After a sprawling hacking campaign exposed the communications of an unknown number of Americans, U.S. cybersecurity officials are advising people to use encryption in their communications. To safeguard against the risks highlighted by the campaign, which originated in China, federal cybersecurity authorities released an extensive list of security recommendations for U.S. telecom companies — such as Verizon and AT&T — that were targeted. The advice includes one tip we can all put into practice with our phones: “Ensure that traffic is end-to-end encrypted to the maximum extent possible.” End-to-end encryption, also known as E2EE, means that messages are scrambled so that only the sender and recipient can see them. If anyone else intercepts the message, all they will see is garble that can't be unscrambled without the key. Law enforcement officials had until now resisted this type of encryption because it means the technology companies themselves won't be able to look at the messages, nor respond to law enforcement requests to turn the data over. People are also reading... Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen hospitalized at UNMC after falling from horse Nebraska volleyball falls to Penn State in 5 sets in Final Four: How it happened Here's a list of Lincoln restaurants open on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day Nebraska volleyball libero Lexi Rodriguez signs to play with Omaha pro team Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola addresses transfer portal speculation: 'It was unfortunate' Amie Just: Lexi Rodriguez deserved a national title. For her career to end like this? Gutting Nebraska volleyball laments being a 'couple plays' short of finishing off Penn State 'Multiple wins for me': Lincoln North Star rallies from double-digit deficit hours after coach's son is born 3 Nebraska starters still with team to miss bowl game with mix of injuries, opt outs Longtime Wahoo boys basketball coach Kevin Scheef resigns Man killed in Friday night crash north of Lincoln Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen sustained fractured ribs, lacerated spleen in fall from horse Man killed by brother in Lincoln apartment complex shooting, police say The Journal Star's 2024 Super-State and all-state football teams Honor walk pays tribute to Lincoln man who made organ donation Here's a look at various ways ordinary consumers can use end-to-end encryption: Texting Officials said the hackers targeted the metadata of a large number of customers, including information on the dates, times and recipients of calls and texts. They also managed to see the content from texts from a much smaller number of victims. If you're an iPhone user, information in text messages that you send to someone else who also has an iPhone will be encrypted end-to-end. Just look for the blue text bubbles, which indicate that they are encrypted iMessages. The same goes for Android users sending texts through Google Messages. There will be a lock next to the timestamp on each message to indicate the encryption is on. But there's a weakness. When iPhone and Android users text each other, the messages are encrypted only using Rich Communication Services, an industry standard for instant messaging that replaces the older SMS and MMS standards. Apple has noted that RCS messages “aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means they’re not protected from a third party reading them while they’re sent between devices.” Samsung, which sells Android smartphones, has also hinted at the issue in a footnote at the bottom of a press release last month on RCS, saying, “Encryption only available for Android to Android communication.” Chat apps To avoid getting caught out when trading texts, experts recommend using encrypted messaging apps. Privacy advocates are big fans of Signal, which applies end-to-end encryption to all messages and voice calls. The independent nonprofit group behind the app promises never to sell, rent or lease customer data and has made its source code publicly available so that it can be audited by anyone to examine it “for security and correctness.” Signal's encryption protocol is so reputable that it has been integrated into rival WhatsApp, so users will enjoy the same level of security protection as Signal, which has a much smaller user base. End-to-end encryption is also the default mode for Facebook Messenger, which like WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms. What about Telegram? Telegram is an app that can be used for one-on-one conversations, group chats and broadcast “channels" but contrary to popular perception, it doesn't turn on end-to-end encryption by default. Users have to switch on the option. And it doesn’t work with group chats. Cybersecurity experts have warned people against using Telegram for private communications and pointed out that only its opt-in ‘secret chat’ feature is encrypted from end-to-end. The app also has a reputation for being a haven for scammers and criminal activity, highlighted by founder and CEO Pavel Durov's arrest in France. Making calls Instead of using your phone to make calls through a wireless cellular network, you can make voice calls with Signal and WhatsApp. Both apps encrypt calls with the same technology that they use to encrypt messages. There are other options. If you have an iPhone you can use Facetime for calls, while Android owners can use the Google Fi service, which are both end-to-end encrypted. The only catch with all these options is that, as with using the chat services to send messages, the person on the other end will also have to have the app installed. WhatsApp and Signal users can customize their privacy preferences in the settings, including hiding an IP address during calls to prevent your general location from being guessed.

