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BuzzFeed recently has been hacked by a group named OurMine. It looked like revenge for the fact that the news website posted a story that claimed to unmask one of the members. In reaction to the story the group posted a message saying:

 

“Hacked by OurMine team, don’t share fake news about us again, we have your database. Next time it will be public. Don’t fuck with OurMine again.”

-The Guardian, 2016

 

The group is claiming that they have the database of BuzzFeed containing emails, password hashes and usernames. And it is not the first time that the group was able to perform a high profile hack. They already hacked Facebook founder Mark Zuckenberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and the servers for Niantic’s Pokemon Go. This shows that the group really understands their ‘job’ (The Guardian, 2016).

 

Following this news from the 5^th of October 2016, a day later the Cyber Security Raad, an advisory department of the Dutch government, says that the government should invest a lot more in the protection of the information security for external threats. They even suggest that companies need to invest more in cyber security, at least 10% of their IT budget. If possible, enforced by legislation (Nu.nl).

 

However, the fun thing is, the group called OurMine is not making use from weak spots of companies and government digital security software. No, they make use of phishing and social engineering. With the use of this methods they are able to intercept or figure out passwords (Wired, 2016).

 

This shows that hackers are already, although phishing is a well-known method, using different methods to hack companies and/or governments. Therefore, is it good to only focus on cyber security if groups like OurMine are already (successfully) using different kind of methods?

 

Luckily enough, the OurMine group says it wants to be known as “white hat” information security consultants. Their goal is to “upgrade people’s security”. After hacking YouTube video-maker Jordi van den Bussche, they even gave him some tips and trick how to improve his protection (The Guardian, 2016.

 

 

References:

http://www.nu.nl/internet/4332482/volgend-kabinet-moet-investeren-in-digitale-veiligheid.html

 

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/buzzfeed-hack-ourmine

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/05/buzzfeed-hack-ourmine-ahmad-makki-facebook-google

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Is a technology company ‘solving’ cancer? Yes, probably. A few days ago Microsoft announced they expect to defeat cancer within 10 years. According to them it is not very strange that a technology company is doing it, because biology and computing are disciplines which have very deep connections on the most fundamental level (Telegraph, 2016).

 

This summer, the technology company, once known for its computers and phones, opened a research lab to test the behaviour of cancer cells. The idea is to transform cells into living computers. These living computers could be programmed to treat diseases like cancer.

 

And Microsoft is not the only technology company that is making its way to the healthcare industry. IBM, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple are just a few other big companies interested in AI in healthcare (Medicalfuturist, 2016). In some areas of the healthcare industry artificial intelligence is already introduced. For example, IBM’s Watson program helps oncologists by providing evidence-based treatment options (The Guardian, 2016).

 

Artificial Intelligence as a whole is ready to become part of our lives and experts are already talking about a Fourth Industrial Revolution. The amount of data available nowadays is enormous and we need artificial intelligence if we want to use everything (Medicalfuturist, 2016).

 

Personally I was really surprised that researchers are already making such progress with artificial intelligence. I find the idea of living computers in people’s bodies both fascinating and disturbing at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, everything that helps solving cancer is a good thing, but where does it end? The idea of living computers inside me trying to repair damaged cells is something I’m not used to yet. And with me, I think, are a lot more people that are still unaware of the abilities of artificial intelligence.

 

At this point there is no need be afraid because artificial intelligence solutions are still very costly and therefore not affordable for most patients. However, if Microsoft expects to operate these living computers within 10 years I think we need to take precausions in order to prevent healthcare from becoming unethical.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/20/microsoft-will-solve-cancer-within-10-years-by-reprogramming-dis/

 

http://europe.newsweek.com/microsoft-will-solve-cancer-problem-within-decade-500496

 

http://medicalfuturist.com/artificial-intelligence-will-redesign-healthcare/

 

https://www.theguardian.com/ibm-watson-health-partner-zone/2016/jun/20/artificial-intelligence-impact-healthcare