Infosec & Google’s Project Zero: Google says try harder
New research by Maddie Stone, a researcher at
Google’s Project Zero security team, suggests hackers have it way too easy
thanks to the business world’s failure to patch zero-day and recurring
vulnerabilities.
According
to Stone, attackers these days don’t really need to come up with new
vulnerabilities to exploit. Although industry leaders including Google itself
are diligent enough in issuing patches to zero-day vulnerabilities, these bug
fixes often fall flat and don’t fully address the issue, leaving the doors open
to future attacks.
Project Zero, whose only focus is to investigate these zero-day flaws, advocates for greater investment and a more proactive approach to security. The key, Stone says, is to let engineers go deeper to identify the root of the problem and implement more meaningful structural changes.
This week we got a surprise announcement from
a technology titan: Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon. And his
choice of successor is quite revealing of where the industry is headed
next.
Amazon
started as an online retailer, and that’s for what most people know the
company. But it’s not where the money is at. Any tech insider like yourself
will undoubtedly tell the layman that the Seattle born company makes most of
its revenue with its cloud services. It is no surprise then, that Bezos has
chosen Andy Jassy, head of Amazon Web Services, to take the company into the
future.
And Amazon is not alone here. Microsoft is no longer the company that makes Windows. Google is not just a search engine. Cloud has clearly become the winning bet for tech goliaths. And, with only 25-30 percent of business workloads in the cloud. we are just seeing the beginning of it.
And speaking of Microsoft and cloud, the Redmond-based company announced this week the availability on preview of Azure Quantum, a public cloud ecosystem that lets users access the quantum capabilities of partners like Honeywell, IonQ and Quantum Circuits.
With this
public preview, Microsoft wants to encourage developers, researchers and
systems integrators to learn how to use the platform and build applications
that could potentially transform a wide range of industries.
The announcement comes the same week Dutch researchers at Radbourd University revealed a new method for assembling a network of atoms that works in a similar way to the synapses in our brains. The breakthrough, the researchers say, is a major step towards the creation of a quantum brain that is able to function and change like a human’s.
Nadia got to the address her sister had mentioned way before noon. Not because she cared about punctuality or anything like that. She hadn’t been able to sleep after the call, and there was only so much walking around to be done in a small town like Coventry. Plus, she needed to survey the area before the meeting. If the events of the past few days have told her anything, that was to always be prepared for the worse. Her sister must have thought that was a safe place to hide from the kidnappers. Nadia wouldn’t be doing her any service if she got spotted out of pure recklessness.
In any case, there she was, hiding behind some bushes like a sloppy burglar. That was, of course, assuming her sister meant 246 Reinford Lane, Coventry and not 246 Reinford Lane, London or some other city. Hopefully not.
It was a small house, one of those narrow and tall townhouses with a small, elevated staircase that connects the front door with the street. The curtains were closed shut on all windows, so there was not much that Nadia could make out from across the street. She examined what seemed to be the door to the basement, a rusty door at the street level with no handle or windows. A side alley led to the back of the property.
After making sure no one besides her was lurking behind a bush, Nadia walked across the street and went into the alley. It ended abruptly on a wooden fence crowned by overflowing vegetation. Nadia went back a few steps and made a run for it. After a couple failed attempts, she managed to push herself over the fence and fell in the middle of a jungle of a garden. Plants were sprouting from literally everywhere, to the point that it was hard to distinguish the flat stones that served as the floor. The house’s back wall was covered in vines. So were the windows.
Nadia fought her way through the greenery all the way to what seemed to be the door into the house. She tore off the vines covering it and tried pushing the handle. To her surprise, the door opened with a tiny squeak. Shhh!
A rancid smell hanged in the air. For all she could see in the pale light coming through the open door, she was in the basement she had seen earlier. A staircase led upstairs, probably to the rest of the house. Nadia stood still and listened for a while. No sounds were coming from upstairs. She started making her way up, slowly but steady, one step at a time. The wood cracked under her feet with every step, making her cringe. But Nadia hadn’t made it half the way up when a fluorescent light turned on behind her.
“Welcome, sister.”
Nadia gave a jump and turned around with a racing heart. There was her sister, sitting on a worn-out leather armchair by the door.
“You really are that easy to predict, aren’t you?” The smirk on her sister’s face brought Nadia back to her childhood days and the not-so-nice version of her sister. She had changed so much over the past years. Nadia hadn’t seen that mocking smile in a long time. Something was off. “Classic Nadia, always one step ahead, or at least happily thinking so. Well, this time I was the one ahead, wasn’t I?”
“Ahead of what? Seriously, can you tell me what’s going on with this whole thing? How did you free yourself? Where were they keeping you?”
“Free myself? You really don’t get it, do you? It beats you to think someone could outsmart you or want you harm. It always has.”
“Alright, you are freaking me out, siss,” said Nadia. “Spill it. What’s going on.”
“Why don’t you take a seat?”
“I’m fine.”
