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People tweeted their phone number and got spammed with cat facts
There are people who share their real phone numbers via a tweet. Yes, really. One programmer decided to teach those folks a lesson by spamming them with cat facts. Using phone numbers that were beamed out in public tweets, the joke included sending text messages about cats until the person tweeted at Edward Snowden "Meow, I <3 catfacts." Although Snowden isn't in on the gag, he is a bit of a feline fanatic. He was also quite forthcoming about his own Twitter faux pas. In this case, automated script pulls data from the Twitter API before blasting out the messages full of meow-based facts with an anonymous texting app. The programmer says the goal of the stunt is to teach users who are so loose with their personal details a lesson on how a more ruthless hacker might attack their mobile devices. Pretty solid way to do so, if you ask us. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Europe's lawmakers suggest giving Snowden amnesty
The European Parliament has voted to grant amnesty to Edward Snowden, the former US government contractor who revealed the depth of the country's surveillance programs back in 2013. By a vote of 285 to 281, the European Parliament is recommending that the 28 states of the EU "drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender".
Twitter noob Snowden gets hammered with 47GB of notification emails
What happens when one of the most wanted men in the world joins Twitter and forgets to disable email notifications? 47GB of emails. As you might expect, Edward Snowden was immediately inundated with followers, replies, favorites, DMs and retweets -- all of which came with individual alerts to the NSA whistleblower's email account. For reference, Snowden currently sits at 1.26 million followers (and counting) and his first tweet earlier this week has been favorited 110,000 times with 120,000 retweets. Hopefully his phone was in silent mode. [Image credit: AP Photo/Charles Platiau, Pool]
Edward Snowden held a secret chat with the actor portraying him
Many actors in biographical movies will interview the real people they're portraying to get a feel for their mannerisms and values. However, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is going the extra mile to make sure that he's correctly representing NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone's upcoming movie. The star has revealed to The Guardian that he held a secret, four-hour meeting with Snowden in Russia to understand the fugitive. How secret? Gordon-Leavitt was not only advised to avoid recording the conversation, but (for a while) to avoid even acknowledging that it took place -- not surprising when the US likely wants to watch Snowden's every move.
Ex-attorney general says DOJ could negotiate with Snowden
Edward Snowden might be able to see his family in person again -- and (if things go his way) not from behind bars, either. According to former Attorney General Eric Holder, there's a "possibility" for the Department of Justice to negotiate an agreement with the whistleblower, which will allow him to come back home. One of Edward Snowden's lawyers admitted back in March that they were doing everything they could to bring him back to the US, so the two parties might have been talking for a while now. Holder didn't delve into specifics when asked if that meant the government is working on a plea deal, but he said: "I certainly think there could be a basis for a resolution that everybody could ultimately be satisfied with. I think the possibility exists."
US limits the NSA's reach ahead of sweeping reform
The Senate has voted overwhelmingly to reform the powers of America's security services, at the expense of renewing existing provisions of the Patriot Act. In a contentious debate leading up to midnight, the house belatedly opted to support the USA Freedom Act, which will eventually end the bulk collection of phone metadata. By opting not to extend the existing legislation, agencies such as the NSA and FBI will supposedly no longer have unfettered access to our phone records, be able to request "roving wiretaps" or seize business records for an investigation.
Snowden documents reveal how the NSA searches voice calls
The Intercept has released a new document from Edward Snowden's cache of government files describing how the NSA has been converting voice calls to searchable text documents for nearly a decade. The NSA has long monitored signals intelligence (SIGNIT) around the world (as is its primary function), especially in active combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq as well as in Latin America. Traditionally, this sort of data gathering required that a live operator listen in on calls and translate them in real-time. However, the NSA has reportedly developed what it calls "Google for Voice"; an automated system that provides a rough but keyword searchable transcription. According to the documents, the NSA has also developed analytical programs and sophisticated algorithms to flag conversations for human review.
