Not only is top secret art a thing, it impacts our world more than you may think. Every day, security-cleared artists spanning the globe sort through the technical details of our nation's most closely guarded secrets. Through writing, illustration, coding and CGI, they translate complicated engineering specs into comprehensible stories to aid our government's decision-makers in understanding and implementing these cutting-edge technologies. I had the opportunity to sit down with one of Northrop Grumman's classified artists and reflect on his work, where he finds inspiration and the challenges and advantages of this chosen career path in top secret art. 
 
Adam: So, where did you grow up?
Artist: Kind of the South Bay area — Harbor City and then Palos Verdes. I went to a local high school here, and then I went to college and got a degree in art.
Adam: What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?
Artist: I'm active in my church. I'm also a mentor on a robotics team. I'm in charge of strategy and teaching systems engineering, despite my background. I used to play a bunch of sports but I'm old now.
Adam: When did you realize that you had artistic talent?
Artist: I can't remember a time that I couldn't draw well. When I was young, I was into tracing coloring books. Not the silly ones, but I remember there was a series of books that were illustrations of horror movies â€¦ 'Wolfman,' 'Frankenstein,' all that kind of stuff. I would color it in, trace it and then I'd color it again a different way. I just loved drawing. Later on, I enjoyed Maxfield Parrish. I was interested in photorealistic rendering — painting with gouache and watercolor and airbrushes. So when I was in college, I went down the path of illustration. I thought I was going to do children's books.
Adam: How did that lead you to a career in aerospace and defense?
Artist: When I was in college, my parents used to have breakfast with an engineer and his wife who lived down the street from them. My mom was always trying to find an angle to get her kids a job somewhere, so she asked if they ever hire artists for summer hire positions. He asked the guy who was in charge of the tech illustration area, and the guy said, "As a matter of fact, normally some vice president's kid gets this, but the kid that was doing it last year has decided that he doesn't want to do it ... " That's how I got in the door. My dad was a Marine, so I had an inclination toward military stuff. So when I got here and I started drawing satellites and airplanes, it was a good fit.
Adam: I bet your dad was psyched too.
Artist: Yes. My mother thought I was going to starve as an artist. She was sure of it. Turns out there are a lot of engineers who are good at math and science but can't communicate worth beans, so they paid me to paint pictures of what they wanted to communicate.
Adam: Can you describe some of your current responsibilities?
Artist: My title is oxymoronic — I'm lead Public Relations for Restricted Systems. I produce and direct classified presentations, briefings, artwork, movies â€¦ I write a lot of scripts â€¦ I work with executives to pull out storylines to communicate Northrop Grumman's differentiators. We do this for everyone â€¦ the president, agencies, the military, congresspeople â€¦ My job is translating engineering into human.
Adam: Can you describe the positions of some of the people on your team?
Artist: Being in a classified area, you have to do a wide range of things with the limited set of people who are cleared and are talented, so everyone has to wear a lot of hats. This is good in the sense that everyone gets to try a lot of different things, unlike the entertainment industry, where you can get stuck being the person who creates urban background plates for early 20th century "period" shows. Sometimes, though, we have to do things ourselves, which we'd prefer not to. For example, my senior animator is also a genius in computer systems. He designed and set up our network and render farm. It's comparable to high-end networks that are out there. But it puts a burden on him. He'd rather be animating than doing networks. But he has to wear multiple hats. And that's OK. Benjamin Franklin said, "Variety is the spice of life." So in our area, you always have variety.
That said, we do have specialists. One our folks is particularly good at 3-D modeling, another two are movie editors. Some do narrations; some create unbelievable graphics. The scope of the software packages that we use is tremendous. There's just nothing that we don't do.
Adam: Can you talk to the value that you bring through pen and paper and how that translates into the software packages that you're describing?
Artist: Many years ago, I had to transition from 2-dimensional art, where I was painting a still image, to dynamic art, where things are moving in 3-D space. I can remember that being a crisis point in my life, where I knew I had to transition spatially into the 3-dimensional world. But as soon as I did â€¦ I could see what it was we were going to do animations of. It flows for me — I can visualize what I want to see, and I have the ability to take what's in my head and draw it. A lot of guys can say what they see in their head, but if you don't have the skills to draw it, you're kind of stuck waving your arms, and that's when you need someone like me.
Adam: Can you describe the ways that your art has played a role in the development of any spacecraft?
Artist: To a lot of people, the things we do are magic. We have the technical expertise to do them, but explaining how they're done can sometimes prevent us from getting the contract because our guys and gals are too technical. They are so technical that when they're talking to customers, the customers are like, "I don't understand what he said." And we had that happen. There was a technology that was years in the brewing. We had done a video about it, and the acquisition guy was impressed, but he said, "I technically don't understand how the thing works. Can you go back and animate it so that I can understand x, y and z?" It took us a while, but it was very understandable, and we took it back to him and he said, "Oh â€¦ I get it." And he signed a contract based on his understanding of the animation.
The CGI stuff conveys a level of maturity. I can draw things, but you see that they're rough — that they're sketches. CG these days — we can make things look real. Whether people realize they're being affected by it or not, I think that they're moved to think that we have a mature concept.
Adam: I'm going to transition a little into the impact of working on the classified side. Can you describe what it feels like to be investigated?
Artist: I was in college. I was working summers, like I said, and they knew they were going to put me in for clearances, so they sent the investigators to my fraternity house.
Adam: *Erupts into laughter*.
Artist: I know. You think, "Recipe for disaster," right? My fraternity was a Christian fraternity, but still â€¦ it's a bunch of guys living together. They sat down in the kitchen and talked to anybody who walked through.
It all went well, but still to this day, I have friends from college that are like, "Hey â€¦ you still doing that secret stuff?" It exposes people to the fact that you're doing stuff that a lot of people don't. And that's a little uncomfortable at times. But if you're living a clean life, it's really not that big a deal. If you don't have anything to worry about, you don't have anything to worry about.
Adam: What did it feel like when you got your clearance and you were first briefed to work a classified project?
Artist: When I got here, I saw a lot of paintings of spacecraft being done in the open area. There were five or six people — all older gentlemen — Phil Weisgerber was one of them, ahead of me. Try as I might, I didn't get many opportunities to paint much. But there was an expansion going on in the classified area. My management approached me and said, "We want to have you work in the closed area part time." So I said to them, "I'm willing to go full time if you give me a 10 percent raise." I was 24 years old, and my boss in the open area went berserk that I did that. But I saw the opportunity and I took it.

Adam: No reservations?
Artist: None at all. I thought, "I'm all-in for the nation. This is our country, and I want it to be a safe place for my family and the future." So I had no reservations.
Adam: Can you describe some of the benefits and challenges of working in a classified facility as classified artists?
Artist: One of them is, you can't have electronic devices. Most people look at that as a negative, but watching people live with electronic tethers — half the people are checking their phones â€¦ Sometimes they're mid-sentence and they start typing. I don't have to do that. So we actually have conversations where we look at each other and discuss people's needs, assign action items and get stuff done.
The flip side of it is, I don't know how to operate a smart phone. Even though I'm in this super-high-tech job, I can't operate one of them. When we go somewhere, my wife has to do all that for me.
Adam: You're married with kids... Have there been ways in which your clearance has been difficult or challenging as a father or a husband?
Artist: I think it's actually been helpful in the sense that my wife has always known that I can't talk about what I do. My buffer time of driving home is spent working things out in my brain, and when I get home, we talk about life. We have our relationship, we have our kids, and I don't talk about work. I think that has been really beneficial. I'd call her a patriot in that she gives me my time. She lets me do what I have to do to meet deadlines, she knows it's important and she just doesn't ask about it.
My kids, on the other hand — I have a son who's working at a Northrop Grumman subsidiary this summer, as an intern, and he's working on unclassified aspects of closed-area programs. Obviously, I can't tell him what it is he's working on. But it's hilarious to hear him talk about what he's doing when I know the reality of what it is that he's working on.
Adam: Can you talk a bit about what motivates you and what inspires you?
Artist: I firmly believe in this country. If you do a cursory read of our Constitution, it's impossible to deny that something amazing happened. That nexus in time yielded tremendous freedoms that are linked to responsibilities. Freedom doesn't come free. I think that we forget sometimes how much it costs. All of us have family members, maybe a generation back, that were in this war or that war. Mothers and fathers gave up sons and daughters so that we could be free. We have really hard-to-express depth of liberty in this land — to think what we want, believe what we want, try things, fail, get back up again to do more — it's an amazing experiment. There has been nothing like it in the history of mankind, and I'd like to protect that.
Knowing what we do and its impact on world events — that we did this and therefore that happened. That's very inspiring.
Adam: So you're seeing things in the news that you know you've impacted.
Artist: All the time. And that's probably one of the hardest things — to know what's really going on and then hear what's being reported.
Adam: What advice would you give to other artists who may not consider the aerospace industry as an opportunity?
Artist: Unless you're a fine artist and you plan to never tell anybody what the reason is for your art — you have to convey stories. So learn to be a storyteller. I also think it's critical for all artists to be able to draw. If you can't draw, you'll sit there and wave your arms around and that's your differentiator — you can get what's in your head out onto the paper.
One advantage to being an artist in an engineering company â€¦ for engineers, it's always about being the smartest person in the room. But if you're the artist, like me or you, they assume we're not the smartest because we have degrees in art, right? So they tend to open the kimono and tell you the secret sauce. And they realize they have to talk down to us a little bit because we don't understand, so they end up telling us the key elements of the story. So I think there's huge advantages to being an artist in a technical field because somebody's got to visually convey those stories.
Another advantage is I get invited to so many different things that I'm probably one of the few people who have a really big picture of what goes on here. It's a unique advantage — I bring people together. I'll tell this guy, "Hey, I was working over here with that guy and we were doing something similar. I can't tell you what it is, but I can at least get you two together." And things happen that way. That kind of connective tissue is an important part of what I get to do.
Adam: Is there anything you'd like to add before I turn the recorder off?
Artist: What we're doing here is really important. I just can't emphasize that enough.
At a conference one year, I attended a class called "Managing Creatives." And I do a lot of that, right? I thought it was going to be a panel thing where you had all of the studios there and their mid-level managers would talk to us about what they do â€¦ But we got there and they turned all of the chairs in a circle and I thought, "Oh no... We're going to be the panel." And they're like, "You're the panel!"
So there's about 50 people and we're going around the room and people are talking about, "I'm working on Godzilla, I'm working on this or that â€¦" When they got to me, they're like, "What are you working on?" And I told them, "Well â€¦ I'm working on the James Webb Space Telescope. Imagine if you will â€¦ the sun ... the Earth... now, draw a line from the sun, through the Earth â€¦ go out another million miles and there's a place where there's just enough gravity that you can orbit around it without drifting away. And now think of this: We're building a 25-foot-diameter deployable mirror that's going to orbit there to look into the infrared part of the spectrum to see the origins of our galaxy, the universe and try to find terrestrial life â€¦ and that's really going to happen." Multiple people responded with astonishment, saying, "What? That's for real?! I want to go work there!"
So, I can't tell you what we do in the closed area but â€¦ it's even better than that.

Top Secret Art: Yes, It's A Thing

The word "warfare" summons images of bombs bursting in air, tanks rolling across scarred battlefields and the rat-a-tat of gunfire. But technological advances in warfare are making war invisible as tools like infrared lasers, fire control radars and cyberweapons are increasingly being deployed. As technological warfare evolves, many conventional weapons are losing some of their punch. Rather than replacing such weapons, the evolving arsenal of invisible weapons enhances them and introduces new levels of complexity to warfare. Futuristic Weapons In the movies, lasers shoot colorful streams of light that can set distant objects aflame. Only the latter part is accurate. The infrared lasers used for military purposes are invisible but can actually heat up distant targets. A powerful laser can heat the explosive in an artillery shell to trigger an explosion or shoot down drones. This isn't some sci-fi vision, either. The U.S. Navy is currently fielding a laser weapons system in the Persian Gulf on the U.S.S. Ponce amphibious transport system. It's considered to be the world's first active laser weapon, according to CNN. Unlike bullets or missiles, precisely targeted laser beams travel at the speed of light. That laser is designed to destroy small boats and aircraft. However, a new generation of Navy laser systems might be able to shoot down missiles. Laser weapons of varying power levels are being developed for different missions and target sets in the air, on land or at sea. These devices can be installed on range of armored vehicles, naval vessels and even aircraft. Fighting in the Electromagnetic Spectrum While there's nothing futuristic about radar — it has been used since World War II — the technology keeps improving. State-of-the-art modular radars enabled by gallium nitride semiconductor chips have far greater detection range compared to traditional systems and provide fire control for targeting enemy aircraft and missiles with interceptors. These radars precisely determine the target's trajectory and its future position. For fighter aircraft, the United States and its allies have begun employing fifth-generation active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology in combat. Two examples are Northrop Grumman's APG-81 AESA for the F-35 and the TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar for the Marine Corps. For ground surveillance aircraft and other platforms, Northrop Grumman engineers have developed the Vanguard Radar, which can scale up in size and power by adding radar panels like building blocks. Similarly, electronic warfare is a battle that takes place in the electromagnetic spectrum. Electronic weapons can be used to thwart and detect IED attacks, jam enemy communications — including radar — and take control of enemy drones. The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (JCREW) is one example of using electronic warfare to prevent IEDs from setting off. Soldiers have operated this software-programmable jammer, also developed by Northrop Grumman, in the field for many years, and it has saved countless lives. Electronic warfare systems carried by the EA-18G Growler emit powerful but invisible radio frequency energy to suppress enemy radar and communications sites, denying them the ability to target and shoot down friendly forces. The ALQ-131 pod can protect aircraft from radar-guided weapons. At a smaller scale, microwave energy weapons that operate a lot like radar have been developed to fry electronic equipment using pulses of power. These high-powered microwave devices have been successfully tested against rows of computers and even flying drones. Finally, because of advances in technological warfare, today's battles are increasingly fought in cyberspace. Cyberwarfare encompasses everything from the widely reported Stuxnet attack against an Iranian uranium enrichment site to Russia's takedown of Ukraine's power grid. Often, the damage from such attacks degrades an opponent's ability to operate and can also disrupt the economy. According to The Guardian, Lloyd's of London estimated that a successful hack against cloud computing services could cost as much as the cleanup for Hurricane Katrina. A cyberattack could lay the groundwork for a conventional invasion in some cases, as could an electromagnetic pulse attack. National Interest explained that in the U.S., a low-yield nuclear missile detonated at high altitude could take out 75 percent of the nation's power. Such invisible futuristic weapons can be just as scary as conventional ones and ultimately wreak more damage. Fighting them requires a new breed of soldiers who are just as comfortable in front of a computer terminal as behind a gun. That may not fit with the standard view of war heroics, but these days, taking down a cyberattack is becoming just as critical to victory as shooting down an enemy plane.

Futuristic Weapons: Technological Advances in Warfare Make Fighting Invisible

  Autonomous vehicles are at the cutting edge of today's defense technology. Long familiar in the form of guided missiles — and, even earlier, the torpedo — autonomous war vehicles are now taking on a far wider variety of roles. In addition to functioning as weapons in their own right, as missiles and torpedoes do, autonomous military craft now also serve as platforms for launching other weapons, as well as providing reconnaissance. They do so not only in the air and at sea but also on land, where their roles include disarming or safely detonating IEDs (improvised explosive devices) such as roadside bombs. The growing capabilities of autonomous vehicles is being driven by new generations of computers and sensors that make these vehicles "smarter" than ever before. But all of their military missions, whether new or long established, share the common goal of protecting troops by advancing into dangerous, hostile environments ahead of them.  Enable targeting cookies to view this content.  It Came From Beneath the Sea We think of them as a new technology, but today's autonomous vehicles are products of a long evolution. Their ancestor, the self-propelled naval torpedo, first went to sea nearly 150 years ago. The autonomous capability of early torpedoes was limited to a pressure valve that controlled the depth at which the torpedo ran. Later, a gyroscope was added to help keep it on course. Even with very limited self-steering capabilities, torpedoes transformed war at sea, making even the most powerful and heavily armored battleships vulnerable to underwater attack. As Jimmy Stamp reports at Smithsonian, during World War I, the U.S. applied the same principle to "aerial torpedoes" — essentially biplane cruise missiles — though none were ready for use in the war. During World War II, Germany launched thousands of V1 and V2 missiles, and the U.S. also made some use of guided weapons in the closing months of the war. By the 1950s, guided missiles were widespread, and their guidance systems became increasingly sophisticated. But missiles only need to be smart enough to track a target and crash into it (or explode close enough to destroy it). More complex missions, such as requiring a pilotless aircraft to land safely for reuse, were beyond the capability of existing guidance technologies.   Driving on Other Planets Space exploration gave a key boost to autonomous vehicle technology, according to the Computer History Museum's blog. Space probes use guidance technology similar to that of missiles, but designers also began developing wheeled rovers to explore the surface of Mars. Due to radio transmission lag, these vehicles could not simply be driven by remote control — they needed some ability to make their own driving choices. Space technology, military requirements and the effort to develop robocars for highway use have all come together to produce the current — and still fast-evolving — generation of autonomous vehicles for military missions. But autonomous-vehicle capabilities are also still emerging from the sea. The Navy has become a key player in autonomous technology because of the enormous range of operating environments it must face. Not only must the Navy deal with airborne and underwater threats; amphibious and Marine operations may require the ability to come ashore onto dry land as well. The Navy's MQ-8C Fire Scout autonomous helicopter is typical of the emerging generation of autonomous vehicles performing naval missions. Already deployed from large naval ships, the Fire Scout can also operate from the relatively small LCS (Littoral Control Ship), designed for inshore waters, according to USNI. [skyword_iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AaG2EDPVBqc" width="560" height="315" ] These smaller ships, more subject to the heave of the sea, make aircraft operations exceptionally challenging, while the coastal environment poses complex threats from aircraft to small boats to mines. The Fire Scout can be tailored with mission packages to support all of these roles while minimizing the need place sailors or Marines at risk in high-threat environments. Even closer inshore, reports the Office of Naval Research, the Navy and Marine Corps are testing autonomous amphibious vehicles capable of "hitting the beach" and moving inland to provide up-front support for Marines.  You can play a part in the next generation of autonomous vehicles at Northrop Grumman.

