Lifeboat Foundation

In the intricate landscape of global cybersecurity, Webwyrm malware has surfaced as a formidable adversary, casting its ominous shadow across 50 nations and leaving in its wake over 100,000 compromised victims. This insidious digital menace successfully emulates in excess of 1,000 reputable companies globally, with the ensuing potential financial fallout estimated to surpass a staggering $100 million. It is imperative for cybersecurity professionals and organizations alike to comprehend the multifaceted nature of this threat to devise and implement robust defensive strategies effectively.

In the dynamic realm of cyber threats, malicious actors incessantly refine their Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs), exploiting extant vulnerabilities and augmenting the efficacy of their malicious campaigns. Webwyrm epitomizes this relentless pursuit of evolution, embodying a level of sophistication reminiscent of infamous cyber threats of yore, such as the notorious ‘Blue Whale Challenge.’

WebWyrm malware orchestrates a complex, deceptive narrative aimed at duping unsuspecting job seekers into relinquishing their cryptocurrency. Initiating contact predominantly via WhatsApp, the malefactors likely leverage data procured from employment portals to pinpoint and engage individuals predisposed to their deceptive overtures. Prospective victims are enticed with promises of lucrative weekly remuneration, ranging between $1200 and $1500, contingent upon the completion of daily task “packets” or “resets.”

Chinese scientists claim they’ve had unexpected success in developing a high-powered microwave (HPM) weapon, according to The Diplomat. The magazine notes that in January, Huang Wenhua, deputy director of China’s Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, was awarded for his research on directed energy, which HPM weapons use.

HPM systems are able to destroy electronic equipment, and in an age when most combat systems—from tanks to planes, radios to satellites—rely on electronics, the weapons could change the way wars are fought. Warships will be fitted with HPM weapons to intercept incoming missiles.

The HPM project, alongside other projects involving lasers and electromagnetic pulses, is part of the Chinese regime’s “Assassin’s Mace” (or “Trump Card”) program designed to defeat a technologically superior opponent by disabling or destroying the technology that makes the opponent superior.

The researchers tested their algorithm on a replica of a US Army combat ground vehicle and found it was 99% effective in preventing a malicious attack.

Australian researchers have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm to detect and stop a cyberattack on a military robot in seconds.

The research was conducted by Professor Anthony Finn from the University of South Australia (UniSA) and Dr Fendy Santoso from Charles Sturt University in collaboration with the US Army Futures Command. They simulated a MitM attack on a GVT-BOT ground vehicle and trained its operating system to respond to it, according to the press release.

Continue reading “New AI algorithm promises defense against cyberattacks on robots” »

DARPA has contracted Raytheon to develop a practical version of a revolutionary air-breathing rotating detonation engine called Gambit, which would have no moving parts and could lead to lighter missiles with longer ranges at lower cost.

Gas turbines are remarkable power plants that have made possible modern air travel and many weapon systems, but they suffer from a number of disadvantages. They are complex machines that are heavy, have many moving parts that are costly to assemble and maintain, and they require exotic materials and special processing to handle the tremendous temperatures they operate at.

It’s bad enough when such an engine is installed in an aircraft, but when it’s part of a throwaway weapon like a cruise missile, this not only limits the payload, it runs into some serious money.

Australian researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds.

In an experiment using deep learning neural networks to simulate the behavior of the human brain, artificial intelligence experts from Charles Sturt University and the University of South Australia (UniSA) trained the robot’s operating system to learn the signature of a MitM eavesdropping cyberattack. This is where attackers interrupt an existing conversation or data transfer.

The algorithm, tested in real time on a replica of a United States army combat ground vehicle, was 99% successful in preventing a malicious attack. False positive rates of less than 2% validated the system, demonstrating its effectiveness.

Amnesty International’s Predator Files investigation traces the widespread abuse of spyware by some nations against their own citizens. The ops are “industrial scale.” @jaivijayan explains:

The Intellexa alliance has been using a range of tools for intercepting and subverting mobile and Wi-Fi technologies to deploy its surveillance tools, according to an investigation by Amnesty International and others.

In the six months since FLI published its open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments, we have seen overwhelming expert and public concern about the out-of-control AI arms race — but no slowdown. In this video, we call for U.S. lawmakers to step in, and explore the policy solutions necessary to steer this powerful technology to benefit humanity.

“This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Listen to former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a ” counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as ” a creature of Israel.”)

The Israeli government gave me a budget, the retired brigadier general confessed, and the military government gives to the mosques.

Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation, Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious… More.

Continue reading “Blowback: How Israel Went From Helping Create Hamas to Bombing It” »

The supercomputer which is under construction is 50 times more powerful that existing supercomputer at the facility.

The world’s most powerful supercomputer, Aurora, is being set up in the US to help scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) simulate new nuclear reactors that are more efficient and safer than their predecessors, a press release said.

The US is already home to some of the world’s fastest supercomputers, as measured by TOP500. These supercomputers can be tasked with a variety of computational roles. Last month, Interesting Engineering reported how the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) planned to use a supercomputer to check nuclear stockpiles for the US military.