Oh my, the WSJ: No comment on Silent Circle, Signal, or Telegram but of all bad apps: WhatsApp – where they are working on it?
This WSJ article reads like a homework assignment. – BizDevCon > On 21 Apr 2015, at 12:21, Robert Hettinga <[email protected]> wrote: > > > http://www.wsj.com/articles/encryption-uncoded-a-consumers-guide-1429499476?tesla=y > > What Exactly Is Encryption? > > > Encryption turns messages into a string of unreadable characters. Photo: > Getty Images > > By > Elizabeth Dwoskin > April 19, 2015 11:11 p.m. ET > In times like these, it’s easy to be paranoid. > > Concerned by reports of hacking, data breaches and government spying, > companies and consumers are looking for better ways to protect their data. > Many are turning to encryption, a method of encoding messages that goes back > millennia. Encryption is commonly used to secure online banking sessions and > to protect credit-card data. But for the average computer user, it remains a > mystery. > > Here’s a brief guide to help readers unlock its secrets. > > How does encryption work? > > If you saw the recent movie “The Imitation Game,” you’ve seen a rudimentary, > by modern standards, form of encryption. During World War II, the Germans > used a machine to turn military messages into coded strings of symbols. These > days, computers running complex mathematical formulas can do the same thing > much faster, and the codes are much harder to crack. > > What’s it used for? > > If you’ve ever done banking online, you may have noticed a “lock” icon in the > address bar, or that the bar turned green. That means the browser session is > encrypted by your bank. > > Consumers can download a growing crop of encryption tools for texting, > browsing sessions and video and phone calls. Users usually must download an > app or install software that scrambles messages as they are sent. (The > recipient needs to be using the same app or software to unscramble the > message.) > > Apple has started encrypting personal data on its latest mobile operating > system, iOS 8. This means an outsider who hacks into a device or into Apple’s > servers would see a string of unreadable characters instead of actual > messages or FaceTime videos. > > Can I encrypt email messages? > > Yes, but it’s tricky. Sender and receiver must use the same type of > encryption. If you have encryption switched on, but the friend you’re > emailing doesn’t have it, he or she won’t be able to read your message. > > Since the revelations of former National Security Agency contractor Edward > Snowden about electronic eavesdropping by the NSA, big tech companies have > made moves to add encryption. Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. both have announced > plans to begin encrypting emails of users of their services, but the projects > are moving slowly. > > Can encryption really protect me from getting hacked? > > ENLARGE > Maybe. If a hacker obtains the encryption keys, or the formula that unlocks > the code, all that encrypting was for naught. And that happens all the time > in corporate data breaches, says Avivah Litan, a vice president and senior > analyst focusing on security issues at market-research firm Gartner Inc. For > example, as part of the 2007 breach at TJX Cos., hackers stole a TJX > point-of-sale card-reader system and brought it home. The hackers were able > to break the code used to encrypt card transactions and stole data from tens > of millions of customer accounts. > > How can I get started? > > In addition to Apple’s built-in encryption in its new mobile devices, Android > users can download WhatsApp, which encrypts text messages. WhatsApp, a > company owned by Facebook Inc., says it is working on offering encryption for > all communication sent between WhatsApp users, including images, audio and > text. > > A number of vendors—including Voltage Security Inc., Protegrity and RSA > Security, a unit of EMC Corp. —offer encryption of corporate data, including > email and credit-card records. Silent Circle’s Blackphone is a phone for > corporate users that can send encrypted voice calls, text, emails and other > data—if both parties are using a Blackphone. > > Why isn’t everything encrypted? > > There are plenty of reasons. Encryption is time-consuming and difficult to > implement. It’s hard to properly manage who has access to encryption keys, > and it slows system performance. > > Ms. Dwoskin is a reporter in the San Francisco bureau of The Wall Street > Journal.
