Edward Snowden and Andrew Huang are designing a device to help protect smartphones from eavesdropping.

Whether you are a journalist worried about government control, or anyone with confidential conversations, their idea could help protect your phone. Edward Snowden expressed the concern that sophisticated malware could control your phone to make it transmit information when you are not aware, even if the phone had been placed in airplane mode.

He is working with  Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, a research affiliate from MIT Media Lab. The proposed device would be able to attach to an iPhone 6 and monitor the activity of the unit’s radio systems, detecting activity in any of the frequency bands, cellular, Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS, or NFC. It could then alert the user of possible eavesdropping activity.  The device would be an external sleeve, and not built in to the phone, thus it would not be susceptible to any hacking of the […]

From Phys.org

De-icing concrete could improve roadway safety, guard against corporate espionage

…By replacing the limestone and sand typically used in concrete with a mineral called magnetite, Tuan has shown that the mixture can also shield against electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic spectrum includes the radiofrequency waves transmitted and received by cellphones, which Tuan said could make the concrete mixture useful to those concerned about becoming targets of industrial espionage.

Using the magnetite-embedded concrete, Tuan and his colleagues have built a small structure in their laboratory that demonstrates the material’s shielding capabilities.

“We invite parties that are interested in the technology to go in there and try to use their cellphones,” said Tuan, who has patented his design through NUtech Ventures. “And they always receive a no-service message.”

A slab of conductive concrete demonstrates its de-icing capability outside the Peter Kiewit Institute in Omaha during a winter […]

November 9, the Google Doodle (on Google’s home page) celebrated the birthday of Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, 9 November 1914 – 19 January 2000.

She is most known for being a beautiful movie star, but she was also a talented inventor who helped develop spread spectrum frequency hopping technology, used in World War II. Though the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of her work are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology.

Her official website: https://www.hedylamarr.com/

Google’s tribute:

Here is a short History Channel presentation “The Patent Files”:

Happy Birthday, Hedy.

Science fiction stories often have tales of computerized devices taking over the world. Probably a more immediate worry, rather than the devices controlling us, would be hackers take over those devices, as that is already happening.  Cyber security researcher, Graham Cluley, clues us in on happenings in downtown LA where hackers changed the words on a traffic sign. Not the first time, of course. His article also mentions road signs warning of approaching Daleks and even a pending British invasion.

The threat of a mastermind Moriarty broadcasting a sinister message to the world through every road sign, advertising sign, and every TV channel, is still a bit distant, but as attacks appear daily on individual devices, the threat comes closer to home. Any devices that have remote programming access via the internet could be vulnerable, from road signs or laboratory equipment  to phone systems and alarm systems – any network connected device. On […]