Watch Out for These Serious Mac Attacks

Apple’s esteemed line of Mac devices are about to go through troubled times with the emergence of new age advanced bugs and glaring loopholes in Apple’s operating system. Security researchers had unearthed a new kind of vulnerability in the Mac devices, which allows the hackers install devious ad-wares like VSearch without even requiring the password. VSearch is a notorious malware, which infects the Mac devices with numerous pop-up ads and redirects the users to different search engine whenever they try to use Google.

VSearch bug reported earlier by vigilant security researcher

A German security researcher named Stefan Esser had made this bug public earlier this week. It should be noted that the generally accepted protocol is to inform Apple about the new bug discoveries not to disclose it to the public and cause a furor. Some of the hackers had already taken advantage of this bug found by the German researcher. They had actively used this newfound vulnerability to attack Macs devices as said by a security company named MalwareBytes in their blogpost.

How this bug works and how it can be neutralized?

This bug is designed to effectively take advantage of the Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) features that determines which programs are allowed to make changes on the computer without the need of password. Yosemite makes a list of those programs and keeps it hidden in a file named Sudoers. However, this bug allows the malware to get listed in the Sudoers file which simply means that the malware gets the capability to install any in any part of the OS without users approval via password.

Esser had provided a fix to solve this malware issue. It should also be noted that next patch for the Yosemite will include the bug fix because even Apple about this vulnerability for a while.

Another deadly bug, which take over the control of Mac device

Another group of security researchers had found a more threatening bug, which has the ability to take permanent control of the Mac device. Users can effectively get rid of most vicious malwares by reinstalling the operating system but this new vulnerability in Mac devices turn the game away from the users. Using this particular vulnerability hacker can easily install the malware directly in the computer’s firmware, which is responsible for booting up the computer.

A team of researchers had developed this worm and named it Thunderstrike 2 which can easily take the advantage of this security flaw in Mac deices.

This worm can be installed on the computer just like any other malware where people happen to click on wrong links or fails to the ploy of phishing scam. Once installed this malware takes a nastier turn and keeps looking for the devices connected to Mac in order to load them with worm. Other users when uses the same infected Ethernet adapter happens to get their Mac devices infected too. This bug has not been fixed till now by the Apple.

How Google Quietly Revved Up Its Very Own Car Company

Google is all set to surprise the big names in automobile industry by secretly registering its car company way back in 2011. For a long time Google tried to work with big names in the car industry to develop its ambitious self driving cars. At the North American Auto Show, which was held in January, Google announced that they were having serious talks with major car plays such as General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler.
 
The project lead for the Google’s self driving cars Chris Urmson even went on to say that manufacturing cars is hard and a tedious job which is aptly done by the car manufacturers and it will be wise to find a partnership rather do everything by oneself. Unfortunately, no partnership had come into being till now.

Chris Urmson emerges as Google Auto LLC CEO

The most viable reason of not coming up with any partnership is that Google already had its own Company named Google Auto LLC registered in California. This company is registered as a passenger vehicle manufacturer with both the national and international organization across the world. Google subsidiary as ‘car manufacturer company’ received its license last year as a dignified car maker in California and being headed by no other by than Chris Urmson.

Legal documents brings more insights

All this is revealed by the Guardian had after obtaining legal documents through Public Records Act request in California. Legal documents even show that Google Auto was formed as a limited liability company, which was used initially by the parent company to modify and test its fleet of driverless Lexus SUV’s. Google Auto LLC finds itself mentioned as the sole manufacturer of 23 autonomous Lexus cars registered in California. Interestingly all the vehicles have been involved a number of minor accidents in and around Google’s home town of Mountain View. However, no law suits were filed in these accidents and it is quite common among the large businesses to set up subsidiaries in order to try new and risky projects.

Signs of Google’s rising ambition

Over the years, Google had shown incredible sign in the rise of its driving technology marvels. But nobody had perceived this might have grown with presence of a secret car making company in the veil. Google Auto LLC was in being since 2011 and just last Google appointed Chris Urmson as the manager of the Google Auto which gave him the reigns of company’s daily operations. By the nest day Google took the world by surprise when it announced that it is all set to build 100 prototype self-driving cars right from the scratch. The prototype cars created a sensation when it was said that these cars will not contain any steering wheels, accelerator or brakes.

Google Auto LLC applied even for the VIN codes in order to identify each of its self-driving cars like other car manufacturer. It organized emission testing in California and in order to avoid safety requirements and crash, test it and kept its cars lightweight with low speed capability. All of these activities simply show that Google’s ambition is always to go through research to the end product with doubt.

