the old, vulnerable OpenSSL code.
After the vulnerability is patched, server administrators must address the potential breach of confidentiality. Because Heartbleed allowed attackers to disclose private keys, they must be treated as compromised; key pairs must be regenerated, and certificates that use them must be reissued; the old certificates must be revoked. Heartbleed also had the potential to allow disclosure of other in-memory secrets; therefore, other authentication material (such as passwords) should also be regenerated. It is rarely possible to confirm that a system which was affected has not been compromised, or to determine whether a specific piece of information was leaked.
Since it is difficult or impossible to determine when a credential might have been compromised and how it might have been used by an attacker, certain systems may warrant additional remediation work even after patching the vulnerability and replacing credentials. For example, signatures made by keys that were in use with a vulnerable OpenSSL version might well have been made by an attacker; this raises the possibility integrity has been violated, and opens signatures to repudiation. Validation of signatures and the legitimacy of other authentications made with a potentially compromised key (such as client certificate use) must be done with regard to the specific system involved.
Browser security certificate revocation awareness
Since Heartbleed threatened the privacy of private keys, users of a website which was compromised could continue to suffer from Heartbleed's effects until their browser is made aware of the certificate revocation or the compromised certificate expires. For this reason, remediation also depends on users making use of browsers that have up-to-date certificate revocation lists (or OCSP support) and honour certificate revocations.
Root causes, possible lessons, and reactions
Although evaluating the total cost of Heartbleed is difficult, eWEEK estimated US$500 million as a starting point.
David A. Wheeler's paper How to Prevent the next Heartbleed analyzes why Heartbleed wasn't discovered earlier, and suggests several techniques which could have led to a faster identification, as well as techniques which could have reduced its impact. According to Wheeler, the most efficient technique which could have prevented Heartbleed is a test suite thoroughly performing robustness testing, i.e. testing that invalid inputs cause failures rather than successes. Wheeler highlights that a single general-purpose test suite could serve as a base for all TLS implementations.
According to an article on The Conversation written by Robert Merkel, Heartbleed revealed a massive failure of risk analysis. Merkel thinks OpenSSL gives more importance to performance than to security, which no longer makes sense in his opinion. But Merkel considers that OpenSSL should not be blamed as much as OpenSSL users, who chose to use OpenSSL, without funding better auditing and testing. Merkel explains that two aspects determine the risk that more similar bugs will cause vulnerabilities. One, the library's source code influences the risk of writing bugs with such an impact. Secondly, OpenSSL's processes affect the chances of catching bugs quickly. On the first aspect, Merkel mentions the use of the C programming language as one risk factor which favored Heartbleed's appearance, echoing Wheeler's analysis.
On the same aspect, Theo de Raadt, founder and leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects, has criticized the OpenSSL developers for writing their own memory management routines and thereby, he claims, circumventing OpenBSD C standard library exploit countermeasures, saying "OpenSSL is not developed by a responsible team." Following Heartbleed's disclosure, members of the OpenBSD project forked OpenSSL into LibreSSL.
The author of the change which introduced Heartbleed, Robin Seggelmann, stated that he missed validating a variable containing a length and denied any intention to submit a flawed implementation. Following Heartbleed's disclosure, Seggelmann suggested focusing on the second aspect, stating that OpenSSL is not reviewed by enough people. Although Seggelmann's work was reviewed by an OpenSSL core developer, the review was also intended to verify functional improvements, a situation making vulnerabilities much easier to miss.
OpenSSL core developer Ben Laurie claimed that a security audit of OpenSSL would have caught Heartbleed. Software engineer John Walsh commented: The OpenSSL foundation's president, Steve Marquess, said "The mystery is not that a few overworked volunteers missed this bug; the mystery is why it hasn't happened more often." David A. Wheeler described audits as an excellent way to find vulnerabilities in typical cases, but noted that "OpenSSL uses unnecessarily complex structures, which makes it harder to both humans and machines to review." He wrote:
There should be a continuous effort to simplify the code, because otherwise just adding capabilities will slowly increase the software complexity. The code should be refactored over time to make it simple and clear, not just constantly add new features. The goal should be code that is "obviously right", as opposed to code that is so complicated that "I can't see any problems".
LibreSSL made a big code cleanup, removing more than 90,000 lines of C code just in its first week.
According to security researcher Dan Kaminsky, Heartbleed is sign of an economic problem which needs to be fixed. Seeing the time taken to catch this simple error in a simple feature from a "critical" dependency, Kaminsky fears numerous future vulnerabilities if nothing is done. When Heartbleed was discovered, OpenSSL was maintained by a handful of volunteers, only one of whom worked full-time. Yearly donations to the OpenSSL project were about US$2,000. The Heartbleed website from Codenomicon advised money donations to the OpenSSL project. After learning about donations for the 2 or 3 days following Heartbleed's disclosure totaling US$841, Kaminsky commented "We are building the most important technologies for the global economy on shockingly underfunded infrastructure." Core developer Ben Laurie has qualified the project as "completely unfunded". Although the OpenSSL Software Foundation has no bug bounty program, the Internet Bug Bounty initiative awarded US$15,000 to Google's Neel Mehta, who discovered Heartbleed, for his responsible disclosure. Mehta later donated his reward to a Freedom of the Press Foundation fundraiser.
Paul Chiusano suggested Heartbleed may have resulted from failed software economics.
The industry's collective response to the crisis was the Core Infrastructure Initiative, a multimillion-dollar project announced by the Linux Foundation on 24 April 2014 to provide funds to critical elements of the global information infrastructure. The initiative intends to allow lead developers to work full-time on their projects and to pay for security audits, hardware and software infrastructure, travel, and other expenses. OpenSSL is a candidate to become the first recipient of the initiative's funding.
After the discovery Google established Project Zero which is tasked with finding zero-day vulnerabilities to help secure the Web and society.
References
Bibliography
External links
Summary and Q&A about the bug by Codenomicon Ltd
Information for Canadian organizations and individuals
List of all security notices
2014 in computing
Internet security
Software bugs
Transport Layer Security
Computer security exploits |
42459908 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust%20no%20one%20%28Internet%20security%29 | Trust no one (Internet security) | Trust no one (TNO) is an approach towards Internet and software security issues. In all Internet communication and software packages where some sort of secrecy is needed, usually some sort of encryption is applied. The trust no one approach teaches that no one (but oneself) should be trusted when it comes to the storage of the keys behind the applied encryption technology.
Many encryption technologies rely on the trust of an external party. For instance the security of secure end-to-end SSL connections relies on the trust of a certificate authority (CA).
The trust no one design philosophy requires that the keys for encryption should always be, and stay, in the hands of the user that applies them. This implies that no external party can access the encrypted data (assumed that the encryption is strong enough). It also implies that an external party cannot provide a backup mechanism for password recovery.
Although the philosophy of trust no one at least assures the reliability of the communication of the user that creates it, in real life and in society many communication means rely on a trust relationship between at least two parties.
Internet security |
42486031 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS%20Everywhere | HTTPS Everywhere | HTTPS Everywhere is a discontinued free and open-source browser extension for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi and Firefox for Android, which is developed collaboratively by The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). It automatically makes websites use a more secure HTTPS connection instead of HTTP, if they support it. The option "Encrypt All Sites Eligible" makes it possible to block and unblock all non-HTTPS browser connections with one click. Due to the widespread adoption of HTTPS on the internet, and the integration of HTTPS-only mode on major browsers, the extension was retired at the end of 2021.
Development
HTTPS Everywhere was inspired by Google's increased use of HTTPS and is designed to force the usage of HTTPS automatically whenever possible. The code, in part, is based on NoScript's HTTP Strict Transport Security implementation, but HTTPS Everywhere is intended to be simpler to use than NoScript's force HTTPS functionality which requires the user to manually add websites to a list. The EFF provides information for users on how to add HTTPS rulesets to HTTPS Everywhere, and information on which websites support HTTPS.
Platform support
A public beta of HTTPS Everywhere for Firefox was released in 2010, and version 1.0 was released in 2011. A beta for Chrome was released in February 2012. In 2014, a version was released for Android phones.
SSL Observatory
The SSL Observatory is a feature in HTTPS Everywhere introduced in version 2.0.1 which analyzes public key certificates to determine if certificate authorities have been compromised, and if the user is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. In 2013, the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) noted that the data set used by the SSL Observatory often treated intermediate authorities as different entities, thus inflating the number of certificate authorities. The SSAC criticized SSL Observatory for potentially significantly undercounting internal name certificates, and noted that it used a data set from 2010.
Continual Ruleset Updates
The update to Version 2018.4.3, shipped 3 April 2018, introduces the "Continual Ruleset Updates" function. To apply up-to-date https-rules, this update function executes one rule-matching within 24 hours. A website called https-rulesets was built by the EFF for this purpose. This automated update function can be disabled in the add-on settings. Prior the update- mechanism there have been ruleset-updates only through app-updates. Even after this feature was implemented there are still bundled rulesets shipped within app-updates.
Reception
Two studies have recommended building in HTTPS Everywhere functionality into Android browsers. In 2012, Eric Phetteplace described it as "perhaps the best response to Firesheep-style attacks available for any platform". In 2011, Vincent Toubiana and Vincent Verdot pointed out some drawbacks of the HTTPS Everywhere add-on, including that the list of services which support HTTPS needs maintaining, and that some services are redirected to HTTPS even though they are not yet available in HTTPS, not allowing the user of the extension to get to the service.
Other criticisms are that users may be misled to believe that if HTTPS Everywhere does not switch a site to HTTPS, it is because it does not have an HTTPS version, while it could be that the site manager has not submitted an HTTPS ruleset to the EFF,
and that because the extension sends information about the sites the user visits to the SSL Observatory, this could be used to track the user.
Legacy
HTTPS Everywhere initiative inspired opportunistic encryption alternatives :
2020: Firefox builtin HTTPS Only Mode.
2019: HTTPZ for Firefox / WebExt supporting browsers.
2017: Smart-HTTPS (closed-source early since v0.2),
See also
Brave - An open-source browser that integrates HTTPS Everywhere
Transport Layer Security (TLS) – Cryptographic protocols that provide communications security over a computer network.
Privacy Badger – A free browser extension created by the EFF that blocks advertisements and tracking cookies.
Switzerland (software) – An open-source network monitoring utility developed by the EFF to monitor network traffic.
Let's Encrypt – A free automated X.509 certificate authority designed to simplify the setup and maintenance of TLS encrypted secure websites.
HTTP Strict Transport Security – A web security policy mechanism which helps to protect websites against protocol downgrade attacks and cookie hijacking.
References
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Discontinued free Firefox WebExtensions
Free software programmed in JavaScript
Google Chrome extensions
Opera Software
Secure communication
Software using the GPL license
Tor (anonymity network)
Transport Layer Security |
42510036 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt%20version%20history | TrueCrypt version history | TrueCrypt is based on Encryption for the Masses (E4M), an open source on-the-fly encryption program first released in 1997. However, E4M was discontinued in 2000 as the author, Paul Le Roux, began working on commercial encryption software.
Version history
See also
TrueCrypt
VeraCrypt
References
Software version histories
2004 software
Cross-platform software
Cryptographic software
Discontinued software
Disk encryption
Linux security software
Windows security software
Software that uses wxWidgets
Assembly language software |
42513922 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCSS%20haiku | DeCSS haiku | DeCSS haiku is a 465-stanza haiku poem written in 2001 by American hacker Seth Schoen as part of the protest action regarding the prosecution of Norwegian programmer Jon Lech Johansen for co-creating the DeCSS software. The poem, written in the spirit of civil disobedience against the DVD Copy Control Association, argues that "code is speech."
History
DeCSS haiku was created in the context of a series of protests, coming from the international hacker community, against the arrest of Norwegian programmer Jon Lech Johansen, and a series of related lawsuits against him and other hackers (such as Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes and DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Bunner). Johansen, a Norwegian teenage programmer, was one of the creators of the freely distributed DeCSS software which can be used to bypass DVD encryption, preventing even legally-acquired DVDs on running on unauthorized computers (which at that time included all Linux machines). Johansen and others who reposted the code, including 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, were sued by the entertainment industry for revealing a trade secret and facilitating illegal copying and distribution of content on said DVDs.
Seth Schoen's goal was to provide tangible proof for the argument that "source code is speech" and hence should be given the same legal protections as free speech. A number of other activists, in the spirit of civil disobedience, created works of arts containing the infringing code, on the principle that such works are subject to First Amendment principle within the United States. Schoen decided to create a poem, which he did in 2001. At first, Schoen released the poem anonymously, though he has publicly acknowledged its ownership since.
The 465-stanza haiku transcodes the DeCSS software, in effect allowing most computer programmers to recreate the DeCSS software from scratch, using the haiku as their only reference. This can be illustrated by the following short excerpt:
All we have to do
is this: copy our DKEY
into im1,
use the rule above
that decrypts a disk key (with
im1 and its
friend im2 as
inputs) -- thus we decrypt the
disk key im1.
At another point, the poem discloses a sixteen-digit master key to the CSS code that the entertainment industry lawyers considered a proprietary trade secret:
So this number is,
once again, the player key:
(trade secret haiku?)
Eighty-one; and then
one hundred three -- two times; then
two hundred (less three)
two hundred twenty
four; and last (of course not least)
the humble zero.
Gabriella Coleman noted: "in formally comparing code to poetry in the medium of a poem, Schoen displays a playful form of clever and recursive rhetoric valued among hackers; he also articulates the meaning of the First Amendment and software." David S. Touretzky in turn described this work as "ingenious poem... both a commentary on the DeCSS situation and a correct and complete description of the descrambling algorithm. Truly inspired."
His work has been described as one of the most notable examples of DeCSS-inspired hacker art. It was covered by The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.
See also
AACS encryption key controversy
libdvdcss
References
Further reading
External links
DeCSS haiku
The History of the DeCSS Haiku, by Seth Schoen
2001 poems
American poems
Internet culture
History of software
DVD Copy Control Association
Haiku
Hacking in the 2000s
Civil disobedience |
42555615 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MassTransit-Project | MassTransit-Project | MassTransit is free software/open-source .NET-based Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) software that helps .NET developers route messages over RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus, SQS, and ActiveMQ service busses. It supports multicast, versioning, encryption, sagas, retries, transactions, distributed systems and other features. It uses a "Control Bus" design to coordinate and the Rete algorithm to route. Since it does not include "business monitoring" or a "business rules engine" (and requires programming to implement sagas for orchestration), MassTransit is typically considered to be in the category of "lightweight ESB" software.
The project is led by Microsoft MVP and national conference speaker Chris Patterson ("phatboyg"), who is also the author of the TopShelf project, and is co-authored by Dru Sellers. By February 2021 downloads of the package through NuGet passed 26,000 per week.
MassTransit is similar to a commercial offering called NServiceBus, and developers often pick one or the other for their implementation. The similarity is no accident, as the authors note that MassTransit was first built in 2007 as an alternative to NServiceBus, and the projects share the use of some code. Other similar "NuGet" ESB packages include Rebus and Rhino Service Bus.
References
.NET software
Message-oriented middleware |
42626426 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch%27s%20Staff | Plutarch's Staff | Plutarch's Staff is the 23rd adventure in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was written by Yves Sente and drawn by André Juillard and Étienne Schréder, with color by Madeleine de Mille. The volume was released on December 5, 2014. It was pre-published as a series of daily comic strips beginning in April 2014 in Le Soir, and repeated in the summer in Le Télégramme. The title refers to the scytale, a military coding system and one of the oldest messages in history.
Plot
In spring 1944, a flying wing of the Third Reich heads to London to destroy the seat of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster. British air defense was ineffective up with the speed of the jet, Captain Francis Blake, squadron leader aboard the aircraft carrier The Intrepid, was sent to meet with the prototype aircraft in Golden Rocket reaction. After an aerial battle dominated by German, Blake managed to prevail by projecting its own device against the enemy craft. In his parachute landing, he met Major Benson, a member of the secret services, he accompanied him to the Cabinet of War. The order of Benson, Lieutenant Harvey Clarke, introduced him to the work of the intelligence services. The presence of Blake saves trawler secretly carrying military equipment to attack a U-boat. Impressed by the capabilities of the young pilot, Major Benson decided with the agreement of the Gray Admiral, Chief of Staff, to give him a secret mission to prepare for World War III. Indeed, services have accidentally discovered that in the greatest secrecy, Empire Yellow Basam-Damdu sets up an impressive military arsenal and preparing to attack the West as soon as World War II is over. In this regard, the British built two secret bases: that of Scaw Fell in England and the other in the Strait of Hormuz. Blake's first mission is to assist an engineer in a crucial military operation for the Normandy landings.
The next day, Benson, Blake Clarke and travel to the base Scaw-Fell, hidden in a valley under artificial cloud in the Lake District. Blake pleased that the engineer with whom he must work is none other than Professor Philip Mortimer he met twenty years ago in India. The two friends summarize their course before visiting the factory. At dawn, Benson, Mortimer Blake Clarke and depart for decryption center GC & CS at Bletchley Park. While Mortimer Blake unveils plans for its revolutionary weapon, the Swordfish, a mysterious individual spying. In the evening, the two friends are introduced to two descramblers: Zhang Hasso, a defector from the Yellow Empire and Colonel Olrik, a specialist in Slavic languages. Going to bed, Mortimer realizes that some shots of Swordfish were stolen. Meanwhile, Zhang Hasso, who expressed no confidence in Blake Olrik at the diner, discovers that he is a double agent in the pay of yellow. Surprised by the colonel, he manages to make him believe he also works for the Yellow Empire. He has no time to warn Blake and Mortimer since his last visit the next day mission to Gibraltar.
Blake and Mortimer cast off in the Strait of Gibraltar tags designed by the teacher to make it to the Germans to a significant concentration of Allied submarines in the Mediterranean and thus divert attention from Normandy. After an eventful arrival on the rock, they join the base controlled by the Colonel Longreach, whose order is Lt. Brandon Clarke, twin brother of Harvey Clarke. The tags work perfectly, but Blake and Mortimer find a spy within the base attempts to reveal the deception to the Italians. After a brief investigation during which Blake recalls several strange events that occurred in London and Bletchley Park, his suspicions fall on Brandon Clarke. Mortimer and sergeant Duffelton, he confronts Clarke who tried to flee. Mortimer realizes that he and his brother Harvey communicate via the packages they send through an encryption system dating back to ancient Greece, scytale or stick Plutarch. Brandon confesses his betrayal before committing suicide with a cyanide capsule present in his jaw. In London, Major Benson, feeling disgraced, confronts his brother Harvey kills before fleeing with Olrik. The latter shade without emotion and left for Lhasa with Hasso who has no choice but to follow.
On June 6, 1944, when Allied troops landed in Normandy, Blake attends the funeral of Major Benson where his widow explains that the Clarke brothers held the major responsible for the death of their father in the Great War. It proposes to Blake to rent a floor of the house she owns at 99 bis Park Lane. In September 1946, British intelligence services learn that the attack of the Yellow Empire is imminent due to indications of Hasso, became an undercover agent in Lhasa, but politicians do not want to hear about. Blake joined the basic Scaw Fell unaware that a transmitter placed there two years by Lieutenant Clarke indicates its location to Yellow.
Sources
Article Récapitulatif des informations et images sur l'album (French)
References
Blake and Mortimer
2014 in comics
2014 novels
Comics set during World War II
Gibraltar in fiction
Comics set in the United Kingdom
Fiction set in 1944
Comics set in London |
42652013 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XHamster | XHamster | xHamster is a Cypriot pornographic media and social networking site headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. xHamster serves user-submitted pornographic videos, webcam models, pornographic photographs, and erotic literature and incorporates social networking features. xHamster was founded in 2007. With more than 10 million members, it is the fourth-most popular pornography website on the Internet after XVideos, XNXX and Pornhub. As of July 2020, xHamster was the 20th-most trafficked website in the world.
The site produced The Sex Factor, a reality TV series in which men and women compete to become porn stars. The site has been targeted as part of malvertising campaigns, and some governments have blocked xHamster as part of larger initiatives against Internet pornography.
History
In early 2007, Russians Oleg Netepenko and Dmitri Gussew, who publicly appears under the name Alex Hawkins decided to create a new adult video service, and xHamster was launched on 2 April 2007. xHamster was envisioned as a social network; a spokesperson said the site's content organization scheme was intended to allow "people who wanted to chat, exchange erotic pics and share amateur videos ... to find mutual friends online and maybe discover partners interested in intimate relationships." Surpassing 10 million members in 2015, xHamster became the third most popular pornography Internet website, after XVideos and Pornhub. In May 2016, xHamster launched The Sex Factor, a reality series competition where contestants compete to become a porn star.
xHamster has restricted access to its site and removed content in response to political issues concerning the LGBT community and rape culture. The site blocked users with IP addresses based in North Carolina during April 2016, after the state enacted a law that stopped its counties and cities from passing laws to protect LGBT people. In response to the verdict of the People v. Turner sexual assault case, xHamster instituted a "Brock Turner rule", which banned videos involving rape, including those involving sex with an unconscious partner or hypnosis. In the aftermath of the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak, xHamster offered Debbie Wasserman Schultz a US$50,000 role in a pornographic film with a Bernie Sanders lookalike.
During the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017, xHamster reported a significant decrease in site usage across the United States. Cities in range of totality such as Nashville, Tennessee, had a viewership drop of 43%. Charleston, South Carolina, and Portland, Oregon, saw drops of 36% and 35% respectively, jumping back up to an 85% increase in Charleston and 63% in Portland after the eclipse. Cities outside the path of totality experienced a less drastic change, with cities such as New York and Los Angeles experiencing 15% less viewership.
In August 2017 xHamster sent a letter to the creators of the television series Sense8, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, requesting to host the third season of Sense8. Sense8 was originally broadcast by Netflix which chose not to renew the season. Lana Wachowski stated that content for a third season was being created hoping that someone would pick the series up. In the letter to the Wachowskis, Alex Hawkins stated, "xHamster has a long history of fighting for the rights of sexual speech and non-normative sexuality. In addition to allowing billions of users to connect with individual articulations of gender and sexuality, we continue to use our audience to speak up against repressive anti-LGBTQ laws in the US and abroad, and for sex-ed in public schools Planned Parenthood and the rights of sex workers."
Stormy Daniels was the most searched porn star on xHamster in the first quarter of 2018. Traffic on xHamster.com increased by 5% across the US and by 7% in Washington D.C. during her 60-minute interview with Anderson Cooper leading vice president Hawkins to the conclusion that the company had, "rarely seen anything like this" before.
In May 2018, "La Manada" (wolfpack) was one of the most searched for words on xHamster. That the term is linked to the Spanish sexual abuse case, La Manada, led xHamster to confirm that a video showing the alleged crimes of five accused men was never published on its website.
In August 2018, xHamster launched a $25,000 xHamster for Women Fund to expand the content in the "Porn for Women" category of the site. According to xHamster Vice President Alex Hawkins, the goal of the fund is to increase the availability of porn that women viewers want to watch as well as to address the discrepancy between the site's visitors, 25% of whom identify as women, and the 95% of site content aimed at a male audience. Submissions were judged by "a rotating team of women-identified judges, made up of fans, porn stars, journalists and xHamster employees." Starting 1 September, amateur and professional women-identifying filmmakers could apply for grants in the range of $500 to $10,000. The films will be made available for free and without interest claims from xHamster. While other major porn sites have sought in recent years to appeal to women viewers, xHamster appears to be the first major porn site to offer a monetary incentive for this.
In September 2018, the website released an interactive online guide map, titled "Legendary Porn Theaters of NYC," marking the most famous porn locations in 1970s New York City. Many of the sites were shut down by the city in the 1980s and included theaters that screened pornos, massage parlors, and adult bookstores.
One year after the 2017 Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, xHamster released data showing that traffic to the site from Puerto Rico was down by one-fifth compared to pre-hurricane levels. Vice President Alex Hawkins claimed the lag in viewership indicated that the country, in contrast to some claims made by officials, had not yet returned to pre-hurricane standards of normalcy, including both reliable access to electricity and privacy.
Connected with right-wing YouTubers, Reddit groups, memes on 4chan and pseudoscientific health benefits of abstaining from porn and masturbation, #NoNutNovember (or #NNN) is a viral abstinence "campaign" or monthlong "challenge" begun in 2017. While xHamster did report a slight dip in user traffic from late October to early November 2017, they also reported a slight increase in site traffic in November 2019; Alex Hawkins attributed the increase to heightened public awareness of masturbation throughout the month of November. In 2018 xHamster launched a counter No Nut November campaign called "Nut November," which they promoted with the hashtag #yesfap. On 6 November the site posted to its Twitter account that they began to receive hateful messages and well-designed death threats in response to its counter-campaign, including an image reading "Pornographers must die."
In a "photobomb" stunt at the 2019 Golden Globes, Kelleth Cuthbert, a model and brand ambassador for Fiji Water, went viral on Twitter by repeatedly appearing behind actors on the red carpet. Cuthbert was seen carrying a tray of Fiji water bottles behind actors such as Jim Carrey and Jamie Lee Curtis. On Twitter, xHamster offered the Fiji brand ambassador, Cuthbert, a contract proposal of $100,000 to "keep our performers fully hydrated."
In support of US civil servants during the 2019 government shutdown, the site offered all furloughed government employees access to all premium pornographic content.
Website
xHamster provides various pornographic videos, photos and erotic stories grouped under categories catering to specific fetishes or sexual preferences. Users uploading content select from a series of set categories. The most popular category, "amateur", tags 30% of all videos posted. In the US, popular gay uploads include "big cocks" and "bare back" with Oregon having the lowest gay porn view time at 1.5 hours a week while West Virginia has the highest view rate at 3.3 hours a week. In 2017, xHamster found that 20 per cent of its viewers were watching porn with a partner. The proportion of female users amounts to 26% with increasing tendency. In 2017, the website stated a 2.4% increase in women visitors with the most popular search term in the U.S. being "Daddy" and "Mom" worldwide. On the occasion of Valentine's Day, xHamster collected data of female search preferences sorted by US states. In 17 out of 50 states, female-only porn was found to be the most sought after category. In addition to prerecorded videos, users can view live streams of paid models; the model can interact with several users by means of an online chat service. Models can also activate a "Tip" button, which allows users to provide the models additional money. In 2017, xHamster along with other leading adult sites, began accepting Bitcoin as payment. The platform added a "Night Mode" which switches the site to a low-light background when activated. Since 2017, xHamster uses an artificial intelligence model that scans material on its website to target individual user preferences. In reaction to growing demand for tech related content, xHamster created a Virtual Reality platform to explore opportunities for VR techniques in the porn industry. In August 2018, the website was listed as number seven on the Daily Dot's list of top ten free porn sites on the internet.
xHamster also contains several social networking features. Users have detailed profiles incorporating their profile picture and gender, as well as works added to the site. Content possesses a commenting and rating system, and users can interact by adding others as a "friend" or subscribing to another's content. Privacy settings allow users to make various parts of the account visible only to select individuals, filter private messages, and block certain requests. Users can also verify their identity by submitting a photo of themselves with their username, which confers a stamp upon their profile.
Unlike mainstream social media such as Facebook and YouTube, pornographic sites face a host of additional legal regulations and persistent social stigma. A OneZero article published by Medium details many legal and cultural discrepancies between LA's Silicon Valley and "Porn Valley," noting xHamster's "aggressive content moderation" with regard to video uploads to the site. xHamster's video upload process entails A.I. content review, regular staff examination, and "a legion of volunteers […] who review uploads in exchange for in-site rewards, as well as the health of the community," said Alex Hawkins to OneZero in November 2019 (Medium). xHamster user chats "are also periodically monitored to ensure that they're in compliance with the site's policies."
In August 2020 xHamster came under criticism for the deepfake pornography videos the site hosts. When asked about xHamster's policy on deepfake videos, Vice President Hawkins reported that while the company lacks a specific policy regarding deepfakes, it would remove such videos when it became aware of them, as they are a violation of the site's terms of use.
HTTPS
In January 2017, xHamster became one of the first major adult sites to incorporate HTTPS encryption. HTTPS allows for privacy, malware protection, and integrity of information exchange. Alex Hawkins said that one of the reason for HTTPS was because xHamster receives millions of visitors from countries where pornography is illegal.
Security
In April 2013, Conrad Longmore, a cyber security researcher, found that xHamster and PornHub were attacked with malvertisements.
In September 2015, xHamster was hit with another malvertising attack along with YouPorn and PornHub. TrafficHaus reported that it might be the result of a breach. On 28 November 2016 it was revealed the usernames, email addresses and passwords of 380,000 users were stolen.
In an effort to maintain user anonymity, xHamster stated in a Men's Health interview that they limit third-party access to user information when sending viewer data to marketing and analytics groups. While these security measures do not necessarily eliminate the possibility of linking a "browser fingerprint" and IP address to a user's personal identity, xHamster claims that it does not actively identify individuals unless one decides to "opt in to providing more personal, identifiable info."
Sex education
In response to lawmakers in the US state of Utah rejecting a sexual education bill in February 2017, xHamster started presenting a popup to visitors from Utah, offering them to view xHamster's sexual education series "The Box". The rejected House Bill 215 would have allowed parents to opt their children in for more comprehensive sexual education than the abstinence-only sex education common in Utah, but was opposed for encouraging sexual behaviour and allowing children to be taught how to have sex. The bill's sponsor criticized the trend of leaving sexual education to pornographic websites such as xHamster and Pornhub.
In April 2017 in response to US President Donald Trump's decision to allow states to deny federal money to Planned Parenthood, xHamster stated that they would be posting to their site information on Planned Parenthood with a popup encouraging donations to the organization. The post states, "Porn stars and amateurs alike depend on increased reproductive rights, access to birth control and low-cost STI screenings, and non-judgmental sexual health education."
Product history
In November 2016, the company released its own beer, xHamster beer. The beer is an 8.5% ABV Belgian Triple-style ale. Costing €3.90 for 0.55 litres it sold out within five days.
In May 2017, xHamster partnered with Dutch Inventor Moos Neimeijer to create Minimeyes. A motion sensor Bluetooth device that uses infrared to monitor the room and signals the computer to shut all windows and sound when an intrusion is detected.
In June 2017 xHamster released a sex doll named xHamsterina in collaboration with the manufacturer iDoll.
Since October 2017, xHamster launches a product campaign that addresses "owners of apocalypse bunkers". Against receipt, owners receive some of the company's products and videos for free.
Censorship
xHamster has been blocked by various governments. In August 2015, the government of India ordered Internet service providers to block several sites, including xHamster, under the IT Act. In Russia, a local court in the Republic of Tatarstan ruled in favour of a block on xHamster and other pornographic websites in April 2014; the ruling was passed on a year later to Roskomnadzor, the state media overseer.
Legislation to restrict pornographic sites includes efforts targeted at reducing human trafficking which may mandate electronic manufactures to install content filters to restrict "obscene" material. Nevertheless, organizations in support of free speech have been speaking out against the efforts to include porn sites such as xHamster which noted 125 million clicks from Thailand and 95 million clicks from users in Turkey in which the site is banned.
Other attempts at censoring have their basis in violating net neutrality, whereby governments may restrict bandwidth to various Internet categories. xHamster's Alex Hawkins stated, "As an international company, we see every day how restrictive governments use regulatory tools, like traffic throttling, to limit access to not only porn but political speech."
In September 2018 the Nepal government announced a ban on pornographic websites in response to public outcry regarding the rape and murder of a young Nepali girl. A few weeks later, xHamster released a graph that showed that after a slight dip in usage, traffic to its site from Nepal resurged to previous levels. India blocked xHamster again in late 2018. News discussions of India's porn born cited both xHamster's data on Nepal as well as the site's data on traffic from China following that country's 2018 porn ban, which resulted in an 81 per cent decline in visitors from China to the xHamster site.
As a step to promote "healthy relationship, sex, and consent," the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) announced in January 2019 that it would require websites hosting pornography such as xHamster to implement "rigorous" third-party age-verification prior to web entry. This legal measure was designed to restrict access of internet pornography only to viewers of legal age, which is 18 in the UK. An alternative to directly verifying one's age is the option of purchasing a "porn pass" from a designated UK retailer, allowing viewers over the age of 18 to confirm their age anonymously.
In addition to criticizing the technical issues and privacy threats of the UK rule, porn providers, producers, actors, and civil rights advocates claim that underage porn viewership stems from broader societal issues left unresolved by the new law. Likely associated with the planned enactment date of the UK rule, 15 July 2019, xHamster viewership rose sharply in the UK in the preceding months.
After the third delay for the planned UK age-verification regulations, UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright announced in late June 2019 that, besides the delay, he was wary about how the enactment and enforcement of national age-verification rules would vary greatly from nation to nation, much "like pre-EU Europe."
In January 2020, State Representative Brady Brammer of the US state of Utah sponsored a bill that would require a "warning label" on "adult content" in an effort to inform potential viewers of supposed dangers associated with porn consumption on youth. Salt Lake City's FOX 13 reported that the "warning label" concept was "modeled after California's toxic product warning labels." xHamster 'trolled' the Utah State Legislature by adding a label visible to all Utah viewers, stating, "Warning: porn use may lead to decreased stress, increased happiness, and lower rates of teen pregnancy, divorce, and sexual assault. However, it's only for adults." On 18 February 2020, the Utah State Legislature passed the proposal into law.
In Germany, July 2021, cases have been filed by Commission for Youth Media Protection (KJM) at a Düsseldorf court since 2020 requiring MindGeek's subsidiaries and xHamster to request age verification. Four companies declined to require age verification, and the KJM has issued a blanket ban on the IP address of MindGeek websites. The ruling was to be issued in August 2021.
Copyright infringement
In 2011, xHamster was sued by Fraserside Holdings, Ltd., a producer of adult films and a subsidiary of Private Media Group, Inc. Fraserside and Private alleged that xHamster had infringed their copyrights by streaming copies of their adult media over the Internet. Fraserside brought the case in Iowa, and in 2012 Judge Mark Bennett found that U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction over xHamster because it is a Cyprus-based company with "no offices in Iowa, no employees in Iowa, no telephone number in Iowa[;] ... xHamster does not advertise in Iowa[;] No xHamster officer or director has ever visited Iowa[; and] ... All of xHamster's servers are located outside of the United States." The copyright infringement case was dismissed.
Celebrity involvement
As a part of the marketing strategy, xHamster increasingly publishes job offers to celebrities or persons of temporary public interest. In November 2017, xHamster offered Julie Briskman a job in their marketing & social media team via Twitter after her old employer had terminated her. The woman had attracted attention for flipping the finger at US President Trump while passing his motorcade on a bike. After rapper Drake got accused by Pusha T in a diss track of denying a child, xHamster noticed an increase in search inquiries over 2700% for the alleged mother and former porn actress Rosee Divine. In May 2018, in the aftermath of the diss track release, Divine was offered a job as an official xHamster spokesmodel. In June 2018, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea got a job offer after posting twerking videos on her social media accounts.
In September 2016, Alex Hawkins speaking for xHamster confirmed that they had purchased a sex tape alleged to portray American actress Alexis Arquette, which was put up for sale by an ex-lover shortly after her death. xHamster destroyed all copies of it, announcing that "Ms. Arquette was an icon and activist in the trans community and we could not see someone smear her memory the way the selling party was trying to do."
In February 2017, xHamster held auditions for US President Donald Trump, Trump's family members, and Trump cabinet member lookalikes. The winners will be cast in porn parodies. Alex Hawkins said, "there is nothing more that the American public needs than quality adult content parodies to help them understand the ever-shifting landscape of their Executive Branch of government." In March 2017 John Brutal, a dialysis worker in Minnesota, was selected as the winning contestant to perform the part.
In September 2017, following Twitter "likes" from the account of US senator Ted Cruz, xHamster discovered his lookalike, Searcy Hayes, and offered her $10,000 to be featured in a role as a Ted Cruz look alike.
Following the airing of a Lifetime Network documentary-style film, Surviving R.Kelly, xHamster reported a 388% increase in R.Kelly related searches since January 2019. The Lifetime film presents R.Kelly's arrest, trial, and acquittal on child pornography charges between 2002 and 2008. Censored from xHamster's website, the "infamous" sex tape features the hip-hop artist engaged in sexual relations with and urinating on, an underage girl. In a bid to reprimand viewers who search for the sex tape, xHamster denounced seeking the tape as both "illegal" and "immoral." xHamster emphasized in their public statement that searching for the video may even be "re-victimizing a minor who could not consent."
After nude outtakes from a 2016 GQ Magazine photoshoot of Iggy Azalea were leaked on Twitter in May 2019, xHamster defended the rapper's right to prevent the images' widespread accessibility. In an interview with The Blast in May 2019, Alex Hawkins claimed that disseminating and viewing the stolen photos is "a violation of Iggy's rights." Hawkins also stated that xHamster had "reached out to Iggy Azalea's management team" and "will increase [xHamster's] patrol of Iggy and relevant keywords, and are asking our community to alert us should they spot the photos."
More than four years after retiring from porn, Mia Khalifa remains one of the most searched female actresses on xHamster with over 780 million views, according to a 2019 Washington Post article. Khalifa is best known for starring in a film in which she wears a hijab, garnering public criticism and even death threats from the terrorist organization, ISIS.
COVID-19 pandemic
Early in the COVID-19 global pandemic, xHamster offered free Premium access until the end of March to places affected by the virus such as Tehran, Iran; Daegu, South Korea; Wuhan, China; the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Northern Italy; and Adeje, Canary Islands. The company issued the offer via their official Twitter page with the tagline, "Stay safe with xHamster." In March 2020, Vice reports that xHamster witnessed an "overwhelming surge" in new subscriptions from users in the aforementioned cities and regions which "outpaced xHamster's ability to approve new accounts."
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, coronavirus-themed porn began appearing on xHamster and other streaming sites in early March 2020.
Following international quarantines, travel bans, and statewide stay-at-home orders in early and mid-2020, many sex toy retailers, livecam platforms, and streaming sites reported record traffic and sales. Coupled with this boom under quarantine is a marked shift towards amateur production on paid access platforms such as xHamsterLive Sex Webcams, FanCentro, and OnlyFans. This shift has resulted in higher profits, flexibility, and creative license afforded to performers.
A 2020 article published by Mashable on changing trends in porn following the coronavirus pandemic cites several user trends reported by xHamster vice president Alex Hawkins. According to Hawkins, while interest in traditional categories of porn such as MILF and incest roleplay porn has decreased, the demand for public sex scenes, kissing, and coronavirus-related adult content has seen a surge in popularity. Hawkins attributes this to a desire for porn which reflects current societal issues and predicts that trends will return to normal when the pandemic is under control.
LGBTQ+
In honor of Pride Month in June 2020 the site held a 3-day live cam fundraiser, inviting activists, artists, sex workers, and LGBTQ+ content creators to submit 15–30-minute segments of content. The content was promoted on the site's social media channels and through its Pride partner Stripchat, and all proceeds were donated to the trans and sex worker charities the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the Sex Workers Outreach Project and Rainbow Railroad.
Illegal content
Until recently, photos and videos could be uploaded anonymously on xHamster. Vice reported in 2020 that, according to first-hand research, xHamster used unpaid, untrained and anonymous volunteer moderators, who were observed arguing over what criteria could be used to identify a minor in porn footage. The volunteers were explicitly asked by xHamster to wave through content whose legality was in doubt. xHamster switched its video moderation to be done by paid employees, declining to comment on the reason.
User trends
In September 2018, the site released the top seven porn categories most popular among female users of the site, with "cunnilingus," "vibrators," and "eating pussy" ranking as the top three.
From October through December 2018, xHamster reported a ten thousand per cent increase in user searches for the term "The Grinch." Coupled with the widespread popularity of holiday and film-themed pornography, Alex Hawkins credits the recent Hollywood remake of The Grinch with the stark increase in searches.
The site reported an upward trend in searches for sex robots from 2016 to early 2019, pointing to increasing interest in lifelike sex dolls.
In 2019 xHamster reported about 40,000 searches per month for "braces," a preference associated with teen porn but also reported as a fetish on its own.
After a sex scene was aired in an April 2019 episode of the popular television series Game of Thrones, xHamster reported a marked jump in searches for actress Maisie Williams and her character's name, Arya Stark.
Based on xHamster's survey of 50,000 respondents from over 150 countries, Cosmopolitan Magazine reported in May 2019 that "the ideal dream woman is a 25-year-old, 5'5", Eurasian, bisexual woman named 'Shy Yume.'" This supposed "ideal" woman has blue eyes, straight, dark, long hair, an "average" body size, "fully shaved" genitals, and is "not a feminist."
In 2019, xHamster reported a 100% increase in "pirate" related searches between 18 and 19 September. The sudden popularity of pirate-themed searches, most common among 18-35 year old users, is largely attributed to International "Talk Like a Pirate Day", falling on 19 September.
