Snowden's Newest Leaked Docs:
This morning, The New York Times, ProPublica, and The Guardian received some documents from Edward Snowden. All three media outlets then published these documents. Snowden's latest releases state that the NSA has had a way to crack into popular encryption methods including SSL and HTTPS.
If those two types of encryption sound familiar to you, that's because they are likely what you see when you log into sites like your personal banking page. Feeling worried yet? You may have cause to feel that way.
Cracking Encryption Code: Not a New Thing
Not only were Snowden's latest leaked documents unnerving, they also weren't really a new thing. Seemingly, the NSA has had access to HTTPS and SSL encrypted logins and files for ten years. That's a long time. A long time that the NSA might have been peeking into your bank statements, emails, and other items.
As worrisome as this news is, though, it might not be the main reason why many should be concerned. The fact of the matter is that if the government has found a way to hack into these systems, that same hacking technology can be leaked to hackers. In turn, this could leave a whole lot of sites open to foreign hacking – or, worse, spying.
What Can You Do?
Now that you know SSL and HTTPS encryptions are not as safe as you once thought, what can you do about it? The simple answer is to rely on other encryption methods. Cryptography is the method that Snowden recommends. In short, don't rely on what seems safe, and always find a different method to make sure that your files are truly protected.
This includes logging into any web hosting site or cloud hosting site that you may currently subscribe to. If you want to go the extra mile, make sure that you check all IP addresses attempting to access your site daily. If you have site contributors, asking them to go through a cryptography log-in could prevent your site from coming under attack.
Snowden's Newest Leaked Docs: The Public Speaks Out
It shouldn't come as any real surprise that the public was outraged when Snowden's recent documents were released. The government is consistently pushing for more access to encrypted files and sites, and, yet, this kind of access has been in the works for more than ten years.
Needless to say, the Internet is not feeling like a very safe place to be these days. There's also the question of whether or not you trust what Snowden has been leaking. Most people tend to be on Snowden's side, but you do have to question everything that you read, right?
I'm curious: which side of this debate are you on? And, how do you feel knowing that the NSA has had the know-how to hack into things like bank accounts for a decade? Leave me a comment below.
Photo from ifindkarma via Flickr Creative Commons
