Snowden Ten Years Later

In 2013 and 2014, I wrote extensively about new revelations regarding NSA surveillance based on the documents provided by Edward Snowden. But I had a more personal involvement as well. I wrote the essay below in September 2013. The New Yorker agreed to publish it, but the Guardian asked me not to...

Ecuador’s Attempt to Resettle Edward Snowden

Someone hacked the Ecuadorian embassy in Moscow and found a document related to Ecuadors 2013 efforts to bring Edward Snowden there. If you remember, Snowden was traveling from Hong Kong to somewhere when the US revoked his passport, stranding him in Russia. In the document, Ecuador asks Russia t...

On the Subversion of NIST by the NSA

Nadiya Kostyuk and Susan Landau wrote an interesting paper: "Dueling Over DUALECDRBG: The Consequences of Corrupting a Cryptographic Standardization Process": Abstract: In recent decades, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST, which develops cryptographic standards for...

Edward Snowden urges users to stop using ExpressVPN

By Waqas Edward Snowden urging all to avoid ExpressVpn after its CIO named in UAE surveillance scandal. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Edward Snowden urges users to stop using ExpressVPN...

A week in security (July 26 – August 1)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: OSX.XLoader hides little except its main purpose: What we learned in the installation process. The Clubhouse database “breach” is likely a non-breach. Here’s why. Kaseya Unitrends has unpatched vulnerabilities that could help attackers expand a breach. UDP Technolo...

Report: Danish Secret Service Helped NSA Spy On European Politicians

The U.S. National Security Agency NSA used a partnership with Denmark's foreign and military intelligence service to eavesdrop on top politicians and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France by tapping into Danish underwater internet cables between 2012 and 2014. Details of t...

The NSA is Refusing to Disclose its Policy on Backdooring Commercial Products

Senator Ron Wyden asked, and the NSA didnt answer: The NSA has long sought agreements with technology companies under which they would build special access for the spy agency into their products, according to disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and reporting by Reuters and others...

Bart Gellman on Snowden

Bart Gellman's long-awaited at least by me book on Edward Snowden, Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, will finally be published in a couple of weeks. There is an adapted excerpt in the Atlantic. It's an interesting read, mostly about the government surveillance of hi...

Google Receives Geofence Warrants

Sometimes it's hard to tell the corporate surveillance operations from the government ones: Google reportedly has a database called Sensorvault in which it stores location data for millions of devices going back almost a decade. The article is about geofence warrants, where the police go to...

Edward Snowden's Memoirs

Ed Snowden has published a book of his memoirs: Permanent Record. I have not read it yet, but I want to point you all towards two pieces of writing about the book. The first is an excellent review of the book and Snowden in general by SF writer and essayist Jonathan Lethem, who helped make a shor...

Edward Snowden in His Own Words: Why I Became a Whistle-Blower

Book excerpt: As a systems administrator, the young man who would expose vast, secret US surveillance saw freedom being encroached and decided he had to act...

Edward Snowden Sued by U.S. Over New Memoir

The U.S. has sued whistleblower Edward Snowden over his new memoir, alleging he published the book in violation of non-disclosure agreements signed with both the CIA and NSA. Edward Snowden, a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency and contractor for the National Security Agency NSA, ...

United States Sues Edward Snowden and You'd be Surprised to Know Why

The United States government today filed a lawsuit against Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA and NSA government agencies who made headlines worldwide in 2013 when he fled the country and leaked top-secret information about NSA's global and domestic surveillance activities. And you...

United States Sues Edward Snowden and You'd be Surprised to Know Why

The United States government today filed a lawsuit against Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA and NSA government agencies who made headlines worldwide in 2013 when he fled the country and leaked top-secret information about NSA's global and domestic surveillance activities. And you...

After 6 Years in Exile, Edward Snowden Explains Himself

In a new memoir and interview, the world’s most famous whistle-blower elucidates as never before why he stood up to mass surveillance—and his love for an internet that no longer exists...

Reverse Location Search Warrants

The police are increasingly getting search warrants for information about all cell phones in a certain location at a certain time: Police departments across the country have been knocking at Google's door for at least the last two years with warrants to tap into the company's extensive stores of...

Snowden’s Attorney Talks Govt Harrassment of Whistleblower Helpers (Part One)

Human rights lawyer Robert Tibbo represented former N.S.A. contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden when he fled the United States to Hong Kong in 2013. Less publicized has been Tibbo’s work representing several families from the Hong Kong refugee community that welcomed Snowden into their...

Edward Snowden on Protecting Activists Against Surveillance

“Turnkey tyranny” has never been closer. For some communities, it feels like it’s already here...

Reality Winner, N.S.A. Contractor, Sentenced to 5+ Years in Leak Case

A former NSA contractor, Reality L. Winner, has plead guilty on charges of leaking classified information, regarding a report on election meddling by Russian operatives in the 2016 U.S. elections. She was charged with espionage and was sentenced to more than five years in prison and three years o...

House Votes to Reauthorize Controversial Spy Provision, Section 702

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to renew the National Security Agency’s spy powers to collect internet communications under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008. The vote 256-to-164 in favor of the legislation ends a yearlong debate over...