Boston Globe Ideas columnist Kevin Lewis highlights a new study by MIT Sloan researchers that compares how well IT professionals and inexperienced students performed at a cybersecurity management game. Researchers concluded that because the experienced group didn’t perform better than the students, “training for better understanding of the complexities of cybersecurity is needed for decision-makers.”
In an article for Scientific American, Sloan research scientist Mohammad S. Jalali writes about the concerning ways hospitals are vulnerable to cyber attacks, despite being responsible for some of people’s most sensitive information. Jalali suggests that “policymakers, health care leaders and hospitals themselves should work together to make the industry as a whole less susceptible to attacks that threaten people’s privacy and their very lives.”
Forbes contributor Joe McKendrick describes how blockchain applications “may eventually reach into every corner of the business, providing online, ‘smart contracts.’” McKendrick cites research from the Media Lab’s Senior Advisor for Blockchain Opportunities, Michael Casey, whose recent book highlights the World Food Program’s use of blockchain for food distribution.
In a recent paper, CSAIL researchers propose a new system, Veil, which uses servers to conceal private web browsing data from internet service providers, reports Rob Verger of Popular Science. Through this system, the provider “would only see the connection to the blinding server, which hosts the actual content” and not the website the user is visiting, explains Verger.
Anant Agarwal, president of edX, and Kalyan Veeramachaneni, a principal research scientist at LIDS, are featured on Fast Company’s 2017 list of the “Most Creative People in Business.” Agarwal is celebrated for “mastering online education,” and Veeramachaneni for developing a system that enables humans and AI to work together to detect possible security threats.
Prof. Stuart Madnick writes for Forbes about the security threat posed by connecting household items to the internet. Madnick notes that it is, “great that computer-enabled internet-connect devices now bring wonderful new capabilities and conveniences. But there is also a need to take a broad view of the impact on our nation’s critical infrastructure.”
Joel Brenner, former NSA inspector general and a research fellow at MIT, speaks to BBC reporter Gareth Mitchell about an MIT report that examines cyber security threats to the nation’s infrastructure. “You can have a digital network that’s not public,” says Brenner, “but you shouldn’t be able to get to the controls of critical infrastructure through the public internet.”
A report from MIT’s Center for International Studies and CSAIL encourages the government to increase cybersecurity systems guarding the nation’s infrastructure, reports Jordan Graham for the Boston Herald. One suggestion from the report is to “establish incentives for owners and operators of private infrastructure who boost security,” explains Graham.
James Brenner, the former NSA Inspector General and a research fellow at MIT, speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti of Radio Boston about a new report by MIT researchers that examines potential cyber security vulnerabilities in American infrastructure. Brenner explains that the report aims to “shine a light on what the underlying problems are both technological, commercial and political.”
Timothy Revell writes for New Scientist about a new report by MIT researchers that calls for securing critical U.S. infrastructure against cyberattacks. Joel Brenner, former NSA inspector general and a research fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies, explains that “we know how to fix the vulnerabilities, but there’s no market incentive for companies to do so.”
CNN reporter Selena Larson writes that MIT researchers have released a new report calling for an overhaul of the nation’s cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, like the electric grid. “For infrastructure to be protected against cyberattacks, companies and the government have to collaborate,” Larson explains. She adds that the report suggests, “incentivizing companies to mandate security upgrades.
Speaking with Ellie Bothwell of Times Higher Education, President L. Rafael Reif emphasizes MIT’s “commitment to tackling big, important problems for humanity – climate change, clean energy, cybersecurity, human health – with colleagues of every identity and background.”
The Media Lab will serve as one of the first anchor institutions for a new initiative, the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund, which will “support research and development to make AI beneficial for humans,” reports Jordan Graham for the Boston Herald.
The Media Lab will serve as a founding institution for a new effort focused on advancing artificial intelligence research for the public good, reports April Glaser for CNBC. Research will focus on everything from investigating how” socially responsible artificially intelligent systems can be designed” to fostering “understanding of the complexities of artificial intelligence.”
Kevin Murnane of Forbes spotlights five innovations developed by CSAIL researchers in 2016. Murnane highlights an ingestible origami robot, a 3-D printed robot with solid and liquid components, a robot that can assist with scheduling decisions, an artificial neural network that can explain its decisions, and an algorithm that can predict human interactions.