Tag: Immune | SpinSafe

AI not immune to hacking, says Hon Hai Research Institute CEO

May 4, 2022/in Computer Security

Hon Hai Research Institute CEO Wei-Bin Lee. Credit: DIGITIMES

AI has permeated well into the modern society playing a crucial role in a wide variety of applications, but AI systems, just like all kinds of computer operating systems, can hardly avoid being hacked. Therefore how to make them stay immune to attacks has become a common goal for all those engaged in the AI technology development, Wei-Bin Lee, CEO of Hon Hai Research Institute under Foxconn Technology Group, has said.

AI is a powerful tool that can help users quickly analyze data, seek correlations between different data, and make inferences or even decisions, but whether it can go wrong or be deceived seems to be an issue rarely mentioned when people discuss AI, Lee noted in a pre-event interview ahead of DIGITIMES-organized 2022 Taiwan AI Expo running May 4-6.

Once hacked AI models go wrong, he continued, the impact will be hard to estimate, especially those with high security requirements, such as systems for self-driving cars

The value of AI cannot be highlighted via innovative algorithms alone, and instead, many supporting or complementary innovations such as new workflows and new business models are also needed to enable successful AI-based IT application services. In other words, AI can help enterprises differentiate their services and achieve sales breakthrough in the market, Lee indicated.

While hackers used to attack the most vulnerable parts of IT systems, will they switch to attack AI models? And will it be easier to attack AI models than IT systems? Or will attacking the AI model make certain goals easier to accomplish? All these issues are naturally what should be taken into account during the early development of AI technology, Lee said.

AI models are complex logics learned from training data. But when people deploy AI models on systems, there are often corner cases where the models cannot be accurately recognized, as the cases are not included in the training data. Actually, many such cases have been found in the application of AI to self-driving systems, according to Lee.

Malicious AI manipulations

There is no problem in AI itself, Lee stressed, and the real problem is that some people…

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Linux is not immune to malware; These are some of the most dangerous Linux threats in 2021

August 28, 2021/in Computer Security

So yesterday I wrote about the latest iteration of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS coming out in my usual glowing terms. I feel like there was nothing amiss in that article after all Ubuntu, especially the version in question, is a stellar operating system that is rock solid and has served me well. A few people however decided to call me on my bias and asked me to publicly admit that there is no such thing as an invulnerable operating system under the sun.

Why I think Linux is inherently secure?
What makes Linux better than Windows in my opinion is not just the open-source code that is reviewed by scores of experts around the world. It’s the philosophy behind it all. In Windows, ignorant users can click around and blunder the way to productivity. The system is meant to be easy and fits many use cases by default. All you need to do is boot up, enter your password or just stare at your computer to login, get to the desktop and click on Chrome and you are watching cat videos.

So here is me doing exactly that. I think I should repeat that for emphasis: There is no such thing as an invulnerable operating system under the sun. I often say the best way to make your computer impenetrable is to shut it down and pulverise it thoroughly with a hammer. But even then who knows? I have seen FBI nerds in real movies pull information on a single surviving chip.

In Linux, things can be but are usually not that easy. While you can use Windows without knowing what a registry is. In Linux, you have to be hands-on with your configurations. Every action you take has to be deliberate otherwise your risk breaking things. Often you have to set up your desktop the way you want, Chrome is not installed by default and sometimes you cannot even play videos until you install the right codecs. Linux forces you to learn and pay attention to what you are doing. You are often forced to learn why you are doing things in addition to how to do things.

Linux rules the cloud. There is no other way to put it. This means there are more Linux cloud instances than the competition. Naturally that means more targets
These targets tend to be more valuable that desktop targets. A company attacked by ransomware is more likely to pay than…

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Dutch researchers build security software to mimic human immune system

May 24, 2021/in Computer Security

Dutch research institute TNO, in collaboration with various partners, has developed self-healing security software.

This software is based on the functioning of the human immune system, based on the concept that by mimicking the human regeneration process in IT systems, cyber attacks can be averted much more quickly.

Cyber security is high on the agenda at almost all Dutch organisations. While it is difficult to completely protect a company’s systems, cyber criminals only need one weak spot and can’t afford a single a slip. This means that criminals are, by definition, one up.

Bart Gijsen is a consultant at TNO and involved in the self-healing project team in the Partnership for Cyber Security Innovation (PCSI). “Every time the attacker comes up with something new, the victim has to find a defence mechanism, and once new protection is found, the attacker comes up with a way to crack that again,” he said of the cyber security rat race.

To break through this, TNO and various Dutch banks and insurance companies had already been working on possible new approaches to cyber security for some time. “At PCSI partner Achmea, one person who started working there as an enterprise architect was Rogier Reemer, and he originally graduated as an immunologist,” said Gijsen.

Reemer saw all kinds of parallels with the human immune system in the field of cyber security and then held a presentation about it in his organisation. “At the same time, at another partner in the PCSI programme, they had come to the conclusion that the current way of looking at cyber defence would never be able to overcome the deficit in the fight against cyber criminals,” he said. “They wanted to look at security in a fundamentally different way.”

The strength of the cooperation in the PCSI lies in bringing different parties together to inspire and learn from each other. “We sat down together and asked TNO experts in the field of ICT and microbiology to contribute ideas.”

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