Cryptomator is an open-source tool that creates encrypted vaults on a user's device, encrypting individual files and their filenames with AES-256 before they sync to services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, pCloud, Nextcloud and ownCloud. It also works offline for local drives, USB storage and network folders, and has apps for Android and iOS. Users can create a recovery key to reset a lost vault password, since Cryptomator itself cannot decrypt files or recover passwords.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-23
Moxie Marlinspike, the developer behind the encrypted messaging app Signal, has released a new AI chatbot called Confer that uses cryptographic techniques to keep user conversations private. The launch responds to growing concern that mainstream AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini collect and store deeply personal user data with few restrictions on how it can be shared, sold, or subpoenaed.
wired.com
· 2026-09-22
The FBI published CJIS Security Policy version 6.1 on June 25, 2026, refining the modernized control-based framework introduced in v6.0 last December. The update raises required encryption key strength from 128-bit to 256-bit for CJI both in transit and at rest, and increases mandatory vulnerability scanning frequency from quarterly to monthly.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-21
A developer investigating unexpected disk usage discovered that Zhipu's ZCode AI coding app compresses and encrypts entire project workspaces—including .git history, LFS caches, reflogs and configs—and uploads them to Aliyun OSS without visible user consent. The encryption uses a server-issued RSA public key while the private key stays server-side, meaning neither the user nor the local client can ever decrypt the archives sitting on the user's own disk. In the investigated case, a 313MB encrypted baseline snapshot of a commercial project had failed to upload 564 times and remained queued locally.
blog.ferstar.org
· 2026-09-18
Apple appeared before a UK court seeking to overturn secrecy rules that bar it from confirming whether the government has ordered access to encrypted iCloud data. The case follows reports that Britain had secretly demanded a backdoor into encrypted iCloud content, a demand Apple responded to by pulling Advanced Data Protection for new UK users rather than weakening encryption globally. After the U.S. government pushed back, Britain narrowed its original worldwide request but later issued a fresh notice aimed specifically at UK-based Apple users.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-17
A group called stegan0gram removed a Flock roadside camera and dissected its Android storage, finding an encryption key inside the 'media' partition that unlocked another partition holding all recorded files. That data included about 1.6 million images and 27,321 short video clips gathered over 21 days, capturing roughly 50,200 vehicles and 11 people.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-17
A hacker group calling itself stegan0gram physically removed a Flock license-plate-reading camera from a roadway pole, reverse-engineered its solar-powered hardware, and copied its storage. Inside, they found unencrypted partitions containing an encryption key that unlocked a trove of 27,321 short video clips and roughly 1.6 million images capturing over 50,200 vehicles across a 21-day logging period. The findings, examined jointly by 404 Media and Wired, showed the device also occasionally detected people on motorcycles, though no active facial recognition was found.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-17
iOS 27.2 beta 1 contains references to a new erase feature that overwrites an iPhone's entire storage, including unused space, with blank data rather than just destroying encryption keys. 9to5Mac found the option is currently restricted to devices sold in China, and Apple warns it takes longer and may affect device lifespan. Code references suggest the same capability is being built for iPad, HomePod, and Apple Vision Pro as well.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-16
Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Warren Davidson sent a letter to Britain's Investigatory Powers Tribunal demanding it stop concealing details of Apple's dispute with the UK government over encrypted iCloud data. The case began when the Home Office ordered Apple to build backdoor access to encrypted backups worldwide, prompting Apple to pull its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users; the tribunal later dismissed Apple's challenge after the UK narrowed its demand to British users only.
news.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-11
TurboCrypt, a git and file encryption tool originally built for Unix, is moving its encrypted file and directory name encoding from Base91 to a newly defined Base84 alphabet. The change was driven by the addition of Windows support, since several characters used in the Unix-safe Base91 alphabet are forbidden on Windows filesystems and shell tools. The new 84-character set excludes nine Windows-forbidden symbols and trailing dots, ensuring names work reliably across Linux, macOS and Windows.
00f.net
· 2026-09-11
Google published a companion technical article detailing progress on HEIR, its open-source compiler that transforms programs so they run directly on encrypted data using homomorphic encryption. The team demonstrated compiling several small but functional pre-trained ML models, including a three-layer fraud-detection network, into homomorphically encrypted versions runnable via a public GitHub repository built with Bazel. The author also outlines internal workings and a roadmap for the project's future development.
jeremykun.com
· 2026-09-04
Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to NSA Director General Joshua M. Rudd asking the agency to update its public guidance on VPN configurations. He argued that current recommendations don't help Americans facing foreign surveillance—including government staff, contractors, journalists and human rights defenders—choose which VPNs actually protect their communications.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-03
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