The debate over the government’s authority to access private encrypted data on digital devices was amplified when the Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray called unbreakable encryption an ‘urgent public safety issue.’

Bruce Schneier and Orin Kerr have written a paper that explains the technological and legal issues associated with six encryption workarounds available to law enforcement.

FBI Director James Comey revived old rhetoric on strong encryption during a keynote at the Boston Conference on Cyber Security. He did not address the leak of CIA hacking tools or Russia during his talk.

A lobbying organization sent a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump, asking him to support the expansion of strong encryption and reform government surveillance activities.

Opponents of the government’s constant talk about intentional backdoors and exceptional access finally may have their case study as to why it’s such a bad idea. Two researchers operating under aliases (my123 and slipstream) this week posted a report—accompanied by a relentless chiptune—that reveals how Microsoft inadvertently published a Secure Boot policy that acts as...

The FBI has dropped its case against Apple less than a day before a scheduled court hearing and showdown over its demands that Apple help unlock a terrorist’s iPhone. The government late Monday afternoon filed a motion to vacate its case, putting a halt to a saga that began in mid-February when a federal magistrate...

Now that the Apple-FBI story has gone mainstream with rallies supporting CEO Tim Cook scheduled for Apple stores nationwide, presidential candidates weighing in, and a cute hashtag (#FBiOS) affixed, it appears that Apple can technically comply with the judge’s order if must. Security company Trail of Bits founder Dan Guido wrote a detailed explanation of...

Apple CEO Tim Cook late Tuesday defiantly challenged a U.S federal magistrate judge’s order that it help the FBI break into an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the shooters involved in last December’s attack in San Bernardino, Calif. Cook released a letter last night expressing his opposition to the court order and called for...

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the news of the week, including internet-connected teddy bears, the latest on the Going Dark debate, and whether or not there’s a backdoor in Socat. They also preview next week’s Security Analyst Summit in Tenerife, Spain. Download: Threatpost_News_Wrap_February_5_2016.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves

Since technology companies such as Google and Apple turned on end-to-end encryption by default and tied encryption keys to device passwords, the government’s inability to compel providers via warrants to turn over data has caused considerable angst. Going Dark is the government’s catch-all phrase for the current state of affairs, and high-ranking officials such as...