Month: March 2022

AI suggested 40,000 new possible chemical weapons in just six hours | TheVerge

Post author By Noah Schmidt
Post date March 25, 2022

Open-source toxicological datasets have the potential to expose real-world chemical hazards.

A drug-discovering AI created 40,000 potentially dangerous compounds in less than six hours. Several compounds resembled VX, the most potent nerve toxin ever made. VX paralyzes your lungs by immobilizing your diaphragm or lung muscles. The North Korean leader’s half-brother, Kim Jong-Nam, was assassinated in Malaysia after being poisoned with VX nerve toxin. Someone could easily mimic what we accomplished.

Not only for VX but for almost any other open-source toxicity dataset available. If someone were to put this together without any knowledge of chemistry, they would end up with unusable material. There are still some significant jumps between what the AI generates and transforming it into a real-world danger.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/17/22983197/ai-new-possible-chemical-weapons-generative-models-vx

Cyber Security

A Russian cyber attack may hit the US — how to protect your data and devices | Laptop magazine

Post author By Noah Schmidt
Post date March 25, 2022

The US fears the possibility of cyber-attacks, with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, top us officials warned business leaders to invest in cyber security, fearing the evolution of warfare as digital. Russia is no stranger to using cyber warfare and hacking strategies in order to weaken institutions or businesses.

In 2015, hackers managed to turn off power in certain areas of the Ukraine

In 2017 a ransomware attack dubbed “NotPetya” wreaked havoc on its victims by locking them out of their own files.

in May 2021, a group of Russian hackers named DarkSide breached Colonial Pipeline Co.

In order to protect your data in the event of cyber attacks against the us. Laptop mag recommends using multifactor authentication, anti-malware tools, switch passwords regularly, back up data and encrypt your data.

Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/news/a-russian-cyber-attack-may-hit-the-us-how-to-protect-your-data-and-devices

Drones

Can drones make NYC safer? Israeli company, Brooklyn partner pitch idea to mayor | Times of Israel

Post author By Noah Schmidt
Post date March 25, 2022

An Israeli based company and its Brooklyn partner want to fight NYC crime with the help of drones.

Israel’s Blue White Robotics, and Brooklyn’s EasyAerial were two companies featured in the “NY + Israel = Safer, Smarter Cities” event

The companies expressed excitement in talking to NYC Mayor about the implementation of Drones in NYC in high crime areas. The company stated that already have had 6 contracts with the US Air Force, Their drones are being used by US Customs and Border protection, as well as the Israeli Defense force. Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/can-drones-make-nyc-safer-israeli-company-brooklyn-partner-pitch-idea-to-mayor/

Gaming

Red Door Digital raises $5M to build high-end blockchain games | Venture Beat

Post author By Noah Schmidt
Post date March 25, 2022

Red Door Digital has raised more than $5million in funding to build blockchain games. Red Door digital is a Singapore based company, with the mission of providing some needed advancement and creativity into Web 3 games. Red Door Digital currently has three titles under development. One of them being Reign of Terror, a cyber punk multiplayer game. The goal is to enhance entertainment and social interaction via immersive metaverse experiences.

Source: https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/24/red-door-digital-raises-5m-to-build-high-end-blockchain-games/

Information Warfare

UK government pumps in $5.4 million for information warfare against Russia | NewsX

Post author By Noah Schmidt
Post date March 25, 2022

The UK Government with allocate funds worth more than $5.4 millions to the BBC World Service. The Prime Ministers Office state that “The UK will also provide an additional GBP 4.1 million for the BBC World Service as part of a cross-government effort to tackle disinformation in Russia and Ukraine, as well as new financial and policing support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes,” The statement further added, “ emergency funding to support its Ukrainian and Russian language services in the region… has been provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and FCDO.”

Source: https://www.newsx.com/world/uk-government-pumps-in-5-4-million-to-for-information-warfare-against-russia.html