Behind the Scenes with Facebook's New Solar-Powered Internet Drone and Laser Technology

Facebook’s Large Solar Powered Aircraft

Facebook has developed a large solar powered aircraft in order to blanket the planet with Internet connection. According to Jay Parikh, Facebook, vice president of infrastructure engineering, during a media event at Facebook’s campus in Menlo Park, had stated that the unmanned aircraft known as Aquila has wingspan of a Boeing 737 though weights aboutthe third of a Toyota Prius car.

Aquila would be responsible to beam Internet signals back to rural locations on the Earth which tends to lack the type of communications setup required in maintaining internet connection. As per Parikh, about 10% of the population in the world seem to live in rural areas, some identified in certain regions of Africa and India, besides others, are unable to gain access to the web.

A team of Facebook engineers in the UK have spent around 14 months constructing the plane, though Facebook has refrained from disclosing the number of employees employed in the project. It is said that the Aquila’s wings seem to be made of a kind of material known as carbon fibre and when the material tends to undergo a type of heating process called curing, it get stronger than steel for the same mass of material, as explained by Yael Maguire, Facebook Connectivity Lab director, in a blog post. The material also explains why the drone seems to be so light.

Launching the Plane in the Sky with Big Balloon

Facebook intends launching the plane in the sky with the aid of a big balloon which could carry the aircraft to the stratosphere and will float between altitudes of around 60,000 to 90,000 feet. The aircraft at these altitudes would be far from the airspace of commercial airliners that fly as well as free from storms or other weather disturbances, according to Parikh.

Moreover, the Facebook team have also covered Aquila with solar panels, fitting the craft with batteries together with an electric motor in order that the plane stays in the sky for a period of 3 months. Within that period of time, the drone would be beaming the Internet down without any interruptions or even the need for refuelling. Maguire has informed reporters that when the plane comes back to the planet it would land like a glider due to its aerodynamic design.

Aquila will be accountable in providing the Internet to the people on Earth within a radius of 50 kilometres while in the air. Maguire had mentioned in a post that small cellular towers as well as dishes will tend to receive the signals that are sent by the aircraft and will convert those signals into a Wi-Fi or LTE network which people could connect to their cellphones as well as smartphones.

Breakthrough for Data & Information From Drone to Drone

Facebook has also mentioned that it has achieved a breakthrough for the data and information to be transferred from drone to drone and if Facebook tends to fly numerous planes it would be able to shelter bigger swaths of land.

With the use of laser communication technology, Facebook has apparently developed a system to stream data between drones at a rate of 10 gigabytes per second at a speed which is as fast as what fibre-optic services could provide to U.S. inhabitants, like those living in Minneapolis. Parikh clarifies that the discovery in laser communications is the outcome of the software based networking developments Facebook has been continuing out in its data centres. Maguire states that the communications signals that are sent through the sky seem to be so accurate that they can actually `hit a dime from 11 miles away’.

Accuracy seems to be important if drones are to be capable of sending signals to and from each other resulting in less Internet infrastructure, essential in building it on the ground. According to Maguire, this begins to look like a backbone of the Internet using lasers in the sky.

Aim to Setup Aerial Internet Infrastructure

It is important to remember that Facebook is not near to launching these planes to power the Internet but has only constructed on drone till now with plans for more in the pipeline. Parikh has not estimated when Facebook would fly multiple drones over the Earth but has only informed that this will be an effort which they will invest in for several years to come, but presently, the plan is to spend the second half of this year doing flight testing.

He has also pushed back on a query suggesting that Facebook could only permit the Facebook site or certain websites to be sent to rural locations through its determinedproject. Parikh has stated that Facebook has no plans in becoming an Internet service provider but aims to setup the aerial Internet infrastructure and thereafter enable major carriers to operate and distribute the web in the same way how they do so, on Earth.

Facebook’s Connectivity Lab had developed the drone project that comprised of earlier researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory besides others. The lab is said to be a fragment of Facebook’s Internet.org enterprise in bringing the Internet to places where connectivity is lacking.

