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MIT Physicists Harness Quantum Time Reversal for Detecting Gravitational Waves and Dark Matter – SciTechDaily

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

A new technique to measure vibrating atoms could improve the precision of atomic clocks and of quantum sensors for detecting dark matter or gravitational waves.

A tiny universe of information is contained in the quantum vibrations in atoms. Scientists can hone the precision of atomic clocks as well as quantum sensors if they can accurately measure these atomic oscillations, and how they evolve over time. Quantum sensors, which are systems of atoms whose fluctuations can be used as a detector, can indicate the presence of dark matter, a passing gravitational wave, or even new, unexpected phenomena.

Noise from the classical world, which can quickly overpower small atomic vibrations and make any changes to those oscillations devilishly hard to detect, is a significant barrier in the way of improved quantum measurements.

However, MIT physicists have recently demonstrated that they can significantly amplify quantum changes in atomic vibrations, by subjecting the particles to two key processes: quantum entanglement and time reversal.

Before you go out and buy a DeLorean, let me assure you that they havent discovered a means to reverse time itself. Instead, the scientists forced atoms that were quantumly entangled to act as if they were evolving backward in time. Any alterations to the atomic oscillations were magnified and made easy to monitor as the researchers essentially rewound the tape of atomic oscillations.

In research published on July 14, 2022, in the journal Nature Physics, the team of scientists demonstrates that the technique, which they named SATIN (for signal amplification through time reversal), is the most sensitive method ever developed for measuring quantum fluctuations.

MIT physicists have shown they can significantly amplify quantum changes in atomic vibrations, by putting the particles through two key processes: quantum entanglement and time reversal. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT, with figures from iStockphoto

The technique could improve the accuracy of todays most advanced atomic clocks by a factor of 15, making their timing so exact that the clocks would be less than 20 milliseconds off over the entire age of the universe. The technique could also be used to further sharpen quantum sensors that are designed to detect gravitational waves, dark matter, and other physical phenomena.

We think this is the paradigm of the future, says lead author Vladan Vuletic, the Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics at MIT. Any quantum interference that works with many atoms can profit from this technique.

The studys MIT co-authors include first author Simone Colombo, Edwin Pedrozo-Peafiel, Albert Adiyatullin, Zeyang Li, Enrique Mendez, and Chi Shu.

A given type of atom vibrates at a particular and constant frequency that, if properly measured, can serve as a very precise pendulum, keeping time in much shorter intervals than a kitchen clocks second. But at the scale of a single atom, the laws of quantum mechanics take over, and the atoms oscillation changes like the face of a coin each time it is flipped. Only by taking many measurements of an atom can scientists get an estimate of its actual oscillation a limitation known as the Standard Quantum Limit.

In state-of-the-art atomic clocks, physicists measure the oscillation of thousands of ultracold atoms, many times over, to increase their chance of getting an accurate measurement. Still, these systems have some uncertainty, and their time-keeping could be more precise.

MIT researchers used a system of lasers to first entangle, then reverse the evolution of a cloud of ultracold atoms. Credit: Simone Colombo

In 2020, Vuletics group showed that the precision of current atomic clocks could be improved by entangling the atoms a quantum phenomenon by which particles are coerced to behave in a collective, highly correlated state. In this entangled state, the oscillations of individual atoms should shift toward a common frequency that would take far fewer attempts to accurately measure.

At the time, we were still limited by how well we could read out the clock phase, Vuletic says.

That is, the tools used to measure atomic oscillations were not sensitive enough to read out, or measure any subtle change in the atoms collective oscillations.

In their new study, instead of attempting to improve the resolution of existing readout tools, the team looked to boost the signal from any change in oscillations, such that they could be read by current tools. They did so by harnessing another curious phenomenon in quantum mechanics: time reversal.

Its thought that a purely quantum system, such as a group of atoms that is completely isolated from everyday classical noise, should evolve forward in time in a predictable manner, and the atoms interactions (such as their oscillations) should be described precisely by the systems Hamiltonian essentially, a mathematical description of the systems total energy.

In the 1980s, theorists predicted that if a systems Hamiltonian were reversed, and the same quantum system was made to de-evolve, it would be as if the system was going back in time.

In quantum mechanics, if you know the Hamiltonian, then you can track what the system is doing through time, like a quantum trajectory, Pedrozo-Peafiel explains. If this evolution is completely quantum, quantum mechanics tells you that you can de-evolve, or go back and go to the initial state.

And the idea is, if you could reverse the sign of the Hamiltonian, every small perturbation that occurred after the system evolved forward would get amplified if you go back in time, Colombo adds.

Shown here is the chamber in which researchers trapped and entangled a cloud of 400 ultracold ytterbium atoms. Credit: Simone Colombo

For their new study, the team studied 400 ultracold atoms of ytterbium, one of two atom types used in todays atomic clocks. They cooled the atoms to just a hair above absolute zero, at temperatures where most classical effects such as heat fade away and the atoms behavior are governed purely by quantum effects.

