Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: security – Page 61

Learn how your company can create applications to automate tasks and generate further efficiencies through low-code/no-code tools on November 9 at the virtual Low-Code/No-Code Summit. Register here.

With the increasing digitization of services across multiple industries, large corporations are pushing for new security measures to keep their customers’ documents and sensitive information secure. Among these measures are passwordless logins, with new authentication methods adding an extra layer of data protection.

The transition to passwordless logins is undeniable, with approximately 60% of large and global enterprises and 90% of midsize enterprises predicted to adopt passwordless methods in at least 50% of use cases, according to a recent Gartner study. This comes as no surprise, as security problems associated with password-only authentication are among the digital world’s biggest vulnerabilities. Consumers are often tempted to reuse passwords across different services due to the difficulty of managing so many passwords.

Read more | >

Twelve new security flaws impacting various chipsets were disclosed in this month’s security advisory for Qualcomm’s devices, two of which have been given a critical severity rating. Two significant flaws in Qualcomm chipsets have been identified that might allow malicious payloads to installed remotely on the Android devices.

The first vulnerability, identified as CVE-2022–25748 (CVSS score 9.8), affects Qualcomm’s WLAN component and is described as a “Integer Overflow to Buffer Overflow during parsing GTK frames”. If exploited, this issue might result in memory corruption and remote code execution. This vulnerability impact all smart devices that use the Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ, CSRA, IPQ, MDM, MSM, QCA, WSA, WCN, WCD, SW, SM, SDX, SD, SA, QRB, QCS, QCN, and more series.

The second vulnerability, identified as CVE-2022–25718 (CVSS score 9.1), also affects Qualcomm’s WLAN component and is described as a “Cryptographic issue in WLAN due to improper check on return value while authentication handshake”. If exploited, this issue might result in memory corruption and remote code execution. This vulnerability impact all smart devices that use the Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ, CSRA, IPQ, MDM, MSM, QCA, WSA, WCN, WCD, SW, SM, SDX, SD, SA, QRB, QCS, QCN, and more series.

Read more | >

A security investigator has discovered three new code execution flaws in the Linux kernel that might be exploited by a local or external adversary to take control of the vulnerable computers and run arbitrary code. The roccat_report_event function in drivers/hid/hid-roccat.c has a use-after-free vulnerability identified as CVE-2022–41850 (CVSS score: 8.4). A local attacker might exploit this flaw to run malicious script on the system by submitting a report while copying a report->value. Patch has be released to addresses the Linux Kernel 5.19.12 vulnerability CVE-2022–41850.

The second flaw tracked as CVE-2022–41848 (CVSS score: 6.8), is also a use-after-free flaw due to a race condition between mgslpc_ioctl and mgslpc_detach in drivers/char/pcmcia/synclink_cs.c. By removing a PCMCIA device while calling ioctl, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system. The bug affects Linux Kernel 5.19.12 and was fixed via this patch.

Due to a compatibility issues between mgslpc ioctl and mgslpc detach in drivers/char/pcmcia/synclink cs.c, the second vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2022–41848 (CVSS score: 6.8), is likewise a use-after-free vulnerability. An adversary might use this flaw to run malicious script on the computer by deleting a PCMCIA device while executing ioctl. There is a patch that corrects this flaw that was present in the Linux Kernel 5.19.12.

Read more | >

Tiny particles are interconnected despite sometimes being thousands of kilometers apart—Albert Einstein called this “spooky action at a distance.” Something that would be inexplicable by the laws of classical physics is a fundamental part of quantum physics. Entanglement like this can occur between multiple quantum particles, meaning that certain properties of the particles are intimately linked with each other.

Entangled systems containing multiple offer significant benefits in implementing quantum algorithms, which have the potential to be used in communications, or quantum computing. Researchers from Paderborn University have been working with colleagues from Ulm University to develop the first programmable optical quantum memory. The study was published as an “Editor’s suggestion” in the Physical Review Letters journal.

