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Extremists & social mediaNew Zealand, France leading an effort to ban terrorists from social media
New Zealand and France will host a meeting with technology companies and world leaders to develop a strategy to block terrorists from social media. The meeting comes in the wake of the March shootings at two mosques in Christchurch.
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Extremists & social mediaWhite supremacists use social media aid, abet terror
Before carrying out mass shooting attacks in Pittsburgh and New Zealand, white supremacist terrorists Robert Bowers and Brenton Tarrant frequented fringe social networking sites which, according to a new study, serve as echo chambers for the most virulent forms of anti-Semitism and racism, and active recruiting grounds for potential terrorists.
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CybersecurityCan WiFi networks be completely secure?
There are many ways in which hackers and crackers can break into a Wi-Fi network. It is trivial if the network uses out of date security protocols or weak passwords. But even if the system is set up with the latest security measures, strong passwords, and firewall and malware protection, there are still ways and means that a malicious third party might access such a network.
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CybersecurityActively used private keys on the ethereum blockchain facilitate cryptocurrency theft
Researchers at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) have discovered 732 actively used private keys on the Ethereum blockchain. The researchers also found that poorly implemented private key generation is also facilitating the theft of cryptocurrency.
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DNA identificationRapid DNA technology ID’ed California wildfire victims
Amid the chaos and devastation of a mass casualty evet, medical examiners often provide closure as they identify victims in the aftermath, but their ability to do this quickly can vary depending on the size, scope, and type of disaster. Such challenges were the case following the Camp Fire wildfire that killed eighty-five people and devastated communities in Paradise, California, in the fall of 2018. S&T’s Rapid DNA technology became the first resort as it provided identifying information in under two hours when dental records and fingerprints weren’t available.
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DNA identificationAbundance of DNA evidence insufficient to prevent wrongful convictions
As we enter an era in which DNA evidence is routinely used in criminal investigations, errors that led to wrongful convictions—including mistakes later corrected with DNA tests—may seem to be fading into history. This, however, is not true, says an expert.
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Preventable-disease outbreaksDecline in measles vaccination causing resurgence of preventable, nearly eradicated disease
In 2000, measles was declared to be eliminated in the United States, when no sustained transmission of the virus was seen in this country for more than twelve months. Today, however, the United States and many other countries that had also eliminated the disease are experiencing concerning outbreaks of measles because of declines in measles vaccine coverage.
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Planetary securityNuclear weapons might save the world from an asteroid strike – but we need to change the law first
The schlocky 1998 Bruce Willis movie Armageddon was the highest grossing film of that year. The blockbuster saw a master oil driller (Willis) and an unlikely crew of misfits place a nuclear bomb inside a giant asteroid heading for Earth, blow it up – and save humanity. Armageddon isn’t exactly a documentary: it’s packed full of sci-fi nonsense. But, 20 years on, its basic plot – of using a nuclear explosion to avert a cataclysmic asteroid collision – doesn’t seem quite as silly as it did at the time.
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Our picksCrime-predicting camera; ISIS global reach; family-tree forensics, and more
· AI-enabled cameras that detect crime before it occurs will soon invade the physical world
· Theresa May set to anger U.S. with ‘limited access’ for Huawei
· The 2020 election is going to make 2016 look like a student council election
• Justice Department filing contradicts Kushner’s view of Russia threat
· Nielsen was warned not to talk to Trump about new Russian election interference: report
· ISIS still has global reach, despite the caliphate’s collapse
· What the Sri Lanka bombings tell us about the state of ISIS
· Sri Lanka Easter bombings spurs call to ban burqas amid reports some of the attackers were women
· The meteoric rise of family tree forensics to fight crimes
· With absolutely no evidence, Trump suggests U.K. spied on him for Obama
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Sri Lanka attacksIS claims responsibility for deadly Sri Lanka blasts
The Islamic State group said Tuesday, without providing evidence, that it was responsible for a series of blasts in Sri Lanka that killed more than 300 people and injured hundreds of others on Easter Sunday. Also Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s state minister of defense told parliament that those who carried out the attacks did so in retaliation for attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand last month.
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Sri Lanka attacksSri Lanka attacks: government’s social media ban may hide the truth about what is happening
Sri Lanka has temporarily banned social media and messaging apps in the wake of the coordinated Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels across the country, which killed at least 290 people. The ban is ostensibly to stop the spread of misinformation – but in Sri Lanka Facebook and social media platforms generally have created a positive space for public conversation that did not exist before. Shutting down social media, leaving its citizens reliant on state messaging and a weak and beaten down form of journalism, the government now risks preventing Sri Lankans from finding out the truth about what is happening in their fragile and delicately balanced country.
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Human smugglingLucrative human smuggling business via Central America benefits many
A new report estimates that the smuggling of unlawful migrants from the Northern Triangle region of Central America—Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—to the United States generated between $200 million and $2.3 billion for human smugglers in 2017.