The team used a system of lasers to trap the atoms, then sent in a blue-tinged entangling light, which coerced the atoms to oscillate in a correlated state. They let the entangled atoms evolve forward in time, then exposed them to a small magnetic field, which introduced a tiny quantum change, slightly shifting the atoms collective oscillations.

Such a shift would be impossible to detect with existing measurement tools. Instead, the team applied time reversal to boost this quantum signal. To do this, they sent in another, red-tinged laser that stimulated the atoms to disentangle, as if they were evolving backward in time.

They then measured the particles oscillations as they settled back into their unentangled states, and found that their final phase was markedly different from their initial phase clear evidence that a quantum change had occurred somewhere in their forward evolution.

The team repeated this experiment thousands of times, with clouds ranging from 50 to 400 atoms, each time observing the expected amplification of the quantum signal. They found their entangled system was up to 15 times more sensitive than similar unentangled atomic systems. If their system is applied to current state-of-the-art atomic clocks, it would reduce the number of measurements these clocks require, by a factor of 15.

Going forward, the researchers hope to test their method on atomic clocks, as well as in quantum sensors, for instance for dark matter.

A cloud of dark matter floating by Earth could change time locally, and what some people do is compare clocks, say, in Australia with others in Europe and the U.S. to see if they can spot sudden changes in how time passes, Vuletic says. Our technique is exactly suited to that, because you have to measure quickly changing time variations as the cloud flies by.

Reference: Time-reversal-based quantum metrology with many-body entangled states by Simone Colombo, Edwin Pedrozo-Peafiel, Albert F. Adiyatullin, Zeyang Li, Enrique Mendez, Chi Shu and Vladan Vuleti, 14 July 2022, Nature Physics.DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01653-5

This research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

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CoastLine: Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of The Monkees, on music and why he performs (oh – and quantum physics) – WHQR

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

The Monkees exploded into American living rooms in the late 1960s through an eponymous network TV show. Four young men played members of a fictitious band struggling for success. Two of the actors were already musicians in their own right; two became proficient over the course of the show. The show won two Emmy Awards including Outstanding Comedy.

Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of the group, played guitar but had to learn how to play drums during production. He sang lead vocals on many of the bands bigger hits: Last Train to Clarksville, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Im a Believer, and he wrote songs for the group.

For years, music historians and pundits have called The Monkees the American answer to The Beatles, but Micky Dolenz insists thats an oversimplified and inaccurate descriptor.

While his time as a Monkee may be his most recognizable artistic achievement, it hardly captures the breadth of his show-business career. Starting in 1950s television, Micky Dolenz played the lead role in Circus Boy, a show about an orphan named Corky, who is a waterboy for circus elephants.

After The Monkees ended, Micky Dolenz went to Londons West End where he performed and directed musical theater. He directed and produced TV shows for the BBC and London Weekend Television, he acted in other American television shows, and he has continued to make music.

Two recent albums, one entitled Demoiselle, is a collection of solo tunes recorded by Dolenz in the 1980s and 90s along with previously unreleased material. The other: Dolenz, Jones, Boyce, and Hart: The Guys Who Wrote em and the Guys Who Sang em is a remastered version of material thats been unavailable for decades.

Micky Dolenz performs Thursday, July 21, 2022 at UNCWs Kenan Auditorium.

Segment 1: Angie Zombek, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, gives us an American music history lesson. She teaches a class called Rock-N-Roll and American Society.

Segment 2: Micky Dolenz, actor, musician, director, producer, science and architecture enthusiast

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CoastLine: Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of The Monkees, on music and why he performs (oh - and quantum physics) - WHQR

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The end of everything: 5 ways the universe could be destroyed – New Atlas

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

Everything has to end eventually but does that include the universe itself? And if so, how? And when? It might be hard to imagine a catastrophe big enough to affect the entirety of existence, but physicists do expect it all to end at some point and it may come sooner than we think. Here are some of the leading hypotheses about how the universe could end, and when.

To figure out how the cosmos could come to a close, physicists look back to the beginning. About 13.8 billion years ago, space and time burst forth from an incredibly dense singularity, an event thats come to be known as the Big Bang. The universe rapidly expanded from that point, with matter cooling and condensing into galaxies and all the stars and planets they contain.

But the universe is still expanding, and doing so at an accelerating pace, thanks to a mysterious force that scientists call dark energy. As that name suggests, we know very little about how this force works or why its pushing everything away from everything else, but it has some pretty major implications for the ultimate fate of the universe. How it plays out depends on how you tweak the numbers in the models.The Big Freeze

According to our best models of the evolution of the universe, the most likely scenario is whats called the Big Freeze. If dark energy keeps accelerating the expansion of the universe forever and calculations suggest that it will then the cosmos is in for a slow death thats drawn out for a googol years. That unfathomable number is a one followed by 100 zeroes.