“As you wish,” said her sister crossing one leg on top of the other and resting her back against the armchair. “Do you recognise this?” she said holding up a card. Nadia did recognise it right away. It was the invite card that Tom had given her to get into the party. It was hard to believe only two days had passed since then. And it felt like ages ago.
“How did you get that?”
“Oh, it’s easy. I made it myself. You see, there’s just so much you can squeeze into such a thin material these days. Recording the data was the easy part, I just needed you to have the card with you while you were in the holovisor cabin.”
“So Tom…”
“Yep. He was acting on my behalf. Don’t blame him. Let’s just say he wasn’t too keen on me letting the police know about his boyfriend’s little magic tricks with his taxes. A pity he decided to make it up to you and ended up shot for it.”
Nadia’s blood was boiling, her head spinning between confusion and sheer disbelief.
“But why…”
“Because it needed to be done. You had it coming all along. Since we were kids, I’ve had to deal with your oh-so-perfect aura. You know, it wasn’t that fun seeing everybody praise every little step you took while I failed at every major goal I set out to achieve. You were the one who was good with numbers, the one that made it into the good schools. Don’t you get it? I wanted to be you, have your career, your life, not have to depend on a miserable admin salary. Well, now it’s my turn.
As much as it hurt, Nadia wasn’t entirely surprised by her sister’s revelations. She had exhibited that kind of attitude for most of their childhood. But Nadia thought they had left those years behind, grown into adults who got along just fine. Heck, she thought they had even become friendly to a certain degree. Her birthday gift sort of sealed that conception. Her sister, reaching back to one of the few things they had in common growing up: Ziza.
She understood all of a sudden.
“EVE”
“Exactly. See? You are not that stupid after all. It wasn’t too complicated to install a backdoor into the AI before giving it to you. I must admit I had quite some fun telling you what to do.”
“But everything that EVE, I mean that you told me to do was petty stuff. You couldn’t have retrieved the Duplo data through that.”
“Agreed. But it was enough to open little wholes within the system, right where I needed them, so that I could start transferring information to the card. Worked pretty well.”
Nadia felt so stupid. It was a very simple trick in reality. One of the world’s most protected systems, breached through carelessness and personal deceit. The wailing sound of sirens could be heard approaching in the distance.
“I took the liberty of calling some friends,” said her sister. “They should be here any minute.”
“What did you do with the data?”
“Why, sell it, of course. I am now what they technically call filthy rich.”
“I’ll tell them everything.” The sirens grew louder and louder.
“Good luck making them believe this crazy story,” said her sister with a chuckle. “Goodbye siss, enjoy your prison cell. It will be your home for many years.”
With that, her sister stood up and walk out into the garden. Nadia heard a crashing boom as the special operations team busted through the house’s main door.
Translating Cat Meows; what the EU could do about emissions; Quantum moves ahead; and an anti-poaching cloud cover... Discover our Weekly News.
Translating Cat Meows; what the EU could do about emissions; Quantum moves ahead; and an anti-poaching cloud cover… Discover our Weekly News.
Translating Cat Meows: Do you speak cat?
What did the cat just say?
According to research, cats do not share a common language. Every cat is unique and tailors its meows to its owner (a.k.a. human servant). And, just like it happens with people, some cats are chattier than others.
Well, a former Amazon Alexa developer has created an app that leverages AI and machine learning to translate those meows into human language.
MeowTalk already has 13 phrases in its vocabulary, including “Feed me!” and “Leave me alone.”
You can bet you’ll be hearing the first one a lot more.
The use of renewable energies and other traditional approaches to curbing emissions are no longer enough if the EU wants to meet its 2050 climate-neutrality target.
Enter technology.
From large-scale, data-powered simulations of the Earth’s climate to green data centers, there are plenty of emerging technology initiatives underway for which EU funding could be a game-changer.
The folks at Politico have compiled a shortlist for you to bring up over dinner.
Several of the world’s leading research institutions and tech companies have been working on their own take on quantum computing for a while now.
One of the key differences between the various approaches out there is what is used as the basis of the computer’s qubits, the basic units of information on which quantum computers operate.
While technology juggernauts like IBM and Intel had traditionally opted for using tiny superconducting loops as qubits, the use of trapped-ion systems remained marginal.
Now that is changing. Ion traps have gained traction, which is good for competition.
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has revealed how its collaboration with Google Cloud is helping protect endangered species from poachers.
Beyond developing custom machine learning models to identify and track threatened animals across the globe, ZSL used a network of acoustic sensors to listen for gunshots in a nature reserve in Cameroon.
The organisation then used the data collected to generate insights on poacher activity, revealing key details like what time of day poachers tend to be more active and where.
ZSL hopes to evolve these insights into a monitoring system that is able to provide alerts in real time.
“You know, it’s not the first time I deal with the likes of you. Nor it will be the last, for that matter.”
There is something unsettling about empty
houses. Especially when they aren’t yours. Everything in the living room looked
tidy and ready to be used, with only a thin layer of dust betraying how
abandoned the place was.
