IT Security Archives - QESP

First reputation-based blockchain guarantees security against 51 percent attacks

Researchers at the University of Luxembourg are part of an international team that has proposed the first blockchain system to guarantee proper performance even when more than 51% of the system’s computing power is controlled by an attacker.The system, RepuCoin, introduces the concept of “reputation” to blockchain, effectively making it thousands of times more expensive to attack than Bitcoin. It was developed at the University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, and has the potential to be applied in a number of global sectors including fintech, energy, food supply chains, health care and future 5G telecommunications networks.

Australia vulnerable to cyber attack and economic blackmail, report argues

Australia is vulnerable to emerging methods of interference by foreign states such as economic blackmail and the type of cyber attacks Russia has used against other countries, warns a new paper published by the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia.

While asylum seekers coming by boat, terrorism and a naval attack by China are the three most commonly named security problems named by members of the Australian public, they “are not the main security threats to national wellbeing that Australia and its regional partners now face,” writes Professor Greg Austin in a chapter on cyber security.

Wi-Fi can be KRACK-ed. Here’s what to do next

A security researcher has revealed serious flaws in the way that most contemporary Wi-Fi networks are secured.
Discovered by Mathy Vanhoef from the University of Leuven, the vulnerability affects the protocol “Wi-Fi Protected Access 2”. Otherwise known as WPA2, this encrypts the connection between a computer or mobile phone and a Wi-Fi access point to keep your browsing safe.

Australian government password rules are insecure nonsense

The agencies dedicated to “protecting our secrets” are insisting on a password security method that even the Daily Mail knows is nonsense, writes John Quiggin.

I recently had to log in to the website of an Australian government agency with which I deal from to time. To my surprise, I was presented with a message saying that my password had expired and that, under a new security policy, password expire every 90 days, and they must contain a mixture of alphanumeric and special characters (this is called a composition rule)

Taking control back from the cloud

A user-controlled file security scheme makes it possible to instantly revoke access to files hosted on Internet cloud servers.

The cost of launching a DDoS attack

(QESP Editor’s Note: The following is an extract from a March 23, 2017 Kaspersky Lab Securelist article by Denis Makrushin. The original, with examples , is available at    https://securelist.com/analysis/publications/77784/the-cost-of-launching-a-ddos-attack/) A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is one of the most popular tools in the cybercriminal arsenal. The motives behind such attacks can vary – from cyber-hooliganism […]