Laptop destroyed over Snowden leaks is now an art exhibit
Remember how, after the initial Snowden revelations, the Guardian newspaper was forced to destroy all of its computers that held the whistleblower's leaked documents? It was a strange moment; a small group of editors, under the watchful eye of two GCHQ officials, laying waste to hard drives and other internal components with industrial angle grinders and drills. Now, some of the remains -- a busted MacBook Air and a Western Digital hard drive, to be precise -- are on display at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London. It forms part of a new exhibition called "All of This Belongs to You," which runs from now until July 19th. The hardware itself isn't particularly old or unusual, but its role in cybersecurity journalism and the Snowden leaks should make it a provocative exhibit nonetheless.
US and UK spy agencies stole the secrets keeping your phone secure
You might not have heard the name "Gemalto" before, but you almost certainly have one of their products in your pocket. As the world's largest maker of SIM cards, it's a company that's directly responsible for making sure your cell phone connects to the right wireless network. According to documents released by Edward Snowden and obtained by The Intercept, though, it was also the target of a covert, coordinated hack committed by NSA agents and allies at Britain's Government Communications Headquarters. Their goal? To quietly get their hands on the encryption keys that keep our phone calls and text messages private so they could tap people's communications without raising suspicions.
Obama places modest limits on NSA data collection for non-citizens
A bill that would've effectively ended the US government's current mass phone surveillance program was killed by the Senate back in November. But today, President Obama announced his own limits on the NSA's monitoring of foreigners. The agency will only be able to keep info it collects through electronic surveillance of non-citizens that doesn't pertain to national security for five years. Of course, the director of national security can grant an extension if circumstances warrant one. What's more, gag orders on the FBI's national security letters seeking information from companies will now expire after three years, but again, extensions are an option should the need arise.
New Snowden doc details how British intelligence tracked iPhone users
Before Apple decided that it wanted to do away with the UDID system, it was one of the best tools British intelligence agents had to track iPhone users across various services, according to a new document (PDF) leaked by Edward Snowden and published in Der Spiegel. The report, dated November 2010, details how "the iPhone Unique Device Identifier (UDID) can be used for target tracking and can be used to correlate with end point machines and target phone," the report's summer notes. Britian's GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) discovered that by watching for a specific device's UDID to pop up via a compromised computer or web browser and further nail down an individual's patterns and common locations. The UDID system essentially left a trail of digital breadcrumbs that could easily be tracked with the GCHQ's systems. The full report is of course very technical but definitely worth a read anyway, as it offers an interesting glimpse of the behind-the-curtain work to crack mobile tracking.
The stories that defined 2014
It was the year of wearables, VR and 4K. It was the year of ridiculous IPOs and massive security breaches. It was also the year Engadget took a step back and took in the big picture. 2014 was full of great advancements and big setbacks and we were here to tell you about them. Herewith, the stories that defined us and the wild world of technology in the year that was.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play Edward Snowden in forthcoming NSA movie
When you're making a movie based on one of the biggest stories in recent years, and centered around one pretty normal-looking data administrator, really got to get the casting right. Maybe Oliver Stone's pulled it off. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who you might remember from well, all these movies, will be playing Edward Snowden in the director's forthcoming movie. In case you forgot why, Snowden leaked a whole lot of classified documents in 2013, which lead to widespread criticism over the NSA's data-gathering methods - from world leaders and Joe Internet alike. The screenplay is based on two books: The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena, which points to a substantial amount of screen time for whoever plays the whistleblower. The movie goes into production in January next year. [Image credit: John Sciulli/Getty Images, AFP/Getty Images]
Dead Man Zero will let you blow the whistle beyond the grave
Head's up, whistleblowers: you're only as good as your backup plan, and one service has set up shop on the dark web to help you spill the beans in case you're "hurt, jailed, or even killed for trying to render a genuine and risky service to our free society." Meet Dead Man Zero. For the low, low price of 0.3 Bitcoins (at time of writing, that works out to just over $130), you can have digital dead man's switch to make sure that word gets out about what you were working on... and just maybe who may have been behind your disappearance or demise.
