Security news
The Onion Router Manages to Pull in Record Donations
Tor, the open source project that helps over two million people connect to the Internet securely, has managed to raise over $460,000 from its users this year. It's a very welcome move, because it makes Tor less reliant on U.S. government funding. Mozilla and DuckDuckGo are two of the key sponsors of this project.
Recent Antivirus Tests Reveal Two Surprising Winners
AV Test, the Independent IT-Security Institute, is constantly evaluating dozens of home security suites, and then ranks them according to their level of protection, performance and usability. Surprisingly, Avast Free Antivirus and Windows Defender have gotten great scores in the most recent tests.
Titan M Makes Pixel 3 the Most Secure Phone Yet
Google's Pixel phones benefit from monthly security updates and yearly OS updates. This year's Pixel 3 version utilizes an enterprise-grade module that adds advanced security features to the bootloader, on-device lock screen protection & disk encryption, and provides secure transactions in third-party apps.
Mozilla Highlights Harmful Online Tracking Practices
The foundation has recently created a Wiki which lists the online tracking practices that can't be controlled by people and can be harmful. Its browser will rely on tracking protection lists to block cookie-based cross-site tracking attempts, as well as browser fingerprinting and supercookies.
The UK Government Fights Cyber Security Threats
The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund has recently gotten a generous $92 million sponsorship from the UK government. The money will be used to design digital devices which utilize hardware-based systems to provide an increased level of security, protecting companies and consumers from various cyber threats.
USB-C Security Feature Protects Devices from Malware
The USB Implementers Forum has recently announced the USB Type C Authentication Program, which defines cryptographic-based authentication methods for USB Type-C chargers, devices, cables and power sources. The new products will support digital signing, hash functions and random number generation.