If you could watch a patch of sky in fast-forward over billions of years, the stars would start to turn red, then fade out completely. Thats because the expanding universe would stretch the wavelength of their light farther and farther towards the red end of the spectrum, before rendering them completely invisible to the eye.

Of course, even if you couldnt see them, the distant stars and galaxies would still exist at least for a few trillion years. But after a while, the expansion would dilute the dust and gas floating around in space, until there isnt enough concentrated in any one region to fuel the birth of new stars. With no more being born, stars eventually become an endangered and then extinct species, as the last of them die off.

So begins the universes Degenerate Era, about 100 trillion years from now. By this point, only white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes exist, but these too will fade white dwarfs and some neutron stars will slowly cool into invisible, inert black dwarfs, while other neutron stars will collapse into black holes.

By the year 10 tredecillion (a one followed by 43 zeroes), there wont be anything but black holes left. And even these arent eternal as Stephen Hawking predicted, black holes slowly give off radiation until they eventually evaporate.

After about 1 googol years, once all the black holes are gone too, the universe settles into its final age the Dark Era. Light and matter are distant memories, and the remaining loose particles will live the loneliest possible existence, rarely having the chance to whizz within a light-year of each other, let alone interact. And nothing else will ever happen, for eternity.The Big Rip

A similar scenario leads to a far more dramatic death, much sooner. In this model, dark energy doesnt just accelerate the expansion of the universe at a steady pace, it accelerates exponentially, eventually tearing the very fabric of reality apart an ending called the Big Rip.

Theres a physical limit to the distance into space that we could ever see, even if you had the most powerful telescope possible. That limit is dictated by the speed of light at a certain point, objects are too far away for their light to have had enough time to reach Earth. This region is called the observable universe.

In the Big Rip model, the exponentially accelerating expansion pushes more and more objects beyond that boundary, meaning that the observable universe is constantly shrinking. Any two objects that are farther apart than this boundary allows can no longer influence each other through the fundamental forces, like gravity or electromagnetism.

As that distance shrinks, large scale structures of the universe will begin to crumble as gravitys influence shrinks, it wont be able to hold galaxy clusters together, and theyll start dissolving. Eventually the same will happen to the galaxies themselves, sending stars drifting off on their own. Later, the cosmic event horizon will shrink beyond the scale of an individual star system, meaning planets will no longer be bound to their orbits around stars.

In the final few minutes of existence, that event horizon would shrink smaller than the scale of molecules, disrupting the forces that hold matter together, shredding stars, planets and everything on them. And finally, those loose atoms themselves would be ripped apart particle by particle. The last victim is the fabric of spacetime itself.

The scientists who propose this model predict that, if it were to happen, the universe has about 22 billion years left to live. Thankfully though, other scientists believe that this scenario involves parameters that arent realistic, so is less likely to occur than some of the other ideas on this list.The Big Crunch

Perhaps the universe will end in the exact opposite way instead of expanding forever into nothingness, it changes course and collapses in on itself in a so-called Big Crunch.

In the cosmic tug of war between gravity trying to pull everything together and dark energy trying to push it apart, scientists usually stack their chips in favor of dark energy, which would ultimately lead to a Big Freeze or Big Rip ending. But we cant completely count gravity out of the running.

If the density of matter in the universe is high enough, its gravity could overcome the expansion and trigger a contraction phase instead. Everything will begin to move towards everything else as the universe shrinks once again. Much like our current expansion phase, anyone alive at the time wouldnt be directly affected at least until near the end.

Galaxy clusters would start to merge, then galaxies themselves, and eventually individual stars would collide more regularly. But the real trouble begins with the cosmic microwave background the background radiation of the universe left over from the Big Bang. As its photons are shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum, this radiation heats up, until eventually it becomes hotter than stars. That means the stars can no longer radiate their heat outwards, and will continue to get hotter and hotter until they evaporate.

In the last few minutes, the temperature of the universe would be so extremely hot that atoms themselves fall apart. Not that theyll have long to worry about that, since theyll be sucked into the black holes that are taking up an increasing percentage of the shrinking universe.

Eventually, the entire contents of the universe will be crushed together into an impossibly tiny space a singularity, like a reverse Big Bang.

Different scientists give different estimates of when this contraction phase might begin. It could be billions of years away yet. Or, according to a recent study, it could be quite soon, cosmically speaking, as the universe reverses course about 100 million years from now. In that model, the contraction phase would take about a billion years before we return to that singularity.The Big Bounce

But that might not be the end. A variation on the above hypothesis suggests that moments before the universe collapses into an infinitely dense singularity, its saved by quantum processes and reverses course once again, beginning a new period of expansion thats effectively another Big Bang for a brand new universe. This model is known as the Big Bounce.

