ScienceDaily: Computer Security News
Encryption. Read the latest research on computer security and encryption methods here. Evaluate new methods for protecting sensitive data.

• Quantum Computing Closer To Reality As Mathematicians Chase Key Breakthrough
  The ability to exploit the extraordinary properties of quantum mechanics in novel applications, such as a new generation of super-fast computers, has come closer following recent progress with some of the remaining underlying mathematical problems.
• Electronic Methods Potentially Secure For Sending Blank Ballots Overseas
  Electronic technologies could be deployed immediately and reliably to augment slower postal mail for distributing ballots to US citizens living abroad, but using telephone, e-mail, and the Web to transmit completed ballots still faces significant, unresolved issues, according a new report.
• Safer, Better, Faster: Addressing Cryptography’s Big Challenges
  Every time you use a credit card, access your bank account online or send secure email cryptography comes into play. But as computers become more powerful, network speeds increase and data storage grows, the current methods of protecting information are being challenged.
• Spinning Into The Future Of Data Storage
  Scientists have improved their understanding of the inner workings of our computers and MP3 players, thanks to an exciting new field of research called "organic spintronics."
• RFID Chips: A Privacy And Security Pandora's Box?
  A research article published in the current issue of the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management suggests that Big Brother could be opening a privacy and security Pandora's Box if human rights, particularly regarding data protection are not addressed in the design of new RFID applications.
• Technology Behind The Personal Network
  Experts believe Personal Networks will run to a thousand devices by 2017, which presents an enormous networking challenge. European researchers are developing some very clever technology to create a Smart Personal Network that can cope with all those devices.
• Nanotechnology: Quantum Computer May Be Closer With Extended Quantum Lifetime Of Electrons
  Physicists have found a way to extend the quantum lifetime of electrons by more than 5,000 per cent. Electrons exhibit a property called 'spin' and work like tiny magnets which can point up, down or a quantum superposition of both. The state of the spin can be used to store information and so by extending their life the research provides a significant step towards building a usable quantum computer.
• Digital Piracy Management
  A new approach to preventing digital piracy of music and video content that sidesteps the need for the privacy compromise associated with DRM (digital rights management) is reported in the International Journal of Intellectual Property Management.
• Identity Theft Risk: Huge Amount Of Sensitive Data Still On Redundant Computer Hard Disks
  A new report suggests that there is a huge amount of sensitive data still on redundant computer hard disks. These devices are often disposed of or sold into the second-hand market by corporations, organizations, and individuals with the data intact. The report's authors say that this data represents a significant level of risk for commercial sabotage, identity theft, and even political compromise, and suggest that better education is essential to reduce the risk of harm.
• Good Code, Bad Computations: A Computer Security Gray Area
  If you want to make sure your computer or server is not tricked into undertaking malicious or undesirable behavior, it's not enough to keep bad code out of the system. New research shows that the process of building bad programs from good code using "return-oriented programming" can be automated and that this vulnerability applies to multiple computer architectures.
• Quantum Computers? Internet Security Code Of The Future Cracked
  Computer science experts have managed to crack the so-called McEliece encryption system. This system is a candidate for the security of Internet traffic in the age of the quantum computer -- the predicted super-powerful computer of the future.
• A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Locksmiths
  Computer scientists have built a software program that can perform key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer scientists only need a photograph of the key.
• Photo Safeguards Confidential Information
  These days you can take a photograph with almost every mobile phone. However, using this sort of photo to protect confidential data and send it safely is something new. Scientists have been researching this new way of employing biometrics.
• Memoirs Of A Qubit: Hybrid Memory Solves Key Problem For Quantum Computing
  Scientists have performed the ultimate miniaturization of computer memory: storing information inside the nucleus of an atom. This breakthrough is a key step in bringing to life a quantum computer -- a device based on the fundamental theory of quantum mechanics which could crack problems unsolvable by current technology.
• Novel Process Promises To Kick-start Quantum Technology Sector
  The brave new world of quantum technology may be a big step closer to reality thanks to researchers that have come up with a unique new way of testing quantum devices to determine their function and accuracy.
• Protecting Patient Privacy The New Fashioned Way
  The Medical De-identification System (MeDS) is a highly accurate and speedy computer software program designed to de-identify patient information while retaining the essential data key to medical research, according to a new study.
• Putting A 'Korset' On The Spread Of Computer Viruses: Invention Stays One Step Ahead Of Anti-virus Software
  Anti-virus companies play a losing game. Casting their nets wide, they catch common, malicious viruses and worms, but it may take days before their software updates can prepare your computer for the next attack. By then it could be too late. And some insidious programs prove immune to anti-virus software, residing inside your computer for months or even years, collecting personal information and business secrets.
• Verifying Wireless Hackers For Homeland Security
  Wireless sensor networks used to detect and report events including hurricanes, earthquakes, and forest fires and for military surveillance and anti-terrorist activities are prone to subterfuge. In the International Journal of Security and Networks, computer scientists at Florida Atlantic University describe a new anti-hacking system to protect WSNs.
• Low-cost System System Thwarts Internet Eavesdropping
  The growth of shared Wi-Fi and other wireless computer networks has increased the risk of eavesdropping on Internet communications, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science and College of Engineering have devised a low-cost system that can thwart these "Man-in-the-Middle" attacks.
• Fast Quantum Computer Building Block Created
  The fastest quantum computer bit that exploits the main advantage of the qubit over the conventional bit has been demonstrated. The scientists used lasers to create an initialized quantum state of this solid-state qubit at rates of about a gigahertz, or a billion times per second. They can also use lasers to achieve fundamental steps toward programming it.
• Light Touch: Controlling The Behavior Of Quantum Dots
  Researchers from NIST and the Joint Quantum Institute have reported a new way to fine-tune the light coming from quantum dots by manipulating them with pairs of lasers. Their technique could significantly improve quantum dots as a source of pairs of entangled photons for applications in