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BBC: Russia is working on a Tor de-anonymization project

Jul22
by on July 22, 2019 at 5:36 am
Posted In: Around the Web


Hackers have stolen a massive trove of sensitive data and defaced the website of SyTech, a major contractor working for Russian intelligence agency FSB (Federal Security Service). BBC Russia, which reported the breach, said “it’s possible that this is the largest data leak in the history of the work of Russian special services on the Internet.” The documents included descriptions of dozens of internal projects the company was working on, including ones on de-anonymization of users of the Tor browser and researching the vulnerability of torrents. A Tor network routes internet traffic through random relays across the world, allowing users to…

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Anonymous chat apps fuels both free speech and cyberbullying

Jul21
by on July 21, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, syndication


When the anonymous social media app YOLO was launched in May 2019, it topped the iTunes downloads chart after just one week, despite the lack of a major marketing campaign. Designed to be used with social network Snapchat, YOLO lets users invite people to send them anonymous messages. Its viral popularity followed that of other apps, such as the now infamously defunct Yik Yak as well as Whisper, Secret, Spout, Swiflie, and Sarahah. All these cater to a desire for anonymous interaction online. The explosive popularity of YOLO has led to warnings of the same problem that led to Yik…

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Animals and plants help engineers light up cities, detect explosives, and predict natural disastors

Jul21
by on July 21, 2019 at 2:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, syndication, world


For decades, humans have modeled technology on observations of the natural world. But new discoveries about nature—and tools for manipulating it—have opened up novel approaches potentially more powerful than mere imitation to solving Human Age problems. Spinach that can detect explosives Engineers have discovered how to transform spinach plants into environmental sensors that can alert us to the presence of explosives. The development is one in the nascent field of “cyborg botany,” a merging of nature and technology that draws upon plants’ remarkable sensory capabilities in order to drive robots, provide environmental data, and more. In 2016, chemical engineer Min Hao…

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