When Autonomous Vehicles Go to War

Many large-scale public events are all about dealing with crowds of people, and that brings with it the logistics of event security. The larger the crowds, often the larger the security headaches. Fortunately, event planners can now call upon a powerful new security technology for dealing with crowds: facial recognition security.
What's in a Face?
Human beings are pretty good at recognizing faces. We can immediately recognize people we haven't seen for decades, and our ability to perceive the individuality of faces is a powerful metaphor for the individuality of people. But as with other pattern-recognition tasks, devising algorithms that allow computers to match this human capability has been challenging.
According to research from Utah State University, efforts to apply computer technology to human facial recognition began as early as the 1960s, when the RAND tablet was devised for users to manually record the relative coordinate positions of facial features. Faces, like fingerprints, are all slightly different. With sufficient measurement data and number-crunching capability, these differences can be teased out numerically.
Facial images can then be recognized as similar, including images with measured similarity so great that they can only be a match, like two images of the same face. By the early 1990s, researchers had also devised ways to recognize the presence of a face in an image — a key development. In 2001, facial recognition security was deployed for crime control at a public event: the 2001 Super Bowl.
Marketing and Moods
Softjourn reports that typical use cases for facial recognition technology in event management range from backstage access control for staff and other authorized users to general identification checks, finding missing persons, gathering data on attendance and other use cases for future event optimization. These use cases, like the ones for many other security technologies, run the gamut in terms of public perception.
On the one hand, authorized access control for staff areas does not impinge on the general public attending the event, since they have no expectation of access to those areas. At the same time, the public is highly understanding of missing-person situations and welcomes any intervention that reunites people with their parties. On the other hand, obtaining general identification information (which would be needed for the missing-person scenario, for example) is necessarily more intrusive to the public.
While collecting data for use in improving future events seems benign from the event planner's perspective, this type of data collection may not sit well with attendees. The Utah State University study examined user perceptions of a range of scenarios involving facial recognition data. Their results showed discomfort regarding the use of facial recognition technology for marketing messages. In particular, in a scenario where they did not explain how the facial recognition data would be used, participants reported discomfort of being tracked with it in a public gathering.
As interest and awareness of facial recognition technology has grown, so has concern, with organizations such as The Public Voice calling for a moratorium on the public use of the technology. This backlash is tied to some real-world limitations of the technology. Facial recognition systems are ""trained"" on images, and the training images often reflect the mix of people you find around software labs. As the Utah study noted, for example, white male faces drew a much lower error rate than female faces of color did.
In another aspect of the technology, Converve notes that the capability of facial recognition technology to provide ""mood detection"" takes concerns about privacy to a new level: Even if it is reliable, is it appropriate? On a more immediate level, event planners must also be mindful of the E.U.'s General Data Protection Regulation, which incorporates stronger privacy protections than current U.S. legal frameworks.
Using Powerful Tools Wisely
Likewise, the Professional Convention Management Association takes note of some critical security questions that event planners should ask about facial recognition security: ""Where is your face data stored? Who else can access it? What else will it be used for? How are these companies remaining GDPR compliant? With so many questions regarding privacy, it's important for organizers to create opt-in opportunities that give guests a sense of control.""
For event planners, facial recognition can be a powerful addition to the security technology toolkit. They must be aware of the limitations, though, as well as the capabilities of this technology, while being acutely aware of the possible public reactions to new security technology. As such, it will be vital to clearly explain how and why it is being used.
 
Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are, too. Learn more about life at Northrop Grumman, and check out our career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery in science, technology and engineering.

Event Security Technology Goes Face to Face

Fictional tech comedy "Silicon Valley" garnered accolades for its mostly accurate portrayal of California's IT culture. But it's also a goldmine for new ideas — in some cases the show draws on existing trends, in others it blazes the trail. This season the Pied Piper gang tackles the concept of decentralized internet, which is generating buzz in of its own in the real world. But is this type of open-source technology viable, and what is open source? What problems could this new web solve? Is it even a good idea? Let's find out. Why Bother? What's the impetus for another internet iteration? Proponents of the decentralized model cite two main problems: lack of consumer choice and eroding data protections. There is a lack of choice, noted Recode, because just three top interent service providers (ISPs) supply the vast majority of users in the U.S. It's also difficult for smaller ISPs to compete in the market because bigger players own the necessary infrastructure and have unfettered access to the internet backbone. In addition, recent federal motions have all but eliminated net neutrality protections, which prevented ISPs from throttling speeds, limiting access to specific content and more intrusively mining consumer data. Without the defense of net neutrality, consumers could find themselves paying a great deal for sub-par service that won't defend their personal data. Demystifying "Decentralized" Internet What is the decentralized internet that "Silicon Valley" proposes, and how does it help solve current internet issues? According to Tech.co, it's about changing the way internet is delivered to users. Existing "centralized" internet relies on large servers that can be hacked or taken offline. Decentralized alternatives use a peer-to-peer model; users would effectively provide internet for each other and data would be spread out across hundreds of nodes and devices, making it almost impossible for the internet to crash. One key component of decentralized alternatives is blockchain technology, which enables secure transactions across distributed networks without the need for intermediaries or brokers. Opting for Open Source Crucial to the decentralized plan? Open-source software. Open source code isn't owned and maintained by a single company but is instead public property — users and companies can leverage and modify the code as they like to suit specific purposes. For any peer-to-peer network to avoid the pitfalls of existing ISP control, open-source code is a necessity. Current Iterations When "Silicon Valley" wanted to create a decentralized web storyline, the show reached out to Scottish firm Maidsafe, which is working on its own peer-to-peer internet solution. As noted by the IEEE Spectrum, Maidsafe works by leveraging user-provided bandwidth and storage space; data is broken into chunks, encrypted and then sent across existing internet wires but with a different addressing system. Not only does this improve security, but Maidsafe COO Nick Lambert says the only way to prevent users from access their data would be shutting down the internet. Another option is Anonymouse, developed at the University of Michigan by Robert Dick, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. His version has data "hopping" from phone to phone, allowing users to create microblogs which include images and text. The more users, the better — 80 percent of 100 current testers typically receive Anonymouse messages daily, but as the network grows, so does reliability, said IEEE Spectrum. A Corporate Cure-All? The notion of decentralized internet isn't new. As noted by Bitcoin Magazine, the internet was originally conceived as a decentralized network that had multiple providers offering different services to the public at large. But economies of scale have changed the game, making it more cost-effective for ISPs to own infrastructure and dominate the market. Decentralized options based on open-source code offer the potential for users to sidestep existing ISPs. Instead, they could buy internet from someone down the street or become their own mini-ISP and sell to other users. According to Hackernoon, that's the idea behind startup Althea, which lets users deploy their own decentralized networks and take payments in cryptocurrency. Catch-22 The biggest challenge to decentralized internet? Users. Here's why: The fewer users on a network, the fewer nodes are available to deliver content, in turn impacting the quality and speed of the experience. More users means better internet, but most users aren't willing to switch until networks are stable and speedy. In addition, the use of high-volume, high-power servers by traditional ISPs means faster web loading times than decentralized options. Another issue: Many users don't have the tech savvy needed to maintain and upgrade internet nodes. Silicon Solutions The bottom line is it's not just good TV — decentralized internet is possible, and already in development. The caveat? It's not a cure-all; until data privacy and throttling issues drive widespread adoption, decentralized solutions won't have the user base necessary to deliver comparable service.

Decentralized Internet: TV Technobabble or Problem-Solver?

Right now, we're fully immersed in the Internet of Things (IoT), where our handheld devices and smart gadgets chatter away to each other across the wireless world. And soon it won't be just the smartphone in your hand that's joining in; with the rise of wireless-enabled implantable medical devices (IMDs), it will be you that's joining in via the internet of bodies (IoB).   Gathering Health Data on the Inside   Breakthroughs in tech innovation, materials fabrication and wireless connectivity are bringing scalability and data collection to IMDs or implantables. Now it's possible to swallow a smart pill for internal diagnostics or upload data from a pacemaker or artificial organ. Distinct from non-invasive sensors, implantables gather data from within the body, either temporarily as a smart pill or longer term as a surgically installed device. Yahoo Finance further describes implantables as either internal (smart pills, pacemakers, cochlear implants) or embedded, where the connection is hardwired and "a human body has a real time connection to a remote machine with live updates."   Connectedness Through the Internet of Things   Advances in the speed of data transmission, especially with the onset of new 5G capacity, means that IMDs can upload data in real time. Since many of us now carry a cellphone, "reading" these devices and connecting them with the internet of bodies is relatively straightforward.   The Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) notes that connectedness benefits both medical providers and patients. Being able to monitor a patient in detail throughout the day could pick up subtle diagnostic signs that are often missed in clinical examination since they happen only sporadically. For patients, implantable medical devices could alert them well before symptoms are noticeable, prompting them to respond to low blood glucose, for example. Remote monitoring could benefit those with chronic diseases and also vulnerable populations such as the elderly.   Internal devices laden with sensors can also help diagnostics gather more information closer to the source. An Internet of Business report describes how ingestible sensors for gastrointestinal bleeds — bacteria on a chip — respond to the presence of blood with luminescence. On-board sensors then pick up signal and relay it wirelessly to the diagnostic team.   The devices may also behave semi-autonomously. Futurism reports on a brain implant that collects data on electrical activity in real-time data collection. When it detects abnormal activity, the device responds by sending out electrical stimulation that control seizures and Parkinson's disease.   New Atlas describes an artificial pancreas system for managing Type I diabetes. The system comprises an insulin pump linked with a subcutaneous sensor that links with a smartphone app for monitoring. Through artificial intelligence, it "learns" about its user to refine insulin delivery for better glucose control.   Whose Data Is It Anyway?   The amount of data generated daily, hourly from all these IoT and IoB devices is growing rapidly, and with it, new questions about cybersecurity and individual privacy. More than who has ownership of the data, which agency should oversee regulation of IMDs and implantables? The Wall Street Journal notes that some devices might be labeled for lifestyle use rather than medical, meaning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no influence on them. Oversight would therefore be up to the Federal Trade Commission.   The growing internet of bodies will create more and more data, but who should harvest it? For diagnostic purposes, clinicians and medical providers need the data for patient care, but should the information also be available to device manufacturers, researchers and federal agents?   Or lawyers? According to the Washington Post, pacemaker data was used to convict in a case of arson. Can your personal data from internal sensors be used to monitor drug compliance, for example? There are big questions about personal autonomy and the internet of bodies. Could a sensor-laden contact lens be used to snoop on what you are looking at?   Cybersecurity for Wired Bodies   Connectedness also raises questions on cybersecurity for wired bodies. Hacking into wireless signals is a potential risk for IMDs that could allow access to data streams or to control a device. Researchers take this potential threat very seriously and are exploring ways to lock down security.   A team at Purdue is investigating ways to cut down the physical range of signals coming from IoB devices within the body to prevent them from being hacked remotely. The new technology cuts down on the range of emissions from meters to only a centimeter, meaning that signals are more difficult to intercept. The tech in development will also help doctors re-program devices without surgery.   In reviewing the types of cyberattack possible, a journal article in The Expert Review of Medical Devices also lists steps that could boost security. Enabling multi-factor authentication and ensuring clinical base station security are two simple but effective steps. As IMDs advance and become more prevalent, cyberattacks and malware will help manufacturers issue timely security updates to keep connected bodies a step ahead. 

A Living, Breathing Internet of Things All Around You

Imagine tracking the supply chain for fair-trade coffee beans from the slopes of Uganda to your favorite coffee shop. Or closing a multi-million-dollar real estate transaction with the click of a button rather than signing a mountain of paperwork. How is this possible? The answer lies in blockchain. Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct transactions. Retaining and securely sharing information is one of the primary blockchain uses, but it can also eliminate friction from many types of transactions, reducing the time to close deals while lowering costs. Goldman Sachs sees the potential for blockchain to minimize the cost of everyday operations, reported Business Insider. Basically, blockchain is a database with security superpowers — but can it live up to the hype? How Does Blockchain Work? Rather than using a centralized record keeping system, transaction data is spread across every computer connected to a network. Each deal must be approved by most of the parties on the network, and then the information is updated at the same time. How does blockchain work differently than a database? When approved, each transaction is "sealed," cryptographically speaking, into a new block and attached to the chain of existing blocks. Every member of the blockchain knows the transfer has taken place and accepts the legitimacy of the transaction, Forbes reported. Forbes also noted that individuals and organizations can exchange information, including money, without the need for a trusted third party such as a bank, broker or government agency. Additionally, contracts can be automatically executed using a "smart contract," which manages agreements between two parties without the need for an independent arbitrator. Transactions using blockchain technology create an incorruptible distributed ledger. Every party to the blockchain has access to the same information at the same time, and it cannot be altered. Disruptive Blockchain Uses Blockchain is poised to disrupt a number of industries, including real estate and finance. Intermediaries such as escrow services, notaries and title companies could be replaced with a string of digits. By using a smart contract, money can be held in escrow until specific conditions are met. Buyers and sellers could complete property transfers without moving closing papers to the county recorder's office; the transaction could be recorded instantly. Capturing information about a property such as title history, occupancy and insurance records also makes the information accessible and verifiable, explained Industry Week. In fact, blockchain could reduce or even eliminate the need for title insurance in real estate transactions. Mortgage lenders usually require title insurance to protect their interests in case of a problem with the property's ownership chain. Locking information about a property into blockchain could reduce errors and manual title searches, thus lowering insurance premiums, Forbes explained. Blockchain could help the little guy as well, making it easier for small businesses to access credit by eliminating the need for audits to qualify for financing. Blockchain-secured transactions could mean instant, secure payments, replacing wire transfers that take three days, Forbes reported. Improving the Customer Experience Some companies are using blockchain to provide their customers with more transparency. In Denver, the Coda Coffee Co. offers what it calls "the world's first blockchain-traded coffee." Using a QR code, customers can access the information for each batch of coffee, looking at the date and location for each step in production — from picking beans on the coffee bush through washing, drying, milling, export and roasting all the way to store shelves. Starbucks is piloting a similar effort to track coffee from farms in Costa Rica and Rwanda. Agricultural giant Cargill is also testing blockchain uses to trace turkeys from farm to store, the Wall Street Journal reported. Dangers of Blockchain Uses  The very thing that makes blockchain so attractive also creates potential dangers. With untraceable transactions, criminals and terrorists can exchange money and information undetected. Hackers could permanently embed malware, spreading havoc across connected computers. However, every digital deal leaves fingerprints that can be tracked, eventually leading law enforcement to the perpetrators. The U.S. Senate has asked the Department of Defense to study the dark side of blockchain and potential threats to national security. The Future of Transactions Implementing blockchain uses on a widespread basis could disrupt some industries and create new demands for recordkeeping and decentralized operations. Individuals could upload their personal information, eliminating digital identity theft. In most cases, blockchain should operate behind the scenes. All consumers and business users will know is that tasks like banking buying a home, writing contracts and tracking supply chains are quicker, less expensive and more secure.

Potential Blockchain Uses Extend Beyond Cryptocurrency

In 2016 the world reached a digital milestone: One zettabyte of internet traffic. It's a big number — a ridiculously huge number, in fact — but what does it mean? What's next for the future of the internet and digital technology? Welcome to the Zetta Zone So what's a zettabyte? Easy! It's one trillion gigabytes or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. It took a while to reach this mark — large-scale commercial use of the internet didn't start until the 1980s and it took a decade more for consumer applications to catch up. The widespread adoption of mobile phones and wireless broadband networks increased the pace of information creation, and in 2016 the world finally crossed the one-zettabyte threshold, heralding a new era for (very) big data. But as noted by IT Pro Portal, we didn't stop there: Current predictions suggest that by 2022 there will be more than 12 billion connected devices worldwide generating 4.8 zettabytes of data per year. And that's just for starters — according to a recent IDC report, the "global datasphere" will grow to 175 zettabytes by 2025. While that number seems absurd on paper, it makes sense in context: The development of 5G mobile networks, fiber optic connections, peer-to-peer internet connections and the uptick in mobile device use has conspired to create a massive data deluge. Big Numbers — What's the Big Deal? From the perspective of companies or individual users, there's little change to their connected experience as data numbers ramp up. Sure, files load faster and streaming data plays with fewer interruptions but there's little sense of data scope and impact. At scale, however, the zettabyte era comes with bigger implications. As noted by Tech Native, big data means a big market for cloud computing and other distributed internet services — a trillion-dollar market, in fact. According to Forbes, this huge information pool offers potential to help solve problems around population, food production and global mobility as companies learn to better leverage the data they own and access. But concerns are also emerging. As The Hill points out, every internet interaction generates data. When users log on to social media feeds, access online banking, use in-car mapping data or talk to their home smart speaker, data is created. Some of this data is stored — most isn't — and some is monetized to create improved marketing profiles or analyze consumer trends. Much of this data, however, isn't accessible to those who created it in the first place, leading to an uptick in legislation, such as GDPR which mandates how companies can access, store and use data, and also requires organizations to delete user data upon request. Other countries — and states such as California, Maine and Nevada — are now drafting their own laws to manage data and protect consumer privacy. Ultimately, this raises the question of effective use: With massive amounts of data to discover, how much is relevant, how much is redundant and how much is simply lost? That's a Yotta Zeros According to Tech Republic, experts anticipate that by 2022 there will be 4.8 billion internet users worldwide on 28.5 billion devices accessing the internet at 75.4 mbps on average with 82% of all traffic used to view or create videos. The result? Yottabytes. So what's a yottabyte? A yot more than a zettabyte, that's for sure. It's 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 bytes, and, as noted by the IEEE, humankind will start generating yottabytes within the decade as data fidelity, transfer speed and usage rates rapidly increase. Worth noting? The highest prefix in the international system of units (SI) is yotta, meaning once we've rocketed past the yotta years we'll need an entirely new way to describe data. Maybe uberbytes? Incredo-bytes? Gargunta-bytes? The potential is endless. Bottom line? We've arrived at — and rapidly overshot — the zettabyte era. Next up are yottabytes, promising both the potential to address human-created problems with human-created data but carrying the caveat that making more information, more quickly isn't the future of the internet and digital technology — only its foundation.

