• A Backdoor in Mobile Phone Encryption from the 1990s Still Exists

    Researchers have discovered a security gap in modern mobile phones which is very unlikely to have been created by accident. In fact, it should have been removed back in 2013.The researchers say that the properties that render the cipher so insecure can’t have happened by accident.

  • Compact Lifesaving Drone for Beach Rescue Teams

    A student designs compact lifesaving drone for beach rescue teams after witnessing teenage surfer battle dangerous waves. As part of his final year project, the student designed a small, compact drone that flies above hazardous waters to locate individuals in distress and deploys a buoyancy aid that automatically inflates when hitting the water, helping casualties stay afloat while they wait for a rescue team to reach them.

  • Investigating Materials for Safe, Secure Nuclear Power

    A longstanding interest in radiation’s effects on metals has drawn Michael Short into new areas such as nuclear security and microreactors.

  • Honeypot Security Technique Can Also Stop Attacks in Natural Language Processing

    Borrowing a technique commonly used in cybersecurity to defend against these universal trigger-based attacks, researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology have developed a machine learning framework that can proactively defend against the same types of attacks in natural language processing applications 99 percent of the time.

  • Maximum Privacy for Sharing Files Online

    People who share documents or pictures online, or organizations which share confidential documents with employees and others, have little to no control over who views the information which is being sent and where it is being viewed. An FAU researcher has received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a novel invention that controls how and when shared documents are displayed.

  • Preventing Human-Induced Earthquakes

    When humans pump large volumes of fluid into the ground, they can set off potentially damaging earthquakes, depending on the underlying geology. This has been the case in certain oil- and gas-producing regions. have developed a method to manage such human-induced seismicity, and have demonstrated that the technique successfully reduced the number of earthquakes occurring in an active oil field.

  • Can Drone Warfare in the Middle East Be Controlled?

    Drone attacks are causing a crisis in the Mideast and experts are calling for a better regulatory regime. The drone attacks are part of a worrisome trend in the region: The escalating use of UAVs, both for surveillance purposes and to attack opponents, by countries in the region — but also by nonstate actors there, like militia groups in Iraq, Yemen and Syria, among others. But would more rules even have an impact in the region?

  • Better Batteries for Grid-Scale Energy Storage

    Molten sodium batteries have been used for many years to store energy from renewable sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines. However, commercially available molten sodium batteries, called sodium-sulfur batteries, typically operate at 520-660 degrees Fahrenheit. Sandia Lab’s new molten sodium-iodide battery, using low- cost materials, operates at a much cooler 230 degrees Fahrenheit instead.

  • Protecting Lives on the Wildland Fire Line

    Unlike first responders who fight structural fires, wildland firefighters are unable to use the current standard respirator systems, which are heavy, limited to 45 minutes of air and are too bulky. Since the current standard equipment for respiratory protection is a bandanna, DHS S&T and partners designed the Wildfire Respirator around a lightweight mask covering just the mouth and nose, relying on filtration rather than on heavy tanks of compressed air.

  • Malware Detection for Androids

    Conventional antivirus and malware detection often fails to detect malware where the software signature may well be only marginally different from the original virus. Researchers have developed a new approach that can detect malicious activity at the source code level.

  • Handheld Screening Wands May Reduce Need for Airport Pat-Downs

    Until recently, creating an effective and reliable handheld screening technology of passengers was too costly. Advancements made in 5G cell phones, automotive radars, embedded computing, and other critical enabling technologies now make screening solutions such as the handheld millimeter wave wand cost effective.

  • A 10-Year Look at the Battery Supply Chain in America

    A new report offers a detailed view of America’s EV battery supply chain over the last decade. The insights offered can help regulators and other key decisionmakers plan for the future growth of electric vehicles (EVs) in the U.S. This is important, because EVs can help put America on the path toward a clean energy economy. but the supply chain behind them is not fully understood.

  • Global Approach Is Needed on Battery Regulation

    New EU regulations on batteries could offer a huge boost to the global decarbonization mission – but only if the EU leverages its political and economic weight to ensure a fairer global marketplace.

  • New Weapons Testing Capability Produces Richer Data, Saves Time, Cost

    A team of Sandia National Laboratories engineers developed a new testing capability in support of the lab’s nuclear weapons mission. The new weapons testing capability produces richer data, and saves time and cost. “Superfuge” test combines multiple environments on a full-scale weapons system.

  • Pegasus Project Shows the Need for Real Device Security, Accountability and Redress for those Facing State-Sponsored Malware

    It is no surprise that people around the world are angry to learn that surveillance software sold by NSO Group to governments has been found on cellphones worldwide. People all around the world deserve the right to have a private conversation. Communication privacy is a human right, a civil liberty, and one of the centerpieces of a free society. And while we all deserve basic communications privacy, the journalists, NGO workers, and human rights and democracy activists among us are especially at risk, since they are often at odds with powerful governments.