happy new year, keep fighting punks
Cortical control of a tablet computer by people with paralysis
General-purpose computers have become ubiquitous and important for everyday life, but they are difficult for people with paralysis to use. Specialized software and personalized input devices can improve access, but often provide only limited functionality. In this study, three research participants with tetraplegia who had multielectrode arrays implanted in motor cortex as part of the BrainGate2 clinical trial used an intracortical brain-computer interface (iBCI) to control an unmodified commercial tablet computer. Neural activity was decoded in real time as a point-and-click wireless Bluetooth mouse, allowing participants to use common and recreational applications (web browsing, email, chatting, playing music on a piano application, sending text messages, etc.). Two of the participants also used the iBCI to “chat” with each other in real time. This study demonstrates, for the first time, high-performance iBCI control of an unmodified, commercially available, general-purpose mobile computing device by people with tetraplegia.
FASTCash: How the Lazarus Group is Emptying Millions from ATMs
On October 2, 2018, an alert was issued by US-CERT, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury, and the FBI. According to this new alert, Hidden Cobra (the U.S. government’s code name for Lazarus) has been conducting “FASTCash” attacks stealing money from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) from banks in Asia and Africa since at least 2016.
Lazarus is a very active attack group involved in both cyber crime and espionage. The group was initially known for its espionage operations and a number of high-profile disruptive attacks, including the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures. More recently, Lazarus has also become involved in financially motivated attacks, including an US$81 million dollar theft from the Bangladesh Central Bank and the WannaCry ransomware.
Neon and corporate dystopias: why does cyberpunk refuse to move on?
The future has looked the same for almost four decades. A skyline of densely packed skyscrapers, corporate logos lighting the night sky, proclaiming ownership over the city below. At street level, a haze of neon shines down from the cluster of signs above and shimmers at your feet in the rain that runs down the filthy streets. Here, the have-nots, excluded from the safe, luxurious enclaves enjoyed by the super-rich, are preyed upon by hustlers dealing in illegal tech and street gangs composed of green-haired, leather-clad technopunks, decked out with cyborg enhancements and high on synthetic drugs.
A police robot is on duty in the Xidan commercial district of Beijing, China, on September 27, 2018. The police robot, equipped with cameras, speakers, lighting lamps, and alarm lamps, was developed by the First Research Institute of China’s Ministry of Public Security.
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