Category: News You Can Use

How Telegram Became a Destination for Criminals

Posted on by esimantiras

How Telegram Became a Destination for Criminals

source: axios.com (contributed by FAN, Bill Amshey)  |  image: pexels.com

 

Telegram has long been a hotbed for cybercriminal gangs boasting about their attacks and looking to recruit new members.

Why it matters: Billionaire Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest over the weekend has put a spotlight on what policies Telegram does — and doesn’t — have to deter cybercriminals and extremist groups who use its platform.

The big picture: Telegram’s relaxed content moderation policies and encrypted service offerings have made it an attractive destination for cybercriminals, terrorism organizations and drug dealers.

  • Terrorist organizations, including ISIS, have used Telegram to publicly claim responsibility for attacks.
  • Politically motivated hackers — including those tied to the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war — also post about their crimes in public Telegram forums.

Experts say Telegram has unique features that — taken in combination — hackers have been able to abuse in an effort to hide their activities.

  • Secret Chats allows users to turn on end-to-end encryption.
  • That means Telegram has no way of seeing what’s discussed in Secret Chat conversations. Users also can’t forward these messages, which can self-destruct — making it even harder for third parties to intercept their contents.
  • Apple Messages and WhatsApp messages are also encrypted by default, but neither allows users to sign up with a virtual phone number.
  • Telegram accounts don’t need to be linked to a SIM card, Taisiia Garkava, an intelligence analyst at Intel 471, told Axios.

Continue reading “How Telegram Became a Destination for Criminals” →

Deploying Deepfake Detection

Posted on by esimantiras

Deploying Deepfake Detection

source: cnet.com  |  image: pexels.com

 

Deepfake video, photo and audio programs have benefited from the same AI boost as other software programs, which is … worrisome, to say the least. But security software company McAfee is hoping AI can play a role in solving the problem. The company unveiled the McAfee Deepfake Detector this week, and folks with Lenovo’s new Copilot-Plus PCs will be the first to get the chance to try out the tool. It scans audio in videos you come across online to alert you to potential deepfakes, but it won’t work if the sound is off. It also can’t determine if photos are deepfakes.

I don’t mind admitting that deepfakes are one of the consequences of AI that keep me up at night. We’ve seen a lot of AI-generated content used for jokes and memes — remember that one of the pope in a puffy white coat? — but it can also be used maliciously, such as to spread political disinformation. So, for my two cents, any effort to take a closer look at questionable material online is a good one.

Swimming microrobots deliver cancer-fighting drugs…

Posted on by esimantiras

Swimming microrobots deliver cancer-fighting drugs to metastatic lung tumors in mice

 

source: sciencedaily.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, known as microrobots, capable of swimming through the lungs to deliver cancer-fighting medication directly to metastatic tumors. This approach has shown promise in mice, where it inhibited the growth and spread of tumors that had metastasized to the lungs, thereby boosting survival rates compared to control treatments.

The findings are detailed in a paper published on June 12 in Science Advances.The microrobots are an ingenious combination of biology and nanotechnology. They are a joint effort between the labs of Joseph Wang and Liangfang Zhang, both professors in the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

To create the microrobots, researchers chemically attached drug-filled nanoparticles to the surface of green algae cells. The algae, which provide the microrobots with their movement, enable the nanoparticles to efficiently swim around in the lungs and deliver their therapeutic payload to tumors. Continue reading “Swimming microrobots deliver cancer-fighting drugs…” →

Is Your Computer Part of ‘The Largest Botnet Ever?’

Posted on by esimantiras

Is Your Computer Part of ‘The Largest Botnet Ever?’

source: krebsonsecurity.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

he U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today said they arrested the alleged operator of 911 S5, a ten-year-old online anonymity service that was powered by what the director of the FBI called “likely the world’s largest botnet ever.” The arrest coincided with the seizure of the 911 S5 website and supporting infrastructure, which the government says turned computers running various “free VPN” products into Internet traffic relays that facilitated billions of dollars in online fraud and cybercrime.

On May 24, authorities in Singapore arrested the alleged creator and operator of 911 S5, a 35-year-old Chinese national named YunHe Wang. In a statement on his arrest today, the DOJ said 911 S5 enabled cybercriminals to bypass financial fraud detection systems and steal billions of dollars from financial institutions, credit card issuers, and federal lending programs. Continue reading “Is Your Computer Part of ‘The Largest Botnet Ever?’” →

NSA Warns iPhone And Android Users To Turn It Off And On Again

Posted on by esimantiras

NSA Warns iPhone And Android Users To Turn It Off And On Again

source: Forbes.com (contributed by FAN, Steve Page)  |  image: pixabay.com

 

Updated Saturday, June 1: This article has been updated to include clarifcation around the safety of using public Wi-Fi networks and additional advice from the NCSC and FCC.

Although some people might worry about the National Security Agency itself spying on their phones, the NSA has some sage advice for iPhone and android users concerned about zero-click exploits and the like: turn it off and on again once per week.

How often do you turn off your iPhone or android device? Completely turn it off and then reboot it, rather than just going into standby mode, that is. I suspect that the answer for many people is only when a security or operating system update requires it. That, according to the NSA, could be a big mistake.

Users can mitigate the threat of spear-phishing, which can lead to the installation of yet more malware and spyware, by the same simple action. However, the NSA document does warn that the turn it off and on again advice will only sometimes prevent these attacks from being successful. Continue reading “NSA Warns iPhone And Android Users To Turn It Off And On Again” →

How to Protect Yourself (and Your Loved Ones) From AI Scam Calls

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How to Protect Yourself (and Your Loved Ones) From AI Scam Calls

 

source: wired.com  |  image: pexels.com

 
AI tools are getting better at cloning people’s voices, and scammers are using these new capabilities to commit fraud. Avoid getting swindled by following these expert tips.

