Microsoft Has The Encryption Keys To Your New Windows 10

The Intercept has written that if you have bought a Windows PC recently then Microsoft probably has your encryption key. This is a reference to Windows' device encryption feature. We wrote about this feature when it was new, back when Microsoft introduced it in Windows 8.1 in 2013 (and before that, in Windows RT).

Read the full article...

Plain old espionage and corporate spying

Did you know the NSA (National Security Agency) has built a map of the entire world via the communication links of all email, chat, and  financial transactions? This map tells a story to them about all of us.  It knows who we know. It knows who our activist allies and relationships  are.

And, as if that wasn’t crappy enough, the NSA is trying to undermine the  security of the internet as a whole by putting in back-doors and  weakening encryption standards so that they can spy better. They spend  $250,000,000 USD per year on this. This makes the entire internet less  secure, and makes it easier for people, governments, and corporations to  exploit, scam, and spy on each other.

While the NSA claims they are targeting terrorism, they have been  targeting foreign politicians and companies, with evidence that this is  happening particularly in Brazil and Mexico. This is plain old espionage  and corporate spying. Terrorism is merely the justification for  astounding encroachments on our civil liberties.

Last, we have to assume this is all the tip of an iceberg. We have to  assume there are other spy agencies across the globe doing similar spy  work that we don’t know about (yet).

Quick Guide: Scanner Apps for Your Smartphone or Tablet

In many ways smartphones like the Apple iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge have come to replace cameras, TVs, and handheld video recorders and you can add one more to that list – the scanner. That’s because a growing number of robust apps can replace your bulky scanner and increase productivity and this week, I want to tell you about about three of the best.

For iOS there’s Readdle’s Scanner Pro, capable of easily handling anything you throw its way. Take a picture of whatever you want to scan. The program then makes whatever is in the pic “look” scanned. Especially useful is the function that allows you to upload scanned images to Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, and other cloud-based storage services. Or email it to you or someone else simply by pushing the “Send” button. This one is $2.99.

Android fans will want to consider Mobile Doc Scanner 3 + OCR. Transform everything from receipts and invoices to white boards and magazine articles with the app also known as MDScan. Just take a picture, let the program do its thing, and you have a file that looks like every other scan you’ve ever made. Best of all, you can take a bunch of pictures on the fly and let the software process them later. Also allows for upload to cloud-based services. The price at the Google Play store is $4.99.

If you’re looking for a free option (iOS, Android, Windows), there’s Genius Scan from The Grizzly Labs. Works like the others – take a pic and the software makes whatever is in the pic look scanned. Genius Scan gives a ton of great options like fingerprint security, the ability to assign a password to a specific scan so that no one can snoop on you, and the ability to send scans to the cloud.

Creating Strong Passwords: 101

In one image:


And throw in some punctuation
for good measure.

You are now a graduate!

How To See Characteristics of File Systems on Linux or Unix

How do I display the characteristics of file systems such as inodes, blocks, block size, file system name, state, lifetime writes, fsck status and more on Linux or Unix-like operating system?

You can use any one of the following command as per your Linux or Unix variant:

=> tune2fs command
=> lsfs command
=> fstyp command
=> df command


Linux show file system characteristics

Pass the -l option to list the contents of the filesystem superblock, including the current values of the parameters that can be set via tune2fs command. Type the following command:

# tune2fs -l /path/to/device | more
# tune2fs -l /dev/sda2 | grep
# tune2fs -l /dev/cciss/c1d1p1
# tune2fs -l /dev/mapper/data

You can use grep command to filter out information. For example, to see lifetime writes on ext4 filesystem, enter:

# tune2fs -l /dev/md0 | grep 'writes'

Sample outputs:
Lifetime writes: 90 GB

A note about HP-UX specific command

The fstyp command allows the user to determine the file system type of a mounted or unmounted file system. You need to pass special a device special file such as /dev/dsk/c1t6d0 and -v option to see information about the file system's superblock.

# fstyp -v /dev/vg02/lvol2
# fstyp -v /dev/dsk/c1t6d0 | more
# df -g /dev/vg02/lvol2

The 'df -g' command the entire structure of the file system.

