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Agency warns attackers targeting teleworkers to steal corporate data.

A July 9th attack disrupted service and taunted Iran’s leadership with hacked screens directing customers to call the phone of Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei with complaints.

Often it feels like squid just evolved better than us mammals.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Read my blog posting guidelines here.

The time has come for me to find a new home for my (paper) cryptography library. It’s about 150 linear feet of books, conference proceedings, journals, and monographs — mostly from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

My preference is that it goes to an educational institution, but will consider a corporate or personal home if that’s the only option available. If you think you can break it up and sell it, I’ll consider that as a last resort. New owner pays all packaging and shipping costs, and possibly a purchase price depending on who you are and what you want to do with the library.

If you are interested, please email me. I can send photos.

New paper: “Encrypted Cloud Photo Storage Using Google Photos“:

Abstract: Cloud photo services are widely used for persistent, convenient, and often free photo storage, which is especially useful for mobile devices. As users store more and more photos in the cloud, significant privacy concerns arise because even a single compromise of a user’s credentials give attackers unfettered access to all of the user’s photos. We have created Easy Secure Photos (ESP) to enable users to protect their photos on cloud photo services such as Google Photos. ESP introduces a new client-side encryption architecture that includes a novel format-preserving image encryption algorithm, an encrypted thumbnail display mechanism, and a usable key management system. ESP encrypts image data such that the result is still a standard format image like JPEG that is compatible with cloud photo services. ESP efficiently generates and displays encrypted thumbnails for fast and easy browsing of photo galleries from trusted user devices. ESP’s key management makes it simple to authorize multiple user devices to view encrypted image content via a process similar to device pairing, but using the cloud photo service as a QR code communication channel. We have implemented ESP in a popular Android photos app for use with Google Photos and demonstrate that it is easy to use and provides encryption functionality transparently to users, maintains good interactive performance and image quality while providing strong privacy guarantees, and retains the sharing and storage benefits of Google Photos without any changes to the cloud service

This news has been some time in the making, and I’m terrifically excited to share it.  

As of July 27th, we take a decisive step forward, one where McAfee places its sole focus on consumers. People like you. This marks the day we officially divest our enterprise business and dedicate ourselves to protecting people so they can freely enjoy life online. 

McAfee is now focused solely on people. People like you. 

This move reflects years of evolution, time spent re-envisioning what online protection looks like in everyday life—how to make it stronger, easier to use, and most importantly, all the ways it can make you feel safe and help you stay that way.   

In the coming days, you’ll see your experience with us evolve dramatically as well. You’ll see advances in our online protection that look, feel, and act in bold new ways. They will put you in decisive control of your identity and privacy, all in a time where both are so infringed upon. And you’ll also see your protection get simpler, much simpler, than before. 

Today, I’d like to give you a preview of what’s ahead. 

You’re driving big changes 

First, these changes are inspired by you. From feedback, research, interviews, and even having some of you invite us into your homes to show us how you live life online, you’ve made it clear what’s working and what isn’t. You’ve also shared what’s on your mind—your thoughts on technology’s rapid growth, the concerns you have for your children, and the times where life online makes you feel vulnerable.  

We’re here to change things for the better. And here’s why …  

Our lives are more fluid and mobile than ever before. From the palm of our hand, we split the cost of dinner, purchase birthday gifts, dim the lights in our living room, warm up the car on a winter morning, and far more. In many ways, our smartphones are the remote control for our lives. From managing our finances to controlling our surroundings, we’re increasing our use of technology to get things done and make things happen. Could any of us have imagined this when the first smartphones rolled out years ago? 

Without question, we’re still plenty reliant on our computers and laptops too. Our recent research showed that we’re looking forward to using them in addition to our phones for telemedicine, financial planning, and plenty of personal shopping—each representing major upticks in usage than in years before, up to 74 percent more in some cases. 

Yet what’s the common denominator here? You. Whatever device you’re using, at the center of all that activity is you. You’re the one who’s getting things done, making things happen, or simply passing some time with a show. So, while the device remains important, what’s far more important is you—and the way you’re using your device for ever-increasing portions of your life. Safely. Confidently. Easily. 

Security is all about you 

Taken together, the time to squarely focus on protecting people is now. A new kind of online security is called for, one that can protect you as you go online throughout your day in a nearly constant and seamless fashion. We’ve dedicated ourselves to making that happen. And you’ll soon see what that looks like. 

So how can you expect this evolution to take shape? You’ll see it in three significant ways: 

1. Personalized experience. We’re building security that protects you effortlessly wherever your day takes you. From device to device, place to place, and all the experiences online in between. Think of our approach to online protection like Netflix, which used to be a physical service where you waited in queue for that next episodic DVD of Lost to get mailed to you. Now your shows follow you and stream anywhere, no matter what device you’re on. It’s the same thing with our security. It will recognize you and protect you whether you’re at home or by the pool on vacation, on your laptop, or your phone, with one consistent experience. Again, it’s all about you. Keeping you protected as you enjoy every perk and convenience of life online.

2. Intelligent experience. The next evolution builds on personalization and takes it a step further. This is security that understands when you and your personal info is at risk and then takes intelligent steps to protect you. This could be your smartphone automatically connecting to VPN when you’re at the airport, keeping you safe from prying eyes on public networks. It could also be alerts to you if your personal info is compromised so you can take steps to protect it. Or it could be a simple suggestion to help keep you safe while browsing, shopping, or banking online. In all, it’s intelligence that helps you stay safe and make safe choices.

3. Simpler experience. With this personalization and intelligence in place, you can protect everyone in your family far more easily than ever. It becomes practically automatic. Regardless of their age, interests, or how much they know about technology, this simplified approach to online security makes smart choices for you and your family wherever possible, steering them clear of threats and keeping everyone safer as a result. 

What won’t change? 

Us at your side. New and existing customers alike will still benefit from McAfee’s award-winning technology as you always have. Further advances and features will roll out to you as part of the regular updates as they become available for your subscription. In all, you’ll always have the latest and greatest benefits of your product with us.  

As for our future, expect more to come. Your confidence in us both fuels and informs these leaps ahead. Thank you as always for choosing us for your protection. It allows us to invest in breakthroughs that keep you safe against new and evolving threats, just as we have as a market leader for years. 

A bold new world of protection online 

The new McAfee is focused on you. It’s a bold new world of protection online, where you are in control of your identity and privacy, where you have intelligence that offers right protection in the right moment, where you can simply feel safe, and where you’re ultimately free to enjoy your life online at every turn. 

Here’s to what’s next. And I can’t wait for you to experience it. 

Stay Updated

To stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, subscribe to our newsletter, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.  

The post The New McAfee: A Bold New World of Protection Online appeared first on McAfee Blogs.

Employee email takeover exposed personal, medical data of students, employees and patients.

There are patches or remediations for all of them, but they’re still being picked apart. Why should attackers stop if the flaws remain unpatched, as so many do?

Authorities opened an investigation into the secretive Israeli security firm.