After the release of the 2019 film Joker, xHamster Vice President Alex Hawkins reported an "astounding" 1300% increase in "joker" related searches.
In a 2020 survey of 100,000 xHamster users, the company found that female-identifying viewers are younger, more sexually fluid, and outspend their male-identifying users on porn, even while watching less frequently.
Amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, an article published by Vice media outlet cited data released by xHamster which reflects a surge of interest in police-related pornography. The data, which show that search terms such as "cop," "police," and "jail" rose in popularity by 39 per cent in the U.S. and 25 per cent worldwide between the first week of May and the first week of June, was reported in the Vice article as part of a broader examination of the racial and social dynamics of cop-related porn.
Annual reports
Based on 2018 viewership trends, xHamster predicts that the number of female viewers in 2019 will increase by more than forty percent. While gay, bisexual, and "heavy" women search terms are on the rise, web traffic for terms such as "redhead" and "teen" are sharply declining; xHamster claims that these changes are largely due to an increase in female viewers and the normalization of porn-viewing among Millennials, who "are less ashamed about porn than any other generation." Not only is web traffic increasing among women, but so is the amount of porn viewed on handheld devices, comprising roughly two-thirds of all xHamster viewership.
Although 2019 viewership trends on xHamster's website signal an increase in free porn consumption, this trend is coupled with an increase in the purchase of "premium" services. The number of new xHamster user accounts has also sharply increased, indicating a desire for private "cam-models" and other "niche porn services."
In their 2019 "Report on Digital Sexuality", xHamster claims a "direct" statistical correlation between frequent porn consumption and bisexuality. The survey gathered viewer data from "more than 11,000 US-based users," finding that the proportion of regular porn viewers who self-identify as gay or bisexual is seven times greater than the percentage of US citizens who identify as LGBT, according to a 2018 Gallup poll.
Additionally, viewers who self-identify as gay or bisexual are more likely than self-identified heterosexuals to watch porn on a daily basis. xHamster speculates that these higher rates of porn consumption amongst members of the LGBTQ community may be related to "a lower stigma associated with watching" porn coupled with broad base support for non-normative forms of "healthy" sexual expression. Associated with these trends, xHamster reports that less than half of all self-identified women viewers are heterosexual. The same study found that nearly half of all viewers consider themselves to be "very" or "somewhat religious." Religious viewers are twice as likely as non-believers to spend up to US$1,000 for a "live cam" video experience.
In a 2019 year-end report published by xHamster, the company found that more than two-thirds (71.49%) of all site traffic was accessed on mobile devices. This is a 12% increase from 2018 and is coupled with an upward trend in amateur and amateur style porn produced on mobile devices. The report also found that more than 100,000 videos are viewed, 1400 videos downloaded and 30 uploaded every sixty seconds on the site.
A MEL Magazine article from 2020 cites Alex Hawkins statement that the "shift from studios to performer-producers" is "dramatically changing the industry," resulting in more "realistic" situations and "natural" body types in porn produced via mobile devices. xHamster's 2020 year-end report found that terms such as "natural tits" and "real homemade," and situations such as voyeurism and public sex "have experienced massive growth" in recent years.
In tandem with the growth of handheld porn production and consumption, short clip porn, often only 1–5 seconds, has grown in recent years, migrating onto content hosts such as Reddit and platforms such as Snapchat. The social media platform, TikTok, offers a venue for accessing short clips of softcore, and occasionally hardcore, amateur pornography. Although nudity is officially banned on TikTok, the platform's monitoring algorithm is not perfect, sometimes leading to pornographic content being made publicly available for several hours before deletion.
Porn and millennials
In a Forbes article on the historical developments in the porn industry, xHamster is noted for pioneering free online streaming or "tube" sites in 2007. Following the growth of "tube" sites, fears spread that paid porn would result in the industry's death. Millennials were blamed for a reported decline in the net value of the US porn industry. While paid-access porn has shifted from professionally produced films towards amateur clips and short video streaming, paid porn viewership has not declined. A Mashable article from February 2020 finds that Millennials are in fact "outspending older generations substantially.
Mashable also finds that "starting in the mid-2010s [...] consumer trend data started to show that millennials [...] were willing to spend even more than earlier generations on movies, shows, and music." In support of this claim, Mashable reported that xHamster data finds "millennial buyers spend about twice as much as older demographics" and "make up more than half of xHamster's paying premium consumers," leading Hawkins to assert that "millennials may well be the saviors of the porn industry."
With nearly five million user-labeled videos on xHamster, Alex Hawkins deems broad search terms ineffective at finding specific scenes and videos, while searching through category filters can prove more successful. In an interview with MEL Magazine in 2020, Hawkins claimed that creating an xHamster account either paid or free, "helps AI better recommend new scenes to you based on your previous views and videos you've liked or disliked, [...] follow certain producers and stars, create personal collections and find new content more efficiently."
See also
Internet pornography
List of chat websites
List of video hosting services
References
External links
Cypriot erotica and pornography websites
Gratis pornography
Video hosting
Internet properties established in 2007
2007 establishments in Cyprus
Economy of Limassol District
Limassol |
42677174 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hike%20Messenger | Hike Messenger | Hike Messenger, also called Hike Sticker Chat, was an Indian freeware, cross-platform instant messaging (IM), Voice over IP (VoIP) application which was launched on 12 December 2012 by Kavin Bharti Mittal and is now owned by Hike Private Limited. Hike can work offline through SMS and has multi-platform support. The app registration uses standard one time password (OTP) based authentication process. With abundance of low-cost data, Hike decided to go from a single super app strategy to multiple app approach, so that it can focus more on the core messaging capabilities. It has numerous Hikemoji Stickers which can be customized accordingly. From version 6, the user-interface was revised and the app no longer supports features like news, mobile payment, games or jokes. As per CB Insights, $1.4 billion is the valuation of Hike with more than 100 million registered users till August 2016 and 350 employees working from Bengaluru and Delhi.
History
Hike Messenger was launched globally on 12 December 2012 by founder Kavin Bharti Mittal, which over the next couple of months introduced features like free text messaging, themes, stickers, hidden chat option and a revamped user interface. The majority users are from India with 80 percent under the age group of 25. After buying US based free voice calling company Zip Phones in 2015, Hike started providing free voice calling over cellular network and WiFi across the globe before WhatsApp by optimizing voice quality while using low bandwidth which packs more minutes per megabyte (MB) of data. It also purchased startups like TinyMogul and Hoppr in the later part of 2015. After getting 30 percent sticker usage traffic, Hike launched the 'Great Indian Sticker Challenge' on 5 March 2015 to create more stickers.
With 90 percent of users under the age of 30, the beta testing of Hike messenger app was launched on 6 December 2015 for Windows Phone 8.1 and a Universal Windows Platform app (UWP) for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. Hike acquired InstaLively Livestreaming Pvt. Ltd in February 2017 which was behind the hyper local social networking app Pulse, that focused on instant audio and video digitization by using lower bandwidth speed which made it cost-effective for enterprises to create and broadcast content from any remote location.
From version 5.0, it became the first social messaging app to start a mobile payment service in India. The timeline feature came back after multiple user requests and introduction of a personalized digital envelope called Blue Packets for sending monetary gifts through built-in wallet. In 2017, acquisition of Bengaluru based startup Creo was announced to enable third-party developers build services on top of Hike platform. From 2018, Hike decided to bring 1 billion users online by targeting tier-2 and tier-3 cities by giving more localized services.
The company decided to dump the previous super app approach as of January 2019 and is now looking at launching multiple specialized apps for specific users. In May 2019, Hike announced collaboration with Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-D) for developing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), speech, link prediction, deep learning and computer vision. The company launched the first standalone app Hike Sticker Chat in April 2019, while a separate content app is now called Hike News & Content. With the help of machine learning, Hike Sticker Chat can now recommend, suggest and smartly predicts custom stickers for different situations and mood.
Hike launched an animated sticker for Valentine's Day 2019 with a special pack for the LGBTQ community.
Due to multilingual nature of Indian society, qwerty keyboards are difficult to localize so Hike is planning to use machine learning to make 80 to 90 percent of sticker-based chat a keyboard-less affair with the help of predictive analysis which now stands at 20 to 30 percent of user conversations on the platform. Hike stickers cover only 15 to 20 percent of vocabulary across 40 languages in India with future focus on text messages and symbols to achieve 100 percent prediction rate that gives a seamless experience while reducing keyboard dependency.
As of 2020. Hike was creating a smaller smart team of employees with game designers, crypto-economists and psychologists to understand the emerging digital landscape and create a new type of block-chain economy for its newly launched service called Hike Land.
Application
Features
From 15 April 2014, Hike is offering unlimited free SMS called Hike Offline through credits, earned by users from regular chatting for offline use to get a seamless experience as connectivity is still a major issue in many parts of India. To engage 80 percent of its audience who are under 25 years age group, Hike introduced features that find resonance with the local market such as Last Seen Privacy and localized sticker packs. It also introduced a two-way chat theme which was an industry-first innovation, allowing users to change the chat background for themselves and for their friends simultaneously. The app also started showing live Cricket scores in collaboration with Cricbuzz, news, casual games, social media feed, while one can do shopping, recharge and ticket booking with Hike Wallet. Hike brought large file transfer support which equipped users to share 100 MB files of all formats with discussion on further increasing the size limit to 1 GB.
With the launch of version 2.9.2.0 in January 2015, Hike implemented support for sending uncompressed images and a "quick upload" feature optimized for 2G speed. Later that month, Hike introduced a voice calling feature for its users. In September 2015, Hike launched free group calls support with up to 100 people in a simultaneous conference call environment. In November 2016, Hike announced the launch of a feature called Stories that allows people to share real-life moments using fun live filters which automatically get deleted after 48 hours, and a new camera design with localized filters. Hike 4.0 launched on 26 August 2015 with the tagline 'Got a Gang? Get on Hike'. The latest update makes the app five times faster, highly optimized for low-end phones and poor network conditions. It supports photo filters and doodles, bite-sized news updates in under a 100 characters. Hike launched News Feed with Hindi language support on 29 September 2015 to cater for the needs of the non-English population. Hike launched version 3.5 as the biggest update for Windows Phone 8.1 during December 2015 which changed the user interface for more simpler navigation, supported sending unlimited non-media files and documents of any format and better group admin settings. It also included ten brand-new chat themes.
Hike launched a microapp feature which was live for two days on 8 May 2016 as a Mother's Day special in which users can add images, quotes or messages as a token of love with customized e-cards and stickers on their timeline not only on Hike, but also on other platforms. On 26 October 2016, Hike Messenger rolled out the beta version of a video calling feature ahead of WhatsApp starting with the Android users which also lets recipients preview a video call before deciding to take it and is optimized to even work under 2G conditions. On 24 December 2016, Hike rolled out a short 20-second Video Stories feature that can be directly shared with friends or posted on a public timeline with different filters in collaboration with content creators with the same 48-hour time limit before being automatically deleted. The Stories feature continues to receive constant future updates to include and enable content, public story option, private user messaging and Geo-tagging.
In September 2017, Hike launched personalized sticker packs with 20,000+ graphical stickers for over 500 colleges that covered around 1,000 colleges by December 2018 across India which can be used across different geographies, and are highly customized for users with availability in 40+ local languages that support automatic sticker suggestions where the application suggests the best reply for any sticker message and also allows users to "nudge", a feature used to ping the receiver. Hike started supporting user comments on friend's posts, added a specific message reply function, a redesigned camera interface to support front flash and user mentions with the help of the @ symbol. In December 2017, Hike launched group voting, bill splitting, checklists and event reminders for group chat that supports up to 1,000 users both on iOS and Android platform. Hike launched another feature called Hike Land, which is a virtual world with beta trial to start from March 2020, that will use Hike Moji where online users with their digital avatar can hang out with other users and will be built inside the Hike Sticker Chat application. It is mainly targeted but not restricted towards 16 to 21 years age group of people. Without unveiling much about Hike Land, a separate website has been created with option to reserve spots by giving details like name, gender and phone number that will link the user profile from the Hike Sticker Chat account though it is not a necessity.
Hike Direct
The Hike Direct feature is based on the technology known as WiFi Direct, which initially was also called WiFi P2P and got introduced to users by October 2015 which enables sharing of files such as music, apps, videos without a live internet connection within a 100-meter radius by creating a wireless network between two or more devices with a transfer speed of 100MB per minute. For privacy and security reasons, Hike doesn't show the recipient's location or proximity and works only when two users are connected in the same room by adding one another into the contact list.
Hike Wallet
In June 2017, Hike announced the launch of version 5.0 with multiple new features like User Chat Themes, Night Mode and Magic Selfie. along with a built-in Wallet partnered with Yes Bank. This feature was first rolled out to Android users followed by iOS users at a later stage.
Hike collaborated with Airtel Payment Bank to power its digital payment wallet by November 2017 where Hike users have access to Airtel Payments Bank's merchant & utility payment services and know your customer (KYC) infrastructure with 5 million transactions happening from services like recharge and P2P. Hike formed a partnership with Ola Cabs to bring a taxi and auto-rickshaw booking facility from 14 February 2018. Users can now also book bus tickets with 3,000 operators, pay for electricity, cooking gas, DTH and landline bills with 60 operators through Hike Wallet.
Support of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payments by Hike Wallet let users send and receive up to ₹1 lakh directly into the bank account without sharing their credit/debit card or net banking credentials. Users can send money through UPI to anyone and not just Hike users. For non-UPI users, it allows transactions up to ₹20,000 a month with a maximum cap per transaction at ₹5,000.
Hike ID
In January 2018, Hike announced the launch of 'Hike ID' to enhance its user privacy features. Hike ID is a unique custom username that removes the need for sharing phone numbers to chat with someone. Users can also search for each other using their Hike IDs. Hike ID has been integrated across all Hike-based services for facilitating easy discovery of people or groups.
In a survey done by the Hike team out of a million active users, 69 percent confirmed that they like to talk to others without sharing their own phone number and over 72 percent said that they like to skip the step of saving phone numbers before talking to others. This is what prompted the developers to come up with Hike ID as the solution which makes it easier as well as secure for users to chat without having to share or save phone numbers.
Hike Web
In August 2019 it launched the Web App beta version of Hike Sticker Chat which enable its users to chat over their personal computers. The company also worked on a feature to allow sharing of stickers across all messaging platforms. Hike Web was created ensuring a seamless experience for users with a strong focus on privacy and security keeping that in mind Hike increased network security to AES-256 and TLS 1.2, which makes communication over a web client more secure than ever.
Hike Moji
Hike Moji is a digital avatar of a user based on artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) generated imagery created by taking a selfie, for variety of localized Indianised expressions with 1000 customized options like more than 350 hairstyles, 20 different facial features, bindis, local clothing style, nose pins with local twist and mood. The beta version 1.0 was rolled out on 15 November 2019 for both android and iOS. It was officially released to a wider audience base on 19 February 2020. With the stable release, it included 200 more customized options like 20 skin shades, over a million eyes colours, more than 400 accessories, dimples, freckles, cheek-lines and more. Hike Moji generate stickers are on three language where English and Hindi act as default with one other optional Indic language. Right now the language support is limited to Bengali, Gujarati, Kanada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. User can share 100+ exclusive Hike Moji stickers to other platforms. Computer vision and deep neural networks enable the platform to search around 100 trillion combinations of facial shape and color reflecting the user's looks within a few seconds. Life like images are generated with three seconds. Hike Moji version 1.0 (beta) alone created over 1 million plus stickers upon its launch in a control group of users. The stable version 1.0 can now create 100 quintillion combinations of stickers with seamless addition to WhatsApp. Inspired by local diversity of the country, HikeMoji now is the largest platform for hyper local avatar creation in India.
Privacy & Security
An article from 10 December 2012 published on German website Spiegel Online where app testers of MediaTest Digital found out while analyzing the data traffic of Hike version 1.0.5 for iOS that it transmits messages, phone numbers and unique device identification number (UDID) unencrypted and has full access to the phone address book. They called out that these deficiencies in Hike are even more undeniable than those made in the past in WhatsApp.
Hike uses a 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer encrypted firewall server for the exchange of media and text messages on Wi-Fi. In addition to a user choosing whom to share their last seen and profile pictures with, the app also supports an industry first hidden mode with a pattern lock feature for extended user privacy. As of June 2019, all chats and calls are now being protected by 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard and 2048 Rivest–Shamir–Adleman public-key cryptosystems and messages stored locally on a device are auto backed-up to its cloud server with zero data consumption. It is used for validating identity (signing) and ensuring that only the intended recipient can access the information sent (encryption). The data stored on hike servers is completely encrypted with an AES-128 algorithm with strong Key and Salt stored in a completely different key management system (KMS).
Platform Support
Hike Total
In January 2018, the company announced the launch of Total which is a customized version of Android that uses its own proprietary technology called UTTP, which is based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) protocol that is supported by nearly all GSM phones that allowed users to access services on their mobile even in the offline mode or without internet. Hike teamed up with mobile carriers and OEMs for Total, with device makers bundling a tweaked version of Android that makes Hike the default text/call app.
The total was targeted at the next billion mobile-first customers. Users can access essential services such as Messaging, News, Horoscope, Recharge, Wallet, Cricket Scores and Rail information even without an active internet connection with services taking less than 100 kb to 1 MB of size. Users can also buy data packs which are as low as ₹1 from within the operating system.
Hike announced Intex Technologies, Karbonn Mobiles as device partners and BSNL, Aircel as telecom service providers. Hike announced the availability of the Total platform for 'Mera Pehla Smartphone' initiative launched by Airtel India. The first batch of handsets supporting the technology were released by March 2018. It wasn't available for download on Google Play as it is exclusive to handset models produced by partner original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
User statistics
Hike acquired its first five million users within three months after the app launch which increased to fifteen million by September 2013. Up to May 2014, the user base increased to twenty million with additional fifteen million joining till August 2014. Hike reached seventy million users till October 2015 by adding an additional thirty million within three months from August 2015. Twenty billion messages were shared regularly every month till August 2015, that grew to over one billion messages shared every single day by December 2015, that again doubled to forty billion monthly messages till January 2016 as users are spending over 120 minutes per week on the app.
On average, users are spending more than 120 minutes per week on the app as they are viewing 11.2 news stories on average per user per day while transferring close to 10 million files with Hike Direct which is more than 200 terabytes of data without the use of actual internet. As of January 2019, 29 percent of internet users in India use Hike as a messenger or VoIP platform.
Hike crossed over its first hundred million registered users in January 2016 as per founder and company CEO, Kavin Bharti Mittal which added a further sixty million till May 2019. Over ten million mobile transactions were done on Hike as of November 2017 of which 70 percent were for various recharges, while 30 percent were peer to peer transaction (P2P). A further breakdown of 30 percent P2P transactions consists of 10 percent UPI payments, 10 percent Blue Packets which are virtual envelopes that users can insert money into and send to friends with personal messages, filters and 10 percent normal wallet transactions. During this time around Hike also recorded a 30 percent month after month rise in its active user base. Hike Messenger announced that it crossed five million monthly transactions within five months of Hike Wallet's launch at a 30 percent month after month growth which by December 2017 increased to ten million monthly transactions at a 100 percent month after month growth rate.
Around 50,000 users are joining Hike Sticker Chat per day which the company wants to quadruple by the end of 2019. The initial target is capturing of 15 to 20 percent youth population in India and a wider base from tier-1 and tier-2 cities since maximum growth is coming from Pune, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Jaipur. As of December 2019, the app has over two million weekly active users.
Funding
Hike raised its first round of funding of $7 million from Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Group in April 2013. It again received a second round of investment of $14 million from Bharti Enterprises and Softbank Group in March 2014 to scale up operations when it crossed 15 million subscribers. In August 2014, Hike reached 35 million users and raised $65 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global. It raised $175 million in a Series D round of funding led by Tencent and Foxconn on 16 August 2016. After raising this round Hike reached the valuation of $1.4 billion and became the youngest startup in India to reach unicorn status, having achieved it in just 3.7 years after launch.
Controversy
Around January 2016, Hike spokesperson told Press Trust of India journalist that Facebook blocked an option in its advertisements which allows people to visit the Hike official website which they assumed to be an initial technical glitch, but later Facebook confirmed that certain products and services can't be advertised on its platform which stopped the Hike ads. Facebook has not publicly responded to Hike's allegations whereas it's worth noting that Facebook-owned WhatsApp is the rival service to the Hike messaging app in the Indian market.
April Fools' pranks
On April 1, 2014, the app pranked its users with "HikeCoin", which was modeled after Bitcoin for direct cash transfers by announcing that a photo of real monetary note, attached and sent to friends would make the physical note invalid.
On March 31, 2016 Hike announced "Hike Smell", a fictional feature added as a prank on April Fools' Day. Users were informed that by using special sensors in their smartphones, they could capture and attach smells to their messages.
Shutdown
On 6 January 2021 company announced end of messaging services effective 14 January 2021 12:00 PM IST by sending following text to its users:
Today we're announcing that after so many years of helping you deepen friendships, we will be shutting down Hike Sticker Chat at 11.59pm on 14th Jan, 2021.
We thank you for creating amazing memories with us on Hike Sticker Chat and giving us your love and trust for so many years
We wouldn’t be here without each and every one of you.
Hike also announced that all the Hike Stickers can still be used on other messaging platforms like Signal , Whatsapp , Telegram by Downloading 'Stickers by Hike'.
References
External links
Everything About Hike App
Android (operating system) software
BlackBerry software
Indian brands
Instant messaging clients
IOS software
Japanese brands
Softbank portfolio companies
Social media
Symbian software
Windows Phone software
Bharti Enterprises |
42699051 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QIVICON | QIVICON | Qivicon is an alliance of companies from different industries that was founded in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom. The companies are collaborating on a cross-vendor, wireless-based home automation solution that has been available in the German market since fall 2013. It includes products in the areas of energy, security, and comfort. It connects and combines controllable devices made by different manufacturers such as motion detectors, smoke detectors, water detectors, wireless adapters for power outlets, door and window contact, temperature and humidity sensors, wireless switches, carbon monoxide sensors, thermostats, cameras, household appliances (e. g. washing machines, dryers, coffee machines), weather stations, sound systems and lighting controls.
Qivicon has stated that it would like to take the "Smart Home" further forward around the world. The alliance uses Smart Home optimized wireless protocols to make solutions easy to install in any home without needing to lay cables.The technical platform is international and open for companies of all sizes and in all industries.
Members
It currently consists of over 43 companies in different industries such as energy, electrical and household appliances, security and telecommunications. Qivicon partners include Deutsche Telekom, E wie Einfach, eQ-3, Miele, Samsung and Philips. In March 2018, Deutsche Telekom announced that it had integrated the Home Connect platform, which works with Bosch and Siemens connected devices, into Qivicon to enable greater functunality between the two. For example, as well as being able to control connected Bosch and Siemens appliances directly via the Home Connect app. DT also announced a number of new compatible devices broaden the Qivicon portfolio, such as the Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm.
EnBW
eQ-3
Miele
Samsung
Deutsche Telekom
Assa Abloy
bitronvideo
Centralite
Cosmote
digitalSTROM
D-Link
DOM Technologies
Entega
E WIE EINFACH
eww Gruppe
Gigaset
Google
Huawei
Hitch
Home Connect
Junkers
kpn
Logitech
Nest
Netatmo
Osram
PaX
Philips
Plugwise
RheinEnergie
Sengled
Smappee
Sonos
Stadtwerke Bonn
VW
History
The Qivicon platform has been around in the German market since the fall of 2013.
The platform’s technical control unit, its home base, is connected to the Internet via a broadband connection in the house or apartment. In August 2016, Qivicon launched a new generation of the home base focusing on international markets. The range of different models will keep up with the diverse range of wireless protocols found throughout the international market. The models all have an identical outward appearance. But they differ in terms of their pre-installed protocols. For example, the model designed for the German market, and several other markets, already includes the protocols HomeMatic, ZigBee Pro and the inclusion of HomeMatic IP and DECT ULE has also been completed. Another model includes the ZigBee Pro and Z-Wave radio modules. All versions of the new home base can be connected to home DSL routers either by cable, wirelessly, via Wi-Fi or via Deutsche Telekom´s Speedport Smart router.
The system can be expanded to include other wireless standards by means of USB sticks for which there are four corresponding slots in the home base of the first generation and two slots in the second generation. Qivicon partners’ devices can be controlled and monitored via various partner apps for the smartphone, the tablet or the PC. Since November 2017 Qivicon is compatible with Alexa from Amazon. Users can control lights, blinds or alarm systems with their voice via Amazon Echo or Google Home.
In March 2017, Deutsche Telekom launched a White Label Smart Home portfolio that includes platform, gateways, applications, compatible devices and services. The portfolio is designed to help telecommunications service providers, utility providers, hardware manufacturers and other enterprises create and offer smart home services.
Deutsche Telekom extended its international footprint within the smart home sector by partnering with Cosmote, the largest mobile operator in Greece and part of the OTE group, as well as Hitch in Norway, adding Greece and Norway to Qivicon's current footprint of Germany, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Austria, and Italy.
AV-Test, an IT security test institution, rates Qivicon as “secure”. It found that the Smart Home platform used encryption for communication and provided protection from unauthorized access.
Awards
Qivicon won repeat awards from the international management consulting company Frost & Sullivan’s. In 2016, Frost & Sullivan has awarded Qivicon with the European Connected Home New Product Innovation Award. In 2014, the smart home platform has been awarded with the European Visionary Innovation Leadership Award in recognition of what the management consulting company saw as the most innovative Smart Home solution of the year.
References
Bibliography
Ohland, Günther. Smart-Living. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2013. .
External links
Qivicon home page
Home automation
Building engineering organizations
Technology consortia
Environmental technology
Building automation |
42702087 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley%20v.%20California | Riley v. California | Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that the warrantless search and seizure of digital contents of a cell phone during an arrest is unconstitutional.
The case arose from a split among state and federal courts over the cell phone search incident to arrest (SITA) doctrine. The Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits had ruled that officers can search cell phones incident to arrest under various standards. That rule was followed by the Supreme Courts of Georgia, Massachusetts, and California. Other courts in the First Circuit and the Supreme Courts of Florida and Ohio disagreed.
Background
Prior Supreme Court precedents
In Chimel v. California (1969), the Court ruled that if police arrest someone, they may search the body of the person without a warrant and "the area into which he might reach" in order to protect material evidence or the officers' safety. That is the origin of the notion that police may search a suspect, and the area immediately surrounding the person, without a warrant during a lawful arrest in accordance with the SITA doctrine.
Before the Riley case, the Court had explored variations on the Chimel theme, considering police searches of various items individuals had close at hand when arrested, and the Justices were prepared to look into the seizure of cell phones "incident to arrest". Lower courts were in dispute on whether the Fourth Amendment allows the police to search the digital contents of such a phone, without first getting a warrant. It was unclear whether, or how much, difference it would make to the Court, but the two cases it chose to review on that question involved different versions of cellphones: the traditional "flip-phone", which is older, as opposed to the more modern "smartphone", which potentially holds much more data about the user.
This consolidated opinion addresses two cases involving similar issues pertaining to warrantless cell phone searches incident to arrest.
In the first case, David Leon Riley was pulled over on August 22, 2009, for expired registrations tags. During the stop, the San Diego Police Officer also found that Riley was driving with a suspended driver's license. The San Diego Police Department's policy at the time was to tow and impound a vehicle after stopping a driver with a suspended license in order to prevent the driver from driving again. Additionally, department policy required the officers to perform an inventory search of the vehicle, which in this case led to the discovery of two handguns under the hood of the vehicle. Later ballistic testing would confirm that the handguns were the weapons used in a gangland murder on August 2, 2009, for which Riley had been a suspect. Although eyewitnesses to the shooting claimed that Riley could have been one of the shooters, they declined to give a definitive positive identification of Riley as one of the shooters. However, this was not known by Officer Dunnigan at the time of Riley's traffic stop.
Because of the discovery of the concealed and loaded handguns—along with gang paraphernalia—during the vehicle search, police placed Riley under arrest and searched his cell phone without a warrant. The cell phone search yielded information indicating that Riley was a member of the Lincoln Park gang; evidence included pictures, cell phone contacts, text messages, and video clips. Included in the photos was a picture of a different vehicle that Riley owned, which was also the vehicle involved in the August 2nd gang shooting. Based in part on the pictures and videos recovered from the cell phone, police charged Riley in connection with the gang shooting and sought an enhancement based on Riley's gang membership. The Petitioner (Riley) moved to suppress the cell phone evidence at the trial level, but the judge permitted this evidence in both the first trial and on retrial. Ultimately, Riley was convicted and the California Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment.
In the second case, Brima Wurie was arrested after police observed him participate in an apparent drug sale. At the police station, the officers seized two cell phones from Wurie's person, including the "flip phone" at issue in this case. Shortly after arriving at the station, police noticed that the phone was receiving multiple calls from a source identified as “my house” on the phone's external screen. The officers opened the phone, accessed its call log, determined the number associated with the “my house” label, and traced that number to what they suspected was Wurie's apartment. They secured a search warrant for the location and, during the ensuing search, found 215 grams of crack cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a firearm, ammunition, and cash. Wurie was subsequently charged with drug and firearm offenses. He moved to suppress the evidence obtained from the search of the apartment, but the District Court denied the motion, and Wurie was convicted. A divided panel of the First Circuit reversed the denial of the motion to suppress and vacated the relevant convictions. The court held that cell phones are distinct from other physical possessions that may be searched incident to arrest without a warrant because of the amount of personal data cell phones contain and the negligible threat they pose to law enforcement interests.
Procedural history
Riley's lawyer moved to suppress all the evidence the officers had obtained during the search of his cell phone on the grounds that the search violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The trial court rejected this argument and held that the search was legitimate under the SITA doctrine. Riley was convicted. On appeal, the court affirmed the judgment based on the recent California Supreme Court decision People v. Diaz. In Diaz, the court held that the Fourth Amendment "search-incident-to-arrest" doctrine permits the police to conduct a full exploratory search of a cell phone (even if it is conducted later and at a different location) whenever the phone is found near the suspect at the time of arrest.
The Defendant in Diaz sought review in the U.S. Supreme Court. While his petition was pending the California Legislature passed a bill requiring police to obtain a warrant before searching the contents of any "portable electronic devices". The court denied the petition after the State brought this bill to its attention. One week later, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill, stating that "courts are better suited" to decide this issue of Fourth Amendment law.
The California Supreme Court held that seizure of Riley's cell phone was lawful due to the fact that the seizure occurred during a "search incident to arrest". The court reasoned that historical precedent had been established from several cases brought to the U.S. Supreme Court; which that have allowed officers to seize objects under an arrestee’s control and perform searches of those objects without warrant for the purpose of preserving evidence. In doing so, the court applied the case People v. Diaz, which held that the unwarranted search and seizure of a cell phone on Diaz's person was valid. The Court, with Diaz in mind, contended that only arrest is required for a valid search of an arrestee’s person and belongings. The court then proceeded to apply United States v. Edwards to hold that the search was valid despite the fact that it had occurred 90 minutes after arrest. In the Edwards case, an arrestee's clothing was seized 10 hours after arrest in order to preserve evidence (paint chips) that might be present on the clothes. Given these cases, the state court concluded that the search and seizure of Riley's cell phone was valid.
Supreme Court review
The case of Riley v. California as heard before the Supreme Court combined two cases, Riley itself and United States v. Wurie.
Petitioner Riley argued, based on the ruling of People v. Diaz, the digital contents of a smartphone do not threaten the safety of police officers. Therefore, limiting searches to circumstances where officers have a reasonable belief of evidence of a crime still violates constitutional rights.
In Riley v. California, Stanford University law professor Jeffrey L. Fisher argued on behalf of petitioner David Riley. Fisher claimed that at least six courts hold that the Fourth Amendment permits searches of this type, but that three courts do not. Edward C. DuMont delivered the oral argument on behalf of the respondent. Michael R. Dreeben acted as the deputy solicitor supporting the respondent.
Fisher told the justices there are "very, very profound problems with searching a smartphone without a warrant" and that it was like giving "police officers authority to search through the private papers and the drawers and bureaus and cabinets of somebody's house." Fisher warned that it could open up "every American's entire life to the police department, not just at the scene but later at the station house and downloaded into their computer forever".
Decision
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court, concluding that a warrant is required to search a mobile phone. Roberts wrote that it fails the warrantless search test established in Chimel v. California: Digital data stored on a cell phone cannot itself be used as a weapon to harm an arresting officer or to effectuate the arrestee's escape. Law enforcement officers remain free to examine the physical aspects of a phone to ensure that it will not be used as a weapon--say, to determine whether there is a razor blade hidden between the phone and its case. Once an officer has secured a phone and eliminated any potential physical threats, however, data on the phone can endanger no one.
Although possible evidence stored on a phone may be destroyed with either remote wiping or data encryption, Roberts noted that is "the ordinary operation of a phone's security features, apart from any active attempt by a defendant or his associates to conceal or destroy evidence upon arrest." He then argues that a warrantless search is unlikely to make much of a difference: Cell phone data would be vulnerable to remote wiping from the time an individual anticipates arrest to the time any eventual search of the phone is completed... likewise, an officer who seizes a phone in an unlocked state might not be able to begin his search in the short time remaining before the phone locks and data becomes encrypted. Roberts then cites several common examples to turn off or prevent the phone's security features.
Furthermore, Roberts argued that cell phones differ both quantitatively and qualitatively from other objects in a person's pocket: Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans “the privacies of life". The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought.
Concurring opinion
Justice Samuel Alito wrote an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, citing his dissent in Arizona v. Gant that called Chimel's reasoning "questionable." However, "we should not mechanically apply the rule used in the predigital era to the search of a cell phone. Many cell phones now in use are capable of storing and accessing a quantity of information, some highly personal, that no person would ever have had on his person in hard-copy form."
However, in trying to find a balance between law enforcement and privacy issues, he expressed concern that the majority opinion would create anomalies: "Under established law, police may seize and examine [hard copies of information] in the wallet without obtaining a warrant, but under the Court's holding today, the information stored in the cell phone is out." Alito further suggested that Congress or state legislatures may need to consider new laws that draw "reasonable distinctions based on categories of information or perhaps other variable", otherwise "it would be very unfortunate if privacy protection in the 21st century were left primarily to the federal courts using the blunt instrument of the Fourth Amendment".
See also
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 573
Information privacy law
Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. (2018) – Supreme Court ruling that the Government's acquisition of a week's worth of cell-site records is a Fourth Amendment search.
Virginia v. Moore (2008)
Ontario v. Quon (2010) – In a government workplace, the right of privacy applies to cell phones and other electronic communication devices.
United States v. Jones (2012)
Bahlul v. United States (2013) – Osama Bin Laden's videographer/PR representative found innocent by U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia of conspiracy, material support for terrorism, and solicitation.
United States v. Davis (2014) – 11th Circuit ruling that a warrant is needed to obtain mobile phone tracking data
References
Further reading
Shoebotham, Leslie (2014). "The Strife of Riley: The Search-Incident Consequences of Making an Easy Case Simple". 75 Louisiana Law Review 29.
Stephen Majors, Ohio justices: Cell phone searches require warrant .
Adam Lamparello, Riley v. California: A Pyrrhic Victory for Privacy?, U. Ill. J.L. Tech. & Pol'y (2015).
External links
2011 in United States case law
2014 in United States case law
History of San Diego
Legal history of California
Mobile phone culture
Search and seizure case law
Telecommunications law
United States computer case law
United States Fourth Amendment case law
United States privacy case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court
United States Supreme Court cases |
42713479 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS%208 | IOS 8 | iOS 8 is the eighth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 7. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2, 2014, and was released on September 17, 2014. It was succeeded by iOS 9 on September 16, 2015.
iOS 8 incorporated significant changes to the operating system. It introduced a programming interface for communication between apps, and "Continuity", a cross-platform (Mac, iPhone, and iPad) system that enables communication between devices in different product categories, such as the ability to answer calls and reply to SMS on the Mac and iPad. Continuity includes a "Handoff" feature that lets users start a task on one device and continue on another. Other changes included a new Spotlight Suggestions search results feature that provides more detailed results, Family Sharing, where a family can link together their accounts to share content, with one parent as the administrator with permission controls, an updated keyboard with QuickType, providing contextual predictive word suggestions and Extensibility, which allows for easier sharing of content between apps. Third-party developers got additional features to integrate their apps deeper into the operating system, including support for widgets in the Notification Center, and the ability to make keyboards that users can replace the default iOS keyboard with.
App updates in the release included the new Health app, which can aggregate data from different fitness apps, as well as enabling a Medical ID accessible on the lock screen for emergencies, support for iCloud Photo Library in the Photos app, which enables photos to be synchronized and stored in the cloud, and iCloud Drive, which lets users store files in the cloud and browse them across devices. In iOS 8.4, Apple updated its Music app with a streaming service called Apple Music, and a 24-hour radio station called Apple Music 1.
Reception of iOS 8 was positive. Critics praised Continuity and Extensibility as major features enabling easier control and interaction between different apps and devices. They also liked the QuickType keyboard word suggestions, and highlighted Spotlight Suggestions for making the iPhone "almost a portable search portal for everything.” However, reviewers noted that the full potential for iOS 8 would only be realized once third-party developers integrated their apps to support new features, particularly widgets in the Notification Center.
Roughly a week after release, iOS 8 had reached 46% of iOS usage share. In October 2014, it was reported that the adoption rate had "stalled,” only increasing by "a single percentage point" from the previous month. This situation was blamed on the requirement of a high amount of free storage space to install the upgrade, especially difficult for iPhones sold with 8 or 16 gigabytes of maximum storage space. The following December, iOS 8 had reached 63% usage share, a notable 16% increase from the October measurement.
History
Introduction and initial release
iOS 8 was introduced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2, 2014, with the first beta made available to conference attendees after the keynote presentation.
iOS 8 was officially released on September 17, 2014.
Updates
System features
Continuity
iOS 8 introduced Continuity, a cross-platform (Mac, iPhone, and iPad) system that enables communication between devices in different product categories. Continuity enables phone call functionality for the iPad and Mac, in which calls are routed through the iPhone over to a secondary device. The secondary device then serves as a speaker phone. This also brings SMS support to the iPad and Mac, an extension of the iMessage feature in previous versions.
Continuity adds a feature called "Handoff," that lets users start a task on one device and continue on another, such as composing an e-mail on the iPhone and then continuing it on the iPad before sending it on the Mac. In order to support Handoff and Continuity, Macs needed to have the OS X Yosemite operating system, which was released in October 2014, as well as support for Bluetooth low energy.
Spotlight
iOS 8 introduced Spotlight Suggestions, a new search feature that integrates with many websites and services to show more detailed search results, including snippets of Wikipedia articles, local news, quick access to apps installed on the device, iTunes content, movie showtimes, nearby places, and info from various websites. Spotlight Suggestions are available on the iOS home screen as well as in the Safari web browser search bar.
Notifications
The drop-down Notification Center has now been redesigned to allow widget functionality. Third-party developers can add widget support to their apps that let users see information in the Notification Center without having to open each respective app. Users can add, rearrange, or remove any widgets, at any time. Examples of widgets include a Weather app showing current weather, and a Calendar app showing upcoming events.
Notifications are now actionable, allowing users to reply to a message while it appears as a quick drop-down, or act on a notification through the Notification Center.
Keyboard
iOS 8 includes a new predictive typing feature called QuickType, which displays word predictions above the keyboard as the user types.
Apple now allows third-party developers to make keyboard apps that users can replace the default iOS keyboard with. For added privacy, Apple added a settings toggle called "Allow Full Access", that optionally enables the keyboard to act outside its app sandbox, such as synchronizing keyboard data to the cloud, third-party keyboards are not allowed to use Siri for voice dictation, and some secure text fields do not allow input.
Family Sharing
iOS 8 introduced Family Sharing, which allows up to 6 people to register unique iTunes accounts that are then linked together, with one parent becoming the administrator, controlling the overall experience. Purchases made on one account can be shared with the other family members, but purchases made by kids under 13 years of age require parental approval. Purchases made by adults will not be visible for the kids at all.
Family Sharing also extends into apps, a Shared album is automatically generated in the Photos app of each family member, allowing everyone to add photos, videos, and comments to a shared place. An Ask to Buy feature allows anyone to request the purchase of items in the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBooks Store, as well as in-app purchases and iCloud storage, with the administrator having the option to either approve or deny the purchase.
Multitasking
The multitasking screen shows a list of recently called and favorited contacts. The feature can be turned off in Settings.
Other
iOS 8 includes an additional data roaming option in Settings for European users, allowing greater control over data usage abroad.
