Author Archives: rhv5028

Could Ransomware Affect The Upcoming Election

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As we approach Election Day on Tuesday, November 3rd, fears are bubbling up about potential election interference from ransomware. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that locks up a user’s system or device and makes it unusable. In politics, it can have a much worse effect such as when it was targeted onto Baltimore’s city government, the University of California, and the website of an Illinois public health district. Even large companies have been affected with Microsoft stating that it took down a major hacking network that was being used to spread ransomware.

In the context of elections, ransomware can freeze user access to voter polls or websites displaying election results. According to Jason Healey, a cybersecurity expert at Columbia University, “The concern at [the Department of Homeland Security] and the Pentagon will be that ransomware will hit at the county and state level to disable voting registers, vote tallying and reporting, and result reporting.” While this may seem like a very important issue, there are some factors that can help to combat this issue. One reason is that the ransomware would have to adapt to different types of software that are used. Every voting jurisdiction uses different software so in order to infiltrate the system, an individualized attack would have to be created slowing down the efficiency of the attacks.

As a result, the US government has issued public advisories warning of the potential threat of ransomware. Government officials have been investing in stronger firewalls, better risk analysis platforms, and device protection as well as keeping important voting infrastructure from other systems. Cities are starting to become more and more prepared than before. The ways to combat ransomware are simple: “Create regular backups of your data that you store offline. Learn to recognize fraudulent emails or links and try to avoid falling for them. Keep your devices and apps up to date with the latest security updates.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/tech/ransomware-2020-election/index.html

Drones Can Help Hurricane Struck Areas

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In the past 10 years, there have been 158 named storms in the Atlantic Ocean, almost 10 more than the last decade. In this ten year period, 72 were Category 1 Hurricanes which had a maximum sustained wind strength of 74mph. In just the past few years, America sustained the two costliest hurricanes 2017’s Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria, one of the deadliest hurricanes 2012’s Sandy, and the most powerful hurricane to hit land 2019’s Dorian.

Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on September 20 as a Category 4 storm and caused $90 billion of damage and left almost 3,000 people dead. Although Maria destroyed roads, bridges, and towns, it took down Puerto Rico’s power grid and destroyed most of the wireless networks and internet cables. As a result, many relief efforts were unsuccessful due to a lack of connection. Family members and emergency responders were not able to contact injured people and emergency workers and firefighters were unable to monitor their vitals.

In order to prevent these issues from reoccurring, tech developers from Project OWL hope to create new technologies like mesh networks that can be quickly deployed in ruined areas and wearable equipment that monitors the health of firefighters in real-time. According to their CEO Bryan Knouse, “In the worst disasters, chaos, and misinformation are pervasive,… With better information and better analytics, you can get the resources you need to the places that need it most.”

This technology currently deployed at the University of Puerto Rico can be used to help people in rural areas. “There are people living in the rural areas, and as soon as something happens to them — they have an injured person, they’re lacking food or they’re lacking water — they can immediately notify [first responders] through this mesh network. The first responders will immediately know where and what is going on.”

As global warming gets worse, the increased moisture will provide additional fuel for hurricanes resulting in more issues like this. With the help of this new drone software, emergency response will be simplified and more effective.

Source: https://www.cnet.com/features/after-a-disaster-wi-fi-is-a-lifeline/

 

NASA is Putting A 4G Network on The Moon

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This latest news might come as shock to many people. NASA is partnering with telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company Nokia to put a 4G network on the Moon.

In order to reach its 2028 goal to build a lunar base and sustain a human presence on the moon, NASA has awarded $370 million to several companies to deploy the technology on the lunar surface with $14.1 million of it going over to Nokia. To the ordinary public this may come as a shock, if you are unable to get a cell phone signal while out and about, why do astronauts need reliable service? To tweet about their moon golf shots and post lunar rover selfies? NASA says that putting 4G on the moon will upgrade the current radio communication already on the moon, and in the future, it will be upgraded further to 5G.

