After last week’s summit in Australia, the Five-Eyes Governments, which include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, issued a statement calling on the technology industry to willingly provide access to encrypted information. While encryption is by far the safest way for private information to travel between the sender and receiver, the Five-Eyes group argue that it can also be “used by criminals, including child sex offenders, terrorists and organized crime groups to frustrate investigations and avoid detection and prosecution.” Even though the debate of privacy versus security when it comes to data encryption is not a new one, many cybersecurity experts still claim that there is no safe way to provide authorities with a backdoor access to decoded information without introducing vulnerabilities that may be exploited by hackers. Despite this argument, the alliance is pushing technology providers to “create customized solutions, tailored to their individual…
Not being concerned about your privacy on the Internet is simply a mistake you cannot afford to make. Fortunately, there are plenty of Virtual Private Network services available that can protect you from being hacked and spied upon when using the web. voip.review has previously discussed what a VPN is, and why do you need it, and in this article we have selected the top 10 VPNs from the hundreds that are available to be found online. Here is a list of our handpicked VPNs (in no particular order), with detailed descriptions of their services and specifications. Nord VPN With close to 5,000 optimized servers in 62 countries, Nord VPN claims to provide the fastest VPN connection. Nord VPN includes 2048-bit encryption, support for PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN protocols, optional dedicated IP addresses, encrypted proxy extensions for Chrome and Firefox browsers, and a strict “no logs” policy. A generous number…
Connecting to a public WiFi network at airports, hotels or even at a local coffee shop is not always as safe as one might think, as intercepting private information sent over a public network is quite easy even for inexperienced hackers. As a result, Verizon has decided to combat this security vulnerability by launching a VPN for their customers, Safe Wi-Fi. This new service protects personal data from prying eyes, and blocks advertisement trackers by using VPN encryption. Safe Wi-Fi is available on iOS and Android devices for a fee of $3.99 per month, and can cover up to 10 devices linked to a Verizon account. Considering how much the theft of personal information might cost a user, this is a small price to pay for keeping important data secure.
The South Korean mobile carrier, KT (formerly Korea Telecom) has unveiled the world’s first blockchain-based commercial network, as reported by the Korean Herald. The telecom giant has implemented a blockchain layer on top of their ultra-speed nationwide commercial network to ensure maximum security and transparency for retail and business users. “Public blockchains have low processing speed and capacity, while private blockchains have low transparency. By applying blockchain onto our ultra-fast network, we have overcome both obstacles,” commented the head of the Blockchain Center at KT’s Institute of Convergence Technology, Seo Yeong-il. The mobile carrier expects to achieve the impressive number of 100 000 transactions per second by the end of 2019, while their current blockchain network capability is 2500 transactions per second. Furthermore, KT has already implemented this disruptive technology in their user identification process, eliminating the need for personal IDs and passwords. The company is also working closely with…
Europe’s leading Internet of Things event IoT Tech Expo Europe 2018 brought together thousands of enthusiasts and specialists from a variety of industries including manufacturing, transport, healthcare, logistics, energy and automotive to discuss the ever-increasing potential of IoT. Among the 300+ exhibitors at the event in Amsterdam, a rising star in the industry, monogoto, made a revolutionary move by launching its new flat rate data plans for IoT connectivity. “We are happy to introduce a ‘pay once and forget’ business model, where the IoT community can pay $10 and get a SIM card with a ‘lifetime’ 10 years of connectivity,” said Itamar Kunik, Chief Executive Officer at monogoto. “With this new pricing, appliance companies, OEMs and developers can now offer connected devices with pre-installed SIM cards, and not be concerned with high monthly recurring data costs.” monogoto is a one-stop shop that covers the complete range of IoT connectivity requirements,…
While the storm caused by the GDPR coming into force on May 25th is quieting down, people are still concerned about the protection of their personal data, and privacy in general. In the current environment, the use of the word VPN is commonplace, yet not everyone understands this term and what it has to do with security. voip.review will provide some basic insights into VPNs. Simply put, the abbreviation VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a connection method that helps users maintain security while connecting to another network over the Internet. The original idea for creating a VPN was to secure the private network of large corporations, where branch offices and employees need to connect to the network from remote locations. While connecting to the corporate network via cables installed in a local office is relatively safe, connecting to this private network through public networks can introduce security…
The city of Kitchener, in Canada, Ontario, is home of a new app called OpenPhone. Its ambition is to help small entrepreneurs stopping the blurred line between private and business phone calls. Many services already exist in this specific field, like Phone.com or Grasshopper, but OpenPhone’s main feature is to simplify the process and focus and ease of use. As of today, the app let user share one phone number across several phone, using VoIP technology. Still in its beta version and available on the Appstore since January, the company expects to launch in a couple of months a final version. An Android version hit the Google platform in June. OpenPhone will allow customers to make concurrent calls on several devices, transcribed voicemail and call forwarding. This way, small businesses will have the opportunity to have a better communication between customers and entrepreneurs.
Sprint announced that 5G PCs will be available to buy in their stores next year. Those computers will be built around Intel’s chips. The operator won’t be the only one to offer 5G PCs as Acer and Asus also recently declared their plan to produce 5G Intel-based computers. With Microsoft, Dell, HP and Lenovo having already announced their plan to launch 5G laptops, the market will see a total of six companies battling for this new segment, until others tech companies come out with their own project. Intel has fought hard for this, as the company met difficulties competing with Qualcomm in implementing its chips in connected devices, especially in 4G PCs that are supposed to be available in stores this year with Snapdragon chips inside.
No doubt, “blockchain” is the hottest buzz word being discussed across all industries, and telecommunications is no exception. The blockchain is being proposed for use in various applications in the telecommunications industry, such as securing CDRs, billing data and access logs, ensuring data authenticity or ensuring strict operational procedures. Blockchain will certainly optimize costs by eliminating third-parties such as clearing houses, automating audits and improving fraud detection. However, there is one area where the use of blockchain technology has the potential to not only benefit the operators, but will have a revolutionary impact on the way we all understand, use and protect our identities. The Phone Number as your Digital ID Our phone number is our most valuable digital identity, and will remain the only unique international method of identification well into the future. The PSTN, which is wholly based on the use of phone numbers, is the largest social…
French startup “BlackBoxSecu” located on the Côte d’Azur, has made the first demo of its secure voice communication system CipherBOX (CBOX) on Orange and Free mobile networks. Commercialization might begin the coming months. As the global threat evolves, listening to voice over the Internet and mobile networks becomes easier, cheaper and more accessible to third parties, private spies and foreign special services. Developed by BlackBoxSecu, the CBOX aims to provide secure high-level voice connectivity that meets individual communication needs on mobile, laptop, tablet or landline phones. The company has been awarded by Innovation Award of Special Forces SOFINS 2017, Trophées de la Sécurité 2017 (Bronze medal) in France and has been selected by Village by Crédit Agricole. Based on a stand-alone box developed during 3 years near Nice, the Cipher BOX encrypts the audio signal directly to the source of the voice (microphone of the user’s headset) as well as…