A note about Solaris Unix to see the file system characteristics

Type the following command:

# fstyp -v /dev/md/dsk/d200
# fstyp -v /dev/md/dsk/d200 | more
# df -g /dev/md/dsk/d200

A note about AIX unix specific command

The lsfs command displays characteristics of file systems, such as mount points, automatic mounts, permissions, and file system size. The FileSystem parameter reports on a specific file system:

# lsfs -q /dev/hd10admin
# lsfs -q / | more

Tails 1.7 Is Out

This release fixes [?](https://tails.boum.org/ikiwiki.cgi?do=create&from=news%2Fversion_1.7&page=security%2FNumerous_security_holes_in_1.7.1)numerous security issues. All users must upgrade as soon as possible.

# Changes

## New features

  * You can now start Tails in [offline mode](https://tails.boum.org/news/../doc/first_steps/startup_options/offline_mode/index.en.html) to disable all networking for additional security. Doing so can be useful when working on sensitive documents.

  * We added [Icedove](https://tails.boum.org/news/../doc/anonymous_internet/icedove/index.en.html), a rebranded version of the Mozilla Thunderbird email client.

Icedove is currently a technology preview. It is safe to use in the context of Tails but it will be better integrated in future versions until we remove [?](https://tails.boum.org/ikiwiki.cgi?do=create&from=inc%2Frelease_notes%2F1.7&page=claws_mail)Claws Mail. Users of Claws Mail should refer to our instructions to [migrate their data from Claws Mail to Icedove](https://tails.boum.org/news/../doc/anonymous_internet/claws_mail_to_icedove/index.en.html).

## Upgrades and changes

  * Improve the wording of the first screen of Tails Installer.

  * Restart Tor automatically if connecting to the Tor network takes too long. ([#9516](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/9516))

  * Update several firmware packages which might improve hardware compatibility.

  * Update the Tails signing key which is now valid until 2017.

  * Update Tor Browser to 5.0.4.

  * Update Tor to 0.2.7.4.

## Fixed problems

  * Prevent wget from leaking the IP address when using the FTP protocol. ([#10364](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10364))

  * Prevent symlink attack on ~/.xsession-errors via tails-debugging-info which could be used by the amnesia user to bypass read permissions on any file. ([#10333](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10333))

  * Force synchronization of data on the USB stick at the end of automatic upgrades. This might fix some reliability bugs in automatic upgrades.

  * Make the "I2P is ready" notification more reliable.

# Known issues

See the current list of [known issues](https://tails.boum.org/news/../support/known_issues/index.en.html).

# Download or upgrade

Go to the [download](https://tails.boum.org/news/../download/index.en.html) or [upgrade](https://tails.boum.org/news/../doc/first_steps/upgrade/index.en.html) page.

If you have been updating automatically for a while and your Tails does not boot after an automatic upgrade, you can [update your Tails manually](https://tails.boum.org/news/../doc/first_steps/upgrade/index.en.html#manual).

# What's coming up?

The next Tails release is [scheduled](https://tails.boum.org/news/../contribute/calendar/) for December 15.

Have a look at our [roadmap](https://labs.riseup.net/code/projects/tails/roadmap) to see where we are heading to.

We need your help and there are many ways to [contribute to Tails](https://tails.boum.org/news/../contribute/index.en.html) ([donating](https://tails.boum.org/news/../contribute/how/donate/index.en.html) is only one of them). Come [talk to us](https://tails.boum.org/news/../contribute/talk/)!

URL: https://tails.boum.org/news/version_1.7/index.en.html

A little about me...

My name is Bruce and I've been in data processing since 1978. I cut my teeth on one of these:

IBM 360 Series

I was the son of a government employee (Health Department) and as a result we moved every year of my childhood. I joined the Marine Corps after high school and continued my nomadic lifestyle.

Politically, I am quite "left" leaning. However, I only use the term "left" in its most generic political sense. I am NOT left in the sense of left/right politics. The left and the right are a part of the whole which is, as I see it, the root problem. I am more specifically libertarian/communist, which is more appropriately defined as collectivist/anarchist, in my opinion.