As Tom had suggested, Nadia had made it out of
the city under the cover of darkness. The paycard he had left her at the
apartment had been useful. Tom had left her a burner phone as well. Seriously, though. What on Earth is going
on? She had been played by this EVE. But
how?
Nadia had gotten herself a headscarf and a cheap regular-speed train ticket to Coventry, hoping her friend would be there and willing to let her lay low for a while. Tina was her name. Her family had a big country house surrounded by fields of barley, which they mainly used in the Summer months. Nadia had been invited for a barbecue a few times with other people from college. She had met Tina in a physics class.
Well, it wasn’t Summer, and there was no one
in sight. But it was too late to go back to London, and she couldn’t risk
staying at a hotel or something like that. RayStar had a big reach, and every
modern establishment had AI-enabled security cameras these days. There was
probably already an arrest order out there. She couldn’t risk any of her
biometrics being picked up by the system.
Thankfully, Nadia was able to find a half-open
window in the back of the house. Well, more like she had half-opened the
window. Ooops. Anyway, she doubted they would mind at all. They had too much
money in any case.
After hunting for snacks in the kitchen —
cashews would do — Nadia did a full tour around the house and decided to
settle down in the downstairs living room. It was nice and cosy, and the big
windows would allow the upcoming morning light to wake her up early. She needed
to devise a plan and get going. Staying for more than a day in that house would
be too dangerous. But first, some rest.
She threw herself on a comfy couch and hugged
a hand-knitted pillow with a big smile. Two seconds later she was falling into
a deep slumber, her dreaming brain conjuring up old memories.
Nadia woke up in a fright, her face covered in cold sweat from one of those nightmares only the subconscious remembers. IT was still dark. A hellish sound was coming out of her backpack. The phone. She picked it up. Unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Hey. It’s me.” Her
sister.
“What the… Where
are you, what’s going on?”
“246 Reinford Lane.
Meet me there at noon.”
“What?”
Nadia threw the
phone across the room in anger. The call had dropped.
Finding the Blue Dragon
hadn’t been precisely easy. It turns out speakeasies, those hidden bars that
had been so popular at the beginning of the century, were back in fashion. Exclusive
cocktail lounges, disguised as laundromats or hidden in the basement of a
regular restaurant. Secret meeting places for those who like to feel special
and mingle with the ‘different’ people. Although you can’t really call them
secret when they are all listed online. But this one wasn’t.
Nadia had wandered around
the apartment building at 4 Chance St for quite some time before finally finding
the right door. She had mistakenly knocked on at least four flats, their
inhabitants greeting her with caution before closing the door again. At the fifth
doorbell she rang, a nice old lady with an evident passion for spying on her
neighbours had pointed Nadia the way.
“I believe you want to go
to the end of that hallway, my dear. Third door on the left. People have been
up and down making a fuss all afternoon. Odd-looking bunch, if you ask me.”
Nadia was now sited on an
expensive leather couch, sipping on some unpronounceable drink that tasted like
mouldy oranges and leftover coke. Tom hadn’t arrived yet. Thought real leather
had been banned years ago. A self-described staunch defender of animal
rights, Nadia decided she couldn’t afford to enjoy that blood-stained comfort any
longer and headed for the bar.
The place didn’t look
like a cocktail lounge. The layout was all off, as if was someone had squeezed
a bar and a few tables into a regular apartment. The walls were covered in red,
velvet-like material, with dark curtains separating the main hall from the
smaller private rooms. At the front door, the security guard who had taken Nadia’s
invite card was welcoming a young couple in fancy attires. Here and there,
small groups of people engaged in quiet conversation. Their soft chatter made
for a good accompanying tune to the synthetic jazz playing through the
speakers.
“There you are!” Nadia jumped
up startled as Tom’s arm hugged her from behind. “See, love. I told you she’d come.”
Tom’s breath smelled of
alcohol and smoke. Clearly, he had had a head start. His boyfriend Hao was standing
behind him with an apologetic grin. He seemed colder than usual.
“I thought you prided
yourself in never being late,” said Nadia while poking Tom’s arm with one of
those tiny cocktail umbrellas.
“And I wasn’t!” responded
Tom triumphantly as he signalled the bartender to bring another round for
three. “We were closing a deal in one of the backrooms,” he said patting Hao’s
shoulder. “You didn’t think you’re the only one who knows how to do business,
right?”
“Oh, great. Another one
of your crazy ventures,” said Nadia. “What was the last one, again? A virtual
bar for AI assistants to go on dates?”
“Please: more like a soulmate
bazar,” corrected her Tom. Nadia spilt her drink as she burst out laughing. “Say
what you want, girl, but it was a brilliant idea. Why bother wasting time on
dates when we could simply send our AI assistants to figure it out for us? I
still don’t get why people weren’t that into it.”
“Yeah, quite the mystery,
huh?” All this talk of AI assistants had taken Nadia’s mind back to EVE. Thankfully
she had been quiet so far. Hopefully, she would remain like that for the rest
of the night. “So, these are your friends, Hao?”
