Blockchain takes on censorship: Students looking into sexual harassment accusations involving a professor at Peking University in China wrote a letter accusing the school of trying to silence one of them, but the letter was removed from social media outlets for “violating rules.” So some supporters distributed the letter using the Ethereum blockchain, reports Yahoo finance.
Why routing security matters: Hackers used a well-known weakness in Border Gateway Protocol routing to hijack Amazon Web Services’ DNS traffic for about two hours last Tuesday. Attackers were able to redirect an Ethereum wallet developer’s website to a phishing site and steal about $150,000 from MyEtherWallet.com users, ZDNet reports.
Hacking-for-hire site attacked: In this case, law enforcement agencies from 12 countries were the people who shut down hacking-for-hire site Webstresser.org. The site had 136,000 customers and its hackers launched more than 4 million DDoS attacks in recent years, according to Europol. GovTech.com has a story.
Inspecting the IoT: Researchers at Princeton University are launching IoT Inspector, an open-source tool designed to give Internet of Things users insight into the security of their devices. There’s even Raspberry Pi code for the project, says The Register.
Cryptocurrency for the suits: The Nasdaq is open to eventually offering a cryptocurrency exchange, says CEO Adena Friedman, as quoted on CNBC.com. That time will come when people are “ready for a more regulated market,” and for a service that provides a “fair experience for investors,” she says.
Encryption innovation: Twelve big encryption trends could help keep data more secure, reports TheNextWeb. Among the encryption techniques: wearable two-factor encryption, and homomorphic encryption, which allows users to process data without decrypting it.
Encryption workaround proposed: As a long debate over law enforcement access to encrypted devices continues, former Microsoft executive Ray Ozzie says he’s come up with a solution that may please both sides. Ozzie’s proposal, detailed at Wired.com, involves QR codes and encrypted PINs that would give police access to devices. This follows a proposal from Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, for a feds-only encryption workaround. Ozzie’s proposal immediately drew criticism from TechDirt, which says the idea “puts a fresh coat of paint” on some insecure proposals already out there.
Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) includes four simple, concrete actions ALL network operators can take to reduce the most common routing threats. Learn more about what you can do.