Sticky, evolving botnet gets top cyber experts worried about the future
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new form of modular, multi-stage malware that’s capable of infecting anything and almost everything is getting cybersecurity experts worried. A dangerous and potentially destructive new IoT malware sample has recently surfaced that for the first time this year is not just another cheap...
An immune system for the internet, new “good” malware surprises experts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cyber attacks are getting out of control, but evolving, roving “good samaritan” forms of malware could become the new cops of the internet and the future of cybersecurity. Security researchers have discovered a very odd new botnet that, rather than posing a threat, seems...
Unhackable “Quantum Alphabet” encryption ushers in new era in cybersecurity
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Noone likes hackers, so everyone is trying to find ways to create the ultimate unhackable system, and this breakthrough in quantum mechanics could be one of the most promising. In the wake of countless data breaches there has been a dramatic rise in the...
IBM boosts the speed of homomorphic encryption by 75 percent
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Homomorphic encryption gives organisations a secure and easy way to run analytics on data without having to first decrypt it, but up until now it’s been oh so slow… IBM has announced that it’s rewritten its C++ Homomorphic encryption library and claims that it...
IBM injected a virus into a neural net to create an undetectable cyberweapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Even today’s cutting edge cybersecurity products have no defence against virus laden, weaponised neural networks. It’s been a very busy few weeks in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and neural networks with the creation of the world’s first DNA neural network, and the world’s...
Hackers use data science to evade state of the art AI cybersecurity systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By figuring out what data sets cybersecurity are training their AI’s on hackers have found a way to create malware that can’t be detected. Walking around the exhibition floor at this week’s massive Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas many people were struck...
IBM finds a way to watermark AI’s to protect them from theft and sabotage
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Creating complex neural networks and AI’s takes a lot of expertise, money and resources so being able to watermark them will help protect them from theft. What if machine learning models, much like photographs, movies, music, and manuscripts, could be watermarked nearly imperceptibly to denote...
China tests its cutting edge hypersonic aircraft that “rides its own shockwaves”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF China, Russia and the US are engaged in a race to create the next generation of hypersonic weapons, and the race is accelerating. Over the past year China has announced it’s developed the world’s first quantum radar system, that neutralises US stealth, the first...
Blackhat hackers discover a way to turn satellites into “microwave weapons”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Satellites are ubiquitous and a newly discovered exploit could let hackers turn them into high frequency weapons that fry electronics on the ground. As I discussed in a recent keynote on the future of cybersecurity, even air gaps, thought to be the ultimate in...
Canada and UK partner to develop the West’s first Quantum Radar system
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Any technology like Quantum Radar that renders all traditional stealth obsolete is a game changer. Hot on the heels of China’s announcement last year that they’d managed to create the world’s first working Quantum Radar, a technology that would render military stealth technologies nothing...
Stopping the DIY bio-terrorists, US military embraces AI and Ginkgo Bioworks
WHY THIS MATTERS As the cost of powerful DIY gene editing kits continue to fall bioterrorism is going to be on the rise, so we need a way to defend against it. Recently I gave a talk on the “Future of Cybersecurity” in the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sector...
China unveils their revolutionary ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As lasers become more efficient, and as the battery packs needed to power them become more dense and powerful, we’ll continue to see the miniaturisation and deployment of increasingly powerful laser weaponry. Artificially intelligent “fire and forget” cruise missiles, quantum internet and quantum radar,...
New quantum resistant crypto stops quantum computers spying on your data
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When large quantum computers come online circa 2025 over 70 percent of the world’s encryption will be at risk, so companies need to adopt new method to protect themselves and their data. As quantum computing becomes an increasingly “real” technology, moving out of the...
Simple pixel hack cripples state of the art AI medical imaging systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI becomes increasingly pervasive in healthcare companies need to be aware that a new simple attack on their AI imaging and diagnostic systems could cause untold chaos, and even result in deaths. Recently we’ve seen how a duelling AI that adjusted a pixel or...
Researchers use duelling AI’s to defeat facial recognition technology
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As both our online, as well as our offline privacy, continue to be eroded, scientists are using AI to fight back. Most of us probably don’t like the idea of some stranger finding out who we are, and then where we live, or what...
Two breakthroughs make it impossible to fake nuclear weapon decommissioning
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Making sure countries subject to nuclear disarmament treaties are actually decommissioning real, not fake, nuclear weapons has always posed a problem, this breakthrough will no longer let the fakers get away with it. In past negotiations aimed at reducing the arsenals of the world’s...
Deadly new “Cyber RAT” turns any factory, power plant or oil rig into a bomb
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One thing about the future is certain, all of our digital and physical systems are going to come under increasing attack, and it’ll be a war without end. Hacks that can jump between and steal data from ultra-secure air gapped systems, fileless malware that...
Suspicious nuclear power plants can now be monitored remotely using WATCHMAN
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Up until now it’s only been possible to assess the status of a sovereign states nuclear power program by physically inspecting the site, which is sometimes difficult, but now it can be done remotely from thousands of miles away. A consortium led by UK...
Hackers use electromagnetic attack to steal data from air gapped systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Faraday cages are supposed to be the ultimate in stopping air gapped computer systems from being attacked and their data exfiltrated, but hackers in Israel have just proved that’s no longer the case. Two common methods of physical cybersecurity, air gapping and Faraday cages,...
Hackers use infra red CCTV cameras to steal data from air gapped systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Air gapped computer systems that often hold highly sensitive data are generally thought to be secure, but more hackers are testing that theory than ever before. Even the cleverest malware is stranded unless it can communicate with the people who sent it. This can...