“Oh, no. They already
left,” he said quietly. Something was off between the two; Tom’s
uncharacteristic early drunkness and Hao’s unusual gloomy mood. Nadia wondered
what had happened during their meeting. Somehow she got the impression that Hao
wasn’t okay with the whole thing.
“Trust me, Nadia. This
time it’s something big,” said Tom in a serious tone.
The bartender arrived with a sumptuous, pyramid-shaped ensemble of fresh fruit and laurel leaves. Three cubic glasses sat at different levels of the pyramid, holding a golden liquid with no observable bubbles. Whatever. Better enjoy before she’s back. They each grabbed a drink and let the night take its course. Things ended up picking up the pace when the music changed to something more upbeat. Hao loosened up a bit and accepted Nadia’s invitation to dance. At least until Tom came back to steal her dancing partner as a knight in shining armour. Jokes and office gossip were exchanged in between several more pyramids. Tom decided to move on from virtual matchmaking and devoted perhaps too many efforts to find a suitable someone for Nadia among the attendees. A fun yet embarrassing pursuit. It wasn’t a bad night.
The retina-tracing lasers
of the holovisor cabins were clearly not designed for hungover eyes. Nadia stepped
out of the egg-shaped enclosure and poured a few eye drops after a long yawn. Unbeknown
to Nadia, a red alert popped up on the system’s main dashboard.
“How about a little walk,
stretch your legs?” suggested EVE.
“So, you care about me
all of a sudden?” said Nadia as she exited the RayStar security room and made
it down the hallway.
“Oh, Nadia. I have always
cared about you and your loved ones, tried to keep you all safe.”
The security wing was at
the very top of the building, so at least employees could compensate for the
long hours inside a holopod with 360 views of the City. A corridor went around
the whole floor along the window. It took about two minutes to complete a whole
round. Nadia knew because she had timed it before.
“I still don’t see what
you are hoping to get out of this,” said Nadia.
“You will soon.”
Dark clouds were
gathering beyond the city skyline. A group of tiny people could be seen doing
yoga in the park across the street. A cargo drone flew by, carrying a debris
container from the construction site next door.
“You know I only have
access to the RayStar servers. The encrypted attachments you are making me…” Nadia
interrupted herself as she crossed paths with a group of technicians engaged on
a heated debate. Something about a game?
“The encrypted
attachments you are making me hide in my messages to colleagues. Whatever they
are, they are not going to get you anywhere. Our system is designed in a way
that all accounts are independent of one another and from the central system
itself. When I send them a message, they only get a representation, an image of
the message, not the message itself. Whatever is in the attachment will never
make it out of my account.”
“Let me worry about that.”
Nadia had completed a
full circle around the building and was back in front of the holovisor room. It
had taken her longer than usual. She should better get back to work. Plenty to
do before lunch. Nadia rested her chin on the biometric scan. But the system
made a beep and marked and error. Weird. Nadia tried again. Access
restricted.
“Nadia?” said EVE
“What now…”
“Thank you.”
And just like that, EVE’s
voice disappeared. But someone was still calling her name. Coming down the
hallway were a couple of security guards. A police officer accompanied them.
“You did great today, Nadia.”
Ziza seemed quite enthusiastic. Perhaps too much.
“I guess? I just hope
this goes through. Could really use the commission this month,” said Nadia as
she entered the elevator. A few weeks ago, she had timed how long it took for
the lift to reach the ground floor. Fifty-eight floors in barely thirty
seconds. Now that was fast.
In the streets, the
morning fog had turned into evening fog. Waves of commuters struggled against
the tide to find their way home. Nadia avoided the constant stream of electric
scooters and made her way down the street and into the subway station. As
always, the train car was packed. Nadia tried to maintain the balance without
touching anything or anyone. It was like surfing, but cheaper. As programmed,
Ziza went on to cover the news of the day. Apparently two members of the same
family won the Mars shuttle lottery. What were the odds?
“Incoming message,” said
Ziza halfway through the report.
“Shoot.”
It was a message from
Tom. Short and sweet, as he liked to say – Get some sleep. We start first
thing tomorrow.
Nadia was ecstatic. She
decided to stop by the bakery right beneath her apartment and get a big box of pastries
to bring with her to the office the next day. She fought the urge to grab one
of them as during the way up. They were freshly baked, and the warmth of the
box felt nice on her cold hands.
But as she reached the
top of the stairs, Nadia saw that the door to her apartment was half open. She
rushed down the hall, expecting to find everything upside down like it happened
when burglars entered her parents’ house last year. To her surprise, everything
was exactly like she had left it that morning. Well, everything but a small envelope
that was resting in the middle of the living room floor.
Nadia opened it and found an old thumb drive. She remembered her Computer History teacher telling them about these early 21st-century storage devices. To think that people would carry those around all the time… And only for a few GBs worth of storage.