The Siri personal voice assistant now has integrated Shazam support. Asking Siri "What song is this?" will identify what song is playing.
Wi-Fi calling has been added to allow mobile phone calls over Wi-Fi. Mobile operator carriers can then enable the Voice-over-Wi-Fi functionality in their services.
App features
Photos and Camera
Camera app
The Camera app gets two new features; time-lapse and self-timer. Time-lapse records frames at shorter intervals than normal film frequencies and builds them into movies, showing events in a faster speed. Self-timer gives the user the option of a three-second or ten-second countdown before automatically taking a photo. iPads can now take pictures in panoramic mode.
iCloud Photo Library
iOS 8 added iCloud Photo Library support to the Photos app, enabling photo synchronization between different Apple devices. Photos and videos were backed up in full resolution and in their original formats. This feature almost meant that lower-quality versions of photos could be cached on the device rather than the full-size images, potentially saving significant storage space on models with limited storage availability.
Search
The Photos app received better search, with different search categorization options, including Nearby, One Year Ago, Favorites, and Home, based on geolocation and date of photo capture.
Editing
Additionally, the Photos app gained more precise editing controls, including improved rotation; one-touch auto-enhancement tools; and deeper color adjustments, such as brightness, contrast, exposure, and shadows. There is also an option to hide a photo without deleting it.
Extensions
Apple added an Extensibility feature in iOS 8, that allows filters and effects from third-party apps to be accessed directly from within a menu in the standard Photos app, rather than having to import and export photos through each respective app to apply effects.
Camera Roll
In the initial release of iOS 8, Apple removed a "Camera Roll" feature from the Photos app. Camera Roll was an overview of all photos on the device, but was replaced by a "Recently Added" photo view displaying photos by how recently the user captured them.
Despite being replaced by a "Recently Added" album, the removal of Camera Roll sparked user complaints, which Apple returned the feature in the iOS 8.1 update.
Messages
In iOS 8, Messages gets new features for group conversations, including a Do Not Disturb mode that disables conversation notifications, as well as the ability to remove participants from the chat. A new Tap to Talk chat button lets users send quick voice comments to a recipient, and a Record button allows users to record short videos.
For interaction between two Apple users, the Messages app allows users to send short picture, video or audio clips with a 2-minute expiration time.
In the Settings app, the user has the option to have messages be automatically deleted after a certain time period.
Safari
In the Safari web browser, developers can now add support for Safari Password Sharing, which allows them to share credentials between sites they own and apps they own, potentially cutting down on the number of times users need to type in credentials for their apps and services. The browser also adds support for the WebGL graphics API.
iCloud Drive
In a similar style as a file manager, the iCloud Drive is a file hosting service that, once enabled in Settings, lets users save any kind of file in the app, and the media is synchronized to other iOS devices, as well as the Mac.
App Store
In iOS 8, Apple updated App Store with an "Explore" tab providing improved app discovery, trending searches in the "Search" tab, and the ability for developers to bundle multiple apps into a single discounted package. New "preview" videos allow developers to visually show an app's function.
Health
HealthKit is a service that allows developers to make apps that integrate with the new Health app. The Health app primarily aggregates data from fitness apps installed on the user's device, except for steps and flights climbed, which are tracked through the motion processor on the user's iPhone. Users can enter their medical history in Medical ID, which is accessible on the lock screen, in case of an emergency.
HomeKit
HomeKit serves as a software framework that lets users set up their iPhone to configure, communicate with, and control smart-home appliances. By designing rooms, items and actions in the HomeKit service, users can enable automatic actions in the house through a simple voice dictation to Siri or through apps.
Manufacturers of HomeKit-enabled devices are required to purchase a license, and all HomeKit products are required to have an encryption co-processor. Equipment manufactured without HomeKit-support can be enabled for use through a "gateway" product, such as a hub that connects between those devices and the HomeKit service.
Passbook
The Passbook app on iOS 8 was updated to include Apple Pay, a digital payment service, available on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with the release of iOS 8.1.
Music
A new music streaming service, Apple Music, was introduced in the iOS 8.4 update. It allows subscribers to listen to an unlimited number of songs on-demand through subscriptions. With the release of the music service, the standard Music app on iOS was revamped both visually and functionally to include Apple Music, as well as the 24-hour live radio station Beats 1.
Notes
Notes received rich text editing support, with the ability to bold, italicize or underline text; and image support, allowing users to post photos in the app.
Weather
The Weather app now uses weather data from The Weather Channel instead of Yahoo!. The app also received slight changes in the user interface. In March 2019, Yahoo ended support for the Weather app on iOS 7 and earlier.
Tips
iOS 8 added a new "Tips" app, that shows tips and brief information about the features in iOS on a weekly basis.
Touch ID
iOS 8 allows Touch ID to be used in third-party apps.
Reception
iOS 8 received positive reviews. Brad Molen of Engadget highlighted Continuity as a major advancement for users with multiple Apple devices. He also praised the Extensibility feature, allowing apps to share data, and liked the support for third-party keyboards. However, Molen noted that some of the new introductions - Family Sharing, Continuity, and iCloud Drive - require further diving into the Apple ecosystem to work. He particularly enjoyed actionable notifications and third-party widget support in Notification Center. Charles Arthur of The Guardian also liked Extensibility, as well as the new QuickType word suggestions functionality in the iOS keyboard. He criticized the lack of an option for choosing default apps, and he also criticized the Settings menu for being confusing and unintuitive. Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch praised the improvements to iMessage, writing: "Best for me has been the ability to mute and leave group conversations, which is something I've been sorely missing since the introduction of group iMessage conversations." He liked the new search and editing features in Photos, and the QuickType feature in the keyboard, but particularly highlighted Spotlight Suggestions as "one of the better features of iOS 8, even if it's a small service addition," noting that "it makes your iPhone almost a portable search portal for everything." Martin Bryant of The Next Web wrote that "The real advances here are yet to come," adding that "Apple has included demonstrations of what can be done, but the true power of what's under the hood will be realized over the coming days, weeks and months" as third-party developers gradually incorporate new features into their apps.
On September 23, 2014, "roughly a week" after the release of iOS 8, user adoption of iOS 8 had reached 46%. In October 2014, Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica reported that iOS 8 user adoption rate had "stalled," only climbing "a single percentage point" since the previous September measurement of 46%. Cunningham blamed the "over-the-air" update requiring 5 gigabytes to install, an "unusually large amount" that may have posed challenges to those using 8 gigabyte and 16 gigabyte devices. As an alternative, Apple offered the update via its iTunes software, but Cunningham noted that "An iTunes hookup is going to be even more out of the way these days than it was a few years ago, not least because Apple has spent the last three years coaching people to use their iDevices independently of their computers." In December, a new report from Ars Technica stated that iOS 8 usage had increased to 63%, up "a solid 16 percent."
Problems
App crash rate
A study by Apteligent (formerly Crittercism) found that the rate at which apps crashed in their tests was 3.56% on iOS 8, higher than the 2% found on iOS 7.1.
8.0.1 update issues
In September 2014, the iOS 8.0.1 update caused significant issues with Touch ID on iPhone 6 and cellular network connectivity on some models. Apple stated that affected users should reinstall the initial iOS 8 release until version 8.0.2 was ready.
iOS 8.0.2 was released one day after 8.0.1, with a fix for issues caused by the 8.0.1 update.
Miscellaneous bugs
Forbes published several articles focusing on problems in iOS 8 regarding Wi-Fi and battery, Bluetooth, and calendar.
"Effective power" text message crash
In May 2015, news outlets reported on a bug where receiving a text message with a specific combination of symbols and Arabic characters, caused the Messages application to crash and the iPhone to reboot.
The bug, named "effective power," could potentially continuously reboot a device if the message was visible on the lock screen.
The flaw was exploited for the purpose of trolling, by intentionally causing others' phones to crash.
The bug was fixed in iOS 8.4, an update released in June 2015.
Hoaxes
In September 2014, a hoax Apple advertisement for an alleged feature of iOS 8 called "Wave" circulated on Twitter, which promised users that they would be able to recharge their iPhone by heating it in a microwave oven. This feature does not exist, and the media cited numerous people reporting on Twitter that they had destroyed their iPhone by following the procedure described in the advertisement.
Supported devices
With this release, Apple dropped support for the iPhone 4.
iPhone
iPhone 4S
iPhone 5
iPhone 5C
iPhone 5S
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
iPod Touch
iPod Touch (5th generation)
iPod Touch (6th generation)
iPad
iPad 2
iPad (3rd generation)
iPad (4th generation)
iPad Air
iPad Air 2
iPad Mini (1st generation)
iPad Mini 2
iPad Mini 3
References
External links
2014 software
Tablet operating systems |
42744533 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri%20Love | Lauri Love | Lauri Love (; born 14 December 1984, United Kingdom) is a British activist previously wanted by the United States for his alleged activities with the hacker collective Anonymous.
Early life and education
Love is from Stradishall, Suffolk. His parents, Alexander Love, a prison chaplain at HM Prison Highpoint North, and Sirkka-Liisa Love (a Finnish citizen), who also works at the prison, live in Stradishall. He has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Finland.
After dropping out of sixth form college and working in a turkey plant, Love applied for a Finnish passport, and then served in the Finnish Army for six months, became a conscientious objector and finished another six months of his obligation in alternative civilian service.
After that, he applied at the University of Nottingham in England and dropped out in his second term after a physical and mental collapse, then at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, but dropped out in his second year, again for health reasons. He was part of the 2011 Hetherington House Occupation, a student protest at Glasgow University.
Cases
United States
In January 2013, the website of the United States Sentencing Commission was replaced with a video protesting the treatment of activist Aaron Swartz who had committed suicide days earlier. The video claimed that those responsible had obtained secrets from the United States Army, Missile Defense Agency, and NASA but they were only ever released in encrypted form. The subsequent investigation named Lauri Love in two indictments (2013 in District of New Jersey, 2014 in Southern District of New York and Eastern District of Virginia) for allegedly "breaching thousands of computer systems in the United States and elsewhere – including the computer networks of federal agencies – to steal massive quantities of confidential data". The United States made an extradition request and dropped the charges after it was denied.
Love's attorney in America is Tor Ekeland.
Extradition hearing
During Love's two day extradition hearing on 28 and 29 June 2016 at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, his father testified that Lauri Love is autistic and so should not be extradited. Specifically, he testified that his son was not diagnosed autistic until he was an adult serving in the Finnish Army. Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, who diagnosed Love as autistic in 2012, testified that Love should not be extradited because of his diagnosed disorders, which also include eczema, psychosis, and depression. Baron-Cohen stated that Love told him that he would commit suicide if extradited.
Love, who lives at home with his parents, testified at his extradition hearing on 29 June 2016. He was supported by the Courage Foundation. Love's barrister for this extradition hearing was Ben Cooper of Doughty Street Chambers. The case was adjourned.
On 16 September 2016, at Westminster Magistrates' Court, a judge ruled that Love could be extradited to the United States. Love's solicitor Karen Todner said that they would appeal, and on 5 February 2018, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Mr Justice Ouseley, at the High Court, upheld his appeal against extradition because his extradition would be "oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition".
National Crime Agency
The National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested Love in October 2013. In February 2015, BBC News revealed that Love was taking legal action for the return of computers seized by the NCA when he was arrested.
In May 2016, Judge Nina Tempia of the Westminster Magistrates' Court ruled that Love did not have to tell the NCA what his passwords, or encryption keys, are.
Popular culture
In January 2018, it was announced that novelist Frederick Forsyth would publish a novel inspired by the Lauri Love and Gary McKinnon stories. The Novel, The Fox, was released in Autumn 2018.
See also
Gary McKinnon is also accused of hacking American military computers. His extradition to the United States was blocked in October 2012 by then Home Secretary Theresa May, on human-rights grounds.
References
External links
1984 births
Alumni of the University of Suffolk
British people of Finnish descent
Computer law
Living people
People associated with computer security
People from the Borough of St Edmundsbury
People with Asperger syndrome
Finnish people of British descent
Finnish people of Scottish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English people of Finnish descent |
42835190 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion%20%28disambiguation%29 | Lion (disambiguation) | The lion is a big cat of the species Panthera leo that inhabits the African continent and one forest in India.
Lion or Lions may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics
Lion (comics), a weekly British comic published from 1952 to 1974
Lion Comics, a Tamil comic book series
Films
Lion (2014 film), a British film directed by Simon P. Edwards
Lion (2015 film), an Indian Telugu film directed by Satyadev
Lion (2016 film), an Australian film directed by Garth Davis
Music
Groups
Lion (band), 1980s American rock band
Lion, Taiwanese rock band formed in 2016 by Jam Hsiao
Lions (band), American rock band from Texas formed in 2005
The Lions (band), L.A. reggae band
Albums
Lion (Elevation Worship album), 2022
Lion (The Hot Monkey album), 1989
Lion (Stephen Lynch album), 2012
Lion (Peter Murphy album), 2014
Lion (Punchline album), 2018
Lion (Marius Neset album)
Lions (album), a 2001 album by The Black Crowes
Songs
""Lion" ((G)I-dle song)", a song by (G)I-DLE from Queendom Final Comeback
"Lion", a Macross Frontier song
"Lion", a song by Hollywood Undead from their album Notes from the Underground, 2013
"Lion", a song by Toto from Isolation (Toto album)
"Lions", a song by Skillet from Unleashed
"Lions", a song by Dire Straits from Dire Straits
"Lions", a song by Tune-Yards from Bird-Brains
"Lions!", a song by Lights from The Listening
"Lions", a song by Skip Marley
"Lions", a song by The Features from Some Kind of Salvation
Other arts, entertainment, and media
Lion (magazine), published by Lions Clubs International
Lion (video game), a 1995 computer game
The Lion (Kessel novel), a 1958 novel by Joseph Kessel
The Lion (DeMille novel), a 2010 novel by Nelson DeMille
"The Lion", first episode of the 1965 Doctor Who serial The Crusade
Lions (Kemeys), a pair of outdoor 1894 bronze sculptures by Edward Kemeys
Brands and enterprises
Lion (Australasian company), a beverage and food company that operates in Australia and New Zealand
Lion (chocolate bar), a chocolate bar
Lion Air, Indonesia's largest privately run airline
Lion brand foods, started by D. & J. Fowler Ltd. in Adelaide in the late 19th century
Lion Brand Yarns, a US manufacturer of yarn
Lion Brand Stationery, an English stationery company
Lion Brewery (disambiguation)
Lion Cereal, a breakfast cereal based on the Lion chocolate bar
Lion Corporation, a Japanese hygiene and toiletries company
Lion Ferry, a defunct Swedish ferry company
Lion Group, a Malaysian company
Lion Oil, an American company founded in 1922
Local Investing Opportunity Network
Lions Clubs International, an international charity/service organisation
The Lions (agency), Fashion model agency in New York
Places
Lion, Belgrade, a neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia
Gulf of Lion, south of France
Lion Park, a lion wildlife conservation enclosure in Gauteng province, South Africa
Lion Rock, a hill in Hong Kong
Lion's Mound, an artificial hill on the battlefield of Waterloo
Lion-sur-Mer, a French commune in the Calvados département
The Lion (mountain), Tasmania, Australia
The Lions (peaks), a pair of mountain peaks in British Columbia, Canada
Lion Islet (Shi Islet), Lieyu, Kinmen (Quemoy), Fujian, ROC (Taiwan)
People
Lion (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with that name)
Lions (surname)
The Lion, a nickname or epithet; see List of people known as the Lion
Sports
American colleges
Arkansas–Fort Smith Lions, at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith
Arkansas–Pine Bluff Golden Lions and Golden Lady Lions, at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Columbia Lions, the intercollegiate athletic program of Columbia University
Lincoln University Lions, at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
Lindenwood Lions, of Lindenwood University, located in St. Charles, Missouri
Loyola Marymount Lions, the intercollegiate athletic program of Loyola Marymount University
Missouri Southern Lions, at Missouri Southern State University
New Jersey Lions, at the College of New Jersey
North Alabama Lions, at the University of North Alabama
Penn State Nittany Lions, the intercollegiate athletic program of the main campus of Pennsylvania State University
Piedmont University Lions, at Piedmont University in Georgia, USA
Southeastern Louisiana Lions, the intercollegiate athletic program of Southeastern Louisiana University
Texas A&M–Commerce Lions, at Texas A&M Universitye–Commerce
Association football
Africa
Cameroon national football team or the
East End Lions F.C. in the Sierra Leone National Premier League
Heart of Lions F.C., a member of the Ghana Telecom Premier League
Morocco national football team, nicknamed the Atlas Lions
Nathi Lions F.C., a South African football club
Asia
Iraq national football team, nicknamed the Lions of Mesopotamia
Lions F.C., a Philippine club
Singapore national football team or the Lions
Young Lions FC, an under-23 soccer team from Singapore
Europe
Bulgaria national football team, also known as the Bulgarian Lions
England national football team, nicknamed The Three Lions
Livingston F.C., a Scottish football team nicknamed "The Lions"
Millwall F.C., an English football team known as the Lions
Sannat Lions F.C., a football club in Malta
Elsewhere
Columbus Lions, a charter member of the World Indoor Football League
Queensland Lions FC, or "Lions FC", Australian soccer club formerly known as the "Brisbane Lions"
Australian rules football
Brisbane Lions, a team in the AFL
Fitzroy Football Club, a team formerly in the AFL
Huonville Lions, a club currently playing in the Southern Football League
North London Lions, a team based in London
Subiaco Football Club, a team in the WAFL
Suncoast Lions Football Club, a feeder club for the Brisbane Lions
Victoria Lions, an amateur club based in Canada
Baseball
Saitama Seibu Lions, a Japanese baseball team
Samsung Lions, a Korean baseball team
Tianjin Lions, a Chinese baseball team
Uni-President Lions, a Taiwanese baseball team
Basketball
BC SCM Timișoara, from Romania, nicknamed Leii din Banat, meaning The Lions from Banat
Colegio Los Leones de Quilpué, from Chile
Lions de Genève, from Switzerland
London Lions (basketball), from Great Britain
PS Karlsruhe Lions, from Germany
San Beda Red Lions, from the Philippines
Traiskirchen Lions, from Austria
Zhejiang Lions, from China
Cricket
Chandigarh Lions, a team from the Indian Cricket League
Highveld Lions, a South African cricket team
Surrey Lions, English county's Twenty20 and Pro40 team
Gridiron football
BC Lions, a Canadian football team
Detroit Lions, an American football team
New Yorker Lions, an American football team from Braunschweig, Germany
Handball
Limburg Lions, a handball team in Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands
Ice hockey
Finland men's national ice hockey team or the Lions
LHC Les Lions, an ice hockey team in Lyon, France
Rugby league
England national rugby league team, also known as the Lions
Great Britain national rugby league team or the Lions
Mount Albert Lions, a rugby league club in New Zealand
Swinton Lions, a British rugby league club
Rugby union
British & Irish Lions, a rugby union team representing the British Isles in international competitions
Golden Lions Rugby Union, a South African provincial rugby union that operates the Lions (United Rugby Championship)
Lions (United Rugby Championship), a South African professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship
Rugby Lions, an English rugby union club based in the town of Rugby, England
Speedway
Leicester Lions, a British speedway team
Oxford Lions, a British Speedway team based in Oxford, England
Technology
LION (cipher), an encryption algorithm
LION (cable system), a submarine telecommunications cable linking Madagascar, Réunion, and Mauritius
Lithium-ion battery, a type of rechargeable battery
Mac OS X Lion, a version of Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers, proceeding Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Mountain Lion, a version of Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers, proceeding Mac OS X Lion
Transport
Vehicles
Lion (automobile), built in Adrian, Michigan, United States, from 1909 to 1912
British Rail D0260, a prototype diesel locomotive
Leyland Lion PSR1, a single-deck bus manufactured between 1960 and 1967
LMR 57 Lion, an 1838 early British steam locomotive
South Devon Railway Eagle class, a South Devon Railway 4-4-0ST steam locomotive
Stourbridge Lion, an early US steam locomotive built in Britain
The Lion (locomotive), an 1840 steam locomotive on the NRHP in the USA
Vessels
Lion (warship), the name of five warships of the Royal Scottish Navy during the 16th century
Lion, a ship of the Third Supply fleet to Virginia colony in 1609
French destroyer Lion, a 1929 Guépard class destroyer
French ship Lion (1803), a French Navy ship of the line
Hired armed cutter Lion, two ships (or possibly one ship) employed by the Royal Navy
HMS Lion, any of numerous British Royal Navy ships
Lion-class destroyer, a cancelled destroyer class of the French Navy
MS European Mariner, also known as MS Lion, a ferry
Lion (1796 ship)
Other uses
Lion (Boy Scouts of America), an achievement level
Lion (coin), a 15th-century Scottish coin
Lion (color)
Lion (heraldry), a common charge
Lion of Judah, a recurring theme in Judeo-Christian tradition and in Ethiopia
Napier Lion, an aircraft engine whose first prototypes were built in 1917
Leo the Lion (MGM), a mascot of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and some of its affiliates
Leo (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac, known as 'the lion'
Leo (astrology), astrological sign of the zodiac, known as 'the lion'
See also
L10n (disambiguation)
Leon (disambiguation)
Li-on (disambiguation)
Lioness (disambiguation)
Lyon (disambiguation)
Lyons (disambiguation)
Mountain lion (disambiguation)
Sea lion (disambiguation)
Löwe (disambiguation), German for lion
Assad (disambiguation), Arabic for lion
Shir (disambiguation), Persian for lion |
42962935 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeLAN | FreeLAN | FreeLAN is computer software that implements peer-to-peer, full mesh, virtual private network (VPN) techniques for creating secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections in routed or bridged configurations and remote access facilities. It is free and open-source software licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3 (GNU GPLv3).
Encryption
FreeLAN uses the OpenSSL library to provide encryption of both the data and control channels. It lets OpenSSL do all the encryption and authentication work, allowing FreeLAN to use all the ciphers available in the OpenSSL package.
Authentication
FreeLAN has several ways to authenticate peers with each other. From version 2.0 FreeLAN offers pre-shared keys, certificate-based, and username-password based authentication.
References
External links
Free security software
Virtual private networks
Linux network-related software
MacOS software
Windows Internet software |
42964542 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation%20Tovar | Operation Tovar | Operation Tovar is an international collaborative operation carried out by law enforcement agencies from multiple countries against the Gameover ZeuS botnet, which is believed by the investigators to have been used in bank fraud and the distribution of the CryptoLocker ransomware.
Participants include the U.S. Department of Justice, Europol, the FBI and the U.K. National Crime Agency, South African Police Service, together with a number of security companies and academic researchers, including Dell SecureWorks, Deloitte Cyber Risk Services, Microsoft Corporation, Abuse.ch, Afilias, F-Secure, Level 3 Communications, McAfee, Neustar, Shadowserver, Anubisnetworks, Symantec, Heimdal Security, Sophos and Trend Micro, and academic researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, VU University Amsterdam and Saarland University.
Other law enforcement organizations involved include the Australian Federal Police; the National Police of the Netherlands' National High Tech Crime Unit; the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3); Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt; France’s Police Judiciaire; Italy’s Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni; Japan’s National Police Agency; Luxembourg’s Police Grand Ducale; New Zealand Police; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs' Division for Combating Cyber Crime. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the U.S. Department of Defense also participated in the investigation.
In early June 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Operation Tovar had temporarily succeeded in cutting communication between Gameover ZeuS and its command-and-control servers.
The criminals attempted to send a copy of their database to a safe location, but it was intercepted by agencies already in control of part of the network. Russian Evgeniy Bogachev, aka "lucky12345" and "Slavik", was charged by the US FBI for being the ringleader of the gang behind Gameover Zeus and Cryptolocker. The database indicates the scale of the attack, and it makes decryption of CryptoLocked files possible.
In August 2014 security firms involved in the shutdown, Fox-IT and FireEye, created a portal, called Decrypt Cryptolocker, which allows any of the 500,000 victims to find the key to unlock their files. Victims need to submit an encrypted file without sensitive information, which allows the unlockers to deduce which encryption key was used. It is possible that not all CryptoLocked files can be decrypted, nor files encrypted by different ransomware.
Analysis of data that became available after the network was taken down indicated that about 1.3% of those infected had paid the ransom; many had been able to recover files that had been backed up, and others are believed to have lost huge amounts of data. Nonetheless, the gang was believed to have extorted about US$3m.
See also
Cutwail botnet
Conficker
Command and control (malware)
Gameover ZeuS
Timeline of computer viruses and worms
Tiny Banker Trojan
Torpig
Zeus (malware)
Zombie (computer science)
References
Law enforcement operations
Cybercrime |
42968845 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester%20Nez | Chester Nez | Chester Nez (January 23, 1921 – June 4, 2014) was an American veteran of World War II. He was the last surviving original Navajo code talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during the war.
Early years
Nez was born in Chi Chil Tah, New Mexico, to the Navajo (Black Sheep Clan) of the (Sleeping Rock People). He was raised during a time when there were difficult relations between the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation. His mother died when he was only three years old. Nez recalled children often being taken from reservations, sent to boarding schools, and told to not speak the Navajo language. At eight years old, Nez was sent to a school run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His English given name, Chester, after US president Chester A. Arthur, was assigned then. It was from one of the government-run boarding schools, in Tuba City, Arizona, that Nez was recruited into the Marine Corps.
Code talker
Nez kept his decision to enlist from his family. He and 28 other Navajos formed Recruit Training Platoon 382 at Marine Corps Base San Diego in May 1942. The 29 who graduated from boot camp, including Nez, were then assigned to the Camp Elliot, California, where they were tasked with creating a code for secure voice tactical (battlefield) communications. At the time, tactical radios were not equipped, as they are today, with encryption/decryption technology, allowing the enemy to listen to radio traffic, often with disastrous results. The Navajo language was chosen because its complex syntax and phonology made it exceedingly difficult to learn as a second language, and it had no written form. Nez stated the developers used everyday words, in order to easily memorize and retain them. In 1942, he was among the code talkers to be shipped out to Guadalcanal, where they worked in teams of two: one to send and receive, the other to operate the radio and listen for errors. Nez also fought in Bougainville, Guam, Angaur and Peleliu. He was honorably discharged as a private first class in 1945 and returned to serve stateside in the Korean War from which he was discharged as a corporal.
Post-military life
From 1946 to 1952, Nez attended the University of Kansas to study commercial arts, but by 1952 discontinued his studies after having exhausted funding from his G.I. Bill; he was awarded an honorary bachelor's degree by the Kansas University College of Liberal Arts and Science on Veterans Day, 2012.
Following his military service, he worked as a painter for 25 years at a V.A. hospital in Albuquerque. In 2011, he wrote the memoir Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII with Judith Avila.
Congressional Gold Medal
On July 26, 2001, Nez was one of the five living code talkers who received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush:
Death
Nez died on June 4, 2014, from kidney failure in Albuquerque, aged 93.
References
External links
Marine Corps Heroes: Pvt. Chester Nez
Navajo Code Talkers: The Uncrackable Language, featuring Chester Nez
1921 births
2014 deaths
Navajo code talkers
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
United States Marines
Congressional Gold Medal recipients
People from Albuquerque, New Mexico
People from McKinley County, New Mexico
Military personnel from New Mexico
University of Kansas alumni
Writers from New Mexico
Deaths from kidney failure
United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native Americans |
42970300 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoodReader | GoodReader | GoodReader is an iOS application used to primarily edit PDF documents. It is developed by Good.iWare Ltd., a company started by Yuri Selukoff, a U.S. developer.
Features
GoodReader supports opening and viewing numerous file types, including most document and video file formats, including HTML, audiobooks, and pictures. PDF files can be annotated and manipulated by the user. Syncing with various cloud storage services including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud Drive is also supported. GoodReader can also read PDF documents aloud using text-to-speech.
History
In 2014, GoodReader 4 was released as a major update. Unlike previous updates, GoodReader 4 was released as a new application, meaning that users would have to re-purchase the app from the App Store if they previously owned the product. The update added multiple features including the ability to manipulate PDF files, manage document pages, and view page previews. GoodReader 4 supports migrating data from previously installed versions of the app.
On January 28, 2019, GoodReader 5 was released as a major update. This update included an overhauled UI, support for the Apple Pencil 2, AES-256 encryption, and other general security features.
References
External links
Official website
IOS software
PDF readers
PDF software
Media readers
Media players
2009 software |
42983810 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-commutative%20cryptography | Non-commutative cryptography | Non-commutative cryptography is the area of cryptology where the cryptographic primitives, methods and systems are based on algebraic structures like semigroups, groups and rings which are non-commutative. One of the earliest applications of a non-commutative algebraic structure for cryptographic purposes was the use of braid groups to develop cryptographic protocols. Later several other non-commutative structures like Thompson groups, polycyclic groups, Grigorchuk groups, and matrix groups have been identified as potential candidates for cryptographic applications. In contrast to non-commutative cryptography, the currently widely used public-key cryptosystems like RSA cryptosystem, Diffie–Hellman key exchange and elliptic curve cryptography are based on number theory and hence depend on commutative algebraic structures.
Non-commutative cryptographic protocols have been developed for solving various cryptographic problems like key exchange, encryption-decryption, and authentication. These protocols are very similar to the corresponding protocols in the commutative case.
Some non-commutative cryptographic protocols
In these protocols it would be assumed that G is a non-abelian group. If w and a are elements of G the notation wa would indicate the element a−1wa.
Protocols for key exchange
Protocol due to Ko, Lee, et al.
The following protocol due to Ko, Lee, et al., establishes a common secret key K for Alice and Bob.
An element w of G is published.
Two subgroups A and B of G such that ab = ba for all a in A and b in B are published.
Alice chooses an element a from A and sends wa to Bob. Alice keeps a private.
Bob chooses an element b from B and sends wb to Alice. Bob keeps b private.
Alice computes K = (wb)a = wba.
Bob computes K''' = (wa)b=wab.
Since ab = ba, K = K'. Alice and Bob share the common secret key K.
Anshel-Anshel-Goldfeld protocol
This a key exchange protocol using a non-abelian group G. It is significant because it does not require two commuting subgroups A and B of G as in the case of the protocol due to Ko, Lee, et al.
Elements a1, a2, . . . , ak, b1, b2, . . . , bm from G are selected and published.
Alice picks a private x in G as a word in a1, a2, . . . , ak; that is, x = x( a1, a2, . . . , ak ).
Alice sends b1x, b2x, . . . , bmx to Bob.
Bob picks a private y in G as a word in b1, b2, . . . , bm; that is y = y ( b1, b2, . . . , bm ).
Bob sends a1y, a2y, . . . , aky to Alice.
Alice and Bob share the common secret key K = x−1y−1xy.
Alice computes x ( a1y, a2y, . . . , aky ) = y−1 xy. Pre-multiplying it with x−1, Alice gets K.
Bob computes y ( b1x, b2x, . . . , bmx) = x−1yx. Pre-multiplying it with y−1 and then taking the inverse, Bob gets K.
Stickel's key exchange protocol
In the original formulation of this protocol the group used was the group of invertible matrices over a finite field.
Let G be a public non-abelian finite group.
Let a, b be public elements of G such that ab ≠ ba. Let the orders of a and b be N and M respectively.
Alice chooses two random numbers n < N and m < M and sends u = ambn to Bob.
Bob picks two random numbers r < N and s < M and sends v = arbs to Alice.
The common key shared by Alice and Bob is K = am + rbn + s.
Alice computes the key by K = amvbn.
Bob computes the key by K = arubs.
Protocols for encryption and decryption
This protocol describes how to encrypt a secret message and then decrypt using a non-commutative group. Let Alice want to send a secret message m to Bob.
Let G be a non-commutative group. Let A and B be public subgroups of G such that ab = ba for all a in A and b in B.
An element x from G is chosen and published.
Bob chooses a secret key b from A and publishes z = xb as his public key.
Alice chooses a random r from B and computes t = zr.
The encrypted message is C = (xr, H(t) m), where H is some hash function and denotes the XOR operation. Alice sends C to Bob.
To decrypt C, Bob recovers t as follows: (xr)b = xrb = xbr = (xb)r = zr = t. The plain text message send by Alice is P = ( H(t) m ) H(t) = m.
Protocols for authentication
Let Bob want to check whether the sender of a message is really Alice.
Let G be a non-commutative group and let A and B be subgroups of G such that ab = ba for all a in A and b in B.
An element w from G is selected and published.
Alice chooses a private s from A and publishes the pair ( w, t ) where t = w s.
Bob chooses an r from B and sends a challenge w ' = wr to Alice.
Alice sends the response w ' ' = (w ')s to Bob.
Bob checks if w ' ' = tr. If this true, then the identity of Alice is established.
Security basis of the protocols
The basis for the security and strength of the various protocols presented above is the difficulty of the following two problems:
The conjugacy decision problem (also called the conjugacy problem): Given two elements u and v in a group G determine whether there exists an element x in G such that v = ux, that is, such that v = x−1 ux.
The conjugacy search problem: Given two elements u and v in a group G find an element x in G such that v = ux, that is, such that v = x−1 ux.
If no algorithm is known to solve the conjugacy search problem, then the function x → ux can be considered as a one-way function.
Platform groups
A non-commutative group that is used in a particular cryptographic protocol is called the platform group of that protocol. Only groups having certain properties can be used as the platform groups for the implementation of non-commutative cryptographic protocols. Let G be a group suggested as a platform group for a certain non-commutative cryptographic system. The following is a list of the properties expected of G.
The group G must be well-known and well-studied.
The word problem in G should have a fast solution by a deterministic algorithm. There should be an efficiently computable "normal form" for elements of G.
It should be impossible to recover the factors x and y from the product xy in G.
The number of elements of length n in G should grow faster than any polynomial in n. (Here "length n" is the length of a word representing a group element.)
Examples of platform groups
Braid groups
Let n be a positive integer. The braid group Bn is a group generated by x1, x2, . . . , xn-1 having the following presentation:
Thompson's group
Thompson's group is an infinite group F having the following infinite presentation:
Grigorchuk's group
Let T denote the infinite rooted binary tree. The set V of vertices is the set of all finite binary sequences. Let A(T) denote the set of all automorphisms of T. (An automorphism of T permutes vertices preserving connectedness.) The Grigorchuk's group Γ is the subgroup of A(T) generated by the automorphisms a, b, c, d defined as follows:
Artin group
An Artin group A(Γ) is a group with the following presentation:
where ( factors) and .
Matrix groups
Let F be a finite field. Groups of matrices over F'' have been used as the platform groups of certain non-commutative cryptographic protocols.
Semidirect products
See also
Group-based cryptography
Further reading
References
Cryptography
Public-key cryptography |
42995778 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types%20of%20physical%20unclonable%20function | Types of physical unclonable function | Physical unclonable function (PUF), sometimes also called physically unclonable function, is a physical entity that is embodied in a physical structure and is easy to evaluate but hard to predict.
All PUFs are subject to environmental variations such as temperature, supply voltage and electromagnetic interference, which can affect their performance. Therefore, rather than just being random, the real power of a PUF is its ability to be different between devices, but simultaneously to be the same under different environmental conditions.
PUF categorization
Measurement process
One way to categorise the numerous PUF concepts is by how the source of variation within each PUF is measured. For instance some PUFs examine how the source of uniqueness interacts with, or influences, an electronic signal to derive the signature measurement while others examine the effects on the reflection of incident light, or another optical process. This also typically correlates with the intended application for each PUF concept. As an example, PUFs that probe uniqueness through electronic characterization are most suitable for authenticating electronic circuits or components due to the ease of integration. On the other hand, PUFs that authenticate physical objects tend to probe the PUF using a second process, such as optical or radio frequency methods, that are then converted into electronic signal forming a hybrid measurement system. This allows for easier communication at a distance between the separate physical authenticating tag or object and the evaluating device.
Randomness source
One major way that PUFs are categorized is based on examining from where the randomness or variation of the device is derived. This source of uniqueness is either applied in an explicit manner, through the deliberate addition of extra manufacturing steps, or occurring in an implicit manner, as part of the typical manufacture processes. For example, in the case of electronic PUFs manufactured in CMOS, adding additional CMOS components is possible without introducing extra fabrication steps, and would count as an implicit source of randomness, as would deriving randomness from components that were already part of the design to start with. Adding, for example, a randomized dielectric coating for the sole purpose of PUF fingerprinting would add additional manufacturing steps and would make the PUF concept or implementation fall into the explicit category. Implicit randomness sources show benefit in that they do not have additional costs associated with introducing more manufacturing steps, and that randomness derived from the inherent variation of the device’s typical manufacture process cannot be as directly manipulated. Explicit randomness sources can show benefit in that the source of randomness can be deliberately chosen, for instance to maximize variation (and therefore entropy yield) or increase cloning difficulty (for example harnessing randomness from smaller feature sizes).
Intrinsic evaluation
In a similar manner to the classification of a PUF by its randomness source, PUF concepts can be divided by whether or not they can evaluate in an intrinsic manner. An PUF is described as intrinsic if its randomness is of implicit origin and can evaluate itself internally. This means that the mechanism for characterizing the PUF is intrinsic to, or embedded within, the evaluating device itself. This property can currently only be held by PUFs of entirely electronic design, as the evaluation processing can only be done through the involvement of electronic circuitry, and therefore can only be inseparable to an electronic randomness probing mechanism. Intrinsic evaluation is beneficial as it can allow this evaluation processing and post-processing (such as error correction or hashing) to occur without having the unprocessed PUF readout exposed externally. This incorporation of the randomness characterization and evaluation processing into one unit reduces the risk of man-in-the-middle and side-channel attacks aimed at the communication between the two areas.
Electronic-measurement PUFs
Implicit randomness
Via PUF
The Via PUF technology is based on “Via” or “Contact” formation during the standard CMOS fabrication process. The technology is the outcome of the reverse thinking process. Rather than meeting the design rules, it makes the sizes of Via or Contact be smaller than the requirements in a controlled manner, resulting in unpredictable or stochastic formation of Via or Contact, i.e. 50% probability of making the electrical connection. The technology details are published in 2020 for the first time while the technology is already in mass production in 2016 by ICTK Holdings. Few characteristics of Via PUF are followings:
Reliability: Thanks to the metallic property, once “Via” or “Contact” are formed in a structure, they stay there nearly permanently regardless of PVT variation, which means 0% of bit error rate and thus the post processing stages such as error correction code or helper data algorithm are not required. The technology is verified by the JEDEC standard tests and passed the Automotive Electronics Council Q-100 Grade 3 test for automotive applications.
Randomness of the Via PUF achieves 0.4972 of Hamming weight closed to the ideal value of 0.5. The technology passed NIST Special Publication 800-92 and NIST SP 800-90B randomness tests.
Uniqueness and ‘InbornID’: Uniqueness is an important property of PUF since it would guarantee that one chip ID is always different from other chips. The Via PUF reports 0.4999 of Hamming Distance value closed to the ideal uniqueness of 0.5. The ‘InbornID’ of the Via PUF stands for on-chip unique ‘inborn’ ID of a silicon chip.
Obscurity is one of the great advantages of using the Via PUF technology in IC implementation. The Via or Contact holes of PUF are scattered around all over the chip. No need to form array blocks like the SRAM PUF. Practically impossible to distinguish PUF Vias from regular logic Vias, making IC reverse engineering almost impossible.
Standard Manufacturing Process: The Via PUF technology uses standard cell structures from standard digital library with regular core voltage. No high voltage, and so no special circuitry like charge pump. There is no extra mask layer required in the IC manufacturing process.
The Via PUF based Hardware RoT (Root of Trust) Chips are currently applied in various markets such as telecommunications, appliances, and IoT devices in the forms of Wifi/BLE modules, Smart Door Locks, IP Cameras, IR Sensor hub, etc. The technology supports the security functionalities such as anti-counterfeiting, secure boot, secure firmware copy protection, secure firmware update and secure data integrity.
Delay PUF
A delay PUF exploits the random variations in delays of wires and gates on silicon. Given an input challenge, a race condition
is set up in the circuit, and two transitions that propagate along different paths are compared to see which comes first. An arbiter, typically implemented as a latch, produces a 1 or a 0, depending on which transition comes first. Many circuits realizations are possible and at least two have been fabricated. When a circuit with the same layout mask is fabricated on different chips, the logic function implemented by the circuit is different for each chip due to the random variations of delays.
A PUF based on a delay loop, i.e., a ring oscillator with logic, in the publication that introduced the PUF acronym and the first integrated PUF of any type. A multiplexor-based PUF has been described, as has a secure processor design using a PUF and a multiplexor-based PUF with an RF interface for use in RFID anti-counterfeiting applications.