While it might sound a little too convenient, proponents of the idea say that there is some precedent in the world of quantum physics after all, as the universe shrinks towards a singularity, it becomes so small that quantum rules take over from the large-scale classical physics were familiar with.

At that point, quantum tunneling can occur, where particles can overcome barriers that by all accounts they shouldnt have enough energy to pass through. This drives processes like radioactive decay and, according to a recent study, could also allow a contracting universe to escape the fate of total collapse and begin expanding again.

Intriguingly, support for the Big Bounce arises out of another theory called loop quantum gravity, which was created as a way to explain gravity in terms of quantum mechanics.

The fun implication of the Big Bounce hypothesis is that we might be in the middle of a never-ending chain of universes being created and destroyed.The Big Slurp

The final doomsday scenario on this list is perhaps the most unsettling, because it could already be barreling down on us and we wouldnt know until it hit. Its called a false vacuum decay, or more colloquially the Big Slurp.

Its a law of physics that a system will naturally try to become stable. To do so it moves from a state of high energy to one with lower energy, until it stabilizes into its lowest possible energy state. For quantum fields, this is known as its vacuum state.

Its thought that all known quantum fields are in their stable vacuum states except for one: the Higgs field. It seems to be in a false vacuum state, which means that it currently appears stable but is predicted to not be in its lowest energy state.

But that could change without warning. Literally any second, the Higgs field could suddenly slip into a lower energy state, taking out a huge chunk (if not all) of the universe in the process.

All it would take is for one tiny point in space to collapse into this lower energy state, which would send a bubble of vacuum decay expanding outwards at the speed of light. Moving that fast, we couldnt even see it coming until the wall of that bubble slammed into Earth.

What happens once were inside this bubble? No ones really sure, but it will probably rewrite the laws of nature. Theres a chance that life might be possible under these new physics but the universe could be so completely different that we cant even imagine it. Worst case scenario, all matter is destroyed.

If theres good news to be found, its that theres a lot of uncertainty to the idea. Some models predict that false vacuum decay isnt likely to occur for many billions of years yet, or that its impossible altogether. Others suggest that it should have happened by now, indicating our current universe might actually be the strange new physics inside the bubble.

The Higgs field could also be more stable than we give it credit for. It was, after all, only confirmed relatively recently with the discovery of the Higgs boson, so theres still plenty left to learn through further study.

Or maybe the false vacuum bubble has just swallowed the Sun and will be here in eight minutes.

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Is Encryption Ethical?. In a world where data privacy is | by xyuon.tech | Jul, 2022 – Medium

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

In a world where data privacy is increasingly under threat, many people are turning to encryption to protect their information. But is encryption ethical? In this blog post, well explore the ethical implications of encryption and how it can be used responsibly.

Encryption is a technique used to protect data or communication from unauthorized access. It uses mathematical algorithms to transform the data into a form that is unreadable by anyone who does not have the decryption key. Data that has been encrypted is often referred to as ciphertext, while unencrypted data is called plaintext.

Encryption is used in a variety of applications, including email, file sharing, and secure communications. It is also used to protect sensitive data, such as medical records and financial information.

There are many benefits to using encryption. Firstly, it helps to ensure the privacy of communications and data. Secondly, it can help to prevent data breaches, as encrypted data is much more difficult to steal or tamper with. Finally, encryption can also be used to create a chain of trust, as encrypted data can be verified and authenticated.

Encryption is a powerful tool and it is important to understand how this whole thing works and how it can be used to benefit you as a person.

The widespread use of encryption is a hotly debated topic, particularly when it comes to government agencies and law enforcement. On one side, some argue that encryption is a vital tool for protecting the privacy of citizens. On the other side, people argue that encryption can be used by criminals and terrorists to hide their activities from the authorities.

So what are the ethical concerns of encryption? Is it a tool that should be used to protect the privacy of citizens, or is it a tool that can be used by criminals and terrorists to hide their activities from the authorities? The answer is not clear, but what is clear is that encryption is a powerful tool that can be used for both good and bad. As we continue to use and develop encryption, we will need to be mindful of both its potential benefits and its potential risks.

In light of the recent data breaches and security vulnerabilities that have been exposed, many people are wondering if we should be encrypting everything. After all, if our data is secure, it cant be stolen or used against us, right? Wrong, encryption is not a perfect solution. It can be expensive and time-consuming to encrypt large amounts of data, and there is always the possibility that someone will figure out how to break the encryption. Additionally, encryption can make it more difficult to share data with others, as they may not be able to access the data if they dont have the right key.

Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to encrypt your data is up to you. There are pros and cons to both sides, and youll need to weigh those carefully before making a decision.

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How Conti ransomware hacked and encrypted the Costa Rican government – BleepingComputer

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

Details have emerged on how the Conti ransomware gang breached the Costa Rican government, showing the attack's precision and the speed of moving from initial access to the final stage of encrypting devices.

