• Quantum cryptography’s security may not be air-tight

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    Quantum communication systems offer the promise of virtually unbreakable encryption. Unlike classical encryption, which is used to send secure data over networks today and the security of which depends on the difficulty of solving mathematical problems like the factoring of large numbers, most quantum encryption schemes keep the encryption key separate from the data. This approach ensures that an eavesdropper with access only to the data could not decipher the key. Researchers, however, have recently demonstrated that even quantum encryption may be susceptible to hacking.

  • Canadian company provides software to U.S. intelligence agencies

    A Canadian company has spent the last few years locking up contracts to provide security software to U.S. federal agencies such as the NSA, CIA, and FBI. The company moved from the United States to Canada because the Canadian government gives tax credits for high-tech companies coming to Canada, and Canadian government agencies help the company break into new markets by sponsoring his company in international conferences. It was in one of these conferences that he once met “some NSA folks.”

  • Future computers will identify users by thoughts, not passwords

    Instead of typing your password, in the future you may only have to think your password, according to researchers. A new study explores the feasibility of brainwave-based computer authentication as a substitute for passwords.

  • A better single-photon emitter for quantum cryptography

    In a development that could make the advanced form of secure communications known as quantum cryptography more practical, researchers have demonstrated a simpler, more efficient single-photon emitter that can be made using traditional semiconductor processing techniques.

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  • Fully secure communication

    Can worldwide communication ever be fully secure? Quantum physicists believe they can provide secret keys using quantum cryptography via satellite. These physicists have, for the first time, successfully transmitted a secure quantum code through the atmosphere from an aircraft to a ground station.

  • Using jokes as an encryption method

    Encrypting a message with a strong code is the only safe way to keep your communications secret, but it will be obvious to anyone seeing such a message that the sender is hiding something, regardless of whether they are encrypting their e-mails for legitimate or illicit purposes. The solution: hiding a secret message in plain sight – for example, in simple jokes.

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  • Beefing up public-key encryption

    MIT researchers show how to secure widely used encryption schemes against attackers who have intercepted examples of successful decryption.

  • Grammar rules undermine security of long computer passwords

    When writing or speaking, good grammar helps people make themselves understood. When used to concoct a long computer password, however, grammar — good or bad — provides important hints that can help someone crack that password, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated by devising grammar-aware password cracker.

  • Smartphones turned into secure and versatile keys

    It is already possible to open doors using an app — but we are a long way from seeing widespread acceptance of this in the market; now, researchers have developed a piece of software that will make the technology even more secure and versatile

  • Secure communication technology overcomes lack of trust between communicating parties

    Many scenarios in business and communication require that two parties share information without either being sure whether they can trust the other; examples include secure auctions and identification at ATM machines; researchers say that exploiting the strange properties of the quantum world could be the answer to dealing with such distrust

  • Louisiana parishes to encrypt police radio communication

    First-responder agencies in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana will soon be encrypting all emergency radios,  keeping emergency response chatter out of the ears of the public; the police says the   encrypted communication is needed  in order to keep criminals from gaining information on police by listening to scanners, but a police union and crime-prevention groups are worried that the encrypted system would prevent the media from monitoring police activity, and hobble neighborhood watch organizations from keeping their neighborhoods safe

  • Expert show how to crack every common password in under six hours

    GPU computing has improved considerably in recent years, and Jeremi Gosney, founder and CEO of Stricture Consulting Group, used a 25-GPU cluster that can run through 350 billion guesses per second to show how easy it would be to crack practically any password out there (easy, that is, if you can use a 25-GPU cluster )

  • New NIST report offers guidance in cryptographic key generation

    Protecting sensitive electronic information in different situations requires different types of cryptographic algorithms, but ultimately they all depend on keys, the cryptographic equivalent of a password; a new publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aims to help people secure their data with good keys no matter which algorithm they choose

  • Quantum cryptography may soon go main stream

    Researchers have perfected a technique that offers a less expensive way to ensure the security of high-speed fiber-optic cables, protecting communication networks from unauthorized snooping; this means that existing telecom networks can now be secured with this ultimate form of encryption

  • Students writing their own tickets

    Four students at the University of New South Wales say they have cracked the secret algorithm used in Sydney’s public transportation system, which will allow them to print their own tickets