SRAM PUF
These PUFs use the randomness in the power-up behavior of standard static random-access memory on a chip as a PUF. The use of SRAM as a PUF was introduced in 2007 simultaneously by researchers at the Philips High Tech Campus and at the University of Massachusetts. Since the SRAM PUF can be connected directly to standard digital circuitry embedded on the same chip, they can be immediately deployed as a hardware block in cryptographic implementations, making them of particular interest for security solutions. SRAM-based PUF technology has been investigated extensively. Several research papers explore SRAM-based PUF technology on topics such as behavior, implementation, or application for anti-counterfeiting purposes. Notable is the implementation of secure secret key storage without storing the key in digital form. SRAM PUF-based cryptographic implementations have been commercialized by Intrinsic ID, a spin-out of Philips, and as of 2019, are available on every technology node from 350 nm down to 7 nm.
Due to deep submicron manufacturing process variations, every transistor in an Integrated Circuit (IC) has slightly different physical properties. These lead to small differences in electronic properties, such as transistor threshold voltages and gain factor. The start-up behavior of an SRAM cell depends on the difference of the threshold voltages of its transistors. Even the smallest differences will push the SRAM cell into one of the two stable states. Given that every SRAM cell has its own preferred state every time it is powered, an SRAM response yields a unique and random pattern of zeros and ones. This pattern is like a chip’s fingerprint, since it is unique to a particular SRAM and hence to a particular chip.
Post-processing of SRAM PUF
SRAM PUF response is a noisy fingerprint since a small number of the cells, close to equilibrium is unstable. In order to use SRAM PUF reliably as a unique identifier or to extract cryptographic keys, post-processing is required. This can be done by applying error correction techniques, such as ‘helper data algorithms’ or fuzzy extractors. These algorithms perform two main functions: error correction and privacy amplification. This approach allows a device to create a strong device-unique secret key from the SRAM PUF and power down with no secret key present. By using helper data, the exact same key can be regenerated from the SRAM PUF when needed.
Aging of SRAM PUF
An operational IC slowly but gradually changes over time, i.e. it ages. The dominant aging effect in modern ICs that at the same time has a large impact on the noisy behavior of the SRAM PUF is NBTI. Since the NBTI is well understood, there are several ways to counteract the aging tendency. Anti-aging strategies have been developed that cause SRAM PUF to become more reliable over time, without degrading the other PUF quality measures such as security and efficiency.
SRAM PUF in commercial applications
SRAM PUFs were initially used in applications with high security requirements, such as in defense, to protect sensitive government and military systems, and in the banking industry, to secure payment systems and financial transactions. In 2010, NXP started using SRAM PUF technology to secure SmartMX-powered assets against cloning, tampering, theft-of-service and reverse engineering. Since 2011, Microsemi is offering SRAM PUF implementations to add security to secure government and sensitive commercial applications on the company's flash-based devices and development boards. More recent applications include: a secure sensor-based authentication system for the IoT, incorporation in RISC-V-based IoT application processors to secure intelligent, battery-operated sensing devices at the edge, and the replacement of traditional OTP-plus-key-injection approaches to IoT security in high-volume, low-power microcontrollers and crossover processors.
Some SRAM-based security systems in the 2000s refer to "chip identification" rather than the more standard term of "PUF." The research community and industry have now largely embraced the term PUF to describe this space of technology.
Butterfly PUF
The Butterfly PUF is based on cross-coupling of two latches or flip-flops. The mechanism being used in this PUF is similar to the one behind the SRAM PUF but has the advantage that it can be implemented on any SRAM FPGA.
Metal resistance PUF
The metal resistance-based PUF derives its entropy from random physical variations in the metal contacts, vias and wires that define the power grid and interconnect of an IC. There are several important advantages to leveraging random resistance variations in the metal resources of an IC including:
Temperature and voltage stability: Temperature and voltage (TV) variations represent one of the most significant challenges for PUFs in applications that require re-generation of exactly the same bitstring later in time, e.g., encryption. Metal resistance (unlike transistors) varies linearly with temperature and is independent of voltage. Therefore, metal resistance provides a very high level of robustness to changing environmental conditions.
Ubiquity: Metal is (currently) the only conducting material on the chip that is layered, effectively enabling high density, and very compact, PUF entropy sources. Advanced processes create 11 or more metal layers on top of the (x,y) plane of the underlying transistors.
Reliability: The wear-out mechanism for metal is electro-migration, which like TV variations, adversely affects the ability of the PUF to reproduce the same bitstring over time. However, the electro-migration process is well understood and can be completely avoided with proper sizing of the metal wires, vias and contacts. Transistor reliability issues, e.g., NBTI (negative-bias temperature instability) and HCI, on the other hand, are more difficult to mitigate.
Resiliency: Recent reports have shown that transistor-based PUFs, in particular the SRAM PUF, are subject to cloning. Metal resistance PUFs are not subject to these types of cloning attacks due to the high complexity associated with 'trimming' wires in the clone as a means of matching resistances. Moreover, by adding one or more shielding layers in the thicker upper metal layers that overlay the underlying PUF (which is built using the lower metal layers), front-side probing attacks designed to extract the metal resistances for the clone is extremely difficult or impossible.
Bistable Ring PUF
The Bistable Ring PUF or BR-PUF was introduced by Q. Chen et al. in. The BR-PUF is based on the idea that a ring of even number of inverters has two possible stable states. By duplicating the inverters and adding multiplexers between stages, it is possible to generate exponentially large number of challenge-response pairs from the BR-PUF.
DRAM PUF
Since many computer systems have some form of DRAM on board, DRAMs can be used as an effective system-level PUF. DRAM is also much cheaper than static RAM (SRAM). Thus, DRAM PUFs could be a source of random but reliable data for generating board identifications (chip ID). The advantage of the DRAM PUF is based on the fact that the stand-alone DRAM already present in a system on a chip can be used for generating device-specific signatures without requiring any additional circuitry or hardware. Tehranipoor et al. presented the first DRAM PUF that uses the randomness in the power-up behavior of DRAM cells. Other types of DRAM PUFs include ones based on the data retention of DRAM cells, and on the effects of changing the write and read latency times used in DRAMs.
Digital PUF
Digital PUF overcomes the vulnerability issues in conventional analog silicon PUFs. Unlike the analog PUFs where the fingerprints come from transistors' intrinsic process variation natures, the fingerprints of digital circuit PUFs are extracted from the VLSI interconnect geometrical randomness induced by lithography variations. Such interconnection uncertainty however is incompatible to CMOS VLSI circuits due to issues like short circuit, floating gate voltages etc. for transistors. One solution is to use strongly skewed latches to ensure the stable operating state of each CMOS transistor hence ensuring the circuit itself is immune against environmental and operational variations.
Oxide Rupture PUF
Oxide rupture PUF is a type of PUF benefiting from randomness obtained from inhomogeneous natural gate oxide properties occurring in IC manufacturing process. Along with the truly random, un-predictable and highly stable properties, which is the most ideal source for physical unclonable function. IC design houses can strongly enhance security level by implementing oxide rupture PUF in its IC design, without concerns about the reliability and life time issue and can get rid of the additional costs from complicated ECC (Error Correction Code) circuits. Oxide rupture PUF can extract uniformly-distributed binary bits through amplification and self-feedback mechanism, the random bits are activated upon enrollment, and due to a large entropy bit pool, users are provided the desired flexibility to choose their own key-generation and management approaches. Security level can be upgraded by oxide rupture PUF's intrinsic truly randomness and invisible features.
Explicit randomness
Coating PUF
A coating PUF can be built in the top layer of an integrated circuit (IC). Above a normal IC, a network of metal wires is laid out in a comb shape. The space between and above the comb structure is filled with an opaque material and randomly doped with dielectric particles. Because of the random placement, size and dielectric strength of the particles, the capacitance between each couple of metal wires will be random up to a certain extent. This unique randomness can be used to obtain a unique identifier for the device carrying the Coating PUF. Moreover, the placement of this opaque PUF in the top layer of an IC protects the underlying circuits from being inspected by an attacker, e.g. for reverse-engineering. When an attacker tries to remove (a part of) the coating, the capacitance between the wires is bound to change and the original unique identifier will be destroyed. It was shown how an unclonable RFID tag is built with coating PUFs.
Quantum Electronic PUF
As the size of a system is reduced below the de Broglie wavelength, the effects of quantum confinement become extremely important. The intrinsic randomness within a quantum confinement PUF originates from the compositional and structural non-uniformities on the atomic level. The physical characteristics are dependent on the effects of quantum mechanics at this scale, whilst the quantum mechanics are dictated by the random atomic structure. Cloning this type of structure is practically impossible due to the large number of atoms involved, the uncontrollable nature of processes on the atomic level and the inability to manipulate atoms reliably.
It has been shown that quantum confinement effects can be used to construct a PUF, in devices known as resonant-tunneling diodes. These devices can be produced in standard semiconductor fabrication processes, facilitating mass-production of many devices in parallel. This type of PUF requires atom-level engineering to clone and is the smallest, highest bit density PUF known to date. Furthermore, this type of PUF could be effectively reset by purposely overbiasing the device to cause a local rearrangement of atoms.
Hybrid-measurement PUFs
Implicit randomness
Magnetic PUF
A magnetic PUF exists on a magnetic stripe card. The physical structure of the magnetic media applied to a card is fabricated by blending billions of particles of barium ferrite together in a slurry during the manufacturing process. The particles have many different shapes and sizes. The slurry is applied to a receptor layer. The particles land in a random fashion, much like pouring a handful of wet magnetic sand onto a carrier. To pour the sand to land in exactly the same pattern a second time is physically impossible due to the inexactness of the process, the sheer number of particles, and the random geometry of their shape and size. The randomness introduced during the manufacturing process cannot be controlled. This is a classic example of a PUF using intrinsic randomness.
When the slurry dries, the receptor layer is sliced into strips and applied to plastic cards, but the random pattern on the magnetic stripe remains and cannot be changed. Because of their physically unclonable functions, it is highly improbable that two magnetic stripe cards will ever be identical. Using a standard-sized card, the odds of any two cards having an exact matching magnetic PUF are calculated to be 1 in 900 million. Further, because the PUF is magnetic, each card will carry a distinctive, repeatable and readable magnetic signal.
Personalizing the magnetic PUF: The personal data encoded on the magnetic stripe contributes another layer of randomness. When the card is encoded with personal identifying information, the odds of two encoded magstripe cards having an identical magnetic signature are approximately 1 in 10 Billion. The encoded data can be used as a marker to locate significant elements of the PUF. This signature can be digitized and is generally called a magnetic fingerprint. An example of its use is in the Magneprint brand system.
Stimulating the magnetic PUF: The magnetic head acts as a stimulus on the PUF and amplifies the random magnetic signal. Because of the complex interaction of the magnetic head, influenced by speed, pressure, direction and acceleration, with the random components of the PUF, each swipe of the head over the magnetic PUF will yield a stochastic, but very distinctive signal. Think of it as a song with thousands of notes. The odds of the same notes recurring in an exact pattern from a single card swiped many times are 1 in 100 million, but overall the melody remains very recognizable.
Uses for a magnetic PUF: The stochastic behavior of the PUF in concert with the stimulus of the head makes the magnetic stripe card an excellent tool for dynamic token authentication, forensic identification, key generation, one-time passwords, and digital signatures.
Explicit randomness
Optical PUF
An optical PUF which was termed POWF (physical one-way function) consists of a transparent material that is doped with light scattering particles. When a laser beam shines on the material, a random and unique speckle pattern will arise. The placement of the light scattering particles is an uncontrolled process and the interaction between the laser and the particles is very complex. Therefore, it is very hard to duplicate the optical PUF such that the same speckle pattern will arise, hence the postulation that it is "unclonable".
Quantum Optical PUF
Leveraging the same quantum derived difficulty to clone as the Quantum Electronic PUF, a Quantum PUF operating in the optical regime can be devised. Imperfections created during crystal growth or fabrication lead to spatial variations in the bandgap of 2D materials that can be characterized through photoluminescence measurements. It has been shown that an angle-adjustable transmission filter, simple optics and a CCD camera can capture spatially-dependent photoluminescence to produce complex maps of unique information from 2D monolayers.
RF PUF
The digitally modulated data in modern communication circuits are subjected to device-specific unique analog/RF impairments such as frequency error/offset and I-Q imbalance (in the transmitter), and are typically compensated
for at the receiver which rejects these non-idealities. RF-PUF, and RF-DNA utilize those existing non-idealities to distinguish among transmitter instances. RF-PUF does not use any additional hardware at the transmitter and can be used as a stand-alone physical-layer security feature, or for multi-factor authentication, in conjunction with network-layer, transport-layer and application-layer security features.
References
Cryptographic primitives |
43010045 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-point%20encryption | Point-to-point encryption | Point-to-point encryption (P2PE) is a standard established by the PCI Security Standards Council. Payment solutions that offer similar encryption but do not meet the P2PE standard are referred to as end-to-end encryption (E2EE) solutions. The objective of P2PE and E2EE is to provide a payment security solution that instantaneously converts confidential payment card (credit and debit card) data and information into indecipherable code at the time the card is swiped, in order to prevent hacking and fraud. It is designed to maximize the security of payment card transactions in an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
The standard
The P2PE Standard defines the requirements that a "solution" must meet in order to be accepted as a PCI-validated P2PE solution. A "solution" is a complete set of hardware, software, gateway, decryption, device handling, etc. Only "solutions" can be validated; individual pieces of hardware such as card readers cannot be validated. It is also a common mistake to refer to P2PE validated solutions as "certified"; there is no such certification.
The determination of whether or not a solution meets the P2PE standard is the responsibility of a P2PE Qualified Security Assessor (P2PE-QSA). P2PE-QSA companies are independent third-party companies who employ assessors that have met the PCI Security Standards Council's requirements for education and experience, and have passed the requisite exam. The PCI Security Standards Council does not validate solutions.
How it works
As a payment card is swiped through a card reading device, referred to as a point of interaction (POI) device, at the merchant location or point of sale, the device immediately encrypts the card information. A device that is part of a PCI-validated P2PE solution uses an algorithmic calculation to encrypt the confidential payment card data. From the POI, the encrypted, indecipherable codes are sent to the payment gateway or processor for decryption. The keys for encryption and decryption are never available to the merchant, making card data entirely invisible to the retailer. Once the encrypted codes are within the secure data zone of the payment processor, the codes are decrypted to the original card numbers and then passed to the issuing bank for authorization. The bank either approves or rejects the transaction, depending upon the card holder's payment account status. The merchant is then notified if the payment is accepted or rejected to complete the process along with a token that the merchant can store. This token is a unique number reference to the original transaction that the merchant can use should they ever be needed to perform research or refund the customer without ever knowing the customer's card information (tokenization). There are also Qualified Integrator and Reseller (QIR) Companies, which are businesses authorized to "implement, configure, and/or support validated" PA-DSS Payment Applications, and perform qualified installations.
Solution providers
According to the PCI Security Standards Council:The P2PE solution provider is a third-party entity (for example, a processor, acquirer, or payment gateway) that has overall responsibility for the design and implementation of a specific P2PE solution, and manages P2PE solutions for its merchant customers. The solution provider has overall responsibility for ensuring that all P2PE requirements are met, including any P2PE requirements performed by third-party organizations on behalf of the solution provider (for example, certification authorities and key-injection facilities).
Benefits
Customer benefits
P2PE significantly reduces the risk of payment card fraud by instantaneously encrypting confidential cardholder data at the moment a payment card is swiped or "dipped" if it is a chip card at the card reading device (payment terminal) or POI.
Merchant benefits
P2PE significantly facilitates merchant responsibilities:
With a P2PE validated solution, merchants save significant time and money as PCI requirements may be greatly reduced. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). For organizations who use a P2PE validated solution provider, the PCI Self Assessment Questionnaire is reduced from 12 sections to 4 sections and the controls are reduced from 329 questions to just 35.
In the event of fraud, the P2PE Solution Provider, not the merchant, is held accountable for data loss and resulting fines that may be assessed by the card brands (American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and JCB). The PCI Security Standards Council does not assess penalties on Solution Providers or Merchants.
The payment process with P2PE is quicker than other transaction processes, thus creating simpler and faster customer–merchant transactions.
Point-to-point encryption versus end-to-end encryption
Point-to-point
A point-to-point connection directly links system 1 (the point of payment card acceptance) to system 2 (the point of payment processing).
A true P2PE solution is determined with three main factors:
The solution uses a hardware-to-hardware encryption and decryption process along with a POI device that has SRED (Secure Reading and Exchange of Data) listed as a function.
The solution has been validated to the PCI P2PE Standard which includes specific POI device requirements such as strict controls regarding shipping, receiving, tamper-evident packaging, and installation.
A solution includes merchant education in the form of a P2PE Instruction Manual, which guides the merchant on POI device use, storage, return for repairs, and regular PCI reporting.
End-to-end
End-to-end encryption as the name suggests has the advantage over P2PE that card details are not unencrypted between the two endpoints. If the endpoints are a PCI PED validated PIN pad and a POS acquirer, there is no opportunity for the card details to be intercepted. It is obviously important that the endpoints (the PED and gateway) are provided by PCI accredited organisations.
PCI point-to-point encryption requirements
The requirements include:
Secure encryption of payment card data at the point of interaction (POI),
P2PE validated application(s) at the point of interaction,
Secure management of encryption and decryption devices,
Management of the decryption environment and all decrypted account data,
Use of secure encryption methodologies and cryptographic key operations, including key generation, distribution, loading/injection, administration, and usage.
References
Cryptography |
43027004 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-subset%20meet-in-the-middle%20attack | 3-subset meet-in-the-middle attack | The 3-subset meet-in-the-middle (hereafter shortened MITM) attack is a variant of the generic meet-in-the-middle attack, which is used in cryptology for hash and block cipher cryptanalysis. The 3-subset variant opens up the possibility to apply MITM attacks on ciphers, where it is not trivial to divide the keybits into two independent key-spaces, as required by the MITM attack.
The 3-subset variant relaxes the restriction for the key-spaces to be independent, by moving the intersecting parts of the keyspaces into a subset, which contains the keybits common between the two key-spaces.
History
The original MITM attack was first suggested in an article by Diffie and Hellman in 1977, where they discussed the cryptanalytic properties of DES. They argued that the keysize of DES was too small, and that reapplying DES multiple times with different keys could be a solution to the key-size; however, they advised against using double-DES and suggested triple-DES as a minimum, due to MITM attacks (Double-DES is very susceptible to a MITM attack, as DES could easily be split into two subciphers (the first and second DES encryption) with keys independent of one another, thus allowing for a basic MITM attack that reduces the computational complexity from to .
Many variations has emerged, since Diffie and Hellman suggested MITM attacks. These variations either makes MITM attacks more effective, or allows them to be used in situations, where the basic variant cannot. The 3-subset variant was shown by Bogdanov and Rechberger in 2011, and has shown its use in cryptanalysis of ciphers, such as the lightweight block-cipher family KTANTAN.
Procedure
As with general MITM attacks, the attack is split into two phases: A key-reducing phase and a key-verification phase. In the first phase, the domain of key-candidates is reduced, by applying the MITM attack. In the second phase, the found key-candidates are tested on another plain-/ciphertext pair to filter away the wrong key(s).
Key-reducing phase
In the key-reducing phase, the attacked cipher is split into two subciphers, and , with each their independent keybits, as is normal with MITM attacks. Instead of having to conform to the limitation that the keybits of the two subciphers should be independent, the 3-subset attack allows for splitting the cipher into two subciphers, where some of the bits are allowed to be used in both of the subciphers.
This is done by splitting the key into three subsets instead, namely:
= the keybits the two subciphers have in common.
= the keybits distinct to the first subcipher,
= the keybits distinct to the second subcipher,
To now carry out the MITM attack, the 3 subsets are bruteforced individually, according to the procedure below:
For each guess of :
Calculate the intermediate value from the plaintext, for all key-bit combinations in
Calculate the intermediate value , for all key-bit combinations in
Compare and . When there is a match. Store it is a key-candidate.
Key-testing phase
Each key-candidate found in the key-reducing phase, is now tested with another plain-/ciphertext pair. This is done simply by seeing if the encryption of the plaintext, P, yields the known ciphertext, C. Usually only a few other pairs are needed here, which makes the 3-subset MITM attack, have a very little data complexity.
Example
The following example is based on the attack done by Rechberger and Bogdanov on the KTANTAN cipher-family. The naming-conventions used in their paper is also used for this example. The attack reduces the computational complexity of KTANTAN32 to , down from if compared with a bruteforce attack. A computational complexity of is of 2014 still not practical to break, and the attack is thus not computationally feasible as of now. The same goes for KTANTAN48 and KTANTAN64, which complexities can be seen at the end of the example.
The attack is possible, due to weaknesses exploited in KTANTAN's bit-wise key-schedule. It is applicable to both KTANTAN32, KTANTAN48 and KTANTAN64, since all the variations uses the same key-schedule. It is not applicable to the related KANTAN family of block-ciphers, due to the variations in the key-schedule between KTANTAN and KANTAN.
Overview of KTANTAN
KTANTAN is a lightweight block-cipher, meant for constrained platforms such as RFID tags, where a cryptographic primitive such as AES, would be either impossible (given the hardware) or too expensive to implement. It was invented by Canniere, Dunkelman and Knezevic in 2009. It takes a block size of either 32, 48 or 64 bits, and encrypts it using an 80-bit key over 254 rounds. Each round utilizes two bits of the key (selected by the key schedule) as round key.
Attack
Preparation
In preparation to the attack, weaknesses in the key schedule of KTANTAN that allows the 3-subset MITM attack was identified.
Since only two key-bits are used each round, the diffusion of the key per round is small - the safety lies in the number of rounds. Due to this structure of the key-schedule, it was possible to find a large number of consecutive rounds, which never utilized certain key-bits.
More precisely, the authors of the attack found that:
Round 1 to 111 never uses the key-bits:
Round 131 to 254 never uses the key-bits:
This characteristics of the key-schedule is used for staging the 3-subset MITM attack, as we now are able to split the cipher into two blocks with independent key-bits. The parameters for the attack are thus:
= the keybits used by both blocks (which means the rest 68 bits not mentioned above)
= the keybits used only by the first block (defined by round 1-111)
= the keybits used only by the second block (defined by round 131-254)
Key-reducing phase
One may notice a problem with step 1.3 in the key-reducing phase. It is not possible to directly compare the values of and , as is calculated at the end of round 111, and is calculated at the start of round 131. This is mitigated by another MITM technique called partial-matching. The authors found by calculating forwards from the intermediate value , and backwards from the intermediate value that at round 127, 8 bits was still unchanged in both and with a probability one. They thus only compared part of the state, by comparing those 8 bits (It was 8 bits at round 127 for KTANTAN32. It was 10 bits at round 123 and 47 bits at round 131 for KTANTAN48 and KTANTAN64, respectively). Doing this yields more false positives, but nothing that increases the complexity of the attack noticeably.
Key-testing phase
KTANTAN32 requires on average 2 pairs now to find the key-candidate, due to the false positives from only matching on part of the state of the intermediate values. KTANTAN48 and KTANTAN64 on average still only requires one plain-/ciphertext pair to test and find the correct key-candidates.
Results
For:
KTANTAN32, the computational complexity of the above attack is , compared to with an exhaustive key search. The data complexity is 3 plain-/ciphertext pairs.
KTANTAN48, the computational complexity is and 2 plain-/ciphertext pairs are needed.
KTANTAN64 it is and 2 plain-/ciphertext pairs are needed.
The results are taken from the article by Rechberger and Bogdanov.
This is not the best attack on KTANTAN anymore. The best attack as of 2011 is contributed to Wei, Rechberger, Guo, Wu, Wang and Ling which improved upon the MITM attack on the KTANTAN family. They arrived at a computational complexity of with 4 chosen plain-/ciphertext pairs using indirect partial-matching and splice & cut MITM techniques.
Notes
Computer network security
Cryptographic attacks |
43029552 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology%20in%20Star%20Wars | Technology in Star Wars | The space-opera blockbuster Star Wars franchise has borrowed many real-life scientific and technological concepts in its settings. In turn, Star Wars has depicted, inspired, and influenced several futuristic technologies, some of which are in existence and others under development. In the introduction of the Return of the Jedi novelization, George Lucas wrote: "Star Wars is also very much concerned with the tension between humanity and technology, an issue which, for me, dates back even to my first films. In Jedi, the theme remains the same, as the simplest of natural forces brought down the seemingly invincible weapons of the evil Empire."
While many of these technologies are in existence and in use today, they are not nearly as complex as seen in Star Wars. Some of these technologies are not considered possible at present. Nevertheless, many of the technologies depicted by Star Wars parallel modern real-life technologies and concepts, though some have significant differences.
Biotechnology
Cloning and genetic engineering
Star Wars also depicts the practice of cloning and genetic engineering, though far more advanced and sophisticated than modern scientific and technological standards. Cloning in Star Wars was first mentioned in the original 1977 Star Wars film (A New Hope) and its novelization. It was first seen on film in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002).
There are major differences between the current ability to clone humans and those seen in Star Wars. Current human cloning methods need to use the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which requires an unfertilized egg from a female donor to have its nucleus removed, resulting in an enucleated egg. DNA from the subject being cloned would need to be extracted and electronically fused together with the enucleated egg. A surrogate mother needs to be impregnated with the embryos to give birth to the clone.
Cloning in Star Wars does not seem to use this process, and instead depicts advanced machinery that directly processes the human subject's DNA, and produces the clone or clones, by the thousands, if desired. The clones in Star Wars can also be genetically altered during their pre-birth phase to have their growth hormones and learning abilities accelerated, as well as their independence and self-consciousness restricted.
According to Jeanne Cavelos, a science-fiction writer and former NASA astrophysicist, who is also author of the book The Science of Star Wars, all of this is a future possibility with the progress of science and technology. What is not possible, according to her, is the ability to accelerate either the growth of clones, or their ability to learn faster.
Regeneration
Submersion in a liquid called bacta causes mutilated flesh to regenerate in the Star Wars universe. According to an in-universe reference book, bacta is a red-hued chemical compound; it must be mixed with a synthetic liquid which mimics bodily fluids. The combined bacterial medium regenerates traumatized flesh and promotes tissue growth. Luke Skywalker was first seen using a bacta tank in The Empire Strikes Back; his father Darth Vader has a similar tank in Rogue One. Clone troopers also use such healing technology in The Clone Wars. Bacta can also be administered in a spray form.
Prosthetics
In Star Wars, prosthetics are first seen on film towards the end of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The prosthetic limbs seen in the films bear an almost absolute resemblance to natural limbs, in terms of size, shape, and movement. The only distinction is the material that the prosthetic limbs are made of, which differs greatly from the organic material of the natural limbs and other organs that the prosthetic limbs replace. Such precision is not considered possible by current technological means. However, according to recent research and development conducted at the Case Western University, which produced prosthetic limbs similar to the ones seen in Star Wars, the ability for prosthetics to produce feeling has become closer to reality.
A similar production, even closer to natural organic limbs, known as the DEKA Arm System and dubbed "The Luke", after Luke Skywalker's prosthetic arm, was approved for mass production by the US Food and Drug Administration after eight years of testing and development.
More recently, scientists have begun to develop artificial skin jackets to cover prosthetic limbs, creating an effect similar to what is seen in the Star Wars films.
Body armour
Body armour is seen throughout the Star Wars films, television shows and other media. Their main purpose is to protect the wearer from attacks and other hazards as in ancient and current times on Earth. They are most commonly seen on Imperial stormtroopers, clone troopers, bounty hunters and others, providing various levels of protection and other functions. According to Star Wars lore, the armour worn by stormtroopers is generally impervious to projectile weapons and blast shrapnel and can deflect a glancing blow from a blaster but will be punctured by a direct hit. Meanwhile, the traditional armour worn by Mandalorians, made from the fictional material known as beskar, is capable of repelling a lightsaber.
Major characters in the Star Wars franchise are also known for wearing body armour. The bounty hunter Boba Fett wore modified body armour fitted with various gadgets like his predecessor, Jango Fett. This armour has multi-purpose tactical abilities along with many scraps and dents which Fett wears with pride. Darth Vader wears an armoured suit which protects him in combat as well as provides life-support functions for his badly burned body.
Such type of armour has slowly begun to become a scientific reality. In 2016, ballistic and body armour company, AR500, in collaboration with Heckler & Koch produced body armour modelled after the iconic villain, Boba Fett.
Carbonite freezing
Carbonite freezing in Star Wars is first seen on film in The Empire Strikes Back and also equally mentioned in its novelization, where Darth Vader and The Empire place Han Solo in a carbonite casing and delivered to Jabba the Hutt. Its usage and reverse is also seen in The Empire Strikes Back and its sequel, Return of the Jedi.
Carbonite freezing is based on the concept of cryonics, which involves freezing a living organism to keep it in suspended animation. The technology is still being researched and developed by scientists into a more sophisticated form. Carbonite exists in real life as a type of gunpowder. According to professor James H. Fallon, the carbonite used in Star Wars might be a "dry ice" with an opposite charge. He further speculates that it is a form of carbon dioxide mineral, which, like in cryonics, is kept at very low temperatures, to the point that there is no need for oxygen or blood-flow. This could keep living organisms and living tissue in suspended animation. While the freezing process as depicted in the films is realistic, reversing the same process by heating, he argues, is more challenging, and can be dangerous if heated too fast. He also argues that this process, as depicted in the film, is a scientific, physical challenge. In 2020, researchers were able to preserve nematodes in a suspended animation state known as anhydrobiosis inside a liquid metal cage (Gallium, which later solidified) during seven days, and then recovered them alive.
Computers and other artificial intelligence
Aside from droids/robots, the use of artificial intelligence and computers is found very commonly in the Star Wars universe. Computing technology exists in many different forms in both the Star Wars movies and other media, with the capacity to process large volumes of data every millisecond and store it for safekeeping. Examples include simple viewscreens that receive and display information; scanners which examine an object, interpret the collected data and present it to the user; and data-pads, portable computers (often handheld) which allow individuals to access and interpret information.
An example of computing devices which perform very complex tasks in the Star Wars franchise are navigational computers, also called nav-computers or navi-computers, which form a key part of many Star Wars spacecraft. Such computers are said to store vast libraries of astrogation knowledge and work with their ships' sensors and hyperdrive to plot safe courses in real-space and hyperspace. Source material makes it clear that only the desperate or foolhardy would attempt traveling in hyperspace without an up-to-date navi-computer as a ship can easily smash into a hazard without one. Some small Star Wars spacecraft (such as the X-wing) use an astromech droid in place of a navi-computer due to size restrictions.
A unique form of data storage found in the Star Wars universe is the Holocron, a type of artefact used by both Jedi and Sith to store vital and sensitive knowledge, usually concerning the Force. Holocrons resemble evenly-proportioned polyhedrons and typically store information in the form of holographic lessons. Many will only permit access to someone who is sensitive in the Force, and for additional security may require a separate memory crystal in order to activate. More mundane forms of data storage exist in the Star Wars franchise, though some have tremendous capacity. The IGV-55 Surveillance Vessel, a class of Imperial spy ship seen in the Star Wars Rebels television series, possess a massive database that can store billions of yottabytes of data.
In a 2016 article for TechCrunch, contributor Evaldo H. de Oliveira estimated the amount of data needed to manage the Death Star was in excess of 40,000 yottabytes. This included an estimate that the Death Star's crew would generate 8.84 exabytes per year, with an additional 2.08 exabytes generated per year by its droid population.
An example of multi-purpose artificial intelligence is seen in moisture , devices that produce water from hydrogen and oxygen in the air. These are first seen on film on the planet Tatooine in A New Hope. Their artificial intelligence is more basic than most other forms of artificial intelligence seen in the Star Wars universe, dealing with input from humidity and air density sensors. They use this input to help them take samples from the air and produce water. They also require input from robots. The film also shows Owen Lars, Luke's uncle, telling C-3PO that he needs a droid that can really understand the language of moisture , with the droid claiming that it is in his programming.
Cybersecurity also plays a major role in the films and other media, with many real-world counterparts. The term slicer is the in-universe designation for a hacker in the Star Wars universe, describing individuals such as DJ (Benicio del Toro) from The Last Jedi. A form of security token is worn by Imperial and First Order officers called a code or access cylinder, which grants them access to restricted areas or databases.
A report analysing the Empire's cyber-security systems used in Rogue One, in which IT experts were consulted, made a few conclusions. One claim by information systems management professor Hsinchun Chen was that the theft of digital architectural designs are a common phenomenon in real life. He concludes that software breaches should not just be resisted, as in the case of Star Wars, but successfully prevented by taking security measures far prior to any attempted attacks. Corey Nachreiner, in a 2017 GeekWire article, also examined some of the lessons in cyber-security offered by Rogue One. This include the need to safeguard the Internet of Things represented by the droid character K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) and the need for strong multi-factor authentication.
Cybernetics
The use of cybernetics in Star Wars is documented by much of the Star Wars media, including novels, comics, and television series. It is used by characters for both enhancements and replacements for damaged or destroyed body parts. Within the Star Wars universe, characters who uses cybernetics to enhance their bodies are referred to as cyborgs. Cybernetics are used to replace organic body parts at a deeper and more complex level than prosthetics, and the process is usually irreversible. In the films, it is most recognizably used on two major characters: General Grievous and Darth Vader, both whom are cyborgs. Its applications are also first seen on film in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Darth Vader, previously Anakin Skywalker, lost one of his limbs starting in the Clone Wars, and later, towards the end of the Clone Wars, lost most of his limbs after a deadly lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Shortly after the duel, he was caught in the heat range of molten lava, resulting in the burning and melting of much of his flesh and tissue.
Vader lost many of his nervous and sensory systems, most of which were replaced by prosthetics, bionics, and, later, cybernetics. Besides having cybernetic limbs, Vader wore a suit equipped with cybernetic systems, both to help him function, and to protect his damaged body from exposure. His belt included high and low range audio sensors. The belt also included respiratory and temperature regulation adjustment controls. Vader's neural functions were also regulated by neuro sensors, located towards the back of his helmet. Additionally, to help him see, breathe, and maintain cognition, Vader's helmet was equipped with enhanced visual sensors, body heat vents, and neural function sensors.
Vader's internal oxygen, blood, and nutrient flows, as well as nervous systems, were regulated by the control plate on his chest. His muscular system was enhanced by a neuro-electrical nervous pulse system in his cybernetic suit, giving him amplified physical strength. Scientists and scientific commentators have suggested that Vader lost his lungs by inhaling air in extreme temperatures within the heat range of lava on the planet Mustafar, causing damage to his lung tissue. This would require the need for a filter mask to take in more purified oxygen, as well as replacement lungs, most of which are possible by modern scientific and technological means.
A peer reviewed journal by two Danish physicians concluded that Darth Vader's suit acts as a wearable hyperbaric chamber, which supports his supposedly chronically injured lungs. It also protects his damaged and vulnerable skin from infection. In a study on the breakdown of Vader's breathing habits, one of the two physicians concluded that the suit would not be their top preference, but rather that lung transplantation would be a better choice.
General Grievous's body is almost entirely cybernetic. Animation director Rob Coleman explained that Grievous was made with technological flaws, and experienced difficulties such as poor manoeuvrability and coughing, the latter caused by his lungs constantly filling with liquid. His mechanical body did, however, give him advantages in combat, due to being made of solid material, instead of organic bones and limbs.
Grievous's organic body being destroyed in conflict left him with only a brain, eyes, and internal organs, which scientists placed in a constructed cybernetic body. Anatomy and neurobiology professor James H. Fallon of the University of California explains that one problem with this type of cybernetic body is the lack of knowledge in brain circuitry coding, which has yet to be decrypted. Fallon argues that most prosthetic and cybernetic technology in Star Wars is still plausible with continuous research and development in the relevant fields.
Many other minor characters and organizations within the Star Wars universe are known to utilize cybernetics. Lobot, the chief administrative aide of Bespin's Cloud City, is fitted with an AJ^6 cyborg construct. While it allows direct neural interface with computer systems via wireless signal and overall productivity increase, the implant tends to negatively affect the user's personality in what is referred to as the "lobotomy effect." Imperial Death Troopers are fitted with implants which provide biofeedback information and can stimulate sensory organs for increased performance. Foot soldiers of the Guavian Death Gang, first appearing in The Force Awakens, receive cybernetic augmentations in exchange for their loyalty, including a second mechanical heart which pumps speed- and aggression-enhancing chemicals directly into the bloodstream.
Energy technology
Reference material identifies a number of different methods by which energy is created in the Star Wars universe. Examples of power sources used for domestic devices include chemical, fission and fusion reactors. In Star Wars spacecraft and other large structures, fusion reactors powered by the fictional "hypermatter" fuel are considered the most common source of energy. These fuels are typically hazardous to organic life, taking the form of corrosive liquids or poisonous gases.
Solar power technology is a method of energy generation used mainly by the Imperial TIE fighter, which features in many Star Wars films and other media. According to the TIE Fighter Owner's Workshop Manual, these spacecraft are fitted with two hexagonal wings that have six trapezoidal solar arrays on both sides which collect energy from nearby stars and use it to power the fighter's ion engines. Another Star Wars ship noted for using solar power is the solar sailer piloted by Count Dooku (Christoper Lee) in Attack of the Clones and other media. It deploys a solar sail wide which captures interstellar energy in order to travel without requiring fuel.
An electron transfer experiment conducted by scientists in 2005 involved a supramolecular TIE fighter ship design. It is unclear whether the experiment managed to achieve the desired results or not.
Force fields
The use of force fields in the Star Wars universe is documented both in the main films of the Star Wars saga and in spin-off media, such as The Clone Wars, as well as other media adaptations. According to reference material, protective force fields used to defend starships, buildings, armies and other objects from attack are known as deflector shields and come in two main types. Particle shields repel solid objects such as space debris or high-velocity projectiles. Ray shields (or energy shields) repel radiation, lasers, blasters and other energy-based attacks. Deflector shields which envelop an object can either be generated by it or be projected onto it from another location.
Deflector fields come in many different sizes and varieties in the Star Wars universe, as seen in the films and explained in background literature. Droidekas, which made their theatrical appearance in The Phantom Menace, are equipped with deflector shields that are polarized to allow their own blaster bolts to pass through while stopping any fire coming from outside. In The Empire Strikes Back a shield system protects the Rebels' Echo Base on Hoth. Projected by modules studded throughout the surrounding territory and powered by a central generator, only slow-moving ground-contact vehicles (such as Walkers) can penetrate the shield. The incomplete Death Star II is protected remotely via deflector shield generator located on the Forest Moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. Identified as a SLD-26 Planetary Shield Generator, it can envelop a small moon (or large space station) with a nearly impenetrable shield for an indefinite period of time. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the tropical planet Scarif is completely enveloped in a deflector shield to prevent anyone from landing or leaving the planet without Imperial authorization except by a single shield gate.
Many Star Wars spacecraft and starfighters are said to possess generators which create both types of deflector shields around them to protect against normal space travel and enemy attacks. Smaller vessels may only have a single deflector shield generator which can be adjusted to protect specific parts of the ship, while larger vessels may have multiple generators each protecting a specific area. Large starships with hangar bays will also employ another type of force field called a magnetic shield. These are activated whenever the hangar's blast doors are opened, retaining a pressurized atmosphere within the bay while allowing smaller vessels to come and go.
The Gungans are described in Star Wars sources employing unique hydrostatic field generators to create their underwater bubble cities as seen in The Phantom Menace. This same technology is used to make defensive shields for their army, from small handheld versions that can deflect solid objects and blasters to large generators carried on fictional Fambaa creatures. These generators can envelop an area as wide as one kilometre in a protective bubble which will stop weapons fire but not battle droids from marching through the perimeter.
In 2014, physics students at the University of Leicester developed a module of plasma-based deflector shields, inspired by the ones in Star Wars and other science fiction stories. However, the field poses some issues. One issue is that the deflector shield would have to be much stronger to repel than to hold the plasma in position. Another is that the shield would deflect electromagnetic energy, including light. This would make it impossible for someone inside the shield to see anything.
In 2015, the American megacorporation Boeing built plasma-based force fields, similar in size and dimensions to the force fields used in Star Wars ground battles. Like the ground force fields in the Star Wars films, these shields cannot block or repel solid matter, but are instead built to protect vehicles from the force of explosions.
Gravity technology
Technology which allows for the manipulation of gravity is a common feature in the Star Wars films and other media. Examples include the use of tractor beams, force fields which envelop an object and manipulate it remotely, and repulsorlifts, which push against a planet's gravity to create lift. Artificial gravity and inertial dampeners are also used on Star Wars spacecraft, protecting their occupants from the crushing gravitational forces of high-speed manoeuvres or when landing on a high-gravity world. Interdiction fields create gravitational shadows which prevent Star Wars ships from using their hyperdrives or pull them out of hyperspace.
