Researchers at MIT have discovered how a new computational imaging algorithm can capture user interactions through ambient light sensors commonly found in smartphones, reports Davey Winder for Forbes. “By combining the smartphone display screen, an active component, with the ambient light sense, which is passive, the researchers realized that capturing images in front of that screen was possible without using the device camera,” explains Winder.
Axios reporter Ina Fried spotlights a new report by Prof. Emeritus Stuart Madnick that finds “2.6 billion personal records have been exposed in data breaches over the past two years and that number continues to grow.” Additionally, Madnick found that” “Data breaches in the US through the first nine months of the year are already 20% higher than for all of 2022.”
Prof. Stuart Madnick speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Seán Captain about how AI could make scamming easier and more dangerous. AI “raises the level of skepticism that we must have substantially,” notes Madnick. “Procedures will have to be put in place to validate the authenticity of who you are dealing with.”
Prof. Peter Shor has been named one of the winners of the 2023 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reports Nature. “Shor’s most renowned contribution is the development of quantum algorithms for prime number factorization,” writes Nature.
Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan has launched a cyberattack prevention course for business leaders, reports Sydney Lake for Fortune. “Board members must be knowledgeable participants in cyber leadership,” says Keri Pearlson, executive director of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan. “Board members need a set of frameworks, a language, some examples, and actionable insights so they have an independent way to interpret and understand what their organization is doing to be cybersecure.”
Researchers from Sloan have released a survey “detailing how 600 board directors worldwide view the cyber threats facing their companies,” reports Sam Sabin for Axios. “Competing perceptions of the threat landscape could make it difficult for CISOs to get board members to support their plans for securing their organizations,” writes Sabin.
In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, Michael Coden, associate director at MIT’s Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, underscores the importance of cyber-resilience rather than cyberprotection. “In contrast to cyberprotection, cyberresilience anticipates that a cyberattack will succeed. It has in place methods for rapid detection, cushioning the effects and quickly restoring systems to their pre-attack state,” writes Coden.
Prof. Peter Shor and three other researchers have won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their work in the field of quantum information, reports Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. Shor “invented the first quantum computer algorithm that was clearly useful. Shor’s algorithm can find the factors of large numbers exponentially faster than is thought to be possible for any classical algorithm,” the Breakthrough Foundation noted in its citation.
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has named Prof. Peter Shor one of the four winners for the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his work in the field of quantum information, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “The laureates honored today embody the remarkable power of fundamental science,” says Yuri Milner, one of the prize founders. “Both to reveal deep truths about the Universe, and to improve human lives.”
Prof. Peter Shor, an expert in quantum algorithms, has been named one of four recipients for the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reports Ian Sample for The Guardian.
Prof. Peter Shor has been named one of four honorees for this year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his contributions to the field of quantum information, reports Daniel Garisto for Scientific American. All of Shor’s work, “led to new views of quantum mechanics and computing,” writes Garisto.
Prof. Peter Shor is one of four winners for this year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reports Zeeya Merali for Nature. Merali writes that Shor’s research “laid the groundwork for the development of ultra-secure communications and computers that might one day outperform standard machines at some tasks.”
Prof. Emeritus Stuart Madnick and Keri Pearlson, executive director of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan, write for The Wall Street Journal about the seven actions that corporate leaders can take to ensure that employees contribute to maintaining a secure organization. “New vulnerabilities emerge every day, as malicious cybersecurity actors find fresh ways to attack or infiltrate organizations. Technology can help, but it can only do so much,” write Madnick and Pearlson. “Just as important is a culture where all employees fill in the gaps—by noticing anomalies, questioning things that might look legitimate but are slightly off in some way, or stopping compromised processes that would otherwise proceed.”
Prof. Emeritus Stuart Madnick writes for The Wall Street Journal about the importance of transparency when companies are impacted by cyberattacks. “It has become clear that through laws and regulations, we need to increase the quantity, quality, and timeliness of cyberattack reporting,” writes Madnick. “Only by having more detailed information on who is getting attacked, how they are getting attacked and what is being stolen can everybody begin to arm themselves with the right defenses.”
Researchers from MIT have discovered a hardware vulnerability in Apple’s M1 chip using an attack called PACMAN, reports Harry Guinness for Popular Science. “Attackers can only use PACMAN to exploit an existing memory bug in the system, which can be patched,” explained Guinness.