Tag: mobile privacy

Although this heavily encrypted smartphone has been unveiled, what has yet to be seen is if consumers will buy.

Although spying hadn’t really been much of a mobile security or privacy concern in the minds of most consumers for a long time, the recent discovery that the National Security Agency (NSA) has certain surveillance activities that include tracking and watching certain cell phone activities has created a new niche market: the encrypted device.

The true question, however, is how big that market actually is and whether or not people who are interested will make a purchase.

A new device has just been unveiled, called the Blackphone. It was created by Silent Circle, an American encryption firm. It is focused primarily on mobile security, as its mobile developer has labeled that it is “the world’s first smartphone to put privacy and control ahead of everything else.” It is clear that consumers are feeling less secure about the privacy of their smartphones and other devices. Whether or not that heightened paranoia will actually drive them to turn in their old phones and purchase this new one is another matter, altogether.

This mobile security focused smartphone was launched in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress.

The Blackphone was designed to allow the user to send and receive encrypted phone and text communications, as well as secure sharing of files and highly private web browsing. According to the Blackphone chief product officer, Toby Weir- Jones, Silent Circle’s mobile development was geared toward creating the appearance and the feel of a traditional smartphones and the applications that are already familiar to users.

Although this device is certain to draw some attention, particularly from consumers who feel strongly that the NSA has no place in their private business and who are willing to change their lives and pay money to ensure that they can protect their own privacy. However, whether or not there is enough of a mass market for an anti NSA surveillance device has yet to be seen. Moreover, the creators of the device have made no claims in terms of the device being entirely hackproof.

Although the Blackphone does have greater encryption for improved mobile security, without greater guarantees and a closer reflection of the devices that consumers already have, this may remain the favorite of only a small niche.

Experts are saying that the popular photo sharing app is experiencing a lacking in privacy protection.

According to the complaints of a number of experts regarding the Snapchat app, the level of mobile security behind the application is greatly inadequate for protecting the privacy of its users.

Some now feel that the mobile app development team behind the app lacks the necessary understanding.

Among the most recent steps that the company has taken toward improving mobile security includes last week’s introduction of a CAPTCHA code verification. This is designed to help to ensure that all new subscribers are humans and not computer programs. It is important to avoid computer created accounts as these are common methods used by cybercriminals for the distribution of spam or to discover ways to grab personal information from other users of these types of mobile apps.

While the number of fake accounts may be reduced, it doesn’t mean that the mobile security is strong.

Although the CAPTCHA techniques can shrink the number of fake accounts that a service experiences, a graduate research assistant from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Steven Hickson, was able to easily hack into Snapchat despite its latest upgrades.

The CAPTCHA implementation at Snapchat was weak to the point that Hickson required under an hour on the mobile development of a computer program that would be able to trick the system with “100 percent accuracy”. Hickson explained that “They’re a very, very new company and I think they’re just lacking the personnel to do this kind of thing.”

In order to make sure that the potential user of the service is a human, the system selected by Snapchat involves having to choose the white ghost mascot of the company from among nine illustrations. Unfortunately, only the size and angle of the correct image is altered, making it simple for a computer to be able to recognize.

In order to stop a CAPTCHA mobile security system from being hacked, Hickson explained that “you want something that has a lot of variety in the answer,” adding that you essentially want one correct answer, but a vast array of different incorrect answers. This needs to be too complex for a computer to be able to solve while being quite obvious to a human.