German Government Unveils End-To-End Encryption For Citizens

A service of the German government that is used for the exchange of confidential documents between citizens and government will soon support end-to-end encryption. As of April, users of the Mail- use end-to-end encryption. For this, they install a plug-in for Firefox or Google Chrome. The encryption used De-Mail based on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy).

The plug-in must make the encrypted exchange of documents easier, the German government so late in the announcement to know. "Germany wants to lead the way in the use of digital services," said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere."Encryption plays an important role." More and more government services to communicate using De-Mail. It is expected that this year 200 new public services are connected.

Encryption

De-Mail is already using encryption for transport, but will now post protect through end-to-end encryption, so that the content is only visible to the sender and recipient. To be of service to use, users with a username and password to log in, or for extra security with a token, such as the new digital ID card, smart card and SMS code. Logging is done by the special De-Mail page of the provider. Several German ISPs, such as Deutsche Telekom, GMX, Web.De and United Internet are as De-Mail provider accredited.

They are also pleased with the new security measure. "End-to-end encryption was previously something for experts. Therefore we would like to see everybody De-Mails can encrypt" said Timothy Höttges of Deutsche Telekom. Besides the introduction of encryption measure will also be simplified the registration process for De-Mail. So soon enough an online bank account to register for De-Mail. Meanwhile, two million Germans would have a De-Mail, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians have been identified for the service and act can make.

Security Firm Warns Of Hype About WordPress Leak

An American security company has warned the hyping of leaks in the content management system WordPress. Following are reports on various websites about a leak in a WordPress plug-in which more than one million websites were exposed to risk.

The vulnerability was in the plugin called WP Slim Stat. Via the leak would be a "blind" SQL Injection attack are possible.Allows an attacker could read information from the database. According to security firm WhiteFir design these types of vulnerabilities are not used in automated attacks, which most WordPress sites have to deal with. In addition, the leak at the time of news coverage already patched.

"The chances that the leak is abused are quite small compared to a vulnerability that affects PHP files can be uploaded to a website, which will surely be attacked," said the IT security officer. The company also criticizes said plurality of more than 1 million Web sites. The plug-in in question has been downloaded over 1 million times, but downloads does not mean that there are as many websites with the plug-in.

In the case of WordPress are namely also updates to plugins counted as a download. The number of actual users is therefore much lower than the number of downloads. According WhiteFir Design have also the media the opportunity to harm the security of WordPress sites. Users should keep their plugins namely always up-to-date, especially since developers do not always mention that they have remedied vulnerabilities.