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Archive for the ‘cybercrime/malcode’ category: Page 145

Aug 1, 2020

Florida teen, two others charged in Twitter ‘Bit-Con’ hacking attack

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Authorities in Florida say a 17 year old was the “mastermind” of the attack that targeted the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kanye West, Bill Gates and others.

Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Oct. 21, 2015. David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images file.

Jul 31, 2020

A new neural network could help computers code themselves

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

Computer programming has never been easy. The first coders wrote programs out by hand, scrawling symbols onto graph paper before converting them into large stacks of punched cards that could be processed by the computer. One mark out of place and the whole thing might have to be redone.

Nowadays coders use an array of powerful tools that automate much of the job, from catching errors as you type to testing the code before it’s deployed. But in other ways, little has changed. One silly mistake can still crash a whole piece of software. And as systems get more and more complex, tracking down these bugs gets more and more difficult. “It can sometimes take teams of coders days to fix a single bug,” says Justin Gottschlich, director of the machine programming research group at Intel.

Jul 31, 2020

Fooling deep neural networks for object detection with adversarial 3D logos

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

Over the past decade, researchers have developed a growing number of deep neural networks that can be trained to complete a variety of tasks, including recognizing people or objects in images. While many of these computational techniques have achieved remarkable results, they can sometimes be fooled into misclassifying data.

An adversarial attack is a type of cyberattack that specifically targets deep neural networks, tricking them into misclassifying data. It does this by creating adversarial data that closely resembles and yet differs from the data typically analyzed by a deep neural network, prompting the network to make incorrect predictions, failing to recognize the slight differences between real and adversarial data.

In recent years, this type of attack has become increasingly common, highlighting the vulnerabilities and flaws of many deep neural networks. A specific type of that has emerged in recent years entails the addition of adversarial patches (e.g., logos) to images. This attack has so far primarily targeted models that are trained to detect objects or people in 2-D images.

Jul 30, 2020

Exclusive: Chinese-backed hackers targeted COVID-19 vaccine firm Moderna

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, government

More from 2020 “The Movie”

Chinese government-linked hackers targeted biotech company Moderna Inc, a leading U.S.-based coronavirus vaccine research developer, earlier this year in a bid to steal valuable data, according to a U.S. security official tracking Chinese hacking activity.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Chinese government-linked hackers targeted biotech company Moderna Inc, a leading U.S.-based coronavirus vaccine research developer, earlier this year in a bid to steal valuable data, according to a U.S. security official tracking Chinese hacking activity.

Jul 28, 2020

Improving massively imbalanced datasets in machine learning with synthetic data

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

Handling imbalanced datasets in machine learning is a difficult challenge, and can include topics such as payment fraud, diagnosing cancer or disease, and even cyber security attacks. What all of these have in…

Jul 18, 2020

Scientists hack mouse brains to “delete” opioid addiction

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, neuroscience

To treat the mice, the team gave them brain implants: a fiber optic that shined light onto a region called the paraventricular thalamus and blocked withdrawal symptoms. A day later, the mice no longer sought out morphine and relapse — or at least do the lab mouse version of relapsing — even after two weeks.

According to the new research, published Thursday in the journal Neuron, people relapse partially because they miss the high, but more so because the symptoms of withdrawal can often be overwhelming. By down those symptoms, the mice appear to be able to kick the habit more easily.

“Our success in preventing relapse in rodents may one day translate to an enduring treatment of opioid addiction in people,” CAS researcher Zhu Yingjie said in a press release.

Jul 18, 2020

Trust Stamp integrating biometric hash solution with Mastercard on children’s vaccine record system

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, encryption, privacy

Digital identity capabilities from Trust Stamp are now being integrated with Mastercard’s Wellness Pass solution, which it will launch in cooperation with Gavi in West Africa. Proving identity without revealing any information about it is the idea behind Trust Stamp’s zero knowledge approach to online identity verification, according to a profile by Mastercard.

Gareth Genner, Trust Stamp co-founder and CEO, explains in an interview how the company’s Evergreen Hash technology uses biometrics without taking on the risk of spoofing or a data breach that he says come with standard biometric implementations.

The Evergreen Hash is created from the customers face, palm or fingerprint biometrics, which the company uses to generate a “3D mask,” discarding raw data and adding encryption to associate the data with the user.

Jul 16, 2020

New BlackRock Android malware can steal passwords and card data from 337 apps

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, finance, robotics/AI

Android apps targeted by this new trojan include banking, dating, social media, and instant messaging apps.

Jul 16, 2020

Russia trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine data, say UK, U.S. and Canada

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode

2020 is officially a movie:

Russian hackers are trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine and treatment research from pharmaceutical and academic institutions, according to Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre.


Hackers backed by the Russian state are trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine and treatment research from academic and pharmaceutical institutions around the world, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said on Thursday.

Continue reading “Russia trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine data, say UK, U.S. and Canada” »

Jul 15, 2020

Chainalysis Says Bitcoin Scammed From Twitter Users Is ‘On the Move’

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, cybercrime/malcode

Scammers are everywhere now.


The defrauded bitcoin amassed during Wednesday’s monumental Twitter hack is already “on the move,” according to cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis.