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Category: cybercrime/malcode – Page 174

The University Where US Intelligence Personnel Study

Ira Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador interviews Brian Holmes Ph.D., Dean of The National Intelligence University, Anthony G. Oettinger School of Science and Technology Intelligence.

Ira Pastor comments:

The National Intelligence University (NIU), is a federally chartered research university which serves as the United States Intelligence Community’s institution for higher learning in fields of study central to the profession of intelligence and national security.

National Intelligence University’s interdisciplinary programs emphasize education through scholarly and applied research designed to help U.S. intelligence officers better understand the diverse range of geopolitical, strategic, and technological threats and opportunities affecting intelligence and national security.

The university is organized into two separate academic units: the College of Strategic Intelligence and the Oettinger School of Science and Technology Intelligence. Combined, the colleges cover a diverse and evolving range of international affairs issues and adversarial threats and capabilities, from cultural and religious conflicts, to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation, cybersecurity threats, terrorism, transnational crime, and more. NIU is the only university in the United States where students can study and complete research at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level. The School of Science and Technology Intelligence within the National Intelligence University is focused on science and technical analytic education, research and external engagement across the intelligence and national security communities.

Dr. Holmes served as an all-source intelligence analyst and Branch Chief in the Defense Intelligence Agencies’ (DIA) Counter-proliferation Support Office from 2006–2010 before accepting a managerial position in the Directorate for Analysis’ Staff Operations Division. He was a Direct Commission intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, serving from 2007–2011 and reached the rank of Lieutenant. For three years he supported the Afghanistan-Pakistan Task Force as an all-source intelligence analyst in DIA’s Directorate for Intelligence.

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Suspected Chinese Hackers Unleash Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls

“This attack demonstrates that, albeit rarely, in exceptional cases, actors are willing to go to great lengths in order to gain the highest level of persistence on a victim’s machine,” said Kaspersky Lab researcher Mark Lechtik in a statement.

The company discovered the UEFI-based malware on machines belonging to two victims. It works to create a Trojan file called “IntelUpdate.exe” in the Startup Folder, which will reinstall itself even if the user finds it and deletes it.

Elon Musk: The Rise Of Starlink

Might as well make it a movie!

This is the first time ever in my life that I felt frightened while writing a story on Medium. Then, I proofread it and I started sweating all of sudden. Find out for yourself and let me know how you feel! Anyway, recently, I wrote how Elon Musk’s Starlink could potentially take over the whole telecommunications industry, how it can eventually change the digital landscape, and how it can connect our blueprint to the universe. Today, I’m writing how Starlink, along with the right planning, execution, and zero technological compromises, can create not just a new technology, but a whole new way of living.

Imagine wandering the Sahara desert on a weekend trip and suddenly, you feel the urge to capture the moment. So, you pick up your iPhone and take a panoramic picture. Then, imagine sharing that same picture to your friends, to your family, right in that exact moment. Your family decides to FaceTime you and you talk to them for an entire hour while blindly walking around the Sahara desert, drenching in sweat. That’s what it’s like to be Starlink connected. There are no limits to what Starlink can do. Online, wherever you go.

Starlink isn’t just a widespread broadband internet communications system, Starlink is a whole new way of living. It’s a real-world reinvention.

No cellular data issues, no “we’re in the middle of nowhere”, and no “low signal”. You can pretty much end up in the most barbaric place on the earth and still be receiving tweet updates from Trump on Twitter. Just you, your device, and the whole universe. A digital interplanetary being, so to speak. Though, Aliens might hack the satellites and gain information about us. They might take advantage of Starlink as a better way to connect to humans. However, we’re pretty sure Elon will create another company that prevents Aliens from cyberbullying us. Right, Elon?

Ripjar, founded by GCHQ alums, raises $36.8M for AI that detects financial crime

Financial crime as a wider category of cybercrime continues to be one of the most potent of online threats, covering nefarious activities as diverse as fraud, money laundering and funding terrorism. Today, one of the startups that has been building data intelligence solutions to help combat that is announcing a fundraise to continue fueling its growth.

Ripjar, a U.K. company founded by five data scientists who previously worked together in British intelligence at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ, the U.K.’s equivalent of the NSA), has raised $36.8 million (£28 million) in a Series B, money that it plans to use to continue expanding the scope of its AI platform — which it calls Labyrinth — and scaling the business.

Labyrinth, as Ripjar describes it, works with both structured and unstructured data, using natural language processing and an API-based platform that lets organizations incorporate any data source they would like to analyse and monitor for activity. It automatically and in real time checks these against other data sources like sanctions lists, politically exposed persons (PEPs) lists and transaction alerts.

China attacked Indian satellite communications: US Report

“Computer network attack against Indian satellite communications in 2017” is one among a slew of counter-space activities carried out by China since 2007, listed in a new report by US-based China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI), which provides China’s space narrative among other things.

Isro, while conceding that cyber-attacks are a constant threat, maintains that its systems has not been compromised so far.

The 142-page report notes that between 2012 and 2018, China carried out multiple cyber-attacks, but elaborates on the result only in one case.

Microsoft AI boasts 97% accuracy in detecting software bugs

Software bugs are a tale as old as time — which, in the case of programming, means about 75 years. In 1947, programmer Grace Murray Hopper was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University when she noticed a moth that was stuck in the relay, preventing the computer program from running. It was the first “bug”, and countless others have followed since then.

In the history of programming, bugs have ranged from harmless to absolutely catastrophic. In 1986 and 1987, several patients were killed after a Therac-25 radiation therapy device malfunctioned due to an error by an inexperienced programmer, and a software bug might have also triggered one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, at a Soviet trans-Siberian gas pipeline.

While events such as this are rare, it’s safe to say that software bugs can do a lot of damage and waste a lot of time (and resources). According to recent analysis, the average programmer produces 70 bugs per 1,000 lines of code, with each bug demanding 30 times more time to fix than it took to write the code in the first place. In the US alone, an estimated $113 billion is spent identifying and fixing code bugs…

Revolutionary Quantum Cryptography Breakthrough Paves Way for Safer Online Communication

The world is one step closer to having a totally secure internet and an answer to the growing threat of cyber-attacks, thanks to a team of international scientists who have created a unique prototype that could transform how we communicate online.

The invention led by the University of Bristol, revealed today in the journal Science Advances, has the potential to serve millions of users, is understood to be the largest-ever quantum network of its kind, and could be used to secure people’s online communication, particularly in these internet-led times accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.