• Standardizing Encryption Algorithms That Can Resist Attack by Quantum Computers

    Last year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) selected four algorithms designed to withstand attack by quantum computers. Now the agency has begun the process of standardizing these algorithms — the final step before making these mathematical tools available so that organizations around the world can integrate them into their encryption infrastructure. Three new algorithms are expected to be ready for use in 2024. Others will follow.

  • Malicious AI Arrives on the Dark Web

    Nefarious non-state actors are already harnessing AI to scale up their malicious activities. Just as legitimate users have moved on from exploring ChatGPT to building similar tools, the same has happened in the shadowy world of cybercrime.

  • AI Cyber Challenge Aims to Secure Nation’s Most Critical Software

    In an increasingly interconnected world, software undergirds everything from financial systems to public utilities. As software enables modern life and drives productivity, it also creates an expanding attack surface for malicious actors. This surface includes critical infrastructure, which is especially vulnerable to cyberattacks given the lack of tools capable of securing systems at scale. New competition challenges the nation’s top AI and cybersecurity talent to automatically find and fix software vulnerabilities, defend critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.

  • Training Students to Succeed in the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”

    Transformational changes are already underway in the manufacturing industry as technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and smart devices from the “fourth industrial revolution” or Industry 4.0., inspire a digital-first approach to engineering. University of Missouri researchers are using a $1 million grant to support the development of an Industry 4.0 lab, training engineering students for the future of digitization in manufacturing.

  • When Rumors Take Flight

    Misinformation pervades U.S. politics, with the outcome of the 2020 presidential election being the most pressing case in point as a result of the persistent, unrelenting Big Lie campaign by Donald Trump and some of his allies. Yet Trump’s lies and unfounded claims have gained wide traction among his followers. MIT professor Adam Berinsky’s new book examines the political misinformation that threatens the U.S. system of government.

  • Cyber-Attacks Against the U.K. Electoral Commission Reveal an Ongoing Threat to Democracy

    The revelations this month that data on 40 million UK voters had been exposed to hackers came as no surprise to many cybersecurity experts, who have long pointed out the vulnerability of democracies to malicious online interference. The attack reflects the serious and ongoing threat to democracies posed by cyber-interference from foreign nations and criminal organizations.

  • Government Regulation Can Effectively Curb Social-Media Dangers

    Social media posts such as those that promote terrorism and hate; spread medical misinformation; encourage dangerous challenges that put teen lives at risk; or those that glamorize suicide, pose a significant threat to society. New EU rules require social media platforms to take down flagged posts within 24 hours – and modelling shows that’s fast enough to have a dramatic effect on the spread of harmful content.

  • Using Quantum Computing to Protect AI from Attack

    Despite their incredible successes and increasingly widespread deployment, machine learning-based frameworks such as AI remain highly susceptible to adversarial attacks – that is, malicious tampering with their data causing them to fail in surprising ways. AI can thus be fooled into making mistakes, sometimes risking lives — but quantum computing could provide a strong defense.

  • Virtual City Prepares Students for Future of Cybersecurity

    CyberApolis is a virtual city used to train the next generation of cyber professionals to address national security concerns. The “city” includes a bank, hospital, large retailer, water company, power companies, an underground hacker community, an organized crime family and a growing number of smaller retailers.

  • New Message Encryption Scheme Inspired by the Sudoku Puzzle

    Researchers discuss a novel advance in data security in which the Japanese puzzle known as Sudoku promises a cryptographic system for text information that works even in situations where computational power is limited.

  • Freezing Out the Risk of Thermal Attacks

    Thermal attacks use heat-sensitive cameras to read the traces of fingerprints left on surfaces like smartphone screens, computer keyboards and PIN pads. Hackers can use the relative intensity of heat traces across recently touched surfaces to reconstruct users’ passwords. A team of computer security experts have developed a set of recommendations to help defend against ‘thermal attacks’ which can steal personal information.

  • The New Technology Which Is Making Cars Easier for Criminals to Steal, or Crash

    There is much talk in the automotive industry about the “internet of vehicles” (IoV). This describes a network of cars and other vehicles that could exchange data over the internet in an effort to make transportation more autonomous, safe and efficient. There are many benefits to IoV, but some of these systems might also make our vehicles prone to theft and malicious attack, as criminals identify and then exploit vulnerabilities in this new technology. In fact, this is already happening.

  • Safeguarding U.S. Laws and Legal Information Against Cyberattacks and Malicious Actors

    NYU Tandon School of Engineering researchers will develop new technologies to secure the “digital legal supply chain” — the processes by which official laws and legal information are recorded, stored, updated and distributed electronically.

  • Randomized Data Can Improve Our Security

    Huge streams of data pass through our computers and smartphones every day. In simple terms, technical devices contain two essential units to process this data: A processor, which is a kind of control center, and a RAM, comparable to memory. Modern processors use a cache to act as a bridge between the two, since memory is much slower at providing data than the processor is at processing it. This cache often contains private data that could be an attractive target for attackers.

  • Conspiracy Theories: How Social Media Can Help Them Spread and Even Spark Violence

    Conspiracy theory beliefs and (more generally) misinformation may be groundless, but they can have a range of harmful real-world consequences, including spreading lies, undermining trust in media and government institutions and inciting violent or even extremist behaviors.