eavesdropping

Meet the 'Corporate Enemies of the Internet' for 2013

National governments are increasingly purchasing surveillance devices manufactured by a small number of corporate suppliers and using them to control dissidents, spy on journalists, and violate human rights, the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders warns in a new report released this afternoon.

The group's 2013 report for the first time names five private-sector companies "Corporate Enemies of the Internet" for their choice to become "digital mercenaries" and sell surveillance and censorship technology to authoritarian regimes.

"If these companies decided to sell to authoritarian regimes, they must have known that their products could be used … Read more

Norton 2013 offers good Windows 8 support, but struggles on benchmarks

Review: Symantec has moved Norton 360 to the same release schedule as Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus, making them into a three-tiered strategy for consumer security. Norton AntiVirus is the entry-level product, with Norton Internet Security occupying the middle rung and Norton 360 aimed at people who want the most bang for the most buck.

Notoriously slow to respond to trends, the consumer security field is surprisingly not taking Windows 8 lying down. Norton and many of its competitors are optimizing their suites for Microsoft's new operating system ahead of its release, and Norton is combining that strategy … Read more

With FBI snooping on social media, how to protect privacy

To say that the FBI had its work cut out for it after 9/11 is an understatement. As part of its anti-terrorism efforts, the agency cozied up to telecom companies, like Verizon and AT&T. The relationship was so tight that some telecom employees actually had offices at the FBI.

This convenient arrangement paved the way for FBI agents to ultimately hand post-it notes with phone numbers to their telecom pals to find out if those accounts were worth investigating. It's the sort of stuff that makes privacy advocates shudder. And it's what Jennifer Lynch, staff … Read more

Performance, security, and features come together in Norton 2012

The bottom line: Low-impact performance, strong security, and useful features are the hallmarks of Norton AntiVirus 2012, one of the best antivirus suites available.

Review: Editors' note: Portions of this review are based on CNET's review of Norton Internet Security 2012.

Over the past few years, Symantec has completed a course reversal for its Norton consumer Internet security suites. The massive package of security tools works better than it ever has before, with an impressive set of features, some useful new tools including remote management and download stability analysis, and third-party security efficacy benchmarks that are at the top … Read more

Cell phone annoyances

Research out of Cornell University proposes that cell phone conversations in public places annoy us because we can only hear one side of the conversation. Researchers call it halfalogue.

Apparently listening to halfalogue is frustrating because it takes up more of our mental CPU, so to speak. We can usually deduce what the conversation is about from halfalogue but the act of deduction is distracting.

But guess what? Eavesdropping in general is distracting, not to mention rude. I propose that we all invest in a good pair of noise-canceling earbuds and do what we were told to do in elementary … Read more

Symantec: Posted code enables VoIP spying

Along with keyloggers that track what you type, now we have to worry about malicious software that listens in on our voice over Internet Protocol conversations.

A Symantec security blog on Thursday disclosed a new Trojan horse, Tojan.Peskyspy "that records VoIP communications, specifically targeting Skype." The posting, based on analysis from Symantec's Karthik Selvaraj, pointed out that "its existence isn't due to any problems with Skype itself" but that Skype may have been targeted "simply because it has such a large install base."

Gerry Egan, Symantec's director of security response, … Read more

Eavesdropping pot pourri is fishy

Let's say you fancy yourself an international person of intrigue and are ready for your first attempt at true espionage: planting a bug. But where? As much as we like the design of the "GSM Table Lamp," it might arouse a smidgeon of suspicion if presented as a hostess gift at a dinner party.

Still, we're not so sure about the "Pot Pourri Basket with built-in GSM Transmitter" either. True, it's not as obstrusive as a piece of furniture, but we've never been comfortable with the concept of pot pourri. (What is … Read more