This is the last attack from the Conti ransomware operation before the group transitioned to a different form of organization that relies on multiple cells working with other gangs.

The Conti ransomware operation launched in 2020 to replace Ryuk and quickly grew to infamy after attacking victims in both the private and the public sector, includinglocal governmentsin the U.S.,schools, andnational healthcaresystems.

On April 11, 2022, Conti began their last incursion under this brand after gaining initial access to the Costa Rica governments network and engaging in reconnaissance activity.

A report from cyber intelligence company Advanced Intelligence (AdvIntel) details the Russian hackers steps from initial foothold to exfiltrating 672GB of data on April 15 and executing the ransomware.

The threat actor entry point was a system belonging to Costa Ricas Ministry of Finance, to which a member of the group referred to as MemberX gained access over a VPN connection using compromised credentials.

Advanced Intelligence CEO Vitali Kremez told BleepingComputer that the compromised credentials were obtained from malware installed on the initial device compromised on the victim network.

More than 10 Cobalt Strike beacon sessions were set up in the early stages of the attack, AdvIntel researchers say in the report.

The infection followed a typical attack flow wherein the adversaries gained access from the compromised VPN log by installing a crypted form of Cobalt Strike inside the Costa Rica sub-network -AdvIntel

After gaining local network domain administrator access, the intruder used the Nltest command-line tool to enumerate domain trust relationships. Next, they scanned the network for file shares using ShareFinder and AdFind utilities.

AdvIntels details on the threat actors activity on the Costa Rica governments network include the specific commands used at each step.

According to the researchers, MemberX then used the Cobalt Strike backdoor channel to download the fileshare output to a local machine.

The attacker was able to access administrative shares where they uploaded a Cobalt Strike DLL beacon and then ran it using the PsExec tool for remote file execution.

Using the Mimikatz post-exploitation tool for exfiltrating credentials, the adversary collected the logon passwords and NTDS hashes for the local users, thus getting plaintext and bruteable local admin, domain and enterprise administrator hashes.

The researchers say that Conti operators leveraged Mimikatz to run aDCSyncandZerologonattack that gave them access to every host on Costa Ricas interconnected networks.

To make sure that they dont lose access in case defenders detect the Cobalt Strike beacons, Conti planted the Atera remote access tool on hosts with less user activity where they had administrative privileges.

The adversaries pinged the whole network and re-scanned the network domain trusts, leveraging enterprise administrator credentials with ShareFinder and compiling a list of all corporate assets and databases available under their new elevated privileges -AdvIntel

Stealing the data was possible using the Rclone command-line program that can manage files on multiple cloud storage services. Conti used this to upload data to the MEGA file hosting service.

A diagram of the attack flow:

According to a note on the Conti leak site, the ransom demand was initially $10 million and then increased to $20 million when Costa Rica refused to pay.

However, AdvIntel researcherssaythat internal communication between Conti members showed that the price was far below $1 million USD.

AdvIntel notes that Contis attack on the Costa Rican government was relatively unsophisticated and that a flat network designed combined with misconfigured administrative shares helped the attacker move to domain trusts.

Following this crippling attack, Costa Rica was forced on May 8 todeclare a national emergencyas the intrusion had extended to multiple government bodies, with some agencies resuming activity in early June.

About 10 days later, Conti leaders started toshut down the operationby taking offline part of the infrastructure offline and announcing that the brand no longer existed.

The final step happened in late June whenConti shut downall the sites used for negotiating ransoms with victims and took offline the data leak site.

However, the cybercriminal syndicate lives on, under a different organization where its members dispersed into other ransomware operations (Quantum, Hive, AvosLocker, BlackCat, Hello Kitty).

Other operations also in the extortion business, minus the file encryption part, that are also linked to Conti areKarakurt,BlackByte, and theBazarcall collective.

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Why financial institutions cant bank on encryption – Global Banking And Finance Review

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

Simon Mullis, Chief Technology Officer at Venari Security

The past few years have seen a marked increase in geo-political tensions and emerging cyberattacks, keeping security teams on their toes. One of the most significant security threats however, is already hiding in plain sight remaining undetected within encrypted traffic. A major target for these attacks is the UKs Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), and defending against them should be an urgent priority for the finance industry.

The National Cyber Security Centres UK CNI comprise of 13 sectors the essential systems, processes, people and information needed for the countrys infrastructure. Importantly, the loss or compromise of each organisation could result in damaging and extensive impacts to the economy or to society. Although the first essential systems that come to mind may be power grids or water supplies, the finance sector also includes many organisations which provide essential services. Whether it be cash withdrawals and deposits, digital wire transfers, loan applications or investments, they are all relied on daily and must be treated in the same way. This results in a real responsibility for banks and financial institutions to ensure their systems are secure, with equally real consequences for failing to do so.

