Apple joins alliance of tech companies in push for better NSA transparency

Apple is reportedly teaming up with Google, Facebook, Microsoft and a number of other tech companies that will demand dramatically increased transparency from the US government regarding surveillance by the NSA and other agencies.

In a letter to be published tomorrow, the alliance—which includes 63 companies, investors, and non-profit orgs—will call upon President Obama and congressional leaders to allow them to report more specifically on security requests…

AllThingsD has obtained a copy of the letter and posted the following excerpt:

“Basic information about how the government uses its various law enforcement–related investigative authorities has been published for years without any apparent disruption to criminal investigations,” a copy of the letter obtained by AllThingsD reads. “We seek permission for the same information to be made available regarding the government’s national security–related authorities. … Just as the United States has long been an innovator when it comes to the Internet and products and services that rely upon the Internet, so too should it be an innovator when it comes to creating mechanisms to ensure that government is transparent, accountable, and respectful of civil liberties and human rights.”

Specifically, the companies are asking that they be allowed to report the number of government requests for info on their users and of individuals, accounts, or devices. They are also asking that the government issue its own request report.

As the site notes, this is easily the largest push we’ve seen for greater government disclosure of digital communications monitoring since a slew of slide leaks regarding a secret PRISM program exposed the National Security Agency’s capabilities.

Apple was one of the 12 companies listed on the slide as a ‘willing participant’ in the PRISM program, but has said that it doesn’t provide any government agency with direct access to its servers, and any requests for its info must be court-ordered.

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Default iOS hotspot passwords can be cracked in under a minute

You may want to reconsider using a default password iOS provides for hotspot functionality as researchers at a German university warn of the weaknesses that let attackers crack any default iOS hotspot password in under a minute. Although Windows Phone uses even weaker passwords and some Android vendors weaken their device’s security by modifying the Wi-Fi-related components, Apple’s problem is that iOS generates “random” hotspot passwords using a dictionary of only 1,842 different entries…

Michael Lee, writing for ZDNet, points to the disturbing findings by researchers at the University of Erlangen in Germany who found iOS creates default hotspot passwords using a dictionary of 52,500 words from the Scrabble game.

Although Apple appends randomly generated numbers to the words from this dictionary, this isn’t stopping attackers from cracking the weak passwords.

The researchers explain:

This list consists of around 52,500 entries, and was originated from an open-source Scrabble crossword game. Using this unofficial Scrabble word list within offline dictionary attacks, we already had a 100 percent success rate of cracking any arbitrary iOS hotspot default password.

Cracking those passwords requires some serious oomph: the researchers used a GPU cluster consisting of four AMD Radeon HD 7970s. After capturing the Wi-Fi connection handshake, the researchers used the AMD hardware to iterate over all items in the list, including the permutations of additional numbers..

This hardware can crack default iOS hotspot passwords in under just 50 seconds.

It isn’t helping that Apple appears to be using only 1,842 words from the scrabble dictionary.

“Consequently, any default password used within an arbitrary iOS mobile hotspot is based on one of these 1,842 different words,” the research note explains.

It’s even worse on Windows Phone and Android, with the latter generating default hotspot passwords that consist of only eight-digit numbers. And even though Android generates strong passwords, “some vendors modified the Wi-Fi-related components utilised in their devices and weakened the algorithm of generating default passwords”.

The issue fuels serious security concerns, especially when users connect their MacBook, iPad or other device to a hotspot created on an iOS device.

In order to strengthen your security and prevent any potential eavesdropping, you’re advised not to accept default hotspot passwords iOS randomly generates.

Instead, use Settings > Personal Hotspot to replace the default password with your own uniquely generated strong password that should not contain birthday dates, spouse names and other commonly used and easily guessed terms.

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The Best Apps For Protecting Your Privacy

Privacy on iPhone is one of the most important things a user should look after. You probably heard plenty of commotion regarding data mining on the part of the U.S. government. It turns out that no one’s privacy is protected from the prying eyes of our leaders under any circumstance.

