Computer ‘Fingerprints’: The Method to Reveal Your Identity and Location

When a person is using a computer in public locations there are chances of revealing the identity as well as location details. This information is extremely useful to track the movement of the user and is put to use by several companies and hackers. The unique online ‘fingerprints’ are very similar to regular fingerprints and can be used to gather information like the user’s location and identity. These unique ‘fingerprints’ are actually the user’s browser fingerprints and popularly known as ‘browserprint’. They are unique to the individual (almost like the actual fingerprint).

The recent research studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia revealed that there is enough scope of the browserprints being used by wrong people for the wrong purpose. Personal security is at stake and thus the research members are trying their level best to find out the latest methods of protection against the detection of fingerprints of the personal computers. The fingerprints (or browserprints) on the computers are not visible to the user but there are people (and organizations) who are aware of the techniques to gather the required information from the fingerprints. The information reveals the user’s habits and interests and it is noticed in most of the cases that the advertisement agencies are making use of the technology and the information gathered from the same to get in touch with their prospective customers. Till this is may not be harmful, but the same information can provide the hackers and people with a wrong intention to cause great harm.

The entire world is now using computers and the internet for all sorts of purposes and it is not possible to delete all the browsing history. Even if that is possible, there will not be much protection as deleting the browser history will not erase the browser prints. The only way out is to find out the protection method that can keep the browserprint of the users safe. Much help from common public is needed to make this research project successful and the good news is that the required support is not rare.

The Encryption Commission Bill: Evolution and Possible Movements

The Encryption Commission Bill is major news these days and it is expected that the people who are in favor of the bill are pretty hopeful that the Senate Homeland Security Committee will take their strong standpoint as soon as the Congress starts the new session in September. For the time being, Rep. McCaul and Senator Mark Warner is busy in tweaking the legislation for the purpose. According to a recent report from Joan O’Hara, the law enforcement representatives and privacy groups are afraid of the fact that the standpoint of the commission would go against them. O’Hara mentioned this to have both positive and negative effects. It is good as the action can mean that the bill is actually neutral, but the bad effect can be the non-neutrality of the bill. However, the sponsors are busy in making amendments to the legislation and tweaking the voting rules so that the different groups on the voting panel cannot get rolled by anyone in particular. The final non-committing words came from Brittni Palke, mentioning that the committee is still going through the process of reviewing the legislature and to know about the future standpoint we have to wait till the summer session commences.

There is also the news that Donald Trump will officially announce the name of Mike Pence (the Governor of Indiana) as his running mate. Mike Pence is the person who has previously emphasized on the financial cost of cyber hacks. He was successful in hosting the cyber-focused business conferences and launching of the public-private joint scheme to fight against digital crime. The recent hearing at the House Homeland Security Panel, there was a plea from James Comey (the FBI Director) to solve the confusion related to the encryption issue. Comey was of the view that encrypted communications are actually hampering the law related to enforcement investigations. Although every concerned person is advancing or thinking in his or her own way, no concrete movement will be possible untill the next session of the Congress.

Eyefluence May Soon Launch Eye Controlled Computer Technology

Computer manipulation has gone a long way as technology devices continues to become more efficient while either getting thinner, smaller or lightweight. Technological scientists continue to find ways to also achieve more hands free manipulation or navigation. This is after all the aim of technology. Sci-Fi movies have been feeding us with imaginations of the future of computer manipulation mostly in the form of holograms or voice command. But a start-up tech company from Silicon Valley is about to take this dream even further and in a quite cooler way.

Eyefluence targets to create hands-free navigation technology within the next few years. And what they are aiming to achieve in hands-free navigation is no other than the use of the eyes to control the computer screen. The company has been working on the prototypes and is currently in the testing stage according to TechCrunch. As an overview, they will be using augmented reality glass technology that utilizes a camera for tracking the focus of the eyes and its movements. This is supposedly how the eye cursor will work with item selections similar to clicking with a mouse.

The founder and CEO of Eyefluence Jim Marggaff boasts that the system will work as fast as the thought process and will have an edge over other similar technologies since it uses biomechanics. Marggaff explains it as eye and brain coordination or connection. He said the user will not be required to put extra effort in using the device. They just have to continue doing what their eyes naturally do. This is more or less similar to how VR (Virtual Reality) technology works. Marggaff and the entire Eyefluence team are currently in talks with big tech companies interested in adding their eye control technology to their head-mounted devices. Soon more people will be wearing glasses and will be able to make purchase online or communicate with others without lifting a hand in instant.

Protection Against Encryption Breaking Quantum Computers: Google’s Latest Experiment Goal

Google is now working on the latest experiment to provide protection against the quantum computer technology that can break encryptions. Though it is not very sure how the quantum computer technology will become active, it is very much possible that if the technology finally starts working (as it is being promised) it will be capable of retroactive breaking any sort of communications which are encrypted with the current standard of encryption algorithms. Google is now working in providing protection to Chrome against the current threat from quantum computers with the help of various experiments with the post-quantum cryptography.

The current experiment module of Google will enable a small fraction of connections existing between the browsers of desktop Chrome and the servers of Google to make use of the encryption key exchanges (the post-quantum model) over the usual encryption method of HTTPS; which is popularly known as the elliptic curve key exchange algorithm. Quantum computers are still in the fictional stage as the entire concept sounds very much like science fiction and the actual use of quantum computer technology is far away from reality, let alone the fact of becoming a prime corporation. According to a recent report from PC Mag, the users of Chrome Canary will be able to verify the activation of post-quantum algorithm simply by looking for the CECPQ1 available with the key exchange option inside the security panel of the browser. Thus, even if the encryption breaking is possible through quantum computers, the verification or better to say protection will also not be very difficult.

According to Braithwaite, this is the fact that Google is being able to experiment with the post-quantum encryption breaking factor without hampering the security of the user. The test which is being conducted is not very long lasting either as Braithwaite confirms that the test comes with a shelf-life of 24 months only.

University of Basque and Google take Gigantic Strides into Quantum Computing

Many of us have seen the ‘Si Fi’ movies where super computers are the thinkers of humanistic needs and their processing capabilities are so fast that our current computers fade into looking old and completely outdone to the super power.

Well, having said all this, Google has collaborated with the University of Basque Country where scientists and researchers have put their heads together to turn the fiction into reality. The collaboration has brought about the dissolution of apparent problems in quantum computers.

Current day computers encode data using 1 and 0 yet, the scientists have rooted concepts that surpass this naming quantum bits or qubits encoding beyond this. Quantum allows supreme position which allows 0 and 1 to be saved concurrently. There are few computers that can do this, and IBM has built a quantum computer, yet only making 5 qubits available. D Wave, a Canadian company, has a 1097 qubit machine also. Yet both are sluggish and only able to work across small ranges and algorithms.

The new research from Google and Basque states that there are only two ways to build a super 100% efficient quantum computer. These ways are by linking primitive circuits with qubits that are able to churn out very specific answers to questions. The latter is by arranging qubits in a specific pattern that they are able to change interactions until an algorithm is solved. Either way, great progress in this field has been made.

Both of these given theories are subject to leaks and noise in the system which distracts the calculations being given. Yet, researchers believe that error correction abilities can be advanced to filter such distractions over time. The nine qubits used are cooled near zero degrees allowing them to act like super conductors allowing qubits to be easily encoded without electrical resistance. Over the coming years, designs of 40 qubits have been targeted, making greater strides in our capabilities.