Zipping Past the Zettabyte Era: What's Next for the Internet and Digital Technology?

From space travel to the World Wide Web, email to nanoscale robots, humanity's constant drive for improvement and innovation has changed the course of history. So hop aboard and get comfortable — the time machine is all fired up and ready to relive the top scientific discoveries of decades past. Let's go! We've gone to the moon, personalized the computer, and dialed in on cellular tech. Today's destination? Software technology in the 2000s. Known for Y2K scares, the new millennium's first decade was also the launchpad for a digital revolution: music downloads. Sharing Is Caring Early 2000s music listeners toted CDs and portable CD players. As noted by The Next Web, a 700MB CD could fit a full-length album and CD "rippers" made it possible to transfer digital disc files to personal computers. But with the average song landing around 42mb and a Nov. 1st, 2000, article from CNN noting that "the vast majority of users" were still tapping 56 kbps dial-up connections, downloading a single song took three hours minimum. Fortunately, there was a '90s software technology tailor-made for the job: the MP3. MP3's are a type of codec — a portmanteau of COmpressing and DECompresssing — used to shrink the size of audio files. According to The Conversation, MP3s were developed by Fraunhofer IIS and Technicolor and standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The name is a shortened form of MPEG-1, Audio Layer 3. Released in 1993, MP3s found little traction against both MP2 and AAC formats, despite their ability to achieve 12:1 compression ratios with acceptable sound quality. But in 1999, all that changed. Wake Me Up (Before You Download) While MP3s made it possible to share audio files quickly, users lacked a central repository to store and search for specific tracks or albums. Enter Napster, the brainchild of Sean Parker along with brothers Shawn and John Fanning. This peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network was a simple software application that let users find and share the music they loved. As noted by LifeWire, more than 80 million users created accounts during Napster's first two years. Napster's downfall was rampant piracy. Many users weren't aware (or didn't care) about music ownership rights and royalties, and in 2001 the service was shut down after a protracted court battle with the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA). But users with a taste for the sweet simplicity of MP3 sharing weren't about to go down easy — services such as Gnutella provided the infrastructure for sharing clients like BearShare, LimeWire and Morpheus. LimeWire in particular was extremely popular, with estimates suggesting it was installed on one-third of computers worldwide during the height of the P2P craze. Not surprisingly, court battles (and P2P losses) continued throughout the early 2000s. Revenue Streams While no one likes stories where Goliath wins, the RIAA had a point: Napster, LimeWire and other P2P services didn't have the rights to distribute the vast majority of their digital files. For their part, these services argued they weren't the ones doing anything wrong. They simply provided a platform and users were the ones committing copyright crimes. This should be the end of our technology in the 2000s story — music file sharing was great for convenience, bad for copyright and that's all she wrote. And for a while, it was. Companies began selling digital files, and MP3 players like the original iPod appeared on store shelves. Buying digital music began to replace the purchase of CDs just as discs muscled out tapes. But the rapid growth of broadband internet and megabit-per-second transfer rates conspired to create a new revenue opportunity: streaming. Leveraging a combination of audio codec, media server and media player application programming interfaces (APIs), streaming applications backed by large record labels and artist groups offered to let users listen to almost any song, any time, anywhere. The caveat? Instead of being downloaded, files were sent via cellular or Wi-Fi data paths. Costs came down — many popular streaming services now charge $10 — $15 per month for full access to music catalogs — and audio fidelity increased. I'm With the Band(width) When Napster hit the internet in 1999, no one could have predicted its meteoric rise. Its epic fall was an easy mark, but the legacy of music downloading software has fundamentally changed the technology landscape. Streaming is the most obvious downstream consequence: Both audio and video file streaming is now commonplace in homes and businesses as users expect on-demand access to the content they want, when they want it. But this musical interlude continues to shape the future of internet use: As noted by Scientific American, global internet traffic is growing by 22% per year — and providers are struggling to keep up. Emerging bandwidth demands stem in no small part from the myriad of MP3s exchanged across early-aught P2P pirating sites more concerned with connecting users than obtaining digital rights. Put simply? Media files of all types and sizes — from single tracks to feature-length movies — are now consumable, convenient and (mostly) sold under copyright. And it's all thanks to the chart-toppers of post-2000 pop music. 

Technology in the 2000s: Of Codecs and Copyrights

  To encrypt a message is to convert it into a form that only authorized recipients can understand, even if it falls into unauthorized hands. (Converting a message back to readable form is called decryption.) As Margaret Rouse reports at Techtarget, the idea of encryption goes back to ancient times, but until recently it was of practical concern almost exclusively to the military and national intelligence agencies. But the growth of the internet, and the enormous role it now plays in business and our daily lives, has changed all that. Encryption of internet traffic has now become a major concern for practically everyone. In the process it has also raised complex new issues, such as how to balance the needs of individual online security and privacy with those of national security. Codes and Ciphers In everyday language it is common to say that any encrypted message is "in code," but in fact there are two quite different basic ways to encrypt a message: codes and ciphers. A code substitutes harmless words for the critical words in a message. So, for example, "send flowers" might mean launch airstrikes. Codes can be very hard to break, because there is no formula that will reveal the true message. But they are limited because you cannot encode a message that is not already provided in the code book. A cipher, in contrast, applies a formula, called an encryption key, to each individual character — letter, punctuation mark and so forth — in a message in order to encrypt it. A reverse formula, or decryption key, is used to decrypt the message. The formula can potentially be "broken" — allowing unauthorized people to read the message. But the advantage of a cipher over a code is that any message can be encrypted. Sender and recipient don't need to agree in advance on specific code words, but only the encryption and decryption keys. Computer encryption systems are based on ciphers, and a whole branch of mathematics has developed around the techniques for creating ciphers that are difficult to break. Modern encryption systems typically have a "public key," available to anyone, that can be used to encrypt a message, along with a "private key" — provided only to authorized persons — which is used to decrypt a message. Thus, anyone can send you an encrypted message by using your public key, but only people you entrust with your private key can read those messages. But why has this type of encryption technology become important to everyone, not just military commanders or secret agents? A World Without Envelopes Before the rise of the internet, most messages were fairly difficult to intercept. Most letters were sent by mail, sealed in envelopes. Simply getting hold of a letter not meant for you was fairly difficult, and opening the envelope in a way that it could be resealed (to hide the fact that someone unauthorized had read it) was also difficult. Phone calls aren't concealed by envelopes, but tapping an old-fashioned phone call was also a difficult process. In contrast, the same technology that makes the internet fast and reliable also makes internet messages easy for almost anyone to read. Internet messages are sent as "packets" of data that are electronically passed from one internet computer (a "server") to the next, until they reach their destination. A variety of tools can allow hackers — such as cybercriminals or hostile intelligence agencies — to intercept data packets en route. Anyone who intercepts it can examine the data, bit by bit. This applies to your personal email and credit card number. Indeed, it applies to anything and everything sent through the internet. Which means that the only way to keep hackers from reading your email or financial data is to encrypt it. Thus, as Robert A. Grimes notes at Infoworld, the call for universal "end to end" encryption on the internet. Northrop Grumman has worked with secure communications for decades, going back before anyone ever heard of the internet. The need to encrypt messages is not new to Northrop Grumman, but it remains on the forefront of encryption technology.

Encrypt Before Sending, and Why Encryption Matters

If you've ever struggled to remember a password, then biometric security might have some appeal. By recognizing physical features that are unique to you — like your fingerprints, face and even your ears — biometric technology allows you to unlock your favorite devices and apps effortlessly in a secure environment. Old Idea, New Techniques While various computer manufacturers have experimented with fingerprint-based IDs, the practice saw a huge boost in 2013 when Apple introduced Touch ID for its iPhone. Since then, biometrics have been used to secure all types of applications.  MasterCard and Nymi announced in 2015 that they could authenticate a user's credit card purchases by measuring the user's heartbeat, said VentureBeat. Google has also looked into using speech patterns as an identifier under its Project Abacus, TechCrunch reported. Descartes Biometrics uses customers' ears as biometric markers, according to Wired. There are parts of China where commuters can use facial recognition to pay for their train or bus fare, according to Engadget. KFC has also experimented with face-based payment in that country, as TechCrunch reported. Allied Market Research predicts that the global facial recognition market will be a $9.6 billion business by 2022, fueled by targeted advertising. An electronic billboard might discern your age, gender and ethnicity and tailor an ad based on those factors, a la Minority Report. Security Concerns Despite the industry's fondness for biometric security, the current technology is far from foolproof. Body parts can easily be replicated through various methods, putting your financial, medical and personal information at risk. As Alvaro Bedoya, professor of law at Georgetown University, told Wired, a hacker can "steal" biometric identifiers by lifting your fingerprint from a glass or taking a high-resolution image of your ear. One security exec was able to hack into Apple's Touch ID by transferring the iPhone owner's fingerprints onto a blob of Play-Doh, according to Fortune. The trick also worked for Android and Microsoft-based devices. In 2016, researchers were able to use fake fingerprints to fool biometric systems as much as 65 percent of the time, according to The New York Times. To make matters worse, hackers have compromised millions of fingerprints, per The Washington Post. Similarly, a Vietnamese security company was able to fool Apple's Face ID with a high-resolution mask, as BGR reported. The company said that Face ID wasn't secure enough to be used in business transactions. To their credit, Apple claims that the chance of a false match in its Touch ID system is 1 in 50,000. And Google's Android system typically takes eight to 10 images of a fingerprint in an effort to thwart hackers, said The New York Times. The Future of Biometrics The danger is that the demand for biometric security will prompt a slew of less-than-secure solutions. But the market demand for biometrics will ensure that top-tier companies like Apple and Google will focus on perfecting the technology. As usual, humans are the weakest link in security, so new protocols will need to be initiated to ensure that biometric markers like fingerprints are protected. The other issue is privacy. It's an open question whether citizens in the West will submit to facial recognition software everywhere they go. Already, some firms — like Israel's D-ID, which slightly alters photos so algorithms can't recognize them — are creating self-defense measures for citizens who want to protect their privacy. More low-tech solutions include wearing sunglasses with hallucinogenic patterns and wearing masks in public. In the end, consumers might conclude that passwords weren't so bad after all.

Biometric Security: How the Fingerprint Is Replacing the Password

The cost of identity theft is at an all-time high. The latest figures from the Federal Trade Commission indicated that although the number of consumer complaints about fraud dropped in 2017, people reported losing $905 million overall — $63 million more than they did in 2016. Investing in a couple of personal security devices could reduce one's risk of falling victim to identity theft. Gadgets such as security wearables, Wi-Fi encryption tools, home security cameras and even low-tech roller stamps could provide an extra layer of protection.       Security Wearables        Some contactless credit cards have a short-range wireless technology called radio-frequency identification (RFID) that lets customers pay for items simply by tapping a card against a reader. The same technology exists in U.S. passports and a variety of devices for automatically paying for highway tolls. Using a gadget called an RFID skimmer, a hacker could skim the information from an RFID-enabled credit card just by deftly passing over an unsuspecting person's purse or back pocket. An entire industry has exploded around personal security devices, such as bags, wallets and credit card sleeves that block RFID skimmers. These gadgets are generally not expensive and may give the buyer some extra peace of mind.       However, before purchasing such gear, note that the risk of someone stealing credit card information this way is low, according to NPR. Most credit cards issued in the U.S. are not contactless, but instead have computers chips that require the card be inserted into a machine and used in combination with a PIN. And although passports do use RFID technology, the U.S. Department of State said that "The RFID technology embedded in documents will not include any personally identifying information; only a unique number that can be associated with a record stored in a secure government database will be transmitted." In short, purchasing security wearables that block RFID skimmers may only be worth it for those who own contactless credit cards.       Biometric Authentication       As more smartphones and their corresponding apps incorporate fingerprint recognition to authenticate consumer transactions, businesses will begin to do the same. According to new research from Gartner, 70 percent of companies will rely on biometric authentication via a smartphone app to access sensitive information at work, reported Information Age. At least five different laptops already come with fingerprint readers embedded, according to a 2019 review from Best World. For laptops that lack biometrics, an actual lock and security cable might offer the best protection. The Baltimore Sun reviewed five of these locks in 2019, which range in price from about $15 to $75.       Home Security Cameras       Identity theft is not merely for computer hackers. Old-fashioned home break-ins can put personal information — including passports, birth certificates, bank statements and other financially sensitive records — at risk. A home security camera, particularly one connected to a phone app, can make criminals think twice. Systems from Ring and Nest, for instance, have built-in floodlights, night color vision and a siren; they also record video in high-def and are weather-proofed. Both can be controlled by Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa and allow users to see, hear and speak to visitors through a mobile app.       Wi-Fi Data Encryption Tools       According to U.S. census data, 8 million people work from home, as reported by Quartz. For telecommuters, "working from home" may actually mean working from a hotel, café© or library and using public Wi-Fi. That makes them vulnerable to cybercriminals who can easily hack into public network connections that are not password-protected. Wi-Fi security encryption software, which is more of a tool than a device, lets internet users work securely anywhere. Programs such as Hotspot Shield, Wi-Fi Protector and Comodo, for instance, encrypt all information sent and received and keep visits to any website anonymous. Fees for such a service as are a low as $2.99 per month, depending on the contract.       ID Roller Stamp       There comes a day in everybody's life when it's time to throw out sensitive paperwork, like old bank statements, paid-off loans, ancient tax forms and other outdated financial information. Many people use paper shredders to destroy such documents and keep them out of the hands of dumpster diving thieves. But ID roller stamps work just as well — and perhaps better, since they blot out the sensitive information completely. The rollers contain black ink and are designed to cover wide swaths of print with an opaque pattern. Products from ExcelMark, Vantamo, Guard Your ID and Lionergy do the job well for between $10 and $20, according to Mashable.       Of course, some of the best ways to protect a person's identity online don't necessarily require personal security devices — just some common sense. A strong password, a password-protected phone, a healthy level of skepticism about offers that sound too good to be true and the ability to resist downloading tantalizing images or documents from unfamiliar email contacts can go a long way, reported PC Mag. The publication also recommends that consumers request a free credit report at least once per year and sign up for the free, ad-supported Credit Karma service, which keeps track of credit scores. These helpful tips, in addition to personal security devices that work best for your lifestyle, could keep data and identity secure.     

These 5 Personal Security Devices Thwart Identity Theft

 Hacking has increasingly been making headlines over the last few years. At the same time, cybersecurity has been in the same story covering large-scale data breaches or website shutdowns. For most people, the threat of hacking involves the stealing of identity, fraud and banking. But, there's a more personal vulnerability that could develop with the emergence of precision medicine. Instead of stealing a password, cyberthieves could be snooping for your genetic information. Luckily the burgeoning field of genomic security is there to stop would-be criminals.Your Genes, Your Medicine Medicine has always been tailored to an individual's needs. Whether it's a prescription for an allergy medicine or contact lenses, medicine is personal. Precision medicine takes healthcare to the next level by customizing treatments based on your specific genetic information. All the genes in your body add up to a big book of you. In a specific chapter, there could be a story about your genes that lets your doctor know what type of medicine to administer. Precision medicine can be used in cancer treatments. Doctors can look for specific genetic mutations that they can then target with chemotherapy or radiation. This type of treatment would lead to fewer side effects, which means a better recovery process. All of this genetic information can be stored digitally, which opens up treatment to a global scale. You don't have to fly to a specialist in another state or country; instead they can pull up your genetic information to evaluate any treatment. However, there is a drawback to this approach. Your genetic information is now genetic data, which means it has to be stored on a server, or the cloud. It's protected in the same way as other sensitive information, but there are concerns that a data breach could result in a criminal knowing everything about you in the literal sense. Genomic Security Privacy is of the utmost importance when it comes to your DNA. Not only is this data personally revealing, it also identifies all the generations of your family from past to present to the future. Interestingly, the first step to protecting this highly sensitive information is space. Because your genomic identity can be stored in large files, the future of precision medicine requires more hard-drive space. Legacy facilities designed to securely store medical data and records will need to be upgraded to accommodate the more sensitive genetic information. Other hardware and network upgrades, capable of dealing with files as large as 500 GB, will also be needed. There are ways to create a framework of genomic security based on best practices developed in other areas of cybersecurity. A classification system that helps classify genetic information, thus making it harder for thieves to connect DNA with an individual, would be one layer of security. Encryption would also need to be a part of the genomic security equation. From the database to the transit stage and any device capable of transmitting or accessing genetic data would need to be encrypted. Secure coding, so that no sensitive information can be found within the source itself, will also be needed to safeguard genetic information. Better auditing, which creates a chain of custody and command, will also be useful to determine any vulnerabilities. Whereas data retention can be quantified in months, or a few years, genomic data needs to be held for decades or even a century if we're thinking about a family. Data centers need to be equipped to handle 50 years, or more, of data. That's a lot of storage and tracking, which means a different type of training is necessary. The best security methods in the world won't matter without a good notification system. Early threat detection can help minimize any breach. Most importantly, genomic security needs to be holistic in nature with a goal of securing data for a very long time.If you want to learn even more about genomic security, check out this white paper to get into the real nitty-gritty of it.

