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Helping software to help improve software
The earlier a problem is detected, the easier it can be solved; before implementing complex programs in a time-consuming process, computer scientists also want to know whether they will reach the desired performance
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House grills DHS for monitoring Twitter, Facebook
Earlier this year reports surfaced that DHS had awarded General Dynamic an $11 million contract to engage in monitoring of social networks; members of both parties including blasted DHS officials for potentially violating the First Amendment and collecting information on citizens engaged in protected political speech
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Quantum physics makes possible perfectly secure cloud computing
Computer data processing and storage are increasingly done in the cloud; the challenge in cloud-based system is to ensure that clients’ data stays private; researchers have now shown that perfectly secure cloud computing can be achieved with quantum computers
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Quantum technique for secret messaging
Quantum cryptography is the ultimate secret message service; new research shows it can counter even the ultimate paranoid scenario: when the equipment or even the operator is in the control of a malicious power
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Cell phone hackers can track your location without your knowledge
Using a cheap phone, readily available equipment, and no direct help from a service provider, hackers could listen to unencrypted broadcast messages from cell phone towers
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Anonymous takes down U.S. weapons manufacturer
On Monday hacktivists from the group known as Anonymous announced that they had taken down the website of Combined Systems, a U.S. based weapons manufacturer; the weapons company drew the ire of Anonymous as well as human rights groups for its role in the suppression of the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East
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Satellite telephony is unsafe
In some regions of the world standard cell phone communication is still not available; in war zones, developing countries and on the high seas, satellite phones are used instead; the system, using an encryption algorithms of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), was considered unbreakable; in less than an hour, and with simple equipment, researchers found the crypto key which is needed to intercept telephone conversations
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Anonymous takes down DHS website in hacking spree
Last Friday the hacktivist group known as Anonymous momentarily took down DHS’s homepage along with several other high-profile attacks in a coordinated campaign
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Justice Department appoints new CIO
Last Friday the Justice Department appointed Luke McCormack as the agency’s new chief information officer
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Bill would allow DHS to impose cybersecurity standards
A bill before Congress would significantly increase the power of DHS to monitor the cybersecurity practices of industries and services which are part of the U.S. critical infrastructure
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Ranking countries’ cyberattack preparedness
A new McAfee cybersecurity survey concluded that Israel, Finland, and Sweden are leading other countries in “cyber-readiness”; the report says that China, Brazil, and Mexico are among the least cyber-prepared to defend these countries’ networks against cyber attacks
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Hackers attack U.S. railways
Last month hackers took control of passenger rail lines in the Northwest, disrupting signals twice and creating delays
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2012 business worries
Businesses list the threats they are most concerned about in 2012; leading the list: unplanned IT and telecom outages, data breaches, and adverse weather
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Water pumps and terrorism-related information sharing systems
With thousands of local law enforcement agencies, critical infrastructure operators, and concerned citizens reporting suspicious incidents, Homeland Security officials are inundated with data; effectively sorting through that information is a problem, as was illustrated last November by a report that a water pump at an Illinois water utility was broken by Russian hackers; the preliminary report caused panic about U.S. infrastructure vulnerability, but ultimately proved incorrect; it took more than a week for federal investigators to reach its conclusion, showing DHS ongoing problems with streamlining information sharing processes with its Fusion Centers
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Stuxnet and Duqu part of assembly line: researchers
Stuxnet, the highly sophisticated piece of malicious code that was the first to cause physical damage, could just be the tip of the iceberg in a massive cyberweapon manufacturing operation; according to cybersecurity researchers at Kaspersky Labs and Symantec, Stuxnet appears to be part of a larger cybersecurity weapons program with fully operational and easily modified malicious code that can be aimed at different targets with minimal costs or effort
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More headlines
The long view
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
Ransomware Attacks: Death Threats, Endangered Patients and Millions of Dollars in Damages
A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a company that processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and deals with 1 in 3 patient records in the United States, is continuing to cause massive disruptions nearly three weeks later. The incident, which started on February 21, has been called the “most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system” by the American Hospital Association. It is just the latest example of an increasing trend.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.