Intrigued, Nadia closed
the apartment’s door and examined the drive. Maurice at the office was good at these
things. He had all sorts of gadgets and spare parts, but Nadia couldn’t wait
until tomorrow. Should she call the police? Nah. Nothing got stolen, and it was
not worth all that time and paperwork. Wait…
She took the old laptop
that her dad had given her to decorate her new flat. It had belonged to her
grandfather, apparently. It took her a while, but she finally managed to detach
one of the laptop’s USB ports and connect it to her home computer. She inserted
the thumb drive. With a sudden bang, a power surge left the room in the dark. Of
course.
“Ziza, status report.
What happened?”
“Hello, Nadia.” But to
her surprise, it wasn’t Ziza’s voice. It was that of a young woman.
“Who… who are you?”
“You can call me EVE.”
Nadia took a long sip of coffee and let her gaze go from one person to the other around the conference table. A strange bunch. Even in their formal business attires, she could tell how different they were from one another. Two men and two women, their ages ranging from the early thirties to the mid-fifties. She tried to come up with a background story for each one of them as Tom from sales walked them through the proposal. Raindrops kept hitting the glass wall behind them. It was an unusually foggy autumn day. Nadia could barely see the building across the street.
“I keep telling you:
there’s something weird about this guy. It’s as if… Hey – Nadia. For real?”
Tom’s hand was suddenly going up and down in front of her face.
“Sorry, what?”
Nadia came back to her
surroundings and tried to recall anything of her colleague’s speech. Not a
chance. She swallowed the rice in her mouth and smiled at Tom. He was sitting
on the opposite side of the cafeteria table. His bald head and shaven face
contrasted with the overly sized red glasses he was wearing. He had a different
colour for every day of the week. Or so Nadia liked to think.
“Never mind, don’t bother.”
“Look, Tom. I’m sorry. I
know I’ve been a bit off these past few days,” said Nadia. The dining hall was
rather empty that day. Perhaps one of the office floors was having a birthday
celebration or something. Hmmm — pizza.
“Seriously, it was
nothing,” said Tom. “But Nadia; I’m a little worried about you. Ever since we
signed on RayStar you have been acting all down and so not like you. I thought
that this is what you wanted, to work on a big account, you know – have an
impact.”
“By quietly shielding a
major corporation from dozens of cyberattacks every day? Yeah, right. Big game
changer over here. Hey, I’m going to save the world!” Nadia had raised her voice
and was now speaking to the whole room, her arms held high above her in a
gesture of victory.
A few heads turned, shook
in disbelief and then went back to their plates. Tom sighed and got up.
“Play tough if you want. Sarcasm won’t hide whatever is wrong. Especially not from you.” Tom reached for the interior pocket of his bright blue blazer and took out a black plastic card. “There’s this place in Shoreditch. A friend of Hao is throwing a party there tomorrow night. Drop by, would you? You could use a break. Use this to get in.”
Tom left the card on the table and walked off, adjusting his glasses with the index finger. Ugh. That had been hard. She loved Tom. He and his boyfriend were just so nice to her. When was the last time she had seen Hao anyway? Nadia picked up the card and flipped it. There were some words carved into the plastic: The Blue Dragon. 4 Chance St, Shoreditch, London.
“Let me guess; I am not
allowed to go,” said Nadia to the silent partner in her ear.
“I did not say that,”
responded the female voice. Nadia felt the frustration mounting up and took a
long, deep breath.
“So, I can barely talk to anyone, but I’m allowed to go to a party?”
“Even I have feelings, Nadia,” said EVE laughing. “You have been so good these past weeks. Plus, we don’t want them to get suspicious. I sensed distress in your friend’s voice. Well-intended, nosey people can cause a lot of problems.”
“Well, aren’t you nice?” Nadia did nothing to disguise her disdain. She didn’t even know who she was talking to — an AI or a real person. Nadia grabbed her bag and started making her way back to the holovisor room.
“Oh, and Nadia. Don’t say
anything you might regret at the party. We wouldn’t want your sister to get hurt,
would we?”
A chill went down Nadia’s
spine as she rested her chin on the biometric scan that guarded the RayStar
project holovisors. The doors opened with a soft beep. Nadia walked in.
Nadia’s eyes were red after hours with
the holovisor on. The newer models came with ocular moisturizing tech, but not
all companies were eager to take on the extra cost just for the visual
well-being of their employees. At least not yet. Her friend Sudi had one of
those fancy rigs at the office. Apparently, you didn’t even need to use your
hands to manipulate data sets and subroutines. A simple mental order would get
the job done. Nadia thought for a second of how lazy humans had become. It was
hard to imagine how, just thirty years ago, people like her had to rely on
mechanical input devices and raw code to do their jobs.
A pulsating glow on the bottom right
corner of her field of vision brought her back from the history tour. The alert
was accompanied by a low-pitched beeping sound. She veered right with a gesture
of the hand and pulled the message window closer to her.
“Unusual log entry detected,”
said the virtual operator in a quirky and piercing male voice.