YOU ANSWER A random call from a family member, and they breathlessly explain how there’s been a horrible car accident. They need you to send money right now, or they’ll go to jail. You can hear the desperation in their voice as they plead for an immediate cash transfer. While it sure sounds like them, and the call came from their number, you feel like something’s off. So, you decide to hang up and call them right back. When your family member picks up your call, they say there hasn’t been a car crash, and that they have no idea what you’re talking about.

Congratulations, you just successfully avoided an artificial intelligence scam call. Continue reading “How to Protect Yourself (and Your Loved Ones) From AI Scam Calls” →

Majority of Consumers Feel Safe With DIY Home Security: Parks Study

Posted on by esimantiras

Majority of Consumers Feel Safe With DIY Home Security: Parks Study

 

source: technewsworld.com  |  image:  pexels.com

 

Some 60% of consumers believe their self-monitoring home security systems keep them just as safe as monitoring provided by security pros, according to research released by Parks Associates.

“Consumers view self-monitoring as a way to be notified of what’s going on in their homes. For many of them, that can provide the peace-of-mind that’s safe enough for certain households,” Parks President and CEO Elizabeth Parks told TechNewsWorld.

Based on a survey of 8,000 U.S. internet households, the research also found that the major reason for canceling professional monitoring systems was cost, with 25% of consumers citing “fees too high” as their reason for terminating their monitoring services.

Also mentioned as reasons for cutting professional monitoring were an increased sense of neighborhood safety and a realization that the household doesn’t use its system enough.

While many consumers feel their self-monitoring systems keep them safe, professional monitoring services remain popular.

Continue reading “Majority of Consumers Feel Safe With DIY Home Security: Parks Study” →

A Titanic Geopolitical Struggle Is Underway

Posted on by esimantiras

 A Titanic Geopolitical Struggle Is Underway

 

source: axios.com, contributed by FAN, Bill Amshey  |  image: pexels.com

There are many ways to explain the two biggest conflicts in the world today, but my own shorthand has been that Ukraine wants to join the West and Israel wants to join the Arab East — and Russia, with Iran’s help, is trying to stop the first, and Iran and Hamas are trying to stop the second.

While the two battlefronts may look very different, they actually have a lot in common. They reflect a titanic geopolitical struggle between two opposing networks of nations and nonstate actors over whose values and interests will dominate our post-post-Cold War world — following the relatively stable Pax Americana/globalization era that was ushered in by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, America’s chief Cold War rival.

Yes, this is no ordinary geopolitical moment.

Continue reading “A Titanic Geopolitical Struggle Is Underway” →

Russian Intelligence Is Pushing False Claims of U.S. Biological Testing in Africa, U.S. Says

Posted on by esimantiras

Russian Intelligence Is Pushing False Claims of U.S. Biological Testing in Africa, U.S. Says

 

source: https://www.wsj.com, contributed by FAN Chuck Miller  |  image: pexels.com

 

Media disinformation operation with Wagner Group link takes aim at American influence on continent

 

WSJ: Michael R. Gordon, Gabriele Steinhauser, Dustin Volz, and Ann Simmons

Russian intelligence agencies are trying to undermine U.S. influence in Africa by spreading disinformation that Africans have been the unwitting test subjects in Pentagon biological research programs and casting aspersions on Western public-health programs, U.S. officials said. 

The effort is part of a Russian campaign to counter the U.S. in Africa and Latin America as Washington and Moscow battle for public opinion around the world. 

At the heart of the Russian campaign is “African Initiative,” an online news service set up late last year that has used social media to promote criticism of Western public-health efforts in Africa and convened a conference in which participants disparaged Western pharmaceutical companies.

Continue reading “Russian Intelligence Is Pushing False Claims of U.S. Biological Testing in Africa, U.S. Says” →

In 2024, Biosensors Are Becoming More Accessible: What It Means for You

Posted on by esimantiras

In 2024, Biosensors Are Becoming More Accessible: What It Means for You

source: cnet.com  |  image: medicaldevice-network.com 

New biowearables are giving people with Type 2 diabetes more options. Those without diabetes can get even more insight into their health.

Deep in your body, under your skin, are measurable elements of your health that affect your risk of developing some of the most common diseases worldwide. Some of these things, like blood oxygen and sleep quality, can be detected through a traditional wearable or smartwatch. But some of the other useful data people can actually act on to become more healthy has either been restricted to prescription devices or simply hasn’t been available in the US. Think your blood sugar levels.

Improvements in biosensing technology are inching closer to changing the wearable status quo. At CES this year, companies came forward with the latest developments in biosensors, which have been in the works for years but only recently started to shape into something the “average” consumer could benefit from. This includes the one in three US adults in “prediabetes” territory, where blood sugar levels are high but not yet high enough to constitute a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis. 

Could biosensors, which dig for and retrieve even more information than what we’re used to, benefit someone in a window of opportunity, where choices made today could turn around or reverse a future health condition? If they’re able to reach more people, possibly. 

“People are familiar with wearables, and we see biowearables as the next step in that technology,” said Marc Taub, divisional vice president of technical operations for Abbott’s diabetes care business. The devices can give people “insight into their bodies they never had before,” Taub said during a digital health panel at CES last week.

What are biosensors? 

Biosensors are a wearable you stick to a part of your body, like your arm, to lift health data using a tiny sensor. Continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, for people with Type 1 diabetes have been the main product. 

Continue reading “In 2024, Biosensors Are Becoming More Accessible: What It Means for You” →