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Archive for the ‘cybercrime/malcode’ category: Page 152

May 1, 2019

Storage beyond the cloud

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, habitats, internet, space

A new way to store information in molecules could preserve the contents of the New York Public Library in a teaspoon of protein, without energy, for millions of years.

Books can burn. Computers get hacked. DVDs degrade. Technologies to store information–ink on paper, computers, CDs and DVDs, and even DNA–continue to improve. And yet, threats as simple as water and as complex as cyber-attacks can still corrupt our records.

As the data boom continues to boom, more and more information gets filed in less and less space. Even the cloud–whose name promises opaque, endless space–will eventually run out of space, can’t thwart all hackers, and gobbles up energy. Now, a new way to store information could stably house data for millions of years, lives outside the hackable internet, and, once written, uses no energy. All you need is a chemist, some cheap molecules, and your precious information.

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Apr 29, 2019

Will Artificial Intelligence Enhance or Hack Humanity?

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

THIS WEEK, I interviewed Yuval Noah Harari, the author of three best-selling books about the history and future of our species, and Fei-Fei Li, one of the pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence. The event was hosted by the Stanford Center for Ethics and Society, the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and the Stanford Humanities Center. A transcript of the event follows, and a video is posted below.


Historian Yuval Noah Harari and computer scientist Fei-Fei Li discuss the promise and perils of the transformative technology with WIRED editor in chief Nicholas Thompson.

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Apr 25, 2019

New technique uses power anomalies to ID malware in embedded systems

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet, mobile phones, robotics/AI

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Texas at Austin have developed a technique for detecting types of malware that use a system’s architecture to thwart traditional security measures. The new detection approach works by tracking power fluctuations in embedded systems.

“Embedded systems are basically any computer that doesn’t have a physical keyboard – from smartphones to Internet of Things devices,” says Aydin Aysu, co-author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. “Embedded systems are used in everything from the voice-activated virtual assistants in our homes to industrial control systems like those used in . And that targets those systems can be used to seize control of these systems or to steal information.”

At issue are so-called micro-architectural attacks. This form of malware makes use of a system’s , effectively hijacking the hardware in a way that gives outside users control of the system and access to its data. Spectre and Meltdown are high-profile examples of micro-architectural malware.

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Apr 18, 2019

The quantum internet comes closer

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet, quantum physics

The goal of a worldwide “quantum internet” could be one step closer thanks to new experiments by researchers in Japan and Canada who have made the first ever quantum repeaters that work using an all-photonic protocol. The scheme importantly allows for the time-reversed adaptive Bell measurement, which is a key component for all-photonic quantum repeaters. It is based on optical devices alone and does not require any quantum memories or quantum error correction.

The Internet as we know it was not designed to be secure, and hacking, break-ins and espionage are unfortunately par for the course today. A quantum internet would be much more secure – as well as being much faster – since it exploits key features of quantum physics such as quantum entanglement.

Entanglement and quantum memories.

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Apr 8, 2019

QC — Cracking RSA with Shor’s Algorithm

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, encryption, information science

With new advances in technology it all comes down to simple factoring. Classical factoring systems are outdated where some problems would take 80 billion years to solve but with new technologies such as the dwave 2 it can bring us up to speed to do the same problems in about 2 seconds. Shores algorithm shows us also we can hack anything with it simply would need the technology and code simple enough and strong enough. Basically with new infrastructure we can do like jason…


RSA is the standard cryptographic algorithm on the Internet. The method is publicly known but extremely hard to crack. It uses two keys for encryption. The public key is open and the client uses it to encrypt a random session key. Anyone intercepts the encrypted key must use the second key, the private key, to decrypt it. Otherwise, it is just garbage. Once the session key is decrypted, the server uses it to encrypt and decrypt further messages with a faster algorithm. So, as long as we keep the private key safe, the communication will be secure.

RSA encryption is based on a simple idea: prime factorization. Multiplying two prime numbers is pretty simple, but it is hard to factorize its result. For example, what are the factors for 507,906,452,803? Answer: 566,557 × 896,479.

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Apr 7, 2019

Photons Over ‘Optical Fiber Obstacle Course’ Could Improve Cyber Security

Posted by in categories: business, cybercrime/malcode, quantum physics

The new approach supports the development of quantum key distribution, a technology both businesses, and governments are very excited about.

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Apr 1, 2019

Acknowledging Risks in Institutional “Stablecoin” Cryptocurrencies and Fractional Reserve Banking

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, business, cybercrime/malcode

(Originally posted March 7, 2019, on the Crowdfunding Professional Association’s website.)

The purpose of this memo is two-fold:

  • To highlight the possibility of risks to banking and finance sectors arising from new financial instruments based on blockchain technology; primarily from novel financial accounting methods and products called “stablecoins,” digital tokens, and cryptocurrencies.
  • To encourage regulators and policymakers to engage blockchain thought leaders, product developers and the community in general to better understand the economic and policy implications of public, private and permissioned blockchains; their application to banking and finance regulations; and how innovation may be encouraged in a safe, sound and responsible manner.

Like any technology, blockchain can and may be used to improve a variety of operational, identity, security and technology challenges that the future of digital banking, business and society face. Blockchain technology is also poised to create new and increasingly clever methods and economies for value, commodities, assets, securities and a slew of yet-to-be discovered financial instruments and products. However, no leap in technology and finance is ever made without risk. As policymakers and stewards of the current and future digital economy and ecosystem, we have an obligation to our constituents and the global banking and finance community to guide the growth and adoption of emerging fintech technology in a safe and sound manner.

To that end, three areas that have the potential for regulatory and compliance issues as companies such as JP Morgan Chase, embrace and develop blockchain technologies to leverage digital tokens, cryptocurrencies and novel accounting systems such as the so called “JPMCoin,” are highlighted:

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Mar 30, 2019

Mark Zuckerberg: The Internet needs new rules. Let’s start in these four areas

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet

I’ve spent most of the past two years focusing on issues like harmful content, elections integrity and privacy. I think it’s important to define what roles we want companies and governments to play in taking on these challenges, so I wrote this op-ed laying out how regulation can help.


Tech nology is a major part of our lives, and companies such as Facebook have immense responsibilities. Every day, we make decisions about what speech is harmful, what constitutes political advertising, and how to prevent sophisticated cyberattacks. These are important for keeping our community safe. But if we were starting from scratch, we wouldn’t ask companies to make these judgments alone.

I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators. By updating the rules for the Internet, we can preserve what’s best about it — the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things — while also protecting society from broader harms.

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Mar 28, 2019

Office Depot pays $35 million over claims it lied to customers about malware infections

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

The software scam went on for almost seven years.

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Mar 25, 2019

Asus software updates were used to spread malware, security group says

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Asus’ software update system was hacked and used to distribute malware to about 1 million Windows computers, according to the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab. The malware was disguised as a “critical” software update, distributed from Asus’ servers, and signed using a real Asus certificate that made it appear to be valid. Details of the hack were first revealed by Motherboard, and Kaspersky plans to release more details at an upcoming conference.

It’s not clear what the hackers were after. However, the hackers did seem to target specific Asus customers: the malware included special instructions for 600 systems, to be identified by specific MAC addresses. Once one of those systems was detected, the update would then install more malicious programs to further compromise the system.

Kaspersky named the attack “ShadowHammer.” This kind of targeting is often associated with espionage attacks by nation states, most notably Stuxnet, which spread widely but did little to no harm on most infected systems.

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