Precision Medicine and How to Protect Your Genetic Information

Open source or privately owned? Available to everyone or a select few? There's a nagging persistence to these questions for businesses. Sometimes the pendulum swings toward the benefits of share and share alike — in other moments, safeguarding networks becomes the paramount concern. As noted by Computer World, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Open Source Initiative — so it's worth taking a hard look at where open-source software came from, its pros and cons and what it means for the future of technological advancement. Sofa Simulations While the concept of communally developed software sounds good in theory, articulating the real-world benefits of open-source software can be challenging. A recent initiative by Swedish furniture maker IKEA, however, provides useful context. According to Bloomberg, the company's new "Delaktig" modular sofa line lets customers design their optimal end result from a set list of components. That's open source in a nutshell — established, publicly available code lets companies use existing templates to deploy common solutions or leverage the framework to build something unique. By working together, sharing data and vetting eventual releases, groups such as the OSI help develop reliable code that empowers business outcomes. The Open Source Initiative As noted by Computer World, the Open Source Initiative got its start in 1998 "as a general educational and advocacy organization with the aim of raising awareness and adoption for open development processes ... and all manner of open goodness." Now, 20 years on, the organization has made significant inroads but hasn't quite shaken the reliance of companies on proprietary software. It's no surprise that the pendulum swung away from open-source software recently. The shift of critical data to cloud-based storage combined with recent high-profile vulnerabilities like Heartbleed — which relied on OpenSSL — made companies wary of putting too much faith in open-source software. Companies Joining Open Source Ranks The hard truth? Open-source software is still just that — software. Despite regular review and best efforts, no piece of software is perfect, and any tool that's used as widely as OpenSSL is top priority for hackers. But enterprises are coming around to the idea of open source as essential technology. According to Tech Crunch, technology giant Microsoft has now joined the OSI as a premium sponsor. The popular internet advertisement blocker Adblock Plus — originally built with open-source code — is partnering with the OSI. Along with funding, innovation is underway. Google is opening an AI research center in France, with all code and results open to the public, according to Tech Crunch. As noted by FossBytes, Facebook used open-source technology to develop a new unit of time known as a Flick, which is short for frame-tick and is exactly 1/705,600,000 of a second. It allows videos at certain hertz to represent single-frame durations as integer quantities rather than decimal places. Flick should make it easier for companies and content creators to keep their videos in sync regardless of their encoding frequency. Benefits of Open Source So what's the downside if companies choose to design solutions in house rather than leveraging open-source tools? The amount of time it takes for local IT to build applications and services from the ground up using proprietary code can be hindering. It's the old "don't reinvent the wheel" argument: For common functions, chances are there's an open-source variant that already does what companies need, doesn't cost anything and can be customized to meet industry standards. Cyberattacks are the bigger problem with avoiding open-source software. As noted in The Guardian, it's a matter of "'when, not if'" a major cyberattack targets critical infrastructure or utilities. What could be a contained hacking situation may turn into a national disaster if companies aren't willing to share data about software implementation and best practices. Open source allows enterprises to prepare for cyberattacks communally rather than fending for themselves after a breach. When Will Open Source Catch On? The benefits of open source for tech advancement are substantial. Hopefully, emerging support from industry leaders like Facebook and Google should help jump-start other open-source projects, while work such as Northrop Grumman's Cync program helps cybersecurity startups get access to the advanced resources they need to change the market. It's not ubiquitous yet, but 20 years on, the OSI is making good progress and open-source tech is gaining ground as viable, reliable corporate IT groundwork.

The Open Source Initiative: Worth the Hype?

 The art of cybersecurity — protecting people and their devices from hackers and other computer-based attackers — has undergone a dramatic but largely invisible transformation over the last few years. At one time, computer and information security was based on the fortress principle. The outlook was defensive. The goal was to wall off attackers, and guard the drawbridge that allowed access to the outside world.    But the breakneck pace of technology has made the old-style cyber-fortress as obsolete as a medieval castle. Attackers can slip into today's online networks through hundreds of smartphones and other mobile devices, or parachute down from "the cloud." At the same time, the amateur hackers of old have given way to sophisticated organized-crime rings. Taking the Fight to the Enemy  But this new era of cyberthreats has also inspired a new generation of cyber-professionals to come up from the bunkers and engage cybercriminals and other bad actors on multiple fronts.  At CIOInsight, Karen A. Frenkel sketches out how new technologies, along with these more aggressive approaches, are changing the shape of cybersecurity. Key weapons in the new arsenal of active defense are "big data" analytics and artificial intelligence.  In the tech world, big data is not just a reference to the sheer volume of data. It is also a shorthand term for new kinds of data, from complex software output to social media messages. This type of data is also sometimes called "unstructured" data, to distinguish it from traditional types of business data such as lists of credit card accounts.  By detecting subtle patterns in unstructured data, active defenders can pinpoint malware attacks and take action to bring down the attackers. But because the patterns are subtle — and because big data really is big — cybersecurity teams are also enlisting artificial intelligence (AI) technology to hunt through terabytes of data in search of tiny cues that an attack may be underway. AI observers never get tired or distracted, so attackers cannot sneak past them. The Dark Web: A Walk Through the Online Mean Streets  Along with AI, human intelligence is also on the case against cybercriminals in the form of cyberdetectives working the mean streets of the internet. These hard-boiled investigators keep their eyes on the so-called dark web marketplaces where cybercriminals trade their tools and their stolen goods.  As Ryan Francis reports at Infoworld, the criminal markets of the dark web have developed their own street language of computer crime. Like traditional gangland argot, some of it borrows from the professional language of cops. To security professionals, FUD stands for the fear, uncertainty and doubt that attackers seek to spread, but on the dark web FUD means fully undetectable.  Other terms from the cyber underworld include "crypters" that encrypt malware in order to help it evade detection, while "binders" attach malware to innocent programs to sneak it past security. And because the cyber underworld is full of crooks, "rippers" are people who promise valuable malware or stolen data, but don't deliver on it.  The dark web also features its own online stores and discussion forums for hackers, including online stores for criminal purchases. Some of these underworld websites are high-end marketplaces that hackers can only enter by invitation. Others are low-end flea markets of cybercrime, where rippers prey on unwary would-be hackers.  But even the sophisticated crooks who shop at the high-end boutiques of cybercrime need to be careful, because cybersecurity professionals are finding new ways to keep an eye on them. One slip can land a hacker in an old-fashioned, brick-and-mortar jail cell.  And even as today's cybersecurity teams take the fight to the bad guys, a new generation of tomorrow's professionals are coming up. Many are learning their chops through the Air Force Association's CyberPatriots program, which lets high-school and even middle-school students gain hands-on experience at the cutting edge of cybersecurity technique and technology. Cybercop hopefuls can also ply their talents as part of the team at Northrop Grumman. Check out the careers page for more details.

Cybersecurity: Patrolling the Online Mean Streets

Blockchain technology, the online ledger used to track bitcoin transactions, has proven to be useful for the business world. Unfortunately, criminals, extremist organizations and hostile foreign powers could also employ it for their uses. Blockchain's nefarious potential has prompted the U.S. Senate to call for a Department of Defense study to look at how the technology might be used to hurt or help U.S. security, according to The Washington Times. While there are few instances so far of criminal and terrorist use of blockchain, the potential is real. However, the means of countering blockchain that the DoD is likely to study are still being worked out. That means there's a race between weaponizing blockchain and finding effective countermeasures. How the Bad Guys Could Use Blockchain   Blockchain is an online ledger that is seemingly impossible to tamper with. As ZDNet explained, the idea behind the technology is to broadcast every transaction to the community. When a majority of that community agrees that all transactions seen in the recent past are unique, those transactions are cryptographically sealed into a block. "A chain thereby grows, each new block linked to the previously accepted history, preserving every spend ever made," ZDNet said. The transaction is hard or impossible to influence because rather than being stored on a single server, blockchain is distributed across the world via a network of private computers. As Marc Andreessen, co-partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote in The New York Times, bitcoin and blockchain "gives us, for the first time, a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer. The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate." That includes the potential negative consequences. As Interpol's Christian Karam told attendees at the Black Hat Asia conference, blockchain could also be used to provide access to illicit content or malware control mechanisms that, once posted, would be hard to remove, according to Forbes. Thankfully, the real-life examples of such blockchain abuse have been few. Last year, someone uploaded the decades-old Stoned virus to blockchain, security blogger Graham Cluley explained. But that instance appears to have been harmless. To demonstrate the security dangers of blockchain, researchers at the United Kingdom's University of Newcastle also created ZombieCoin, a botnet command and control mechanism that can send commands to malware on bitcoin's network. Saving Blockchain from Itself  Enable targeting cookies to view this content. One saving grace of blockchain is that every transaction is recorded. Even if criminals shield their identity, they leave a digital trail that's often of use to investigators. Chainanalysis, a firm that tracks such data, has worked with the FBI, the IRS and the SEC, among other government entities in the U.S. and Europe, for this purpose, MIT Technology Review noted. One lingering concern is the emergence of quantum computing — a technology that uses qubits instead of bits to perform unfathomably complex transactions. A hacker using quantum computing could hack blockchain, but engineers are working on countermeasures, according to the International Business Times. Blockchain technology is so new — it has only been around for about a decade — that hackers and security pros are still working out ways to exploit and preserve the system, respectively. The proposed DoD study shows that blockchain is far enough along to be a powerful tool and a potentially powerful weapon.

Blockchain Technology's Dark Side Worries the Department of Defense

Somewhere, right now, a hacker could be hoarding valuable data that they can't access because it's encrypted. It's as if they've stolen a safe full of jewels and are just waiting for someone to give them the combination to unlock the safe. Experts in quantum computing warn that these bad actors will be able to crack the code in the future. While today's computers and communication networks are based on tiny electronic devices and wires, the quantum community is taking advantage of the motion and interaction of subatomic particles to create quantum processors and quantum memory.As quantum computing technology evolves, malicious actors could leverage its potential to decrypt stolen data if left unchecked. Here's what the technology entails, and what its advancement could mean for individuals and organizations aiming to protect their data into the future.Quantum Processing and Quantum MemoryQuantum technology is an emerging field that uses quantum mechanics — the physics of subatomic particles such as protons and electrons — to solve problems that are too complex for today's devices to handle in a realistic amount of time.The computers that are ubiquitous in homes and businesses today, called classical computers, are based on binary logic. In classical memory, the smallest unit of data, called a bit (short for binary digit), can be in one of two states, represented by a zero or a one, as TechTarget explains.Quantum memory, on the other hand, is less black and white. The smallest unit of data, called a qubit (sounds like "cue-bit"), can be represented by a zero, a one, or a zero and a one at the same time. It's like the difference between a light bulb with an on/off switch and a light bulb with a dimmer.This is an emerging field without universal standards or protocols, so there are several types of qubits. Some qubits are based on superconducting materials, while others use trapped atoms or ions (charged atoms), and others use particles of light (photons).Essential Physics Concepts That Enable Quantum TechnologyWhile quantum technology is so complicated that it can feel esoteric, quantum mechanics is not magical — it's natural. To truly understand how it all works, you have to combine math, engineering, physics and computer science. There are many factors involved in successful quantum technology, but for the sake of clarity, it's most important to understand two fundamental concepts: 	Superposition allows quantum objects to exist simultaneously in more than one state or location (remember, qubits can represent zero and one at the same time). 	Entanglement allows two or more quantum particles to become entangled, creating a single system. "Whenever we apply an operation to one particle, it correlates to the other entangled particles as well, the online learning platform educative.io explains.Scientists and engineers are using these principles to build quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum sensing. Today's technology has allowed us to do incredible things that early computer scientists couldn't have even imagined. For instance, we can map and sequence all of the genes of the human genome, work remotely, and participate in real-time video calls with people from across the globe. However, despite all of this progress, there is a physical limit to the amount of tiny transistors we can squeeze onto a silicon chip, and some problems have too many variables for classical computers to handle. Quantum technology could solve these problems in minutes, where classical computers would take millennia, according to MIT. But there is a catch: This new way of solving problems is so good that data security is at risk.Cybersecurity in the Quantum AgeMuch of today's data security is based on the mathematical concept of factors — numbers that divide evenly into other numbers. IBM, one of several companies pioneering quantum technology, explains that modern encryption methods often use very large numbers as codes. Until now, this approach has worked well because classical computers can't easily figure out the factors of large numbers, but quantum computers theoretically could solve these problems in a short amount of time.As early as 1994, scientists demonstrated that quantum computers could break mainstream encryption technology, CNET notes. The United States government started overseeing the design and testing of post-quantum cryptography technology in 2016, and in 2022 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced four protocol standards for quantum-safe cybersecurity.What's Next?While today's hackers might be collecting encrypted data and holding onto it until quantum computers can unlock it, quantum technology still faces several challenges. Qubits hold great potential, but they are finicky and prone to noise and decoherence. The quantum community is working to correct the inevitable errors, and MIT points out that the technology "appears to be reaching an inflection point, shifting from solely a scientific problem to a joint science and engineering one."As quantum technology starts to become commercialized in the next few years (or perhaps decades, depending on who you ask), cybersecurity will be an important focus area. Several companies are developing post-quantum encryption, and researchers are continually discovering new ways to keep data safe in the future. As with the early days of the internet, we don't know what we don't know, but we may soon find out.Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Unlocking the Power of Quantum Memory: Consequences for Data Security

 Nowhere in the world are the effects of global climate change more visible and dramatic than in the Arctic, as documented by NASA's Aqua satellite and other powerful monitoring tools. The rate of warming across the Arctic is twice the global average. Vast regions of the Arctic Ocean, once covered with sea ice year round, are now open water during the summer months. This Arctic climate change is a transformation that has profound short and long-term national security implications. As the Arctic Ocean becomes open to widespread human activity, the world economy will be changed, with all the security implication for sea routes and other economic activities. At the same time, changes in the Arctic climate could accelerate climate changes worldwide. Opening the Northwest Passage ... Nearly five hundred years ago, explorers began searching for the Northwest Passage — a sea route around the northern edge of the North American continent that would save thousands of miles during a voyage between Europe and Asia. For centuries they never found it. Ships that attempted the Northwest Passage found their way blocked by Arctic sea ice. As NASA recounts, not until 1903—1906 did explorer Roald Amundsen succeed in making the passage in a specially built ship. But the voyage remained impassable to commercial shipping or indeed any conventional ships. Arctic climate change, however, is on the verge of opening the Arctic sea lanes — not only the Northwest Passage but also its counterpart, the Northeast Passage along the Arctic coast of Russia. Arctic coasts will thus become accessible for the first time. Ironically, Arctic land transportation could become more difficult as permafrost melts into marsh and mud. Rich deposits of natural resources are known to exist along these Arctic coasts, but sea ice rendered them economically out of reach. Now they are becoming accessible, potentially triggering a gold rush of activity that could raise the economic — and security — stakes across the Arctic region. As the CBC notes, the impact on Canada is particularly dramatic: Canada has the world's longest coastlines, more than 100,000 miles in all, most of it within the Arctic circle. Claims of territorial and navigation rights, once only nominal, may now become flashpoints of tension. Thus the Arctic region draws special attention in a Pentagon report on the national security implications of global climate change. Worldwide Security Implications But Arctic climate change has other national security implications that extend far beyond the Arctic. Polar bears are not alone in being threatened by the retreat of the Arctic sea ice. During the summer, the Arctic season of the midnight sun, intense sunlight pours down. Historically, sea ice has reflected most of it back into space. But as the ice melts, this summer sun is absorbed by sea water, warming it — and thus accelerating the process of global climate change. The warmer it gets, the faster the sea ice melts, and the more ice is melted, the more rapid the warming, a classic vicious circle or positive feedback loop. The effects, such as disruption of agriculture, could have a destabilizing effect on security worldwide. In responding to this national security challenge the first requirement is knowledge. As the Arctic region is transformed, we need to monitor both changing environmental conditions and growing human activity in the area. Yet Arctic conditions remain rugged at best, often hostile, making autonomous drone operations a natural and necessary solution for research and patrol surveillance alike. Thus a new tool for Arctic research is becoming available just as the need for it is growing.

