Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: cybercrime/malcode

Luv it; more believers.

Quantum computers promise to enable faster, far more complex calculations than today’s silicon chip-based computers. But they also raise the possibility that future computers could retroactively break the security of any digital communications that exist today, which is why Google is experimenting with something called “post-quantum cryptography.”

While quantum computer development remains in its early stages, some such computers are already in operation. In theory, future generations of quantum computers could “decrypt any Internet communication that was recorded today, and many types of information need to remain confidential for decades,” software engineer Matt Braithwaite wrote yesterday in a post on Google’s security blog. “Thus even the possibility of a future quantum computer is something that we should be thinking about today.”

Preventing potential nightmares for cryptographers and security organizations will require post-quantum cryptography, Braithwaite said. But Google is far from the only organization researching the possibilities.

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Woo and other entrepreneurs are using fasts and other tricks to “hack” their brain chemistry like they would a computer, hoping to give themselves an edge as they strive to dream up the next billion-dollar idea. Known by insiders as “biohacking,” the push for cognitive self-improvement is gaining momentum in the Silicon Valley tech world, where workers face constant pressure to innovate and produce at the highest levels.

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DARPA’s self-repairing security system’s challenge.

In a few weeks, a town better known for events like the World Series of Poker will host the World Series of Hacking.

The finals of the Cyber Grand Challenge, which will be held by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency at the DEFCON security conference in Las Vegas next month, aim to see if a high performance computer system can discover and patch security systems automatically — without human intervention.

Seven teams will compete in the finals in front of 5,000 spectators packed into the Paris Las Vegas auditorium, waiting to see if a computer will be able to put the best human penetration testers and security researchers to shame.

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Yikes.

Britain’s railway network is notoriously overpriced, overcrowded, and experiences frequent delays. Now cyberattacks are threatening to turn the morning commute into a deathtrap as well.

The world’s oldest railway system has been the victim of four major cyberattacks in the past year alone, security experts claim.

Hackers, thought to be computer specialists working for foreign governments, are believed to be behind the online aggression, which could allow them to take control the railway’s physical infrastructure.

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Not shocked by this because I have seen some of these policies in various forms already.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Co. on Tuesday said it has launched a U.S. professional liability policy for architects and engineers that includes cyber coverage.

Professional First Architects & Engineers Professional Liability Insurance’s cyber coverage addresses media, technology and network security and privacy liability exposures, including the cost of responding to a data breach or network extortion threat, BHSI said in a statement.

The coverage also includes access to a network of experts to assist in responding to a data breach or extortion threat, and risk management services including contract reviews, newsletters and best practices webinars, according to the statement.

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