Cyberculture agenda: WhatsApp’s End-to-End Encryption…

WhatsApp Launches End-to-End Encryption

WhatsApp upped its security game in a big way with this week’sannouncement that it now provides full end-to-end encryption.

Co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton announced the news in a blog post, saying that users do not need to take any actions to activate end-to-end encryption, as it is now the default in versions of the WhatsApp application.

https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/

https://www.whatsapp.com/security/WhatsApp-Security-Whitepaper.pdf

Advanced cryptographic ratcheting
https://whispersystems.org/blog/advanced-ratcheting/

https://twitter.com/micahflee/status/717433872560992256

Pirates turn to hacking on the high-seas

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Piracy these days generally refers to software, but Verizon has unearthed a case of real-life pirates actually conducting the act in order to raid a number of ships. The group of pirates hacked into a shipping company’s content management system and managed to acquire confidential information on schedules and cargo aboard different vessels.
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Slack has been quietly building out conference calling for its tool since it acquired Screenhero in 2015. Today, it’s officially launched the conference calling feature so you can jump in a call in just a few seconds. The new ‘Calls’ feature is now in beta and can be enabled for your entire team if you’re invited. Once you’re in, a phone button appears in each channel, as well as your individual direct messages with your team. When you hit that button it posts an instant conference call in your channel that anyone can join in with a single click and you’re
Ad Blockers Are Making Money Off Ads (And Tracking, Too)

For publishers and advertisers, Internet ad blockers are a scourge. But the blockers also have to pay the bills.

Here’s How Google Makes Sure It (Almost) Never Goes Down

When was the last time you needed to Google something and Google wasn’t there?

Transparency reports have become common practice for reasonably sized social networks. In the wake of PRISM and other surveillance programs, companies have worked to win back user trust by detailing as much as they legally can. Now it seems that Reddit may have gone a step further, while remaining within the bounds of the law.

Social Media Algorithms and What They Mean for You

A growing number of social media platforms are switching to algorithm-based feeds. So is it time to panic? Maybe not – there are ways to work with the algorithms and use them to best advantage.
Late last year, Twitter switched their favorites ‘star’ icon to a ‘heart’ in an attempt to boost on-platform engagement. So has it worked? Locowise has the data.

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The US government is attempting to force Apple to backdoor its Iphone security, congress is considering mandatory backdoors for all secure technology, and FBI director James Comey insists that this will work, because there’s no way that America’s enemies might just switch over to using technology produced in other countries without such mandates

 

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The battle for hearts and minds has long been moving online and now the Pentagon is fighting back using its Cyber Command team, confirming that its had its “first wartime assignment,” targeting ISIS.

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The ad-subsidized Web is at a crossroads: faced with pressure from social media platform, publishers are accepting ever-more-intrusive ads, which combine with the mounting public concern over privacy and tracking to encourage ad-blocking, which, in turn, makes publishers more desperate and more biddable to the darkest surveillance and pop-up desires of advertisers.

Encryption wins this year’s Turing Award

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When it comes to computing, the Turing Award is the equivalent of a Nobel Prize. This year, Martin E Hellman and Whitfield Diffie, the creators of public-key cryptography, have been given the prestigious honor.
The announcement of the “Nobel Prize of computing” comes as the federal government is embroiled in a massive fight over the limits of encryption.

Your Cyberwar Cheat Sheet

Richard Clarke: A national security expert who’s advised multiple presidential administrations on cybersecurity, Clarke has issued vocal warnings against the dangers of cyberterrorism and penned a book about cyberwar.

 

The 40-year evolution of Apple ads

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Just over 40 years ago, in 1976, three young men decided they were going to create a truly personal computer. Little did they know that their dream would grow into one of the most iconic brands in the world today, Apple.

We Must Regulate Bitcoin. Problem Is, We Don’t Understand It

We Must Regulate Bitcoin. Problem Is, We Don’t Understand It

Regulation should be elaborated carefully lest it curtail the future of blockchain technologies.

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How many projects have you been involved in that have ended up exactly as you’d expected? 80 percent? 90 percent? Well, according to research it’s not even close. Stephen Carver, a lecturer in Project Management of Cranfield School of Management stated that up to 68 percent projects are failing. Gartner, a tech research and advisory firm, said that most of tech project failures are attributed to organizational skills rather than technical skills. Chance is, yours is among them. So what gives? As experience is the best teacher, let us take a look at a couple of past tech projects and

The expanded availability of Facebook Live is bringing more and more live video into the News Feeds of Facebook users, so how are these live videos being treated by the social network’s News Feed algorithm?

Yahoo has released a new report analyzing Generation X (Gen X), the segment of the population aged 35-54, which accounts for more than 81 million people in the United States (Gen Xers). The report called Gen X the most influential generation in America, as it reportedly has the most spending power of any generation, and accounts for 31 percent of the country’s total income dollars.

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Has more advertising on Instagram led to poorer engagement for brands on the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network?

Social analytics and reporting company Locowise released its January Instagram data, and its findings included:

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Even though Twitter has more than 300 million active users, it still hasn’t managed to get into the black. In a shareholder document for the year ending 2015, the company said it had a deficit of more than $2.09 billion since it was founded due to “significant operating losses.” Despite the company’s revenue growing from $28.3 million in 2010 to $2.22 billion in 2015, it still hasn’t managed to become profitable. The company blames a “decline in the growth rate of [its] user base” and that future revenue growth will depend significantly on the company’s ability to attract new users…

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