Committee formed to probe illegal trees cutting in Cholistan region: MarriyumFive major factors that helped MahaYuti to win landslide victory

Terns pharmaceuticals CEO Amy Burroughs acquires $110,467 in stockHUAWEI nova 13 Series Debuts: Redefining Design, Camera, and Experience

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday named Singai G. Ramachandran as the secretary of the party’s students’ wing, and M. Kovai Sathyan as the president of the Information Technology (IT) wing. Mr. Palaniswami appointed former Chennai Central MP S.R. Vijayakumar as the party’s deputy propaganda secretary, and Kovilambakkam. C. Manimaran as the deputy secretary of ‘Puratchi Thalaivi Peravai’. Earlier, Mr. Ramachandran, who had contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Coimbatore constituency, headed the party’s IT wing, and Mr. Vijayakumar was the secretary of the students’ wing. Published - December 26, 2024 04:31 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tamil NaduTua Tagovailoa says he's had personal security since one of his cars was broken into

SAE, the organization that sets standards for the auto industry in the US — its standards are often adopted by other nations as well — is making a determined effort to create a universal plug and charge system that will become the new standard in America. Plug and charge means electric car drivers need do nothing more than connect their cars to a properly configured charger. After that, every aspect of the charging experience, including payment, happens seamlessly in the background. No credit card to swipe, no charging network authentication process to work through, and no standing in the pouring rain trying to read the customer service phone number on the charger you want to use. Sweet! In a press release on December 4, 2024, SAE said the future of electric vehicle charging is about to get simpler soon. The new plug and charge protocols it is proposing will allow drivers to plug in any car at any public charging station and automatically start charging with no payment processing step required . Thanks to a public-private partnership between SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (ITC), its Electric Vehicle Public Key Infrastructure (EVPKI) Consortium, and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, soon a common EVPKI framework will make possible secure automatic authentication as soon as drivers plug in — a capability known as “Plug & Charge.” Tesla drivers already know how such a system works. They set up their account with Tesla, which is linked to a credit card. Once the charging cable is inserted into the car’s charging port, a “digital handshake” takes place, the mainframe at the Tesla mothership identifies the car by its VIN number, and bills the charging session to the credit card on file when the session ends. The only thing it doesn’t do is wash the windshield and check the tires. Until now, SAE says, the EV charging experience has been fragmented, with automakers and charging networks using proprietary authentication and authorization solutions and sometimes offering features like Plug & Charge within their network. Today’s development means vehicles, chargers, and charging networks all will be able to talk to each other for the first time, advancing the industry toward a universal solution so every driver can plug in and start charging at any public station in the future. The industry-led SAE EVPKI solution is a watershed moment in the advancement of EVs, SAE says. The new framework creates a common security solution that will enable vehicles, chargers, and charging networks to securely communicate with each other, achieving true interoperability across the entire charging ecosystem. Once the SAE EVPKI solution is implemented, EV drivers will benefit from faster and automated charging at any public station and with any car. Charging and payment processing will happen seamlessly, with no need to use multiple apps or payment methods. The benefit for drivers is reduced time-to-charge overall and a more reliable charging experience. What