New Al Qaeda Encryption Software - Bruce Schneier - Schneier on Security

There's beginning to be some discourse about the effect of the Snowden released documents and how it's helped enemies of the US. Schneier thinks that this might actually be a good thing as entities try to create their own crypto that might be weaker than what's available for free.

NSA reform falters as House passes gutted USA Freedom Act - David Kravets - ars technica

Hey look! It's the government being the government. Just before the vote things were changed and congress passed what appears to be a much weaker attempt at reigning in some of the governments heinous surveillance programs. It might take more drastic measures for real change to take place.

Disclosing vs. Hoarding Vulnerabilities - Bruce Schneier - Schneier on Security

Vulnerabilities are a balancing act for the government. Do you disclose the vulnerability that could be used to get into an enemies network or do you keep it for future use. I'm with Schneier and believe the the US government should disclose vulnerabilities, because part of their mission is defense, but I still think there is some reason for them to keep some vulnerabilities to help with their offensive mission.

This post first appeared on Exploring Information Security.