Daily Archives: May 6, 2020

Apple sues Corellium for copyright – and sues everybody who talks about Corellium or is / was their customer. Strong arm much?

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Last year, Apple accused a cybersecurity startup based in Florida of infringing its copyright by developing and selling software that allows customers to create virtual iPhone replicas. Critics have called the Apple’s lawsuit against the company, called Corellium, “dangerous” as it may shape how security researchers and software makers can tinker with Apple’s products and code.

The lawsuit, however, has already produced a tangible outcome: very few people, especially current and former customers and users, want to talk about Corellium, which sells the eponymous software that virtualizes iPhones and Android devices. During the lawsuit’s proceedings, Apple has sought information from companies that have used the tool, which emulates iOS on a computer, allowing researchers to probe potential iPhone vulnerabilities in a forgiving and easy-to-use environment.

[…]

“I don’t know if they intended it but when they name individuals at companies that have spoken in favor [of Corellium], I definitely believe retribution is possible,” the researcher added, referring to Apple’s subpoena to the spanish finance giant Santander Bank, which named an employee who had Tweeted about Corellium.

[…]

A security researcher, who specializes in offensive security and asked to remain anonymous, said that he would definitely “have legal look into it beforehand if I needed [Corellium’s] stuff,” arguing that he’d be wary of Apple getting involved.

Three other researchers who specialize in hacking Apple software declined to comment citing the risk of some sort of retaliation from Apple.

[…]

In January, Apple subpoenaed the defense contractor L3Harris and Santander Bank, requesting information on how they use Corellium, all communications they’ve had with the startup, internal communications about their products, and any contracts they’ve signed with the company, among other information.

Mark Dowd, the founder of Azimuth Security, a cybersecurity startup that specializes in developing hacking tools for governments that’s now part of L3Harris, said last year that he couldn’t comment about Corellium “because [Apple] mention[ed] us in the original filing.” (Dowd did not respond to a request for comment this week.)

[…]

Some researchers, however, are not afraid of Apple. Elias Naur uses Corellium to test code written in the Go language for mobile operating systems. Before Corellium, Naur said he had to test code on two busted old phones plugged in under his couch. Naur said he’s “not worried Apple will come after Corellium’s customers” and is still using the software.

[…]

In this David v. Goliath battle, as Forbes called it, many people are choosing to stay away from David even before seeing who wins.

Source: Apple’s Copyright Lawsuit Has Created a ‘Chilling Effect’ on Security Research – VICE

‘Artificial leaf’ concept inspires research into solar-powered fuel production

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Rice University researchers have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel.

The platform developed by the Brown School of Engineering lab of Rice materials scientist Jun Lou integrates catalytic electrodes and that, when triggered by sunlight, produce electricity. The current flows to the catalysts that turn water into hydrogen and oxygen, with a sunlight-to-hydrogen efficiency as high as 6.7%.

This sort of catalysis isn’t new, but the lab packaged a layer and the electrodes into a single module that, when dropped into water and placed in sunlight, produces hydrogen with no further input.

The introduced by Lou, lead author and Rice postdoctoral fellow Jia Liang and their colleagues in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano is a self-sustaining producer of that, they say, should be simple to produce in bulk.

“The concept is broadly similar to an artificial leaf,” Lou said. “What we have is an integrated module that turns sunlight into electricity that drives an electrochemical reaction. It utilizes water and sunlight to get chemical fuels.”

Perovskites are crystals with cubelike lattices that are known to harvest light. The most efficient perovskite produced so far achieve an efficiency above 25%, but the materials are expensive and tend to be stressed by light, humidity and heat.

“Jia has replaced the more expensive components, like platinum, in perovskite solar cells with alternatives like carbon,” Lou said. “That lowers the entry barrier for commercial adoption. Integrated devices like this are promising because they create a system that is sustainable. This does not require any external power to keep the module running.”

Liang said the key component may not be the perovskite but the polymer that encapsulates it, protecting the module and allowing to be immersed for long periods. “Others have developed catalytic systems that connect the solar cell outside the water to immersed electrodes with a wire,” he said. “We simplify the system by encapsulating the perovskite layer with a Surlyn (polymer) film.”

The patterned film allows sunlight to reach the solar cell while protecting it and serves as an insulator between the cells and the electrodes, Liang said.

Source: ‘Artificial leaf’ concept inspires research into solar-powered fuel production