Group items tagged

Essentially, this paper goes through the types of gait recognition software that currently exist as well as the reliability of this software. There are a lot of different elements that influence a persons gait (like terrain, shoes, fatigue, etc.), which effects how well the software works. It's a pretty heavy read but it's really interesting if you want to just jump to a certain section and read in depth. This technology is very much out there and in development, and it is definitely being improved upon. Also, even though this paper is a little bit older, it is still being cited in a lot of more recent research papers and I thought it would give a good enough grasp on the science for our purposes.

"The remains of a World War Two carrier pigeon which was lost in action 70 years ago while delivering a top secret message over enemy lines has been found in a chimney in Bletchingley, Surrey. The skeleton of the bird has a small red cylinder attached to its foot which contains a mysterious cigarette paper sized coded message. The message is deemed so sensitive, that Codebreakers at GCHQ in Cheltenham are now frantically trying to decipher it."

Astronomy is a very interesting subject but also a very complex one. I picked this article because the author does a good job of making a complex subject simpler to understand, while keeping the topic interesting by addressing the reader with a natural and creative tone.

"Since the dawn of the information age, we've bought into the idea that a password, so long as it's elaborate enough, is an adequate means of protecting all this precious data. But in 2012 that's a fallacy, a fantasy, an outdated sales pitch. And anyone who still mouths it is a sucker-or someone who takes you for one."

Cryptology is a young science. Though it has been used for thousands of years to hide secret messages, systematic study of cryptology as a science (and perhaps an art) just started around one hundr...

Cryptology is a young science. Though it has been used for thousands of years to hide secret messages, systematic study of cryptology as a science (and perhaps an art) just started around one hundr...

Check out this article! It's about a recent security breach of heathcare.gov that was made possible due to a test server with a default password that hadn't been changed and a lack of regular security scans.

I like the way this is written because the author makes it a fun read. It is not a long boring article about the writing process of her story, but rather it breaks down her process into steps. Moreover, her writing is entertaining, which grasped my interest more so than many other posts. 

Instead of hiring "upper-class twits from Oxford and Cambridge," A government communications agency tried a new angle on recruiting hackers. They decided to combat hackers with other experienced hackers by posting an online puzzle and offering a job interview to those who solved it.

I thought this post was well written. It was short and concise but was well organized and polished. I also liked that it wasn't too informal. The pseudo-scientific explanations for the malformation were very interesting.

This blog incorporates both researched information and personal anecdote in a well-balanced, entertaining manner. The topic is new information to me, and I would assume most readers, and was presented compellingly. The photo was also a nice addition!

Here's just some more information about Ada Lovelace because she's pretty cool.

I thought this article was interesting because it mentioned Ada's childhood imagination and inventions. It's interesting to consider what she could've done if she had grown up in a different place or at a different time. Also, the article mentioned that there was a computer program named "Ada" after her and I thought it was pretty cool that she's beginning to be recognized more and more. (Sorry, I don't know why this comment wasn't here earlier. It's in my original Diigo bookmark.)

This resource is interesting in light of our discussing Babbage and Lovelace, as well as Ada Lovelace Day. This article is particularly interesting to me as it deals with women's contributions to significant advancements in history, many of which are often ignored or excused.

Riley, I mentioned in class that October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day for recognizing the contributions of women in science. Details: http://findingada.com/. I've wanted to organize an Ada Lovelace Day event here at Vanderbilt for a few years now, but never found the time. Let me know if you'd like to cook something up (an event? a blog series? a Wikipedia editing party?) for the 14th.

I found it really interesting that people took the fact that Lovelace made a few mistakes as an excuse to try to remove her contribution to computer programming. Male scientists and programmers also make mistakes, but we rarely see those used in an attempt to discredit them. Also, she literally designed a computer program before the computer even existed. I think we can excuse a few past mathematical errors.

"A factory refurbished Thinkpad shipped with Windows 7 and a scheduler app that ran once a day, collecting usage data about what you do with your computer and exfiltrating it to an analytics company. "

When it turned out that the Firefox JavaScript Tor vulnerability shenanigans were originating from the NSA not the FBI, it was pretty clear that the agency was looking to undermine and access Tor's anonymous internet. It's like a moth to a flame. But now security expert Robert Graham has outlined his reasons for believing that the NSA doesn't even need tricks and paltry exploits to access Tor, because they have the keys to the kingdom. Or can.

When it turned out that the Firefox JavaScript Tor vulnerability shenanigans were originating from the NSA not the FBI, it was pretty clear that the agency was looking to undermine and access Tor's anonymous internet. It's like a moth to a flame. But now security expert Robert Graham has outlined his reasons for believing that the NSA doesn't even need tricks and paltry exploits to access Tor, because they have the keys to the kingdom. Or can.

This is a website introducing codes and ciphers in WW II by Tony Sale. Given this specific war context, is there really a guideline of what an action is ethical and what is not in terms of cryptoanalysis? Would an action be ethical whenever the majority's well-being is satisfied, or there's a line that should not be crossed?

This outlines the gronsfeld cipher, which is a modification of the vigenere cipher. I like and find this cipher interesting because of it using numbers instead of letters, and I like cryptography which uses numbers.

Interesting. Gronsfeld ciphers then form a subset of Vigenere ciphers. That is, there's a one-to-one correspondence between Gronsfeld ciphers and Vigenere ciphers where keywords are formed from the letters A through J.

This video talks about a hack done by a group of Russian hackers that gained access to 1.2 billion records, and discusses the idea that perhaps passwords are no longer the best way to protect our information. It's a quick video, but what was interesting to me was that I hadn't even considered that something other than the current password system could protect our information.

Security in-a-box is a collection of guides and free tools to secure your computer, protect your information or maintain the privacy of your Internet communication. It was created to meet the digital security and privacy needs of advocates and human rights defenders.

Summary: California researchers report a breakthrough with the creation of a solid-state quantum processor that could ultimately have a bearing on future cryptographic techniques. Researchers in California have designed and built a quantum processor capable of factoring 15 into its primes - with major implications for computer security.

Speed is generally considered exciting, but this blog post takes a different approach. It uses interesting examples, both foreign and familiar, to create a relative scale of speed. It is extremely easy to understand and informative. 

I thought this post was incredibly well written, starting with the title. The title is captivating and draws readers in by suggesting a solution to a common annoyance. The article also addresses the bigger scientific achievement: this scanner may be useful for medical purposes such as measuring glucose levels or cancer cell levels at tumor sites. The article provides sufficient, interesting information while creatively tying in witty humor.