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XMPP Makes Encryption Mandatory for Instant Messaging Service Operators

XMPP Makes Encryption Mandatory for Instant Messaging Service Operators
May 20, 2014
The most popular open source Instant messaging application based on the ' Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol ' (XMPP), formerly known as Jabber that enables you to connect with other people over the Internet will begin refusing unencrypted connections as from today. In an announcement yesterday, The XMPP Standard Foundation (XSF) informs that a large number of XMPP service operators and software developers permanently turned on mandatory encryption for client-to-server and server-to-server connections from today in order to harden the security of the messaging service. Many XMPP-based services operate independently, so it is tough to enforce all of them to use Encryption . ' While XMPP is an open distributed network, obviously no single entity can "mandate" encryption for the whole network - but as a group we are moving in the right direction ,' reads the blog post. ' If you use an XMPP service provided by someone else and you encounter problems contact

Cryptocat offers End-to End Encryption For Facebook Messenger

Cryptocat offers End-to End Encryption For Facebook Messenger
May 15, 2014
It's an era of Mass Surveillance, where Encryption has become more important today for all of us than any other time in the History. But the trouble is that Crypto programs are too hard for Non-Internet-Savvy to implement and use. Time is loudly announcing the need to switch to some alternatives that provide end-to-end encryption for communication between two devices in order to keep your personal data away from NSA's prying eyes and respect your Privacy . But, many services, including Facebook's messaging application, don't support encryption and therefore are weak in providing security of our online data, which could result in data breach either by cyber criminals or by our own Government under surveillance programs. Because Facebook's messaging application doesn't support end-to-end encryption, an Open-source and most popular crypto chat-encryption application called 'Cryptocat' has made it possible to chat with your Facebook friends and rel

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future
Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu

YAHOO! Now Encrypts Everything; Encrypted Yahoo Messenger Coming Soon

YAHOO! Now Encrypts Everything; Encrypted Yahoo Messenger Coming Soon
Apr 03, 2014
ON HIGH-PRIORITY YAHOO! is finally rolling out encryption implementation over their site and services in order to protect users. Yahoo is rapidly becoming one of the most aggressive supporters of encryption, as in January this year Yahoo enabled the HTTPS connections by default, that automatically encrypts the connections between users and its email service. November last year, Yahoo revealed plans to encrypt all information that moves between its data centers and finally from 31st March Yahoo has taken another leap in user-data protection through the deployment of new encryption technologies. NSA TARGET LIST -  GMAIL, YAHOO, ... many more. Last year, It was revealed by  Edward Snowden  that under MUSCULAR program , the spy agency NSA was infiltrating the private data links between Google and Yahoo data centers. After finding themselves in the NSA's target list, Yahoo! and Google forced to think hard about the security and privacy of its users. Google had replied back

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

cyber security
websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.

World's most secure messaging service offers £10,000 if you crack it

World's most secure messaging service offers £10,000 if you crack it
May 01, 2013
Privacy conscious phone users are being offered a new app that claims to be the world's first totally secure messaging service. A London-based iPhone messaging app claims to be unhackable and is offering reward to anyone who can intercept a message sent by it.  Redact believes that messages sent via the app are completely secure, and to prove it a reward of £10,000 has been offered. The application creates a secure and encrypted peer-to-peer network between two iPhones, with messages sent directly from one phone to another and not through the company's servers.  The company has already offered its Secure Messenger service for free to MPs and submitted the technology to CESG, the Government's National Technical Authority for Information Assurance, which provides advice on the security of communications and electronic data. With Redact there are no user names, phone numbers or email addresses. Instead, new users are automatically assigned a unique PIN, simi
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