Darkcoin recently announced it has open-sourced the Darksend code and that its Darkcoin technology has moved out of the beta stages and is ready for mainstream use. Darkcoin is a digital currency based on the Bitcoin software that offers the additional benefits of privacy and fast transaction speeds. Bitcoin, which operates on a ledger system, allows anybody to freely view the account balances and transaction history of other people. Darkcoin, using a new technology called Darksend, fixes this problem by obscuring the origin of the coins as they pass from one person to another, making each transaction more secure and each person anonymous.
CipherCloud, an information protection firm, has partnered with Sliced Tech, a managed services firm, to help provide visibility and control of customer data in the cloud. This partnership will help companies to satisfy the updated requirements of the Australian Privacy Amendment, specifically to prevent “unauthorized access, modification and disclosure” of personal data. “At the heart of stricter data privacy is protection of personal information, whether that information resides on premises or in the cloud," said Geoff Noble, regional director of CipherCloud Asia-Pacific.
SK Telecom, a Korean operator, plans to launch Security Box, an application to safeguard customers’ personal information on their smartphones. Security Box will protect personal sensitive information, such as PIN numbers and private photos, against hacking attempts. Additionally, users can send encrypted messages and, once received, the recipient can decode the message to read it.
2B Advice, a U.S.-based data privacy management consultancy and solutions firm, is launching 2B Advice PriME for the U.S. market. 2B Advice PriME offers data privacy and compliance officers a complete privacy solution, including all the tools needed to meet growing statutory and regulatory requirements in one place. 2B Advice PriME was developed from years of privacy efforts and has been proven through more than 1,000 installations worldwide. Marcus Belke, president of 2B Advice, said in a statement, “We are delighted to release an innovative and comprehensive data management solution for the U.S. market. There’s nothing quite like it that lets you customize and manage every aspect of your privacy program in real time.”
Silent Circle, the creator of the privacy-centered Blackphone, is set to launch a privacy-centric tablet. The tablet will run on the same PrivateOS system that the Blackphone runs on and, like the phone, will be a high-end product.
The German messaging app Telegram recently released a Korean-language version of its app. The release was in response to the South Korean government saying it was going to boost cyber-surveillance and a fear that the country's number-one texting app, “Kakao Talk,” was releasing user information to the government. Telegram announced on its Twitter feed that South Koreans' “dialogue records will not be open, and secret conversations will not leave any trace on the server. Our official apps guarantee the best security.”