Gwebs Cryptographer

Some changes ahead

I’m wrapping up my work here in Gwebs company and within China. It has been pleasant to work here and with nice atmosphere. So many new things learned and gained the idea of business in China. But like said, time flies and now it’s time for me to head back to Finland, finish up my studies and head for the new challenges. Anyway before that, I still have some ideas and things to share with you.

I mentioned earlier in my posts that I will test Google Wave, when it will come available for everyone. Well, I have to pass this job to my colleagues, ’cause the Google Wave for regular users hasn’t been released yet. Only the test version for selected persons is available so far. (Here is the post about Google Wave.)

Then some other things which I also mentioned earlier, is that I’m willing to try out the Windows Mobile 6.5 with some email encryption application and see how well it will work with our MailCloak encryption software. Well, guess what ? Windows Mobile 6.5 hasn’t been released yet for HTC Touch Diamond 2, so I have to wait until end of this or next month. So far, the estimated release date is “during October/November 2009″, so still some time to go. Maybe I’ll try it out back in Finland and then just send the results to my colleagues, ’cause I think that this topic is very interesting for mobile users like me. These mobile issues are getting more and more important, because the smart phone markets are increasing rapidly.  (Here is the post about email encryption mobile usage.)

What else ?
I guess, quite many people found out that Windows 7 is finally released and available for consumers. So we took a sneak peek for that to check how different it really is, and how are the security issues handled there. For me it has always been as a thought in my head that Microsoft Windows and security doesn’t really belong in to the same sentence, at least not in a positive way. But we will see, I’m open-minded with this one, so much good I have heard about Windows 7 during the beta-testing.

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Social networking seems to be pop right now, how many people you know that they use / don’t use social network applications like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut, XiaoNei (校内 in China), or other ones. Can you honestly say that you have never even heard of these applications ? Yeah, that’s what I thought.. These apps are integrating to our daily life, and eventually someone will ask “How we kept in touch with our friends before social networks?” Just like my friend’s kid asked me once that “What you were doing at work before internet?”. I think these questions will make people to think that how dependent they really are about technology and services.

But more interesting is that how many people really trusts into these open and free networks. Some time ago Facebook got so much publicity when they announced that all data what users have put in it will be theirs, so basically all the personal data, pictures, videos, etc. Then just a bit later, they told to users that there are no worries, that everything will be just fine. And now, hardly no-one even remembers that anymore.

It seems to be that internet is so full about different kinds of social networks and applications which are collecting users private data. And I think it will be only the matter of time when someone will steal all that data, ’cause normally these services are not having so strong security. One reason might be the money issue, although I guess nowadays quite many people will be interested to pay a bit for example the usage of Facebook, if they can be sure that all their data is secured. But on the other hand, there are plenty of users who think beforehand that what information they are willing to share and which information not. And just like Barack Obama advised kids, that be aware that once you post something into the internet, you can be sure that I will be digged up later, if it can be used against you. So maybe it will be nice to take a look for Facebook Etiquette as well, although most of these things are more or less self-evident, but I think still worth of reading through.

I read a couple of articles some days ago about privacy and security issues in social networks/webs, just like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and so on. (Links to the articles at the end.) These articles are mostly pointing out the same issues which I wrote above, that it’s really users own responsibility what to share and for whom to share it. So many instances are following social networks also like friends, colleagues and family, everybody you like but also quite many you maybe haven’t thought about. Like your boss, different organizations and companies, so basically if you’re planning to apply for a new job, it might be that your profile will be checked through before you will get invitation to the interview. And also talking about that in social network, might make your boss feel unease.

But that’s not everything about privacy issues, there’s also some other things to point out as well. Nowadays, it seems to be that mobile phones are getting closer to laptops and vice versa, so it’s quite normal to update social network profiles through mobile phone. And for up-to-date user it might be self-evident to have anti-virus software also in a mobile phone, but I can tell for sure that most of the users don’t have, any kind security software in their mobiles “I don’t need it, this is Just a phone”, but anyway the users are using all the same programs and applications as with computers. So, basically all the data what user is keeping in secret in his/hers computer, user will freely use in mobile, without thinking that the same “evil”-internet is waiting there as well.

