Security

There have been a lot of concern about the security of the fingerprint reader on the new iPhone 5S. Is this something to really be concerned about if you are considering getting one?

The President of Lavabit, the email provider used by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, suddenly shut down it’s services and issued a statement that said: “without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.” Is he right

Both hacker conventions are taking place at the same time in the same place, which seems a little odd to me. What’s the difference between the two?

8 unknown wireless devices are broadcasting in my house. Occasionally, I will see one or more unknown IP addresses on my network.

How secure is zero knowledge encryption?

Apparently a significant security risk has been found in Android devices going all the way back to version 1.6. According to the folks at Bluebox security that found it, the flaw can be used to completely take over your Android phone, access passwords, and do lots of other unsavory things.

How good is Microsoft Security Essentials? Is that all you need to adequately protect a PC, or should other antivirus software be installed?

Emails are considered fair game by law enforcement, and after 6 months the current practice is to read/seize any that are wanted without a warrant. I think this is pretty terrible. Why do I have suddenly no right to privacy when my emails are concerned after 180 days have passed?

Let me state first: I’m not looking for a how-to guide to become a cybercriminal. I simply have garnered some concerns because of recent stories that surfaced in the media. One concern comes from the recent ‘whistleblowing’ action by Edward Snowden who blew the cover off the NSA operation.

How do you set up Chrome to delete cookies when you exit the program? I always have Internet Explorer configured to do this under tools>internet options, but I can’t find the same setting for Chrome.

Bluetooth is nearly ubiquitous these days, but it is one potential attack vector that I haven't put much though into. What are the main things to worry about when it comes to Bluetooth security? I would think they would be limited due to the inherent short range of the signal.

Is there a way to see log-in history for your gmail account? I suspect that someone I know has, and I've already changed the password, but I'm not sure and I don't want to mention it if they aren't guilty.