enables the plug and charge process is the Certificate Trust List (CTL) developed by the SAE EVPKI Consortium which enables secure, automated authentication at the onset of the charging transaction. Improved cybersecurity protocols for the entire EV charging ecosystem are built in from the start. Plug and charge lays the foundation for vehicle-to-grid integration (V2G) technologies which will enable bidirectional energy flows, advanced grid services, and more resilient energy ecosystems. “Today’s announcement focuses the industry on interoperability and security, with the SAE EVPKI platform providing the crucial connecting layer,” said Sarah Hipel, acting Chief Technology Officer, Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. “This common platform enables innovation while supporting future advances in vehicle-grid integration and vehicle to everything communications.” The SAE EVPKI Certificate Trust List Requirements is the basis for bringing industry PKI suppliers to the new framework. PKI suppliers can then review and develop the CTL and apply to be an EVPKI compliant PKI root. Throughout 2025, the industry will continue to move toward the universal Plug & Charge model, which will include: A secure process to exchange technology among vendors PKI user onboarding and testing A new competitive EV Sector PKI supply market “Our mission is centered on interoperability, scalability and flexibility in EV Charging,” said Tim Weisenberger, SAE EVPKI Director. “The public release of the SAE EVPKI with its Certified Trust List provides a critical message security solution for universal Plug & Charge functionality – marking a major advancement in the electric mobility ecosystem. We thank our diverse, global industry members for their agile development approach, and look forward to making electric mobility easier and more effective for consumers,” Weisenberger added. “We anticipate an operational EVPKI solution in 2025 and an open, competitive PKI supplier marketplace to enable economical and secure charging at scale.” “Universal Plug & Charge levels up the electric fueling experience — making it even easier than filling up with gas,” said Gabe Klein, Executive Director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. “We are rapidly approaching a future where every EV driver can just plug in, charge up, and go. The network will talk to your car and process the payment seamlessly. This is a fundamental step in architecture toward enabling bi-directional charging and true vehicle to grid integration, the Holy Grail for energy and transportation.” EVPKI Consortium members span the EV charging ecosystem, including leading global automakers, EV charger manufacturers, charge point operators, eMobility service providers, and PKI suppliers. Is this big news? Yeah, it kinda is. Fear of the unknown keeps a lot of people from trying new technology, especially when anti-social media feeds so much misinformation and disinformation to people. Anything that helps address those fears and makes people more comfortable with a new idea is welcome news. We have all heard horror stories from EV drivers about being stuck out in East Overshoe with a battery that is down to a 5% state of charge and a charger that refuses to connect until we close our eyes and recite the Ohio State fight song while standing on one foot. Why would anyone want to sign up for that sort of anxiety-inducing experience? There are so many myths about electric cars, many of them false (I still have neighbors who are shocked I can drive my Tesla in the rain). It is great news that SAE and its partners are taking important steps forward to remove one of the major areas of concern. Plug and charge — such a simple idea but so difficult to do. It can’t get here soon enough. CleanTechnica's Comment Policy LinkedIn WhatsApp Facebook Bluesky Email RedditLufepirsen by Amber Ophthalmics for Persistent Corneal Epithelial Defects: Likelihood of Approval

‘A Monumental Day’: Boys & Girls Clubs opens first Harker Heights locationBrainy, 'normal guy': the suspect in US insurance CEO's slaying