The cellular network on the moon will be built with many challenges in mind with it needing to withstand high temperatures, radiation, spaces vacuum, and it will need to be functional during lunar landing and launches. This 4G network will be used in many ways on the moon by astronauts. They will be able to use it to transmit data, control lunar rovers, and access real-time navigation over the moon also known as Google Maps for the Moon.

Although I do see the potential of having a 4G network on the moon, I do think it will be very controversial. Wanting to prioritize a strong internet connection for the 10 people on the moon at once compared to the millions of people that live in underserved areas that aren’t covered by cellular service might not sit right with people.

Sources: https://www.xda-developers.com/nokia-nasa-funding-4g-moon/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/18/tech/4g-network-moon-trnd/index.html

 

How Twitter is Fighting the Upcoming Presidential Elections Chaos

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Twitter in the past five years has started to become one of the most popular social media platforms primarily because of how easy it is to speak freely and how it entirely functions in real-time. Since the 2016 Presidential Election, Twitter has begun to become a platform full of politics and lots of misinformation. Wanting to prevent misinformation before the November 3rd Presidential Election, Twitter has instated several changes.

Wanting to keep the integrity of Twitter, they have announced several temporary changes to function before the election. Some of the changes include increased urging of users to ‘quote tweet’ instead of retweeting. A retweet is a re-post of a tweet which helps you to share a tweet you like with your followers. By encouraging users to quote tweets, they wish to stop interference in the election results and stop ‘misleading’ information from spreading. Another important change is the introduction of a prompt saying “This is Disputed” when a user attempts to retweet a tweet labeled as misinformation or prematurely declaring political victory.

By instating all of these changes, Twitter hopes to preserve the integrity of the election conversations. They, “encourage candidates, campaigns, news outlets, and voters to use Twitter respectfully and to recognize our collective responsibility to the electorate to guarantee a safe, fair and legitimate democratic process this November.” Although many people argue that instating these changes are examples of blocking free speech, Twitter simply wishes to just empower democratic conversation, facilitate meaningful political debate, and enable people to hold those in power accountable.

These controversial changes will roll out in the next few days. Do you think that they will affect the upcoming Presidential Election?

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/9/21509439/twitter-election-trump-quote-tweet-labels-rules-election

The New PlayStation 5 Could Be Bad For GameStop

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GameStop, since being founded almost 36 years ago has been facing lots of financial problems for the past five years which look to be getting even worse during the upcoming holiday season. In the past five years, the stock price has fallen almost 80% with the last peak being $48 in 2015 and currently being $9 with a strong downward trend since.

After being announced last September, the digital Playstation 5 which has the same performance as the normal one, however, lacks a disk player to play physical games has the potential to hurt GameStop. The introduction of the digital PlayStation 5 is just one reason why GameStop which relies on physical games is losing lots of income.

Even GameStop has recognized their faults with their CEO George Sherman saying, “Gaming as an industry could not be stronger … it’s us that needs to pivot. It’s GameStop that needs to make some changes.” If consumers are compelled to purchase the digital PlayStation, GameStop would suffer from a lack of physical game sales. After reporting losses of almost $110 million in the last quarter and the closing of 400-450 stores, it is very clear that GameStop needs to rethink its approach to the upcoming digital consoles. It is projected that GameStop will be fine for the next three to four years before 5G and cloud gaming become more popular and until that point, GameStop will need to “reinvent itself in terms of its positions around physical software.”

The next few years will send GameStop into the ‘Blockbuster era’. Blockbuster LLC closed in 2010 and between 2013-2014, thousands of Blockbuster stores were closed. The primary reason Blockbuster suffered was because of the introduction of Netflix’s online streaming service. In addition to Netflix, Blockbuster failed to adapt to a changing retail environment where streaming media made renting irrelevant.

As the holiday season approaches, do you think GameStop will stay afloat?

 

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/tech/ps5-gamestop-digital-cloud/index.html