Free Republic

A team of academics has disclosed today two vulnerabilities known collectively as TPM-FAIL that could allow an attacker to retrieve cryptographic keys stored inside TPMs. Thanks to efforts from the research team, both vulnerabilities have been fixed, which is a good thing since both issues can be weaponized in doable real-world attacks -- something that is very rare in the case of TPM vulnerabilities. TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module...used to ensure hardware integrity during the boot-up process or to attest various cryptographic operations, such as handling digital certificates, ensuring HTTPS connections on servers, or verifying authentication-related processes. However, as...

US firm says Iran 'illegally' uses Internet filter software A US Web security firm cited in a report on Iran's Internet censorship said that any use in Iran of its software is "illegal and unauthorized." . John McNulty, chairman and chief executive of Secure Computing Corporation said in a statement that his company "has sold no licenses to any entity in Iran." . The company was cited in a report Tuesday by the OpenNet Initiative, a partnership of researchers that called Iran's Internet censorship among the worst in the world and called the US firm "complicit."

Saudi Arabia denies its citizens access to thousands of selected religious, human rights and politically objectional web pages and to most gambling and pornographic Internet sites, a study has found A report by Harvard University Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society recognized the Riyadh government as a leading Internet censor. Forbidden sites include entertainment, humor, religions other than Islam, human rights and pornography, Middle East Newsline reported. The Saudi government uses software called SmartFilter, created by Secure Computing in San Jose, Calif., to block most of the pornographic, gambling and drug-related sites. But the SmartFilter software is also...