Hacking

CA and TX CISOs and More Explore Key Topics at Billington CyberSecurity’s 1st State and Local Cyber Summit

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 22, 2024

Real-time topics that are affecting state and local governments as they face cyber threats will be the focus of the inaugural Billington State and Local CyberSecurity Summit .

Key Points: 
  • Real-time topics that are affecting state and local governments as they face cyber threats will be the focus of the inaugural Billington State and Local CyberSecurity Summit .
  • “This important conference will help mitigate risk by sharing key learnings about cyber threats impacting state and local governments,” explained Thomas K. Billington, CEO and Founder, Billington CyberSecurity , a leading cyber education company for executives founded in 2010.
  • To help localities better prepare, sessions will explore a variety of critical topics to help protect them.
  • 3/20: Cyber Attack—View from First Responders—Panel examines a real ransomware attack, highlights lessons learned, and provides insights for how state and local officials might better prepare.

Black Hat Announces Content Lineup for Black Hat Asia 2024

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Black Hat , the cybersecurity industry’s most established and in-depth security event series, today announced the release of its content lineup for Black Hat Asia 2024.

Key Points: 
  • Black Hat , the cybersecurity industry’s most established and in-depth security event series, today announced the release of its content lineup for Black Hat Asia 2024.
  • The live, in-person event will take place at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre in Singapore from April 16 to April 19.
  • The event will feature 39 Briefings hand selected by the Black Hat Asia Review Board, four days of Trainings, over 25 Sponsored Sessions, and 60 Arsenal tool demos.
  • On April 18 and April 19, attendees will gain insight into the latest in information security risks, developments, and trends.

IDTechEx Reports on Quantum Technology: The Double-edged Sword in the Fight Against Cybercrime

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 29, 2024

In this article IDTechEx explores key trends in the quantum communication market , and how physics is offering a truly a double-edged sword in the fight against cybercrime.

Key Points: 
  • In this article IDTechEx explores key trends in the quantum communication market , and how physics is offering a truly a double-edged sword in the fight against cybercrime.
  • Yet staying entirely safe long-term is anticipated to depend on quantum hardware, including quantum random number generators and quantum key distribution.
  • To find out more, see the recently published IDTechEx report "Quantum Communication Market 2024-2034: Technology, Trends, Players, Forecasts".
  • For further insight into the quantum technology industry, see IDTechEx's dedicated reports and market forecasts covering Quantum Computing and Quantum Sensors – please visit www.IDTechEx.com for the full portfolio of research available.

IDTechEx Reports on Quantum Technology: The Double-edged Sword in the Fight Against Cybercrime

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 29, 2024

In this article IDTechEx explores key trends in the quantum communication market , and how physics is offering a truly a double-edged sword in the fight against cybercrime.

Key Points: 
  • In this article IDTechEx explores key trends in the quantum communication market , and how physics is offering a truly a double-edged sword in the fight against cybercrime.
  • Yet staying entirely safe long-term is anticipated to depend on quantum hardware, including quantum random number generators and quantum key distribution.
  • To find out more, see the recently published IDTechEx report "Quantum Communication Market 2024-2034: Technology, Trends, Players, Forecasts".
  • For further insight into the quantum technology industry, see IDTechEx's dedicated reports and market forecasts covering Quantum Computing and Quantum Sensors – please visit www.IDTechEx.com for the full portfolio of research available.

Cybersecurity group Allurity strengthens its position through the acquisition of globally recognized SRLabs

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 20, 2024

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allurity, a European group of leading tech-enabled cybersecurity companies, completes the strategic acquisition of Security Research Labs (SRLabs), a globally recognized cyber consultancy based in Berlin and Hong Kong.

Key Points: 
  • STOCKHOLM, Feb. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Allurity, a European group of leading tech-enabled cybersecurity companies, completes the strategic acquisition of Security Research Labs (SRLabs), a globally recognized cyber consultancy based in Berlin and Hong Kong.
  • This marks an important milestone, as SRLabs brings unique expertise that enhances Allurity's market position and strengthens its capabilities to deliver a holistic cybersecurity offering.
  • "By joining forces with SRLabs, Allurity is enhancing its offering with premium strategic cybersecurity consulting, unique cyber insights, and industry-leading solutions," stated Frida Westerberg, CEO at Allurity.
  • The Allurity group currently comprises seven best-in-class cybersecurity companies across Europe, including Spanish Aiuken, Swedish Arctic Group and ID North, Portuguese CloudComputing, Danish CSIS, Swiss SECURIX and German SRLabs.