Of course we can't protect your phone calls from government access but we can safeguard some of our information and documentation from unwanted invasion by other companies, software programs, and sticky fingers. We’ve got a list of apps that are great for locking photos, hiding messages, and keeping your private things the way you want them to be, private…

Wickr – Self-Destructing, Secure, Private, Anonymous Messages & Media

The all-around go-to app for protecting your privacy while social networking on your iPhone is Wickr. This app gives control of messaging back to the sender. Each message is encrypted with its own unique keys that don’t have any decryption keys at all. It features timed removal of information so that no one will have access to your private messages. Meta-data is deleted, nothing is stored on the server, and all information is encrypted using military grade security. Wickr is perfect for people who don’t want anyone to know what they are talking about. This app is available for free.

Private Life Texting – Send secret SMS messages

It recently came to light that Apple’s iMessage service is particularly difficult to crack into. Actually, “impossible to intercept” was the exact wording used by the DEA. That doesn’t mean that conversations right on your iPhone can’t be seen by snooping moms, jealous partners, or idea thieves. This app makes it impossible for anyone to see your private text messages without knowing the password. You will also see a picture of the person who tried to access your text messages so you can confront them about their prying tendencies. This app is available for $0.99.

Picture Safe – Secure Photo Vault and Private Safe for your Privacy

I recently found out that Scarlett Johansson’s phone was hacked and her nude selfies were published on the Internet. Now, I’m not going to bother trying to understand why celebrities take nude pictures of themselves when they know they are targets for privacy invasions. All I can say is that you can protect your photos with a privacy app like Picture safe. Not only does this app require password-protected storage for your device, you can create hidden folders, back up pictures, and organize your photos into different sections. Use the Quick Hide feature to replace a secret picture with a boring old spreadsheet or other not-so-secret picture. This app is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time.

NQ Vault

This app takes privacy a step further by letting you secure your video clips as well as your pictures. The app automatically sends pictures and videos that you take to an encrypted place that can only be accessed when you enter the correct password. You can make Facebook chats private by letting NQ Vault connect to the Facebook app. Then, all of your chats will be private. You will also know if someone is trying to break into your private collection by snapping a picture. If you get caught using Vault by someone who feels they are owed access to find out what you are up to (like a wife/husband or parent), you can show them a decoy NQ Vault app that has a whole different set of pictures. This app is available for free.

Private Files and Photos – Hide Contacts, Bookmarks, Photos, Videos, and More

Not only can you keep your photos and videos private with this app, but you can also keep contacts and other documents private, as well. You can import photos and videos from your device’s library, take pictures from within the app, and more. The app requires a passcode, or you can use Dot Lock protection for a different kind of locking. If someone tries to unlock your private folder, you’ll see their unknowing face and find out where they were when they tried to break in with the app’s camera and GPS feature. This app is available for free.

Secrets Folder Pro

If you are the kind of person who wants to keep more than just photos private, you need an app that lets you keep almost all of your information private. With this app, you’ll be able to set passcodes for pictures, notes, contacts, bank accounts, web browsers, voice memos, and more. Photos can be imported from your photo library, printed and emailed to others, and organized into albums. Notes can be created and kept private similar to the native iOS Notes app. You can import contacts from you iPhone’s address book and manage your credit card and bank account login information. This app is available for $0.99.

Full Screen Private Browsing for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

Everyone has a reason to hide their browsing history. Whether you don’t want your boss to know you’ve been looking for a new job, or you don’t want your husband to know how much money you’ve spent on online shopping, you’ve probably cleared your browser history a few times in your life. Instead of worrying about whether you’ve remembered to delete your activities, use this app for a completely private Internet experience. All history, cookies, and bookmarks, will be deleted every time you exit the app. Plus, you’ll get the full-screen experience that mobile Safari does not currently support by hiding the status bar. This app is available for $1.99.

Rando

This app makes it possible for you to send and receive pictures to others without them knowing who you are. It is a bit different than protecting your privacy from unwanted invasion. It is actually just a fun way to share photos with each other from all over the world without knowing who took the pictures. It is the opposite of social networking, even though it is a social sharing idea. This app is available for free.

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