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GunsThe darker side of the dark web: Weapons trade
Debates over gun regulations make headlines across the world, but there’s an underground operation for weapons that has drawn very little attention – until now. Researchers crept into the dark web to investigate how firearms are anonymously bought and sold around the world.
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Truth decayCan artificial intelligence help end fake news?
Fake news has already fanned the flames of distrust towards media, politics and established institutions around the world. And while new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) might make things even worse, it can also be used to combat misinformation.
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Preventable-disease outbreakU.S. measles numbers continue to climb, nearing record
The U.S. measles total climbed by 71 cases last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday in an update, putting the year’s total at 626, within striking distance of the most cases since the United States officially eliminated the disease in 2000. With weekly measles numbers continuing to grow at a steady clip, a top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official on Monday released a statement affirming the agency’s continued confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
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Preventable-disease outbreakFDA confident in the safety, effectiveness of MMR vaccine
The FDA has joined other scientific and medical groups in an effort to combat the conspiracy-fueled campaign of disinformation and misrepresentation by anti-vaccine activists. “We cannot state strongly enough – the overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vaccines are among the most effective and safest interventions to both prevent individual illness and protect public health,” said Peter Marks, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
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Planetary securityCelestial menace: Defending Earth from asteroids
Incoming asteroids have been scarring our home planet for billions of years. This month humankind left our own mark on an asteroid for the first time: Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft dropped a copper projectile at very high speed in an attempt to form a crater on asteroid Ryugu. A much bigger asteroid impact is planned for the coming decade, involving an international double-spacecraft mission.
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Our picksWhat’s different about the Sri Lanka attacks; FBI’s facial recognition accuracy falls short; Greenland is falling apart, and more
· Greenland is falling apart
· Anti-vaxxers ‘educated just well enough to make terrible decisions for their children’
· A scholar of extremism on how religious conflict shapes Sri Lanka
· What people don’t get about why planes crash
· 70+ new measles cases reported across the U.S.
· Climate change: Slightly stronger but fewer hurricanes, one expert says
· New Mexico border militia leader allegedly said group planned to assassinate Obama, Clinton
· Say freeze? FBI’s facial recognition accuracy unmeasured for three years, warns watchdog
· What’s different about the attacks in Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka attacksNearly 300 killed, 500 injured in Easter Sunday attacks on churches, hotels in Sri Lanka
In the worst wave of terrorist violence in Sri Lanka in ten years, a series of blasts on Sunday have hit churches and hotels in and near the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. The nearly simultaneous blasts targeted churches during Easter services and hotels frequented by foreign guests. Sri Lankan officials said 290 people, including at least 27 foreigners, had been killed in the blasts in Colombo and elsewhere. More than 500 more have been injured.
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Sri Lanka attacksSri Lanka attacks among the deadliest terrorist attacks since 9/11
The Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka – nearly 300 killed and more than 500 injured — places the bombings on a par with other high-casualty terrorist atrocities since September 11, the single deadliest terrorist attack in history, in which 2,977 people were killed.
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VisasAfrican asylum-seekers may bear brunt of proposed travel curbs
As the White House mulls new travel restrictions on countries with high visa overstay rates, activists say African asylum-seekers may feel the consequences.
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Lone-wolf terroristsThe first lone-wolf terrorist
Muharem Kurbegovic is considered the first “lone-wolf” terrorist. He was born in Sarajevo in 1943 and immigrated to the United States in 1967 to pursue a career in engineering. In 1973 he launched a series of bombing in and around Los Angeles. What especially alarmed the authorities was his interest in building chemical weapons, including nerve-gas munitions, to use in his planned attacks:
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The long view
ExtremismEuropean ethno-nationalist and white supremacist movements thrive
More than seventy years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, ethno-nationalist and white supremacist movements in Europe continue to thrive. They include far-right political parties, neo-Nazi movements, and apolitical protest groups. Some groups openly espouse violent white supremacy, while others have propagated their radical stances under the guise of populism. Though not all of these groups directly link their ideologies to Nazism, their propaganda portrays immigrants and ethnic minorities in a similar manner to how Nazi propaganda portrayed Jews, blaming them for national economic troubles and depicting them as a serious threat to the broader national identity.
DeradicalizationDeradicalization and countering violent extremism
Since the early 2000s, more than fifty countries have developed initiatives to counter violent extremism (CVE). Despite this, there still remains a lack of strong evidence on which interventions are effective. Researchers have reviewed the literature on CVE programs to give examples of what good CVE practice should look like.
ExtremismWhite supremacist propaganda and events soared in 2018
White supremacists dramatically stepped up their propaganda efforts targeting neighborhoods and campuses in 2018, far exceeding any previous annual distribution count for the United States and showing how these extremist groups are finding ways to share hateful messages while hiding the identity of individual members.