Repulsorlift
Levitation is depicted throughout the Star Wars films, as well as in most other spin-off media of the franchise. Levitation in Star Wars is primarily caused by a type of anti-gravity technology known within the setting as a "repulsorlift engine." According to in-universe material, a fusion-powered repulsorlift or 'antigrav' creates a field of negativity gravity that pushes against the natural gravitational field of a planet. Terrestrial vehicles such as landspeeders and speeder bikes use this technology to propel themselves across a planet's surface. Repulsorlifts are also used by spacecraft as secondary engines for atmospheric flight and planetary landings and take-offs.
Other vehicles that utilize repulsorlift engines include Jabba the Hutt's sail barge and snowspeeders. Many droids and robots also use this technology to hover and move above a planet's surface, such as the Imperial Probe Droid. The carbonite freezing coffin that kept Han Solo in suspension was suspended in mid-air using a gravity repulsion force field.
Levitation by this method is currently considered a physical impossibility by today's means. Despite being a current scientific impossibility, research on such concepts are still being hypothesized and exercised by scientists today, with occasional minor breakthroughs.
Magnetic levitation already exists in modern times, but with fundamental differences from levitation seen in Star Wars. An example of vehicles that maintain constant levitation without the use of constant propulsion is the Maglev train. The Maglev train stays afloat by using the magnetic repulsion of like charges, but relies on the surface that it travels above, in its case, the train tracks, to have the same charge as its own coils, resulting in a magnetic repulsion.
One possibility for magnetic levitation as seen in Star Wars is suggested by physics associate professor Micheal Denin. According to him, if a planet was made out of the right magnetic materials, such as iron or nickel, the vehicle could then produce a repulsive charge, allowing it to lift above the surface.
In 2010, Australian inventor and engineer Chris Malloy constructed a hoverbike that uses turbofans to enter flight. It is claimed to fly up to 10,000 feet and fly at a horizontal speed of 173 miles an hour. The hoverbike has been repeatedly compared to the hoverbikes seen in the Star Wars films. It is unclear, however, whether these hoverbikes were actually inspired by Star Wars or not. Another fundamental difference, besides their power sources, is that the hoverbikes in Star Wars can only climb a few meters above the ground, unlike the current ones being developed. Malloy's company, Malloy Aeronotics, is reported to have partnered with an American-based company for further experimenting, as well as developing Malloy's hoverbikes for the US military.
Tractor beams
A tractor beam is described as an invisible force field that can grab, trap, suspend, and move objects with force. According to Star Wars sources, tractor beams generators and projectors are common components on many spacecraft, with both military and civilian applications. Tractor beams can be used to move cargo, tow disabled vessels, or assist in docking manoeuvres. They can also be used offensively to slow down or immobilize an opponent, though targeting fast and manoeuvrable ships can be challenging. Additional uses are made of this technology for other purposes as well. Open-topped taxis on Coruscant emit tractor fields when in flight to keep passengers securely seated without requiring restraints. The AT-TE possess tractor-field generators in its footpads for a stronger grip over uneven ground.
Scientists have explored the concept of tractor beams, having some success since the early 2010s. In that time, they have managed to produce lasers with unusual intensity-beam profilesthat allow them to attract and repel tiny particles. Some breakthroughs include the successful project of a team of science researchers from the Australian National University, who managed to produce a doughnut shaped laser that can drag hollow glass spheres by a distance of roughly 7.8 inches, several times the distance of previous experiments.
Another successful experiment was conducted at the University of Bristol, which revealed that sound could be manipulated to produce possible future tractor beams, rivalling light. This could be done using a precisely timed sequence of sound waves, produced by tiny loudspeakers, creating a limited space with low pressure that can counteract gravity and levitate objects.
Holography
Holography in Star Wars was first seen on film in the fourth film of the saga Episode IV: A New Hope. Holographs were used for various purposes, mainly communication. At the time of the release of the original Star Wars films, holographic technology in 3D format, as seen in the films, was not available.
Neowin reports that research conducted by Microsoft has brought about the creation of 3D holographic technology. The technology is intended be used for various purposes, such as plotting data on maps.
ExtremeTech reports that smartphones created at HP labs are now bringing 3D holographic technology from Star Wars closer to reality.
More recently, Fox News reported that Australian National University students were close to developing Star Wars-style holograms. A researcher for the project said that the material the device consists of will be transparent and used in a wide range of applications, as well as “complex manipulations with light.”.
Interstellar travel
In the Star Wars universe, two different types of fictional propulsion exist to allow starships to travel in space and across the galaxy: sublight drives and hyperdrives. Sublight drives propel starships below the speed of light and are used upon leaving a planet's atmosphere and during space battles. Many different varieties of sublight drives or sublight engines exist, but the most common are electromagnetic propulsion types like ion engines which release charged particles to propel the ship forward. Ion engines also lack moving parts and high-temperature components, making them easier to maintain. Sublight drives can propel Star Wars vessels clear of a planet's atmosphere and gravity in a matter of minutes.
The hyperdrive allows Star Wars spaceships to travel between stars by transporting them into another dimension, known as hyperspace, in which objects with mass are capable of traveling faster than the speed of light. The in-universe explanation for how hyperdrives function is that they utilize supralight 'hypermatter' particles (such as ) to launch ships into hyperspace at faster-than-light speeds without changing their complex mass/energy configuration. Hyperdrives are categorized by class, with the lower class indicating higher speed. Hyperspace is one of two dimensions of space-time. It is coterminous with 'realspace' and permeated by "shadow" counterparts of realspace objects. Any object in hyperspace colliding with one of these shadows is destroyed, so in order to navigate safely, starships must utilize navigational computers (or navi-computers) to calculate a safe route through hyperspace. Thanks to hyperdrive technology, Star Wars ships can cover interstellar distances which would normally requires thousands of years in a matter of hours.
Deep Space 1 was the first NASA spacecraft to use ion propulsions, with comparisons made directly between it and the Empire's TIE Fighter. According to NASA, while their means of propulsion were the same, advances in power generation would be needed in order to develop an ion engine as powerful as those used on TIE fighters. The space probe Dawn also uses ion propulsion, although unlike the TIE fighter it was fitted with three instead of just two.
In an examination of the amount of force generated by Star Wars sublight engines, Rhett Allain, associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, looked at the scene of a Hammerhead corvette ramming one Imperial Star Destroyer into another during the final space battle of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He argues that the Hammerhead's engines would had to have exerted (or 200 billion) Newtons in order to push the Star Destroyer. This would make them 6,000 times more powerful than a Saturn V rocket.
Radios and other communications devices
In Star Wars, a subspace transceiver, also known as a subspace comm, subspace radio, and hyper-transceiver, was a standard device used for instantaneous, faster-than-light communications between nearby systems. Similar to its shorter-ranged cousin, the com-link, the subspace transceiver relied on energy to broadcast signals. Starships carried these units to broadcast distress signals and other important messages. They used subspace as the communications medium. The subspace transceiver of an Imperial Star Destroyer had a range of 100 light-years.
Devices for shorter-range communications, such as the com-link, can be either hand-held (as seen in A New Hope) or strapped to the wrist (as seen in The Empire Strikes Back, during the early scenes on the planet Hoth). These devices can also be tuned with encryption algorithms for private communication.
Most humanoid droids, such as C-3PO, communicate long distances using these com-links. Other droids, such as R2-D2 and Imperial Probe Droids, use antennas to transmit/receive messages and signals for longer range communications.
Devices for long-range communications within a planet are connected by satellites orbiting the planet.
Robotics
Star Wars depicts robotics which resembles current robotics technology, though at a much more advanced and developed level. Robotics in Star Wars are generally divided into two categories, as in modern reality: military and civil.
Civil
Some robots in the Star Wars universe are capable of performing multiple types of tasks, while others can only perform one type of task. For example, 21-B is built for the sole purpose of performing medical tasks. Others, such as humanoid protocol droids like C-3PO, are built for multiple purposes. These range from basic physical chores to translating between different forms of communication, including with sophisticated computers and other forms of artificial intelligence. Other, barrel-shaped robots, such as R2-D2, are built with multiple features and capabilities. These include repairing and programming advanced devices, as well as maintaining them.
The basic concepts and purposes for robotics in Star Wars, as in real life, are to reduce human labour, assist humans with sophisticated requirements, as well as store and manage complex information. Another parallel to the modern world is the use of robots in Star Wars for tasks not considered safe or acceptable for humans. Robots are also seen as a source of cutting human labour costs.
The Japanese radio control manufacturer Nikko developed a toy robot version of R2-D2, with more limited abilities than the R2-D2 has in the Star Wars films. The toy can respond to a small number of verbal commands. Most of the robot's operations must be done manually, due to its limited abilities. A related development is the creation of the droid BB-8 for the film Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (made by different manufacturers). In the film, BB-8 is a semi-automated robot, operated by remote control, unlike C-3PO (played by Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (played by Kenny Baker), who were portrayed by actual actors. The BB-8 toy is operated by remote control, but it also has some independent features, and shares its manner of movement and other features with the film's BB-8.
In 2010, NASA developed robots inspired by the hovering remote-controlled droids, seen in the Star Wars films and other media, and used by the Jedi for lightsaber combat training. These robots were used in NASA space stations for experimentation. Also in 2010, a hacker developed similar robots, but only capable of floating beyond a limited magnetic range.
Military
Military robots in the Star Wars universe are built on the same principles as modern military robotics. While most military robots in the modern world are designed in various shapes, depending on their purpose, the military robots of the Star Wars universe are primarily humanoid, and built to imitate live, organic soldiers, mainly human ones.
A major similarity between modern military robotics and those of the Star Wars universe is that different robots are built and designed for different specific purposes, whether those purposes are ground warfare, maritime warfare, aerial warfare, or space warfare, as seen in the Star Wars prequel films. Such uses are considered unpractical and unfeasible by current means, given the sophistication and resources each individual unit would require.
Another significant, recognizable distinction of the robots in the Star Wars universe, whether military or civilian, is their strong sense of independence and self-awareness, compared to current robots. This is mainly due to Star Wars robots having much more advanced sensors and self-computing systems than current robots do. Despite the limited abilities of current robots, Dr. Jonathan Roberts, director of CSTRO Autonomous Systems Laboratory, proclaims that the role of robots in assisting humans is going to increase, similarly to what is seen in Star Wars.
The Christian Science Monitor reported in 2011 that an American blogger, out of patriotism, tried to raise money to build a robotic AT-AT for the US military. Heikko Hoffman, a robotics expert from HRL Laboratories, who was not associated with the project, claims that AT-ATs are possible, though some of their designs should be changed from those seen in the Star Wars universe, for safety, and for financial and operational costs. The project, though not terminated, was suspended, due to copyright concerns from Lucasfilm.
In 2012, the United States Navy built a robot modelled after C-3PO, but appears to function for both military and civilian purposes.
Macro-engineering
Examples of Macro-engineering on vast scales feature prominently in the Star Wars films and other media. The most famous example is the Death Star from the original Star Wars film. A giant battle station which is said to be in diameter, it was built in secret over a twenty-year period and operated with a crew of over one million. The Death Star II which appears in Return of the Jedi is even larger at in diameter. In The Force Awakens, the First Order unveils Starkiller Base, a planetoid in diameter which has been transformed into a mobile weapons platform. The flagship of the First Order that appears in The Last Jedi, the Supremacy, is a Mega-class Star Destroyer wide and a crew of over two million.
As part of a team project, a group of students at LeHigh University in 2012 attempted to determine the cost and time needed to build a Death Star. They determined that the amount of steel alone needed to build a Death Star was (or 1.08 quadrillion) tons, which at then-current production rates would take 833,315 years and cost $852 quadrillion USD. They also estimated that the total amount of mineable iron ore in the Earth would be enough to build two billion Death Stars. Zachary Feinstein, an assistant professor at Washington University, estimated that the total cost for the first Death Star would amount to $193 quintillion USD. Conversely, he estimated that the cost of building Starkiller Base would be a fraction of that price at $9.315 quintillion USD, but only if it was naturally able to maintain a self-sustaining atmosphere.
Communlcation
Aside from major technologies, the Star Wars universe also includes technologies that play less important roles with respect to the plot of the stories.
Macrobinoculars
Macrobinoculars are hand-held devices that function like binoculars, with the purpose of giving the user the ability to see vast distances. It was first seen on film in A New Hope and mentioned in its novelization. The websites tested.com reports that Sony has developed macrobinoculars comparable to the ones seen in Star Wars, known as DEVs, and produced in separate types of models. These give the user the ability to see great distances clearly and record their sightings.
See also
List of Star Wars weapons
Science fiction prototyping
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination
Bibliography
References
External links
(page one of two) |
43031695 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORX | ORX | Orx is an open-source, portable, lightweight, plug-in-based, data-driven and easy to use 2D-oriented game engine written in C.
It runs on Windows (MinGW and Visual Studio versions), Linux, MacOS, iOS and Android.
General information
Orx provides a complete game creation framework including a 3D scene graph, hardware accelerated 2D rendering, animation, input, sound, physics and much more.
Its main goals are to allow fast game prototyping and creation.
Orx is published under Zlib license.
Features
Despite being written in C, Orx has an object oriented design with a plugin architecture. This allows its kernel to be cross-platform and delegates hardware- and OS-dependent tasks to plugins. Most of these plugins are based on other open-source libraries, such as GLFW, SDL and Box2D.
Build files are provided for GCC makefiles, Visual Studio (2015, 2017 & 2019), Codelite, Code::Blocks and Xcode.
Orx contains most of the common game engine features
automated sprite rendering using 3D hardware acceleration allowing: translations, anisotropic scale, rotation, transparency (alpha blending), coloring (multiply, add and subtract blends), tiling and mirroring
advanced resource management
Multiple Render Targets (MRT) and advance compositing support
geometric display primitives and textured mesh rendering
camera/viewport system allowing multiple views on one screen with camera translations, zooms and rotations
3D scene graph used for object positioning, allowing grouped translations, rotations and scales
sound and music with volume, pitch and loop control
collision detection and rigid body physics and joints
animation system
event management
custom fragment (pixel) shader support
unicode support
custom bitmap font rendering
real time CPU profiler
interactive "debug" console
multi-monitor support
clipboard support
It also provides more unusual features
object creation is data driven: managing resources requires very little code, everything is controlled through configuration files
during dev phases, resources can be automatically hotloaded at runtime upon modification on disk, shortening drastically iteration times
a clock system: this allows the user to keep time consistency everywhere, giving him the ability of doing local or global time stretching
an animation chaining graph: animation transitions are defined in a graph, this allows the code to request only the final target animation; all transitions will be automated depending on the starting animation
a custom animation event system: allows easy synchronization with parts of animations
a visual FX system: config-based combination of curves of sine, sawtooth and linear shapes that can be plugged on object properties: color, alpha, position, translation or rotation
a powerful resource system: allows users to easily abstract resource access and work with separated development files as well as packed ones for release builds, or even use different sets of resources on different platforms, without having to change a line of code
an automated differential scrolling: depth scaling and differential scrolling is controlled through config files, allowing differential parallax scrolling on any number of planes
a powerful configuration system: featuring inheritance, direct random control, encryption/decryption, filtered save and history reload. This allows the user to tweak almost everything without having to change a single line of code
a spawning system: this allows the user to easily create weapon bullets or, combined with the visual FX system, elaborate visual graphic effects
an easy UI object positioning system: helps supporting different aspect ratio and provides easy picking/selection framework
a generic input system: allows users to use any kind of controllers (mouse, joystick, keyboard, touch, accelerometer, ...) through an abstract layer. The user asks for input status using plain names, bindings being done in config files or on the fly for user input customization, for example
simple scripting via a combination of timelines and commands
multi-threading support with asynchronous resources loading and hotloading support
The current list of WIP features that will be added in the future
3D rendering support
network support
See also
Game engine
List of game engines
SFML
SDL
Box2D
GP2X
Codelite
References
External links
Orx Project Site
Git repository on GitHub.com
Mercurial repository on SourceForge.net
Orx wiki
Free game engines
Free software programmed in C
Software using the zlib license |
43085833 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowWow365 | PowWow365 | PowWow365, designed and developed by Hirasoft Corp, is a web conferencing application for businesses and organizations, allowing them to host and attend their meetings, conferences, trainings or workshops from anywhere around the world. The application allows both standard types of communications, i-e, real-time Point-to-point communications and multicast from one sender to the many receivers.
Overview
PowWow365 is complemented by (SSL) with Advanced Encryption Standard AES 256-bit encryption data transfer, which makes it quite reliable and efficient solution for synchronous conferencing at enterprise levels. It introduces the features such as host or invite, chat or call, save and share meeting media to the participants in a neat and clean interface. However, it is this app's integration to WebRTC which supports and enables contextual communications in simultaneous and synchronous fashion during meetings and training sessions.
Features of a PowWow365 include:
Slideshow presentations - where files and documents are presented to the participants along with markup tools to discuss slides content in an interactive fashion.
Voice over IP - Real time audio communication using group of internet technologies, speakers allowing speakers to engage with meeting participants with conference calls.
File Sharing – Pre-meeting, post-meeting and during meeting documents (meeting literature) to make meetings more informative and productive
Web tours - where URLs, data from forms, cookies, scripts and session data can be pushed to other participants enabling them to be pushed through web based logons, clicks, etc. This type of feature works well when demonstrating websites where users themselves can also participate.
Meeting Recording - where presentation activity is recorded on the client side or server side for later viewing and/or distribution.
Whiteboards - with markup tools for annotation (allowing the presenter and/or attendees to highlight or mark items on the slide presentation. Or, simply make notes on a blank whiteboard.)
Instant Messaging - For live question and answer sessions, limited to the people connected to the meeting. Text chat may be public (echoed to all participants) or private (between 2 participants).
Currently, application does not support Video conferencing and Desktop sharing features, however in coming releases these features are also being introduced.
Mobile Support
Recently, iOS version of PowWow365 has been released for iPhones and iPads. This online meeting application combines all the features of Communication and Collaboration (C&C) including VoIP calls, chat, file sharing, along with integrations with plethora of 3rd party SaaS applications such as Yammer, Salesforce, Chatter DropBox, Box, Asana, Podio and others. App is available for download at App Store.
References
Web conferencing
Groupware |
43092670 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batch%20cryptography | Batch cryptography | Batch cryptography is the area of cryptology where cryptographic protocols are studied and developed for doing cryptographic processes like encryption/decryption, key exchange, authentication, etc. in a batch way instead of one by one. The concept of batch cryptography was introduced by Amos Fiat in 1989.
References
Cryptography |
43095373 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time/memory/data%20tradeoff%20attack | Time/memory/data tradeoff attack | A time/memory/data tradeoff attack is a type of cryptographic attack where an attacker tries to achieve a situation similar to the space–time tradeoff but with the additional parameter of data, representing the amount of data available to the attacker. An attacker balances or reduces one or two of those parameters in favor of the other one or two. This type of attack is very difficult, so most of the ciphers and encryption schemes in use were not designed to resist it.
History
Tradeoff attacks on symmetric cryptosystems date back to 1980, when Martin Hellman suggested a time/memory tradeoff method to break block ciphers with possible keys in time and memory related by the tradeoff curve where . Later, in 1995, Babbage and Golic devised a different tradeoff attack for stream ciphers with a new bound such that for where is the output data available to the cryptanalyst at real time.
Attack mechanics
This attack is a special version of the general cryptanalytic time/memory tradeoff attack, which has two main phases:
Preprocessing: During this phase, the attacker explores the structure of the cryptosystem and is allowed to record their findings in large tables. This can take a long time.
Realtime: In this phase, the cryptanalyst is granted real data obtained from a specific unknown key. They then try to use this data with the precomputed table from the preprocessing phase to find the particular key in as little time as possible.
Any time/memory/data tradeoff attack has the following parameters:
search space size
time required for the preprocessing phase
time required for the realtime phase
amount of memory available to the attacker
amount of realtime data available to the attacker
Hellman's attack on block ciphers
For block ciphers, let be the total number of possible keys and also assume the number of possible plaintexts and ciphertexts to be . Also let the given data be a single ciphertext block of a specific plaintext counterpart. If we consider the mapping from the key to the ciphertext as a random permutation function over an point space, and if this function is invertible; we need to find the inverse of this function .
Hellman's technique to invert this function:
During the preprocessing stage
Try to cover the point space by an rectangular matrix that is constructed by iterating the function on random starting points in for times. The start points are the leftmost column in the matrix and the end points are the rightmost column. Then store the pairs of start and end points in increasing order of end points values.
Now, only one matrix will not be able to cover the whole space. But if we add more rows to the matrix, we will end up with a huge matrix that includes recovered points more than once. So, we find the critical value of at which the matrix contains exactly different points. Consider the first paths from start points to end points are all disjoint with points, such that the next path which has at least one common point with one of those previous paths and includes exactly points. Those two sets of and points are disjoint by the birthday paradox if we make sure that . We achieve this by enforcing the matrix stopping rule: .
Nevertheless, an matrix with covers a portion of the whole space. To generate to cover the whole space, we use a variant of defined: and is simple out manipulation such as reordering of bits of (refer to the original paper for more details). And one can see that the total preprocessing time is . Also since we only need to store the pairs of start and end points and we have matrices each of pairs.
During the real time phase
The total computation required to find is because we need to do inversion attempts as it is likely to be covered by one matrix and each of the attempts takes evaluations of some . The optimum tradeoff curve is obtained by using the matrix stopping rule and we get and choice of and depends on the cost of each resource.
According to Hellman, if the block cipher at hand has the property that the mapping from its key to cipher text is a random permutation function over an point space, and if this is invertible, the tradeoff relationship becomes much better: .
Babbage-and-Golic attack on stream ciphers
For stream ciphers, is specified by the number of internal states of the bit generatorprobably different from the number of keys. is the count of the first pseudorandom bits produced from the generator. Finally, the attacker's goal is to find one of the actual internal states of the bit generator to be able to run the generator from this point on to generate the rest of the key. Associate each of the possible internal states of the bit generator with the corresponding string that consists of the first bits obtained by running the generator from that state by the mapping from states to output prefixes . This previous mapping is considered a random function over the points common space. To invert this function, an attacker establishes the following.
During the preprocessing phase, pick random states and compute their corresponding output prefixes.
Store the pairs in increasing order of in a large table.
During the realtime phase, you have generated bits. Calculate from them all possible combinations of of consecutive bits with length .
Search for each in the generated table which takes log time.
If you have a hit, this corresponds to an internal state of the bit generator from which you can forward run the generator to obtain the rest of the key.
By the Birthday Paradox, you are guaranteed that two subsets of a space with points have an intersection if the product of their sizes is greater than .
This result from the Birthday attack gives the condition with attack time and preprocessing time which is just a particular point on the tradeoff curve . We can generalize this relation if we ignore some of the available data at real time and we are able to reduce from to and the general tradeoff curve eventually becomes with and .
Shamir and Biryukov's attack on stream ciphers
This novel idea introduced in 2000 combines the Hellman and Babbage-and-Golic tradeoff attacks to achieve a new tradeoff curve with better bounds for stream cipher cryptoanalysis. Hellman's block cipher technique can be applied to a stream cipher by using the same idea of covering the points space through matrices obtained from multiple variants of the function which is the mapping of internal states to output prefixes. Recall that this tradeoff attack on stream cipher is successful if any of the given output prefixes is found in any of the matrices covering . This cuts the number of covered points by the matrices from to points. This is done by reducing the number of matrices from to while keeping as large as possible (but this requires to have at least one table).
For this new attack, we have because we reduced the number of matrices to and the same for the preprocessing time . The realtime required for the attack is which is the product of the number of matrices, length of each iteration and number of available data points at attack time.
Eventually, we again use the matrix stopping rule to obtain the tradeoff curve for (because ).
Attacks on stream ciphers with low sampling resistance
This attack, invented by Biryukov, Shamir, and Wagner, relies on a specific feature of some stream ciphers: that the bit generator undergoes only few changes in its internal state before producing the next output bit.
Therefore, we can enumerate those special states that generate zero bits for small values of at low cost. But when forcing large number of output bits to take specific values, this enumeration process become very expensive and difficult.
Now, we can define the sampling resistance of a stream cipher to be with the maximum value which makes such enumeration feasible.
Let the stream cipher be of states each has a full name of bits and a corresponding output name which is the first bits in the output sequence of bits. If this stream cipher has sampling resistance , then an efficient enumeration can use a short name of bits to define the special states of the generator. Each special state with short name has a corresponding short output name of bits which is the output sequence of the special state after removing the first leading bits. Now, we are able to define a new mapping over a reduced space of points and this mapping is equivalent to the original mapping. If we let , the realtime data available to the attacker is guaranteed to have at least one output of those special states. Otherwise, we relax the definition of special states to include more points. If we substitute for by and by in the new time/memory/data tradeoff attack by Shamir and Biryukov, we obtain the same tradeoff curve but with . This is actually an improvement since we could relax the lower bound on since can be small up to which means that our attack can be made faster. This technique reduces the number of expensive disk access operations from to since we will be accessing only the special points, and makes the attack faster because of the reduced number of expensive disk operations.
References
Cryptographic attacks |
43102811 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecureSafe | SecureSafe | SecureSafe is a cloud based software-as-a-service with a password safe, a document storage and digital spaces for online collaboration. The service is developed based on the principles of security by design and privacy by design.
Data centers
SecureSafe stores customers’ data in three data centers using triple redundancy mirroring. The first data center is dedicated to production, the second is a hot standby and the third acts as the so-called disaster recovery center. The first two data centers are located in the greater area of Zürich at the company Interxion. The third center is located in a former military bunker in the mountains of central Switzerland.
Features
Password manager
A password manager is used to store passwords. The passwords that are stored in SecureSafe are protected by AES-256 and RSA-2048 encryption.
File storage
A file storage or cloud storage is used to store files online.
2-factor authentication
The login method 2-factor authentication is also known from e-banking systems. It works by sending a one-time code to a user’s mobile every time he or she logs into a given online account. Even if a hacker should get to the user’s login data, the information is useless without the additional security code.
Data rooms
Data rooms are digital spaces where groups of people can share data online.
Data inheritance
Data inheritance or digital inheritance enables customers to pass on important digital assets to others. Among the digital assets people pass on is login criteria to online accounts, insurance and legal documents and photo collections.
References
External links
File hosting
Data synchronization
Cloud storage
File hosting for macOS
File hosting for Windows
Companies' terms of service |
43143801 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android%20Lollipop | Android Lollipop | Android Lollipop (codenamed Android L during development) is the fifth major version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google and the 12th version of Android, spanning versions between 5.0 and 5.1.1. Unveiled on June 25, 2014 at the Google I/O 2014 conference, it became available through official over-the-air (OTA) updates on November 12, 2014, for select devices that run distributions of Android serviced by Google (such as Nexus and Google Play edition devices). Its source code was made available on November 3, 2014. It is the fifth major update and the twelfth version of Android.
One of the most prominent changes in the Lollipop release is a redesigned user interface built around a design language known as Material Design, which was made to retain a paper-like feel to the interface. Other changes include improvements to the notifications, which can be accessed from the lockscreen and displayed within applications as top-of-the-screen banners. Google also made internal changes to the platform, with the Android Runtime (ART) officially replacing Dalvik for improved application performance, and with changes intended to improve and optimize battery usage.
Android Lollipop was succeeded by Android Marshmallow, which was released in October 2015.
, 1.21% of Android devices run Lollipop 5.0 (API 21), and 2.71% run Lollipop 5.1 (API 22), with a combined 3.92% of usage share.
Development
The release was internally codenamed "Lemon Meringue Pie". Android 5.0 was first unveiled under the codename "Android L" on June 25, 2014 during a keynote presentation at the Google I/O developers' conference. Alongside Lollipop, the presentation focused on a number of new Android-oriented platforms and technologies, including Android TV, in-car platform Android Auto, wearable computing platform Android Wear, and health tracking platform Google Fit.
Part of the presentation was dedicated to a new cross-platform design language referred to as "material design". Expanding upon the "card" motifs first seen in Google Now, it is a design with increased use of grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and depth effects such as lighting and shadows. Designer Matías Duarte explained that "unlike real paper, our digital material can expand and reform intelligently. Material has physical surfaces and edges. Seams and shadows provide meaning about what you can touch." The material design language would not only be used on Android, but across Google's suite of web software as well, providing a consistent experience across all platforms.
Features
Android 5.0 introduces a refreshed notification system. Individual notifications are now displayed on cards to adhere to the material design language, and batches of notifications can be grouped by the app that produced them. Notifications are now displayed on the lock screen as cards, and "heads up" notifications can also be displayed as large banners across the top of the screen, along with their respective action buttons. A do-not-disturb feature is also added for notifications. The recent apps menu was redesigned to use a three-dimensional stack of cards to represent open apps. Individual apps can also display multiple cards in the recents menu, such as for a web browser's open tabs. Upon the release of this version, for Most android devices, the navigation buttons were completely changed from a left arrow, a house, and two squares, to a left triangle, a circle and a square.
Lollipop also contains major new platform features for developers, with over 5,000 new APIs added for use by applications. For example, there is the possibility to save photos in a raw image format. Additionally, the Dalvik virtual machine was officially replaced by Android Runtime (ART), which is a new runtime environment that was introduced as a technology preview in KitKat. ART is a cross-platform runtime which supports the x86, ARM, and MIPS architectures in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments. Unlike Dalvik, which uses just-in-time compilation (JIT), ART compiles apps upon installation, which are then run exclusively from the compiled version from then on. This technique removes the processing overhead associated with the JIT process, improving system performance.
Lollipop also aimed to improve battery consumption through a series of optimizations known as "Project Volta". Among its changes are a new battery saver mode, job-scheduling APIs which can restrict certain tasks to only occur over Wi-Fi, and batching of tasks to reduce the overall amount of time uthat internal radios are active on. The new developer tool called "Battery Historian" can be used for tracking battery consumption by apps while in use. The Android Extension Pack APIs also provide graphics functions such as new shaders, aiming to provide PC-level graphics for 3D games on Android devices.
A number of system-level, enterprise-oriented features were also introduced under the banner "Android for Work". The Samsung Knox security framework was initially planned to be used as a foundation for "Android for Work", but instead Google opted to use its own technology for segregating personal and work-oriented data on a device, along with the accompanying APIs for managing the environment. With the "Smart Lock" feature, devices can also be configured so users do not have to perform device unlocking with a PIN or pattern when being on a trusted location, or in proximity of a designated Bluetooth device or NFC tag. Lollipop was, additionally, to have device encryption enabled by default on all capable devices; however, due to performance issues, this change was held over to its successor, Android Marshmallow.
Release
A developer preview of Android L, build LPV79, was released for the Nexus 5 and 2013 Nexus 7 on June 26, 2014 in the form of flashable images. Source code for GPL-licensed components of the developer preview was released via Android Open Source Project (AOSP) in July 2014. A second developer preview build, LPV81C, was released on August 7, 2014, alongside the beta version of the Google Fit platform and SDK. As with the previous build, the second developer preview build is available only for the Nexus 5 and 2013 Nexus 7.
On October 15, 2014, Google officially announced that Android L would be known as Android 5.0 "Lollipop". The company also unveiled launch devices for Android5.0including Motorola's Nexus 6 and HTC's Nexus 9for release on November 3, 2014. Google stated that Nexus (including the Nexus 4, 5, 7, and 10) and Google Play edition devices would receive updates to Lollipop "in the coming weeks"; one more developer preview build for Nexus devices and the new SDK revision for application developers would be released on October 17, 2014. Update schedules for third-party Android devices may vary by manufacturer.
The full source code of Android5.0 was pushed to AOSP on November 3, 2014, allowing developers and OEMs to begin producing their own builds of the operating system. On December 2, 2014, factory images for Nexus smartphones and tablets were updated to the 5.0.1 version, which introduces a few bug fixes, and a serious bug that affected Nexus 4 devices and prevented the audio from working during phone calls. A device-specific Lollipop 5.0.2 (LRX22G) version was released for the first-generation Nexus 7 on December 19, 2014.
Android5.1, an updated version of Lollipop, was unveiled in February 2015 as part of the Indonesian launch of Android One, and is preloaded on Android One devices sold in Indonesia and the Philippines. Google officially announced 5.1 by releasing updates for existing devices on March 9, 2015.
In 2015, Amazon.com forked Lollipop to produce Fire OS 5 "Bellini" for Amazon's Fire HD-series devices.
See also
Android version history
iOS 8
Material Design
OS X Yosemite
Windows 8.1
Windows Phone 8.1
References
External links
Android (operating system)
2014 software |
43149918 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESentral | ESentral | eSentral or e-Sentral is a Malaysian e-Book store for South East Asian market. It was first introduced in October 2011 by three entrepreneurs, Faiz Al-Shahab, Syed Irfan, and Iszuddin Ismail, as a private funded initiative, and received Series A funding from a Malaysian venture capital firm late 2012. eSentral is operated by a private limited company, Xentral Methods. eSentral, a derivation of the word "sentral", meaning central or focal point in Malay, indicates a digital marketplace for contents delivered via bandwidth.
Once registered with the website, users can access books using EPUB standards (rather than PDF) on their computer, tablet or smartphone.
eSentral was the first eBook portal in South East Asia to operate with Digital Rights Management via its own proprietary encryption system.
eSentral has grown to be the biggest repository of eBooks in South East Asia.
eSentral also became the first company to introduce bluetooth beacon technology in distributing eBooks for micro-location premises. This was first demonstrated in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in September 2015.
References
External links
Malaysia: http://www.e-sentral.com www.e-sentral.my
Indonesia: http://www.e-sentral.co.id www.e-sentral.co.id
Singapore: http://www.e-sentral.sg www.e-sentral.sg
2011 establishments in Malaysia
Privately held companies of Malaysia
Companies established in 2011
E-book suppliers |
43157358 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicher | Sicher | Sicher (German language word meaning "safe", "secure" or "certain") is a freeware instant messaging application for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Sicher allows users to exchange end-to-end encrypted text messages, media files and documents in both private and group chats. Sicher is developed by SHAPE GmbH, German company which pioneered mobile messaging with IM+ multi-messenger app it has been offering since 2002.
Security
Sicher uses asymmetric point-to-point RSA cryptosystem with 2048 bit long key. All data exchange between mobile apps and Sicher servers is protected using SSL. Company claims that encrypted messages are deleted from servers as soon as they have been delivered to recipient. Lifetime of encrypted data (pictures, voice messages, files) is defined by message self-destruction timer value which has a maximum of 14 days, however the chat participant may choose to manually purge messages. On mobile devices all messages, received files and metadata are encrypted before saving them to internal storage, where application passcode is used as a key to symmetric encryption.
Privacy
Sicher uses phone number for user authentication due to phone number being a unique identifier that can be easily confirmed and an efficient anti-spam measure. User's address book is used for discovery of Sicher contacts, however address book data is not stored on Sicher servers.
User may choose to receive anonymous notifications about new messages, which means that notification on lock screen will not display content of incoming message, including sender's name.
Controversy
Because Sicher is a closed source proprietary application, it is not possible to verify whether the claimed encryption standards are properly used and well implemented. Furthermore, it can not be verified if the servers are free of intentional or accidental security flaws.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Secure instant messaging
References
External links
Android (operating system) software
IOS software
Windows Phone software
Instant messaging clients
Cross-platform software
Communication software |
43158907 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tixati | Tixati | Tixati is a proprietary Linux and Windows BitTorrent client written in C++ designed to be light on system resources. Its developer, Kevin Hearn (also known for WinMX) releases standalone and portable versions with each new client versions. In addition to standard BitTorrent client sharing functions, Tixati provides integral chatrooms with the channel chat as well as private messaging being strongly encrypted.
Features
In addition to standard BitTorrent client sharing functions, Tixati provides integral chatrooms with the channel chat as well as private messaging being strongly encrypted. According to Tixati's support page, "the Channels feature of Tixati is a particularly good demonstration of how to build a decentralized networked application that supports very high throughputs while remaining cryptographically secure in a 100% decentralized environment. This includes a linear network-coded decentralized media streaming feature, which is secured by a homomorphic hash function and elliptic-curve signatures (the first system of its kind to be implemented successfully.)" Chatrooms can be either public or secret. Users are allowed to optionally share lists of magnet or URL links which are then searchable across all channels a user is joined to. Browsing a specific user's share list is also supported. The channels also allow for streaming audio and video media.
Fopnu
Since July 20, 2017, the developers of Tixati have released regular updates of a new P2P system (network and client) called Fopnu. It's visually similar to Tixati but Fopnu is not a torrent client. Fopnu is a decentralized network with the latest advances in P2P technology, pure UDP and with all communications being encrypted. The ad-free freeware client includes chat rooms, contacts list (with private messages), search windows, browsing of a contact's library and creation of contacts groups (to control access to your library). Sharing massive amounts of files is much easier (than creating a lot of Torrent files) and has very little overhead.
Reception
In 2012, TorrentFreak listed it among the top 10 uTorrent alternatives. The same year, it received a positive review from Ghacks. A 2014 review at BestVPN.com praised it for its lightweight design. In May 2015, Tixati was the fifth most popular torrent client by the audience of Lifehacker.
On January 6, 2017 the developer announced the release of version 2.52 for user alpha testing, which added an encrypted forum function to the channels. Posts to the forum may be visible to all users in the channel or may be private, between only 2 users. In March 2017, it was listed as a popular Bittorrent client by Tom's Guide. In December 2017, it received a positive review by TechRadar. In January 2018, it was reviewed positively by Lifewire.
See also
WinMX
Comparison of BitTorrent clients
Usage share of BitTorrent clients
References
External links
Windows file sharing software
BitTorrent clients for Linux
Cross-platform software
BitTorrent clients |
43170508 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireChat | FireChat | FireChat was a proprietary mobile app, developed by Open Garden, which used wireless mesh networking to enable smartphones to pass messages to each other peer-to-peer via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Apple's Multipeer, without an internet connection.
Though it was not designed with the purpose in mind, FireChat was used as a communication tool in some civil protests.
FireChat is now discontinued. The official URL displays a 404 error page, and apps have not been updated since 2018.
History
The app was first introduced in March 2014 for iPhones, followed on April 3 by a version for Android devices.
In July 2015, FireChat introduced private messaging. Until then, it had only been possible to post messages to public chatrooms.
In May 2016, FireChat introduced FireChat Alerts, which allowed users to "push" alerts during a specific time and in a specific place. This feature was added for the benefit of aid workers doing disaster relief and stemmed from a partnership with the city of Marikina.
Usage
FireChat became popular in 2014 in Iraq following government restrictions on internet use, and thereafter during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. In 2015, FireChat was also promoted by protesters during the 2015 Ecuadorian protests. On September 11, 2015, during the pro-independence demonstration called Free Way to the Catalan Republic, FireChat was used 131,000 times. In January 2016, students protested at the University of Hyderabad, India, following the suicide of a PhD student named Rohith Vemula. Some students were reported to have used Firechat after the university shut down its Wi-Fi.
Security
In June 2014, Firechat's developers told Wired that "[p]eople need to understand that this is not a tool to communicate anything that would put them in a harmful situation if it were to be discovered by somebody who's hostile ... It was not meant for secure or private communications." By July 2015, the FireChat developers claimed to have added end-to-end encryption for its one-to-one private messages.
See also
Mobile ad hoc network (MANET)
Smartphone ad hoc network
References
External links
2014 software
IOS software
Android (operating system) software
Internet-related activism
Mesh networking |
43179151 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone%209%20bloggers | Zone 9 bloggers | The Zone 9 bloggers are a blogging collective from Ethiopia, who maintain a blog in Amharic. On 25 and 26 April 2014, the Ethiopian government arrested six members of the Zone 9 bloggers network and three other journalists, who all now face terrorism charges for their writing. The action has sparked online protest.
They were additionally charged with conspiracy for using basic online encryption tools that journalists routinely use to protect their sources. The arrested bloggers and journalists received training in digital security from the Tactical Technology Collective / Front Line Defenders Security in a Box program.
Ethiopia's constitution explicitly protects freedom of speech and the right to privacy, yet the media is controlled by the government. Although the Internet is harder to censor than broadcast or print, the government has exercised control by jailing those who use the Internet to communicate critically about social or political issues in the country. There is only one Internet service provider (ISP) in Ethiopia, Ethio telecom, and it is owned by the government. Also in 2012, Ethio telecom blocked access to the Tor network, which lets users browse the Internet anonymously and access blocked websites.
On 8 and 9 July 2015, five of the bloggers were released from prison and all charges against them were dropped. Zelalem Kibret, Tesfalem Waldyes, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, Mahlet Fantahun and Edom Kassaye were freed, whilst Befeqadu Hailu, Natnael Feleke, Atnaf Berhane and Abel Wabela remain in jail.