If attacks on CNI are only increasing, what does this mean for financial institutions, and more importantly, how can they ensure they are guarding against them? Lets consider the risks cyberattacks pose to CNI, as well as the actions the finance sector can take to protect its customers, their data, and financial assets.

The cybersecurity risks to CNI

One of the most recent high-profile CNI attacks that the finance industry must analyse and ensure is guarding against is the Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident, which took place in May 2021. The pipeline operator reported that a cyberattack had forced the company to temporarily shut down all business functions.

What is particularly significant about this attack is that it was simply an exposed username/password that allowed the attackers to gain access. Once in, their activity was end-to-end encrypted just like all the other traffic. Vast swathes of the US were affected with 45% of the East Coasts fuel operations halted as a result.

In this case, despite the organisation protecting its data with strong encryption standards, attackers were able to enter the network through a legitimate, encrypted path and thus rendered many of the counter measures ineffective. With the operators unaware of any anomalous activity on their networks, the intruders had all the time they needed to assess the system and get organised.

This presents a dilemma for CNI sectors, especially finance, where interactions and operations have to be encrypted.

Encryption is no longer enough

As happened in the Colonial Pipeline incident, the use of end-to-end encryption enabled attackers to conceal themselves in legitimate traffic. While critical to support data privacy and security in the event of breaches, end-to-end encryption renders many established means of detection ineffective.

Most defence methods still rely heavily on decryption and relatively rudimentary analysis to detect when traffic might be known-bad or deviating from expected patterns. The volume and speed of encrypted data now passing across networks means that it is impossible to detect everything with processes and techniques requiring this type of inspection.

And indeed, this is not a cutting-edge approach by cybercriminals. In the first three quarters of 2021 alone, threats over encrypted channels increased by 314% on the previous year. If organisations continue to use the same inadequate detection techniques to uncover malicious activity on their network, the rate of attacks using encrypted traffic will continue to grow at this rate or higher.

The security industry has long understood that breaches are not if, but when scenarios. And the current global climate, sparking a rise in nation-state attacks, undoubtedly increases the threat level further for CNI and especially for sensitive sectors such as finance.

Going beyond decryption to gain visibility

Financial institutions must strike a careful balance when it comes to security. On the one hand, it is vital they gain back visibility of their networks that end-to-end encryption might be at risk of concealing; on the other, its a necessity that they maintain a level of encryption in the first place.

Decryption is a too cumbersome and time-consuming approach now that our entire networks are encrypted both data-at-rest and in motion and organisations can only hope to keep up if they monitor for aberrant behaviour and malicious activity in their traffic without having to rely on decryption.

The solution? Security teams need to look towards using behavioural analytics to detect what is happening within encrypted traffic flows. A combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence, behavioural analytics can analyse encrypted traffic in near real-time without decryption. By accurately understanding the abnormalities between normal and anomalous behaviour, it significantly increases the rate and speed at which malicious activity concealed in encrypted traffic can be detected, whilst ensuring data remains private.

Security teams can then react immediately to contain the threats it identifies rather than responding after the fact, when banks might only realise that an attack has taken place after a customer has experienced a breach.

Not a threat, but a reality

As the geo-political landscape becomes more treacherous, and society, even more interconnected, critical infrastructure attacks will only increase, with financial services a major target.

Security teams can no longer bury their head in the sand, as these attacks may not be a looming threat, but an existing issue, hidden by the very encryption theyve relied on. Acting now is key, otherwise the risks posed by an attacker will only increase.

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Only 7% of People Know The Name of The Current World Chess Champion – World Chess

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

Magnus Carlsen, thecurrent World Chess Champion, stunned fans earlier this week byannouncing that he will notbe defending his title inthenext match andwill effectively retire from theChampionship cycle (butnotfrom chess).

YouGov, theleading research company andFIDE Online Arena, theofficial gaming platform oftheInternational Chess Federation, conducted asurvey intheUS andtheUK todetermine how many people know thename oftheWorld Champion andwhich country he is from. Thesurvey results were surprising, only 7 percent ofpeople asked intheUK (9 percent intheUS) could correctly pick thename oftheWorld Champion out of10 options. 4 percent ofall respondents incorrectly said that thetitle is still held byGarry Kasparov, who retired from competitive chess in2005, whilst 77 percent indicated that they dont know thecurrent World Champions name.

Results were similar when asked where theChampion is from, with 6 percent oftherespondents correctly indicating that theChampion is from Norway, while 15 percent erroneously believe that thecurrent Champion hails from Russia, and5 percent believe that theChampion is from theUnited States (thelast American World Chess Champion was Bobby Fischer in1972).

Thesurvey also offered remarkable insight into chess demographics; 14 percent ofyoung adults (18 to24 year old) correctly named theWorld Chess Champion versus 4 percent among theolder respondents (55+). According tothese findings, chess is seemingly more popular among younger demographics both intheUS andtheUK.

Theinaugural report, thefirst official Chess Awareness Barometer, will be released annually tomeasure awareness andpopularity oftheelite chess players andtheWorld Chess Champion.

