Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: security

Fabricating single-photon light sources from carbon nanotubes

Tiny tubes of carbon that emit single photons from just one point along their length have been made in a deterministic manner by RIKEN researchers. Such carbon nanotubes could form the basis of future quantum technologies based on light.

Light is currently used to freight data over long distances via optical fibers. But harnessing its quantum nature could offer several benefits, including unprecedented security since any inception by a third party can be detected.

Such quantum communication technology requires light sources that emit one photon at a time. Several systems are capable of realizing that, but of them carbon nanotubes are the most promising.

Major breakthrough clears key obstacle for the future of quantum internet

For years, the dream of a fully secure quantum Internet has been held back by a single, stubborn obstacle: repeaters. Whenever quantum networks needed them, scientists had to fall back on traditional models — a compromise that opened the door to potential security flaws. But now, researchers have finally filled in the missing piece of the puzzle, bringing the first true quantum relays within reach.

Unlike traditional data systems, quantum communication relies entirely on light. Instead of sending electrical signals, it uses pairs of entangled photons to create an unbreakable secret key between sender and receiver. Theoretically, this makes eavesdropping impossible — any attempt to intercept the signal would immediately destroy it.

Even with its promise of speed and security, quantum communication hasn’t yet reached everyday use. The main challenge lies in preserving quantum information. Only a handful of photons can travel together, and their light signal fades quickly over long distances.

Microsoft rolls out hardware-accelerated BitLocker in Windows 11

Microsoft is rolling out hardware-accelerated BitLocker in Windows 11 to address growing performance and security concerns by leveraging the capabilities of system-on-a-chip and CPU.

BitLocker is the native full-disk encryption feature in Windows that protects data from being readable without proper authentication. During normal device boot, it relies on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to securely manage encryption keys and automatically unlock the drive.

Microsoft states that as non-volatile memory express (NVMe) storage has become more performant, BitLocker’s cryptographic operations have a more noticeable performance impact for gaming and video editing activities.

Malicious extensions in Chrome Web store steal user credentials

Two Chrome extensions in the Web Store named ‘Phantom Shuttle’ are posing as plugins for a proxy service to hijack user traffic and steal sensitive data.

Both extensions are still present in Chrome’s official marketplace at the time of writing and have been active since at least 2017, according to a report from researchers at the Socket supply-chain security platform.

Phantom Shuttle’s target audience is users in China, including foreign trade workers who need to test connectivity from various locations in the country.

AI Bathroom Monitors? Welcome To America’s New Surveillance High Schools

This isn’t a high-security government facility. It’s Beverly Hills High School.

District superintendent Alex Cherniss says the striking array of surveillance tools is a necessity, and one that ensures the safety of his students. “We are in the hub of an urban setting of Los Angeles, in one of the most recognizable cities on the planet. So we are always a target and that means our kids are a target and our staff are a target,” he said. In the 2024–2025 fiscal year, the district spent $4.8 million on security, including staff. The surveillance system spots multiple threats per day, the district said.

Beverly Hills’ apparatus might seem extreme, but it’s not an outlier. Across the U.S., schools are rolling out similar surveillance systems they hope will keep them free of the horrific and unceasing tide of mass shootings. There have been 49 deaths from gunfire on school property this year. In 2024, there were 59, and in 2023 there were 45, per Everytown for Gun Safety. Between 2000 and 2,022,131 people were killed and 197 wounded at schools in the U.S., most of them children. Given those appalling metrics, allocating a portion of your budget to state of the art AI-powered safety and surveillance tools is a relatively easy decision.

Quantum entanglement could connect drones for disaster relief, bypassing traditional networks

Any time you use a device to communicate information—an email, a text message, any data transfer—the information in that transmission crosses the open internet, where it could be intercepted. Such communications are also reliant on internet connectivity, often including wireless signal on either or both ends of a transmission.

But what if two—or 10, or 100, or 1,000—entities could be connected in such a way that they could communicate information without any of those security or connectivity concerns?

That’s the challenge that Alexander DeRieux, a Virginia Tech Ph.D. student and Bradley Fellow in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, under the advisement of Professor Walid Saad, set out to tackle using quantum entanglement. In short, they used the unique properties of quantum bits, or qubits, as a method of transmitting information.

Windows 10 OOB update released to fix Message Queuing (MSMQ) issues

This month’s extended security update for Windows 10 broke Message Queuing (MSMQ), which is typically used by enterprises to manage background tasks.

Microsoft says it identified a fix and is now rolling out an out-of-band update (KB5074976) via Update Catalog to address it.

You won’t find the OOB on Windows Update or WSUS, as it’s only offered via Update Catalog, but if you are affected, you should download the out-of-band release.

/* */