In 2015 the Zone 9 bloggers were awarded the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
History
Zone 9 got its name from an Ethiopian state prison in Addis Ababa called commonly known as Kaliti maximum security prison, which has eight zones. The bloggers, who felt that Ethiopia was becoming a bigger prison (Zone 9), named themselves Zone9ers. The group's motto is "We Blog Because We Care."
The arrest of the Zone 9 bloggers occurred on April 25, 2014, two days after they announced that they would resume blogging on the Zone 9 blog after a silence of nearly six months.
In November 2015 the Zone 9 bloggers were awarded the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Similarly, In November 2015 the collective was awarded Reporters Without Borders' Citizen Journalism Award. Furthermore, in October 2016 the group was nominated as one of the finalists of the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
Works of the Zone 9 bloggers
As a collective focusing on human rights, good governance, education, social justice, corruption and non-violent social transformation, the works of the Zone 9 bloggers can be divided into the following:
Opinion pieces and feature articles focused on rule of law, constitutionality, economic, educational and cultural rights in Ethiopia. In these writings the bloggers have encouraged the citizens of Ethiopia, religious groups, ethnic leaders, opposition political groups and civic society groups to respect the constitution and end impunity in the country. As a part of this effort they have conducted four major online campaigns which demanded that the Ethiopian government respect the constitution.
Documenting human rights abuses and violations of law by both state and non-state actors in the country. They reported on mistreatment of journalists and citizens by reporting on court hearings, trials, prisons and their experiences of Ethiopia. They have written on telecommunications services, education, environment and gender issues.
Bringing the situation of Ethiopia's political prisoners to public attention. They visited political prisoners and published messages from them.
Arrests and charges
The three journalists and six bloggers known as the Zone 9 bloggers were charged with terrorism on 18 July for having links to an outlawed group, for allegedly planning attacks, and for attending digital security training.
The six Zone 9 bloggers and the three journalists who are detained are:
Befeqadu Hailu – a writer, activist, and blogger
Mahlet Fantahun – a data expert in Government's Ministry of Health
Atnaf Berahane – an IT professional in Addis Ababa city administration, a digital security expert and a blogger.
Natnael Feleke – an employee of the Construction and Business Bank, an economist by profession and a passionate advocate of human rights
Zelalem Kibret – a lecturer at Ambo University, a lawyer and a blogger
Abel Wabela – an engineer at Ethiopian Airlines, an engineer and blogger
Edom Khassay – a freelancer and an active member of the Ethiopian Environmental Journalists Association (EEJA)
Tesfalem Waldyes – a freelancer for Addis Standard and other renowned media outlets
Asmamaw Hailegeorgis – a journalist at Addis Guday newspaper
Timeline
April 2014: arrest
On 23 April 2014, the group announced on social media that they would be resuming their activities, following a temporary suspension of their activities due to increased harassment and surveillance by authorities. Two days later, on 25 April, 6 members of the group were arrested in what appeared to be a coordinated operation at their offices and in the street on the afternoon of 25 April 2014 by both uniformed and plain clothes policemen. All six were first taken to their homes, which police searched and confiscated private laptops and literature. Freelance journalists Tesfalem Waldyes and Edom Kassaye were also arrested. On 26 April, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis was arrested.
All nine men and women were taken to the Federal Police Crime Investigation Center commonly known as Maekelawi police station, in Addis Ababa, where detainees are reported to be routinely subjected to coercive torture methods, unlawful interrogation tactics, and poor detention conditions.
April–June 2014: court hearings
All nine individuals were brought before a judge Criminal Bench at the Arada Federal First Instance Court without the presence of their legal counsel or family members. The court ordered that they should be remanded in custody. Befekadu Hailu, Mahlet Fantahun and Abel Wabela were remanded in custody until 8 May 2014 and the other detainees until 7 May 2014.
Sources claim that the court record shows that the police requested remand for the detainees to obtain further evidence that they were "inciting chaos and violence through different websites pursuant to a plan to destabilize the country using social media by getting financial and intellectual support from a foreign force which calls itself a human rights defender". The name of the organisation is not specified. Such accusations have no lawful basis under Ethiopia's domestic criminal law and therefore conflict with Ethiopia's obligations under the African Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
On 7 May, Atnaf Berhane, Zelalem Kibret, Natnael Feleke, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, Tesfalem Waldyes and Edom Kassaye were brought before an Addis Ababa court. At the brief hearing, police requested more time for their investigation. On 8 May, Befekadu Hailu, Abel Wabela, and Mahlet Fantahun were brought before the same court. According to multiple reports, two of the bloggers claimed they were beaten. Police requested more time for their investigation. The next hearing for the three was scheduled to take place on 18 May 2014.
Both hearings were closed to the public, despite many attempts by diplomats and others to attend.
On 17 May, Atnaf Berahane, Zelalem Kibret, Natnael Feleke, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, Tesfalem Waldyes and Edom Kassaye were brought before the same court for the third time in a row without apparent charge. Police requested and were granted an additional 28 days for further investigation into their suspected violations of the 2009 anti-terrorism law, which can carry sentences from 5–10 years. The next hearing was rescheduled to take place on 14 June 2014 at the same court. On 18 May, in a similar manner to the first group of bloggers the second group of bloggers (Befekadu Hailu, Abel Wabela and Mahlet Fantahun) were brought before the court for the third time. Police requested an additional 28 days for investigation but the court rejected the extended 28 days and asked the police to bring the detainees for the hearing on 1 June 2014, when they were brought before the court for the fourth time without apparent charge. The same court which rejected the extended 28 days request of the police two weeks earlier granted the police 28 days and the next hearing was scheduled for 29 June.
On 14 June, Atnaf Berahane, Zelalem Kibret, Natnael Feleke, Asmamaw Hailegeorgis, Tesfalem Waldyes and Edom Kassaye were brought before the court for the fourth time. Police requested and were granted an additional 28 days for investigation and the next hearing was set to be on 12 July 2014.
July 2014: charges
On 17 July, prosecutors for Ethiopia's Lideta High Court formally charged seven Zone 9 bloggers (Soliyana Shimeles (in absentia), Mahlet Fantahun, Befeqadu Hailu, Atinafu Birhane, Natinael Feleke, Zelalem Kibiret, Abel Wabela) and affiliated independent journalists (Edom Kassaye, Tesfalem Waldeyes, and Assmamaw H/Giorgis) with having connections to the outlawed opposition political organization Ginbot 7, as well as the also outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel organization. The charges further allege that Natinael Feleke received a sum of 48,000 birr from Ginbot 7 for the purpose of inciting violence. The defendants had no legal representation present when the charges were issued, because their attorneys and families were not given prior notice about the hearing.
During the last hearing there was an order to amend the terrorism charges. The reason was that the charges did not specify what acts of terrorism the bloggers and journalists were alleged to have performed. Despite the order, no amendment was made to the charges, but a new point was added accusing the bloggers of wanting to change the constitutional order by violence. The bloggers were also repeatedly mentioned together with Ginbot 7, an organization banned as a terrorist network. The bloggers had been openly critical to this group and had denied all association with them. Friends and families of the bloggers were allowed to attend the trial. Also, there seemed to have been a change for the better regarding visits of the female detainees, Mahlet Fantahun and Edom Kassaye. It was reported that they now were allowed to have visitors more frequently. The trial was adjourned for the thirteenth time, and the next hearing was to take place on 16 December 2014.
July 2015: release of five bloggers
On 8 July 2015, three of the Zone 9 bloggers, Tesfalem Waldyes, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis and Zelalem Kiberet, were freed 439 days after they were sent to jail. All charges against the three men were dropped. Shortly afterwards, Mahlet Fantahun and Edom Kassaye were also freed and their charges dropped on 9 July 2015, along with Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu. Their release precedes a visit by US President Barack Obama to Ethiopia for the first time, which some have speculated created pressure for the journalists to be freed.
October 2015: release of four more bloggers
On 16 October 2015 charges against four of the Zone 9 bloggers – Soliana Shimelis, Atnaf Berhane, Abel Wabella and Natnail Feleke – were dropped, and they were acquitted. The court did not acquit Befeqadu on a criminal charge of "inciting violence", and adjourned the case until five days from 16 October to decide on bail.
Charge in Zone 9 case
A federal prosecutor presented a ten-page amended charge in the case of the Zone 9 bloggers and journalists which defense lawyers say had not been amended under the court's order.
The Federal High Court nineteenth criminal bench on 12 November ordered Federal Prosecutors to amend their charge to include details such as the specific act of terror the defendants are alleged to have committed and the roles and acts of each defendant.
On Wednesday the amended charge was read out in court in the presence of the nine defendants in custody. One member of the group, Soliyana Shimeles, a blogger, was charged in absentia.
The amendment specified two "Terrorist Acts" specified under Article 3 of the Anti-Terrorism proclamation. As per the amendment, the defendants are accused of causing "serious risk to the safety or health of the public or section of the public" and "serious damage to property".
"There are some changes to the original charge but we do not believe it is amended as ordered by court," Ameha Mekonnen, lawyer of eight of the defendants, said requesting the court to grant them more days to submit their written comment on the amendment.
The case was adjourned to 16 December 2014 to allow defense lawyers to submit their remark on the amended charge.
The defendants originally faced two charges of 'conspiracy to commit acts of terror' and 'outrage against the constitutional order'. However, judges dropped the latter stating that the facts constituting the alleged crime were covered under the terror charge.
The nine bloggers and journalists - Abel Wabella, Befeqadu Hailu, Atnaf Berhane, Natnael Feleke, Mahlet Fantahun, Zelalem Kibret, Tesfalem Waldyes, Edom Kassaye, and Asmamaw Hailegeorgis - had been in custody since April 2014. Edom and Mahlet, the two female defendants, had complained to court about mistreatment at the Addis Ababa Prison Administration in previous hearings. The two defendants alleged that their right to be visited was limited to a few family members and to ten minutes per day.
Speaking outside the court, Ameha said a resolution had been reached with the prison administration regarding visitation rights of suspects.
The prison administration had promised that the defendants can be visited for one hour a day and the only requirement to visit is prior registration, the lawyer has said.
"We hope things will improve. If not, we will bring it back to the attention of the court," Ameha said.
Advocacy
Advocacy organizations across the world have organized campaigns and written articles to call attention to the case of the Zone 9 bloggers. International organizations like Article 19, Global Voices Advocacy, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Human Rights Watch, and others have been engaged in advocacy efforts, largely aimed at releasing the Zone 9 bloggers and other detained journalists in Ethiopia.
Activists started a Twitter campaign in the summer of 2014 using the hashtag #FreeZone9Bloggers and also began posting pictures on Tumblr displaying support of the jailed bloggers. In May 2014 Global Voices also started a community petition with advocacy organizations from across the globe .
Also in the summer of 2014 the Zone 9 Trial Tracker blog started in an effort to translate relevant case materials into English to help with reporting and advocacy efforts.
See also
Eskinder Nega
Human rights in Ethiopia
Media in Ethiopia
Internet in Ethiopia
References
External links
Zone 9 blog (Internet Archive)
Ethiopian political websites
Ethiopian bloggers
Ethiopian prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of Ethiopia
Ethiopian journalists |
43191172 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtonMail | ProtonMail | ProtonMail is an end-to-end encrypted email service founded in 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland, by scientists who spent time at the CERN research facility. ProtonMail uses client-side encryption to protect email content and user data before they are sent to ProtonMail servers, unlike other common email providers such as Gmail and Outlook.com. The service can be accessed through a webmail client, the Tor network, or dedicated iOS and Android apps.
ProtonMail is run by its parent company Proton Technologies AG, which is based in the Canton of Geneva. The company also operates ProtonVPN, a VPN service. ProtonMail received initial funding through a crowdfunding campaign. Although the default account setup is free, the service is sustained by optional paid services. Initially invitation-only, ProtonMail opened up to the public in March 2016. In 2017, ProtonMail had over users, and grew to over 5 million by September 2018, 20 million by the end of 2019, and over 50 million in 2020.
History
Development
On 16 May 2014, ProtonMail entered into public beta. It was met with enough response that after three days they needed to temporarily suspend beta signups to expand server capacity. Two months later, ProtonMail received from 10,576 donors through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, while aiming for . During the campaign, PayPal froze ProtonMail's PayPal account, thereby preventing the withdrawal of worth of donations. PayPal stated that the account was frozen due to doubts of the legality of encryption, statements that opponents said were unfounded. The restrictions were lifted the following day.
On 18 March 2015, ProtonMail received from Charles River Ventures and the Fondation Genevoise pour l'Innovation Technologique (Fongit). On 14 August 2015, ProtonMail released major version 2.0, which included a rewritten codebase for its web interface. On 17 March 2016, ProtonMail released major version 3.0, which saw the official launch of ProtonMail out of beta. With a new interface for the web client, version 3.0 also included the public launch of ProtonMail's iOS and Android beta applications.
On 19 January 2017, ProtonMail announced support through Tor, at the hidden service address protonirockerxow.onion. On 21 November 2017, ProtonMail introduced ProtonMail Contacts, a zero-access encryption contacts manager. ProtonMail Contacts also utilizes digital signatures to verify the integrity of contacts data. On 6 December 2017, ProtonMail launched ProtonMail Bridge, an application that provides end-to-end email encryption to any desktop client that supports IMAP and SMTP, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Apple Mail, for Windows and MacOS.
On 25 July 2018, ProtonMail introduced address verification and Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) support, making ProtonMail interoperable with other PGP clients. In December 2019, ProtonMail launched "ProtonCalendar", a fully encrypted calendar.
The source code for the back-end remains closed source. However, ProtonMail released the source code for the web interface under an open-source license. ProtonMail also open sourced their mobile clients for iOS and Android, as well the ProtonMail Bridge app. All of their source code can be found on GitHub.
In September 2020, it was known that Protonmail has joined the Coalition for App Fairness which aims to gain better conditions for the inclusion of their apps in app stores.
DDoS attacks
From 3 to 7 November 2015, ProtonMail was under several DDoS attacks that made the service largely unavailable to users. During the attacks, the company stated on Twitter that it was looking for a new data center in Switzerland, saying, "many are afraid due to the magnitude of the attack against us".
In July 2018, ProtonMail reported it was once more suffering from DDoS attacks. CEO Andy Yen claimed that the attackers had been paid by an unknown party to launch the attacks. In September 2018, one of the suspected ProtonMail attackers was arrested by British law enforcement and charged in connection with a series of other high-profile cyberattacks against schools and airlines.
Block in China
On 22 April 2020, ProtonMail confirmed on its ProtonVPN Twitter that ProtonMail and ProtonVPN are banned in China because it doesn't allow the government to spy.
Block in Belarus
On 15 November 2019, Proton confirmed that government of the Republic of Belarus had issued a block across the country of ProtonMail and ProtonVPN IP addresses. The block was no longer in place four days later. No explanation was given to ProtonMail for the block, nor for the block being lifted.
Block in Russia
On 29 January 2020, the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media reported that it had implemented a complete block of ProtonMail services within the Russian Federation. As a reason for the block, it cited ProtonMail's refusal to give up information relating to accounts that allegedly sent out spam with terror threats. However, ProtonMail claimed that it did not receive any requests from Russian authorities regarding any such accounts. In response to the block, the ProtonMail Twitter account recommended legitimate users circumvent the block via VPNs or Tor.
In March 2020, the company announced that even though the Russia ban was not particularly successful and the service continues to be largely available in Russia without utilising a VPN, ProtonMail will be releasing new anti-censorship features in both ProtonMail and ProtonVPN desktop and mobile apps which will allow more block attempts to be automatically circumvented.
Compliance with Swiss court orders and IP Logging
On 5 September 2021, ProtonMail confirmed it was forced to hand over IP addresses of French activists charged with theft and destruction of property after receiving a legally binding Swiss court order. Since article 271 of the Swiss Criminal Code prohibits Swiss companies from giving data to foreign authorities, French authorities asked the Swiss government for assistance. A similar request for assistance was made by the US government to the Swiss government in an August 2021 case involving death threats made against well-known immunologist Anthony Fauci. In that case however, ProtonMail was only able to provide a date of account creation.
On 6 September 2021, ProtonMail clarified its privacy policy to state "If you are breaking Swiss law, ProtonMail can be legally compelled to log your IP address as part of a Swiss criminal investigation" later. For this reason, the company strongly suggests that users who need to hide their identity from the Swiss government use their Tor hidden service/onion site. The company also clarified in its official statement that it cannot be forced by law to compromise its encryption. According to ProtonMail's transparency report, it is legally obligated to follow Swiss court orders, and in 2020, ProtonMail received 3,572 orders from Swiss authorities and contested 750 of them.
Encryption
ProtonMail uses a combination of public-key cryptography and symmetric encryption protocols to offer end-to-end encryption. When a user creates a ProtonMail account, their browser generates a pair of public and private RSA keys:
The public key is used to encrypt the user's emails and other user data.
The private key capable of decrypting the user's data is symmetrically encrypted with the user's mailbox password.
This symmetrical encryption happens in the user's web browser using AES-256. Upon account registration, the user is asked to provide a login password for their account.
A lost login password can be recovered by sending an e-mail to ProtonMail Support. Two of the questions that are asked, in order for Support to provide renewed access to the account are:
Do you remember to which addresses you have sent your last messages?
Do you remember the email subjects from the last sent messages?
This implies that these data are readable by support agents and hence by data analysis services. They constitute meta-data, so that networks of communicating accounts along with subject headers can be charted.
ProtonMail also offers users an option to log in with a two-password mode which requires a login password and a mailbox password.
The login password is used for authentication.
The mailbox password encrypts the user's mailbox that contains received emails, contacts, and user information as well as a private encryption key.
Upon logging in, the user has to provide both passwords. This is to access the account and the encrypted mailbox and its private encryption key. The decryption takes place client-side either in a web browser or in one of the apps. The public key and the encrypted private key are both stored on ProtonMail servers. Thus ProtonMail stores decryption keys only in their encrypted form so ProtonMail developers are unable to retrieve user emails or reset user mailbox passwords. This system absolves ProtonMail from:
Storing either the unencrypted data or the mailbox password.
Divulging the contents of past emails but not future emails.
Decrypting the mailbox if requested or compelled by a court order.
ProtonMail exclusively supports HTTPS and uses TLS with ephemeral key exchange to encrypt all Internet traffic between users and ProtonMail servers. Their 4096-bit RSA SSL certificate is signed by QuoVadis Trustlink Schweiz AG and supports Extended Validation, Certificate Transparency, Public Key Pinning, and Strict Transport Security. Protonmail.com holds an "A+" rating from Qualys SSL Labs.
In September 2015, ProtonMail added native support to their web interface and mobile app for PGP. This allows a user to export their ProtonMail PGP-encoded public key to others outside of ProtonMail, enabling them to use the key for email encryption. The ProtonMail team plans to support PGP encryption from ProtonMail to outside users.
A drawback of keeping the mail bodies encrypted is that the ProtonMail servers cannot search within them while they can search for their metadata.
The problems gets worse as the mail archives get larger and users have difficulties narrowing down their search targets.
A workaround is using ProtonMail Bridge to download and decrypt the messages and search for them locally.
Email sending
An email message sent from one ProtonMail account to another is automatically encrypted with the public key of the recipient. Once encrypted, only the private key of the recipient can decrypt the message. When the recipient logs in, their mailbox password decrypts their private key and unlocks their inbox.
Email messages sent from ProtonMail to non-ProtonMail email addresses may optionally be sent in plain text or with end-to-end encryption. With encryption, the message is encrypted with AES under a user-supplied password. The recipient receives a link to the ProtonMail website on which they can enter the password and read the decrypted message. ProtonMail assumes that the sender and the recipient have exchanged this password through a backchannel. Such email messages can be set to self-destruct after a period of time.
Location and security
Both ProtonMail and ProtonVPN are located in Switzerland to avoid any surveillance or information requests from countries under the Fourteen Eyes, and/or under government surveillance laws like the United States' Patriot Act or outside the bounds of law.
The company claims that it is also located in Switzerland because of its strict privacy laws.
In 2018 Nadim Kobeissi published an article arguing that as ProtonMail was generally accessed through a web client, "no end-to-end encryption guarantees have ever been provided by the ProtonMail service."
In 2020–2021, climate activists were arrested in France, after ProtonMail recorded and transmitted IP addresses to the authorities (upon request from French Police via Europol to the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police).
Data portability
ProtonMail limits data portability by locking support for external email client software through IMAP and POP3 protocols behind a paywall. As of 2021, users are unable to back up their email account locally without paying.
Data centres
ProtonMail maintains and owns its own server hardware and network in order to avoid utilizing a third party. It maintains two data centres, one in Lausanne and another in Attinghausen (in the former K7 military bunker under of granite) as a backup. Since the servers are located in Switzerland, they are legally outside of the jurisdiction of the European Union, United States, and other countries. Under Swiss law, all surveillance requests from foreign countries must go through a Swiss court and are subject to international treaties. Prospective surveillance targets are promptly notified and can appeal the request in court.
Each data centre uses load balancing across web, mail, and SQL servers, redundant power supply, hard drives with full disk encryption, and exclusive use of Linux and other open-source software. In December 2014, ProtonMail joined the RIPE NCC in an effort to have more direct control over the surrounding Internet infrastructure.
Two-factor authentication
ProtonMail currently supports two-factor authentication with TOTP tokens for its login process. As of October 2019, according to the official ProtonMail blog, U2F support for YubiKey and FIDO physical security keys is currently under development and will be available soon after the release of v4.0.
Account types
, ProtonMail offers the following plans:
See also
Comparison of mail servers
Comparison of webmail providers
References
External links
Free software webmail
Internet properties established in 2013
Cross-platform software
Software using the MIT license
Software using the GPL license
Free security software
Cryptographic software
Secure communication
Internet privacy software
Swiss brands
Tor onion services |
43204134 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud%20computing%20issues | Cloud computing issues | Cloud computing has become a social phenomenon used by most people every day. As with every important social phenomenon there are issues that limit its widespread adoption.
In the present scenario, cloud computing is seen as a fast developing area that can instantly supply extensible services by using internet with the help of hardware and software virtualization. The biggest advantage of cloud computing is flexible lease and release of resources as per the requirement of the user. Other benefits encompass betterment in efficiency, compensating the costs in operations. It curtails down the high prices of hardware and software
Although, there are numerous benefits of adopting the latest cloud technology still there are privacy issues involved in cloud computing because in the cloud at any time the data can outbreak the service provider and the information is deleted purposely.
There are security issues of various kinds related with cloud computing falling into two broader categories: First, the issues related to the cloud security that the cloud providers face (like software provided to the organizations, infrastructure as a service). Secondly, the issues related to the cloud security that the customers experience (organizations who store data on the cloud)
Most issues start from the fact that the user loses control of their data, because it is stored on a computer belonging to someone else (the cloud provider). This happens when the owner of the remote servers is a person or organization other than the user; as their interests may point in different directions (for example, the user may wish that their information is kept private, but the owner of the remote servers may want to take advantage of it for their own business). Other issues hampering the adoption of cloud technologies include the uncertainties related to guaranteed QoS provisioning, automated management, and remediation in cloud systems.
Many issues relate to cloud computing, some of which are discussed here:
Threats and opportunities of the cloud
GNU project initiator Richard Stallman has characterized cloud computing as raising cost and information-ownership concerns.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison viewed the trend to "cloud computing" in terms of "fashion-driven [...] complete gibberish".
However, the concept of cloud computing appeared to gain steam, with 56% of the major European technology decision-makers seeing the cloud as a priority in 2013 and 2014, and the cloud budget may reach 30% of the overall IT budget.
According to the TechInsights Report 2013: Cloud Succeeds based on a survey, cloud implementations generally meet or exceed expectations across major service models, such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS) and Software as a service (SaaS).
Several deterrents to the widespread adoption of cloud computing remain. They include:
reliability
availability of services and data
security
complexity
costs
regulations and legal issues
performance
migration
reversion
the lack of standards
limited customization
issues of privacy
The cloud offers many strong points: infrastructure flexibility, faster deployment of applications and data, cost control, adaptation of cloud resources to real needs, improved productivity, etc. The cloud market of the early 2010s - especially for private clouds - was dominated by software and services in SaaS mode and IaaS (infrastructure). PaaS and the public cloud lag in comparison.
Privacy
The increased use of cloud computing services such as Gmail and Google Docs has pressed the issue of privacy concerns of cloud computing services to the utmost importance. The provider of such services lie in a position such that with the greater use of cloud computing services has given access to a plethora of data. This access has the immense risk of data being disclosed either accidentally or deliberately. The privacy of the companies can be compromised as all the information is sent to the cloud service provider. Privacy advocates have criticized the cloud model for giving hosting companies' greater ease to control—and thus, to monitor at will—communication between host company and end user, and access user data (with or without permission). Instances such as the secret NSA program, working with AT&T, and Verizon, which recorded over 10 million telephone calls between American citizens, causes uncertainty among privacy advocates, and the greater powers it gives to telecommunication companies to monitor user activity. A cloud service provider (CSP) can complicate data privacy because of the extent of virtualization (virtual machines) and cloud storage used to implement cloud service. CSP operations, customer or tenant data may not remain on the same system, or in the same data center or even within the same provider's cloud; this can lead to legal concerns over jurisdiction. While there have been efforts (such as US-EU Safe Harbor) to "harmonise" the legal environment, providers such as Amazon still cater to major markets (typically to the United States and the European Union) by deploying local infrastructure and allowing customers to select "regions and availability zones".
Cloud computing poses privacy concerns because the service provider can access the data that is on the cloud at any time. It could accidentally or deliberately alter or even delete information. This becomes a major concern as these service providers employ administrators, which can leave room for potential unwanted disclosure of information on the cloud.
Other technical Issues
Sometimes there can be some technical issues like servers might be down so at that time it becomes difficult to gain access to the resources at any time and from anywhere e.g. non-availability of services can be due to denial of service attack. To use the technique of cloud computing there should always be a strong internet connection without which we would not be able to take advantage of the cloud computing. The other issue related to the cloud computing is that it consumes the great power of the physical devices such as a smartphone.
Sharing information without a warrant
Many cloud providers can share information with third parties if necessary for purposes of law and order even without a warrant. That is permitted in their privacy policies which users have to agree to before they start using cloud services.
There are life-threatening situations in which there is no time to wait for the police to issue a warrant. Many cloud providers can share information immediately to the police in such situations.
Example of a Privacy Policy that allows this
The Dropbox Privacy policy states that
We may share information as discussed below …
Law & Order. We may disclose your information to third parties if we determine that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with the law; (b) protect any person from death or serious bodily injury; (c) prevent fraud or abuse of Dropbox or our users; or (d) protect Dropbox's property rights.
Previous situation about this
The Sydney Morning Herald reported about the Mosman bomb hoax, which was a life-threatening situation, that:
As to whether NSW Police needed a warrant to access the information it was likely to have, Byrne said it depended on the process taken. "Gmail does set out in their process in terms of their legal disclosure guidelines [that] it can be done by a search warrant ... but there are exceptions that can apply in different parts of the world and different service providers. For example, Facebook generally provides an exception for emergency life threatening situations that are signed off by law enforcement."
Another computer forensic expert at iT4ensics, which works for large corporations dealing with matters like internal fraud, Scott Lasak, said that police "would just contact Google" and "being of a police or FBI background Google would assist them".
"Whether or not they need to go through warrants or that sort of thing I'm not sure. But even for just an IP address they might not even need a warrant for something like that being of a police background.
...
NSW Police would not comment on whether it had received help from Google. The search giant also declined to comment, instead offering a standard statement on how it cooperated with law enforcement.
A spokesman for the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, Stephen Collins, said Google was likely to have handed over the need information on the basis of "probable cause or a warrant", which he said was "perfectly legitimate". He also said “It happens with relative frequency. … Such things are rarely used in Australia for trivial or malevolent purposes.”
Privacy solutions
Solutions to privacy in cloud computing include policy and legislation as well as end users' choices for how data is stored. The cloud service provider needs to establish clear and relevant policies that describe how the data of each cloud user will be accessed and used. Cloud service users can encrypt data that is processed or stored within the cloud to prevent unauthorized access. Cryptographic encryption mechanisms are certainly the best options. In addition, authentication and integrity protection mechanisms ensure that data only goes where the customer wants it to go and it is not modified in transit.
Strong authentication is a mandatory requirement for any cloud deployment. User authentication is the primary basis for access control, and specially in the cloud environment, authentication and access control are more important than ever since the cloud and all of its data are publicly accessible. Biometric identification technologies linking users' biometrics information to their data are available. These technologies use searchable encryption techniques, and perform identification in an encrypted domain so that cloud providers or potential attackers do not gain access to sensitive data or even the contents of the individual queries.
Compliance
To comply with regulations including FISMA, HIPAA, and SOX in the United States, the Data Protection Directive in the EU and the credit card industry's PCI DSS, users may have to adopt community or hybrid deployment modes that are typically more expensive and may offer restricted benefits. This is how Google is able to "manage and meet additional government policy requirements beyond FISMA" and Rackspace Cloud or QubeSpace are able to claim PCI compliance.
Many providers also obtain a SAS 70 Type II audit, but this has been criticised on the grounds that the hand-picked set of goals and standards determined by the auditor and the auditee are often not disclosed and can vary widely. Providers typically make this information available on request, under non-disclosure agreement.
Customers in the EU contracting with cloud providers outside the EU/EEA have to adhere to the EU regulations on export of personal data.
A multitude of laws and regulations have forced specific compliance requirements onto many companies that collect, generate or store data. These policies may dictate a wide array of data storage policies, such as how long information must be retained, the process used for deleting data, and even certain recovery plans. Below are some examples of compliance laws or regulations.
United States, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires a contingency plan that includes, data backups, data recovery, and data access during emergencies.
The privacy laws of Switzerland demand that private data, including emails, be physically stored in Switzerland.
In the United Kingdom, the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 sets forth guidance for a business contingency plan that includes policies for data storage.
In a virtualized cloud computing environment, customers may never know exactly where their data is stored. In fact, data may be stored across multiple data centers in an effort to improve reliability, increase performance, and provide redundancies. This geographic dispersion may make it more difficult to ascertain legal jurisdiction if disputes arise.
FedRAMP
U.S. Federal Agencies have been directed by the Office of Management and Budget to use a process called FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) to assess and authorize cloud products and services. Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel issued a memorandum to federal agency Chief Information Officers on December 8, 2011 defining how federal agencies should use FedRAMP. FedRAMP consists of a subset of NIST Special Publication 800-53 security controls specifically selected to provide protection in cloud environments. A subset has been defined for the FIPS 199 low categorization and the FIPS 199 moderate categorization. The FedRAMP program has also established a Joint Accreditation Board (JAB) consisting of Chief Information Officers from DoD, DHS, and GSA. The JAB is responsible for establishing accreditation standards for 3rd party organizations who perform the assessments of cloud solutions. The JAB also reviews authorization packages, and may grant provisional authorization (to operate). The federal agency consuming the service still has final responsibility for final authority to operate.
Legal
As with other changes in the landscape of computing, certain legal issues arise with cloud computing, including trademark infringement, security concerns and sharing of proprietary data resources.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized the United States government during the Megaupload seizure process for considering that people lose property rights by storing data on a cloud computing service.
One important but not often mentioned problem with cloud computing is the problem of who is in "possession" of the data. If a cloud company is the possessor of the data, the possessor has certain legal rights. If the cloud company is the "custodian" of the data, then a different set of rights would apply. The next problem in the legalities of cloud computing is the problem of legal ownership of the data. Many Terms of Service agreements are silent on the question of ownership.
These legal issues are not confined to the time period in which the cloud-based application is actively being used. There must also be consideration for what happens when the provider-customer relationship ends. In most cases, this event will be addressed before an application is deployed to the cloud. However, in the case of provider insolvencies or bankruptcy the state of the data may become blurred.
Vendor lock-in
Because cloud computing is still relatively new, standards are still being developed. Many cloud platforms and services are proprietary, meaning that they are built on the specific standards, tools and protocols developed by a particular vendor for its particular cloud offering. This can make migrating off a proprietary cloud platform prohibitively complicated and expensive.
Three types of vendor lock-in can occur with cloud computing:
Platform lock-in: cloud services tend to be built on one of several possible virtualization platforms, for example VMware or Xen. Migrating from a cloud provider using one platform to a cloud provider using a different platform could be very complicated.
Data lock-in: since the cloud is still new, standards of ownership, i.e. who actually owns the data once it lives on a cloud platform, are not yet developed, which could make it complicated if cloud computing users ever decide to move data off of a cloud vendor's platform.
Tools lock-in: if tools built to manage a cloud environment are not compatible with different kinds of both virtual and physical infrastructure, those tools will only be able to manage data or apps that live in the vendor's particular cloud environment.
Heterogeneous cloud computing is described as a type of cloud environment that prevents vendor lock-in, and aligns with enterprise data centers that are operating hybrid cloud models. The absence of vendor lock-in lets cloud administrators select their choice of hypervisors for specific tasks, or to deploy virtualized infrastructures to other enterprises without the need to consider the flavor of hypervisor in the other enterprise.
A heterogeneous cloud is considered one that includes on-premises private clouds, public clouds and software-as-a-service clouds. Heterogeneous clouds can work with environments that are not virtualized, such as traditional data centers. Heterogeneous clouds also allow for the use of piece parts, such as hypervisors, servers, and storage, from multiple vendors.
Cloud piece parts, such as cloud storage systems, offer APIs but they are often incompatible with each other. The result is complicated migration between backends, and makes it difficult to integrate data spread across various locations. This has been described as a problem of vendor lock-in.
The solution to this is for clouds to adopt common standards.
Heterogeneous cloud computing differs from homogeneous clouds, which have been described as those using consistent building blocks supplied by a single vendor. Intel General Manager of high-density computing, Jason Waxman, is quoted as saying that a homogeneous system of 15,000 servers would cost $6 million more in capital expenditure and use 1 megawatt of power.
Open source
Open-source software has provided the foundation for many cloud computing implementations, prominent examples being the Hadoop framework and VMware's Cloud Foundry. In November 2007, the Free Software Foundation released the Affero General Public License, a version of GPLv3 intended to close a perceived legal loophole associated with free software designed to run over a network.
Open standards
Most cloud providers expose APIs that are typically well documented (often under a Creative Commons license) but also unique to their implementation and thus not interoperable. Some vendors have adopted others' APIs and there are a number of open standards under development, with a view to delivering interoperability and portability. As of November 2012, the Open Standard with broadest industry support is probably OpenStack, founded in 2010 by NASA and Rackspace, and now governed by the OpenStack Foundation. OpenStack
supporters include AMD, Intel, Canonical, SUSE Linux, Red Hat, Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, Yahoo, Huawei and now VMware.
Security
Security is generally a desired state of being free from harm (anything that compromises the state of an entity's well-being). As defined in information security, it is a condition in which an information asset is protected against its confidentiality (quality or state of being free from unauthorised or insecure disclosure contrary to the defined access rights as listed in the access control list and or matrix), integrity (a quality or state of being whole/ as complete as original and uncorrupted as functionally proven by the hash integrity values) and availability (a desired state of an information resource being accessible only by authorised parties (as listed in access control list and or matrix) in the desired state and at the right time. Security is an important domain in as far as cloud computing is concerned, there are a number of issues to be addressed if the cloud is to be perfectly secure (a condition i doubt will ever be achieved)(Martin Muduva, 2015).
As cloud computing is achieving increased popularity, concerns are being voiced about the security issues introduced through adoption of this new model. The effectiveness and efficiency of traditional protection mechanisms are being reconsidered as the characteristics of this innovative deployment model can differ widely from those of traditional architectures. An alternative perspective on the topic of cloud security is that this is but another, although quite broad, case of "applied security" and that similar security principles that apply in shared multi-user mainframe security models apply with cloud security.
The relative security of cloud computing services is a contentious issue that may be delaying its adoption. Physical control of the Private Cloud equipment is more secure than having the equipment off site and under someone else's control. Physical control and the ability to visually inspect data links and access ports is required in order to ensure data links are not compromised. Issues barring the adoption of cloud computing are due in large part to the private and public sectors' unease surrounding the external management of security-based services. It is the very nature of cloud computing-based services, private or public, that promote external management of provided services. This delivers great incentive to cloud computing service providers to prioritize building and maintaining strong management of secure services. Security issues have been categorised into sensitive data access, data segregation, privacy, bug exploitation, recovery, accountability, malicious insiders, management console security, account control, and multi-tenancy issues. Solutions to various cloud security issues vary, from cryptography, particularly public key infrastructure (PKI), to use of multiple cloud providers, standardisation of APIs, and improving virtual machine support and legal support.
Cloud computing offers many benefits, but is vulnerable to threats. As cloud computing uses increase, it is likely that more criminals find new ways to exploit system vulnerabilities. Many underlying challenges and risks in cloud computing increase the threat of data compromise. To mitigate the threat, cloud computing stakeholders should invest heavily in risk assessment to ensure that the system encrypts to protect data, establishes trusted foundation to secure the platform and infrastructure, and builds higher assurance into auditing to strengthen compliance. Security concerns must be addressed to maintain trust in cloud computing technology.
Data breach is a big concern in cloud computing. A compromised server could significantly harm the users as well as cloud providers. A variety of information could be stolen. These include credit card and social security numbers, addresses, and personal messages. The U.S. now requires cloud providers to notify customers of breaches. Once notified, customers now have to worry about identity theft and fraud, while providers have to deal with federal investigations, lawsuits and reputational damage. Customer lawsuits and settlements have resulted in over $1 billion in losses to cloud providers.
Availability
A cloud provider may shut down without warning. For instance, the Anki robot company suddenly went bankrupt in 2019, making 1.5 million robots unresponsive to voice command.
Sustainability
Although cloud computing is often assumed to be a form of green computing, there is currently no way to measure how "green" computers are.
The primary environmental problem associated with the cloud is energy use. Phil Radford of Greenpeace said “we are concerned that this new explosion in electricity use could lock us into old, polluting energy sources instead of the clean energy available today.” Greenpeace ranks the energy usage of the top ten big brands in cloud computing, and successfully urged several companies to switch to clean energy. On Thursday, December 15, 2011, Greenpeace and Facebook announced together that Facebook would shift to use clean and renewable energy to power its own operations. Soon thereafter, Apple agreed to make all of its data centers ‘coal free’ by the end of 2013 and doubled the amount of solar energy powering its Maiden, NC data center. Following suit, Salesforce agreed to shift to 100% clean energy by 2020.
Citing the servers' effects on the environmental effects of cloud computing, in areas where climate favors natural cooling and renewable electricity is readily available, the environmental effects will be more moderate. (The same holds true for "traditional" data centers.) Thus countries with favorable conditions, such as Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, are trying to attract cloud computing data centers.
Energy efficiency in cloud computing can result from energy-aware scheduling and server consolidation. However, in the case of distributed clouds over data centers with different sources of energy including renewable energy, the use of energy efficiency reduction could result in a significant carbon footprint reduction.
Abuse
As with privately purchased hardware, customers can purchase the services of cloud computing for nefarious purposes. This includes password cracking and launching attacks using the purchased services. In 2009, a banking trojan illegally used the popular Amazon service as a command and control channel that issued software updates and malicious instructions to PCs that were infected by the malware.
IT governance
The introduction of cloud computing requires an appropriate IT governance model to ensure a secured computing environment and to comply with all relevant organizational information technology policies. As such, organizations need a set of capabilities that are essential when effectively implementing and managing cloud services, including demand management, relationship management, data security management, application lifecycle management, risk and compliance management.
A danger lies with the explosion of companies joining the growth in cloud computing by becoming providers. However, many of the infrastructural and logistical concerns regarding the operation of cloud computing businesses are still unknown. This over-saturation may have ramifications for the industry as a whole.
Consumer end storage
The increased use of cloud computing could lead to a reduction in demand for high storage capacity consumer end devices, due to cheaper low storage devices that stream all content via the cloud becoming more popular.
In a Wired article, Jake Gardner explains that while unregulated usage is beneficial for IT and tech moguls like Amazon, the anonymous nature of the cost of consumption of cloud usage makes it difficult for business to evaluate and incorporate it into their business plans.
Ambiguity of terminology
Outside of the information technology and software industry, the term "cloud" can be found to reference a wide range of services, some of which fall under the category of cloud computing, while others do not. The cloud is often used to refer to a product or service that is discovered, accessed and paid for over the Internet, but is not necessarily a computing resource. Examples of service that are sometimes referred to as "the cloud" include, but are not limited to, crowd sourcing, cloud printing, crowd funding, cloud manufacturing.
Performance interference and noisy neighbors
Due to its multi-tenant nature and resource sharing, cloud computing must also deal with the "noisy neighbor" effect. This effect in essence indicates that in a shared infrastructure, the activity of a virtual machine on a neighboring core on the same physical host may lead to increased performance degradation of the VMs in the same physical host, due to issues such as e.g. cache contamination. Due to the fact that the neighboring VMs may be activated or deactivated at arbitrary times, the result is an increased variation in the actual performance of cloud resources. This effect seems to be dependent on the nature of the applications that run inside the VMs but also other factors such as scheduling parameters and the careful selection may lead to optimized assignment in order to minimize the phenomenon. This has also led to difficulties in comparing various cloud providers on cost and performance using traditional benchmarks for service and application performance, as the time period and location in which the benchmark is performed can result in widely varied results. This observation has led in turn to research efforts to make cloud computing applications intrinsically aware of changes in the infrastructure so that the application can automatically adapt to avoid failure.
Monopolies and privatization of cyberspace
Philosopher Slavoj Žižek points out that, although cloud computing enhances content accessibility, this access is "increasingly grounded in the virtually monopolistic privatization of the cloud which provides this access". According to him, this access, necessarily mediated through a handful of companies, ensures a progressive privatization of global cyberspace. Žižek criticizes the argument purported by supporters of cloud computing that this phenomenon is part of the "natural evolution" of the Internet, sustaining that the quasi-monopolies "set prices at will but also filter the software they provide to give its "universality" a particular twist depending on commercial and ideological interests."
See also
Cloud computing
References
Criticisms of software and websites |
43223929 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threema | Threema | Threema is a paid open-source end-to-end encrypted instant messaging application for iOS and Android.
The software is based on the privacy by design principles as it does not require a phone number or any other personally identifiable information. This helps anonymize the users to a degree.
In addition to text messaging, users can make voice and video calls, send multimedia, locations, voice messages, and files. A web app version, Threema Web, can be used on desktop devices, but only as long as the phone with the Threema installation of the user is online.
Threema is developed by the Swiss company Threema GmbH. The servers are in Switzerland and the development is based in Pfäffikon SZ. As of May 2021, Threema had 10 million users and the business version, Threema Work, was used by 2 million users across 5,000 companies and organizations.
History
Threema was founded in December 2012 by Manuel Kasper. The company was initially called Kasper Systems GmbH. Martin Blatter and Silvan Engeler were later recruited to develop an Android application that was released in early 2013.
In Summer 2013, the Snowden leaks helped create an interest in Threema, boosting the user numbers to the hundreds of thousands. When Facebook took over WhatsApp in February 2014, Threema got 200,000 new users, doubling its userbase in 24 hours. Around 80% percent of those new users came from Germany. By March 2014 Threema had 1.2 million users.
In Spring 2014, operations were transferred to the newly created Threema GmbH.
In December 2014, Apple listed Threema as the most-sold app of 2014 at the German App Store.
In 2020, Threema expanded with video calls, plans to make its codebase fully open-source as well as introduce reproducible builds and Threema Education, a variation of Threema intended for education institutions.
During the second week of 2021, Threema saw a quadrupling of daily downloads spurred on by controversial privacy changes in the WhatsApp messaging service. A spokesperson for the company also confirmed that Threema had risen to the top of the charts for paid applications in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. This trend continued into the third week of the year, with the head of Marketing & Sales confirming that downloads had increased to ten times the regular amount, leading to "hundreds of thousands of new users each day".
Features
Threema uses a user ID, created after the initial app launch by a random generator, instead of requiring a linked email address or phone number to send messages. It is possible to find other users by phone number or email address if the user allows the app to synchronize their address book. Linking a phone number or email address to a Threema ID is optional. Hence, the service can be used anonymously. Users can verify the identity of their Threema contacts by scanning their QR code when they meet physically. The QR code contains the public key of the user, which is cryptographically tied to the ID and will not change during the lifetime of the identity. Using this strong authentication feature, users can make sure they have the correct public key from their chat partners, which provides additional security against a Man-in-the-middle attack. Threema knows three levels of authentication (trust levels of the contact's identity). The verification level of each contact is displayed in the Threema application as dots next to the corresponding contact.
In addition to one-on-one chats, Threema offers group chats up to 256 people. Users can make voice and video calls, send text and voice messages, multimedia, locations, and files of any type (up to 50 MB per file). It is also possible to create polls in personal or group chats. With Threema Web, a client for web browsers, Threema can be used from other devices like desktop computers, though only as long as the original device is online. Threema optionally supports Android Wear smartwatch and Android Auto. Threema launched support for end-to-end encrypted video calls on August 10, 2020. The calls are person-to-person with group calls unavailable.
At the end of July, 2021 Threema introduced the ability for companies to host the messenger on their own server, primarily intended for companies with significantly high privacy concerns.
Related products
Threema Work: On May 25, 2016, Threema Work, a corporate version of Threema, was released. Threema Work offers extended administration and deployment capabilities. Threema Work is based on a yearly subscription model.
Threema Gateway: On March 20, 2015, Threema released a gateway for companies. Similar to an SMS gateway, businesses can use it to send messages to their users who have Threema installed. The code for the Threema Gateway SDK is open for developers and available on GitHub.
Threema Broadcast: On August 9, 2018, Threema released Threema Broadcast, a tool for top-down communication. Similar to emails in electronic newsletters, Threema messages can be sent to any number of feed subscribers, and the Threema Broadcast allows to create chatbots.
Threema Education: On September 10, 2020, Threema released Threema Education, a version of its messenger designed for education institutions. The app integrates Threema Broadcast and requires a one-time payment for each device used. It's intended for use by teachers, students, and parents.
Threema OnPrem: On July 27, 2021, Threema released Threema OnPrem, a version of the messenger which could be hosted on a company's own servers for maximum security purposes.
Privacy
Since Threema's servers are in Switzerland, they are subject to the Swiss federal law on data protection. The data center is ISO/IEC 27001-certified. Linking a phone number and/or email address to a Threema ID is optional; when doing so, only checksum values (SHA-256 HMAC with a static key) of the email address and/or phone number are sent to the server. Due to the small number of possible digit combinations of a telephone number, the phone number associated with a checksum could be determined by brute force. The transmitted data is TLS-secured. The address book data is kept only in the volatile memory of the server and is deleted immediately after synchronizing contacts. If a user chooses to link a phone number or email address with their Threema ID, they can remove the phone number or email address at any time. Should a user ever lose their device (and their private key), they can revoke their Threema ID if a revocation password for that ID has been set.
Groups are solely managed on users’ devices and group messages are sent to each recipient as an individual message, encrypted with the respective public key. Thus, group compositions are not directly exposed to the server.
Data (including media files) stored on the users’ devices is encrypted with AES 256. On Android, it can be additionally protected by a passphrase.
Since 2016, Threema GmbH publishes a transparency report where public authority inquiries are disclosed.
On March 9, 2017, Threema was listed in the "Register of organizers of information dissemination in the Internet" operated by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.
In a response, a Threema spokesperson publicly stated: "We operate under Swiss law and are neither allowed nor willing to provide any information about our users to foreign authorities."
On April 29, 2021 Threema won a significant case at the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland against the Swiss Federal Department of Police and Justice, who wished to classify the company as a telecommunications provider. Had they lost the case, Threema would have had a legal requirement to identify users and send information about their users to law enforcement.
Starting January 2022, Swiss Armed Forces suggested that the troops should use Threema instead of WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, citing Threema being Swiss-based without servers in the United States and thus not subject to the CLOUD Act, also promising that soldiers would be reimbursed for the annual cost of 4 Swiss francs.
Architecture
The entire communication via Threema is end-to-end encrypted. During the initial setup, the application generates a key pair and sends the public key to the server while keeping the private key on the user's device. The application then encrypts all messages and files that are sent to other Threema users with their respective public keys. Once a message is delivered successfully, it is immediately deleted from the servers.
The encryption process used by Threema is based on the open-source library NaCl library. Threema uses asymmetric ECC-based encryption, with 256-bit strength. Threema offers a "Validation Logging" feature that makes it possible to confirm that messages are end-to-end encrypted using the NaCl Networking and Cryptography library. In August 2015, Threema was subjected to an external security audit. Researchers from cnlab confirmed that Threema allows secure end-to-end encryption, and claimed that they were unable to identify any weaknesses in the implementation. Cnlab researchers also confirmed that Threema provides anonymity to its users and handles contacts and other user data as advertised.
Reception
In February 2014, German consumer organisation Stiftung Warentest evaluated several data-protection aspects of Threema, WhatsApp, Telegram, BlackBerry Messenger and Line. It considered the security of the data transmission between clients, the services' terms of use, the transparency of the service providers, the availability of the source code, and the apps' overall availability. Threema was the only app rated as 'non-critical' () in relation to data and privacy protection, but lost marks due to its closed-source nature, though this has changed end of 2020.
Along with Cryptocat and Surespot, Threema was ranked first in a study evaluating the security and usability of instant messaging encryption software, conducted by the German PSW Group in June 2014.
, Threema had a score of 6 out of 7 points on the – now withdrawn and outdated – Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Secure Messaging Scorecard". It received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having communications encrypted with keys the provider doesn't have access to (i.e. having end-to-end encryption), making it possible for users to independently verify their correspondent's identities, having past communications secure if the keys are stolen (i.e. implementing forward secrecy), having its security design well-documented and having completed an independent security audit. It lost a point because its source code was not open to independent review (i.e. it was not open-source, though in late 2020 it was open-sourced).
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
References
External links
Introduction to Threema
Instant messaging clients
2012 software
Cryptographic software
Internet privacy software
IOS software
Android (operating system) software
Windows Phone software
Swiss brands |
43232663 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiprogram%20Research%20Facility | Multiprogram Research Facility | The Multiprogram Research Facility (MRF, also known as Building 5300) is a facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is used by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to design and build supercomputers for cryptanalysis and other classified projects. It houses the classified component program of the High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
History
The High Productivity Computing Systems program was launched in 2004 as a multiagency project led by DARPA with the goal of increasing computing speed a thousandfold, creating a supercomputer capable of one petaflop (a quadrillion [1015] floating-point operations a second). The project is sited at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and is split into two tracks, one top secret and one unclassified, housed in separate facilities. The secret facility, used by the NSA, is located within Building 5300 at the laboratory and is known as the Multiprogram Research Facility.
JEFF
The MRF was constructed in 2006 at a cost of $41 million. Located on the laboratory's East Campus, the building covers and rises five stories high. As of 2012, it is staffed by 6318 computer scientists and engineers.
While the unclassified portion of the HPCS project succeeded in designing the 1.3 petaflop Cray XT5 supercomputer in 2007, the MRF succeeded in developing an even faster machine, designed specifically for cryptanalysis and targeted against one or more specific algorithms, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). A former NSA official called the MRF's breakthrough "enormous", giving the agency the ability to break current public encryption standards. The data upon which the supercomputer operates is stored at the agency's Utah Data Center in Bluffdale, Utah.
The MRF's next goal is to achieve a machine capable of one exaflop (1018 floating-point operations per second) and then one zetaflop (1021). To achieve an exaflop machine by 2018, the NSA has proposed constructing two connecting buildings, totaling , called the Multiprogram Computational Data Center. The buildings will store dozens of computer cabinets that will comprise the exaflop machine. The facility will eventually use about 200 megawatts of power—enough to power around 200,000 homes—and will require of cooling equipment.
See also
Exascale computing
References
National Security Agency facilities
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
DARPA projects
Buildings and structures in Roane County, Tennessee
National Security Agency cryptography
Supercomputer sites |
43267854 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utimaco%20Atalla | Utimaco Atalla | Utimaco Atalla, founded as Atalla Technovation and formerly known as Atalla Corporation or HP Atalla, is a security vendor, active in the market segments of data security and cryptography. Atalla provides government-grade end-to-end products in network security, and hardware security modules (HSMs) used in automated teller machines (ATMs) and Internet security. The company was founded by Egyptian engineer Mohamed M. Atalla in 1972. Atalla HSMs are the payment card industry's de facto standard, protecting 250million card transactions daily (more than billion transactions annually) as of 2013, and securing the majority of the world's ATM transactions as of 2014.
Company history
1970s
The company was originally founded in 1972, initially as Atalla Technovation, before it was later called Atalla Corporation. The company was founded by Dr. Mohamed M. Atalla (alias Martin "John" M. Atalla), the inventor of the MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor). In 1972, Atalla filed for a remote PIN verification system, which utilized encryption techniques to assure telephone link security while entering personal ID information, which would be transmitted as encrypted data over telecommunications networks to a remote location for verification.
He invented the first hardware security module (HSM), dubbed the "Atalla Box", a security system which encrypted PIN and ATM messages, and protected offline devices with an un-guessable PIN-generating key. He commercially released the "Atalla Box" in 1973. The product was released as the Identikey. It was a card reader and customer identification system, providing a terminal with plastic card and PIN capabilities. The system was designed to let banks and thrift institutions switch to a plastic card environment from a passbook program. The Identikey system consisted of a card reader console, two customer PIN pads, intelligent controller and built-in electronic interface package. The device consisted of two keypads, one for the customer and one for the teller. It allowed the customer to type in a secret code, which is transformed by the device, using a microprocessor, into another code for the teller. The Identikey system connected directly into the ATM without hardware or software changes, and was designed for easy operation by the teller and customer. During a transaction, the customer's account number was read by the card reader. This process replaced manual entry and avoided possible key stroke errors. It allowed users to replace traditional customer verification methods such as signature verification and test questions with a secure PIN system.
A key innovation of the Atalla Box was the key block, which is required to securely interchange symmetric keys or PINs with other actors of the banking industry. This secure interchange is performed using the Atalla Key Block (AKB) format, which lies at the root of all cryptographic block formats used within the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards.
Fearful that Atalla would dominate the market, banks and credit card companies began working on an international standard. The work of Atalla led to the use of high security modules. Its PIN verification process was similar to the later IBM 3624 system. Atalla was an early competitor to IBM in the banking market, and was cited as an influence by IBM employees who worked on the Data Encryption Standard (DES).
At the National Association of Mutual Savings Banks (NAMSB) conference in January 1976, Atalla announced an upgrade to its Identikey system, called the Interchange Identikey. It added the capabilities of processing online transactions and dealing with network security. Designed with the focus of taking bank transactions online, the Identikey system was extended to shared-facility operations. It was consistent and compatible with various switching networks, and was capable of resetting itself electronically to any one of 64,000 irreversible nonlinear algorithms as directed by card data information. The Interchange Identikey device was released in March 1976. It was one of the first products designed to deal with online transactions, along with Bunker Ramo Corporation products unveiled at the same NAMSB conference. In 1979, Atalla introduced the first network security processor (NSP). In recognition of his work on the PIN system of information security management, Atalla has been referred to as the "Father of the PIN" and as a father of information security technology.
1980spresent
It merged in 1987 with Tandem Computers, who were then acquired by Compaq in 1997. The Atalla Box protected over 90% of all ATM networks in operation as of 1998, and secured 85% of all ATM transactions worldwide as of 2006. In 2001, HP acquired Compaq. In 2015, HP was divided into two companies, and the Atalla products were assigned to the newly formed Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
On September 7, 2016, HPE CEO Meg Whitman announced that the software assets of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, including Atalla, would be spun out and then merged with Micro Focus to create an independent company of which HP Enterprise shareholders would retain majority ownership. Micro Focus CEO Kevin Loosemore called the transaction "entirely consistent with our established acquisition strategy and our focus on efficient management of mature infrastructure products" and indicated that Micro Focus intended to "bring the core earnings margin for the mature assets in the deal - about 80 percent of the total - from 21 percent today to Micro Focus's existing 46 percent level within three years." The merger concluded on September 1, 2017.
On the 18th of May, 2018, Utimaco, a German producer of hardware security modules, announced its intent to acquire the Atalla HSM and ESKM (Enterprise Secure Key Manager) business lines from Micro Focus. The venture received United States regulatory clearance in October 2018.
In February 2020, Ultimaco acquired GEOBRIDGE Corporation. GEOBRIDGE Corporation is a woman-owned technology company providing compliance services integration systems, development of key management programs, consultancy in the payments industry and architecture and implementation of cryptographic solutions. This acquisition will expand Utimaco 's key financial sector management portfolio.
Product overview
Atalla is a multi-chip embedded cryptographic module, which consists of a hardware platform, a firmware secure loader, and firmware. The purpose of the module is to load Approved application programs, also referred to as personalities, securely. The firmware monitors the physical security of the cryptographic module. Verification that the module is approved can be observed.
The Atalla security policy addresses the hardware and the firmware secure loader. This approach creates a security platform able to load secure code. Once control passes from the loader, the module is no longer operating in FIPS mode. Note: that no personality will have access to the module's secret keys. The cryptographic boundary of the ACS for the FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validation is the outer perimeter of the secure metal enclosure that encompasses all critical security components.
References
External links
Official website
Computer security software companies
Hewlett-Packard acquisitions
Database security
Software companies based in California
Hewlett-Packard products
Encryption devices
Companies based in Sunnyvale, California
Software companies of the United States |
43279356 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Target%20Corporation | History of Target Corporation | The history of Target Corporation first began in 1902 by George Dayton. The company was originally named Goodfellow Dry Goods in June 1902 before being renamed the Dayton's Dry Goods Company in 1903 and later the Dayton Company in 1910. The first Target store opened in Roseville, Minnesota in 1962 while the parent company was renamed the Dayton Corporation in 1967. It became the Dayton-Hudson Corporation after merging with the J.L. Hudson Company in 1969 and held ownership of several department store chains including Dayton's, Hudson's, Marshall Field's, and Mervyn's. In 2000, the Dayton-Hudson Corporation was renamed to Target Corporation.
1902–61: Dayton Company
The Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis burned down during the Panic of 1893; the church was looking for revenue because insurance would not cover the cost of a new building. Its congregation appealed to George Dayton, an active parishioner, to purchase the empty corner lot adjacent to the original church’s so it could rebuild; he eventually constructed a six-story building on the newly purchased property. Looking for tenants, Dayton convinced the Reuben Simon Goodfellow Company to move its nearby Goodfellows department store into the newly erected building in 1902, although its owner retired altogether and sold his interest in the store to Dayton. The store was renamed the Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1903, and was shortened to the Dayton Company in 1910. Having maintained connections as banker yet lacking previous retail experience, Dayton operated the company as a family enterprise over which he held tight control and enforced strict Presbyterian guidelines. Consequently, the store forbade the selling of alcohol, refused to advertise in newspapers that sponsored liquor ads, and would not allow any kind of business activity on Sundays. In 1918, Dayton, who gave away most of his money to charity, founded the Dayton Foundation with $1 million.
By the 1920s, the Dayton Company was a multimillion-dollar business and filled the entire six-story building. Dayton began transferring parts of the business to his son Nelson after an earlier 43-year-old son David died in 1923. The company made its first expansion with the acquisition of the Minneapolis-based jeweler J.B. Hudson & Son right before the Wall Street Crash of 1929; its jewelry store operated in a net loss during the Great Depression, but its department store weathered the economic crisis. Dayton died in 1938 and was succeeded by his son Nelson as the president of the $14 million business, who maintained the strict Presbyterian guidelines and conservative management style of his father. Throughout World War II, Nelson Dayton's managers focused on keeping the store stocked, which led to an increase in revenue. When the War Production Board initiated its scrap metal drives, Dayton donated the electric sign on the department store to the local scrap metal heap. In 1944, it offered its workers retirement benefits, becoming one of the first stores in the United States to do so, and began offering a comprehensive health insurance policy in 1950. In 1946, the business started contributing 5% of its taxable income to the Dayton Foundation.
Nelson Dayton was replaced as president by his son Donald after his death in 1950; he ran the company alongside four of his cousins instead of under a single person, and replaced the Presbyterian guidelines with a more secular approach. It began selling alcohol and operating on Sundays, and favored a more radical, aggressive, innovative, costly, and expansive management style. The company acquired the Portland, Oregon-based Lipman's department store company during the 1950s and operated it as a separate division. In 1956, the Dayton Company opened Southdale Center, a two-level shopping center in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. Because there were only 113 good shopping days in a year in Minneapolis, the architect built the mall under a cover, making it the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall. The Dayton Company became a retail chain with the opening of its second department store in Southdale.
1962–75: Founding of Target
While working for the Dayton company, John F. Geisse developed the concept of upscale discount retailing. On May 1, 1962, the Dayton Company, using Geisse's concepts, opened its first Target discount store located at 1515 West County Road B in the Saint Paul suburb of Roseville, Minnesota. The name "Target" originated from Dayton's publicity director, Stewart K. Widdess, and was intended to prevent consumers from associating the new discount store chain with the department store. Douglas Dayton served as the first president of Target. The new subsidiary ended its first year with four units, all in Minnesota. Target Stores lost money in its initial years but reported its first gain in 1965, with sales reaching $39 million, allowing a fifth store to open in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. By 1964 Dayton's was the second-largest privately owned department store chain in the country.
In 1966, Bruce Dayton launched the B. Dalton Bookseller specialty chain as a Dayton Company subsidiary. Target Stores expanded outside of Minnesota by opening two stores in Denver, and sales exceeded $60 million. The first store built in Colorado in 1966, and the first outside of Minnesota, is located in Glendale, Colorado and is part of Denver Metropolitan area. The store was upgraded to a SuperTarget in 2003 and is still open. The next year, the Dayton holdings were reorganized as Dayton Corporation, and it went public with its first offering of common stock. It opened two more Target stores in Minnesota, resulting in a total of nine units. It acquired the San Francisco-based jeweler Shreve & Co., which it merged with previously acquired J.B. Hudson & Son to become Dayton Jewelers.
In 1968, Target changed its bullseye logo to a more modern look, and expanded into St. Louis, Missouri, with two new stores. Target's president, Douglas J. Dayton, went back to the parent Dayton Corporation and was succeeded by William A. Hodder, and senior vice president and founder John Geisse left the company. Geisse was later hired by St. Louis-based May Department Stores, where he founded the Venture Stores chain. Target Stores ended the year with 11 units and $130 million in sales. It acquired the Los Angeles-based Pickwick Book Shops and merged it into B. Dalton Bookseller.
In 1969, the company acquired the Boston-based Lechmere electronics and appliances chain that operated in New England, and the Philadelphia-based jewelry chain J.E. Caldwell. It expanded Target Stores into Texas and Oklahoma with six new units and built its first distribution center in Fridley, Minnesota. The Dayton Company merged with the Detroit-based J.L. Hudson Company that year, to become the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, the 14th largest retailer in the United States, consisting of Target and five major department store chains: Dayton's, Diamond's of Phoenix, Arizona, Hudson's, John A. Brown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Lipman's. The company offered Dayton-Hudson stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dayton Foundation changed its name to the Dayton Hudson Foundation, and Dayton-Hudson maintained its 5% donation of its taxable income to the foundation.
In 1970, Target Stores added seven new units, including two units in Wisconsin, and the 24-unit chain reached $200 million in sales. Dayton-Hudson said at the time that they could forecast their discount store operations overshadowing their department store revenue in the near future. Dayton-Hudson acquired the Team Electronics specialty chain that was headed by Stephen L. Pistner. It acquired the Chicago-based jeweler C.D. Peacock, Inc., and the San Diego-based jeweler J. Jessop and Sons. Also in 1970 Dayton-Hudson purchased Ronzone's in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be converted to a Diamond's store. Dayton-Hudson announces in January 1970 they will be one of the tenants of the IDS Center, the first modern era skyscraper built in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which would be their headquarters until 2000. In 1971, Dayton-Hudson acquired sixteen stores from the Arlan's department store chain in Colorado, Iowa, and Oklahoma. Two of those units reopened as Target stores that year. Dayton-Hudson's sales across all its chains surpassed $1 billion, with the Target chain only contributing a fraction to it. In 1972, the other fourteen units from the Arlan's acquisition were reopened as Target stores to make a total of 46 units. As a result of its rapid expansion and the top executives' lack of experience in discount retailing, the chain reported its first decrease in profits since its initial years. Its loss in operational revenue was due to overstocking and carrying goods over multiple years regardless of inventory and storage costs. By then, Dayton-Hudson considered selling off the Target Stores subsidiary. Dayton-Hudson acquired two Twin Cities mail order firms in 1972, Sibley and Consolidated Merchandising. In 1973, Stephen Pistner, who had already revived Team Electronics and would later work for Montgomery Ward and Ames, was named chief executive officer of Target Stores, and Kenneth A. Macke was named Target Stores' senior vice president. The new management marked down merchandise to clean out its overstock and allowed only one new unit to open that year.
1975–81: Early prosperity
In 1975, Target opened two stores, reaching 49 units in nine states and $511 million in sales. That year, the Target discount chain became Dayton-Hudson's top revenue producer. In 1976 Dayton-Hudson was the eighth largest retailer in the U.S., and Target opened four new units and reached $600 million in sales. Macke was promoted to president and chief executive officer of Target Stores. Inspired by the Dayton Hudson Foundation, the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce started the 5% Club (now known as the Minnesota Keystone Program), which honored companies that donated 5% of their taxable incomes to charities. In 1977, Target Stores opened seven new units and Stephen Pistner became president of Dayton-Hudson, with Macke succeeding him as chairman and chief executive officer of Target Stores. The senior vice president of Dayton-Hudson, Bruce G. Allbright, moved to Target Stores and succeeded Kenneth Macke as president. In 1978, the company acquired Mervyn's and became the 7th largest general merchandise retailer in the United States. Target Stores opened eight new stores that year, including its first shopping mall anchor store in Grand Forks, North Dakota. In 1979, it opened 13 new units to a total of 80 Target stores in eleven states. Dayton-Hudson reached $3 billion in sales, with $1.12 billion coming from the Target store chain alone.
Dayton-Hudson sold its nine owned shopping centers in 1978 to Equitable Life Assurance Company, including the 5 owned in Michigan, and the 4 "Dales" shopping centers they developed and owned in Minnesota. In 1980, Dayton-Hudson sold its Lipman's department store chain of six units to Marshall Field's, which rebranded the stores as Frederick & Nelson. That year, Target Stores opened seventeen new units, including expansions into Tennessee and Kansas. It acquired the Ayr-Way discount retail chain of 40 stores and one distribution center from Indianapolis-based L.S. Ayres & Company. In 1981 Dayton-Hudson sold its interest in four regional shopping centers, again, to Equitable Life Assurance Company. Also in 1981, it reopened the stores acquired in the Ayr-Way acquisition as Target stores. Stephen Pistner left the parent company to join Montgomery Ward, and Kenneth Macke succeeded him as president of Dayton-Hudson. Floyd Hall succeeded Kenneth Macke as chairman and chief executive officer of Target Stores. Bruce Allbright left the company to work for Woolworth, where he was named chairman and chief executive officer of Woolco. Bob Ulrich became president and chief executive officer of Diamond's Department Stores. In addition to the Ayr-Way acquisition, Target Stores expanded by opening fourteen new units and a third distribution center in Little Rock, Arkansas, to a total of 151 units and $2.05 billion in sales.
1982–99: Nationwide expansion
Since the launch of Target Stores, the company had focused its expansion in the central United States. In 1982, it expanded into the West Coast market by acquiring 33 FedMart stores in Arizona, California, and Texas and opening a fourth distribution center in Los Angeles. Bruce Allbright returned to Target Stores as its vice chairman and chief administrative officer, and the chain expanded to 167 units and $2.41 billion in sales. It sold the Dayton-Hudson Jewelers subsidiary to Henry Birks & Sons of Montreal. In 1983, Kenneth Dayton, the last Dayton family member to work for Dayton-Hudson retired. Also in 1983, the 33 units acquired from FedMart were reopened as Target stores. It founded the Plums off-price apparel specialty store chain with four units in the Los Angeles area, with an intended audience of middle-to-upper income women. In 1984, it sold its Plums chain to Ross Stores after only 11 months of operation, and it sold its Diamond's and John A. Brown department store chains to Dillard's. Meanwhile, Target Stores added nine new units to a total of 215 stores and $3.55 billion in sales. Floyd Hall left the company and Bruce Allbright succeeded him as chairman and chief executive officer of Target Stores. In May 1984, Bob Ulrich became president of the Dayton-Hudson Department Store Division, and in December 1984 became president of Target Stores. In 1986, the company acquired fifty Gemco stores from Lucky Stores in California and Arizona, which made Target Stores the dominant retailer in Southern California, as the chain grew to a total of 246 units. It opened a fifth distribution center in Pueblo, Colorado. Dayton-Hudson sold the B. Dalton Bookseller chain of several hundred units to Barnes & Noble. At this time, Dayton-Hudson Corporation also started a housewares chain called R. G. Branden's, but this operation was unsuccessful.
In 1987, the acquired Gemco units reopened as Target units, and Target Stores expanded into Michigan and Nevada, including six new units in Detroit, Michigan, to compete directly against Detroit-based Kmart, leading to a total of 317 units in 24 states and $5.3 billion in sales. Bruce Allbright became president of Dayton-Hudson, and Bob Ulrich succeeded him as chairman and chief executive officer of Target Stores. The Dart Group attempted a takeover bid by aggressively buying its stock. Kenneth Macke proposed six amendments to Minnesota's 1983 anti-takeover law, and his proposed amendments were passed that summer by the state's legislature. This prevented the Dart Group from being able to call for a shareholders' meeting for the purpose of electing a board that would favor Dart if their bid were to turn hostile. Dart originally offered $65 a share, and then raised its offer to $68. The stock market crash of October 1987 ended Dart's attempt to take over the company, when Dayton-Hudson stock fell to $28.75 a share the day the market crashed. Dart's move is estimated to have resulted in an after-tax loss of about $70 million. In 1988, Target Stores expanded into the Northwestern United States by opening eight units in Washington and three in Oregon, to a total of 341 units in 27 states. It opened a distribution center in Sacramento, California, and replaced the existing distribution center in Indianapolis, Indiana, from the Ayr-Way acquisition with a new one.
In 1989, it expanded by 60 units, especially in the Southeastern United States where it entered Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, to a total of 399 units in 30 states with $7.51 billion in sales. This included an acquisition of 31 more stores from Federated Department Stores' Gold Circle and Richway chains in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, which were later reopened as Target stores. It sold its Lechmere chain that year to a group of investors including Berkshire Partners, a leveraged buy-out firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, eight Lechmere executives, and two local shopping mall executives.
In 1990, it acquired Marshall Field's from Batus Inc., and Target Stores opened its first Target Greatland general merchandise superstore in Apple Valley, Minnesota. By 1991, Target Stores had opened 43 Target Greatland units, and sales reached $9.01 billion. In 1992, it created a short-lived chain of apparel specialty stores called Everyday Hero with two stores in Minneapolis. They attempted to compete against other apparel specialty stores such as Gap by offering private label apparel such as its Merona brand. In 1993, it created a chain of closeout stores called Smarts for liquidating clearance merchandise, such as private label apparel, that did not appeal to typical closeout chains that were only interested in national brands. It operated four Smarts units out of former Target stores in Rancho Cucamonga, California, Des Moines, Iowa, El Paso, Texas, and Indianapolis, Indiana, that each closed out merchandise in nearby distribution centers. In 1994, Kenneth Macke left the company, and Bob Ulrich succeeded him as the new chairman and CEO of Dayton-Hudson. In 1995, Target Stores opened its first SuperTarget hypermarket in Omaha, Nebraska. It closed the four Smarts units after only two years of operation. Its store count increased to 670 with $15.7 billion in sales. It launched the Target Guest Card, the discount retail industry's first store credit card.
In 1996, J.C. Penney Company, Inc., the fifth-largest retailer in the United States, offered to buy out Dayton-Hudson, the fourth largest retailer, for $6.82 billion. The offer, which most analysts considered as insufficiently valuing the company, was rebuffed by Dayton-Hudson, saying it preferred to remain independent. Target Stores increased its store count to 736 units in 38 states with $17.8 billion in sales, and remained the company's main area of growth while the other two department store subsidiaries underperformed. The middle scale Mervyn's department store chain consisted of 300 units in 16 states, while the upscale Department Stores Division operated 26 Marshall Field's, 22 Hudson's, and 19 Dayton's stores. In 1997, both of the Everyday Hero stores were closed. Target's store count rose to 796 units, and sales rose to $20.2 billion. In an effort to turn the department store chains around, Mervyn's closed 35 units, including all of its stores in Florida and Georgia. Marshall Field's sold all of its stores in Texas and closed its store in Milwaukee.
In 1998, Dayton-Hudson acquired Greenspring Company's multi-catalog direct marketing unit, Rivertown Trading Company, from Minnesota Communications Group, and it acquired the Associated Merchandising Corporation, an apparel supplier. Target Stores grew to 851 units and $23.0 billion in sales. The Target Guest Card program had registered nine million accounts.
In 1999, Dayton-Hudson acquired Fedco and its ten stores in a move to expand its SuperTarget operation into Southern California. It reopened six of these stores under the Target brand and sold the other four locations to Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and the Ontario Police Department, and its store count rose to 912 units in 44 states with sales reaching $26.0 billion. Revenue for Dayton-Hudson increased to $33.7 billion, and net income reached $1.14 billion, passing $1 billion for the first time and nearly tripling the 1996 profits of $463 million. This increase in profit was due mainly to the Target chain, which Ulrich had focused on making feature high-quality products for low prices. On September 7, 1999, the company relaunched its Target.com website as an e-commerce site as part of its discount retail division. The site initially offered merchandise that differentiated its stores from its competitors, such as its Michael Graves brand.
2000–11: Target Corporation
In January 2000, Dayton-Hudson Corporation changed its name to Target Corporation and its ticker symbol to TGT; by then, between 75 percent and 80 percent of the corporation's total sales and earnings came from Target Stores, while the other four chains—Dayton's, Hudson's, Marshall Field's, and Mervyn's—were used to fuel the growth of the discount chain, which expanded to 977 stores in 46 states and sales reached $29.7 billion by the end of the year. It separated its e-commerce operations from its retailing division, and combined it with its Rivertown Trading unit into a stand-alone subsidiary called target.direct. It started offering the Target Visa, as consumer trends were moving more towards third-party Visa and MasterCards and away from private-label cards such as the Target Guest Card.
In 2001, it launched its online gift registry, and in preparation for this, it wanted to operate its upscale Department Stores Division, consisting of 19 Dayton's, 21 Hudson's, and 24 Marshall Field's stores, under a unified department store name. It announced in January that it was renaming its Dayton's and Hudson's stores to Marshall Field's. The name was chosen for multiple reasons: out of the three, Marshall Field's was the most recognizable name in the Department Stores Division, its base in Chicago was bigger than Dayton's base in Minneapolis and Hudson's base in Detroit, Chicago was a major travel hub, and it was the largest chain of the three. Target Stores expanded into Maine, reaching 1,053 units in 47 states and $33.0 billion in sales. Around the same time, the chain made a successful expansion into the Pittsburgh market, where Target capitalized on the collapse of Ames Department Stores that coincidentally happened at the same time as Target's expansion into the area.
In 2002, it expanded to 1,147 units, which included stores in San Leandro, Fremont, and Hayward, California, and sales reached $37.4 billion. Most of those locations replaced former Montgomery Ward locations, which closed in 2001. In 2003, Target reached 1,225 units and $42.0 billion in sales. Despite the growth of the discount retailer, neither Marshall Field's nor Mervyn's were adding to its store count, and their earnings were consistently declining. Marshall Field's sold two of its stores in Columbus, Ohio, this year. On June 9, 2004, Target Corporation announced its sale of the Marshall Field's chain to St. Louis-based May Department Stores, which would become effective July 31, 2004. As well, on July 21, 2004, Target Corporation announced the $1.65 billion sale of Mervyn's to an investment consortium including Sun Capital Partners, Cerberus Capital Management, and Lubert-Adler/Klaff and Partners, L.P., which was finalized September 2. Target Stores expanded to 1,308 units and reached US$46.8 billion in sales. In 2005, Target began operation of an overseas technology office in Bangalore, India. It reached 1,397 units and $52.6 billion in sales. In February 2005, Target Corporation took a $65 million charge to change the way it accounted for leases, which would reconcile the way Target depreciated its buildings and calculated rent expense. The adjustment included $10 million for 2004 and $55 million for prior years.
In 2006, Target completed construction of the Robert J. Ulrich Center in Embassy Golf Links in Bangalore, and Target planned to continue its expansion into India with the construction of additional office space at the Mysore Corporate Campus and successfully opened a branch at Mysore. It expanded to 1,488 units, and sales reached $59.4 billion. On January 9, 2008, Bob Ulrich announced his plans to retire as CEO, and named Gregg Steinhafel as his successor. Ulrich's retirement was due to Target Corporation policy requiring its high-ranking officers to retire at the age of 65. While his retirement as CEO was effective May 1, he remained the chairman of the board until the end of the 2008 fiscal year. On March 4, 2009, Target expanded outside of the continental United States for the first time. Two stores were opened simultaneously on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, along with two stores in Alaska. Despite the economic downturn, media reports indicated sizable crowds and brisk sales. The opening of the Hawaii stores left Vermont as the only state in which Target did not operate. In June 2010, Target announced its goal to give $1 billion to education causes and charities by 2015. Target School Library Makeovers is a featured program in this initiative. In August 2010, after a "lengthy wind-down", Target began a nationwide closing of its remaining 262 garden centers, reportedly due to "stronger competition from home-improvement stores, Walmart and independent garden centers". In September 2010, numerous Target locations began adding a fresh produce department to their stores.
In 2007, Target built its first food distribution center in Lake City, Florida, which opened in 2008.
2011–2015: Initiatives, Canada and Data Breach
On January 22, 2014, Target "informed workers that it is terminating 475 positions at its offices globally." On March 5, 2014, Target Corp.'s Chief Information Officer Beth Jacob resigned, having been in the role since 2008; this is thought to be due to the company's overhaul of its information security systems.
On June 15, 2015, CVS Health announced its agreement to acquire Target's pharmacy and retail clinic businesses. The deal expanded CVS to new markets in Seattle, Denver, Portland and Salt Lake City. The acquisition includes more than 1,660 pharmacies in 47 states. CVS will operate them through a store-within-a-store format. Target's nearly 80 clinic locations will be rebranded as MinuteClinic, and CVS plans to open up to 20 new clinics in their stores within three years.
In July 2015, the company opened Target Open House, a retail space in San Francisco that shows connected home products which can purchased at select Target stores. The space, located in the Metreon Shopping Center, adopts the same layout as a house so it can show real world use cases for the showcased products. In addition, the space hosts interviews with company founders which have their products on display at the store.
Target Canada
On January 13, 2011, Target announced its expansion into Canada, when it purchased the leaseholds for up to 220 stores of the Canadian sale chain Zellers, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. The deal was announced to have been made for 1.8 billion dollars. The company stated that they aimed to provide Canadians with a "true Target-brand experience", hinting that its product selection in Canada would vary little from that found in its United States stores.
Target opened its first Canadian stores in March, 2013, and at its peak, Target Canada had 133 stores. However, the expansion into Canada was beset with problems, including supply chain issues that resulted in stores with aisles of empty shelves and higher-than-expected retail prices. Target Canada racked up losses of $2.1 billion in its short life, and the store's botched expansion was characterized by the Canadian and US media as a "spectacular failure", "an unmitigated disaster", and "a gold standard case study in what retailers should not do when they enter a new market."
On January 15, 2015, Target announced that all 133 of its Canadian outlets would be closed and liquidated by the end of 2015. The last Target Canada stores closed on April 12, 2015, far ahead of the initial schedule.
2013 security breach
On December 18, 2013, security expert Brian Krebs broke news that Target was investigating a major data breach "potentially involving millions of customer credit and debit card records." On December 19, Target confirmed the incident via a press release, revealing that the hack took place between November 27 and December 15, 2013. Target warned that up to 40 million consumer credit and debit cards may have been compromised. Hackers gained access to customer names, card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV security codes of the cards issued by financial institutions. On December 27, Target disclosed that debit card PIN data had also been stolen, albeit in encrypted form, reversing an earlier stance that PIN data was not part of the breach. Target noted that the accessed PIN numbers were encrypted using Triple DES and has stated the PINs remain "safe and secure" due to the encryption. On January 10, 2014, Target disclosed that the names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses of up to 70 million additional people had also been stolen, bringing the possible number of customers affected up to 110 million.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Target's computer security team was notified of the breach via the FireEye security service they employed, had ample time to disrupt the theft of credit cards and other customer data, but did not act to prevent theft from being carried out.