Check out now!

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Chess Olympiad players to get medical cover – The Hindu

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

The Tamil Nadu Health Department will deploy medical teams and ambulances, and take up COVID-19 screening at airports, hotels and venues, besides providing health insurance cover of up to 2 lakh each for 1,900-odd players participating in the 44th Chess Olympiad

The Tamil Nadu Health Department will deploy medical teams and ambulances, and take up COVID-19 screening at airports, hotels and venues, besides providing health insurance cover of up to 2 lakh each for 1,900-odd players participating in the 44th Chess Olympiad

With the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad all set to begin next week, the Health department is deploying medical teams and ambulances, arranging COVID-19 screening at airports, hotels and venues, monitoring food safety and has readied health insurance cover of up to 2 lakh to each of the 1,900-odd players.

Players from about 180 countries are taking part in the Chess Olympiad scheduled to take off on July 28. On its part, the Health department is ramping up preparations, including emergency care, COVID-19 screening and food safety.

Officials said nearly 1,000 persons, including doctors and field workers of the department, were roped in after appropriate training. Thirty ambulances would be stationed at the hotels where players would be accommodated.

The players will be staying in 21 hotels. So, we have one permanent medical team for every three hotels. They will be available round-the-clock. At the main venue, we will have specialist doctors available in case of any emergency, a health official said.

The special medical team comprising doctors drawn from general medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, orthopaedics and obstetrics-gynaecology would be in place at the Chess Olympiad venue in Mamallapuram.

If any player required to be admitted to hospital, the State government would bear the medical expenses for which health insurance coverage has been readied.

We have paid a premium of 300 for each player through the already existing Memorandum of Understanding with United India Insurance (for the Chief Ministers Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme). We have a list of 1,925 players who are participating in the Olympiad. This will give coverage of up to 2 lakh per player for 15 days in empanelled private hospitals, another official said.

The department has identified 13 hospitals in and around OMR and ECR.

Food safety is one of the priority areas. Measures kicked in two to three months ago when we started training in food safety for staff in the hospitality industry. We identified hotels and took up three or four rounds of inspections based on which improvements had to be done by them. There are a number of street vendors and small restaurants as well, and a number of restaurants on the beach side in Mamallapuram and its surrounding areas. So, we provided special training on how to prepare food hygienically, an official said.

Nearly 100 persons were deputed from other districts to monitor food safety measures in all hotels, the official said.

On its part, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine will take care of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and RT-PCR testing in addition to monkeypox guidelines.

Officials said testing would be done as per the Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines. Two per cent of total flight passengers, including players, coaches, support staff and visitors, would undergo post-arrival testing at random on arrival at the airport. All of them should have taken two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and should produce vaccination certificate or RTPCR negative certificate taken within 72 hours before boarding the flight, said a communication from the directorate.

Thermal screening would be in place. All of them would be screened for symptoms daily and if found symptomatic, the candidate would be isolated, tested and treated as per protocol.

Apart from these measures, a health control room has been set up to coordinate the work.

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Bharat Singh Chauhan on how India got the Chess Olympiad – Sportstar

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

Today, as I look back, it appears like a fantasy that India could get the right to host the prestigious Chess Olympiad in a matter of days. It all began in late February when I sent a text message to the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich to explore the possibility of India hosting an elite tournament. But how the response from Mr. Dvorkovich led to the Olympiad coming Indias way is not only a pleasant surprise but also a distant dream come true.

I remember, I was returning from Kanpur to Delhi by train after finalising the venue for the National championship. A thought ran through my mind that India had hosted many big events and we were now ready to hold something bigger. So, I texted Mr. Dvorkovich that India was keen on hosting any big event for FIDE. The response I received was, Olympiad?

I was surprised because till that point I was not aware that the Olympiad was taken away from Russia and FIDE was looking for a new host. I checked and came to know that Moscow was no longer going to be the venue due to Russias military offensive against Ukraine. I requested Mr. Dvorkovich for time till the following morning to respond. I was so excited that I didnt want to lose the opportunity.

After all, India was aiming to bid for the 2026 edition but with so many European nations to contend with, it could be very difficult to win the bid. So, I said yes.

I made my first call to the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakurand he, too, gave his approval to the idea. He was quick to remind me of the regulations, the paucity of time and, of course, the ongoing situation involving Russia and Ukraine. I then texted some of my friends from the industry and business houses. I knew the industry was not doing well but before 10 a.m. the following day, I had confirmation from a few sponsors and two governments Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

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The officials of the Tamil Nadu Government suggested that I reach Chennai the same evening so that I could have a brief meeting with the Chief Minister Mr. M. K. Stalin the following morning. Trust me, the honourable Chief Minister did not take time to put his seal of approval. The letter of undertaking from the TN Government was issued to me by 4 p.m. the same day.