Read more | >

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Watch here.

The open-source Linux operating system is an essential component of the cloud and enterprise application delivery. In fact, every cloud service, even Microsoft, offers Linux-based compute resources and Linux is often the default choice for embedded and internet of things (IoT) devices. Among the major Linux distribution vendors today are IBM’s Red Hat business unit, German vendor SUSE and Canonical, which develops the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

The market for Linux is forecast to grow to $22.15 billion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights, up from $6.27 billion in 2022.

Read more | >

Since the infancy of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 1990, people have been fascinated by the potential for brain scans to unlock the mysteries of the human mind, our behaviors and beliefs. Many breathtaking applications for brain scans have been devised, but hype often exceeds what empirical science can deliver. It’s time to ask: What’s the big picture of neuroscience and what are the limitations of brain scans?

The specific aims of any research endeavor depend on who you ask and what funding agency is involved, says Michael Spezio, associate professor of psychology, data science and neuroscience at Scripps College. Some people believe neuroscience has the potential to explain human cognition and behavior as a fully mechanistic process, ultimately debunking an “illusion of free will.” Not all neuroscientists agree that free will is a myth, but it’s a strong current these days. Neuroscience also has applications in finance, artificial intelligence, weapons research and national security.

For other researchers and funders, the specific aim of neuroscience involves focusing on medical imaging, genetics, the study of proteins (proteomics) and the study of neural connections (connectomics). As caring persons who are biological, neurological, physical, social and spiritual, we can use neuroscience to think carefully and understand our humanity and possible ways to escape some of the traps we’ve built for ourselves, says Spezio. Also, brain scans can enhance research into spirituality, mindfulness and theory of mind – the awareness of emotions, values, empathy, beliefs, intentions and mental states to explain or predict others’ behavior.

Read more | >

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Watch here.

Modern software development typically follows a very iterative approach known as continuous integration/continuous development (CI/CD). The promise of CI/CD is better software that is released quicker and it’s a promise that ClearML now intends to bring to the world of machine learning (ML).

ClearML today announced the general availability of its enterprise MLops platform that extends the capabilities of the company’s open-source edition. The ClearML Enterprise platform provides organizations with security controls and additional capabilities for rapidly iterating and deploying ML workflows.

Read more | >

As many as 350,000 open source projects are believed to be potentially vulnerable to exploitation as a result of a security flaw in a Python module that has remained unpatched for 15 years.

The open source repositories span a number of industry verticals, such as software development, artificial intelligence/machine learning, web development, media, security, and IT management.

The shortcoming, tracked as CVE-2007–4559 (CVSS score: 6.8), is rooted in the tarfile module, successful exploitation of which could lead to code execution from an arbitrary file write.

Read more | >

Maximizing Benefits Of The Life Sciences & Health Tech For All Americans — Dr. Andrew Hebbeler, Ph.D., Principal Assistant Director for Health and Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House.

Dr. Andrew Hebbeler, Ph.D., is Principal Assistant Director for Health and Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ostps-teams/health-and-life-sciences/), and has extensive foreign affairs, national security, global health, and science and technology (S&T) policy experience.

Most recently, Dr. Hebbeler was Senior Director and Lead Scientist for Global Biological Policy and Programs at the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative and previous to that served in leadership positions at the State Department’s offices of Science and Technology Cooperation (OES/STC), the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State (E/STAS), and Cooperative Threat Reduction (ISN/CTR).

From 2013–2015, Dr. Hebbeler was Assistant Director for Biological and Chemical Threats at the Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he oversaw American S&T efforts to combat infectious disease and chemical weapon threats.

Prior to his White House position, Dr. Hebbeler led the State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, a $40M program that prevents terrorist access to potentially dangerous biological materials and dual-use infrastructure and expertise, while supporting efforts to combat infectious disease and enhance public and animal health worldwide.

Continue reading “Dr. Andrew Hebbeler, Ph.D. — Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) — The White House” | >