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Finding Clues to Why False News Snowballs on Social Media
The spread of misinformation on social media is a pressing societal problem that tech companies and policymakers continue to grapple with. But why and how does false news spread? A new model shows that the more polarized and hyperconnected a social network is, the more likely misinformation will spread.
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Information Disorder: A Crisis That Exacerbates All Other Crises
The Aspen Institute has issued a report analyzing the dangers of truth decay – the report’s authors prefer the term “information disorder” — and making a number of recommendations. In their introductory remarks, the authors write that “Information disorder is a crisis that exacerbates all other crises. When bad information becomes as prevalent, persuasive, and persistent as good information, it creates a chain reaction of harm.”
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What's the Deal with the Log4Shell Security Nightmare?
What started out as a Minecraft prank, has now resulted in a 5-alarm security panic as administrators and developers around the world desperately try to fix and patch systems before the cryptocurrency miners, ransomware attackers and nation-state adversaries rush to exploit thousands of software packages. Nicholas Weaver writes that “Not only does the vulnerability affect thousands of programs but the exploitation of this vulnerability is very straightforward. Attackers are already starting to launch widespread attacks. Further compounding the problem is the huge diversity of vulnerable systems, so those responsible for defending systems are going to have a very bad Christmas.”
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Jabbed in the Back: Russian, Chinese COVID-19 Disinformation Campaigns
The public health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have also become a battle about the nature of truth itself. From the emergence of the first reports of a virus in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, opportunistic leaders in China, Russia, and elsewhere have used the virus as a pretext to further erode democracy and wage information warfare. They have inundated an already polluted information environment with disinformation and propaganda about the virus’s origins and cures, and, most recently, vaccines.
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How China Could Cyberattack Taiwan
China has the means to launch a disabling cyberattack against political rival Taiwan ahead of any military invasion, experts say, as the technology is already targeting the island’s political leadership. A straight-up military invasion would cost lives and mobilize U.S. forces for Taiwan’s defense. Disruptive cyberattacks could sow chaos and soften Taiwan’s defenses, potentially making an invasion less costly for Beijing, experts say.
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New Cyber Protections against Stealthy “Logic Bombs”
Cybersecurity researchers proposed new ways to protect 3D printed objects such as drones, prostheses, and medical devices from stealthy “logic bombs.”
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Gait Authentication to Enhance Smartphone Security
Real-world tests have shown that gait authentication could be a viable means of protecting smartphones and other mobile devices from cyber crime. A study showed that a method sensing an individual’s gait was on average around 85 percent accurate in recognizing the individual.
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Viral Vendettas: Pandemic-Driven Growth of Online Conspiratorial Movements
Graphika has just released a new report which tracks the growth of conspiratorial movements online throughout the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, seeking to understand how these communities have evolved, and to what extent they have enabled real-world and online harms.
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Detecting Malicious Broadcast Receivers
The Android operating system has a large share of the mobile market and as such is a target for malware creators and other third parties who would manipulate the system for personal gain. So how might we enhance the detection of malware on the Android operating system commonly used to run mobile phones and tablets?
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Using Math to Prove Computer Security
An academic mathematician thought maths was boring, but he now relies on it to secure critical systems like those of the Australian Department of Defense against hackers.
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Simple and Efficient Method of Quantum Encryption
Quantum computers will revolutionize our computing lives. But these computers will be able to crack most of the encryption codes currently used to protect our data, leaving our bank and security information vulnerable to attacks
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Boosting Resilience of U.S. Timekeeping
The U.S. should bolster research and development of systems that distribute accurate time via fiber-optic cable and radio as part of the effort to back up GPS and enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure that depends on it.
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Stacked Deep Learning: Deeper Defense against Cyberattacks
Internet-based industrial control systems are widely used to monitor and operate factories and critical infrastructure. Moving these systems online has made them cheaper and easier to access, but it has also made them more vulnerable to attack. Stacked deep learning offers a better way to detect hacking into industrial control systems.
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University of Central Florida Students Defend Virtual Energy System to Win CyberForce Competition
The Knights of the University of Central Florida won the DOE’s CyberForce Competition, valiantly defending and securing a hydropower energy system against a malicious virtual cyberattack. The event challenged 120 teams from 105 colleges and universities to thwart a simulated cyberattack.
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Preparing Future Cybersecurity Leaders for Protecting Critical Infrastructure
A network of Virginia universities, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Elections, joined to create an innovative educational program to train future cybersecurity professionals to protect election infrastructure.
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More headlines
The long view
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
By Zachary Roth
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
By Dino Jahic
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
By Trina West
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.