U.S. Researchers Show Computers can be hijacked to send Data as Sound Waves

With the dawn of technology, crimes have shifted accordingly to target the wide array of electronic gadgets, most of which are sitting ducks to any sophisticated attack. Such has ben the case of “Funtenna” by Ang Cui, a recent PhD graduate from Columbia University. This demonstration of sorts shows the situation that we might have to face on a larger scale in future. What is this “funtenna” ? Well, for starters, imagine your printer, which is supposed to print your documents, secretly transmitting data wirelessly over air without using WiFi or traditional radio channels. Sounds absurd? Well that is exactly what has happened. But before going in to the details, let us understand the basics behind all the cruft in there.

A basic primer

All digital electronic device use electrical signals to work. These signals are manipulated and in case of digital ones, between two voltage levels, they oscillate. These eletrical signals are carried through by conductors which generate small EM signals as well as a side-effect. Now, communication today uses such varying EM signals (modulated signals) for the process. Thus with sufficient effort, one can, in theory, use these stray EM signals to transmit data which can then be picked up by an attacker. Imagine a confidential document sent to print and the printer silently transmitting all the contents to an attacker. Scary!

Diving into the details... 

Cui, with about 4 lines of code, injected to the embedded firmware of the printer, can program it so that it can transmit data using these stray EM signals. But there range is so short that it is almost useless. This is where the cleverness comes in – in order to generate waves which can transmit information, they need to be sufficiently powerful and this is done by switching the states of the digital electronic circuitry at variable frequencies to generate the carrier waves which can then carry the modulated signal which has the actual information. Though Cui’s current demonstration can only beam the information to a few metres, he predicts that the range can be increased to more than 30m and the signals can even penetrate reinforced concrete walls.

The possible ramifications

With the age of Internet-of-Things dawning upon us, such an easy hack could prove to be a tremendous security hole which can be hard to plug. Since the medium of transport is not something monitored (its not WiFi or over wires), The trick performed was on a cheap laser printer and thus implies that anything with an embedded computer can be used in this attack renndering all the connected devices to emit information to attacker at will. This calls for stricter rules and better electronic components. Such leakage can be stopped but will come at a price hike. EM sheilding can be done with metal cages but may not be feasible always and might need better methods.
The funtenna experiment by Cui demonstrates basically that with persistence and ingineuity, almost all digital electronic device can be used to transmit information in secret without being detected. With the IoT age upon us, we need to significantly step up our security game or it maybe too late...

In a First, Drug Using 3D Printing Technology Gets FDA Nod

Photo: AFP Relaxnews

3D printing right from the start was a revolutionary idea i.e. to recreate the exact replicas of existing objects from a template by using the material of your choice. And as days pass by, you can see all sorts of things being done from weapons to vehicles to even whole buildings – all printed. Drugs are now no stranger to this either as a 3D printed drug for the first time has been approved by U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration.

The first of 3D printed drug

Well, while it was inevitable, what it does is even more powerful. Drug synthesis generally follows the “one-fits-all” philosophy to cater to as large a diversity as possible and in the process make it less effective with more side-effects. But the 3D printed drug is specific to the patient’s bodily systems and is thus way more effective.

The drug was made by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals Co., and was approved for oral ingestion as a prescribed medicine for adjunctive therapy. It is being used in the treatment of epilepsy. Spritam, as the drug goes by, uses a special “ZipDose” technology which is nothing but a delivery system whereby measured dozes are ingested and they break down in mouth with a sip of the liquid.

What it means?

The approval is a significant step forward in the field of personalized treatment where instead of general drugs, specific drugs are created, synthesized and prescribed leading to more effective treatment with minimal side effects. Until now, most uses of 3D printing in medical field was for the creation of body parts like prosthetic arms and legs, and dental implants and some of the advanced works in creation of whole organs by 3D printing. Even bone replacement are also being carried out with the help of 3D printing. But this creation of the 3D printed drug gives it a new direction.

Personalized treatment has many in th proverbial sense, a “holy-grail” of medicine and with this technology, that might just come true. Especially so with the first successful trials and approval, there is more incentive now to offer such services and more research into it.

The future

One can already envision a future of medical care where medicines are created on labs and then synthesized in 3D printers based on each individual’s characteristics. Also, there are ongoing research in UK regarding recreation of cancerous parts of the body to replace them for patients suffering from so.

Such advancement with technological augmentation means that a more safer future where most diseases are either eradicated or can be treated with relative ease. But predictions are hard to make and especially so about the future. However with a good amount of research and ingenuity, human kind can finally conquer all diseases where none of them are lethal and treatment takes a short amount of time, less chemicals and in general is more effective.

One can only hope that further use and research of 3D printing in pharmaceuticals will bring in more effective drugs with less side-effects!