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The U.S. National Security Agency is now suggesting government departments and businesses buy smartphones secured using virtualization, a technology it currently requires only on tablets and laptops

The change comes about with the arrival of the first virtualization-based smartphone security system on the U.S. Commercial Solutions for Classified list.

CSFC is a program developed by the NSA to help U.S. government agencies and the businesses that serve them to quickly build layered secure systems from approved components.

AnHTC A9 smartphone security-hardened by Cog Systemsusing its D4 virtualization platform is now on that list, alongside devices without virtualization from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and BlackBerry.

In the modified A9, communications functions are secured by running them in separate virtual machines on the D4 virtualization platform.

It's the first smartphone on the CSFC list to use virtualization, which the NSA has only required on more powerful devices such as tablets and laptops until now.

"If virtualization technology was commonly available in the smartphone, we could leverage it for some solutions. To date, the devices that have been considered did not offer that technology," the NSA's technical guidance reads.

Cog Systems' position on the list isn't definitive yet: It's still seeking certification for the D4/A9 combination against the National Information Assurance Partnership's mobile platform and IPSec VPN Client protection profiles. Vendors typically have six months to obtain the certification in order to remain on the list. For now, D4's validation is ongoing at Gossamer Security Solutions' Common Criteria Testing Laboratory.

Vendors don't seek certification lightly, according to Carl Nerup, chief marketing officer at Cog Systems. "It's a very expensive process," he said, between US$500,000 and $700,000 for each new model.

Somehow, though, Cog Systems is eating the additional cost of certification: The price for its security-hardened A9 is the same as HTC's list price for an unmodified phone, said Nerup. "We have multiple groups within the U.S. Department of Defense that have procured the device," he added.

A commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) smartphone like the modified A9 isn't only of interest to government customers, though, Cog Systems CEO Dan Potts pointed out. "In the oil and gas industry, they want to buy COTS. They want it to be at a competitive price, but with a greater concern for security."

Once certification for the modified A9 is in the bag, Potts is looking forward to seeking certification for D4 virtualization on other smartphones. The first time around takes time because there is a lot of preparatory work to do, but much of that work will also apply to other smartphones. Potts expects certification of D4 on other hardware to go more quickly.

Eric Klein, director for mobile software and enterprise mobility at analyst firm VDC Research, has had his eye on Cog Systems since meeting the company at Mobile World Congress.

He sees the broadest opportunity for Cog Systems in the enterprise market -- and expects that its approach to endpoint security could even take some business away from enterprise mobility management vendors.

Peter Sayer covers European public policy, artificial intelligence, the blockchain, and other technology breaking news for the IDG News Service.

See the original post:
NSA suggests using virtualization to secure smartphones | PCWorld - PCWorld

The NSA has stopped collecting messages sent from US citizens that cross international borders and mention foreign intelligence targets, according to a new report in The New York Times. The controversial practice, made public by Edward Snowden in 2013, allowed the agency to collect emails and other messages that mention a foreign intelligence target, even if neither party is subject to surveillance and one of the parties is a US citizen (and thus subject to constitutional protections against unwarranted searches).

The NSA confirmed the change in a subsequent announcement, writing that the Agency will stop the practice to reduce the chance that it would acquire communications of U.S. persons or others who are not in direct contact with a foreign intelligence target.

The truth changed everything.

In practical terms, this meant that including an email or phone number associated with a surveillance target (say, osamabinladen@gmail.com) in the body of an email could lead to the message being surfaced to NSA analysts.

According to the Times, the change came about last year after the NSA discovered analysts querying databases in violation of court guidelines set forth in 2011. Those violations triggered a broader review of NSA practices, which ultimately forced the NSA to discontinue the practice.

The move comes amid a broader debate over Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, the legal authority used by the NSA to justify this collection. Signed into law in 2008, the laws authorities are scheduled to expire at the end of this year unless renewed by Congress. Surveillance critics are hoping to significantly curtail those authorities, leading to significant debate in Congress.