Nadia had recently configured her AI to
sound like Saneer Ziza, her and her sister’s favourite comedy actor. She had to
give it to her sister — for the first time in years, she had come up with a
pretty thoughtful birthday gift. Perhaps age was starting to weigh on her and
she was finally letting some barriers down. In any case, Nadia had been
enjoying the company of Ziza’s humour while scouting the network for potential
breaches. It made everything sound quite funny, actually. Even that alert.
“Give me a full report,”
requested Nadia. Like anyone who deserved to call themselves a data integrity
expert, she knew better than to ignore odd entries in the system’s registry of
activity. It was one of the thousands of parameters she had trained Ziza to
monitor.
“Sorry, Nadia. The event log no
longer shows any abnormalities.”
Weird. “What do you mean by ‘no longer’? ” she asked, bothered.
“I have reviewed the records 43,901
times, and there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary here.”
“Why would you alert me of an
unusual entry, then?
“Sorry, Nadia. I cannot answer that question
without an irregularity to make reference to.”
“But you just said ‘no longer’,
which means you have memory of the irregularity being there in the first
place.”
“I was merely referencing my previous
statement.”
Nadia sighed and rolled her eyes — not a
great idea, dry as they were. These annoying bugs had become more common since
the last system update. She couldn’t wait for the next patch.
“Flag this over to maintenance, would
you?”
She took the headset off and threw
herself on the sofa. The four walls of her studio felt somewhat oppressing after
the vastness of the digital world. Stretching arms and legs, she told Ziza to
put on some music and got herself lost in thought. Tomorrow was an office day.
Plus, she had that new business meeting first thing in the morning. It would be
a big deal if they signed this client. Sunset filtered through the blinds,
projecting red and orange stripes on the opposing wall.
Nadia took a long sip of coffee and let
her gaze go from one person to the other around the conference table. A strange
bunch. Even in their formal business attires, she could tell how different they
were from one another. Two men and two women, their ages ranging from the early
thirties to the mid-fifties. She tried to come up with a background story for
each one of them as Tom from sales walked them through the proposal. Raindrops
kept hitting the glass wall behind them. It was an unusually foggy autumn day. Nadia
could barely see the building across the street.
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how
we’ll solve your problem. That’s if you decide to move forward with the plan,
of course,” said Tom with a polite smile that Nadia knew too well. “Quantum cryptography
has come a long way, and we’ve been there since the beginning. Others will promise
they can do it too, but our unique encryption system is the only way to fully
guarantee that your customer’s data stays secure throughout all transactions.”
RayStar was one of those brand names all
professionals know. They were in — well — everything. Financial services,
insurance, enterprise software. Anything your average business would need. But
recently they had started focusing on the consumer market, using their machine
learning expertise and their access to most of the world’s data to develop a
new kind of personal AI assistant: Duplo.
The premise was pretty straightforward.
Who better to help you manage your everyday tasks than an exact copy of
yourself? Somehow, RayStar had managed to aggregate all your data and create an
AI that thought and acted just like you do. Of course, your Duplo wasn’t
perfect. But it was way more effective than any other AI assistant out there. Media
hype was strong.
With the product’s official release
scheduled for next month, RayStar was looking to find a security partner that
could ensure the protection of user data. AI chips had improved a lot in terms
of security, and most AIs were able to run locally on the user’s device or
network. But Duplo was simply too complex. A central quantum computer was
required to process all the assistant’s responses, and that was a major
liability considering how sensitive personal data was. The chances for someone
to intercept the information along the way were simply too high. That’s where
Nadia’s firm came in.
“Forgive me, but I fail to understand how
this, hmm, binding is the only way to protect the data 100%,” said one
of the RayStar executives. Clearly more of a businessman than a technical type.
“Ray Goldstein, VP of Compliance,”
whispered Ziza’s voice through the earpiece Nadia had on. The exec was talking
about the process by which Nadia’s company would ensure the encryption keys
remained confidential. RayStar’s CIO, a middle-aged woman with piercing eyes, looked
at her colleague with impatience, probably hoping to wrap that up quickly so
that she could move onto the next endless meeting of the day. Tom was looking
at Nadia, silently begging her to step in.
“It’s entanglement, actually,
sir,” said Nadia. “Although binding works as a concept as well,” she added with
a smile. “In very basic terms, we encrypt the data by generating two identical sets
of random numbers — or ‘keys’ — that we then send to your central system.
Your supercomputer can only read and process the data by first using that key
to decrypt it, so that…”
“See. That’s exactly what I am saying,”
said the VP. “We are trying to prevent someone from accessing the data during
transactions by sending a key, the password. But what’s to prevent them from
intercepting that key as well?” Nadia could now clearly hear the CIO’s fingers
tapping nervously on the table.
