Interesting research: “ ImpNet: Imperceptible and blackbox-undetectable backdoors in compiled neural networks, by Tim Clifford, Ilia Shumailov, Yiren Zhao, Ross Anderson, and Robert Mullins: Abstract : Early backdoor attacks against machine learning set off an arms race in attack and defence development. Defences have since appeared demonstrating some ability to detect …

This is interesting research : In this paper, we develop a new mechanism for detecting audio deepfakes using techniques from the field of articulatory phonetics. Specifically, we apply fluid dynamics to estimate the arrangement of the human vocal tract during speech generation and show that deepfakes often model impossible or …

Depending on where you are when you download your Android apps, it might collect more or less data about you. The apps we downloaded from Google Play also showed differences based on country in their security and privacy capabilities. One hundred twenty-seven apps varied in what the apps were …

Okay, it’s an obscure threat. But people are researching it : Our models and experimental results in a controlled lab setting show it is possible to reconstruct and recognize with over 75 percent accuracy on-screen texts that have heights as small as 10 mm with a 720p webcam.” That …

Nadiya Kostyuk and Susan Landau wrote an interesting paper: “ Dueling Over DUAL_EC_DRBG: The Consequences of Corrupting a Cryptographic Standardization Process “: Abstract: In recent decades, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which develops cryptographic standards for non-national security agencies of the U.S. government, has emerged …

We’ve always known that phones—and the people carrying them—can be uniquely identified from their Bluetooth signatures, and that we need security techniques to prevent that. This new research shows that that’s not enough. Computer scientists at the University of California San Diego proved in a …

Interesting research: “ Sponge Examples: Energy-Latency Attacks on Neural Networks “: Abstract: The high energy costs of neural network training and inference led to the use of acceleration hardware such as GPUs and TPUs. While such devices enable us to train large-scale neural networks in datacenters and deploy them on edge …

This is a new vulnerability against Apple’s M1 chip. Researchers say that it is unpatchable. Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, however, have created a novel hardware attack, which combines memory corruption and speculative execution attacks to sidestep the security feature. The attack shows …

Octopus and squid genes are weird. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here. [...]

Researchers have demonstrated controlling touchscreens at a distance, at least in a laboratory setting: The core idea is to take advantage of the electromagnetic signals to execute basic touch events such as taps and swipes into targeted locations of the touchscreen with the goal of taking over remote control …

Interesting paper by Lennart Maschmeyer: “ The Subversive Trilemma: Why Cyber Operations Fall Short of Expectations “: Abstract: Although cyber conflict has existed for thirty years, the strategic utility of cyber operations remains unclear. Many expect cyber operations to provide independent utility in both warfare and low-intensity competition. Underlying these expectations …

Yet another adversarial ML attack: Most deep neural networks are trained by stochastic gradient descent. Now “stochastic” is a fancy Greek word for “random”; it means that the training data are fed into the model in random order. So what happens if the bad guys can cause the order …

A surprising number of websites include JavaScript keyloggers that collect everything you type as you type it, not just when you submit a form. Researchers from KU Leuven, Radboud University, and University of Lausanne crawled and analyzed the top 100,000 websites, looking at scenarios in which a user …

Video of oval squid ( Sepioteuthis lessoniana ) changing color in reaction to their background. The research paper claims this is the first time this has been documented. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered …

Researchers are using the reflection of the smartphone in the pupils of faces taken as selfies to infer information about how the phone is being used: For now, the research is focusing on six different ways a user can hold a device like a smartphone: with both hands, just …

New research: “ Are You Really Muted?: A Privacy Analysis of Mute Buttons in Video Conferencing Apps “: Abstract: In the post-pandemic era, video conferencing apps (VCAs) have converted previously private spaces — bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens — into semi-public extensions of the office. And for the most part, users have accepted …

Interesting : Drawing inspiration from cephalopod skin, engineers at the University of California, Irvine invented an adaptive composite material that can insulate beverage cups, restaurant to-go bags, parcel boxes and even shipping containers. [...] “The metal islands in our composite material are next to one another when the material is relaxed …

New research on the changing migration of the Doryteuthis opalescens as a result of climate change. News article : Stanford researchers have solved a mystery about why a species of squid native to California has been found thriving in the Gulf of Alaska about 1,800 miles north of its …

Research : Abstract: The retreating ice cover of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) fuels speculations on future fisheries. However, very little is known about the existence of harvestable fish stocks in this 3.3 million­–square kilometer ecosystem around the North Pole. Crossing the Eurasian Basin, we documented an uninterrupted …

A fossilized ancestor of the vampire squid — with ten arms — was discovered and named Syllipsimopodi bideni after President Biden. Here’s the research paper. Note: Vampire squids are not squids. (Yes, it’s weird.) As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories …

An Alexa can respond to voice commands it issues. This can be exploited : The attack works by using the device’s speaker to issue voice commands. As long as the speech contains the device wake word (usually “Alexa” or “Echo”) followed by a permissible command, the Echo will carry …

Researchers have found a major encryption flaw in 100 million Samsung Galaxy phones. From the abstract: In this work, we expose the cryptographic design and implementation of Android’s Hardware-Backed Keystore in Samsung’s Galaxy S8, S9, S10, S20, and S21 flagship devices. We reversed-engineered and provide a detailed …

Nice piece of research : Abstract: Among the many types of malicious codes, ransomware poses a major threat. Ransomware encrypts data and demands a ransom in exchange for decryption. As data recovery is impossible if the encryption key is not obtained, some companies suffer from considerable damage, such as the …

Bunnie Huang has created a Plausibly Deniable Database. Most security schemes facilitate the coercive processes of an attacker because they disclose metadata about the secret data, such as the name and size of encrypted files. This allows specific and enforceable demands to be made: “Give us the passwords for …

Researchers have calculated the quantum computer size necessary to break 256-bit elliptic curve public-key cryptography: Finally, we calculate the number of physical qubits required to break the 256-bit elliptic curve encryption of keys in the Bitcoin network within the small available time frame in which it would actually pose …