Lifeboat Foundation

The Chinese “Micius” satellite has successfully set up the world’s most secure video conference, using quantum cryptography to connect scientists in Europe and China for an unhackable, intercontinental chat.

The feat marks another milestone for the satellite, officially called Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QESS), which only last year was making headlines for transmitting an “unbreakable” quantum code to the Earth’s surface.

Cybersecurity risks are on the rise. While the high-profile breaches at Target and Yahoo! captured our attention, they have also distracted us from the prevalence of cybersecurity risks in everyday life. The number of cyber-security breaches has more than doubled over the past few years. In the third quarter of 2016, over 18 million new forms of malware were discovered. That is nearly a quarter of a million new types of malware every single day.

Unfortunately, some of the most vulnerable companies are those that are least equipped to address these concerns. Industry experts estimate that 45% of all cyber-attacks are launched against small businesses. Almost half of all small businesses have been attacked, although most of them don’t know it. Nearly 70% of small businesses are forced into bankruptcy within six months of a particularly severe cyber-attack.

Despite the risks, small businesses are under greater pressure to cut costs. They can’t always afford top-tier protection.

Continue reading “Ways AI Will Fight the Cybersecurity Battles of the Future” »

A look at Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone’s public statements about artificial intelligence, offense, and defense.

The Army general likely to be tapped to head U.S. Cyber Command and the NSA has some big plans for deploying cyber forces and using artificial intelligence in information attacks.

Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, who currently leads U.S. Army Cyber Command, is expected to nominated in the next few months to replace Adm. Michael Rogers, as first reported by The Cipher Brief (and confirmed by the Washington Post and a Pentagon source of our own). But caution is in order: the rumor mill says several other contenders are in the running, including Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville. Neither Cyber Command nor the Pentagon would comment about the potential nomination.

Continue reading “How the (Likely) Next NSA/CyberCom Chief Wants to Enlist AI” »

Security experts say more of these hands-on demonstrations are needed to get an industry traditionally focused on physical protection to think more creatively about growing cyber threats. The extent to which their advice is heeded will determine how prepared nuclear facilities are for the next attack.

“Unless we start to think more creatively, more inclusively, and have cross-functional thinking going into this, we’re going to stay with a very old-fashioned [security] model which I think is potentially vulnerable,” said Roger Howsley, executive director of the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS).

The stakes are high for this multibillion-dollar sector: a cyberattack combined with a physical one could, in theory, lead to the release of radiation or the theft of fissile material. However remote the possibility, the nuclear industry doesn’t have the luxury of banking on probabilities. And even a minor attack on a plant’s IT systems could further erode public confidence in nuclear power. It is this cruelly small room for error that motivates some in the industry to imagine what, until fairly recently, was unimaginable.

Continue reading “Behind the simulations imagining the nuclear apocalypse” »

A method of securely communicating between multiple quantum devices has been developed by a UCL-led team of scientists, bringing forward the reality of a large-scale, un- hackable quantum network.

To date, communicating via quantum networks has only been possible between two devices of known provenance that have been built securely.

With the EU and UK committing €1 billion and £270 million respectively into funding quantum technology research, a race is on to develop the first truly secure, large-scale network between cities that works for any quantum device.

Freshly discovered malware called Triton can compromise safety systems that control many kinds of industrial processes.

For years, security experts have been warning that hackers can disable systems that control critical infrastructure we all rely on, such as dams and power plants. Now researchers at Mandiant, which is part of the security firm FireEye, have revealed that a new form of malware, dubbed Triton, closed down the operations of a business in the Middle East belonging to Schneider Electric, a French company. The researchers say that they haven’t attributed the hack to a particular attacker, but they do say it bore hallmarks of threats from a nation-state.

Triton appears to have targeted a so-called safety instrumented system, or SIS, which monitors the operation of a physical process using sensors and acoustics. By taking control of it, hackers can destroy or damage the process the SIS is monitoring by tricking it into thinking everything’s normal, when in fact the process is operating at unsafe levels.

Continue reading “A New Industrial Hack Highlights the Cyber Holes in Our Infrastructure” »

Forget hacking a computer. Some researchers want to hack the brain to create human superintelligence to compete with AI.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in the domains of security and employment, what are the policy implications? What effects might AI have on cybersecurity, criminal and civil justice, and labor market patterns?

IN AN AGE of nonstop breaches and hacks, getting a handle on your own digital security matters more than ever. But everyone has their own threat model—a set of concerns unique to themselves. The average smartphone user doesn’t need to know what a Faraday cage is; an NSA contractor probably already has a good grasp of security basics. (Or … do they?) In this guide, we’ve included a few ways to improve your online security posture based on those different levels of risk. These won’t prevent the next megabreach or banish ransomware from the earth. They’re not all-encompassing. But they’ll help get you in the mindset of the types of steps you should be taking based on your particular situation. And they’ll help ensure that the next time you read one of those paralyzing headlines, it doesn’t apply to you.

In an age of nonstop breaches and hacks, getting a handle on your own digital security matters more than ever. But everyone has their own threat model—a set of concerns unique to themselves. The average smartphone user doesn’t need to know what a Faraday cage is; an NSA contractor probably already has a good grasp of security basics. (Or … do they?) In this guide, we’ve included a few ways to improve your online security posture based on those different levels of risk. These won’t prevent the next megabreach or banish ransomware from the earth. They’re not all-encompassing. But they’ll help get you in the mindset of the types of steps you should be taking based on your particular situation. And they’ll help ensure that the next time you read one of those paralyzing headlines, it doesn’t apply to you.