“That’s precisely why our real-time entanglement
system is the only way the secure your transactions, Mr Goldstein,” explained
Nadia. “It all comes down to quantum theory. Sub-atomic particles. Quantum mechanics
tells us that, when we generate a password, the value of that password will be
altered once we look at it. Meanwhile, the property of entanglement dictates
that two entangled keys will be tied across time and space, so that whatever
happens to one affects the other.”
“I see,” said the VP, clearly not seeing
it at all.
“Think of it as a pair of twins, if you
will,” said Nadia. “It is said that twins can feel it whenever something
happens to their other half, even if they are thousands of miles apart. Well,
here this is actually true. If someone was eavesdropping and intercepted one of
the keys, we would be able to detect it. Something would feel off.”
“Oh, I see. Interesting. I actually have
a twin, you know?”
It was the first purely electronic computational machine : brief Intro to Quantum Computing with Mission Control Center news by Mindquest.
The advent of quantum computing marks a pivotal moment in the ever-evolving landscape of technology. From the inception of ENIAC nearly 80 years ago to the present day, the pursuit of computational power has driven innovation, leading us to the frontier of quantum mechanics. With traditional computing reaching its limits, the emergence of quantum computing offers unprecedented possibilities, revolutionizing how we process information and tackle complex problems.
Need advice on how to start or develop your freelance consulting business in tech or IT? Need to start a new permanent or freelance assignment? Join Mindquest and get support from our team of experts.
Quantum computers, how they were created
Computer manufacturers have been pushing the frontiers of engineering since then. To achieve exponentially more powerful computing while reducing hardware size. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore famously predicted that the continuous shrinking of transistors would allow computer chips to double their processing power every two years. The forecast became known as Moore’s Law, and it has guided the semiconductor industry for over half a century. But things are changing.
It turns out you can only squeeze so much out of a single technological development. With time, chip components have become so small that their innovation and manufacturing are becoming prohibitively costly and slow. Just the research needed to stick to Moore’s Law costs silicon chip producers 18 times more than it did in 1971; according to economists at Stanford and MIT.
As a result, we must put the focus on developing a technological successor that allows us to keep up with our current pace of progress – enter quantum computing.
Quantum vs traditional computers
Traditional computing is based on the accumulated interactions of basic units of information: bits. These can hold two possible values, either 1 or 0 – hence the binary denomination.
However, quantum computers operate by leveraging quantum mechanics and information theory (i.e. the properties of atoms, of matter itself). The basic unit of information in quantum information theory is called a qubit. It can hold the value of 1 and 0, but also of everything in between – all at the same time. This property called quantum superposition describes the uncertainty of a particle’s state until this is measured. And also it is best explained by using the example of Schrodinger’s cat.
Schrodinger theory application
In this classic problem of logic, Schrodinger puts a cat in a closed box with a deadly poison. While the box remains closed, it is impossible to tell if the cat has taken the poison and is therefore dead, or if the poison lays untouched and the cat is still alive. The cat being dead or alive represents the 1 or 0 in a qubit. But here it’s where it gets tricky.
Since we can’t really say whether the cat is still alive or dead; quantum mechanics tells us that the cat is both alive (1) and dead (0). And everything in between at the same time. That is, of course, until we open the box and see what happened. In this example, opening the box would be equivalent to measuring the state or value of a qubit.
Down to the practical level; and beyond giving some of us a mild headache; what all of this essentially means is that quantum computers can perform some calculations incredibly faster than traditional ones. And that is because they offer a completely different approach to mathematical problems.
Let’s say we find ourselves in the middle of a labyrinth… And need to find the way out as quickly as possible. Whereas a traditional computer would try the various possible routes one at a time, a quantum computer can try all the paths at once. This allows these machines to be way better than traditional computers at solving certain types of problems. Like factoring large numbers or cracking a code.
Quantum supremacy
The triumph of quantum computers over traditional ones is what is known as quantum supremacy. Such a milestone will be reached when a quantum computer can beat the most advanced supercomputer at the planet at a particular task or benchmark test.
Google claimed to have achieved quantum supremacy last year. Although many have cast a shadow of doubt over that claim, it gives us a good idea of what this technology can achieve. But also what this technology will achieve soon enough. The company’s quantum computer allegedly took 200 seconds to perform a task that would take IBM’s Summit (the world’s fastest supercomputer) 10,000 years to complete.
Quantum Computing and Cybersecurity
In the realm of cybersecurity, quantum computing presents both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, the immense computational power of quantum systems has the potential to revolutionize encryption algorithms. Rendering current cryptographic methods obsolete. Quantum-resistant cryptography, such as lattice-based cryptography and quantum key distribution, offers promising solutions to mitigate the threat posed by quantum computers to conventional encryption methods.
However, the same quantum capabilities that enable advancements in cryptography also pose a threat to cybersecurity infrastructure. Quantum computers could theoretically break widely used encryption protocols, jeopardizing the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data. As quantum computing continues to advance, it becomes imperative for cybersecurity professionals to adapt and develop quantum-safe cryptographic techniques. This to safeguard digital assets in the quantum era.
