Hacker Public Radio

• Quantum computing

  • Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though current quantum computers are too small to outperform usual (classical) computers for practical applications, larger realizations are believed to be capable of solving certain computational problems, such as integer factorization (which underlies RSA encryption), substantially faster than classical computers.
  • Today’s quantum systems only include tens or hundreds of entangled qubits, limiting them from solving real-world problems. To achieve quantum practicality, commercial quantum systems need to scale to over a million qubits and overcome daunting challenges like qubit fragility and software programmability.
  • Quantum computers, if they mature enough, will be able to crack much of today's encryption. That'll lay bare private communications, company data and military secrets. Today's quantum computers are too rudimentary to do so. But data surreptitiously gathered now could still be sensitive when more powerful quantum computers come online in a few years.
  • Simple passwords can be cracked using brute force; this is where an attacker uses tools that try every possible password until the correct one is found. This generally done using a dictionary attack, where an attacker will try known passwords and words until they find the one that unlocks an account. There are databases available on the internet that contain personal names as well as dictionary and slang words, in scores of languages, along with passwords found in data breaches, and more.

• Encryption.

  • The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) specifies a FIPS-approved cryptographic algorithm that can be used to protect electronic data. The AES algorithm is a symmetric block cipher that can encrypt (encipher) and decrypt (decipher) information. Encryption converts data to an unintelligible form called ciphertext; decrypting the ciphertext converts the data back into its original form, called plaintext. The AES algorithm is capable of using cryptographic keys of 128, 192, and 256 bits to encrypt and decrypt data in blocks of 128 bits.
  • The National Security Agency (NSA) reviewed all the AES finalists, including Rijndael, and stated that all of them were secure enough for U.S. Government non-classified data. In June 2003, the U.S. Government announced that AES could be used to protect classified information: For cryptographers, a cryptographic "break" is anything faster than a brute-force attack – i.e., performing one trial decryption for each possible key in sequence. A break can thus include results that are infeasible with current technology. Despite being impractical, theoretical breaks can sometimes provide insight into vulnerability patterns. The largest successful publicly known brute-force attack against a widely implemented block-cipher encryption algorithm was against a 64-bit RC5 key by distributed.net in 2006.

• Password Management.

  • Bitwarden
  • KeepassXC
  • Tips for creating a strong password
    • Enable Two-Factor authentication whenever possible. While a great passphrase will help secure you and the Commonwealth’s data, a second factor makes it that much more difficult for hackers to gain access.

• Password Generation.

  • pwgen : found in most linux repos
  • Man page for pwgen
  • Example : pwgen -y 50 3 : generates a 50 character password with symbols, with 3 choices

• Google and Amazon are listening

  • CNET article on Google and Amazon

"I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to fill their house with cameras and microphones, but I also don't blame anyone who's willing to trade some of their data with a company they feel comfortable with in order to bring some new convenience and utility into their lives. It's nearly impossible to navigate today's age without making trades like that on a daily basis."

What is Web Scraping? Web scraping is an automatic method to obtain large amounts of data from websites.

What is Machine Learning? Machine Learning, as the name says, is all about machines learning automatically without being explicitly programmed or learning without any direct human intervention. This machine learning process starts with feeding them good quality data and then training the machines by building various machine learning models using the data and different algorithms.

1. The October Suprise.
2. The fruit of the poisonous tree.
3. This Is the Data Facebook Gave Police to Prosecute a Teenager for Abortion.
4. Google is giving data to police based on search keywords, court docs show.
5. Google bans dad for ‘child porn’ after he sent pics of toddler’s swollen genitals to doctor.
6. Proton VPN Transparency Report & Warrant Canary.