François Legault wants Ottawa to present a detailed plan regarding the border

A model wind turbine seen during the WIRED Energy Tech Summit at Kraftwerk on Oct. 10, in Berlin. Axel Schmidt/Getty Images The beating heart of one of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s most ambitious green energy investments is not a sea of wind turbines or a field of solar panels, but a single piece of software pulsing with tens of billions of pieces of data every day. It’s called Kraken. Like the mythical sea monster, Kraken sits below the surface of Octopus Energy Group, the British-based energy provider that has surged to the lead in Britain’s energy market less than a decade after it was founded. Since 2021, Canada’s largest pension fund manager has invested US$1-billion in Octopus, betting that Kraken’s technology could reshape the way many consumers use electricity. The Kraken system runs all aspects of Octopus’s business, which provides power to 7.2 million households, handling everything from customer service to forecasting energy demand and use across its network of renewable and nuclear energy. It stands out in an industry dominated by large electrical utilities that have often run on dated systems with opaque billing rules. And that has attracted interest from investors such as CPPIB and U.S.-based pension fund California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), as well as from Octopus’s competitors. CPPIB has a $33-billion portfolio of energy investments, roughly half of which is focused on renewable sources. The transition to cleaner energy could be a massive investment opportunity, expected to require trillions of dollars in capital. But it is also increasingly fraught. Populist politicians have pushed back on clean energy requirements and questioned green investing mandates. At the same time, high inflation and interest rates have driven up construction costs and disrupted supply chains, making it harder to affordably develop new clean technologies. As CPPIB screened companies around the world for investment opportunities, the first reason Octopus stood out was that “their customer satisfaction numbers are off the charts,” Bill Rogers, CPPIB’s head of sustainable energies, said in an interview. His team is convinced that “to make the energy transition work, you need to change behaviours and engage billions of consumers around the world.” Octopus CEO Greg Jackson credits Kraken for the company’s performance on customer service, and for lowering operating costs and making its energy supply more reliable. The company also operates in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan, and has smaller businesses in Texas and New Zealand. What really struck Mr. Rogers and CPPIB was that Octopus had started licensing its Kraken software to other energy utilities. The first North American utility to purchase a license to Kraken’s platform was Saint John Energy, the municipal energy utility serving more than 36,000 homes and businesses in Saint John. But most of Octopus’s licensing revenue comes from the competitive British market, where companies “reluctantly decided” to pay Octopus – in many cases, a direct competitor – to use Kraken to run their own systems, Mr. Rogers said. “In terms of proof points that the platform was that strong,” he added, “that was quite reassuring.” Whether Octopus is answering a call from a customer, creating an optimized charging schedule for an electric car or forecasting how much energy will be generated minute by minute from the company’s network, Kraken is the nerve centre, absorbing troves of data and using it to optimize the company’s services. It was built to supplant a tangle of interlocking software that energy providers assembled over years and decades. Clients that license Kraken replaced between 15 and 200 different software systems, Mr. Jackson said. The licensing business now serves 66 million customers, bringing in about US$500-million in annual revenue, out of Octopus’s total revenue of £13-billion ($23-billion) last year. “If Kraken were a standalone business it would be one of the largest U.K. software businesses,” Mr. Jackson said in an interview. “It replaces the sludge in the middle of most companies with an elegant, agile, 21st-century, cloud-based software system.” That, in turn, has become a useful tool to nudge customers to change the way they use energy. With the British energy grid under strain and the cost of electricity rising, Octopus started notifying customers with smart meters about windows of time – called “savings sessions” – when the utility would pay them small rebates for using less power during times of peak demand. When those messages go out to a WhatsApp group with 400,000 members, “the load on our servers as they respond to that, it’s like Ticketmaster when Taylor Swift goes on sale, because there is such incredible interest, desire to make a saving,” Mr. Jackson said. “Often, they’ll be saving 50 cents or $1, but they’ve got agency.” At other times, when sunny or windy weather is producing a surplus of renewable power that either needs to be used up locally or turned off, Octopus will alert customers that electricity is free for a period of time. On average, customers use four times more energy than normal in those periods, Mr. Jackson said. That back-and-forth with customers is becoming more important as rising costs have left many feeling that their living standard is slipping, which has contributed to a backlash in some quarters against green energy regulations. “This is not just prices, it’s also perceptions,” Mr. Jackson said. Even small signals “can shift behaviour, making people feel in control – which they’ve never felt before – and making the system more efficient for everyone.” With U.S. president-elect Donald Trump promising to “unleash” U.S. oil and gas production, the political climate for global energy providers is also shifting. But Mr. Jackson said there is insatiable demand for energy, including renewable power, especially as technology behemoths build out artificial intelligence. He points out that Texas – “the oil and gas HQ of the U.S.” – gets proportionally more of its electricity from renewables than any other state. New tariffs or changes to energy subsidies “may lead to short-term dislocations” in energy markets, Mr. Rogers said. But when the cost of delivering new renewable power rose in recent years, corporate customers in Canada, the United States and around the world “were willing to pay more because they wanted to buy that power.” The coming years are “going to be interesting, no doubt about it,” Mr. Rogers said. “But we think the long-term trends will remain.”