Speaking on Twitter, Edward Snowden applauded the change, saying simply, The truth changed everything.

Update 3:09PM ET: Updated with NSA announcement.

Read more:
The NSA will stop reading American emails that mention intelligence ... - The Verge

The Chrome extension allows voters to track how the main parties insert political messages into their Facebook feeds. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

A tool exposing how voters are targeted with tailored propaganda on Facebook has been launched in response to what is likely to be the most extensive social media campaign in general election history.

Experts in digital campaigning, including an adviser to Labour in 2015, have designed a program to allow voters to shine a light into what they describe as a dark, unregulated corner of our political campaigns.

The free software, called Who Targets Me?, can be added to a Google Chrome browser and will allow voters to track how the main parties insert political messages into their Facebook feeds calibrated to appeal on the basis of personal information they have already made public online.

It aims to show who campaigns are targeting, how much the parties are spending and will shed light on whether targeted adverts are crossing the boundary into fake news. The creators hope thousands of people will sign up.

It comes as both Conservatives and Labour plan extensive Facebook campaigns ahead of the 8 June poll. The Conservatives have rehired Craig Elder and Tom Edmonds, the digital consultants who worked on the 2015 election battle, in which the party spent 1.2m spent on digital campaigning, against Labours 160,000. This time, Labour is understood to be ready to spend around 1m.

Elder and Edmonds last year worked for Britain Stronger In Europe, the designated remain campaign in the EU referendum. In one instance, they targeted Facebook users who had expressed strong support for a Premier League team through likes with a post about the impact on their side of foreign players needing visas in the event of Brexit. People who had mentioned they liked surfing would receive a message about the value of EU regulations on beach pollution.

Andrew Gwynne MP, Labours campaign co-ordinator, has said targeted Facebook advertising will have a significant impact on the election. Labour will use a new system called Promote to identify specific people in a constituency at whom candidates will be able to target a message.

For the good of our democracy, its time to throw some light on this dark and unregulated area of campaign spending, said Sam Jeffers, who has helped to devise the software, which is available as a browser extension.

Facebook advertising is highly targeted and tailored to the recipient, battle-tested for effectiveness, yet invisible to anyone but the end user. There are no spending limits on digital ads, despite strict legal controls in other areas of campaign expenditure. It gives big money a strong voice in our elections.

The Electoral Commission, which regulates campaign spending, told the Guardian it would be carefully considering the use of social media over the coming six weeks. Even after 2015 it has expanded so much, a spokesman said. We want to make clear how greater clarity can be provided to voters.

Instead of parties simply declaring an overall amount spent on Facebook, it wants them to provide details on dates and topics covered in adverts.

Political Facebook ads emerged as a key tactic during the 2016 EU referendum. The official Vote Leave campaign pumped out about 1bn targeted digital adverts, mostly via Facebook. Vote Leaves campaign director, Dominic Cummings, has claimed it spent 98% of its 6.8m budget on digital.

It remains unclear how Arron Banks, the millionaire backer of the Leave.EU campaign, may deploy his social media team, which is based in his Bristol insurance company HQ and was schooled in political campaigning with guidance from Cambridge Analytica, a Washington-based firm partly owned by Donald Trump donor Robert Mercer.

Leave.EU is currently under investigation by the Electoral Commission over Elder and Edmondss roles and over whether it received any impermissible donations and whether its spending return was complete. Banks has denied breaching any electoral law.

We can use this information to help people understand why theyre seeing specific messages, said Jeffers. We might also be able to use the data to work out whether campaigns are operating within the law. For example, are they respecting national v constituency spending limits? Are they discriminating against a particular group of the population?

The Electoral Commission said that if a post promotes a candidate it must be accounted as constituency spending, which typically has a 15,000 limit. If it deals with broad party policy, it should be accounted nationally.

