A botched wireless update for a remotely accessible smart lock system has bricked hundreds of them. The locks suffered a “fatal error,” according to device’s manufacturer LockState, rendering them unable to locked. Customers are asked to either return impacted locks for repair, or request a replacement.
“We realize the impact that this issue may have on you and your business and we are deeply sorry. Every employee and resource at LockState is focused on resolving this for you as quickly as possible,” wrote Nolan Mondrow, CEO of LockState in an email sent to customers last week. More than 500 customers using model 6000i RemoteLocks are impacted.
Read moreChina has demonstrated a world first by sending data over long distances using satellites which is potentially unhackable, laying the basis for next generation encryption based on so-called "quantum cryptography."
Last August, China launched a quantum satellite into space, a move which was called a "notable advance" by the Pentagon. Using this satellite, Chinese researchers at the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale project, were able to transmit secret messages from space to Earth at a further distance than ever before. The technology is called quantum key distribution. Typical encryption relies on traditional mathematics.
Read moreWhile car makers and regulators are mostly worried about the possibility of self-driving car hacks, University of Washington researchers are concerned about a more practical threat: defacing street signs.
They've learned that it's relatively easy to throw off an autonomous vehicle's image recognition system by strategically using stickers to alter street signs. If attackers know how a car classifies the objects it sees (such as target photos of signs), they can generate stickers that can trick the car into believing a sign really means something else. For instance, the "love/hate" graphics above made a computer vision algorithm believe a stop sign was really a speed limit notice.
Read moreChinese-made drones that may have been used by U.S. service members in Syria are now banned by the U.S. Army, according to a report.
"Cease all use, uninstall all DJI applications, remove all batteries/storage media from devices, and secure equipment for follow on direction," reads the memo from Lt. Gen. Joseph H. Anderson, the Army's deputy chief of staff for plans and operations. The memo was obtained by the publication Defense One, which said it was also confirmed by two Army officials. According to the publication, the Army document cites "increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products."
Read moreA bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday plans to introduce legislation seeking to address vulnerabilities in computing devices embedded in everyday objects - known in the tech industry as the "internet of things" - which experts have long warned poses a threat to global cyber security.
The new bill would require vendors that provide internet-connected equipment to the U.S. government to ensure their products are patchable and conform to industry security standards. It would also prohibit vendors from supplying devices that have unchangeable passwords or possess known security vulnerabilities.
Read moreImagine logging into your checking account and seeing that you now also have a second account, stocked with an equal amount of a newly created currency. It could happen this morning to many people who hold the cryptocurrency bitcoin.
Not long after 8 am EDT, a new currency called Bitcoin Cash is due to appear, split from bitcoin in a technical maneuver called a “hard fork.” It’s the project of a group that says bitcoin’s keepers are limiting its reach by resisting change. The creation of Bitcoin Cash is the most striking result yet of a 2-year-old feud over bitcoin’s future. Bitcoin is collectively valued at $47 billion but remains a niche product.
Read moreIt's going to be much harder to view the full web in Russia before the year is out. President Putin has signed a law that, as of November 1st, bans technology which lets you access banned websites, including virtual private networks and proxies. Internet providers will have to block websites hosting these tools.
The measure is ostensibly meant to curb extremist content, but that's just pretext -- this is really about preventing Russians from seeing content that might be critical of Putin, not to mention communicating in secret. Accordingly, the President has signed another law requiring that chat apps identify users through their phone numbers after January 1st, 2018.
Read moreMusk and Zuckerberg are having a rare public social media slapdown over their differing views on the future impact of artificial intelligence. The bickering billionaires lashed out at each other, with Zuckerberg calling Musk's doomsday scenario "irresponsible."
Musk said the Facebook CEO has a "limited" understanding of the subject. Burn! It all started when Zuckerberg, who was conducting a Facebook Live session during a backyard barbecue, was asked what he thought about Musk's AI doomsday views. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has a less than rosy view about the future of artificial intelligence and has warned that if left unchecked, AI could become humanity's "biggest existential threat."
Read moreYour Roomba may be vacuuming up more than you think. High-end models of Roomba, iRobot’s robotic vacuum, collect data as they clean, identifying the locations of your walls and furniture.
This helps them avoid crashing into your couch, but it also creates a map of your home that iRobot is considering selling to Amazon, Apple or Google. Colin Angle, chief executive of iRobot, told that a deal could come in the next two years, though iRobot said in a statement on Tuesday: “We have not formed any plans to sell data.” In the hands of a company like Amazon, Apple or Google, that data could fuel new “smart” home products.
Read moreScientists at MIT are using Wi-Fi and AI to determine your emotional state. They’ve created an algorithm that can detect and measure individual heartbeats by bouncing RF signals off of people.
An RF emitter coupled with the algorithm works in the same way as an electrocardiogram, without requiring any leads be attached to a person. This is accomplished using the same technology that we currently have in our home routers. The remarkable part is the machine-learning that goes into what the scientists are calling EQ Radio. The information the AI receives has to be processed differently than a standard EKG.
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