Daily Archives: May 17, 2019

Radio signals used for ILS plane landings can easily be spoofed using tools amounting to just $600

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With about $600 and a few tools, hackers could fake the radio signals used by commercial airplanes to navigate and land safely, according to new research.

In a paper and demonstration from researchers at Northeastern University in Boston, a software defined radio — a non-traditional radio that uses software instead of hardware for many components — successfully tricks a simulated plane into thinking that the aircraft is traveling off-course. 

Through a process called ‘spoofing’ — a term also applied to scam and robo-callers who fake their numbers — researchers are able to deceive an aircraft’s course deviation indicator into thinking the plane is off-center.

This causes it to misalign or falsely ‘correct’ its trajectory and land adjacent to the runway.

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With about $600 and a few tools, hackers could fake the radio signals used by commercial airplanes to navigate and land safely, according to new research. In a scary demonstrations, researchers were able to simulate an attack on the radio signals used by nearly all aircraft

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With about $600 and a few tools, hackers could fake the radio signals used by commercial airplanes to navigate and land safely, according to new research. In a scary demonstrations, researchers were able to simulate an attack on the radio signals used by nearly all aircraft

As first reported by Ars Technica, the radio signals spoofed by their device, are the same signals used in almost every aircraft throughout the last 50 years, including those on-board large commercial jetliners.

Because of the technology’s age, radio signals used in Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), are not encrypted or authenticated like other digitally transferred data, they say.

While the tools used by researchers in the demonstration aren’t necessarily new, Ars Technica notes that the cost of such devices have come down, making the type of attack more feasible for hackers than ever before.

Researchers note that an attack using their method is possible, but in many cases, misaligned planes can swiftly be corrected by adept pilots who are able to see their positioning in clear conditions and either adjust or perform a fly-around.

Source: Radio signals used to land planes can easily be HACKED using tools amounting to just $600 | Daily Mail Online

One-Third of Ether Held by 376 People – Bloomberg

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Just 376 people hold a third of all Ether, the cryptocurrency that powers the Ethereum blockchain, according to new research by Chainalysis Inc.

Large holders are known in the crypto market as “whales,” which Chainalysis defines as individuals who hold their assets in digital wallets and not on an exchange, Kim Grauer, a senior economist at the company, said in an interview. By comparison, 448 people own 20 percent of all Bitcoin, she said.

Chainalysis also looked at the effect Ether whales have on price, and found that large holders don’t move their cryptocurrency often.

“The majority of whales aren’t traders,” she said. “They’re mostly holding.”

Ether rises amid crypto market rally

The study also found that when a whale moves Ether from a wallet to an exchange, there is a small but statistically significant effect on market volatility.

Investor sentiment and the price of Bitcoin are strong indicators of where Ether will trade, the Chainalysis research found. As Bitcoin rallied 52 percent since the beginning of May, Ether rose 48 percent.

Source: One-Third of Ether Held by 376 People – Bloomberg

Hackers abuse ASUS cloud service to install backdoor on users’ PCs – again

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ASUS’ update mechanism has once again been abused to install malware that backdoors PCs, researchers from Eset reported earlier this week. The researchers, who continue to investigate the incident, said they believe the attacks are the result of router-level man-in-the-middle attacks that exploit insecure HTTP connections between end users and ASUS servers, along with incomplete code-signing to validate the authenticity of received files before they’re executed.

Plead, as the malware is known, is the work of espionage hackers Trend Micro calls the BlackTech Group, which targets government agencies and private organizations in Asia. Last year, the group used legitimate code-signing certificates stolen from router-maker D-Link to cryptographically authenticate itself as trustworthy. Before that, the BlackTech Group used spear-phishing emails and vulnerable routers to serve as command-and-control servers for its malware.

Source: Hackers abuse ASUS cloud service to install backdoor on users’ PCs | Ars Technica

Scientists create mind-controlled hearing aid able to single out voices

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A mind-controlled hearing aid that allows the wearer to focus on particular voices has been created by scientists, who say it could transform the ability of those with hearing impairments to cope with noisy environments.

The device mimics the brain’s natural ability to single out and amplify one voice against background conversation. Until now, even the most advanced hearing aids work by boosting all voices at once, which can be experienced as a cacophony of sound for the wearer, especially in crowded environments.

Nima Mesgarani, who led the latest advance at Columbia University in New York, said: “The brain area that processes sound is extraordinarily sensitive and powerful. It can amplify one voice over others, seemingly effortlessly, while today’s hearing aids still pale in comparison.”

