When I think of the unique challenges faced by AI researchers in security, it reminds me of an excerpt from the Harry Potter series. At the beginning of Book 6, the Minister of Magic pays a visit to the (muggle) Prime Minister to warn him about evil deeds being carried out by dark wizards. The Prime Minister is understandably scared and confused. In frustration, he implores, “But for heaven’s sake—you’re wizards! You can do magic! Surely you can sort out—well—anything!” The Minister of Magic replies pragmatically, “The trouble is, the other side can do magic too.”
Details have emerged this week regarding two different—and both substantial—security flaws in almost every computer processor in use today. This affects Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. It’s important to note that as of yet, no malware or cyberattack has been associated with these flaws, but now that the information is in the public domain, that could change. Either of the flaws could lead to your computer’s memory being compromised, which means sensitive data—passwords, photos, credit card details—can be accessed and stolen. Here’s a breakdown of the two vulnerabilities:
AV-Test, the Independent IT-Security Institute, regularly conducts impartial studies on all leading cybersecurity products on the market. The purpose is to keep consumers aware of what’s performing as promised, and what’s not.
The season finale of Mr. Robot season three aired last week and it was full with revelations, along with some gory and some heartfelt scenes. Unfortunately, the episode lacked hacks, but there are some hack-related things we can recap.
As you have probably heard, 1.4 billion usernames, passwords, and emails were leaked on the darknet. This wasn’t a new breach, but rather a collection of previous leaks all put together in one place, forming one of the largest consolidated databases ever discovered.
Last week’s episode, like most Mr. Robot episodes, included a flashback and jumped back and forth in time.
The independent IT-security institute AV-TEST evaluated twenty-one home user security products through September and October 2017. Avast Free Antivirus passed with flying colors, successfully protecting against ALL of the 9,999 malicious files thrown a…
On Sunday, December 3rd, we saw a peak in one of our detections, JS:Miner-I, which blocks a cryptocurrency miner that uses the cryptonight algorithm to mine Monero, a popular cryptocurrency. The algorithm is suitable for using PC CPU for mining, and the miner is run using JavaScript. We blocked JS:Miner-I from launching on our users’ PCs, preventing 34.7 million attacks in just one day. The extreme peak wasn’t the only thing that caught our attention; all the detections were launched within Google’s Chrome browser.
I recently conducted an informal survey among ten of my Mac-user friends. The results revealed a truth both unsurprising and frightening at the same time. I was asking how many had ever taken steps to secure their home networks. The answer, I learned, …
Wednesday’s Mr. Robot episode, eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko, lacked hacks, but delivered a side of Elliot we we’ve never really seen before, a more compassionate Elliot. The episode’s theme was deletion.