Tag Archive for: Worrying

Quantum hacking is a looming privacy threat. Companies should start worrying now

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Now that everyone else has had a turn, quantum hackers are coming for your data.

Well, not quite yet. But they’re working on it.

Quantum computers, which are still in development by players such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft, hold enormous promise to do good as well as harm. The U.S. and Chinese governments are pouring billions into them.

For a primer on this new breed, I turned to Martin Lee, technical lead of security research and EMEA lead at Cisco Talos, the networking giant’s threat intelligence and response group.

Traditional computers operate on binary digits, or bits, that are either one or zero. In a quantum machine, “the bits are one, zero, or everything in between, all at the same time,” Lee says. So it “has the possibility of being able to calculate and consider many different solutions to a problem all at the same time to find the correct answer.”

That’s ideal for calculating the shapes of proteins to discover new drugs, Lee notes, or the thermodynamics of an engine.

It’s also perfect for stealing data.

Because a quantum computer makes calculating the factors of prime numbers much easier, it could swiftly crack many existing encryption algorithms, Lee says.

How soon? Maybe next year, maybe in five years, or maybe never, Lee reckons. But it’s time to start considering the problem so it doesn’t become an emergency, he warns. “Certainly, CIOs and CTOs need to think about ‘How do we prepare for a post-quantum world?’”

In response, companies are already developing and deploying quantum security. One is QuSecure, a California startup whose clients include Cisco, Dell, and the U.S. military.

Hackers are harvesting data now for quantum decryption later, says cofounder, chief product officer, and CTO Rebecca Krauthamer. Prime targets include electronic health and financial records, as well as national security data, Krauthamer adds. “All those kinds of things, they have a shelf life, and that’s why for some sectors, it’s a very urgent problem.”

To ward off quantum attacks, you fight fire with fire, right? Actually, no.

QuSecure’s software sits atop a client’s existing encryption, explains Skip Sanzeri, cofounder, chair, and COO. Besides some…

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Lapsus$ gang sends a worrying message to would-be criminals • The Register

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Analysis The Lapsus$ cyber-crime gang, believed to be based in Brazil, until recently was best known for attacks on that country’s Ministry of Health and Portuguese media outlets SIC Noticias and Expresso.

However, the gang is climbing up the ladder, swinging at larger targets in the tech industry. Over the past few weeks, those have included Nvidia, Samsung, and Argentine online marketplace operator Mercado Libre. Now, Lapsus$ is suspected of attacking game developer Ubisoft.

Lapsus$ in February compromised Nvidia, stealing a terabyte of data that included proprietary information and employee credentials, and dumping some of the data online. The crew also demanded the GPU giant remove limits on crypto-coin mining from its graphics cards, and open-source its drivers.

Days later, the group broke into Samsung, hoping to unlock the secrets of its TrustZone secure environment, and eventually leaked almost 200GB of data, including algorithms related to its biometric technologies, source code for bootloaders, activation servers, and authentication for Samsung accounts, and source code given to chip-designing partner Qualcomm.

Ubisoft, whose games include Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia and Watch Dogs, last week said in a brief statement it had “experienced a cyber security incident that caused temporary disruption to some of our games, systems, and services. Our IT teams are working with leading external experts to investigate the issue.”

The development house added that all of its games and services were operating as normal despite the attack. The online criminals have reportedly claimed the disruption was their work.

Growing pains

The attacks on Nvidia, Samsung, and seemingly Ubisoft represent a sharp upward turn in terms of the size of Lapsus$’s targets.

Cybersecurity experts describe a still-maturing cybercriminal group that is testing its capabilities with a range of different attack methods – from data…

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China’s Economy Is Slowing, a Worrying Sign for the World

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BEIJING — Construction and property sales have slumped. Small businesses have shut because of rising costs and weak sales. Debt-laden local governments are cutting the pay of civil servants.

China’s economy slowed markedly in the final months of last year as government measures to limit real estate speculation hurt other sectors as well. Lockdowns and travel restrictions to contain the coronavirus also dented consumer spending. Stringent regulations on everything from internet businesses to after-school tutoring companies have set off a wave of layoffs.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics said Monday that economic output from October through December was only 4 percent higher than during the same period a year earlier. That was a deceleration from the 4.9 percent growth in the third quarter, July through September.

The world’s demand for consumer electronics, furniture and other home comforts during the pandemic has produced record-setting exports for China, preventing its growth from stalling. Over all of last year, China’s economic output was 8.1 percent higher than in 2020, the government said. But much of the growth was in the first half of last year.

The snapshot of China’s economy, the main locomotive of global growth in the last few years, adds to expectations that the broader world economic outlook is beginning to dim. Making matters worse, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is now starting to spread in China, leading to more restrictions around the country and raising fears of renewed disruption of supply chains.

The slowing economy poses a dilemma for China’s leaders. The measures they have imposed to address income inequality and rein in companies are part of a long-term plan to protect the economy and national security. But officials are wary of causing short-term economic instability, particularly in a year of unusual political importance.

Next month, Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics, which will focus an international spotlight on the country’s performance. In the fall, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, is expected to claim a third five-year term at a Communist Party congress.

Mr. Xi has sought to strike an optimistic note. “We have every confidence in…

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The truly worrying malware – Newspaper

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ESPIONAGE and hostile surveillance are as old as human history. In the wild too, prey and predator keep an aggressive watch on each other, forever improving their strategy for survival. In the absence of technology, we even invented the myth of remote vigilance. Sanjay, a few thousand years before the advent of electronic espionage, could watch the contests on the battlefield from the palace of the blind king who he regularly briefed on the progress of the Mahabharata.

Simply put, Pegasus kind of snooping has been happening and even flourishing in societies democratic or otherwise. What sustains or expands the assault on our democratic rights today is the issue.

Read: Pegasus spyware: how does it work?

In the Soviet era, the West successfully, but not completely truthfully, claimed that spying on citizens was an integral part of communism. The Western bloc projected its own image as one of a free society where individual liberties were sacred and paramount. Disillusioned partisans on the rebound from Khrushchev’s exposé of Stalin only legitimised the notion of Big Brother keeping a toxic eye on fellow citizens.

The doughty American journalist Edward Murrow fought Senator McCarthy’s intrusion into newsrooms and Hollywood studio floors. He would swear by British democracy as the gold standard of probity. Murrow covered the war from London, and would observe later: “Britain fought and won without ever compromising the primacy of parliament.” Sadly, he spoke too soon. Quietly leading the secret charge against rights it would otherwise swear by, the UK is currently pondering a law that would put journalists at par with spies. Who leaked the picture of the health secretary kissing his aide is the pursuit, not why he broke the Covid law.

Pegasus seems just another handy tool available to delinquent states.

Bear in mind the tough fight being currently put up by the West against China over the 5G communications technology. The charge is that China would have access to global data. The 5G stand-off has its roots in 1948, when the UK and US signed the UKUSA agreement, a communication intelligence pact they later expanded to include Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This…

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