ETA Announces Agenda and Speakers for TRANSACT 2024

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) will bring the global payments community together at TRANSACT, the industry's largest event, from April 17-19 in Las Vegas.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) will bring the global payments community together at TRANSACT , the industry's largest event, from April 17-19 in Las Vegas.
  • "TRANSACT is truly the heart of the payments industry," said Jodie Kelley, CEO of ETA.
  • With more than 1,000 companies from around the world in attendance, TRANSACT celebrates the best of our industry.
  • ETA is also proud to host several events during TRANSACT that promote community and business building.

SEALSQ Announces Groundbreaking Entry Into AI Chip Market With Advanced AIoT Strategy

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

SEALSQ's AIoT strategy is built on a robust foundation of semiconductors, smart sensors, IoT systems, AI technologies, and an expansive data cloud.

Key Points: 
  • SEALSQ's AIoT strategy is built on a robust foundation of semiconductors, smart sensors, IoT systems, AI technologies, and an expansive data cloud.
  • The AIoT system functions as the central brain of the expansive SEALSQ ecosystem, which currently includes over 1.6 billion semiconductor-powered devices.
  • As a leading innovator in the technology sector, SEALSQ is committed to driving digital transformation and innovation through cutting-edge solutions.
  • With its groundbreaking AIoT strategy, SEALSQ is setting new standards in the integration of AI and IoT technologies, offering secure, efficient, and transformative solutions for a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Desperate for Taylor Swift tickets? Here are cybersecurity tips to stay safe from scams

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

The global superstar Taylor Swift is bringing her Eras tour to Australia later this month, with sold-out shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

Key Points: 
  • The global superstar Taylor Swift is bringing her Eras tour to Australia later this month, with sold-out shows in Sydney and Melbourne.
  • With Swifties numbering in the thousands, fans who didn’t initially secure tickets are understandably desperate to find some.

The problem is ticket fraud

  • In the case of Ticketek, electronic tickets are linked to the purchaser’s phone number to reduce fraud.
  • Electronic ticketing aims to overcome a range of problems, such as counterfeit tickets, duplicate tickets and ticket scalping.
  • When purchasing tickets, it can be difficult to know if it is an authentic website, a genuine ticket and a legitimate transaction.

Hacked accounts

  • Some people have had their Ticketek accounts hacked, and offenders have been able to make transactions without the owner’s consent.
  • However, victims soon find their family member or friend has had their account hacked.
  • Recently, hackers gained unauthorised access to hotel provider accounts on the popular accommodation website Booking.com.

If I’d only played it safe

  • But you can look out for warning signs and take steps to reduce the risk of fraud or being hacked.
  • While customers are reporting long wait times and less than satisfactory user experiences right now, it is still the most likely place to have genuine tickets.
  • While this will not prevent fraud, it does make it easier to report an incident or figure out what happened.
  • Always confirm in person or over the phone with any known contacts who have messaged an offer or requested funds.
  • With the prevalence of hacking into accounts, you may not be communicating with the person you think you are.

No one teaches you what to do

  • You should also contact the platform through which you made the transaction (such as Ticketek Marketplace).
  • If you need support or assistance for any compromise of your identity, contact iDcare.


Cassandra Cross has previously received funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre.

The brain is the most complicated object in the universe. This is the story of scientists’ quest to decode it – and read people’s minds

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 7, 2024

This is the closest science has yet come to reading someone’s mind.

Key Points: 
  • This is the closest science has yet come to reading someone’s mind.
  • As Alexander Huth, the neuroscientist who co-led the research, told the New York Times:
    This isn’t just a language stimulus.
  • In the longer term, this could lead to wider public applications such as fitbit-style health monitors for the brain and brain-controlled smartphones.
  • On January 29, Elon Musk announced that his Neuralink tech startup had implanted a chip in a human brain for the first time.

Humanity’s greatest mapping challenge

  • By fully mapping the structure and function of a healthy human brain, we can determine with great precision what goes awry in diseases of the brain and mind.
  • Similar initiatives were launched in Europe in 2013 (the Human Brain Project) and China in 2016 (the China Brain Project).
  • This daunting endeavour may still take generations to complete – but the scientific ambition of mapping and reading people’s brains dates back more than two centuries.
  • With the world having been circumnavigated many times over, Antarctica discovered and much of the planet charted, humanity was ready for a new (and even more complicated) mapping challenge – the human brain.
  • In the 1860s, “locationist” views of how the brain worked made a comeback – though the scientists leading this research were keen to distinguish their theories from phrenology.
  • French anatomist Paul Broca discovered a region of the left hemisphere responsible for producing speech – thanks in part to his patient, Louis Victor Leborgne, who at age 30 lost the ability to say anything other than the syllable “tan”.
  • This approach depends on the findings of American physiologist John Fulton almost a century ago.
  • This stronger pulse of activity was not replicated by other sensory inputs, for example when smelling tobacco or vanilla.