Since I had mentioned that our preferred venue was Mahabalipuram because of its seaside location, a team of TN officials accompanied me to check out the hotel facilities at the proposed site. The Mahabalipuram Collector was quick to block a couple of thousand rooms, across various categories, for the players and guests, estimated from over 180 countries. Once we submitted the details of our preparedness to the FIDE, we officially got the hosting rights.

In effect, within 10 days of sending that first text message to Mr. Dvorkovich, India became the host of the 44th Chess Olympiad.

Many people have asked me why Tamil Nadu was preferred over Delhi to play the host. Well, Tamil Nadu is the motherland of Indian chess.

Countdown begins: The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin unveils the hashtag for the Chess Olympiad. From left are V. Meyyanathan, Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, M. Subramanian, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Bharat Singh Chauhan, secretary, All India Chess Federation and Tournament Director, 44th Chess Olympiad, and Sanjay Kapoor, President, All India Chess Federation.| Photo Credit: S. R. RAGHUNATHAN

Most Indian Grandmasters come from Tamil Nadu. Plus, historically and culturally, the State is rich and we shall take immense pride in showcasing it to our guests from over 180 nations. I chose Mahabalipuram because I wanted the players to enjoy the beachside locales, something not available in Delhi. It is a long event and the chosen location will have something for everyone.

Working with the TN Government and its officials has been a great experience. In my career, I have not seen a more efficient and positive bureaucracy. They are clear in their thoughts and quick to make decisions. So, whatever we discuss, it gets done with full support of the Government. Being from Delhi and deciding to hold it in Mahabalipuram was a challenge but the pros far outweigh the cons.

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Today, I am delighted to have so many reasons to support the decision to have it in this glorious State.

In the past four months, the Organising Committee and its dedicated members have relocated to Mahabalipuram and worked round the clock. The first-ever Chess Olympiad Torch Relay, with stops at 75 cities across the country, has played a significant part in spreading chess and Olympiad to many unexplored areas.

For now, all credit to the Tamil Nadu Government for ensuring that the scale of this edition of Olympiad surpasses anything the chess world has seen in nearly 100 years of this premier team championship.

We, at the AICF headed by Dr. Sanjay Kapoor, are committed to delivering the best Olympiad ever. We wish everyone associated with this Olympiad returns home with memories, and more.

Though I am looking forward to a memorable event, I now understand the magnitude of that text to Mr. Dvorkovich. It has proved to be the first step in bringing the Olympiad to India. May I add, thats the reason why I think it was my best train journey till date.

As told to Rakesh Rao

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Quantum computing breakthrough: a phase of matter that exists in two time dimensions – Interesting Engineering

July 22, 2022 | Author: admin

Scientists with funding from the Simons Foundation produced a phase of matter that behaves as if it exists in two time dimensions, according to a press release by the institution published on Wednesday. The researchers created the strange material byshining a sequence of laser pulses inspired by the Fibonacci numbers at atoms inside a quantum computer.

Information stored in the strange new phase of matter is far more protected against errors than information stored with the conventional setups currently used in quantum computers. The data can survive for much longer before becoming garbled, potentially makingquantum computing viable, said study lead author Philipp Dumitrescu.

The use of a novel extra time dimension is a completely different way of thinking about phases of matter, said Dumitrescu, who worked on the project as a research fellow at the Flatiron Institutes Center for Computational Quantum Physics in New York City. Ive been working on these theory ideas for over five years, and seeing them come actually to be realized in experiments is exciting.

Quantum computers use elements called qubits to store and handle information, but there's a problem with that. Interacting with these qubits messes with their states leading to problems and errors.

"Even if you keep all the atoms under tight control, they can lose their quantumness by talking to their environment, heating up or interacting with things in ways you didnt plan, Dumitrescu said. In practice, experimental devices have many sources of error that can degrade coherence after just a few laser pulses.

The scientists were therefore looking for ways to make these qubits more robust.To achieve that, physicists can use properties that hold up to change such assymmetries."

Dumitrescu and his team usedthe creation of a quasicrystal in time rather than space and proceeded to develop a quasi-periodic laser-pulse regimen based on the Fibonacci sequence.

"In such a sequence, each part of the sequence is the sum of the two previous parts (A, AB, ABA, ABAAB, ABAABABA, etc.). This arrangement, just like a quasicrystal, is ordered without repeating. And, akin to a quasicrystal, its a 2D pattern squashed into a single dimension. That dimensional flattening theoretically results in two time symmetries instead of just one: The system essentially gets a bonus symmetry from a nonexistent extra time dimension," explained the institution's statement.

Further tests undertaken by the physicists demonstrated that the new phase of matter can act as long-term quantum information storage. However, the researchers still need to functionally integrate the phase with the computational side of quantum computing.

Thats an open problem were working on," saidDumitrescu. Should they come up with a solution it could forever change how we approach quantum computing.

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