The thing which I brought up the mobile phones into this also, is that what makes people think that if they use one secured system in one place, it won’t be useful, if they use same data with non-secured systems elsewhere. And this includes everything, not only social networks, but emails, contacts, files, pictures, etc.

A while ago there was news about new type of identity / private data phishing, basically there are some applications within social networks, which are collecting different kind of data from users. And then some identity thiefs have been using that data to create virtual-friends for users. So the main idea is that these virtual-friends are sharing something common with user, belonging to same groups or have same interests, then they’re sending friend requests to users. And if user will accept their request, then they will collect all data from that user, what they think is useful for them. Maybe email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, photos, videos, etc.  So nowadays it’s really recommended for people to check what kind of information they are sharing from themselves and are they really willing to tell all their secrets or thoughts to everyone.

I personally like social networks a lot, and I like that there’s some place where I can enter almost from anywhere to check how my friends are doing and letting them know what’s up in my life as well. I haven’t paid much attention for security issues in social networks, but now after reading these articles, I might take another look for some apps properties and privacy options.

Some of you might think now, that what will be my result to solve these privacy issues, well frankly speaking there is no solution. I can only encourage everyone to think twice before posting anything to social networks,  text, comments, pictures, video, files, etc. what ever is on your mind. Sometimes you might think that with this post your friends appreciate you more or you will get publicity, but be aware that all that data will be saved somewhere and it might pop-up later, when you cannot expect it to happen.

Here are the links for the articles I mentioned earlier:
Fast Company’s article: Privacy and Security Issues in Social Networking
Computer World’s article: Protect your privacy on Facebook and Twitter

Some other articles related to this topic:
Google Warns of Privacy Issues on the Social Web
Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets

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When I started my work at Gwebs, this was one of my first questions. I mean, so far that our own products don’t support mobiles, smartphones, pdas, etc.  Anyhow, our product co-operates nicely with all software that use GnuPG (GPG), it’s tested with quite wide scale of applications.

I wanted to know how I can access my encrypted messages whenever and wherever. I just got so dependent on mobile usage of email from my previous job at one telecommunications company, sometimes you just have to be there 24/7 available, for your colleagues all around the world, your customers and clients. This is it what’s going on right now within IT-industry. Although, no-one is paying me 24/7 salary, but it just integrated for me as a habit. And now, sometimes I found myself at the bus stop reading my email, thanks for the reasonable price of data transfer.

I made some research about this topic and found out that encryption with GPG in smartphones is not so common than I thought. Although, nowadays, when smartphones are having Windows Mobile, Linux, Android, Apple, Symbian and maybe some other operating systems too. It seems to be easier to find a solution for encryption from PGP (Pretty Good Privacy).

I found out that Symbian used to have one component, made by Nokia, but no-one really knows is it still usable or not. About Apple and Android I really cannot say so clearly, ’cause both systems are pretty unfamiliar to me. So far Apple seems to have quite much research and development around iPhone, so I’m pretty sure that there are some encryption software as well.

Windows Mobile then, there seems to be a huge gap between versions (5.0/6.0/6.1/6.5) while searching supported applications, anyhow there are some software for encryption available. I haven’t tested these yet by myself, but will do later. At first I’d like to have the official update for WM 6.5.

Well, Linux is another chapter of it’s own. There are so many free, open-source encryption software available that it will be more difficult to find the one which suits the best for your needs, than just find one.

The other solution for encryption in mobile devices is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), it’s not open-source and normally these applications are not free. But this also makes the difference to availability. There are so many PGP applications available for all these operating systems that I mentioned earlier. And of course, while the software is not freeware, you can expect some support for troubleshooting and equivalent for your money.

Anyway, I think that this is one of the main things nowadays while talking about email security and privacy. Because so big share of today’s business emails are sent by mobile devices, it’s really needed to have some software to obtain privacy within this communication way too. And for covering usability issues, it’s nice to have a software which co-operates with the same encryption method as while using a PC.

I’ll let you know later about my testing, WM 6.5 + PGP or GPG encryption software + MailCloak in PC. Having my own key in every single device (work, laptop and smartphone). And then testing it out, how it works and how easy it is really to use. But that’s going to happen after the Windows Mobile 6.5 release, which suppose to be soon.

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