Lifeboat Foundation

“The individuals who do these types of attacks are well aware of the pressure points and pain points, economic-wise,” says Dr. John Hale, a cybersecurity expert at the University of Tulsa. “They know what they can extract, how much they can extract.

“They prey upon two things: an organization’s reliance on information systems and two, the common situation, where an organization is a little bit behind on backup procedures and policies to prevent these types of things. It really is easy pickings for the bad guys.”

Crypto ransomware is designed to encrypt data stored on the computer, making the data useless unless the user obtains the key to decrypt it. A message details the ransom, which is typically paid in digital currencies such as bitcoin. Locker ransomware locks the computer or device’s interface — save for the ability to interact with the hacker — and demands money to restore it.

Continue reading “Ransomware: the digital plague infecting the world” »

Hmmmmm.

“We had analysts crawling all over that,” says Chappell of the Hold Security cache. “Quickly it was clear that a lot of those were from previous breaches.”

Anyone using this tool would have had a rapid assessment of their potential exposure. If breached data turns out to be new, the next task is to understand how it might have ended up in the hands of criminals. There are several sources for breached data including straight database theft but also phishing attacks and malware campaigns, each with its own dynamics and set of business implications.

Continue reading “Digital Shadows — new tool helps organisations peer inside data breaches” »

I am glad that D. Whyte recognizes “If quantum computers are developed faster than anticipated, certification would mandate insecure modules, given the time to approve and implement new quantum resistant algorithms. Worse, it is conceivable that data encrypted by a certified module is more vulnerable than data encrypted by a non-certified module that has the option of using a quantum-safe encryption algorithm.”

Because many of us who are researching and developing in this space have seen the development pace accelerated this year and what was looking like we’re 10 years away is now looking like we’re less than 7 years.

Dr. William Whyte, Chief Scientist for Security Innovation, a cybersecurity provider and leader in the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Awareness Training, will be presenting at the Fourth International Cryptographic Module Conference in Ottawa, Ontario.

Privacy is practically a joke anymore.

A hacker known as “Peace” is selling what is reportedly account information from 117 million LinkedIn users. The stolen data is said to include email addresses and passwords, which a malicious party could use to gain access to other websites and accounts for which people used the same password.

LinkedIn says it has about 433 million members worldwide, so this data could represent 27% of its user base.

Continue reading “A hacker is reportedly selling the stolen emails and passwords of 117 million LinkedIn users” »

Given the fact that Los Alamos Labs have been and continue to advance cyber security work on the Quantum Internet as well as work in partnerships with other labs and universities; so, why isn’t Mason not collaborating with Los Alamos on developing an improved hacker proof net? Doesn’t look like the most effective and cost efficient approach.

Imagine burglars have targeted your home, but before they break in, you’ve already moved and are safe from harm.

Now apply that premise to protecting a computer network from attack. Hackers try to bring down a network, but critical tasks are a step ahead of them, thanks to complex algorithms. The dreaded “network down” or denial of service message never flashes on your screen.

Continue reading “Mason researchers keep networks moving to stay safe from hacker attacks” »

In the US we have an old saying “fight fire with fire” and in this case “fight bots with bot/s” It should be noted, having a bot or any type of AI on your network is not necessarily going to prevent 100% of the hacking and Cyber threats today due to the weak connected infrastructure across the net, etc. However, to counter attack the pesky bots that we’re seeing around online ads, click monitoring can be limited by AI.

Roughly half of all Web traffic comes from bots and crawlers, and that’s costing companies a boatload of money.

That’s one finding from a report released Thursday by DeviceAtlas, which makes software to help companies detect the devices being used by visitors to their websites.

Continue reading “Half the Web’s traffic comes from bots, and that’s costing you more than you think” »

CRISPR to take bio- and dirty-bombs to new levels.
Great; however, QC needs to be front and center on this; or, I see a bunch of funding spent on research that will be render useless by the time it goes to market due to the progress in QC.

I truly feel bad for the labs who are having to tests for bio- and dirty-bomb material. Really a dangerous job.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking for research proposals to develop a system that would enable the government and law enforcement to identify the actual individual behind a cyber attack.

Continue reading “DARPA looking to develop new technology to ID cybercriminals” »

I guess this falls into those code bugs in AI that Google’s Vint Cerf has stated his own larger concer around AI.

Some called it art, some called it spam—and some thought it might be a new life form.

Luv it!!!! Another fellow experienced AI SME having the same point of view that many other well seasoned AI experts have. Cerf is more concerned about coding bugs and not killer robots; and I and others are also concern about the weakness of the connected infrastructure, weak under pinning technology, and hacking/ criminals hotwiring or overriding AI systems to do their dirty deed and we’re not (like Cerf) concerned over robots and machines taking over the world.

Robots won’t take over humans, but buggy software might, according to the Google exec known as the “father of the Internet.”

Asked for his thoughts on the risk of a robotic overthrow, Google’s chief internet evangelist, Vint Cerf, said he doesn’t fear that problem — especially because artificial intelligence technology isn’t that sophisticated.

Continue reading “Vint Cerf: Buggy Software Is Scarier Than A Robot Takeover” »