Linux Privacy - Page 33 - Results from #640

Discover Privacy News

Fabricating DNA Evidence

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

I've filed this one under privacy. Bruce Schneier has always been a good source of privacy and biometrics issues, let alone crypto. This isn't good: The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Aug 20, 2009

How 10 digits will end privacy as we know it

Internet denizens and urban dwellers alike need to recognize that an era of anonymity is ending. The population of the world stands at about 7 billion. So it takes only 10 digits to label each human being on the planet uniquely.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Aug 17, 2009

You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again

More than half of the internet

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Aug 12, 2009

Secure Passwords Keep You Safer

Classic article on choosing a secure password from Bruce Schneier on Wired. It's great reading, even for those of us who have been around a while.Ever since I wrote about the 34,000 MySpace passwords I analyzed, people have been asking how to choose secure passwords. My piece aside, there's been a lot written on this topic over the years -- both serious and humorous -- but most of it seems to be based on anecdotal suggestions rather than actual analytic evidence. What follows is some serious advice.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Aug 10, 2009

What's your identity fraud risk level?

Has personal security been relegated into a simple graph that shows your risk? Fraud, and even phishing risks are real. Is this capitalizing on FUD?Like many people, I'm worried about identity fraud. Not paranoid, just generally curious what the chances are that I could be victimized by things like mail theft. Sure, I could sign up for one of the fee-based identity fraud monitoring services like LifeLock or Debix, or I can get a credit report that might give me some clue that a credit card has been taken out by someone else in my name. Now there is a Web site that offers an assessment of a person's identity fraud risk for free.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Jun 11, 2009

Spammers harvesting emails from Twitter - in real time

Not necessarily Linux related, but how are Linux admins dealing with social networks and the risks to their users? Spammers are no strangers to the ever-growing Twitter. From commercial Twitter spamming tools, to re-tweeting trending topics for delivering their message, a new crafty search technique can provide spammers with fresh and valid emails harvested from Twitter

LinuxSecurity.com Team
May 19, 2009

Tools To Delete Files Securely In Ubuntu Linux

Deleting a file or reformatting a disk does not destroy your sensitive data. The data can easily be undeleted. That

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Jan 07, 2009

Solving Privacy Issues in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

One of the new features in Ubuntu 8.10 is the ability to create an encrypted directory for content you do not want others to access. Oh, by the way, did you know that anyone can read your files that are in your home directory? Do you want to know how you can protect the privacy of your data on Ubuntu 8.10? Check out this article which tells you alternative ways to do this including a cryptographic filesystem package.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Nov 04, 2008

GNU/Linux Tools to Preserve Your Online Privacy,

Whether you are online or offline, freedom matters. Like good health you never think about it or miss it until it is under threat or actually gone. If you love freedom, you probably love free software and it has given us some terrific tools with which to defend freedom. In this article I will give an overview of some of the available resources (Freenet, Wikileaks and Tor) to protect dissident opinion, facilitate whistle blowing and promote the safe and anonymous development of free software. If you want or need to keep your online surfing private there are many Linux applications to choose from. Do you use any online privacy software when surfing the next?

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Jul 11, 2008

Encrypted Root LVM

I am assuming that you already know how to set up an encrypted file system using cryptsetup with luks (or something else). There are several howtos. I am also assuming that you are familiar with LVM2. This tutorial deals only with how to add an extra encrypted physical volume to a volume group pool containing other encrypted physical volumes. This is typical scenario if, at first, you have set up your encryption at a physical partition level (/dev/sdaX where X is the a number of your partition), then you setup your LVM on top of the encrypted partition. If at some later time you want to add another partition in your volume group, you will also want to have it encrypted in order to maintain the same level of security. In order for your machine to boot, initramfs needs to be able to unlock both PVs in order to reconstruct the entire volume group where your root lv is lying. For those of you familiar with LVM2 and looking to securely encrypt data on your logical volumes, this article provides a great step-by-step tutorial on how to do so. This implementation requires passwords to be typed for each volume - maybe you can let us know how this would be done with a keyfile?

LinuxSecurity.com Team
May 15, 2008

The Computer Security Paradox

One of the most prized rights of any American is the right to privacy and security. It's something people in some countries would kill for. Yet now there appears to be a very frightening trend growing. Your privacy and security are being thrown out the window wholesale in favor of easier access by law enforcement. A recent example of this can be seen with the announcement that Microsoft has been providing a tool to investigators that can effectively rip your Windows security to shreds in seconds, exposing all your private data to whoever wants to look at it. A key point brought up in this article is the fact that prevention of crimes should hold higher priority over that of solving crimes. It seems that breaking security for the sake of forensics would not only make crimes easier to "solve", but also easier to commit. How do you feel about this approach to improving forensics?

