Artificial Intelligence, The True Beginning Occurred In 1912

Well crafted blog entry authored by Professor Herbert Bruderer at the Communications of the ACM blog, detailing the true start of Artificial Intelligence in 1912.

'If one takes chess as a yardstick for artificial intelligence, however, this branch of research begins much earlier, at the latest in 1912 with the chess automaton of the Spaniard Leonardo Torres Quevedo (cf. Fig. 1). In the chess playing Turk (1769) of Wolfgang von Kempelen, a human player was hidden." - via Herbert Bruderer, retired lecturer of Didactics in Computer Science at ETH Zürich

Reportedly, Professor. Bruderer is now retired from his lecturer role in Didactics of Computer Science at ETH Zürich, and recently, he has fulfilled the role of Historian of Technology.

DEF CON 27, Wireless Village, Besim Altinok's & Legendary Nacar's 'Edu Driving' →

Thanks to Def Con 27 Volunteers, Videographers and Presenters for publishing their superlative conference videos via their YouTube Channel for all to see, enjoy and learn.

Dok'd

MAC users take note, there's evil malware in the wild - and - according to Checkpoint's Ofer Caspi of the highly competent Checkpoint Malware Research Team, the bits in question are not just pernicous, but tenacious as well, and, interestingly, specifically targeting Mac users. Dubbed OSX/Dok it's time to update your virus prophylaxis on your MAC, forthwith.

The OSX/Dok malware is distributed via a phishing campaign, which is usually not a new or surprising attack vector, however this time it targets specifically macOS users, who are mostly perceived as malware-proof. This phishing campaign is combined with a MiTM attack, allowing complete access to all victim communication, even if it’s SSL encrypted. - via Checkpoint's Ofer Caspi - Checkpoint Malware Research Team

LuciuOS →

In which, the new malware-focused development framework for malware research and mitigation is introduced. Enjoy.

USENIX Research, Behavior Comparison of Security Experts vs. Non-Experts

via the Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG) Online Security Blog comes this interesting USENIX Research Paper, detailing security related behaviors between and betwixt so-called 'security experts' and laymen... Enjoy.

Researched Research on Anti-Drone Research

News, via Aliya Sternstein, writing at NextGov, details research regarding anti-drone activities fueled by published research. A drone research conundrum, of sorts...

Anti-Forensics and Actionable Evidence →

News, brought to my attention by Steve Hailey, CEO of the Cybersecurity Institute, is todays MustRead, focusing on Anti-Forensics. Examine, if you will, the affect anti-forensics has on investigatory professionals when performing examinations targeting computational systems. If you read anything today regarding forensics, read Steve's posting on LinkedIn, and the paper published by the three University of Washington researchers responsible for this superlative effort. Namely, Justin Brecese MSIM , Aaron Alva MISM and Casey Rodgers MISM. You may also download the documents from the CyberSecurity Insitute here in a compressed file, or from UW's Capstone Archives.

Noah's Ark, Москва Style

News' has reached the New World, of a fascinating endeavor - led by researchers at Moscow State University -  to locate, gather, categorize and store all Deoxyribonucleic Acid on Earth. A new form of Russian Hegemony, or a commendable and valid scientific effort to preserve the genetic code of nearly all living things in a veritable snap-shot of life? You be the judge...

"I call the project ‘Noah’s Ark.’ It will involve the creation of a depository – a databank for the storing of every living thing on Earth, including not only living, but disappearing and extinct organisms. This is the challenge we have set for ourselves,” MSU rector Viktor Sadivnichy told journalists. " - via RT News

Name'd →

Everything you would want to know about the naming of malware, via Violet Blue for Zero Day. Enjoy.

XKCD, Proteins →

via Randall Munroe, at XKCD.

DARPA's Therapeutic Implantable Memory →

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced an astounding project targeting implantable memory prosthetics to assist service-members and other patients whose memory has suffered degradation due to PTSD. Outstanding.

Traffic Infrastructure, Security of

via the SCADASEC mail list, comes this well crafted paper entitled, appropriately enough: Green Lights Forever: Analyzing the Security of Traffic Infrastructure, authored by Branden Ghena, William Beyer, Allen Hillaker, Jonathan Pevarnek, and J. Alex Halderman [all members of the University of Michigan's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department]. Detailing the both the obvious, and necessarily, the not so obvious nature of the movable feast we have created on our nations, and the world' streets. Today's' Must Read.

Mnemonic Wheel

An aged mnemonic given new life. In this case, the utilization of artifacts [color wheels] which inform memory regarding password data entry. Today's' Must Read.

Internet of Untrusted Things...

via the superlative journalism of Dan Goodin at ArsTechnica, comes the sad tale of flawed light bulbs; in which, the internet of things are coupled to, evidently, the interweb-of-less-than-secure-objects-with-little-need-to-be-on-the-internet-in-the-first-place.

Android Cryptography Woes

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.*  Apparently all the makings [crypto flaws] of an extraordinary breach of sensitive data, this time contained within an enormous number of Android devices, has been discovered. Astonishingly, upwards of eighty-six percentile of all Android devices may be vulnerable.

*[Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' speech of Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III, 1598., evidently all the more relevant today...]

Distribution, Quantum Key, that is...

via Nature [Toshihiko Sasaki, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and Masato Koashi) and reported by Wired's Chris Lee comes this fascinating tale of the tribulations enveloping quantum key distribution [QKD]. The proof, as they say in the vernacular, resides within the experiment...

Mickens: Computers are a Sadness, I am the Cure...

via Monitorama PDX 2014 an exposition of sorts, presented by the eponymous James Mickens of  Microsoft Corporation (NasdaqGS: MSFT) Research. Hat Tip -Trey at Firewall Consultants.