Energy securityCriminals Carried out Cyberattack on U.S. Pipeline Published 10 May 2021 Security experts say that DarkSide, a group of veteran cybercriminals, is responsible for the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, the worst cyberattack on U.S. critical infrastructure to date. The cyberattack forced Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline to shut a critical fuel network that serves populous

China watchHuawei’s Ability to Eavesdrop on Dutch Mobile Users Is a Wake-up Call for the Telecoms Industry By Greig Paul Published 10 May 2021 Chinese technology provider Huawei was recently accused of being able to monitor all calls made using Dutch mobile operator KPN. While the full report on the issue has not been made

Our picksWinning War on COVID Vaccine Lies | Deported Veterans | Bizarre Election Audit, and more Published 10 May 2021 ·  U.S. Government Working to Help Top Fuel Pipeline Operator after Cyberattack ·  Facebook Winning War on COVID Vaccine Lies, Hoaxes and Conspiracies. Twitter and TikTok? Not So Much, Report Says ·  Permitless-Carry Gun Laws Are Misguided

Planetary securityExperts Evaluate Planetary Defense Methods Published 10 May 2021 Scientists are working to develop methods to prevent asteroids from wreaking havoc on Earth. “We know that currently, the U.S. has many knowledge and capability gaps for planetary defense readiness,” says one expert.. “The work we are doing today, and the opportunity to discuss that

Political crimesGermany Sees Spike in Politically Motivated Crimes Published 7 May 2021 German interior minister Horst Seehofer has warned of what he called an alarming rise in politically motivated crime last year, particularly among far-right groups. German interior minister Horst Seehofer has warned of what he called an alarming rise in politically motivated crime last year,

Sarcasm detectorSarcasm Detector for Online Communications Published 7 May 2021 Sentiment analysis – the process of identifying positive, negative, or neutral emotion – across online communications has become a growing focus for both commercial and defense communities. Sentiment can be an important signal for online information operations to identify topics of concern or the possible

Human traffickingTurning Technology against Human Traffickers By Kylie Foy Published 7 May 2021 Last October, the White House released the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. The plan was motivated, in part, by a greater understanding of the pervasiveness of the crime. This increasing awareness has also motivated MIT Lincoln Laboratory to harness its

PandemicsHow Can Scientists Predict a COVID-19 Outbreak? There Is an App for That Published 7 May 2021 A mobile app that uses crowd-sourced data on COVID-19 symptoms can accurately identify where local coronavirus outbreaks will appear, according to scientists who developed the app. “COVID Control” using self-reported virus symptom information could predict next outbreak. A mobile

EarthquakesEarthquake Early Warnings Launched in Washington Published 7 May 2021 When the Big One hits, the first thing Washington residents notice may not be the ground shaking, but their phone issuing a warning. This week, the ShakeAlert early warning system was activated in Washington state, and it will send earthquake early warnings throughout the state. When

CybersecurityComplex Passwords Aren’t Always Best Published 7 May 2021 Research shows increasingly complex website password restrictions often leave users frustrated and lead to poor password security. “Our results confirm that the tougher the constraints of creating the passwords the safer users feel with their information,” said one expert. “However, the results show that a large