ExtremismAssessing the risk of violence by extremists
A new directory has been assembled from frameworks that have been developed in recent years to assess aspects of extremist violence, a term used to encompass terrorist violence that is framed by ideology and targeted violence that is framed by idiosyncratic beliefs. A new CREST report published today provides detail on several frameworks that are used to assess risks of extremist violence.
BiothreatsBiotechnology advances offer opportunities for actors with malicious intent
Over the past decade, the biotechnology economy has experienced remarkable growth, resulting in the rapid expansion of biological knowledge and application. These advances create openings for actors with malicious intent to harness readily available tools and techniques to create biological threats or bioweapons.
ImmigrationImmigration is beneficial to local economies, even after 100 years
An important issue in current American political discourse is the effect that immigrants have on the communities in which they settle. While this topic has received significant attention, the focus has generally been on the short-term effects of immigrants. A new study finds that U.S. counties with more historical immigration have higher incomes, less poverty, and lower unemployment today.
Truth decayPopulism, conspiracy, and the politics of misinformation
Europeans are being supplanted by foreign invaders, aided by cultural Marxists who are plotting an Islamist subversion of the continent. Angela Merkel is the secret daughter of Adolf Hitler, Barack Obama was illegitimate, and George W. Bush was in on the 9/11 attacks. These are just some of the tales that are told by populist political actors across Europe and the United States.
Truth decayRise of European populism linked to vaccine hesitancy
There is a significant association between the rise of populism across Europe and the level of mistrust around vaccines, according to a new study. “It seems likely that scientific populism is driven by similar feelings to political populism, for example, a profound distrust of elites and experts by disenfranchised and marginalized parts of the population,” says the study’s lead author. “Even where programs objectively improve the health of targeted populations, they can be viewed with suspicion by communities that do not trust elites and experts.”
Truth decayRussian trolls, bots spread false vaccine information on Twitter
A study found that Russian trolls and bots have been spreading false information about vaccination, in support of the anti-vaccination movement. The false information was generated by propaganda and disinformation specialists at the Kremlin-affiliated, St. Petersburg-based IRA. The Kremlin employed IRA to conduct a broad social media disinformation campaign to sow discord and deepen divisions in the United States, and help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election.
Truth decayExplaining public resistance to vaccination
Low vaccine compliance is a public health issue that can cause the loss of “herd immunity” and lead to the spread of infectious diseases. Low vaccine compliance is a public health issue that can cause the loss of “herd immunity” and lead to the spread of infectious diseases. In parts of Europe and North America, childhood diseases like measles, mumps and pertussis have returned as a result of insufficient vaccination coverage. Why is it so challenging to increase the number of people who get vaccinated? How does popular resistance to vaccination remain strong even as preventable diseases make a comeback?
Truth decay“It's not all about autism”: Analyzing a Facebook-fueled anti-vaccination attack
Social media has given those espousing anti-vaccination sentiments an effective medium to spread their message. However, an analysis of a viral Facebook campaign against a Pittsburgh pediatric practice reveals that the movement isn’t “all about autism.” Instead, new research finds that anti-vaccination arguments center on four distinct themes that can appeal to diverse audiences.
CybersecuritySecuring the “internet of things” in the quantum age
Quantum computers can in principle execute calculations that today are practically impossible for classical computers. Bringing quantum computers online and to market could one day enable advances in medical research, drug discovery, and other applications. But there’s a catch: If hackers also have access to quantum computers, they could potentially break through the powerful encryption schemes that currently protect data exchanged between devices.
CybersecurityA new world for hackers: Acoustic side-channel attack
During the DNA synthesis process in a laboratory, recordings can be made of the subtle, telltale noises made by synthesis machines. And those captured sounds can be used to reverse-engineer valuable, custom-designed genetic materials used in pharmaceuticals, agriculture and other bioengineering fields.
WildfiresWildfire risk in California no longer linked to winter precipitation
From 1600 to 1903, the position of the North Pacific jet stream over California was linked to the amount of winter precipitation and the severity of the subsequent wildfire season, the team found. Wet winters brought by the jet stream were followed by low wildfire activity, and dry winters were generally followed by higher wildfire activity. Wet winters no longer predict possible relief from severe wildfires for California, according to a new study.
Seismic early warningA new way to sense earthquakes could improve early warning systems
Every year earthquakes worldwide claim hundreds or even thousands of lives. Forewarning allows people to head for safety and a matter of seconds could spell the difference between life and death. Researchers demonstrate a new earthquake detection method — their technique exploits subtle telltale gravitational signals traveling ahead of the tremors. Future research could boost early warning systems.
EarthquakesCalifornia hospitals to pay billions for seismic safety upgrades
California hospitals would need to make substantial investments—between $34 billion and $143 billion statewide—to meet 2030 state seismic safety standards, according to a new report.