The U.S. government on Thursday indicted seven hackers affiliated with the Iranian government for attacks it called “a frightening new frontier in cybercrime.” Accusing the men of carrying out a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against 46 financial companies, the Department of Justice announced the charges in a press conference Thursday morning in Washington,...

Threatpost Editor in Chief Mike Mimoso talks to crypto pioneer and security expert Bruce Schneier of Resilient Systems about the early days of the RSA Conference, the integration of privacy and security, and the current FBI-Apple debate over encryption and surveillance. [embedded content]

The FBI’s motion for a continuance in its case against Apple has opened a new avenue in this debate as to the identity and means by which the mystery “outside party” could unlock terrorist Syed Farook’s iPhone. Late yesterday afternoon, the FBI filed a motion to vacate a hearing scheduled for today in a Riverside,...

Yahoo’s latest transparency report, published today, reflects a spike in government and law enforcement requests for user data following the Paris terrorist attacks of Nov. 13. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 130 people and injuries to more than 350 others; the situation remains fluid with speculation that today’s explosions in Brussels could be...

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...

Apple has matched the Department of Justice’s recent vitriol, by this week calling the FBI’s request for code to help it unlock Syed Farook’s iPhone unconstitutional. Furthermore, Apple in a court filing this week again challenged the validity of the government’s use of the All Writs Act of 1789 as justification in compelling Apple to...

If a report from this weekend’s New York Times is to be believed, the popular instant messaging platform WhatsApp may be the next technology company to find itself in the crosshairs of the Department of Justice and its war on crypto. Government officials are reportedly torn on how to proceed with a wiretap that a...

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the week in news, including how Amazon is backtracking on encryption when it comes to their devices, a new set of alleged passcode bypasses for iOS, and the new OS X ransomware KeRanger. Download: Threatpost_News_Wrap_March_11_2016.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves

The Justice Department took off the gloves in its latest volley against Apple and its refusal to comply with a court order to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone. “Apple deliberately raised technological barriers that now stand between a lawful warrant and an iPhone containing evidence related to the terrorist mass murder of 14 Americans,” wrote attorneys...

Amazon reversed course on its unpopular decision to remove encryption from its Fire OS 5 tablets. Over the weekend, Amazon said, customers’ device-level encryption support will return this spring. The move comes after Amazon customers and privacy activists expressed outrage over the company’s choice to remove encryption from its popular consumer line of Fire tablets running...