The Seas They Are A Changin': Arctic Climate Change and National Security

 If you're a classic rock 'n' roll fan, you've probably heard of Jeff Baxter. Known as "Skunk" to friends and bandmates, Baxter was a founding member of Steely Dan and later joined the Doobie Brothers for some of their most popular albums. If you've got an interest in government counterterrorism and technology, meanwhile, Mr. Baxter's name may also be familiar. It turns out the long-haired, hippie-type fella from Washington D.C. is actually a noted national security expert with a flair for thinking outside the box. Here's a look at the very interesting life of this guitarist turned government resource. The Man and the Music Baxter started out aiming for a career in journalism but always had an interest in music — while working at a music shop in Manhattan, he met up-and-coming guitar legend Jimi Hendrix and during part of 1966 was the bassist for Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Next up was a short stint with psychedelic rock band Ultimate Spinach, then a move to Los Angeles where he became a founding member of Steely Dan. When the band retired from touring in 1974, he joined the Doobie Brothers and went on to be one of the most influential and in-demand session guitarists in Hollywood. According to Guitar Player, Baxter is "one of the greatest guitars for hire in the business," at one point owning more than 400 guitars and providing stand-out solos for tracks like Steely Dan's "My Old School" or Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff."Soloing Cybersecurity But the Skunk had another stripe: Baxter was passionate about music technology and it got him thinking about how other types of tech, notably data-compression algorithms and large-capacity storage devices used by military agencies, could also be used for recording. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Steely Dan guitarist received a subscription to an aviation magazine after mentioning his interest to a neighbor — who happened to be a former Pentagon engineer — which led him to wonder if existing military systems could be adapted to serve other purposes. Armed with time and interest, Baxter wrote a five-page paper suggesting that the military's ship-based Aegis anti-aircraft system could be converted into a missile-defense solution. He took the paper to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who in turn passed it on to Rep. Curt Weldon. Both were amazed, and Baxter was quickly drafted into service as a consultant; along with the U.S. Department of Defense he's also done work for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and private defense innovators such as Northrop Grumman.Embed YouTube Video hereCreative Genius So what makes Baxter so valuable? He's whip-smart, learning the ins and outs of missile defense and military technology on his own, but his biggest draw is creativity. He puts it simply: "We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles." He's able to examine current tech and consider new ways it might be used to threaten U.S. security, a skill he has in common with the new breed of terrorists, and that won him a regular spot as the leader of "enemy" forces in Pentagon war games. For example, in the late 1990s, he led a fictional coalition of Iran and Iraq trying to drive out American military forces in the Persian Gulf. Outmatched and outgunned, Baxter came up with the idea of an oil-eating bacteria which rendered Saudi Arabian oil supplies worthless and saw oil-dependent U.S. allies pressuring the country to back off before the damage became too great. The best ideas sometimes come from the most unexpected places. Baxter's passion for music technology sparked his interest in national counterterrorism, while his creativity made him the ideal candidate to think outside the box and discover new ways terrorists could repurpose existing technology and threaten U.S. soil. Oh, and to top it all off? He's a celebrity just about everywhere, making it easy to access resources or technology when leaders recognize him as the "guy from Steely Dan" or guitarist from the Doobie Brothers. Bottom line? "Interesting" is just the ground floor when it comes to Jeff Baxter.

From Music to Missile Defense: The Very Interesting Life of Jeff Baxter

Cyberwar has posed a danger to our nation since the birth of the internet, since any information that can be accessed online through multiple locations is inherently insecure. In the 1983 movie "WarGames," Matthew Broderick plays a teenaged computer geek who accidentally hacks into a military supercomputer and almost starts World War III. This hyperbolic plot actually led President Ronald Reagan to create the first presidential directive on cybersecurity. Acceleration Over the Past Decade Today, cyberwar is an even more serious threat to national security. While we might think of powerful weapons as being physical objects, cyberweapons can steal information. The U.S. military has an arsenal of weapons and sophisticated intelligence, but our high-tech systems also leave us vulnerable to cyberattacks.  Enable targeting cookies to view this content. There has been an increased frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks in recent years. Over the last decade, battlefields have changed, and combat in cyberspace is tricky because it is invisible and unpredictable. According to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), "Cyberspace is now recognized as a critical domain of operations by the U.S. military and its protection is a national security issue." Stuxnet was the first known attack that allowed hackers to manipulate physical objects in the real-world. The Stuxnet worm, which targets industrial control systems, sabotaged the Iranian nuclear industry by attacking uranium sites and making centrifuges explode. In 2012, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. and Israel were behind this cyberweapon, ABC News explained. What Cyberwar Looks Like The key to thriving in the modern world is brain over brawn. In business and in battle, information is the new weapon, and it can cause more physical damage than you might expect. As state-sponsored hackers get to work, new types of threats emerge. Cyberespionage involves stealing secrets and obtaining sensitive classified information for military advantage. Another type of cyberweapon involves denial of service, where a computer worm can intentionally overload a federal government system, shutting it down. Hackers can steal intellectual property and disrupt financial systems, such as the Israeli Tel Aviv stock exchange in 2012. They can also destroy or disable critical infrastructure, such as radar, communications systems, power grids and transportation systems.   Even messing with email can have deadly consequences. National Security Agency (NSA) analysts have supported war fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. By creating false messages and intercepting real ones, they created confusion and distrust among Al-Qaeda. Using these techniques allowed them to lure enemies into traps, which helped kill more than 4,000 insurgents, according to the NSA. Battlefields Without Boundaries In an interview with NPR, foreign affairs journalist Fred Kaplan said, "You can count how many intercontinental ballistic missiles each side has. How do you know what kind of cyber tools and techniques one side might have developed? It's invisible." Since our critical systems are online, they're intrinsically vulnerable. Therefore, defense involves early detection of threats and designing software that's resilient enough to be repaired quickly. The military must train troops for futuristic battle — cyberwar — while embracing ancient techniques as a backup plan. The U.S. Navy, for example, is training its officers to navigate using stars just in case GPS systems get hacked. In today's battleground, information management technologies like Northrop Grumman's Cyber Warfare Integration Network can link weapon systems together in a network, making the whole stronger than the sum of its parts. This capability empowers our military but makes operations more complicated. In cyberspace, we also lose traditional boundaries, such as borders between countries and the separation between the private sector and government.

Cyberwar: The Most Stealthy Weapon Is Information

 Cyberattacks make for big headlines. Hacked companies (and other organizations) get hit with a triple whammy. First of all, they are hit with the costs of the attack itself, such as the losses resulting from stolen or exposed confidential data. Second, they face a public backlash. Individuals who become hacking victims may get sympathy, but hacked organizations rarely do. More often, they suffer a wave of media embarrassment at the least. Along with the headlines may come a loss of customers' confidence, especially if customer data such as credit card numbers was stolen. Legal consequences are yet another possibility for hacked companies. Finally, hacked organizations need to upgrade their cybersecurity systems and procedures, and do it on an urgency basis. Like having to call the plumber on Saturday night, emergency assistance does not come cheap. Behind the Scenes of a Hack But what actually happens when companies get hacked? What is a hack, anyway? There is no formal technical definition of "hacking," and no one single way that computers and computer networks get hacked. Most often, we think in terms of malware — short for malicious software — such as viruses, worms and so forth. But not all cyberattacks involve malware. If an authorized user is tricked into revealing their password to a thief, the thief can then simply log in using the victim's password, then download, delete or alter data using the normal tools available to legitimate users within the organization. And, as Kelly Sheridan reports at DARKReading, attacks of this sort are all too common. Human factors are one of the two major causes of major security breaches, or in everyday language, hacks. The term "social engineering" is now applied to the bag of tricks by which cybercriminals use the human factor to gain access to company networks. One leading type of social engineering is spear phishing. Phishing is the general term for an email that tries to trick the recipient into clicking on a malicious attachment or visiting a malicious webpage. Spear phishing has the added twist that the email is targeted specifically for the intended victim — for example, having the name and email address of a friend or co-worker. The popularity of social networks has made social engineering attacks easier by making people's personal connections easier to trace online. And because there is no purely technological solution to human error, social engineering attacks are likely to become even more prominent in the future. Bad (Cyber) Hygiene The other leading cause of security breaches is deficiencies in cyber hygiene — failures in the procedures, such as updating software patches, that are designed to protect computers and computer networks against technological malware attacks. Even good cyber hygiene will not protect against all technological hacking attacks. So-called "zero day" attacks employ malware or system vulnerabilities that security professionals have never before seen, and against which there are thus no established defenses. Zero day threats are what keep security researchers busy. But they are not the only thing that keeps cybersecurity professionals awake at night. All too often, hacked companies have fallen victim to means of attack that were already known. In these cases, protective measures were available — but the company failed to implement them. One security expert, Roger A. Grimes, writing at InfoWorld, says that "I've never come across a fully patched computer. Some critical patch is always missing." Looking at cybersecurity challenges in broad perspective, we could say that hacked companies are ultimately victims of complexity. As our computer systems have grown more powerful, they have also become more complex. This opens the way for both ordinary human errors that social engineering can exploit and for institutional errors such as failing to keep software patches fully updated. And complexity continues to grow. The growth of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems will create both new security challenges and new security opportunities as we enlist cutting-edge technologies as security allies — all of which will ensure that cybersecurity experts face both a challenging and rewarding future.

How Do Hacked Companies Get Hacked?

Cyber is an increasingly risky space. With more and more companies and institutions relying heavily on online operations, the need for enhanced cybersecurity has never been greater. The more people who connect their organization's phones and laptops to home networks, the bigger the risk it is for the organization's networked systems. Such vulnerabilities allow opportunity for cyber threat actors to operate undetected inside a network for long periods of time. The recent SolarWinds cyber-attack is a prime example that most organizations are not prepared for such a large-scale cyber intrusion. Traditional cybersecurity is focused on countering cyber threats to enterprise IT networks, like hacking into email servers. Over the past few years, efforts to secure critical Operational Technology (OT) systems have become more prominent. Built on the baseline idea of cybersecurity — the ability to preserve a network's confidentiality, integrity and availability in the face of cyber risks — two additional lines of cyber defense have emerged: Cyber Resilience and Cyber Survivability. This is especially important when it comes to military defense. Enhanced Cybersecurity As challenging as cyber threats are to most people, imagine an advanced cyber-attack against a fighter pilot during a mission. Once a system is breached, the jet's cyber defenses need to withstand the attack long enough for the warfighter to complete their assignment and return home safely. As antagonists are constantly evolving their cyber-attack methods, it's imperative for defense networks to have the ability to prevent, mitigate and recover from serious cyber events all while performing the assigned tactical mission. An aircraft's platforms must be cyber survivable to be able to successfully operate in the face of adversaries. "Cyber Resilience evolved beyond the Risk Management Framework (RMF) — largely procedural and compliance activities — into an idea that we want to design key system attributes into a weapon or mission system that enable that system to continue to function in the face of unplanned disruption," said Northrop Grumman Cyber and Information Solutions Director of Business Development, Dean "Data" Clothier. "As a specialty within System Security Engineering (SSE), Cyber Resilience is all about engineering design and the kind of system attributes that you want." Clothier went on to provide example questions that one may ask regarding the system attributes needed to fight through a cyber-attack: Does a mission system continue to operate when facing a range of potential sources of disruption, ranging from extreme weather events, to critical component failure, to operator error, to sophisticated malicious cyber activity? Once this cyber systems security engineering design is complete, then it naturally flows into the technology element of the NIST Risk Management Framework cybersecurity control selection. Clothier further explained that cyber resiliency ensures that a system, or the infrastructure on which it depends, is designed to "anticipate, withstand, recover and adapt" to disruptions and continue to function effectively, especially those caused by cyber-attack. In today's cyber battlespace, it's not only vital for weapon systems to be resilient, but to be survivable as well. "Cyber Survivability came from a different community — the joint warfighter who has systems survivability requirements that a weapon system, to be an effective defense warfighting platform, has to be designed to be survivable in its planned operational environment," Clothier said. "If you're the United States European Command, you want to be able to have weapon systems that can operate in the face of Russian weapon systems. If you're United States Pacific Command, you're worried about North Korean or Chinese-specific threats." Understanding what nation state cyber threat actors are capable of doing is key to the "threat-driven design" approach needed to counter the highest tier of actor the systems have to operate against, explained Clothier. The U.S. government states the performance requirement and it's up to the system designers to figure how best to do that. Today, the cyber requirements on a U.S Department of Defense (DoD) weapon/mission system are likely to include elements from all three areas: Cybersecurity RMF, Cyber Resilience/SSE and Cyber Survivability. It is important to interpret these requirements from their individual frameworks, and then identify the complementary inter-relationships between all three. Preserving Critical Functionality to Complete the Mission A program is only cyber survivable if it understands the highest adversary threat tier that the DoD states it needs to be designed against for which to operate. This requires a threat profile that details the capabilities and threat chain of the most capable actor of the required threat tier. Once this is determined, the threat driven design of a system begins with an analysis of the overall threat chain that examines how the actor would seek to breach and disrupt that system. This threat chain is then aligned against the three pillars of Cyber Survivability: Prevent, Mitigate and Recover from cyber-attacks. "First, the 'Prevent' pillar focuses on a range of technology approaches that can keep nation state actors from breaching the system and establishing root level access inside our system," Clothier said. "Second, we have to assume that sooner or later they will breach it — that's explicitly a requirement from the DOD — so that leads to the 'Mitigate' pillar. This pillar aims to keep the system operating at its required level of performance to complete the mission." Warfighters can't disconnect from the mission and go home—the cyber survivability performance mandates that they can complete the mission even if breached. "Once the mission is over, we must have systems that rapidly restore to full functionality within a specified time — that's the 'Recover' pillar," he continued. "If you can then take the cyber threat profile, design and test against it, then you know it's a cyber survivable system." Cyber survivable systems need to be built to maintain effectiveness against a certain threat level across its entire lifecycle. "That necessitates that you not only think of the architecture and cyber solutions when you build a system, but design it in a way that it's rapidly reprogrammable and has a strong modular design to facilitate regular upgrades for the entirety of a weapon system's lifespan, which often reaches 30 years," Clothier said. Outdated weapon systems can be used for decades, but the cyber threat changes incredibly fast. The system's ability to be reprogrammable and make quick upgrades is essential to cyber survivability. Flexibility is Key Any digitally-connected device needs to be modular and quickly reprogrammable in order to make cyber updates for a secured network. For instance, smart TVs are equipped with video and audio recording capabilities that can pose a risk to people's privacy when hacked, yet they lack security software that detect virus signatures, much less so than more advanced cybersecurity technologies. The ability to upgrade a system's security software is fundamental. "Cyber exploits are driven by vulnerabilities, and these vulnerabilities are driven by new technology releases that are driven by new product release cycles," Clothier explained. The more niche the hardware, the less likely it will have reprogrammable systems. As adversaries continue to advance and evolve their cyber warfare capabilities, it's especially important for our military weapons systems to be cyber survivable against these nation state threats. Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.  

A Cyber Future that is Not Only Secure but Survivable

A DDoS attack — which stands for "distributed denial of service" — is a type of cyberattack that hijacks innocent users' computers in order to attack a website and render it temporarily inaccessible or inoperable.  In such an attack, the targeted website is flooded with fake user requests, so many of them that they cannot handle the traffic. The site may be knocked offline entirely by the overflow traffic, or its response to legitimate requests may simply slow to such a crawl that the website becomes unusable by its intended users.  And because DDoS attacks operate by hijacking innocent machines, they are exceptionally difficult for security experts to trace back to their originator, meaning that the targeted website usually cannot determine the attacker's identity.  Botnets on the March  But the most distinctive feature of DDoS attacks is that they victimize not only the targeted website (and its users, who suffer the actual denial of service) but also the owners of other computers and internet devices — up to hundreds of thousands of them — whose machines are taken over in order to send the fake requests that cripple the targeted website.  Not all denial of service attacks are "distributed"; such attacks can also be launched using a single machine to send the fake service requests. But as Kim Zetter notes at Wired, such single-origin attacks have been largely supplanted by DDoS attacks.  The computers hijacked for a DDoS attack are "recruited" by being infected with a computer virus that places the infected computer under control of the attacker. A computer thus infected is called a bot (short for robot) or zombie. A network of bots used in an attack is a botnet.  The owners and users of these infected computers are generally unaware that their computers are infected, or being used in an attack. They may notice sluggish performance when their computer is being used in a botnet, but without knowing the cause.  While the computers used in a botnet are infected, the website targeted by a DDoS attack is not itself directly infected by the attack, and its data is not being stolen — it is simply flooded with spurious service calls. However, the disruption caused by DDoS may also be used to attempt other attacks on the targeted website.  Motives for DDoS attacks can vary from straightforward money extortion ("pay up, or we'll keep knocking you offline") to political motivations. The latter involve both so-called hacktivists and state intelligence agencies. One of the most notable DDoS attacks to date was launched in 2007 against Estonian websites by actors associated with Russia.   DDOS Hits Warp Speed  More recently a new type of DDOS attack has come to the fore. ZDNet reports that attackers have learned how to hack into servers running a software application called Memcached, which is designed to speed up web page loading. Servers running Memcached should never be exposed the public Internet — but many website operators fail to provide this protection, allowing DDOS attackers to hijack the servers and put Memcached to work for them.  In 2018, reports Wired, the developer website GitHub was subjected to the most massive DDOS attack yet recorded, when request traffic suddenly jumped to 1.7 terabits per second — roughly comparable to a million users all trying to access the same website at the same time.  The good news is that GitHub recovered within minutes. But most websites are not as well-prepared to handle such an attack.    Enable targeting cookies to view this content.  Enter the Internet of Things  In and of themselves, DDoS attacks are not the most damaging form of cyberattack, since the target website is only temporarily disabled, and — unless another type of attack is also involved — its data is not compromised. The machines used in the botnet are compromised, but the attackers are often interested only in using the bots to send fake service requests, not stealing data from them.  But as Margaret Rouse reports at SearchSecurity, the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) is raising the stakes for DDoS attacks. The things in the Internet of Things are internet-connected gadgets of all sorts, from exercisers' activity tracking wristbands to industrial controllers. Few of these IoT devices have been designed for security — meaning that they are all too vulnerable to hackers who want to take them over and use them in DDoS attack botnets.  The challenge of protecting IoT devices against being hijacked by DDoS attackers underlines just one facet of a transformation now overtaking the computing and technology world.  Because of the Internet of Things, "tech" in the sense of computers and information technology is no longer separate from the broader domain of technology. Every sophisticated machine is now likely to also be an internet device, with all the implications for security as well as capabilities.  At Northrop Grumman, you can work with some of the world's most sophisticated connected devices, up to and including automated technology. And security in all its forms is the heart of the business. 