LinuxSecurity.com Team
May 09, 2008

Ubuntu Linux Disk Encryption Benchmarks

Introduced in Ubuntu 7.10 was install-time encryption support where using the alternate installer one can fully encrypt their disk in an LVM using dm-crypt. Unfortunately, the Ubiquity installer in Ubuntu 8.04 continues to lack LVM and encryption support, but using Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 6 we have looked at the performance cost of this encrypted configuration on Ubuntu Linux. Rather than looking directly at the disk read/write overhead caused by the encryption process, we have provided some benchmarks to see how the real-world performance is impacted in both gaming and other desktop tasks. One reason most users don't encrypt their private information is that it takes too long. Checkout these benchmarks of encrypting an entire hard disk, you may be surprised.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 18, 2008

Security Guide to Customs-Proofing Your Laptop

If you travel across national borders, it's time to customs-proof your laptop. Customs officials have been stepping up electronic searches of laptops at the border, where travelers enjoy little privacy and have no legal grounds to object. Laptops and other electronic devices can be seized without reason, their contents copied, and the hardware returned hours or even weeks later. Now that we're jumped ahead an hour and are seeing less snow (at least here out east), we can start moving about the world again with our trusty laptops - be sure to give a quick once over of the above article! This includes tips / tools for ALL operating systems to ensure you have properly secured your laptop - wireless hacks, encryption techniques, and general security apply.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Mar 14, 2008

Opera, Firefox Bug Could Export Users' Web history

A flaw in the way the Firefox and Opera browsers handle an image file could allow an attacker to see what Web sites a person has visited. The problem concerns how the two browsers handle a ".BMP," or bitmap, image file, according to an advisory written by Gynvael Coldwind of Vexillium.org, who posted a video illustrating the problem. I always find it interesting when two pieces of software together can cause a security vulnerability.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Feb 20, 2008

Ten Firefox Extensions to Keep Your Browsing Private and Secure

Most people lock their doors and windows, use a paper shredder to protect themselves from identity theft, and install antivirus software on their computers. Yet they routinely surf the Internet without giving a second thought to whether their browser is secure and their personal information safe. Unfortunately, it's easy for someone with nefarious intentions to use a Web site to glean data from -- or introduce spyware to -- your computer. Even worse, sometimes all you have to do is randomly click on a site to have your data probed in a most unwelcome way. Any tools which helps my security and privacy while surfing the Internet is worth looking at. There are many Firefox extensions which can improve your privacy and security on the Net. This articles talks about 10 such tools.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Nov 29, 2007

An Invisible Abomination

You pay for your broadband modem, you pay the ISP to keep delivering your service, and what do you get in return? They spy, monitor, and insert ads into your web pages for good measure. Apparently a certain vendor (lets call them NebuAd) has been selling devices to ISPs to do precisely that. Your privacy is exchanged for traffic habits, you preferences, and custom tailored ads for you. Whatever happened to just 'um, no?'

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Jul 03, 2007

How Private Are Sites' Membership Lists?

"Suppose your girlfriend called up Match.com and said, "I think my boyfriend might be cheating on me. His e-mail address is joeblow - at - aol - dot - com. Can you tell me if he's a member?" And Match.com phone support told her, "Why, yes, he is a member. You'd better have a talk with him." After you had gotten over the guilt of getting caught -- I mean, the guilt of cheating -- would you not feel like Match.com had violated your privacy by telling a third party that you were a member?"

LinuxSecurity.com Team
Jun 07, 2007

Which ISPs Are Spying on You?

Wired News, with help from some readers, attempted to get real answers from the largest United States-based ISPs about what information they gather on their customers' use of the internet, and how long they retain records like IP addresses, e-mail and real-time browsing activity. Most importantly, we asked what they require from law-enforcement agencies before coughing up the data, and whether they sell your data to marketers.

LinuxSecurity.com Team
May 31, 2007

The Scourge of Image Spam

E-mail solicitations that use graphical images of text to avoid filters are not new. Recently, however, they became more sophisticated and account for roughly 40 percent of spam today. As spam filters evolve to detect new methods, the spammers job is to deliver something that the filter hasn

LinuxSecurity.com Team
May 17, 2007

Local Shared Objects: The Cookies You Never Knew That Existed

Many users, specially those who are worried about privacy, already know cookies: how they work, where are they saved and, most imprtantly, how to delete them. Most browsers include an utility to manage them, blocking or deleting the ones we don

LinuxSecurity.com Team
May 08, 2007

Linux Privacy - Page 33

Navigating the Tails 6.8 Update: What It Means for Security-Minded Users

Google Chooses Passkeys Over Passwords: Examining the Security Benefits for Linux Users

Tails 6.6 Released: Unpacking Key Features & Updates