Target encouraged customers who shopped at its US stores (online orders were not affected) during the specified timeframe to closely monitor their credit and debit cards for irregular activity. The retailer confirmed that it is working with law enforcement, including the United States Secret Service, "to bring those responsible to justice." The data breach has been called the second-largest retail cyber attack in history, and has been compared to the 2009 non-retail Heartland Payment Systems compromise, which affected 130 million credit cards, and to the 2007 retail TJX Companies compromise, which affected 90 million people. As an apology to the public, all Target stores in the United States gave retail shoppers a 10% storewide discount for the weekend of December 21–22, 2013. Target has offered free credit monitoring via Experian to affected customers.
Target reported total transactions for the same time last year were down 3-4%, as of December 23, 2013.
According to TIME Magazine, a 17-year-old Russian teen was suspected to be the author of the Point of Sale (POS) malware program, "BlackPOS", which was used by others to attack unpatched Windows computers used at Target. The teen denied the allegation.
Later, a 23-year-old Russian, Rinat Shabayev, claimed to be the malware author.
On January 29, 2014, a Target spokeswoman said that the individual(s) who hacked its customers' data had stolen credentials from a store vendor, but did not elaborate on which vendor or which credentials were taken.
As the fallout of the data breach continued, on March 6, 2014, Target announced the resignation of its Chief Information Officer and an overhaul of its information security practices. In a further step to restore faith in customers, the company advised that it will look externally for appointments to both the CIO role and a new Chief Compliance Officer role.
On May 5, 2014, Target announced the resignation of its chief executive officer, Gregg Steinhafel. Analysts speculated that the data breach, as well as the financial losses caused by over-aggressive Canadian expansion, contributed to his departure.
2016–present
On October 2, 2017, Target announced a new online order service, known as Drive Up, which allows guests to order merchandise online for pickup outside the store. Guests hit the 'I'm on My Way' button when they are en route to their store. They pull into designated parking spots out front, and soon a Target team member comes out to greet them with their order.
On October 19, 2017, Target announced that they will be opening a small-format store and their first store in Vermont in the University Mall in South Burlington in October 2018. The store replaced the former Bon-Ton (originally Almy's and later Steinbach), which closed in January 2018.
In December 2017, Target announced the corporation's intention to purchase Shipt, an internet-based grocery delivery service for a reported $550 million. The acquisition is intended to help same-day delivery and to better compete with Amazon. Target announced in February 2018 that it would shift its sales model for compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs to provide them solely on a contingency basis, citing reduced physical media sales in favor of digital downloads and streaming.
In May 2018, according to YouGov ratings was Target determined to be the most popular department store in America. Target was rated 69% positive opinions by America, and 99% of people have heard of it. Women had a 74% positive opinion towards Target and men had 65%.
On a weekend in June 2019, at a large number of Target stores in the U.S., "On Saturday ... shoppers experienced a systems outage that shut down the card readers at check-out registers for close to two hours. On Sunday, there were additional spot outages that the company says were unrelated to Saturday’s problems." Another—although much shorter—checkout register crash happened in 2013, on the same date as the Saturday crash.
In September 2019, Target announced its new rewards program, Target Circle, would be coming to all Target stores on October 6, 2019. In conjunction, the name of the store's credit and debit card was announced to be changed from "Target REDcard" to "Target RedCard." At its debut, Target Circle allows for shoppers to earn 1% back in rewards to use on a future purchase, except when a Target RedCard is used. Target RedCard holders continue to save an instant 5% on their total but now earn votes from a purchase with Target Circle to use on deciding where Target gives its 5% back in the community. The Target Circle rewards program does not use a physical card, but can be used by presenting the Target Wallet in the Target App or by entering a mobile phone number at checkout.
On August 25, 2019, Target and The Walt Disney Company announced a partnership to have a Disney Store in several Target locations. The Disney Store at Target locations have a "shop-in-shop" layout with an average square feet of 750. Tru Kids and Target also announced a partnership on October 8, 2019, to relaunch the website of Toys "R" Us Toysrus.com. When a customer goes on Toysrus.com to purchase a product it is redirected to Target.com to complete the order. The website allows Toys "R" Us to have an online presence, after bankruptcy, and at the same time adds a boost to Target's sales in toys.
On March 13, 2020, Brian Cornell (CEO) took part in Former President Trump's address on the COVID-19 pandemic. Target, along with competitors Walmart, CVS Pharmacy, and Walgreens, would take part in using their stores for testing of COVID-19. On July 16, 2020, Target joined other major retailers in requiring all customers to wear masks in its U.S. stores.
On March 14, 2021, a Target on 1249 Simpson Avenue in Salt Lake City, Utah opened, which replaced an old Nordstrom Rack that moved into a building that used to be a Toys R Us at the Sugarhouse Shopping Centre that closed in 2016.
References
Target Corporation
Target
History of retail in the United States |
43291963 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubernetes | Kubernetes | Kubernetes (, commonly stylized as K8s) is an open-source container orchestration system for automating software deployment, scaling, and management. Google originally designed Kubernetes, but the Cloud Native Computing Foundation now maintains the project.
Kubernetes works with Docker, Containerd, and CRI-O. Originally, it interfaced exclusively with the Docker runtime through a "Dockershim"; however, since 2016, Kubernetes has deprecated the shim in favor of directly interfacing with the container through Containerd, or replacing Docker with a runtime that is compliant with the Container Runtime Interface (CRI).
Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, SUSE and VMware offer Kubernetes-based platforms or infrastructure as a service (IaaS) that deploy Kubernetes.
History
Kubernetes (κυβερνήτης, Greek for "helmsman," "pilot," or "governor", and the etymological root of cybernetics) was first announced by Google in mid-2014. Ville Aikas, Joe Beda, Brendan Burns, and Craig McLuckie were the initial founders of Kubernetes, but other Google engineers, including Brian Grant and Tim Hockin, joined them shortly thereafter. Google's Borg system had a significant influence on the design and development of Kubernetes. Many of the top contributors to the project previously worked on Borg. The original codename for Kubernetes within Google was , a reference to the Star Trek ex-Borg character Seven of Nine. The seven spokes on the wheel of the Kubernetes logo are a reference to that codename. The original Borg project was entirely in C++, but Kubernetes source code is in the Go language.
Kubernetes 1.0 was released on July 21, 2015, along which Google partnered with the Linux Foundation to form the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and offered Kubernetes as a seed technology. In February 2016, the Helm package manager for Kubernetes was released. On March 6, 2018, Kubernetes Project reached the ninth place in the list of GitHub projects by the number of commits, and second place in authors and issues, after the Linux kernel.
Until version 1.18, Kubernetes followed an N-2 support policy, meaning that the three most recent minor versions receive security updates and bug fixes. Starting with version 1.19, Kubernetes follows an N-3 support policy.
Concepts
Kubernetes defines a set of building blocks ("primitives") that collectively provide mechanisms that deploy, maintain, and scale applications based on CPU, memory or custom metrics. Kubernetes is loosely coupled and extensible to meet different workloads. The internal components as well as extensions and containers that run on Kubernetes rely on the Kubernetes API. The platform exerts its control over compute and storage resources by defining resources as Objects, which can then be managed as such.
Kubernetes follows the primary/replica architecture. The components of Kubernetes can be divided into those that manage an individual node and those that are part of the control plane.
Control plane
The Kubernetes master is the main controlling unit of the cluster, managing its workload and directing communication across the system. The Kubernetes control plane consists of various components, each its own process, that can run both on a single master node or on multiple masters supporting high-availability clusters. The various components of the Kubernetes control plane are as follows:
etcd is a persistent, lightweight, distributed, key-value data store that CoreOS has developed. It reliably stores the configuration data of the cluster, representing the overall state of the cluster at any given point of time. etcd favors consistency over availability in the event of a network partition (see CAP theorem). The consistency is crucial for correctly scheduling and operating services.
The API server serves the Kubernetes API using JSON over HTTP, which provides both the internal and external interface to Kubernetes. The API server processes and validates REST requests and updates the state of the API objects in etcd, thereby allowing clients to configure workloads and containers across worker nodes. The API server uses etcd's watch API to monitor the cluster, roll out critical configuration changes, or restore any divergences of the state of the cluster back to what the deployer declared. As an example, the deployer may specify that three instances of a particular "pod" (see below) need to be running. etcd stores this fact. If the Deployment Controller finds that only two instances are running (conflicting with the etcd declaration), it schedules the creation of an additional instance of that pod.
The scheduler is the extensible component that selects on which node an unscheduled pod (the basic entity managed by the scheduler) runs, based on resource availability. The scheduler tracks resource use on each node to ensure that workload is not scheduled in excess of available resources. For this purpose, the scheduler must know the resource requirements, resource availability, and other user-provided constraints or policy directives such as quality-of-service, affinity vs. anti-affinity requirements, and data locality. The scheduler's role is to match resource "supply" to workload "demand".
A controller is a reconciliation loop that drives the actual cluster state toward the desired state, communicating with the API server to create, update, and delete the resources it manages (e.g., pods or service endpoints). One kind of controller is a Replication Controller, which handles replication and scaling by running a specified number of copies of a pod across the cluster. It also handles creating replacement pods if the underlying node fails. Other controllers that are part of the core Kubernetes system include a DaemonSet Controller for running exactly one pod on every machine (or some subset of machines), and a Job Controller for running pods that run to completion, e.g. as part of a batch job. Labels selectors that are part of the controller's definition specify the set of pods that a controller manages.
The controller manager is a process that manages a set of core Kubernetes controllers.
Nodes
A node, also known as a worker or a minion, is a machine where containers (workloads) are deployed. Every node in the cluster must run a container runtime such as Docker, as well as the below-mentioned components, for communication with the primary for network configuration of these containers.
Kubelet is responsible for the running state of each node, ensuring that all containers on the node are healthy. It takes care of starting, stopping, and maintaining application containers organized into pods as directed by the control plane. Kubelet monitors the state of a pod, and if not in the desired state, the pod re-deploys to the same node. Node status is relayed every few seconds via heartbeat messages to the primary. Once the primary detects a node failure, the Replication Controller observes this state change and launches pods on other healthy nodes.
Kube-proxy is an implementation of a network proxy and a load balancer, and it supports the service abstraction along with other networking operation. It is responsible for routing traffic to the appropriate container based on IP and port number of the incoming request.
A container resides inside a pod. The container is the lowest level of a micro-service, which holds the running application, libraries, and their dependencies. Containers can be exposed to the world through an external IP address. Kubernetes has supported Docker containers since its first version. In July 2016 the rkt container engine was added.
Namespaces
Kubernetes provides a partitioning of the resources it manages into non-overlapping sets called namespaces. They are intended for use in environments with many users spread across multiple teams, or projects, or even separating environments like development, test, and production.
Pods
The basic scheduling unit in Kubernetes is a pod, which consists of one or more containers that are guaranteed to be co-located on the same node. Each pod in Kubernetes is assigned a unique IP address within the cluster, allowing applications to use ports without the risk of conflict. Within the pod, all containers can reference each other. However, for a container within one pod to access another container within another pod, it has to use the pod IP address. Pod IP addresses are ephemeral, though. An application developer should never use hardcoded pod IP addresses because the specific pod that they are referencing may be assigned to another pod IP address on restart. Instead, they should use a reference to a service (see below), which holds a reference to the target pod at the specific pod IP address.
A pod can define a volume, such as a local disk directory or a network disk, and expose it to the containers in the pod. Pods can be managed manually through the Kubernetes API, or their management can be delegated to a controller. Such volumes are also the basis for the Kubernetes features of ConfigMaps (to provide access to configuration through the file system visible to the container) and Secrets (to provide access to credentials needed to access remote resources securely, by providing those credentials on the file system visible only to authorized containers).
DaemonSets
Normally, the Kubernetes Scheduler decides where to run pods. For some use cases, though, there could be a need to run a pod on every single node in the cluster. This is useful for use cases like log collection, ingress controllers, and storage services. DaemonSets implement this kind of pod scheduling.
ReplicaSets
A ReplicaSet’s purpose is to maintain a stable set of replica pods running at any given time. As such, it is often used to guarantee the availability of a specified number of identical Pods.
The ReplicaSets can also be said to be a grouping mechanism that lets Kubernetes maintain the number of instances that have been declared for a given pod. The definition of a ReplicaSet uses a selector, whose evaluation will result in identifying all pods that are associated with it.
Services
A Kubernetes service is a set of pods that work together, such as one tier of a multi-tier application. The set of pods that constitute a service are defined by a label selector. Kubernetes provides two modes of service discovery, using environmental variables or using Kubernetes DNS. Service discovery assigns a stable IP address and DNS name to the service, and load balances traffic in a round-robin manner to network connections of that IP address among the pods matching the selector (even as failures cause the pods to move from machine to machine). By default a service is exposed inside a cluster (e.g., back end pods might be grouped into a service, with requests from the front-end pods load-balanced among them), but a service can also be exposed outside a cluster (e.g., for clients to reach front-end pods).
Volumes
File systems in the Kubernetes container provide ephemeral storage, by default. This means that a restart of the pod will wipe out any data on such containers, and therefore, this form of storage is quite limiting in anything but trivial applications. A Kubernetes Volume provides persistent storage that exists for the lifetime of the pod itself. This storage can also be used as shared disk space for containers within the pod. Volumes are mounted at specific mount points within the container, which are defined by the pod configuration, and cannot mount onto other volumes or link to other volumes. The same volume can be mounted at different points in the file system tree by different containers.
ConfigMaps and secrets
A common application challenge is deciding where to store and manage configuration information, some of which may contain sensitive data. Configuration data can be anything as fine-grained as individual properties or coarse-grained information like entire configuration files or JSON / XML documents. Kubernetes provides two closely related mechanisms to deal with this need: "configmaps" and "secrets", both of which allow for configuration changes to be made without requiring an application build. The data from configmaps and secrets will be made available to every single instance of the application to which these objects have been bound via the deployment. A secret and/or a configmap is only sent to a node if a pod on that node requires it. Kubernetes will keep it in memory on that node. Once the pod that depends on the secret or configmap is deleted, the in-memory copy of all bound secrets and configmaps are deleted as well. The data is accessible to the pod through one of two ways: a) as environment variables (which will be created by Kubernetes when the pod is started) or b) available on the container file system that is visible only from within the pod.
The data itself is stored on the master which is a highly secured machine which nobody should have login access to. The biggest difference between a secret and a configmap is that the content of the data in a secret is base64 encoded. Recent versions of Kubernetes have introduced support for encryption to be used as well. Secrets are often used to store data like certificates, passwords, pull secrets (credentials to work with image registries), and ssh keys.
StatefulSets
Scaling stateless applications is only a matter of adding more running pods. Stateful workloads are harder, because the state needs to be preserved if a pod is restarted. If the application is scaled up or down, the state may need to be redistributed. Databases are an example of stateful workloads. When run in high-availability mode, many databases come with the notion of a primary instance and secondary instances. In this case, the notion of ordering of instances is important. Other applications like Apache Kafka distribute the data amongst their brokers; hence, one broker is not the same as another. In this case, the notion of instance uniqueness is important.
StatefulSets are controllers (see above) that enforce the properties of uniqueness and ordering amongst instances of a pod and can be used to run stateful applications.
Replication controllers and deployments
A ReplicaSet declares the number of instances of a pod that is needed, and a Replication Controller manages the system so that the number of healthy pods that are running matches the number of pods declared in the ReplicaSet (determined by evaluating its selector).
Deployments are a higher level management mechanism for ReplicaSets. While the Replication Controller manages the scale of the ReplicaSet, Deployments will manage what happens to the ReplicaSet - whether an update has to be rolled out, or rolled back, etc. When deployments are scaled up or down, this results in the declaration of the ReplicaSet changing - and this change in declared state is managed by the Replication Controller.
Labels and selectors
Kubernetes enables clients (users or internal components) to attach keys called "labels" to any API object in the system, such as pods and nodes. Correspondingly, "label selectors" are queries against labels that resolve to matching objects. When a service is defined, one can define the label selectors that will be used by the service router/load balancer to select the pod instances that the traffic will be routed to. Thus, simply changing the labels of the pods or changing the label selectors on the service can be used to control which pods get traffic and which don't, which can be used to support various deployment patterns like blue-green deployments or A-B testing. This capability to dynamically control how services utilize implementing resources provides a loose coupling within the infrastructure.
For example, if an application's pods have labels for a system tier (with values such as front-end, back-end, for example) and a release_track (with values such as canary, production, for example), then an operation on all of back-end and canary nodes can use a label selector, such as:
tier=back-end AND release_track=canary
Just like labels, field selectors also let one select Kubernetes resources. Unlike labels, the selection is based on the attribute values inherent to the resource being selected, rather than user-defined categorization. metadata.name and metadata.namespace are field selectors that will be present on all Kubernetes objects. Other selectors that can be used depend on the object/resource type.
Add-ons
Add-ons operate just like any other application running within the cluster: they are implemented via pods and services, and are only different in that they implement features of the Kubernetes cluster. The pods may be managed by Deployments, ReplicationControllers, and so on. There are many add-ons, and the list is growing. Some of the more important are:
DNS: All Kubernetes clusters should have cluster DNS; it is a mandatory feature. Cluster DNS is a DNS server, in addition to the other DNS server(s) in your environment, which serves DNS records for Kubernetes services. Containers started by Kubernetes automatically include this DNS server in their DNS searches.
Web UI: This is a general purpose, web-based UI for Kubernetes clusters. It allows users to manage and troubleshoot applications running in the cluster, as well as the cluster itself.
Container Resource Monitoring: Providing a reliable application runtime, and being able to scale it up or down in response to workloads, means being able to continuously and effectively monitor workload performance. Container Resource Monitoring provides this capability by recording metrics about containers in a central database, and provides a UI for browsing that data. The cAdvisor is a component on a slave node that provides a limited metric monitoring capability. There are full metrics pipelines as well, such as Prometheus, which can meet most monitoring needs.
Cluster-level logging: Logs should have a separate storage and lifecycle independent of nodes, pods, or containers. Otherwise, node or pod failures can cause loss of event data. The ability to do this is called cluster-level logging, and such mechanisms are responsible for saving container logs to a central log store with search/browsing interface. Kubernetes provides no native storage for log data, but one can integrate many existing logging solutions into the Kubernetes cluster.
Storage
Containers emerged as a way to make software portable. The container contains all the packages you need to run a service. The provided file system makes containers extremely portable and easy to use in development. A container can be moved from development to test or production with no or relatively few configuration changes.
Historically Kubernetes was suitable only for stateless services. However, many applications have a database, which requires persistence, which leads to the creation of persistent storage for Kubernetes. Implementing persistent storage for containers is one of the top challenges of Kubernetes administrators, DevOps and cloud engineers. Containers may be ephemeral, but more and more of their data is not, so one needs to ensure the data's survival in case of container termination or hardware failure. When deploying containers with Kubernetes or containerized applications, companies often realize that they need persistent storage. They need to provide fast and reliable storage for databases, root images and other data used by the containers.
In addition to the landscape, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), has published other information about Kubernetes Persistent Storage including a blog helping to define the container attached storage pattern. This pattern can be thought of as one that uses Kubernetes itself as a component of the storage system or service.
More information about the relative popularity of these and other approaches can be found on the CNCF's landscape survey as well, which showed that OpenEBS from MayaData and Rook - a storage orchestration project - were the two projects most likely to be in evaluation as of the Fall of 2019.
Container Attached Storage is a type of data storage that emerged as Kubernetes gained prominence. The Container Attached Storage approach or pattern relies on Kubernetes itself for certain capabilities while delivering primarily block, file, object and interfaces to workloads running on Kubernetes.
Common attributes of Container Attached Storage include the use of extensions to Kubernetes, such as custom resource definitions, and the use of Kubernetes itself for functions that otherwise would be separately developed and deployed for storage or data management. Examples of functionality delivered by custom resource definitions or by Kubernetes itself include retry logic, delivered by Kubernetes itself, and the creation and maintenance of an inventory of available storage media and volumes, typically delivered via a custom resource definition.
API
A key component of the Kubernetes control plane is the API Server, which exposes an HTTP API that can be invoked by other parts of the cluster as well as end users and external components. This API is a REST API and is declarative in nature. There are two kinds of API resources. Most of the API resources in the Kubernetes API are objects. These represent a concrete instance of a concept on the cluster, like a pod or namespace. A small number of API resource types are "virtual". These represent operations rather than objects, such as a permission check, using the "subjectaccessreviews" resource. API resources that correspond to objects will be represented in the cluster with unique identifiers for the objects. Virtual resources do not have unique identifiers.
Operators
Kubernetes can be extended using Custom Resources. These API resources represent objects that are not part of the standard Kubernetes product. These resources can appear and disappear in a running cluster through dynamic registration. Cluster administrators can update Custom Resources independently of the cluster.
Custom Controllers are another extension mechanism. These interact with Custom Resources, and allow for a true declarative API that allows for the lifecycle management of Custom Resource that is aligned with the way that Kubernetes itself is designed. The combination of Custom Resources and Custom Controllers are often referred to as an (Kubernetes) Operator. The key use case for Operators are to capture the aim of a human operator who is managing a service or set of services and to implement them using automation, and with a declarative API supporting this automation. Human operators who look after specific applications and services have deep knowledge of how the system ought to behave, how to deploy it, and how to react if there are problems. Examples of problems solved by Operators include taking and restoring backups of that application's state, and
handling upgrades of the application code alongside related changes such as database schemas or extra configuration settings.
Cluster API
The same API design principles have been used to define an API to programmatically create, configure, and manage Kubernetes clusters. This is called the Cluster API. A key concept embodied in the API is using Infrastructure as Software, or the notion that the Kubernetes cluster infrastructure is itself a resource / object that can be managed just like any other Kubernetes resources. Similarly, machines that make up the cluster are also treated as a Kubernetes resource. The API has two pieces - the core API, and a provider implementation. The provider implementation consists of cloud-provider specific functions that let Kubernetes provide the cluster API in a fashion that is well-integrated with the cloud-provider's services and resources.
Cluster API was originally proposed in 2017 by Jacob Beacham, Kris Nóva, and Robert Bailey.
Uses
Kubernetes is commonly used as a way to host a microservice-based implementation, because it and its associated ecosystem of tools provide all the capabilities needed to address key concerns of any microservice architecture. It is available in three forms: open source, commercial, and managed. Open source distributions include the original Kubernetes, Amazon EKS-D, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware Tanzu, Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, and D2iQ Kubernetes Platform. Managed offerings include GKE, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, IBM Kubernetes Service, and Platform9 Managed Kubernetes.
Release timeline
Support windows
The chart below visualises the period for which each release is/was supported
See also
Cloud Native Computing Foundation
Docker (software)
List of cluster management software
Open Service Mesh
OpenShift
References
External links
2014 software
Cloud infrastructure
Containerization software
Free software for cloud computing
Free software programmed in Go
Linux containerization
Linux Foundation projects
Software using the Apache license
Virtualization-related software for Linux
Orchestration software |
43325520 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread%20%28network%20protocol%29 | Thread (network protocol) | Thread is an IPv6-based, low-power mesh networking technology for Internet of things (IoT) products, intended to be secure and future-proof. The Thread protocol specification is available at no cost; however, this requires agreement and continued adherence to an End-User License Agreement (EULA), which states that "Membership in Thread Group is necessary to implement, practice, and ship Thread technology and Thread Group specifications." Membership of the Thread Group is subject to an annual membership fee, except for the "Academic" tier.
In July 2014, the "Thread Group" alliance was formed as a working group to aid Thread becoming an industry standard by providing Thread certification for products. Initial members were ARM Holdings, Big Ass Solutions, NXP Semiconductors/Freescale, Google-subsidiary Nest Labs, OSRAM, Samsung, Silicon Labs, Somfy, Tyco International, Qualcomm, and the Yale lock company. In August 2018 Apple Inc. joined the group and released its first Thread product, the HomePod Mini, in late 2020.
Thread uses 6LoWPAN, which, in turn, uses the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol with mesh communication, as does Zigbee and other systems. However, Thread is IP-addressable, with cloud access and AES encryption. A BSD-licensed open-source implementation of Thread, called "OpenThread", has been released by Google.
In 2019, the Connected Home over IP project (later renamed "Matter"), led by Zigbee, Google, Amazon and Apple, announced a broad collaboration to create a royalty-free standard and open-source code base to promote interoperability in home connectivity, leveraging Thread, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy.
Selling points and key features
Thread uses 6LoWPAN, which is based on the use of a connecting router, called an edge router. Thread calls their edge routers Border Routers. Unlike other proprietary networks, 6LoWPAN, like any network with edge routers, does not maintain any application layer state, because such networks forward datagrams at the network layer. This means that 6LoWPAN remains unaware of application protocols and changes. This lowers the processing power burden on edge routers. It also means that Thread does not need to maintain an application layer. Thread states that multiple application layers can be supported, as long as they are low-bandwidth and are able to operate over IPv6.
Thread touts that there is no single point of failure in its system. However, if the network is only set up with one edge router, then this can serve as a single point of failure. The edge router or another router can assume the role of Leader for certain functions. If the Leader fails, another router or edge router will take its place. This is the main way that Thread guarantees no single point of failure.
Thread promises a high level of security. Only devices that are specifically authenticated can join the network. All communications through the network are secured with a network key.
Competing IoT protocols
Competing Internet of things (IoT) protocols include Bluetooth Low Energy (including Bluetooth Mesh), Zigbee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi HaLow, Bluetooth 5, Wirepas, MiraOS and VEmesh.
See also
Home automation
Wi-Fi Direct
Wi-Fi EasyMesh
DASH7
KNX (standard)
LonWorks (standard)
BACnet (standard)
References
External links
– official site
OpenThread
Home automation
Building automation
Personal area networks
Mesh networking
IEEE 802
IPv6
Computer-related introductions in 2014 |
43349694 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86th%20Expeditionary%20Signal%20Battalion | 86th Expeditionary Signal Battalion | The 86th Signal Battalion ("Tigers") of the United States Army is an element of 11th Signal Brigade. It is based at Fort Bliss, Texas. The unit mascot is the Tiger.
Mission
The 86th Expeditionary Signal Battalion enables mission command for supported units, without Signal assets. The Battalion engineers, installs, operates, maintains, and defends network communications in support of Combatant Commanders and Joint Force Land Component Commanders. The Battalion currently provides support to the Brigade Modernization Command and 1st Armored Division during the Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) held bi-annually in the Spring and Fall at Fort Bliss, TX and White Sands Missile Range, NM.
History
The 86th Signal Battalion was first constituted on 23 March 1966 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 86th Signal Battalion. The Battalion was officially activated on 1 June 1966 at Fort Bragg, NC. The battalion deployed to Vietnam from 1967 through 1971. On 30 April 1971 the Battalion was officially deactivated in Vietnam.
The Battalion was re-activated on 1 July 1977 at Fort Huachuca, AZ as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 86th Signal Battalion.
In April 2011 the Battalion returned from a deployment from Afghanistan. Shortly after the deployment the Battalion completed a BRAC move to Fort Bliss, TX.
Subordinate units
The 86th Signal Battalion is an Expeditionary Signal Battalion or "ESB". It comprises the following units:
Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC)
A Company (Expeditionary Signal Company)
B Company (Expeditionary Signal Company)
C Company (Area Signal Company)
Capabilities
In the Spring of 2014 the Battalion was fielded with Warfighter Information Network - Tactical Increment 1b (WIN-T Inc 1b). The Battalion was the first ESB to be fielded with WIN-T Inc 1b. WIN-T Inc 1b, introduced the Network Centric Waveform into the tactical network which optimizes bandwidth and removed the military's reliance on costly civilian satellite services. It also introduced the colorless network. The colorless network enables the encryption of unclassified data when transmitted it over satellite and line of sight.
Honors
Unit decorations
Campaign streamers
References
External links
86th ESB Lineage and Honors
Military units and formations in Texas |
43358530 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom%20Video%20Communications | Zoom Video Communications | Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (commonly shortened to Zoom, and stylized as zoom) is an American communications technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides videotelephony and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social relations.
Eric Yuan, a former Cisco engineer and executive, founded Zoom in 2011, and launched its software in 2013. Zoom's revenue growth, and perceived ease-of-use and reliability of its software, resulted in a $1 billion valuation in 2017, making it a "unicorn" company. The company first became profitable in 2019, and completed an initial public offering that year. The company joined the NASDAQ-100 stock index on April 30, 2020.
Beginning in early 2020, Zoom's software usage saw a remarkable global increase after quarantine measures were adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its software products have faced public and media scrutiny related to security and privacy issues.
History
Early years
Zoom was founded by Eric Yuan, a former corporate vice president for Cisco Webex. He left Cisco in April 2011 with 40 engineers to start a new company, originally named Saasbee, Inc. The company had trouble finding investors because many people thought the videotelephony market was already saturated. In June 2011, the company raised $3 million of seed money from WebEx founder Subrah Iyar, former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman, and venture capitalists Matt Ocko, TSVC, and Bill Tai.
In May 2012, the company changed its name to Zoom, influenced by Thacher Hurd's children's book Zoom City. In September 2012, Zoom launched a beta version that could host conferences with up to 15 video participants. In November 2012, the company signed Stanford University as its first customer. The service was launched in January 2013 after the company raised a $6 million Series A round from Qualcomm Ventures, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, WebEx founder Subrah Iyar, and former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman. Zoom launched version 1.0 of the program allowing the maximum number of participants per conference to be 25. By the end of its first month, Zoom had 400,000 users and by May 2013 it had 1 million users.
Growth
In July 2013, Zoom established partnerships with B2B collaboration software providers, such as Redbooth (then Teambox), and also created a program named Works with Zoom, which established partnerships with Logitech, Vaddio, and InFocus. In September 2013, the company raised $6.5 million in a Series B round from Horizon Ventures, and existing investors. At that time, it had 3 million users. In April 2020, daily users increased to more than 200 million.
On February 4, 2015, the company received US$30 million in Series C funding from investors including Emergence Capital, Horizons Ventures (Li Ka-shing), Qualcomm Ventures, Jerry Yang, and Patrick Soon-Shiong. At that time, Zoom had 40 million users, with 65,000 organizations subscribed and a total of 1 billion meeting minutes since it was established. Over the course of 2015 and 2016, the company integrated its software with Slack, Salesforce, and Skype for Business. With version 2.5 in October 2015, Zoom increased the maximum number of participants allowed per conference to 50 and later to 1,000 for business customers. In November 2015, former president of RingCentral David Berman was named president of the company, and Peter Gassner, the founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, joined Zoom's board of directors.
In January 2017, the company raised US$100 million in Series D funding from Sequoia Capital at a US$1 billion valuation, making it a unicorn. In April 2017, Zoom launched a scalable telehealth product allowing doctors to host remote consultations with patients. In May, Zoom announced integration with Polycom's conferencing systems, enabling features such as multiple screen and device meetings, HD and wireless screen sharing, and calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal. From September 25–27, 2017, Zoom hosted Zoomtopia 2017, its first annual user conference. At this conference, Zoom announced a partnership with Meta to integrate Zoom with augmented reality, integration with Slack and Workplace by Facebook, and first steps towards an artificial intelligence speech recognition program.
IPO and onward
On April 18, 2019, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. After pricing at US$36 per share, the share price increased over 72% on the first day of trading. Prior to the IPO, Dropbox invested $5 million in Zoom.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom saw a major increase in usage for remote work, distance education, and online social relations. Thousands of educational institutions switched to online classes using Zoom. This was also used during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The company offered its services free to K–12 schools in many countries. By February 2020, Zoom had gained 2.22 million users in 2020 – more users than it amassed in the entirety of 2019. On one day in March 2020, the Zoom app was downloaded 2.13 million times. Daily meeting participants rose from about 10 million in December 2019 to more than 300 million daily meeting participants in April 2020.
On May 7, 2020, Zoom announced that it had acquired Keybase, a company specializing in end-to-end encryption. In June 2020, the company hired its first chief diversity officer, Damien Hooper-Campbell.
In July 2020, Zoom announced its first hardware as a service products, bundling its videoconferencing software with third-party hardware by DTEN, Neat, Poly, and Yealink, and running on the ServiceNow platform. It began with Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone offerings, with those services available to US customers, who can acquire hardware from Zoom for a fixed monthly cost. On July 15, 2020, the company announced Zoom for Home, a line of products for home use, designed for remote workers. The first product, Zoom for Home - DTEN ME, includes software by Zoom and hardware by DTEN. It consists of a 27-inch screen with three wide-angle cameras and eight microphones, with Zoom software preloaded on the device. It became available in August 2020.
On July 3–4, using Zoom Webinar, the International Association of Constitutional Law organized the first "round-the-clock and round-the-globe" event that traveled through time zones, featuring 52 speakers from 28 countries. Soon after, a format of conferences which "virtually travel the globe with the sun from East to West", became common, some of them running for several days.
In June 2021, Zoom acquired Kites (Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions), an artificial intelligence-based language translation company with an aim to reduce language barriers in video calls. In September 2021, Zoom's attempt to acquire contact center company Five9 for $14.7 billion was turned down by Five9's shareholders.
Privacy and security issues
Zoom has been criticized for "security lapses and poor design choices" that have resulted in heightened scrutiny of its software. The company has also been criticized for its privacy and corporate data sharing policies. Security researchers and reporters have criticized the company for its lack of transparency and poor encryption practices. Zoom initially claimed to use "end-to-end encryption" in its marketing materials, but later clarified it meant "from Zoom end point to Zoom end point" (meaning effectively between Zoom servers and Zoom clients), which The Intercept described as misleading and "dishonest".
In March 2020, New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched an inquiry into Zoom's privacy and security practices; the inquiry was closed on May 7, 2020, with Zoom not admitting wrongdoing, but agreeing to take added security measures. In the same month, a class-action lawsuit against Zoom was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. According to the lawsuit, Zoom violated the privacy of its users by sharing personal data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, did not prevent hackers from disrupting Zoom sessions, and erroneously claimed to offer end-to-end encryption on Zoom sessions. Zoom settled this lawsuit for $86 million.
On April 1, 2020, Zoom announced a 90-day freeze on releasing new features, to focus on fixing privacy and security issues on Zoom. On July 1, 2020, Yuan wrote a blog post detailing efforts taken by the company to address security and privacy concerns, stating that they released 100 new safety features over the 90-day period. Those efforts include end-to-end encryption for all users, turning on meeting passwords by default, giving users the ability to choose which data centers calls are routed from, consulting with security experts, forming a CISO council, an improved bug bounty program, and working with third parties to help test security. Yuan also stated that Zoom would be releasing a transparency report later in 2020.
In May 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it was looking into Zoom's privacy practices. The FTC alleged that since at least 2016, "Zoom maintained the cryptographic keys that could allow Zoom to access the content of its customers’ meetings, and secured its Zoom Meetings, in part, with a lower level of encryption than promised." On November 9, 2020, a settlement was reached, requiring the company to implement additional security measures.
In December 2020, Zoom announced that it was under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California and that it had received a subpoena in June 2020 from the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York requesting information on the company's interactions with foreign governments and political parties. Both federal prosecutors also sought information and documentation about security and privacy matters regarding Zoom's practices.
On December 19, 2020, a former Zoom executive was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and unlawful conspiracy to transfer a means of identification. The charges are related to the alleged disruptions to video meetings commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, said that Xinjiang "Julien" Jin, then 39, was a San Jose, California–based company's main liaison with intelligence and law enforcement agencies of China. Zoom later acknowledged it was the company in question. It said in a statement that it had terminated Jin's employment for violating company policies and was cooperating with the prosecutors. Jin is not in custody because he is based in China.
In February 2021, Zoom announced a new feature called Kiosk Mode, which will allow people visiting offices to check in with a receptionist virtually on a kiosk, without any physical contact.
In March 2021, Zoom announced that from August 23, 2021, Zoom will stop selling new and upgraded products directly to customers in mainland China.
Censorship
In April 2020, Citizen Lab warned that having much of Zoom's research and development in China could "open up Zoom to pressure from Chinese authorities." In June 2020, Zoom was criticized for closing multiple accounts of U.S. and Hong Kong–based groups, including that of Zhou Fengsuo and two other human rights activists, who were commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The accounts were later re-opened, with the company stating that in the future it "will have a new process for handling similar situations." Zoom responded that it has to "comply with local laws," even "the laws of governments opposed to free speech." Zoom subsequently admitted to shutting down activist accounts at the request of the Chinese government. In response, a bi-partisan group of U.S. senators requested clarification of the incident from the company. Partially in response to criticisms of its blocking of the activists accounts as well as expressions of concern by the United States Justice Department, Zoom moved to cease direct sale of its product in mainland China in late August 2020.
In September 2020, following protests and legal concerns raised by the Jewish coalition group #EndJewHatred, Zoom prevented San Francisco State University from using its video conferencing software to host former Palestinian militant and hijacker Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In justifying its decision, Zoom cited the PFLP's designation as a terrorist organization by the United States Government and its efforts to comply with U.S. export control, sanctions, and anti-terrorism laws. Facebook and YouTube also joined Zoom in denying their platforms to the conference organizers. Professor Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, one of the conference organizers, criticized Zoom, Google's YouTube and Facebook for censoring Palestinian voices.
Workforce
In January 2020, Zoom had over 2,500 employees, with 1,396 in the United States and 1,136 in international locations. It is reported that 700 employees within a subsidiary work in China and develop Zoom software. In May 2020, Zoom announced plans to open new research and development centers in Pittsburgh and Phoenix, with plans to hire up to 500 engineers between the two cities over the next few years. In July 2020, Zoom announced the opening of a new technology center in Bangalore, India, to host engineering, IT, and business operations roles. In August 2020, Zoom opened a new data center in Singapore. The company ranked second place in Glassdoor's 2019 "Best Places to Work" survey.
Part of Zoom's product development team is based in China, where an average entry-level tech salary is one-third of American salaries, which is a key driver of its profitability. Zoom's research and development costs are 10 percent of its total revenue and less than half of the median percentage among its peers.
See also
List of video telecommunication services and product brands
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology
References
External links
2011 establishments in California
2019 initial public offerings
American companies established in 2011
Companies based in San Jose, California
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
Professional networks
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology
Software associated with the COVID-19 pandemic
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Software companies established in 2011
Software companies of the United States
Telecommunications companies established in 2011
Videotelephony
Web conferencing |
43373074 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Format-transforming%20encryption | Format-transforming encryption | In cryptography, format-transforming encryption (FTE) refers to encryption where the format of the input plaintext and output ciphertext are configurable. Descriptions of formats can vary, but are typically compact set descriptors, such as a regular expression.
Format-transforming encryption is closely related to, and a generalization of, format-preserving encryption.
Applications of FTE
Restricted fields or formats
Similar to format-preserving encryption, FTE can be used to control the format of ciphertexts. The canonical example is a credit card number, such as 1234567812345670 (16 bytes long, digits only).
However, FTE does not enforce that the input format must be the same as the output format.
Censorship circumvention
FTE is used by the Tor Project to circumvent deep packet inspection by pretending to be some other protocols. The implementation is ; it was written by the authors who came up with the FTE concept.
References
Cryptography
Content-control software
Internet censorship |
43457309 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo%20%28communications%20protocol%29 | Echo (communications protocol) | Echo (one-to-all, one-to-one, or one-to-some distribution) is a group communications protocol where authenticated and encrypted information is addressed to members connected to a node.
Adaptive Echo, Full Echo, and Half Echo can be chosen as several modes of the encrypted Echo protocol.
The Echo protocol offers three modes of operation: Adaptive Echo, Full Echo, and Half Echo.
Adaptive Echo
The Adaptive Echo distributes messages to parties that have shown awareness of a secret token. The graphic at the side shows the communication example of Hansel and Gretel. Referring to the old fairy tale, both highlight the trees with either "white pebbles" or "bread crumbs" to discover each other in the forest. They wish to communicate without the wicked witch knowing. How can Hansel and Gretel communicate without revealing their communications? The nodes in this example use token "white pebbles". Because the wicked witch is unaware of the secret token, she will not receive communications from Hansel and Gretel unless, of course, she misbehaves.
Full Echo
Full Echo or simply Echo sends each message to every neighbor. Every neighbor does the same unless it's the target node of a specific message. In smaller networks, the message should reach every peer. Nodes can be client, server, or both.
Half Echo
The Half Echo sends the message only to a direct neighbor. If configured correctly, the target node will not disperse the received message to other nearby nodes. This allows two neighbors to communicate with each other on dedicated sockets. That is, data from other nodes will not traverse the restricted socket. Though always authenticated and encrypted, the nodes can exclude others from knowing about the communications.
Echo Accounts
Accounts allow for exclusive connections. A server node may establish accounts and then distribute the credentials information. Accounts create an artificial web of trust without exposing the public encryption key and without attaching the key to an IP address.
References
External links
Internet architecture
Internet broadcasting
Television terminology
Routing
Multihoming
Packets (information technology) |
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