Service Denied! The DDoS Attack Threat

Smartphones are arguably one of the most convenient inventions of the 21st century. We can make phone calls, browse the internet, bank online and post to social media, all from one device. Unfortunately, smartphones can also be a data goldmine for hackers. Last year, Engadget reported on T-Mobile's reveal to customers that a bug in their system allowed hackers access to their email addresses, accounts and personal information. So, is your device safe? Do you know how phone hacking works or how to prevent hacking? How Phone Hacking Works When T-Mobile discovered that they had a bug that allowed hackers to steal customer information — including International Mobile Subscriber Identity numbers — they were able to stop it before it caused too much damage. This attack, however, perfectly illustrates how easily hackers can steal information. Motherboard warned that once hackers have International Mobile Subscriber Identity numbers, they can track the locations of their victims or intercept phone calls. SIM cards are also targeted by hackers, Motherboard noted, allowing them to steal a customer's phone number and take control of their identity. Be Vigilant in Public Spaces Unsecured Wi-Fi is an easy target for hackers, according to the Harvard Business Review. Free internet access may come at a cost when visiting airports or cafes. The data shared over these unsecured networks is just that — unsecured and unencrypted. All it takes is for someone to exploit a flaw in the network to gain access to browsing behaviors, account logins and even transactions made over that connection. As far as remote attacks go, apps seem to be the most efficient way of hacking into mobile devices. The seemingly endless quantity of apps available means that it's impossible for companies to root through the coding of every single one to ensure that they are safe. This means that malicious coding that steals data could live in those apps. Wired explained that hackers can use malware to trick users into downloading seemingly harmless apps, which gives them access to the phone's operating system. How to Prevent Hacking While the attacks themselves now outpace safeguarding capabilities, there are preventative measures users can take to protect themselves. Cell phone providers, such as Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, allow users to create a password specifically when calling customer support, which could effectively deter hackers from stealing phone numbers, per Motherboard. Additionally, passwords should be different for each phone app; password management systems like LastPass can help create encrypted passwords. Users can also install security features like two-step verification and biometrics to gain access to their phones. Adapting to an Ever-Hackable World Hacking has evolved into the new blackmail. While the threat is very real and dangerous, there are ways to prevent it and recover. Don't let yourself fall victim to a preventable attack — install security features like two-factor authentication, be wary of public Wi-Fi networks and implement encrypted passwords.

How Phone Hacking Works and How to Prevent It

Imagine a chess match in which the rules are constantly changing as new pieces with unexpected capabilities are developed. That is the world of cybersecurity experts, battling resourceful cybercriminals and foreign agents along the frontiers of technology. Recently, Infosec Island took a look at three emerging technologies: quantum computing, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. All have the potential to transform our lives — but in the wrong hands (and there are plenty of bad actors out there), each can also pose major new cybersecurity threats, posing new vulnerabilities. A New Technology Horizon: Quantum Computing After decades on the technology horizon, quantum computing is becoming a reality, harnessing some of the most bizarre properties of subnuclear physics to transform how computing is done. Computational tasks that were formerly impossible — or so time-consuming to solve, even on a supercomputer, as to be effectively impossible — will become easy. That is the good news. The bad news, per Infosec Island, is that quantum computing can make cracking encryption systems radically easier. Vast troves of confidential data — currently protected by encryption — will be left exposed and vulnerable. This is one of the greatest looming security threats: Bad actors may already be stealing encrypted data, anticipating that they will be able to read it once they get their hands on quantum technology. Fortunately, there is more good news. According to ZDnet, a mathematical tool called lattice cryptography can provide encryption so powerful and robust against attack that even quantum computers will not be able to crack it. But security professionals will have a huge task in deploying lattice cryptography, along with other network security technologies, to protect existing data stores from evolving threats. Artificial Intelligence  Artificial intelligence, like the digital computer itself, is a multi-use technology with a limitless range of potential applications. The latest generation of AI technology exploits so-called neural nets that replicate some of the structures of the human brain. A neural net system is able to learn from experience in ways that its designers could not fully predict in advance. But this same capability, warns Infosec Island, can be applied to develop malware that is also capable of learning from experience — for example, learning how to detect network security technologies, then trick them into allowing the malware through the protective barriers. Neural nets and other AI technologies pose another challenge for the good guys, reported Technology Review. These tools can also be enlisted as protectors — but with some real risks. One is that we may simply put too much confidence in them. A more subtle risk is that we may not fully understand what our own cybersecurity AI is doing, or why. Things get complicated if your sentries can't tell you exactly what they are watching out for. Connected and Autonomous Vehicles  Also high on the list of emerging cybersecurity threats is the threat of hacking into connected and autonomous vehicles, notes Infosec Island. Here the threat is not so much the specific malware technologies involved — which may be new or old — as the inherent danger posed by hacked vehicles or other devices. A hacked database can expose confidential information, but a hacked car might hurt people. And, as another article in Technology Review points out, the challenge of understanding neural nets applies not only to the threat of deliberate hacking, but also to uncertainties about what AIs are learning when we train them. For this reason, the article noted, the Pentagon is now putting special emphasis on understanding the actions of autonomous military devices. On these three technology fronts, and others, the ever-changing technology chess game between cybersecurity defenders and bad actors is pushing deep into the frontiers of emerging technology. Even the (not always) "smart home" can be a target for sophisticated new forms of cyberattack. Are you interested in joining a team that is fighting back against cyberthreats worldwide? Check out careers here.

New Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Threats Loom Along the Tech Frontier

Perhaps it was someone's dark sense of humor, but whoever created the acronym 'C4ISR' surely did so with a wry smile. As an acronym, it almost single-handedly makes the case that defense and security agencies have an unhealthy appetite for unsightly abbreviations. It's hard to disagree that acronyms can be obstacles to clear communication, especially those that combine letters and numbers, and it is a doozy. Let's start though by acknowledging that acronyms serve a useful purpose; without them we'd repeat ourselves ... a lot! Acronyms can be valuable shorthand for complex and important constructs or concepts.  C4ISR is a terrific example of where an acronym helps avoid repetition. After all, who wants to say Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance more times that you must? 'C4ISR' helps us put together arguably the most important elements of the infrastructure of global national security into a single, memorable term. While it's easy to remember the acronym— after all, we do tend to remember awkward terms — it's not as easy to recall, or even agree, what it means precisely. There's a danger that, as it comes to mean many things to many people, it won't have one common meaning to anyone. We should all understand, in broad and easily-shared terms, the value of the capabilities encapsulated in C4ISR. Ron 'Squeek' Henry, Strategy Manager, Airborne C4ISR Division at Northrop Grumman has a simple definition. "C4ISR is about gaining decision superiority to enable mission success." More specifically, Squeek defines C4ISR as the network of platforms, sensors, communications nodes, and decision aids which connects systems to operators.  This networked web seamlessly operates across domains, fuses data, adapts and evolves with the mission, while ensuring high speed, decision quality data to the operator at the tactical edge he says. "It's the web that joins platforms, payloads, sensors and people."  Imagine a world where you can mobilize a response team before a disaster fully unfolds, or send military intelligence in real time to help save soldiers' lives and ensure mission success. You don't need to imagine it: Today C4ISR is helping solve the world's toughest security challenges through groundbreaking software and highly advanced technology.  "The key to effective C4ISR is optimizing the functionality, synchronization and interoperability of land, sea, air, cyber and space systems to rapidly turn data, non-kinetic effects and intelligence into mission-winning action with superior tactical battle management," Squeek said. "It's about providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter," he added. It may be an ugly acronym, but C4ISR systems provide critical decision-making intelligence and allow security forces to sense, share, collaborate and act with greater speed and assurance, and that's a beautiful thing.  If you want to learn more abour Northrop Grumman's C4ISR technology check it out here.

C4ISR: An Ugly Acronym for a Key to Global Security

 What's the value of adaptive artificial intelligence (AI)? That's the idea behind Battlecode — MIT's long-running code competition which pits teams of AI-controlled units against each other on a virtual battlefield. Each year, developers tweak the rules to improve balance or introduce new elements but the premise remains the same: design AI that can outthink and outmaneuver the opponent to win big. But what's the big-picture impact of this bot-based battle?Battlecode Basics The MIT competition got off the ground 17 years ago. The concept is simple: Players write code for teams of virtual robots, designing AI which allows units to coordinate attacks, develop defenses and ultimately own the battlefield. In addition to the once-a-year competition, Battlecode is also an MIT course (number 6.147) which offers a walk-through for beginners and a newbie-only tournament. Advanced competitors (in teams of one to four) compete throughout January and February in Sprint, Seeding and Qualifying tournaments for the chance to play live on stage during the finals and share more than $50,000 in prize money.Evolving Iteration At its most basic, the competition has teams creating AI code which tells units how to act under specific circumstances and respond to emerging threats. Historically, all units were able to "speak" freely to one another and share "sight" of the map at large. But in recent years developers have limited this ability, changing the rules so that only specific units can send out messages — the more complex the message, the more time it takes to send — and units can only see their immediate environment. Recent iterations of the competition also saw the introduction of a "third" faction: zombies. These units attack anything that comes into range, and if AI-controlled troops are killed, they respawn as zombies. This change prompted the development of a new strategy. Team Foundation, which placed fourth in 2016, used low-health, high-speed scouts that pulled zombies to the enemy base and then died, causing mass chaos for opponents.Advanced Tactics So why Battlecode? With so many other coding competitions now available for tech students looking to hone their skills — such as CyperPatriot or Google's Code Jam — what's the appeal? As noted by one former winner, Cory Li, the "experiences and skills learned through Battlecode are hugely relevant in software engineering, startups and life in general." And according to GCN, these "war games" can also help improve decision-making abilities of agency managers, financial analysts and cybersecurity staff. Consider the new strategy designed by Foundation. According to "that one blog," a postmortem account of the 2016 competition from first-place team Future Perfect, the dominant tactic in a zombie-infested landscape was "turtling" — using turret-based defenses to hold off enemy attackers. Other competitors designed mobile-turret strategies but Foundation's "very scary" zombie-based attack quickly overwhelmed even top-seeded teams in record time. Team 1064CBread, meanwhile, discovered that it was possible to leverage the game's messaging feature to win battles. Here's how: Since robots could receive messages from both enemies and allies, 1064CBread built an army dedicated to spamming the virtual airwaves. Enemy units with their receivers turned on were effectively jammed turn after turn, making them easy prey for zombies, while 1064CBread's bots ignored the messages and survived the assault. Eventually, developers were forced to patch the strategy by reducing the number of messages units could send each turn. Bottom line? While Battlecode's bot brilliance doesn't yet directly inform real-world applications, it serves a critical purpose: empowering the next generation of coders to think outside the box and create never-before-seen strategies. From enterprise efforts to military applications, taking a pass on predictability is critical in obtaining a competitive edge and increasing ROI, or outmaneuvering opponents to minimize losses and reduce total resource commitment.

Battlecode: Banking on Bot Brilliance?

By 2021, global cybersecurity expenditures are expected to exceed $1 trillion, according to CSO. By 2022, there will be 265,000 more cybersecurity jobs in North America than workers to fill them, according to a Frost and Sullivan report outlined in The Wall Street Journal. Many organizations rely on outsourcing because experts in the field migrate to the private sector. The market need for cybersecurity talent is acute, which is why the Cyber Security Engineering Bachelor of Science degree being offered by George Mason University's Volgenau School of Engineering is so important. While there are other cybersecurity programs — Purdue University, New York University and University of Maryland offer such degrees — George Mason University's is the first to tackle engineering cybersecurity systems. What's a Cybersecurity Engineer? The average cybersecurity engineer's salary is $131,059, per Glassdoor. Not only does the position pay well, it is applicable to any industry. As George Mason University said, "Students who earn their degree from the first such program in the U.S. will be uniquely positioned for high-demand careers protecting physical systems from cyber attacks. Graduates will find jobs in government, defense, transportation, telecommunications, or almost any field they choose." The Cyber Security Engineering undergraduate program is "focused on the cyber security engineering of integrated cyber-physical systems," according to the university. "This degree provides a foundation in cyber security engineering, and is most appropriate for students with a strong mathematics and science background."  The program promises to teach students how to safeguard existing systems against cyberattacks and to build resilient new systems. It allows students to study and explore transportation systems, RF communications, a healthy dose of physics and more.  What Is the Value of a Cybersecurity Degree? The risks of cyberattacks weigh heavily on businesses. A successful attack — like the ones executed against Target, The Home Depot, Equifax and Sony in recent years — can undermine a brand's image among consumers and ruin executives' reputations. That's one reason for corporate interest in George Mason University's cybersecurity degree. Mike Papay, chief information security officer for Northrop Grumman, was instrumental in developing the program. Executives from Applied Systems Analytics and Robison International also contributed. Papay's involvement was organic: When GMU's Peggy Brouse — now the director of the program — read about hackers sabotaging the engine of a cruising Jeep Cherokee, she emailed Papay. That incident confirmed the need for such a program, according to GMU's blog. Brouse said she felt she needed to educate students to prepare and fight such attacks. In recent years, the risk for attacks on U.S. infrastructure and financial systems has increased, with Russia eyeing attacks on the U.S. power grid, according to The New York Times. It's easy to see how the loss of electrical power and internet access could cripple American society. Unfortunately, the power grid is just one of many hacker targets. Against that backdrop, the GMU program is an encouraging development. We can only hope that other schools follow suit.

George Mason University's Cybersecurity Engineering Degree Addresses an Increasingly Pressing Need

Humans are unique because of our ability to use language to communicate complex ideas. Back-and-forth conversations can be helpful and enjoyable but surprisingly difficult to arrange. Until recently, even people who lived or worked in the same building could find themselves playing phone tag for days, as they each tried to guess when the other person might be available for a conversation. Email helped speed up the process, but in the early days, it required the recipient to sit down at a desk computer and connect to the internet through their phone line.
The solution was presence technology, which could tell you if someone on your contact list was available online in real time. Popularized by AOL Instant Messenger in 1997, it allowed for texting a full decade before smartphones became common, explains Smithsonian Magazine. Texting has changed remarkably little since those early days — nowadays, we just have better internet access and more websites and apps we can use for texting. It's especially useful when people only have a little to say (perhaps a single question for customer service) or when they want to choose their words carefully.
In the quarter-century since AOL Instant Messenger was introduced, however, presence technology has gotten much smarter and is being used to improve other modes of communication.
Network Awareness in the Evolving Workplace
The COVID-19 pandemic supercharged how technology is transforming the workplace. Many employees found that they can be as productive at home as in the office, but they need effective ways to communicate with their coworkers. Many also missed the informal conversations that occur in hallways or at the water cooler, which can build camaraderie and lead to new ideas and solutions.
Many of these problems can be addressed by integrating presence technology into the suite of tools used by company employees. These tools can automatically determine whether someone has recently been active online (and, therefore, potentially available) and whether they are currently on a call or in a scheduled meeting. People can also indicate whether they are out for lunch, gone for the day, on vacation or otherwise don't want to be disturbed. You can then decide to wait for that person to become available (and send a message or tell the system to notify you) or find someone who is available.
You don't need to consider whether someone is working from their office, their home, their car or any other location that has internet access. Network location awareness allows a device to move between different networks and selects the proper configuration based on information about its available network connection.
Location information can be used to automatically adjust meeting times to the appropriate time zone for each participant. Many systems also allow users to have the same experience on different devices, so messages can go to your work phone, your personal phone, your laptop and your desktop computer. All of these tools working together leads to "unified communications and collaboration," which is a popular buzz phrase and an important goal for companies with distributed workforces.
By working seamlessly in the background, these tools can help increase efficiency (so workers can finish their work more quickly) and productivity (so companies can improve their bottom line).
Better Video Chats
Presence technology has also greatly improved large-group video conferences, especially when some participants are onsite and others are remote. Here, the challenge is to make sure all participants feel like they are in the same room and able to hear and be heard by all other participants.
One major improvement comes from artificial intelligence (AI) powered cameras pointed at each participant that can automatically center the person in the video. That can be combined with technology that automatically mutes background noise, spotlights the person speaking and allows participants to easily share their computer screens. This keeps the focus on people and their ideas and makes managing the technology an afterthought.
Improved video conferencing is not just good for company meetings — it's also a great way for grandparents who are not media savvy to connect with grandchildren who may not stay still for the camera. It's also ideal for telemedicine, allowing patients to see their regular physician or a specialist even if they cannot travel to the clinic. A video visit isn't appropriate for everything, but it can be ideal for simple tasks, like checking blood pressure, reviewing medications and discussing lab results and possible next steps. According to Harvard Business Review, the appropriate use of telemedicine can actually improve patient health and reduce costs.
Improved Convenience and Security
A more advanced level of presence technology is the use of facial recognition to unlock your phone. The goal is for the device to unlock almost instantaneously for you but stay locked for anyone else. Higher-end laptop computers are now available with a similar feature, as Windows Central notes.
Presence detection can be paired with sophisticated artificial intelligence to track people and their movements. The network location awareness that allows your device to be used on different networks can also allow some platforms to monitor all wireless devices emitting signals within a space. This is a reasonably good proxy for the people in that space.
Facial recognition software can be used to identify individuals as they move in and out of different areas. This technology could be paired with video AI to flag people who are moving in unexpected ways — perhaps more quickly or more slowly than expected or in an unusual direction or someone who seems to have fallen. An assisted living facility, for instance, could use it to keep track of vulnerable residents.
When combined with building security, facial recognition software can be used to determine how many people are in a space in case of an emergency or to identify suspicious individuals, but as with any technology, humans can use it for good or for ill. For example, an oppressive government could use this same technology to track down known dissidents.
Regardless of use case, it's clear that presence technology has changed the way we connect with people online, and even today, it's evolving with us as the world becomes more globalized and more digital.
Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Learn more about our people and life at Northrop Grumman, or check out our career opportunities to see how you can be a part of defining possible.