The NSA's search tool is a Google for the world's communications data
If sharing really is caring, then the NSA must care a lot. That's the thrust of a new report from The Intercept that pulled back the curtain on a search system called ICREACH -- launched in 2007, the system allows members of more 20 different US agencies to quickly sift through the communications metadata of both foreigners and citizens on US soil. And the reason for all this? Well, the stated goal was to allow members of these government agencies to identify persons of interest and help agents monitor the activities of "intelligence targets" at home and abroad. Putting aside its ability to crawl through some 850 billion metadata records (and growing), one of ICREACH's greatest assets might be its straightforward interface. It's referred to in internal documentation as being "Google-like" and allows researchers to dig into metadata records by punching in simple "selectors" like email addresses and phone numbers.
Edward Snowden left behind clues so the NSA would understand his motives
So much for trying to dodge unwanted attention. In a wide-ranging interview with Wired, the enigmatic Edward Snowden claimed that he wanted the US government to know what he was up to when he started collecting all that sensitive information to release unto the world. His plan? To leave behind a trail of clues for NSA investigators so they'd be able to suss out the rationale behind his actions.
Edward Snowden gets a three-year extension on his stay in Russia
After leaking details of questionable surveillance programs being conducted by the NSA and others, self-titled government spy Edward Snowden fled the US last year and was granted temporary asylum in Russia. The leaks have continued and he allegedly found gainful employment in tech support, but as his year of asylum was up a few days ago, he's now been upgraded to a three-year residence permit. This apparently gives Snowden a bit more freedom to move around and even travel internationally, though his lawyer said at a press conference that "in the future Edward will have to decide whether to live in Russia and become a citizen or to return to the United States." Fat chance of the latter happening, seeming as Snowden's a bona fide fugitive as far as the US is concerned. Looks like the government will have to keep itself busy tracking down his sidekick for now. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Snowden reports NSA employees intercept, share private nude photos
Edward Snowden is currently holed up in Russia, but the Guardian recently paid him a visit, and today published an interview today in which the former government contractor discussed numerous privacy violations, including the "routine enough" practice of intercepting nude photos shared privately through email and other means. According to Snowden, NSA employees come across nude photos on a regular basis, but rather than labeling such content as irrelevant, they often pass it along to colleagues. "They turn around in their chair and they show their co-worker. And their co-worker says: 'Oh hey, that's great. Send that to Bill down the way.' And then Bill sends it to George, George sends it to Tom. And sooner or later this person's whole life has been seen by all of these other people."
China thinks the iPhone's tracking features are a risk to national security (update: Apple responds)
If there's one thing that China has enjoyed doing this year, it's taking pot-shots at the US as a result of the Snowden revelations. After banning Windows 8, allegedly pushing banks to ditch IBM hardware and calling for severe punishments on Apple and Google, the government is now gunning for the iPhone. Buried deep in iOS 7 is a Google Now-esque location tracking feature that can offer recommendations and improve the mapping experience. China, via its state television mouthpiece, believes that the system's logs could be used by nefarious researchers to extract state secrets. Of course, as the company points out, the data is only uploaded to Apple's servers with your explicit consent, and can be turned off -- but then again, perhaps this latest bout of saber rattling is destined to direct attention away from China's own espionage record. Update: Not surprisingly, Apple has been quick to deny the allegations. It insists that it doesn't track users' positions, hand location info over to governments or even turn on the related services by default. Also, the Cupertino crew notes that it's easy to disable or limit location features if users are really, truly worried.
Hackers use Snowden leaks to reverse-engineer NSA surveillance devices
Over the past year, we've learned of the many techniques the NSA has used to tap into global communications. However, Edward Snowden's document leaks didn't just uncover the gadgets the agency used, they also gave security researchers the necessary insights to develop their own. After the NSA's classified Advanced Network Technology catalogue was published, Michael Ossmann and his team set about recreating two of its approved radio-based surveillance devices: one that could be fixed to a computer's monitor connector to send on-screen images and another that can be fixed to a keyboard cable to collect keystrokes.