This was not as sophisticated as the psychographic techniques claimed by Cambridge Analytica. Its British chief executive, Alexander Nix, has said it gathers voters social media data and ranks them according to openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness (including whether you put others needs and society ahead of yourself) and neuroticism.

In a conference presentation, Nix gave the example of a campaign supporting the right to gun ownership: For a highly neurotic and conscientious audience you are going to need a message that is rational and fear-based, he said. That could lead to an image of a burglars hand smashing a window and a slogan about the second amendment being an insurance policy. For a closed and agreeable audience that cares about family and tradition, the slogan might be: From father to son, since the birth of our nation would work better.

Read more here:
Free software to reveal how Facebook election posts are targeted - The Guardian

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - This week lawmakers in Tallahassee are discussing changes to the Stand Your Ground bill that is making its way through lawmakers.

"So, people who are claiming that they stood their ground in a shooting incident, normally they would have to prove that defense. the law would shift that burden to the prosecution which would make it very difficult to get convictions in shooting cases," said Attorney Gary Lesser.

Stand Your Ground became a hot issue in 2012. Seventeen year old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. He claimed self defense.

"In that case, Mr. Zimmerman made all of these statements about why he felt compelled and threatened, so perhaps it would not have been a different outcome there," added Lesser.

But Lesser says if a new Stand Your Ground law is put in place, we could see different verdicts.

"If you have a marital dispute, if you are in a bar room fight, any situation. Someone pulls a gun and shoots they are going to claim stand your ground." He adds, "It will make convictions a lot more difficult to get, and we are going to see more people claiming the shooting they are doing are legally justified, and that's bad."

"We have opposed this and have been trying to make it more legally palatable than it originally was. We anticipate that it will pass and increase 'Stand Your Ground' cases as a defense," said the spokesman for the State Attorney's Office.

See the original post:
Local Reaction as Lawmakers discuss changes to Florida Stand ... - WPTV.com

When our nations Founding Fathers wrote our Constitution, they added the Second Amendment for a reason: The right of the people to keep and bear arms.

They stated emphatically in that sacred amendment that that right should not be infringed upon.

More than 200 years later, we agree with the Founders wishes and wholeheartedly respect the Second Amendment and all that it represents.

There are some people in this country who have total disdain and contempt for the Second Amendment. If they had it their way, it would be totally thrown out the window and every law-abiding citizen would have their guns confiscated by the federal government.

We suspect former President Barack Obama is one of those people.

He believed more gun laws, executive orders on guns and restricting law-abiding citizens from buying guns were the way to keep America safe.

He couldnt have been more wrong.

The former president turned a blind eye to places like his hometown of Chicago, which has some of the strictest gun laws on the books and also has one of the highest murder rates in the country.

Statistics show the majority of these weapons used in these murders in Chicago werent bought legally.

U.S. Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said it best in 2016 when he noted that criminals dont care about that laws we pass with regards to guns, they never follow the law, thats why theyre criminals.

If criminals want a gun badly enough, they will simply buy it illegally. That is just more proof that more executive orders and stricter gun laws dont work.

After eight years of watching a president who had total contempt for the Second Amendment, it is nice to know that we now have a president in Donald Trump who actually gets it and has total respect for gun owners and the Second Amendment.

Speaking at the National Rifle Association annual convention Friday, Trump told the large crowd that the eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.

Trump, the first sitting president to address the groups annual meeting in more than 30 years, assured the audience that he would defend their right to bear arms.

He told the crowd that they have a true friend and champion in the White House.

Trump promised to do away with Obamas efforts to strengthen background checks and to eliminate gun-free zones at schools and military bases.

We applaud Trump for pledging to get rid of these proposals, which actually make citizens less safe.

We believe Trump is an ardent supporter not only of the Second Amendment but for gun owners and will be a true friend to that very large group of people during his presidency.

What a very nice, welcome change!

Read the original post:
Unlike predecessor, Trump will support Second Amendment - Bowling Green Daily News