What Is Presence Technology?

Sometimes, we look outward. Sometimes, inward. And sometimes, using an Earth observation satellite and a Vega rocket, we look downward, pinpoint a lost vehicle and rescue its passengers from 600 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.      Thanks to Plé©iades Neo, a constellation of satellites that can image the planet in high resolution, and the Vega rockets they rode there, our views from above are about to get a whole lot better. As a result, everything for which we need real-time information to better understand how our world is changing — including global security, human safety, environmental monitoring, urban planning, climate data collection, weather tracking, search and rescue and so much more — will get a major boost.             Ridesharing to Space            Upping our tracking technology game to this level of detail was no small feat. It required new spacecraft, upgraded image acquisition and processing systems, and a specialized launch vehicle, the Vega rocket, to all come together.            The Vega series of launch vehicles has been hard at work for almost a decade. When Arianespace, an international company headquartered in Evry, France, began launching the ESA-funded Vega rockets out of French Guiana in 2011 and 2012, it was something of a breakthrough.      The location itself wasn't new; launching from French Guiana has been happening since the 1970s. At only five degrees north of the equator, each rocket launching from French Guiana gets a 460 kph boost from being close to the equator. To boot, French Guiana doesn't experience earthquakes, rarely has cyclones or hurricanes and is mostly covered in forest, making it a safe spot for rockets, a spaceport and people who need to keep clear of both. What was different was the rocket itself. It was a vision of the future of space exploration that built it.            Traditional, high-cost, heavy-duty, heavy-lift rockets — such as the Soyez, which also launches from French Guiana — can simultaneously blast 34 satellites into orbit. By contrast, Vega was designed to be a light-lift, low-cost system with two main purposes. The first was to inexpensively insert a single 1,000 kg satellite into orbit, and the second was to create a path to space ridesharing.      Using specialized internal structures (rather than carry one Vega 1,000 kg satellite into orbit), Vega can store one larger and four smaller satellites that weigh a combined 1,000 kg. This is exactly what occurred with Plé©iades Neo 4. The August 2021 Vega rocket launch — the seventh in 2021 for Arianespace — was carrying five satellites that weighed just over 1,000 kg in total.      Contrast that with one of the most well-known satellites in the world, the Hubble Spaceflight Telescope (HST). The HST weighs an order of magnitude more (11,000 kg) than Plé©iades Neo 4 and many GPS satellites, which typically weigh between 1,800 and 2,200 kg each. As satellites are getting smaller and their launches more frequent, the rockets that lift them into orbit are evolving. HST was taken into orbit on a space shuttle. Today, when the payloads are small enough, a single Vega can deploy dozens of satellites. In 2020, one Vega rocket put almost 50 satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit: 40-plus small CubeSats and seven microsatellites.            Satellite ridesharing leads to launch cost-sharing. Since the first Vega launched from French Guiana in 2012, lower surface-to-orbit costs have allowed Earth observation satellites to be launched from numerous single organizations, as well as countries outside of ESA, Russia and the U.S. In 2013, the VNREDSat-1A representing the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology launched on a Vega. In 2014, the Republic of Kazakhstan followed suit.      The four CubeSats that joined the Plé©iades Neo 4 on its launch — the nineteenth mission for the Vega series — were taking advantage of the European space agency's L3 Initiative: a light satellite, low-cost launch opportunity to hitch a ride into space at a fraction of the cost of most one-way trips into orbit. There's a catch to this particular one-way trip, however: a satellite hitching a ride with Plé©iades Neo is destined to travel not east to west but rather north to south.            Off-Axis Polar Express            If you want to image a feature on Earth as it changes day by day or even hour by hour, your orbit of choice is clear: a polar orbit and, more specifically, a sun-synchronous orbit. Satellites in sun-synchronous orbits (SSOs) move in a near-circle from north to south, revolving around the planet every 100 minutes. As they sweep through their orbits, the planet rotates below. This allows a single satellite in SSO to make a map of the sample place on the surface of the Earth at more or less the same local time every day.            SSOs are nearly circular in part because the Earth itself is not a perfect sphere. Making a perfect map of a less than perfectly round planet requires some extra planning. To avoid being thrown off by the bulge around Earth's equator, Plé©iades Neo 4's inclination relative to Earth's true north-south is a bit off-axis by about eight degrees.      Plé©iades Neo 4 is joined in this slightly off-axis orbit by Plé©iades Neo 3, which launched in April 2021. Though they are part of the same satellite constellation, the two satellites are set 180 degrees apart in their sweeps. Because they are half a world apart, when working together, Plé©iades Neo 3 and 4 can map out every site of interest twice a day.            With this constellation in sun-synchronous orbit, up to two million square kilometers can be mapped every 24 hours. At that rate, the entire Earth can be mapped at ultra-high-resolution up to five times a year in different colors and multiple spectra, including the near-infrared and panchromatic.            Mapping the entire Earth in any color is an enormous gain in the amount of information we have about the surface of the planet we live on. Though we've been photographing the Earth from space since 1947, much of the planet still remains imaged in fairly low resolution. In part, this is because "high resolution" is a moving target. What was high-resolution in the 1980s was something in the area of 60 meters per pixel. Current standards for high-resolution imaging have each pixel representing 30 by 30 centimeters.      Another reason our whole-planet mapping technology lags behind is that giants of mapping, such as Google, have focused their efforts on where potential customers live, work and consume goods. Going into 2020, Google announced that it had mapped 10 million miles (or 16 million kilometers) of street view imaging but only 36 million mi (58 million km) of the planet — about 11% of the Earth's surface. That's not a dynamic map, either — that's one and done, a picture of whatever was happening when the airplane, weather balloon or satellite flew over that area.            Find It First and Find It Fast            This generation of Earth observation satellites has a different approach in mind. Once the complete constellation of four Plé©iades Neo satellites has rocketed from French Guiana into sun-synchronous orbit, geotracking weather patterns, ships at sea, downed aircraft, human convoys and even migrating animals should be possible in near-real time.      Among the four satellites in SSO, within 30-40 minutes of a tracking request, the event or object of interest should be findable by a Plé©iades Neo satellite. The other three satellites will then sweep out that area when it passes below them. Within a day, the images of landmines, crews sent to clear debris from roads, flooding rivers and families seeking shelter on their roofs during the flooding will be available down to the scale of a soccer ball.            Such on-demand, high-resolution imaging of our home planet has been hovering just below the surface of commercial availability for some time. Now that it's broken through, we'll begin to see what's possible when people who've been looking over the shoulders of mapping giants like Google start commissioning their own planetary imaging down to a minute scale.      But we know one thing is for sure: We have never seen the world like this before.                      

Looking Better Than Ever: Vega Rockets and Earth Observation Satellites

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for programmers are forecast to grow "much faster than average" over the next 10 years — which makes sense. As digital transformation becomes a top priority across industries — in many cases, to meet growing consumer demand driven by the ubiquity and ease of mobile-first experiences — there's a commensurate need for skilled coders capable of translating market strategy into usable software. But where are these application experts and software savants most in-demand? Where are they pushing the boundaries of digital delivery, and what's on the horizon for creative computation? A Brief History of Binary Building Computers and humans process information differently. Where our biology includes multiple sensory organs that help us function in the physical world, computers rely on binary — "on" or "off" states represented by ones and zeros — to navigate digital directives. Programming languages were created to bridge the gap; these frameworks translate human-created commands into something computers can understand and implement. One of the first languages created was Fortran, developed by John W. Backus in 1957. Fortran made it possible to connect computer output with simple input, in turn bypassing the need for more complicated and laborious programming processes, as IBM notes. As a result, it became the first widely adopted language, and it still sees use today. More familiar frameworks quickly followed — C made its appearance in 1972, Python in 1991, Ruby and Java in 1995, and C# in 2000, according to ComputerScience.org. While coding newcomers such as Go and R have also made significant inroads, C, Python and Java remain the top three languages in 2021, per InfoWorld. Although each approach differs in syntax, they share the substantive purpose of translating human input into digital output. The Kids Are Alright As technology has become a ubiquitous part of daily life, much has been made of the need to teach children coding techniques to prepare them for future success. Increasingly, schools are offering STEM-based in-school or after-school programs. This push toward programming posits a world where kids who don't learn to code will be left behind as they enter evolving job markets. However, recent pushback suggests that this focus on digital literacy may not be as beneficial as first believed — and it may in fact be doing more harm than good. The bigger problem here? Binary thinking. When it comes to learning code, it isn't an either/or operation. Instead, it's about teaching kids to problem solve in both physical and digital worlds. In practice, this means a healthy balance between on-screen interactions — whether this takes the form of educational gaming or more in-depth coding courses — and hands-on challenges that see kids thinking outside the box. Put simply? While coding classwork helps to better prepare kids for the realities of a digital-first future, this isn't an all-or-nothing scenario. Children with only a passing interest in programming will gain basic benefits, while those with a natural affinity will seek out more specialized software development jobs and opportunities. Programmable Potential So, what's out there for those with a programming predilection? Mobile application development remains a reliable source of software development jobs. Companies across all industries and markets are looking to create cross-platform, user-friendly apps capable of both providing on-demand access to key services and collecting relevant data. But there are also new paths emerging that offer new opportunities for programming experts. Industry Wired offers some examples, including how expanding use of coding in agriculture underpins the development of "farming as a service." A combination of tools and technologies could make it possible for farmers to leverage historical and real-time data combined with autonomous processes to improve crop yields and limit overall risk. There's also expanding opportunity for coding in military applications, such as the development of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms capable of creating unexpected and "unfair" strategies in military simulations to help develop more responsive defense tactics. "One of the significant challenges in the aerospace and defense industry is the integration of advanced capabilities into modern weapon systems to address emergent and future cyber threats," said Dr. Francis Afinidad, an NG Fellow in cybersecurity at Northrop Grumman. "There is an immediate need for software engineers able to develop solutions driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced machine learning (ML) to intelligently protect against active threats in a cyber-contested environment." Other areas on the forefront of coding include expanding markets, such as e-sports. This increasingly popular (and lucrative) pastime requires software-driven virtual reality and augmented reality platforms to help bring more players and fans into the game. An unexpected opportunity comes in the form of kitchen appliance coding. With smart fridges that include cameras and code to identify current foodstuffs and suggest potential recipes, or intelligent stovetops capable of achieving exact temperature settings or instantly cooling to prevent potential burns, there's no shortage of programmable potential for interested parties. Quantifiable Impact Beyond current market initiatives, there's also opportunity for cutting-edge coding in quantum computing applications. While recent advancements in quantum computing have produced reliable and repeatable results that underpin new computing frameworks, a recent IEEE Spectrum article notes that "quantum computing arguably isn't quite full-fledged computing till there's quantum software as well as hardware." New languages in development — such as Jaqal — look to make the best use of quantum qubit potential, but as the quantum market expands, there's a host of opportunity for programmers to develop their own super positional software solutions. Bottom line? Jobs for programmers are expanding beyond traditional software and mobile application development into areas such as agriculture, AI and even kitchen appliance coding. And there's more where that came from — the advent of true quantum computers showcases the need for an entirely new class of languages capable of harnessing qubit computing power at scale. Are you interested in all things related to technology? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

Jobs for Programmers: Cracking the Career Code

Florid cursive writing and mastery of Latin were once core studies in the educational curriculum. Today, technology leaders are encouraging parents and schools to teach kids to code. Code is a broad term for the programming languages that tell computers what to do. Every car, airplane, medical device and social media app relies on coders to create and maintain the programs behind the scenes. Teaching kids to code will prepare the next generation to keep our tech-reliant economy humming. According to CNBC: "About half of the highest-paying American jobs now require some coding knowledge. But our tech skills are lacking; 15-year-olds in the United States ranked 38th out of 71 countries in terms of math skills" in a 2015 assessment. Coding Prepares Kids To Succeed No matter their career aspirations, all students can benefit from learning computational thinking and problem-solving strategies, Chicago Public Schools Computer Science Integration Manager Troy Williams told Mashable.  Chicago Public Schools spearheaded an initiative called Computer Science for All (CS4All), which ensures "that students across the district are afforded the opportunity to receive world-class CS instruction, regardless of the type, size, or socioeconomic status of a school's students." One of the leaders in teaching kids to code is Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Code.org hosts Hour of Code, an annual campaign that engages tens of millions of students across the world and provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the United States. Top competitions include CyberCenturion, a cybersecurity contest in the United Kingdom for 12- to 18-year-olds, sponsored by Northrop Grumman. The goal of the competition is to engage with students at an early age and encourage them to pursue careers in the cyber fields, filling the U.K. cyber skills gap. Battlecode — a long-running artificial intelligence competition from MIT — pits teams against each other to design AI that can best their opponents. Recent competitions have added virtual zombies to introduce a random element that makes it more difficult to program for every eventuality. Coding training can use commercially popular languages such as Python and Ruby, as well as systems built to teach programming for kids. MIT developed Scratch and Scratch Jr., visual programming languages for children as young as 5 years old. Another child-friendly visual programming language is Tynker, which also incorporates the hugely popular Minecraft online world into its lessons. Tynker introduces students to Python and JavaScript coding as their skills progress. The visual programming languages teach children to create sequences by snapping blocks of commands together. The result might be an animation or game. Students learn how to program repetitive actions and conditional steps — if the next space is open, then move forward; if not, turn left. Should All Kids Learn To Code? What are the benefits of programming for kids? As Marina Umaschi Bers wrote in Tufts Now, "It offers many opportunities for learning and personal growth, exploration and creativity, mastery of new skills, and ways of thinking." While only some students will go on to have careers in the field, learning how to code teaches many transferable skills. Robin Raskin, the founder of Living in Digital Times, wrote in the Huffington Post that the single best skill learned through coding is "empowerment." She adds that, "Your thoughts can be translated into actions."

Teaching Kids To Code Teaches Them How To Think

Today's technologies are revolutionizing the way we build everything from microchips to fighter jets. The fourth industrial revolution, often called Industry 4.0, is happening right now in factories worldwide. Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart factories and the Internet of Things (IoT) are no longer flashy demonstrations at trade shows or aspects of theoretical factory utopias. They are essential tools that manufacturers are using to keep up with their competition. In a Deloitte survey of 2,000 international business leaders, 70% of C-suite executives said that long-term business success requires the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into their operations. How Did We Get Here? Many technologies have matured in recent years, and early adopters are reaping the rewards. While it may seem like smart factories popped up overnight, the evolution has been gradual.   The first industrial revolution, centered in 18th century Britain, introduced water and steam power to early factories.  Around a century later, manufacturers experienced a historic boost with the second industrial revolution of assembly lines, telephone communication and new power sources (oil, gas, electric).  Then in the 1970s, computers, advanced telecommunications, data analysis and basic digitization stimulated the third industrial revolution.  Today, we're surrounded with 21st-century advancements. Sensors and robotics are simultaneously better and cheaper than they were just a few years ago. And cloud computing has made it practical and relatively easy for machines to communicate with us and each other. This fourth industrial revolution, as TechTarget defines, is "the cyber-physical transformation of manufacturing." Driving Technologies of Industry 4.0 Many of the same inventions that underpin today's popular consumer technology also contribute to the transformation of smart factories. Here are the biggest drivers of the current industrial revolution.   IoT: Machines are now equipped with sensors with an IP address, so they can connect to the internet. Supervisors can see information about the whole machine, its subsystems and even individual components. This helps with quality control, increasing productivity and predictive maintenance. Now, instead of waiting for something to break — which can cause a whole production line to shut down unexpectedly — supervisors can use data to optimize a maintenance schedule to keep everything running as efficiently as possible.  Artificial intelligence: Increased automation is a hallmark of the industrial revolution. Robots and software automation take over tasks that are dirty, dull or dangerous, so people can do other tasks such as strategic planning. Previous generations of robots did the heavy lifting and repetitive tasks. Now, they also collect data, move freely around factory floors and inspect goods to identify defects.  Cloud computing: Cloud computing enables nearly all driving technologies. Previously, computers used servers that were located on-premise. Now, you can use the internet to store and access data and software applications on off-site servers run by service providers. This gives companies access to more computational power with increased flexibility. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) explains that cloud computing can save manufacturers time and money.  Additive manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality, big data, simulation and system integration: These additional technologies are helping to push factories into the future. The list continues to grow as industrial leaders continue to embrace new technologies and modern approaches to streamline their businesses.  The real magic happens when technologies combine, and machines and software programs communicate with each other. "Even higher value is created when data from production operations is combined with operational data from ERP, supply chain, customer service and other enterprise systems to create whole new levels of visibility and insight from previously siloed information," according to IBM. More Sensors, More Problems? All these technological advancements bring incredible benefits to manufacturing environments. Industrial professionals now have more visibility into what's happening on factory floors, even when they aren't physically present. Machines are assisting technicians with physical tasks. And behind the scenes, software is reducing human mental load by making sense of all the data that sensors collect so that humans can make data-informed decisions. But nobody said revolutions were easy. Significant changes come with new problems. Along with its many benefits, Industry 4.0 also comes with challenges. First, new technologies usually require an initial investment, and not every industrial employee can have the latest and greatest tools at their disposal. Cybersecurity is a major concern. As machines, systems and individual components become "smarter," they also become vulnerable to threats such as malware, hackers and viruses. Therefore, cybersecurity must go hand in hand with all the other driving technologies. There are inevitable challenges, but the benefits of a new approach to manufacturing are so enormous that they can't be ignored. Are you interested in science and innovation? We are, too. Check out Northrop Grumman career opportunities to see how you can participate in this fascinating time of discovery.

