security

Boeing has just announced it successfully tracked and shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle with a laser weapon. Actually, it shot down five UAVs at various ranges with the trailer-mounted Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX).

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Implantable medical devices have improved the quality of life for many with conditions like arrhythmia or chronic heart failure, but an increased reliance on electronics to keep our bodies ticking comes with inherent security risks; as more and more devices rely on wireless capabilities to communicate vital data to doctors, the possibility that devices could come under attack from third parties is harrowing at best.

Think about it: Would you want someone launching the equivalent of a denial-of-service attack on the device that keeps your heart beating properly?

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Security agencies have long used the canine nose to sniff out contraband like explosives, drugs, human traffic and the like by picking up the scent of criminals’ illegal cargo. Now British scientists are developing two sensor systems that sniff out the criminals themselves by zeroing in on a specific pheromone emitted when humans are in stressful, fearful situations.

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The littlest gold miners, the tidiest bees, and the least fun Wii game ever. Welcome to this week's Future.

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While the machine uprising may not be upon us just yet, a group of University of Washington researchers has conducted a study on the various threats to security and privacy that household robots currently on the market could introduce to our homes. While their findings found little to fear in the way of an I, Robot-esque revolt, it turns out common household robots can open a home to various security and privacy threats, mostly via web-enabled features that are supposed to make the robots more useful.

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Airport screening technology has turned to an unusual accessory -- the Nintendo Wii balance board -- to identify fidgety, nervous passengers who might have explosives or illegal items concealed on their persons. Or they could have had a long day and just don't want to stand still.

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Tech site Ars Technica saw a university study reporting that photos and other images posted by Facebook, MySpace and other social network users are often left on those services’ servers long after the posters hit “delete”. They put that finding to the test. Images posted to Flickr and Twitter were immediately gone upon refreshing, but images could still be found on Facebook and MySpace’s servers two months later, with both companies saying the issue was one of third-party server response.

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Gold has long represented a safe haven for nervous investors, and the latest financial meltdown has again borne witness to skyrocketing gold prices. Now a German company hopes to capitalize on public distrust of banks by putting real, solid gold bars into those sweaty hands via vending machines, the first of which was just installed in Frankfurt Airport. Right next to the iPod machine.

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Microsoft’s new, free antivirus application Microsoft Security Essentials was released in a limited beta this morning, and now that we’ve got our hands on it, let’s take a look at how MSE stacks up.

Getting Started
The first time you run the application, it’ll automatically check for, download and install updates. It takes just a couple of minutes.

Your First Quick Scan

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From the no-kidding files: the New York Times discusses a neither new nor uncommon practice employed by less reputable web sites that ask for your email address and password, then spam every person in your contact list.

"I thought it was a little strange when I received separate e-mail messages from two people I knew only slightly asking me to click and see their photos on a social networking site called Tagged.

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Samsung has come up with the flashiest anti-counterfeiting tech we've seen yet: forget boring old RFID chips--the AMOLED e-passport concept looks has a 2-inch, paper-thin, QVGA-resolution flexible display embedded in the photo slot, which shows a rotating 360° view of your head when held up to an RFID reader.

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Calling a lithe, sniffing robot a "ferret" raises hopes that it'll be rather cuter than the mockup pictured, but the cargo-screening device in development has capabilities that outshine its aesthetic shortcomings. Though still in its beginning stages -- working prototypes will be ready in about two years -- this robot could revolutionize airport and seaport security by serving as an all-in-one drug, weapon, explosive, and illegal-stowaway detection powerhouse.

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