This can severely hinder a wearer’s ability to join in conversations, making busy social occasions particularly challenging.

[…]

The hearing aid first uses an algorithm to automatically separate the voices of multiple speakers. It then compares these audio tracks to the brain activity of the listener. Previous work by Mesgarani’s lab found that it is possible to identify which person someone is paying attention to, as their brain activity tracks the sound waves of that voice most closely.

The device compares the audio of each speaker to the brain waves of the person wearing the hearing aid. The speaker whose voice pattern most closely matches the listener’s brain waves is amplified over the others, allowing them to effortlessly tune in to that person.

The scientists developed an earlier version of the system in 2017 that, while promising, had the major limitation that it had to be pre-trained to recognise speakers’ voices. Crucially, the latest device works for voices it has never heard before.

[…]

The current version of the hearing aid, which involved direct implants into the brain, would be unsuitable for mainstream use. But the team believe it will be possible to create a non-invasive version of the device within the next five years, which would monitor brain activity using electrodes placed inside the ear, or under the skin of the scalp.

In theory, Mesgarani said, the device could also be used like a pair of audio “binoculars” to covertly listen in on people’s conversations, although this was not the intended application.

Source: Scientists create mind-controlled hearing aid | Society | The Guardian

Freed whistleblower Chelsea Manning back in jail for refusing to testify before secret grand jury

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After seven days of freedom, US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning is back behind bars for refusing to testify before a secret federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.

District Court Judge Anthony Trenga ordered Manning back to prison, and said she will, in addition, be fined $500 a day for the first 30 days in the clink, and $1,000 a day after that, until she testifies. Manning previously served 63 days in the cooler for refusing to talk, 28 of which were in solitary confinement.

“We are of course disappointed with the outcome of today’s hearing, but I anticipate it will be exactly as coercive as the previous sanction — which is to say not at all,” her attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen said in a statement on Thursday.

“In 2010 Chelsea made a principled decision to let the world see the true nature modern asymmetric warfare. It is telling that the United States has always been more concerned with the disclosure of those documents than with the damning substance of the disclosures.”

The grand jury, which was kept secret until a typo revealed its existence, is researching the 2010 WikiLeaks publication of US State Department cables and the Collateral Murder video showing two journalists being killed in Iraq by US forces, as well as other documents relating to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[…]

After nearly seven years behind bars, Manning had her sentence commuted by President Obama, and was a free woman, for a while. Her refusal to testify in front of a secret grand jury on the grounds that they are undemocratic means she has now been taken into custody again until she changes her mind.

“Facing jail again, potentially today, doesn’t change my stance,” she said before today’s hearing.

“The prosecutors are deliberately placing me in an impossible position: go to jail and face the prospect of being held in contempt again or forgoing my principles and the strong positions that I hold dear. The latter is a far worse jail than the government can produce.”

Source: Freed whistleblower Chelsea Manning back in jail for refusing to testify before secret grand jury • The Register

Bio-glue that moves with a beating heart can repair wounds in pigs

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Uncontrolled bleeding during surgery can cause death. What if, instead of slow surgical stitching, you could rapidly glue a wound together?

A new “bio-glue” — an experimental adhesive gel that is activated by a flash of light — has been proven to stop high pressure bleeding in the hearts of pigs.
Additional research confirming the safety of this product is needed before experiments can begin in humans, according to the authors of a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Around the globe, more than 234 million surgeries are performed each year, the World Health Organization estimates.
Surgical suturing is especially difficult when dealing with diseased, damaged or small blood vessels, according to the study authors. Existing surgical products, such as Fibrin Glue and Surgiflo, have been effective in stopping bleeding during surgeries, but they take minutes to set and in some cases require additional stitching.
Numerous attempts have been made to create improved and swifter-acting surgical adhesives, but few nontoxic materials can meet the criteria of holding fast on wet tissues while resisting pressure and the movement of a beating heart.
A team of researchers from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, accepted the challenge.
Inspired by the matrix composition of human connective tissues, they created a gel composed of a network of proteins and other molecules. The product, which requires ultraviolet light to activate, can adhere within seconds and then bond to wet biological tissue surfaces.
In early experiments, the research team showed that their bio-glue could seal wounds to pig livers.
Next, they demonstrated that wounds and punctures of hearts — among the most difficult of surgical challenges — could also be sealed using only the bio-glue, no stitches.

Source: Bio-glue that moves with a beating heart can repair wounds in pigs – CNN