• Tire tags reveal driver whereabouts

    As computerized systems are being increasingly used in automobiles, critics are asking what safeguards system makers are putting in place to prevent vulnerabilities in such systems, knowing that bugs and security holes invariably sneak into all software

  • Move to IPv6 may create a "security nightmare"

    IPv6, the Internet’s next-generation addressing scheme is so radically different from the current one that its adoption is likely to cause severe security headaches for those who adopt it; the radical overhaul still is not ready for prime time — in large part because IT professionals have not worked out a large number of security threats facing those who rely on it to route traffic over the net

  • Identifying future digital leakers, whistle-blowers

    Digital encoding could catch future informants; the Wikileaks saga will likely result in an overhaul of how governments protects information; in addition to using watermarking, government agencies could adapt existing digital-rights-management technologies; such technologies can perform various tasks that might be relevant: identify when the same computer is downloading voluminous amounts of material, restrict downloading to authorized users, and stop users from copying or passing restricted files to other computers

  • Breakthrough: UCLA engineering devises new location-based cryptography method

    Location-based security is ensured by using quantum mechanics; this type of cryptography could be useful in several settings — for example, one could communicate with a military base with a guarantee that only someone physically present at the base will have access to the information; furthermore, the location-based method eliminates the need for distributing and storing keys, one of the most difficult tasks in cryptography

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  • Shortage of cyber workers in the U.S.

    The United States is lacking an adequate number of individuals within the federal government and private sector with the technical skills necessary to secure cyberspace; there is an even greater shortage of cybersecurity experts that can design secure systems and networks, write nonvulnerable computer code and create the tools needed to prevent, detect and mitigate damage due to malicious acts

  • Algorithm could improve hospital records security

    An algorithm secures patients’ records by ensuring that access to information is available to those who need it, but only when necessary; for example, once a patient has been admitted to hospital, the admissions staff do not necessarily need access to the patient’s records anymore; in many hospitals, those staff members nonetheless continue to have access to every record on file; using the algorithm, those staffers would only be able to access the patient’s record during admission processing; after that, they would find your information unavailable

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  • "Zero knowledge" keeps secrets you put on the net safe

    Intrigued by topics that touch on mathematics, computer science, physics and neuroscience, Professor Shafrira Goldwasser has made far-reaching contributions to keeping your data safe on-line; the solution she discovered used randomized methods of encoding, which came to underlie all future protocols for secure Internet transactions and data privacy

  • Web services could work with sensitive data -- without decrypting the data

    A cryptographic method could allow cloud services to work with sensitive data without ever decrypting it; a novel technique could see future Web services work with sensitive data without ever being able to read it; several implementations of a mathematical proof unveiled last year will allow cryptographers to start making the proposal more practical.

  • Obama's 29 May 2009 cybersecurity speech: a year on

    On 29 May 2009 president Obama said “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity”; since then the United States has moved systematically toward enhancing cybersecurity through the following initiatives, but much remains to be done

  • Uncle Sam wants 10,000 new cybersecurity professionals

    The United States needs tens of thousands of cybersecurity practitioners, researchers, and — more recently — warriors; U.S. Cyber Challenge launches a nation-wide talent search; this summer, cybersecurity camps will be conducted in three states — California, New York, and Delaware; the goal is thirty-five camps in thirty-two states for next year

  • Symantec acquisitions contribute to making encryption-as-a-feature commonplace

    Encryption has been a growth market, fostered by increasingly stringent regulations from data breach notification laws, now in more than forty states, and tougher Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS)

  • New solution offers biometric security to mobile devices

    Aussie company offers a biometric security solution for mobile devices; a Bio-button token is authenticated by the user, and as long as the Bio-button remains in the range of the mobile device, the authentication will remain active. This means that if the phone or mobile device is stolen, lost, or moved away from the token, the pairing is disconnected and the authentication broken

  • CIA bolstering cyber war capabilities

    The CIA is increasing its cybersecurity budget by tens of million of dollars; investments in technology focused on defensive systems to prevent cyber threats, as well as offensive capabilities to launch cyber attacks and collect cyber intelligence

  • Breakthrough: new record bit rate for quantum key distribution

    Quantum encryption is the ultimate in unbreakable encrypted communication; it is based upon sending encoding single photons (particles of light) along the fiber; the laws of quantum physics dictate that any attempt by an eavesdropper to intercept and measure the photons alters their encoding, meaning that eavesdropping on quantum keys cannot not be detected; the major problem quantum encryption faces is the relatively short distance of encrypted transmissions

  • Israeli scientist invents a laser-based security tool for the CIA -- and for online shoppers

    When the RSA system for digital information security was introduced in the 1970s, the researchers who invented it predicted that their 200-bit key would take a billion years to crack; well, it was cracked five years ago; it is still the most secure system for consumers to use today when shopping online or using a bank card, but as computers become increasingly powerful, the idea of using the RSA system becomes more fragile; the solution lies in a new kind of system to keep prying eyes off secure information