The first clinical trial

  • The ultimate goal is wireless, non-invasive devices that help patients communicate and move with precision in the real world.
  • In 2004, BrainGate began the first clinical trial using BCIs to enable patients with impaired motor systems (including spinal cord injuries, brainstem infarctions, locked-in syndrome and muscular dystrophy) control a computer cursor with their thoughts.
  • The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.
  • Patient MN, a quadriplegic since being stabbed in the neck in 2001, was the trial’s first patient.
  • In addition, brain activity was linked to the patient’s prosthetic hand and robotic arm, enabling rudimentary actions including grasping and transporting an object.
  • Also in 2017, BrainGate clinical trials reported the first evidence that BCIs could be used to help patients regain movement of their own limbs by bypassing the damaged portion of the spinal cord.

A new era of ‘mind reading’ technology

  • But having been primarily envisaged as a tool for diagnostics and monitoring, it is now also a core element of the latest neural communication and prosthetic devices.
  • Despite being behaviourally non-responsive and minimally conscious, these patients were able to answer yes-or-no questions just by using their minds.
  • Now, a decade on, the HuthLab research at the University of Texas constitutes a paradigmatic shift in the evolution of communication-enabling neuroimaging systems.
  • Whereas the brain’s capacity to produce motor intentions is shared across species, the ability to produce and perceive language is uniquely human.
  • The disadvantage of fMRI is that it can only take slow measurements of brain signals (typically, one brain volume every two or three seconds).
  • They demonstrated that the system could be used not only to decode semantic content entertained through auditive perception, but also through visual perception.
  • Importantly, they also explicitly addressed the potential threat to a person’s mental privacy posed by this kind of technology.
  • We take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that.

The ethical implications are immense

  • Losing the ability to communicate is a deep cut to one’s sense of self.
  • The ethical implications of providing access to such data to scientific and corporate entities are potentially immense.
  • For example, Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease that affects movement, is co-morbid with dementia, which affects the ability to reason and think clearly.
  • In line with this approach, Chile was the first country that adopted legislation to address the risks inherent to neurotechnology.
  • One of the cornerstones of ethical research is the principle of informed consent.
  • The growing availability of neurotechnology in a commercial context that is generally subject to far less regulation only amplifies these ethical and legal concerns.
  • We are at an early stage of technological development and as we begin to uncover the great potential of BCI, both for therapeutic applications and beyond, the need to consider these ethical questions and their implications for legal action becomes more pressing.

Decoding our neuro future

  • By the middle of 2021, the total investment in neurotechnology companies amounted to just over US$33 billion (around £26 million).
  • The implant is said to include 1,024 electrodes, yet is only slightly larger than the diameter of a red blood cell.
  • The Kernel Flow, for example, is a commercially available, wearable headset that uses fNRIS technology to monitor brain activity.
  • The dawn of a new era of brain-computer interfaces should be treated with great care and great respect – in acknowledgement of its immense potential to both help, and harm, our future generations.


For you: more from our Insights series:
Unlocking new clues to how dementia and Alzheimer’s work in the brain – Uncharted Brain podcast series

Freedom of thought is being threatened by states, big tech and even ourselves. Here’s what we can do to protect it

OCD is so much more than handwashing or tidying. As a historian with the disorder, here’s what I’ve learned

Noise in the brain enables us to make extraordinary leaps of imagination. It could transform the power of computers too

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Stephanie Sheir received funding from the EPSRC (grant number EP/V026518/1). Timo Istace receives funding from Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen. Nicholas J. Kelley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

From Page to Blockchain: Author Creates First Cryptocurrency Based on Novel

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Author Dov Preminger has created Tontine Coin (TON), the world's first cryptocurrency based on a novel, the just-released crypto-thriller Glyph.

Key Points: 
  • AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Author Dov Preminger has created Tontine Coin (TON), the world's first cryptocurrency based on a novel, the just-released crypto-thriller Glyph.
  • Tontine Coin is a modern-day twist on the concept—a digital currency that leads to some entertaining and macabre results in the novel.
  • After publishing Glyph, the author made Tontine Coin a reality by creating the cryptocurrency on the blockchain.
  • "The novel is a crypto-thriller, and so the idea of creating a cryptocurrency based on it—one which actually features in the book—felt authentic to me," says Preminger.