Saturday, February 21, 2015

Pocket Espionage

Big companies such as Google are increasingly concerned by eroding trust.

Edward Snowden confirmed many improprieties by government & the mega-corporations (Thank You Ed!). Most recently we read of sweeping infiltration of hard drive firmware (link), spyware on USB minidrives, and British government infiltration of Dutch-French firm Gemalto to compromise SIM encryption (link). (Gemalto SIMs are used in billions of mobile phones). More crimes surely remain unknown.

Oversight by external national authorities, or others such as the EU, help keep some mega-corporations from the worst dishonesties. More oversight is necessary, and accountability.

While major corporate apps and computer programs are increasingly & carefully scrutinized, their programs often require pairing with other apps by tiny firms demanding all access. The process is not accidental. The result -- curious noses of pigs up your arse.

Backdoor weaknesses, and info gathering generally, is liable to exploitation in unforeseen ways. We've all become spying targets. This spying weakens otherwise competitive corporations and destroys trust.