Last month, we released our second-generation product, the Privoro SafeCase, which is compatible with the iPhone 7 and 8. While SafeCase can be used by organizations for a variety of use cases, counter-surveillance protection is a core functionality. The case blocks the host smartphone’s cameras and actively masks each of the microphones with randomized noise. At Privoro, we believe that only physical, verifiable protections can overcome the threat of hijacked smartphone sensors targeting national security agencies, publicly traded companies and high-profile individuals.

Topics: Data in Vicinity, anti-surveillance, Mobile Security, SafeCase, Mobile Espionage

The mobile security of political candidates and their staff gets lost in the shuffle when discussing threats to our elections. However, a series of trends point to mobile espionage becoming the next major vehicle for electoral interference. These trends include:

• The smartphone’s rising importance in conducting the day-to-day business of a political campaign
• The increasing use of intrusive smartphone surveillance tools to target political officials
• A growing appetite by malicious outsiders to interfere in elections by any means necessary

In this blog post, I’ll discuss the reasons why smartphones may be the next electoral hacking target and the potential consequences of such a shift.

Topics: Smartphone Vulnerabilities, Election Security, NSO Group, Pegasus Spyware

Earlier this month, a controversial report in Bloomberg Businessweek ignited a larger conversation about a topic that has long been a concern of security professionals: the hacking of the hardware supply chain. The fear of backdoors built into devices isn’t new (see: the blacklisting of Huawei and ZTE products by the US government), but concrete evidence is rarely made available to the public.

Topics: Smartphone Vulnerabilities, Bloomberg Businessweek, Supply Chain Attacks, China, Supermicro, Supply Chain Security, Supply Chain Risk

We started Privoro in 2013 not merely as a company, but as a philosophy: that security and privacy need not be casualties of our hyper-connected, sensor-driven, mobile-first world. That we should be able to trust and control our electronic devices. That our information is ours alone, and we should be able to control how it is accessed and shared.

Topics: Mobile Security, Privoro, Smartphone Security, Smartphone Vulnerabilities, Data Privacy, spyware, SafeCase

By John Chambers, Founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures and former CEO and Chairman of Cisco

Ten years ago, I would have said that voice was an interface of the past. Yet today, the voice revolution is well underway and it’s becoming clear that voice will, in fact, be the next major interface. Just look at the proliferation and capabilities of virtual assistants and voice-activated devices, whether it’s asking Amazon’s Alexa-enabled Echo to turn down the thermostat, having Google Home recite your schedule for the day, or instructing Apple’s Siri to read your emails out loud. While nearly one in five Americans has access to a smart speaker today, Gartner predicts that 75 percent of households in the U.S. will have smart speakers by 2020.

Topics: Smartphone Security, Smartphone Vulnerabilities, Mobile Security, Voice Security, IoT Security, Connecting the Dots, JC2 Ventures, John Chambers

We conducted our second annual survey on attitudes about smartphone privacy and security on August 1^st, 2018. The results show a slightly elevated level of concern, but not as much as one might think given the endless stream of news reports about smartphone hacks and exploits. Check out the infographic of the results here.

Topics: Mobile Security, Mobile Surveillance

Privoro recently attended the GSF Modern Warfare conference at Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne (I highly recommend researching the history of this division if you’re unfamiliar). Although our trip to Fort Bragg was a first, what wasn’t new at all is the problem smartphones are causing government employees across the military, intel agencies and Capitol Hill.

Topics: Smartphone Security, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Mobile Surveillance, Mobile Security

On Sunday, August 26^th, the country will celebrate National Dog Day. Sure, this day was chosen to celebrate man’s best friend – those loving companions some of us just can’t live without.

Topics: Privoro, National Dog Day

Our world is filled with news and conversations about hacking. From well-publicized public hacks like Target, OPM and Equifax down to the private internal discussions of how to keep information safe, hacking is all around us.

Topics: Smartphone Security, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Mobile Surveillance, Mobile Security

Pentagon’s smartphone policy costs taxpayers an estimated $2 million per day

On May 22, Pentagon leadership banned smartphones from all secure spaces – effectively every office and meeting room in the largest single office building in the world. The ban even includes government-issued phones given to high-priority personnel and negatively impacts over 26,000 Department of Defense military, civilian and contractor employees.

Topics: Smartphone Security, Smartphone Vulnerabilities, Mobile Security, SCIF Security, SCIF Spaces, Secure Spaces