Google's cyber unit, Jigsaw, presents Intra, a new security application dedicated to removing censorship – TechCrunch



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Jigsaw, the division owned by Google Alphabet, revealed Intra, a new application designed to protect users from state-sponsored censorship.

Intra is a new application that aims to prevent attacks by DNS manipulation. Whenever you visit a website, the easy-to-remember web address is converted into a memorable IP address, often via an unsecure connection. This allows oppressive governments – such as Turkey, which has already used this technique – to intercept requests for web addresses and kill them on their tracks to prevent sites from being loaded or redirected to a fake site.

By transmitting all your browsing requests and your application traffic over an encrypted connection to a trusted domain name server, Intra ensures that you can use your application without interference or access the right site without interference.

"Intra is extremely simple to use. Just download the application and turn it on, "said Jigsaw. "That's all."

Jigsaw has already had some success in areas of the world where Internet access is restricted or monitored. The Venezuelan government reportedly used DNS manipulation to prevent citizens from accessing news sites and social networks.

By default, the application uses Google's own trusted DNS server, but users can also forward their browsing requests through Cloudflare. which also hosts its own secure DNS server, accessible to the public, or any other secure DNS server.

Certainly, this requires a bit of trust for Google and Cloudflare – or any third party. A Jigsaw spokesman told TechCrunch that Intra's use of Google's DNS was governed by its privacy policy, which Cloudflare also owned.

Jigsaw announced that the application would be integrated with Android Pie, which already allows already allows encrypted DNS connections. But Jigsaw also makes the application available to users in areas of the world with lower savings, making upgrading from older devices nearly impossible and allowing them to benefit from security features.

This is the last piece of the security and privacy puzzle that Jigsaw is trying to solve.

The little known alphabet The division focuses on the prevention of censorship, threats of online harassment and the fight against violent extremism. The incubator focuses on freedom of speech and expression by providing tools and services that make online use safer for high-risk targets.

Jigsaw has also invested time in several other anti-censorship applications, including Project Shield, which protects sites against distributed denial of service attacks, and Outline, which provides journalists and activists with a virtual private network that channels data. via a secure network. channel.

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