-
Lessons from ‘Star Trek: Picard’ – a Cybersecurity Expert Explains How a Sci-Fi Series Illuminates Today’s Threats
Sometimes Hollywood gets it right by depicting reality in ways that both entertain and educate. And that’s important, because whether it’s a large company, government or your personal information, we all share many of the same cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. As a former cybersecurity industry practitioner and current cybersecurity researcher, I believe the final season of “Star Trek: Picard” is the latest example of entertainment media providing useful lessons about cybersecurity and the nature of the modern world.
-
-
Making Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Cybersecure
As more electric vehicles (EVs) hit the road, charging stations are popping up across the United States. The benefits go beyond curbing carbon emissions from road travel. These systems can also link to the electric grid through smart charging, drawing power when overall demand is low and feeding it back to the grid when needed.
-
-
Quantum Cryptography Applications
The development of quantum computing means that the use of classic cryptography for secure communications is in danger of becoming obsolete. Quantum cryptography, on the other hand, uses the laws of quantum mechanics to ensure total security. One example of this is quantum key distribution, which enables two parties to secure a message via a random secret key.
-
-
AI Models Fail to Reproduce Human Judgements About Rule Violations: Study
Models trained using common data-collection techniques judge rule violations more harshly than humans would, researchers report.
-
-
Improving Capabilities of Portable Drug Detection Systems
DHS S&T and partners are working to improve their ability to identify different narcotics, like fentanyl. Narcotics detection systems libraries will be enhanced via the collection of data on approximately 50 restricted substances, primarily related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, that are scheduled and controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
-
-
Nuclear Agency Cannot Continue With “Business as Usual” in the Shifting Supercomputing Landscape: Report
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) needs to fundamentally rethink the strategy for its next generation of high-performance computing, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences.
-
-
Producing Medical Isotopes While Lowering the Risk of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation
Scientists and engineers at Argonne have been working for decades to help medical isotope production facilities around the world change from the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to the use of low-enriched uranium (LEU), which is much more difficult to use in a weapon.
-
-
New Tool Optimizes Irrigation
A new tool for designing and managing irrigation for farms advances the implementation of smart agriculture, an approach that leverages data and modern technologies to boost crop yields while conserving natural resources.
-
-
Helping the U.S. Fast-track Hypersonic Conventional Weapons
Hypersonic weapons have been a top priority for modernizing the armed forces, with ultrafast, long-range and maneuverable munitions being touted as a revolutionary advance in modern warfare. The U.S. has fast-tracked their development and announced plans to field the first conventional hypersonic missile battery this year. Sandia National Lab is helping the U.S. achieve this goal.
-
-
Real or Fake Text? We Can Learn to Spot the Difference
The most recent generation of chatbots has may have increased anxiety in areas such the creative economy and education, but the truth is that the effects of large-scale language models such as ChatGPT will touch virtually every corner of our lives.
-
-
Cybersecurity Goes Undercover to Protect Electric-Grid Data
Researchers, inspired by one of the mysteries of human perception, invented a new way to hide sensitive electric grid information from cyberattack: Within a constantly changing color palette.
-
-
First to Respond, Come What May
Of the emerging threats the U.S. is facing, climate change is particularly prominent. But climate change is just one factor currently impacting the evolving response environment. Human behavior, technology advancement, infrastructure, COVID-19, and protests/civil unrest are all making responders’ jobs more challenging as well.
-
-
U.S. Should Begin Laying the Foundation for New and Advanced Nuclear Reactors: Report
New and advanced types of nuclear reactors could play an important role in helping the U.S. meet its long-term climate goals, but a range of technical, regulatory, economic, and societal challenges must first be overcome.
-
-
Geothermal Energy: Limitless, Renewable, and Nonpolluting
Geothermal resources offer a tantalizing opportunity to provide affordable, carbon-neutral electricity. It is virtually limitless, “always on,” and widely available across all fifty states.
-
-
Are We Asking Too Much of Cyber?
Both cyber enthusiasts and skeptics may be asking too much of cyber. “U.S. cyber strategies should be more explicit about articulating not only the strategic benefits cyberspace offers but also its limitations,” Erica Lonegran and Michael Poznansky write. “More realism about cyberspace may help leaders truly integrate cyber capabilities.”
-
More headlines
The long view
Semiconductor War: Assessing the Strategies and Impact of US Led Technology Decoupling
The United States and its allies have taken significant policy measures including sweeping export control regulations to make it hard for China to obtain advanced chips and chip making equipment. China though continues to be an important player in the globalized supply chain. China is directing its efforts towards manufacturing cutting-edge processors as also attempting to become competitive in legacy chip manufacturing. India is also seeking to build a vibrant semiconductor and display design and innovation ecosystem.
AI Should Be Better Understood and Managed – New Research Warns
AI and algorithms are not just tools deployed by national security agencies to prevent malicious activity online, but can be contributors to polarization, radicalism and political violence - posing a threat to national security.
“Surveillance: From Vision to Data” Explores History of Surveillance
The term surveillance may suggest images of high-tech cameras or George Orwell’s ever-watching Big Brother, but surveillance involves more than watching and being watched. To understand surveillance and its consequences, look to data: who collects it, what information is compiled, how it is interpreted, and ultimately, why it matters.
Securing Ports of Entry, One Scan (or Thousands) at a Time
Every year, millions of cargo containers make their way to U.S. ports of entry via maritime, roadways, and railways. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), more than 100,000 commercial cargo trucks cross U.S. POEs daily. To combat the threat of human and drug trafficking, it is imperative that their methods for cargo screening and physical examination are as thorough as they are efficient.