As nations around the world continue to seek access to encrypted communications, the Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp sued the Indian government this week to challenge new rules requiring that apps be able to trace the “first originator” of messages. Creating such a capability would undermine WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption protections, potentially impacting the privacy and security of not just its more than 400 million users in India, but billions more worldwide.
In other geopolitical skirmish news, Microsoft said this week that the same Russian spy group that was behind the SolarWinds hacking spree has also been actively working on a phishing campaign that compromised a USAID mass email account. The activity is important, but more likely a sign of a return to business as usual rather than a digital escalation.
Researchers at Google published findings on Tuesday about fresh risks to current memory chips from the mind bending physical-digital hacking technique known as Rowhammer. A novel piece of wiper malware, likely made by Iranian hackers, has been hitting Israeli targets. And researchers are studying how blurry, outdated satellite images from platforms like Google Earth can make it harder and more costly for aid groups to do work in Israel and Palestine.
If you're looking to do some digital spring cleaning over the long weekend, we've got advice on how to avoid app store scams. And researchers this week ..
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