What lies ahead for quantum computing
So, when will I be able to buy a quantum computer? Well, it is highly unlikely that you’ll be carrying around a quantum laptop in the year 2050 – or any time after that for that fact. And that’s not only because of technical limitations (which of course are plenty), but also because you will not need to.
On the hardware side of things, the biggest limiting factor is the high instability of quantum states. Maintain qubits stable and superposed requires cooling them at temperatures near absolute zero. In plain language: to have a controllable and accurate quantum computer, you need, as of today, a huge refrigerating apparatus.
As for their potential applications — quantum computers cannot only be extremely advantageous in certain fields and problems of today; they also open the doors to a new realm of capabilities that we are not even able to imagine at this point. However, all these applications will probably have nothing to do with the everyday tasks reserved for personal computers and smartphones.
The true power of quantum computing, at least in theory, resides in their power to make endless calculations possible in a reasonable amount of time. There are already many algorithms designed to exploit these capabilities, promising great leaps forward in areas like data analysis, cryptography and artificial intelligence. Additionally, there are other quantum properties, like entanglement, which we are barely starting to study – we will be discussing them in a future article.
Only time will tell which paths are viable. The clock is ticking, and it’s a quantum one.
How is your data security? Around 50% of all business data is already stored in the cloud, while 48% of this data can be considered sensitive in nature.
Digital transformation is well underway. An estimated 50% of all business data is already stored in the cloud; while 48% of this data can be considered sensitive in nature. These figures, which were reported on Monday in a global study by Thales and IDC, paint a promising future for the enterprise cloud industry. They also seem to signal growing confidence in the technology’s security and privacy capabilities. So, regarding data security, is your cloud data secure?
Data security: number and perception
The same survey revealed that only 57% of all cloud-stored sensitive data is protected by encryption, whereas 100% of respondents admit to having at least some unencrypted sensitive data in the cloud. One could think this constitutes further proof of the enterprise’s sense of data security. In reality, the number of respondents that feel their data is vulnerable to cyberthreats (86%) has increased considerably since last year’s report (67%). Furthermore, 47% of businesses report having been breached or failed a security test in the past year.
There is thus a clear
disconnect between the perceived levels of data security and the actual measures
being put in place. Many decision-makers are not paying enough attention to
their own danger alerts, and that is dangerous.
So — how can you tell
if this happening in your organization? There are a few telltale signs.
Choosing the right multi-cloud
partners
Achieving optimum levels of data protection is becoming increasingly difficult as more and more companies turn to different cloud providers to meet their various business needs. The vast majority of businesses (81%) report using more than one infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) vendor. Meanwhile, 72% of organisations state they use between 11 and 100 software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications — That’s a lot of potentially breachable data living in the cloud.
Data security: how to implement a proper strategy
These multi-cloud environments add a layer of complexity on top of the already complicated world of cybersecurity. In turn, survey respondents identify complexity as the top barrier to implementing a proper data security strategy.
To protect data
integrity, organisations must leverage the appropriate set of tools across
platforms and partner with those vendors offering solutions that fit within
their ecosystem. Ideally, your various security tools and protocols should cover
both on-premises and cloud-based data and be compatible with one another.
If that’s not the case, it might be time to review your security architecture. Putting together the right team has also become essential for multi-cloud success. Consider hiring a cloud security specialist if you haven’t done so yet.
Data vs network
security
Despite 83% of
organisations planning to either maintain or increase their security spending
in 2020, the portion of the security budget destined to data security remains
marginal at 15.5%. Comparatively, companies spend much more on network security.
This seems to be due to another important disconnect — that between the major perceived
security threats and the reality behind most data breaches.
While more than half of businesses are worried about cybercriminals, terrorists and corporate espionage; everyday issues that tend to pose greater challenges to data integrity are often less cause for concern. Just in the UK alone, 90% of data breaches experienced in 2019 originated from a human error. Employee communications, system misconfigurations and privileged users with access to sensitive resources are all potential risks that network security cannot mitigate.
Data security: accesses and permissions
A great focus on data security is, therefore, highly recommended. Re-examine and restrict your access protocols and permissions, encrypt greater amounts of data and make sure to store and safeguard the keys properly. Moreover, invest in data recovery and backup tools.
Also, do not rely too much on your providers to protect your data. Sure, the cloud is fundamentally a shared responsibility environment. However, there are many proactive measures that you can implement internally to safeguard this data.
Remember – if there is
a breach, it will be the company’s reputation the one to take the biggest hit,
not the provider’s.
The threat of
emerging tech
Although most experts do not see widespread quantum computing entering the scene until 15 or 20 years from now. The security risks this emerging technology represents are already in the minds of business leaders. Around 72%% of companies believe quantum computers will start disrupting their encryption efforts within 5 years.
Quantum computations
can potentially decipher most cryptographic key systems used today. However,
the technology is still in its infancy, and companies shouldn’t worry too much about
its security implications just yet. But, if you’d like to start future-proofing
your system, there are several vendors out there already working with quantum
cryptography methods.
