Bits and Bytes

If you weaken crypto ... you weaken crypto.  "Technology companies are scrambling to fix a major security flaw that for more than a decade left users of Apple and Google devices vulnerable to hacking when they visited millions of supposedly secure Web sites, including Whitehouse.gov, NSA.gov and FBI.gov."  The vulnerability (deliberate use of 512-bit encyrption) is the result of our Crytpo Wars back in the 1990s. Deliberately degraded encryption is now coming back embedded in web code like some zombie. Hybrid war in Ukraine.  "He [Putin] announced the Russian military would engage in a 'new kind of war' fought with 'nonmilitary methods to achieve political and strategic goals.'  These methods, Gerasimov explained, would involve fomenting popular protests, using covert military measures and deploying special operations forces, often under the guise of peacekeeping or crisis management. Such tactics, Gerasimov insisted, had been used by the United States for decades. Now Russia would fight back in the same way." Hacking the Activists.  "In November 2005, during the dead of night, five black cars pulled up in front of the home of Moosa Abd-Ali Ali. The doors opened, and a group of men stepped out. They could’ve been officers, or maybe they were just hired muscle — such distinctions aren’t always clear in Bahrain. But Moosa knew they were sent by the government, and they had come for him." Privacy Concerns Threaten Overseas Tech.  "Since the Edward Snowden revelations of 2013, foreign governments have raised concern about the safety of their citizens’ data stored by American Internet companies.  They believe U.S. law enforcement authorities have access to any cloud-based data — and it’s putting the $174 billion industry at risk." 3D Printing -- Apocalypse Soon? "None of us want to have to report on the dark side of something like 3D printing, a technology bursting with innovation and offering resources for doing so much good in the world, exemplifying mind-boggling advancements. This is the technology that helps lives in so many ways; we don’t want to think of it as the technology that can help take them as well."