21st Century Technology Drives Industry 4.0

It's common knowledge today that anyone who gains unauthorized access to data in a computer system is called a hacker. But not all hackers are equal. In the world of cybersecurity, computer criminals are called black hat hackers and those who break into systems to expose vulnerabilities that need to be fixed are known as white hat hackers.  The terms are a nod to old-time Western movies, in which the villains wore black hats and the good guys wore white, explains Norton. And while black hat hackers get all the press, those engaged in ethical hacking get all the praise. Their role in cybersecurity is so critical, it's going mainstream. Fussing With Machines Hacking didn't always get such a bad rap. For centuries, it meant to chop or cut. But in 1955, members of the Tech Model Railroad Club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used the word "hack" to mean "fussing with machines." The club meeting minutes from April of that year state that "Mr. Eccles requests that anyone working or hacking on the electrical system turn the power off to avoid fuse blowing," reports Slate. No malicious intent was inferred.  As computers became more common and people began to understand how these machines could be manipulated, fussing with machines took on dark undertones. Wrong-doers began manipulating telecommunications systems in ways that allowed them to make expensive long-distance phone calls for free. Called phreaking, this activity eventually gave way to black hat hacking in the 1980s and 1990s, as thieves saw money-making opportunities in stealing and selling information, according to National Cyber Security Alliance. Kevin Mitnick became notorious during these years for penetrating the computer systems of Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola, Netcom and Nokia. He became the first hacker to make the FBI's Most Wanted list, reports CISO Magazine, and was finally arrested in 1995. After spending five years in prison, Mitnick became a white hat hacker and started Mitnick Security, a computer security consulting business that deploys "Ghost Teams" of ethical hackers to test the cyberdefense systems of businesses. Mitnick may have helped put ethical hacking on the map, but it was IBM Vice President John Patrick who coined the term in 1995. He said that ethical hacking was "the goal of the majority of hackers, but the current media perception is that hackers are criminals," according to the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. Today, that may be more accurate than ever before. About 30,000 websites are hacked every day, cybercriminals create 300,000 new pieces of malware daily and hackers steal 75 digital records per second, reports WebARX. Attacks can get expensive. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that IT security spending worldwide will exceed $1 trillion by 2021. Hacking for Good As computers, including Internet of Things devices, become ubiquitous, a growing and urgent need has arisen for digital security experts that can wage a counterattack. And ethical hackers, who make an average salary of more than $70,000 a year according to InfoSec Institute, have a multitude of training options. The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is one such group dedicated to growing the community of white hat hackers. The company was founded in 2003, and today is the world's largest cybersecurity technical certification body, providing training as a Certified Ethical Hacker, Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator, Certified Security Analyst and more in 145 countries. In addition to InfoSec Institute and EC-Council, other reputable hacker academies include Cybrary, Offensive Security, SANS and Hacker House, according to VPNMentor. Those trained in the art of ethical hacking will be tasked with assessing the security of a computer system and attempt to break in as a malicious hacker might — but in a legal manner. Indiana Tech notes that some job responsibilities might include:   Scan computer systems for vulnerable open ports, understand the threats it could face and develop a plan to prevent future attacks.  Dig into digital trash bins to locate deleted chats, passwords and other sensitive information that could be used against a company.  Examine software patches to make sure they're current.  Attempt to dodge Intrusion Prevention Systems, Intrusion Detection Systems, firewalls and honeypots to ensure a computer system has protections in place.  Check for malware, hijacked web servers or applications and other signs of malicious intent and fix them.  The need for white hat hackers is exploding. Small business, hospitals, large corporations and even local and state governments are being cyberattacked on a regular basis. Anyone from a tech-savvy high school student to a college-trained computer science engineer can make a career out of ethical hacking and keep the computer systems we rely on day in and day out safe.

White Hat Hackers on the Trail of Cybercriminals

Though it may seem counterintuitive, some outdated technology still finds a place in modern culture. Objects like fax machines and vinyl records continue to have relevance, despite the popularity of computers and music streaming. The curious thing is that none of these technologies seem to go away completely.   Obsolete Technology Examples   In 2018, there's no reason to buy outdated technology like a stand-alone GPS device or a point-and-shoot digital camera if you have a smartphone, yet people continue to buy these items. What is the appeal in buying technologies that are easily replaceable with more modern inventions? Let's take a look at a few examples:     Fax Machines: Although the use of e-signing digital paperwork is widespread, some entities continue to ask for paper copies. Law firms and government agencies — which highly value privacy — are more likely to have fax machines.   Mainframe Computers: Despite the prevalence of the cloud, banks and other financial institutions like mainframes because they can hold a lot of data securely without fear of internet-based data breaches, according to Fortune.  Credit Cards with Magnetic Strips: You've probably noticed that some retail establishments still prefer credit cards with magnetic strips to those with chips. According to a report from Nasdaq, as of 2016, "Despite the fact that 70 percent of U.S. credit card holders possess EMV chip cards, only between 22 percent and 37 percent of retailers have adopted the technology." Nasdaq attributes this to a few reasons, one being that vendors don't want to purchase new credit card terminals with chip-reading capabilities.  Vinyl Records and CDs: More than 50 million people pay for Spotify subscriptions, according to BuzzAngle. So why do vinyl records remain a favorite? Proponents of vinyl claim that it sounds warmer and richer than digitally based music. That appreciation propelled vinyl records to a 25-year peak in 2017, according to The Guardian. Additionally, CD sales fell just 3.9 percent in 2017, according to BuzzAngle, despite a huge shift to streaming music. According to Motherboard, CD consumers "see little in the way of benefits from streaming and value physical ownership."  Typewriters: Despite the fact that most companies no longer use the typewriter, there is still a market for it. According to Secure Data, typewriters offer a much greater level of security. "There's ... no need for data recovery services, since it's all there. Old typewriters cannot be hacked, and they cannot be infected with malware."     Enable targeting cookies to view this content.   These obsolete technology examples are just a few of many, which leads to the question: when will we officially retire these obsolete objects? Will we ever?   Staying Power   One factor in keeping obsolete technology afloat is the long tail. Years ago, technologies died out at least in part because no one was selling them. But internet marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon have created a means to sell new and used items without the overhead typically associated with a retail store. As a result, you can find pretty much anything you want online.   There's something to be said for the tactility associated with analog devices. Whether it's mainframes or vinyl, some people like to physically touch their technologies. That's a need that the cloud and MP3s can't hope to meet. 

Why Outdated Technology Is so Hard to Kill

 In the first six months after its attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese navy swept the Pacific and Indian Oceans from Hawaii to Ceylon. It sank dozens of American, British and other Allied ships, often in one-sided victories. The goal was to clear such a vast region of sea around Japan that no counterattack would be practical, forcing the U.S. and other Allies to accept domination of the western Pacific and Southeast Asia. But a Japanese plan to round out its successes led instead to a decisive defeat of the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway. Four of the six Japanese aircraft carriers that had struck at Pearl Harbor went to the bottom of the ocean, compared with just one American carrier lost. The initiative in the Pacific War shifted relentlessly toward U.S. and Allied forces. A Sea Battle — and an Information Battle Today, as recounted by Alan Taylor in Atlantic magazine, Midway is most remembered as the first great, full-scale clash between fleets of aircraft carriers. Indeed, it was only the second battle between carriers — the first was just a month earlier, the Battle of the Coral Sea, in which the U.S. Navy fought a Japanese task force to a draw. But even before the first airstrikes were launched, as Mark Munson reports at warontherocks.com, the Battle of Midway also demonstrated the decisive role of the information battlefield in modern warfare. The Japanese high command had devised a complex plan intended to catch the Americans by surprise and complete the elimination of U.S. naval strength that had begun at Pearl Harbor. Instead, thanks to American codebreakers and information analysts, it was the Japanese navy that was taken by surprise and defeated. Midway Island, some 1,500 miles west of Hawaii, was the last outpost west of Hawaii that was still in U.S. hands — and the first vital link in the chain of bases that the U.S. would need to take the war to Japan. A Japanese landing there would thus deliver a crippling blow — and perhaps pave the way for an invasion of Hawaii itself. As part of the operation, Japan's Admiral Yamamoto and his colleagues dispatched coordinated forces across thousands of miles of the Pacific, extending as far as Alaska. These forces were intended to leave American commanders uncertain of what objectives the Japanese would strike at. What Admiral Yamamoto did not know was that the Americans had partially broken the Japanese top secret naval code.Seeking the Identify of "AF" The information provided by the code breakers was tantalizing but not complete. Japanese communications revealed that an attack was intended on a place code-named "AF." American analysts suspected that AF was Midway, but how could they be sure? To find out, the U.S. base on Midway was secretly ordered to broadcast a message "in the clear" (uncoded) saying that it was running low on drinking water. The Japanese intercepted the message — as they were intended to — and were soon reporting that "AF" was short of water. For the Japanese, it was a fatal mistake. They had been tricked into revealing their objective, while they remained in the dark about American moves in response. Japanese planners also mistakenly thought that the carrier USS Yorktown had been sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea. In fact, it only had been damaged, and was already back in service. Thus, the Japanese commanders thought that their four aircraft carriers were opposed by only two American carriers, when in fact they faced three, plus American aircraft on Midway itself. The coming battle would be more even than they realized — while their own complex plan left Japanese forces so spread out that they could not all support each other.Fire From the Sky, Fire on the Sea The battle itself began on June 3, 1942, when an American reconnaissance plane spotted part of the Japanese fleet. An airstrike by B-17s based on Midway had no effect. The next day, June 4, Japanese aircraft hit Midway, where they did considerable damage, but also got a tough reception from defending Grumman F4F Wildcats. But by that time, as Taylor notes, U.S. counterstrikes had already been launched toward the Japanese fleet. The American strikes, launched at extreme range, were not perfectly coordinated. The first waves of torpedo bombers, coming in low to launch their torpedoes, were pounded by antiaircraft fire and defending Japanese Zero fighters, and suffered heavy losses while scoring no hits. (Defective American torpedoes contributed to the failure.) But when American dive bombers appeared a few minutes later, approaching at high altitude, the Zero fighters were caught in the wrong position, too low to engage the new attackers. In addition, the Japanese carrier flight decks were crowded with planes being armed and fueled for follow-up strikes. Thus, the American dive bombers caught the Japanese carriers in the worst possible situation, their decks littered with bombs and gasoline hoses. Within minutes, three Japanese carriers were aflame from stem to stern. Later in the day a fourth suffered the same fate. All would sink or be scuttled by the next day. As all this was unfolding, Japanese airstrikes pounded the USS Yorktown, which would eventually sink on June 7. By then, the Japanese task force was retreating, crippled by the loss of its carriers. The Battle of Midway was over, but the Japanese navy would never fully recover from its losses — not only the four carriers, but trained pilots and crews as well. Modern aircraft carriers do not carry either torpedo bombers or dive bombers, which have been superseded by more capable strike aircraft. Thus, the most enduring lesson of Midway is that controlling the information battlefield is the key to victory. The modern expression for this information battlefield is C4ISR, standing for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. While computers did not yet exist in 1942, improvements in technology have only increased the power of information as the most decisive weapon of all.

The Battle of Midway: A Victory of Information

Let the tale of poor James Howells and his lost cryptocurrency serve as a warning. In 2013, the Welsh information technology worker sold an old laptop he had once used to mine bitcoin and accidentally threw out the hard drive that held his coins. Fast forward to today — bitcoin has been pushing record highs, and Howells has found that, as of the time that the Wired article was written, he threw away more than $75 million. He wants to dig for the drive in a landfill at Newport, South Wales, but it could be sitting under 200,000 tons of trash. And the city council won't allow it due to the hazards involved, said Wired. "'It's a little like looking at your bank account containing millions of dollars but not being able to spend it,'" Howells told Wired. The Tragedy of Lost Cryptocurrency Howells' story isn't unique. Wired also published the tale of Mark Frauenfelder — director of research at the Institute of the Future's Blockchain Futures Lab — who nearly lost a fortune. He bought 7.4 bitcoins in early 2016, stored the bitcoin keys in an encrypted drive and then forgot the PIN. It took him many tries and a lot of hacking to recover it, and now he's exponentially richer. A recent study by Chainalysis found that between 2.7 million and 3.7 million bitcoins — about 17 percent to 23 percent of the total supply — have been lost forever, according to Fortune. At the current bitcoin exchange rate at the time this article was written, with one bitcoin worth about $16,200, that represents $43.7 to 59.9 billion of lost value. Lost cryptocurrency isn't limited to bitcoin, either. Earlier this year, an unlucky user accidentally destroyed more than $300 million worth of Ether — the currency used for the decentralized platform Ethereum. The developer Parity revealed that it had tried to fix a bug that allowed hackers to steal $32 million from digital wallets, but inadvertently created a second bug that let one user become the owner of all the digital wallets. In an attempt to fix this mistake, the assets were effectively locked with no feasible way to access them.    Safeguarding Digital Assets Digital currency users face several threats, but a common mistake is not protecting cryptocurrency from hackers. That's not surprising considering large-scale hacks, such as the disappearance of what was nearly half a billion dollars worth of bitcoin from Mt. Gox in 2014. Losing access to your cryptocurrency is a potential threat as well. It's important to realize that you're responsible for the security of your digital assets. To avoid the scenario of lost cryptocurrency, here are some do's and dont's to consider, some of which came from the technology-focused website Di9it:  Don't keep a large volume of coins on an exchange you don't actively trade on, as that could expose you to the danger of theft. The same applies to digital wallets on your phone or computer. Don't ever share your private key with anyone or store it on an unencrypted device. Do use a cold wallet, such as a USB drive or other storage, to maintain a reserve of your currency offline. Do keep a copy of your PIN — as well as reminder words and numbers in case you lose the PIN — in a safe place. You should also consider keeping a backup copy in a fireproof safe or other storage. Do encrypt your laptop, phone and other mobile devices containing personal information, especially passwords related to your assets. Losing them could be disastrous. Do exercise caution with little-known cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and messages soliciting investment. Taking a few basic steps like these can improve your digital hygiene and go a long way to making the cryptocurrency ecosystem a safer place. By sharing best practices, we can make cryptocurrency a secure store of value.

Lost Cryptocurrency? How to Prevent your Digital Cash from Disappearing

Anil Deane knew he had an affinity for numbers when, at an early age, he studied his older sister's math textbook instead his own, realizing it had more advanced math. Deane, a technical fellow at Northrop Grumman, reminisced about that watershed moment as he contemplated the significance of Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month. Years after reading his sister's math book, his love for numbers — and science — remains strong.    A Cause for Celebration Deane is one of countless mathematicians who have a reason to celebrate in April. Every year at this time, the U.S. celebrates an appreciation for numbers. It started as a week-long celebration in 1986 per a proclamation by President Ronald Reagan and extended to a month-long event in 1999, according to MathAware.org. Colleges, high schools, math clubs and other organizations use the month to host workshops, competitions, exhibits, festivals and more.  Stats Included What was originally called Mathematics Awareness Month is now Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month. The associations that put on the annual celebration believe statisticians deserve specific recognition because they contribute "so much to furthering discoveries, solving problems, and finding beauty in our world." The Math Behind Security Every day, Deane conducts research that supports company projects and consistently illustrates the importance of mathematics in science, technology and engineering. An expert in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and High Performance Computing (HPC), he develops models to verify or reject theories as he helps build systems and programs for Northrop Grumman clients. "Mathematics is an amazing tool," Deane said. "The understanding and the insight it provides in the modeling is the goal. I want not just to understand the research, but to also understand what is best for our customers and our corporation. That's what I get out of numerical models. They help me design systems better." For example, Deane and his Northrop Grumman colleagues created a cybersecurity model that allows a government customer to identify and stop cybercriminals who could steal valuable information. Most of Deane's projects revolve around data analytics and its grounding in mathematics and statistics. World-Class Innovation In a nutshell, Deane's job calls for him to "deal with these algorithmic parts but also understand how it maps onto real computing hardware and graphical processing units," he said. "It's how you have the math but also the algorithms and how it all meshes to computing hardware and then the data center." Many companies base some or a large part of their operations around AI-type programs, but that doesn't mean human minds aren't needed in this new frontier, according to Deane. "The computer is doing the heavy lifting," Deane said. "But you have to set it up initially â€¦ You 'train' a certain type of data and let the machine go, and it will find anomalous data." A Northrop Grumman employee for more than ten years, Deane previously worked for NASA, where he focused on large-scale parallel computing. He also had a two-year stint at the Department of Energy, where, as a program manager for applied mathematics, he contributed to a math program that "was responsible for many of the scientific and engineering advances that are used in this country and in the world," he said. "I'm very proud of that program. It is really world-class." Go in for the Love  For more than 20 years, Deane has also served as a research professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. What advice does Deane give students who want to follow his career path, or at least one that demonstrates the importance of mathematics? "Go in for the love of it. Our higher brains are built for complex thinking, and there is deep satisfaction in following this." he said. Of course, Deane recognizes that not everyone is mathematically inclined, but that shouldn't dissuade them, he said. He believes educators need to do a better job of presenting math in friendly terms. "Nobody should be afraid of it," Deane said. "It's fair enough to say they don't like it, but they shouldn't be afraid."

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