Month: October 2016

More bots. Thanks, Internet of Things.

Mirai—the malware responsible for creating a massive "botnet" of hacked Internet-connected cameras, digital video recorders, and other devices that interrupted Internet services for many last week—is still in action, according to data from the network security company Arbor Networks. An ever-shifting army of about 500,000 compromised Internet of Things (IoT) devices is still being controlled by Mirai, based on Arbor's tracking of the malware's communications. And multiple command-and-control networks are still directing those devices to attack websites and service providers across the Internet. But as previously predicted, new and improved versions of the Mirai malware—based on the openly-published source code Mirai's alleged author posted on September 30—are now appearing in the " and wreaking additional havoc.

In a blog post, Roland Dobbins, Principal Engineer on Arbor's ASERT Team, noted that "relatively high concentrations of Mirai nodes have been observed in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and Spain." Devices that are vulnerable to Mirai takeover, he noted, "are typically listening for inbound telnet access on TCP [port] 23 and TCP [port] 2323," and compromised devices communicate via "a remote-control backdoor" that is also present in Mirai, "accessible via TCP/103." Mirai botnets constantly scan the entire Internet for vulnerable devices, so even when a device is rebooted or reset, it can be compromised all over again within 10 minutes.

Dobbins also noted that "multiple threat actor groups are actively working to expand and improve" the attacks that were coded into Mirai, and that "some alterations in the DDoS attack capabilities of at least one Mirai-derived botnet have been observed in the wild."

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Yuri_Arcurs)

The Federal Communications Commission today imposed new privacy rules on Internet service providers, and the Commission said it has begun working on rules that could limit the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in the contracts customers sign with ISPs.

The new privacy rules require ISPs to get opt-in consent from consumers before sharing Web browsing data and other private information with advertisers and other third parties. The rules apply both to home Internet service providers like Comcast and mobile data carriers like Verizon Wireless. The commission's Democratic majority ensured the rules' passage in a 3-2 vote, with Republicans dissenting.

Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was disappointed that the rules passed today did not include any action on mandatory arbitration clauses that prevent consumers from suing ISPs. But Chairman Tom Wheeler said that issue will be addressed in a separate rulemaking.

Enlarge (credit: Tracy Packer via Getty Images)

The Ontario Provincial Police in Canada are planning to text about 7,500 mobile phones that were in the area where the body of a murdered man was discovered in December—all in a bid to find somebody who may have information about the crime.

Welcome to the modern, digital-age version of door-to-door police canvassing.

Murder victim Frederick "John" Hatch.

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It wasn't so long ago that the idea of biped or quadruped robots delivering pizzas seemed like a real possibility. Such speculation was fuelled by Google's acquisition of Boston Dynamics—a company more associated with potential military applications, which earned notoriety for its scarily nimble Big Dog robots.

Google, and then its parent company Alphabet, had to work out how to bring this technology to civvy street—a problem that certainly gnawed at the development team. The vision was perhaps too grandiose even for Alphabet and, earlier this year, it was reported that Boston Dynamics had been off the leash so it could sniff around for potential buyers.

With that short-lived episode over, the roadmap for robotic deliveries is now back under debate, at least if you were expecting arms and legs. But how about an autonomous delivery box on wheels or an airborne drone instead? These are all at the prototype stage but they’re definitely coming; in fact, there's a wide range of innovative technology under investigation by retailers to achieve a competitive edge, from drones to chatbots to redesigned Mars rovers and slasher robots.

Enlarge / Scanning electron micrograph of a pair of Schistosoma mansoni. They live inside your blood! (credit: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)

A number of studies have shown that political and personal beliefs can be related to health behaviors. For example, political orientation may be affected by a person’s beliefs about community, self-reliance, and morality, and these same beliefs may influence that person's likelihood of seeking treatment for a potentially stigmatizing condition, such as a mental or a sexual health issue. A recent article published in PNAS expands on past findings, suggesting that individual traditionalism is associated with national parasite stress.

The study recruited participants from 30 countries, with at least 200 people enrolled per country. These participants completed a short questionnaire describing their attitudes towards political issues and groups of people.

This questionnaire was intended to probe participants’ attitudes on three things: traditionalism, social dominance, and sensitivity to feelings of disgust. Traditionalism was assessed in terms of adherence to old-fashioned values, a family focus, and religiosity. Social dominance orientation was assessed in terms of how much participants favored inter-group equality. Finally, disgust sensitivity was assessed in terms of responses to various situations such as “stepping on dog poop.”

Two drops of blood are shown with a bright red oxygenated drop on the left and a deoxygenated blood on the right. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

We all need oxygen. Individuals who are subjected to low enough levels of oxygen (whatever the cause) can be at major risk for organ dysfunction, cardiac arrest, and death—all within minutes. So when oxygen supply gets too low, medical attention can be needed to increase oxygen levels quickly. But most treatments for hypoxia—low oxygen levels—require an intact and functional respiratory system.

A great deal of research has focused on developing methods to safely administer oxygen directly into the bloodstream, where it can be quickly distributed to tissues and organs in need. In a recent investigation published in PNAS, a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School have developed hollow polymer particles that deliver oxygen to the bloodstream.

Microparticle Fabrication

The scientists developed a two-stage, emulsion-based fabrication process to make these oxygen-carrying polymers. In the first step, a two-phase oil-in-water emulsion was prepared—droplets of an oil-based phase are suspended in a water-based solution. In this case, the oil phase contained a key chemical, a biodegradable polymer called poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic) acid, or PLGA.