What if you could know everything about your network? Instead of getting snapshots — albeit very rapid snapshops — you could see the path of every packet and run basic analytics on that stream of data in real time? It’s the difference between watching a Pixar cartoon as opposed to viewing a flip book. And that changes things.
Posts tagged "security"
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How big data will change networking →
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'Bullet time' to stop cyber attacks on power grids →
IN THE MATRIX, the famous “bullet time” effect showed how Keanu Reeves’s character Neo was able to sway out of the path of incoming bullets, as time appeared to slow. Now the film has inspired engineers to develop a way to cope with cyber attacks on crucial infrastructure, such as electricity grids, water utilities and banking networks.
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Rise of "forever day" bugs in industrial systems threatens critical infrastructure →
The number of security holes that remain unpatched in software used to control refineries, factories, and other critical infrastructure is growing. It’s becoming so common that security researchers have coined the term “forever days” to refer to the unfixed vulnerabilities.
The latest forever day vulnerability was disclosed in robotics software marketed by ABB, a maker of ICS (industrial control systems) for utilities and factories. According to an advisory (PDF) issued last week by the US Cyber Emergency Response Team, the flaw in ABB WebWare Server won’t be fixed even though it provides the means to remotely execute malicious code on computers that run the application.
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Say Goodbye to User Name and Password Logins and Hello to 'OneID' →
OneID has created single-click login so users don’t have to enter a user name, password, credit card number or billing information. OneID also has no centralized data storage, making it extremely difficult for hackers to access confidential information.
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NSA builds Android phone for top secret calls →
The National Security Agency (NSA) has developed an ultra-secure Android phone built using off-the-shelf kit that allows US Government staff to discuss top secret materials.
About 100 of the Fishbowl phones were developed and released to government staff. They were designed to comply with the NSA’s tough information security rules yet be as cheap as possible and easy to use.
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Researchers create on/off switch for credit cards to prevent RFID theft →
Researchers are working on an on/off switch for the next generation of credit cards. No, not to stop you from spending money you shouldn’t, but to help protect you from theft and fraud.
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Genetically-inspired algorithm could improve network security →
Computer scientists at Wake Forest University are using a genetically-inspired algorithm that proactively discovers more secure computer network configurations.
Inadequate security configurations are responsible for a large number of security vulnerabilities — up to 80 percent of those identified by the United States Air Force, for example. Computer science associate professor Errin Fulp and graduate student Michael Crouse were funded by a grant from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to improve defence mechanisms with minimal human interaction.
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Your heartbeat could keep your data safe →
HAVING trouble remembering your password? Perhaps you need to use your heart instead of your head. An encryption system that uses the unique pattern of your heartbeat as a secret key could potentially be used to make a hard drive that will only decrypt in response to your touch.
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Airport Laser Lets You Keep Your Liquids →
So, you’re standing in the security line at the airport when you realize that bottle of duty-free Jameson is still in your bag. Also, you just cracked the seal on some not-so-easily-chuggable Kombucha. And that priced-gouged bottle of sunscreen you bought in Tulum? It was almost $10 and it’s still nearly full.
Normally, these liquid-filled bottles would need to be surrendered to the trash can held by a smirking TSA agent. But have no fear frequent fliers, new screening methods may soon be clear for take off.
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Cloud-Based Quantum Computing Will Allow Secure Calculation on Encrypted Bits →
When quantum computers eventually reach larger scales, they’ll probably remain pretty precious resources, locked away in research institutions just like our classical supercomputers. So anyone who wants to perform quantum calculations will likely have to do it in the cloud, remotely accessing a quantum server somewhere else. A new double-blind cryptography method would ensure that these calculations remain secret. It uses the uncertain, unusual nature of quantum mechanics as a double advantage.
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Balancing scientific freedom and national security →
The U.S. government’s request that the journals Science and Nature withhold scientific information related to the genetically modified H5N1 virus because of biosecurity concerns does not violate the First Amendment, say two Georgetown University professors. They caution, however, that a fair, transparent process undertaken by research organizations is preferable to governmental constraints on disseminating scientific information.
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Military Networks 'Not Defensible,' Says General Who Defends Them →
The Defense Department’s networks, as currently configured, are “not defensible,” according to the general in charge of protecting those networks. And if there’s a major electronic attack on this country, there may not be much he and his men can legally do to stop it in advance.
Gen. Keith Alexander, head of both the secretive National Security Agency and the military’s new U.S. Cyber Command, has tens of thousands of hackers, cryptologists, and system administrators serving under him. But at the moment, their ability to protect the Defense Department’s information infrastructure — let alone the broader civilian internet — is limited. The Pentagon’s patchwork quilt of 15,000 different networks is too haphazard to safeguard.
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Encrypting Pictures Using Chaotic Cellular Automata →
It’s been more than ten years now since the idea emerged of using chaos to encrypt messages. The approach is straightforward. Start with a message, superimpose it on a chaotic signal and send. If the chaos is carefully chosen, this signal can seem random and so look like background noise. To reveal the original message, the receiver must be in possession of the same chaotic signal and simply needs to subtract this from the encrypted message. Voila!
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Canadians Will Pay With Plastic Bills →
Canadians will all be using plastic to pay for their purchases -– not necessarily cards, either.
The Bank of Canada this week unveiled its new polymer banknotes. Plastic money is nothing new -– several countries use it (the Australians were the first, in 1988). But these notes are a bit different. The bank’s scientific advisor, Martine Warren, told Discovery News they were designed to be secure well into the future, even taking into account the evolution of counterfeiting technology.
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Citizens of Nevada, you can now relax. The Nevada National Security Site, home to tens of millions of cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste — and location of over a thousand Cold War nuclear weapons tests — is now being guarded by robots. The first of a planned trio of Mobile Detection Assessment Response Systems, or MDARS, is currently patrolling some of the more remote sections of the 1,360 square mile facility.
