Is cybersecurity an unsolvable problem?

Published

2 years ago

May 30, 2023

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the human factor — Is cybersecurity an unsolvable problem? Ars chats with law philosopher Scott Shapiro about his new book, Fancy Bear Goes Phishing.

Jennifer Ouellette – May 27, 2023 1:12 pm UTC EnlargeFarrar, Straus and Giroux reader comments 156 with

In November 1988, a graduate student at Cornell University named Robert Morris, Jr. inadvertently sparked a national crisis by unleashing a self-replicating computer worm on a VAX 11/750 computer in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. Morris had no malicious intent; it was merely a scientific experiment to see how many computers he could infect. But he made a grievous error, setting his reinfection rate much too high. The worm spread so rapidly that it brought down the entire computer network at Cornell University, crippled those at several other universities, and even infiltrated the computers at Los Alamos and Livermore National Laboratories.

Making matters worse, his father was a computer scientist and cryptographer who was the chief scientist at the National Security Agency’s National Computer Security Center. Even though it was unintentional and witnesses testified that Morris didn’t have “a fraudulent or dishonest bone in his body,” he was convicted of felonious computer fraud. The judge was merciful during sentencing. Rather than 1520 years in prison, Morris got three years of probation with community service and had to pay a $10,000 fine. He went on to found Y Combinator with his longtime friendPaul Graham, among other accomplishments.

The “Morris Worm” is just one of five hacking cases that Scott Shapiro highlights in his new book, Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age in Five Extraordinary Hacks. Shapiro is a legal philosopher at Yale University, but as a child, his mathematician fatherwho worked at Bell Labssparked an interest in computing by bringing home various components, like microchips, resistors, diodes, LEDs, and breadboards. Their father/son outings included annual attendance at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers convention in New York City. Then, a classmate in Shapiro’s high school biology class introduced him to programming on the school’s TRS-80, and Shapiro was hooked. He moved on to working on an Apple II and majored in computer science in college but lost interest afterward and went to law school instead.

With his Yale colleague Oona Hathaway, Shapiro co-authored a book called The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World, a sweeping historical analysis of the laws of war that spans from Hugo Grotius, the early 17th century father of international law, all the way to 2014. That experience raised numerous questions about the future of warfarenamely, cyberwar and whether the same “rules” would apply. The topic seemed like a natural choice for his next book, particularly given Shapiro’s background in computer science and coding. Advertisement

Despite that background, “I honestly had no idea what to say about it,” Shapiro told Ars. “I just found it all extremely confusing.” He was then asked to co-teach a special course, “The Law and Technology of Cyber Conflict,” with Hathaway and Yale’s computer science department. But the equal mix of law students and computer science students trying to learn about two very different highly technical fields proved to be a challenging combination. “It was the worst class I’ve ever taught in my career,” said Shapiro. “At any given time, half the class was bored and the other half was confused. I learned nothing from it, and nor did any of the students.”

That experience goaded Shapiro to spend the next few years trying to crack that particular nut. He brushed up on C, x86 assembly code, and Linux and immersed himself in the history of hacking, achieving his first hack at the age of 52. But he also approached the issue from his field of expertise. “I’m a philosopher, so I like to go to first principles,” he said. “But computer science is only a century old, and hacking, or cybersecurity, is maybe a few decades old. It’s a very young field, and part of the problem is that people haven’t thought it through from first principles.” The result was Fancy Bear Goes Phishing.

The book is a lively, engaging read filled with fascinating stories and colorful characters: the infamous Bulgarian hacker known as Dark Avenger, whose identity is still unknown; Cameron LaCroix, a 16-year-old from south Boston notorious for hacking into Paris Hilton’s Sidekick II in 2005; Paras Jha, a Rutgers student who designed the “Mirai botnet”apparently to get out of a calculus examand nearly destroyed the Internet in 2016 when he hacked Minecraft; and of course, the titular Fancy Bear hack by Russian military intelligence that was so central to the 2016 presidential election. (Fun fact: Shapiro notes that John von Neumann “built a self-reproducing automaton in 1949, decades before any other hacker… [and] he wrote it without a computer.”)

But Shapiro also brings some penetrating insight into why the Internet remains so insecure decades after its invention, as well as how and why hackers do what they do. And his conclusion about what can be done about it might prove a bit controversial: there is no permanent solution to the cybersecurity problem. “Cybersecurity is not a primarily technological problem that requires a primarily engineering solution,” Shapiro writes. “It is a human problem that requires an understanding of human behavior.” That’s his mantra throughout the book: “Hacking is about humans.” And it portends, for Shapiro, “the death of ‘solutionism.'”

Ars spoke with Shapiro to learn more. Page: 1 2 3 4 Next → reader comments 156 with Jennifer Ouellette Jennifer is a senior reporter at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

Environment

Renewables to continue driving US power generation growth – EIA

Published

2 hours ago

February 1, 2025

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Renewables to continue driving US power generation growth – EIA

solar wind renewables EIA — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Renewable capacity additions, especially solar, will continue to drive the growth of US power generation over the next two years, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to its latest “Short-Term Energy Outlook” (STEO), the EIA expects that US utilities and independent power producers will add 26 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity to the US electric power sector in 2025 and 22 GW in 2026.

Last year, the electric power sector added a record 37 GW of solar power capacity to the electric power sector, almost double the solar capacity additions in 2023. The EIA forecasts wind capacity additions will increase by around 8 GW in 2025 and 9 GW in 2026, slight increases from the 7 GW added in 2024.

Generating capacity for most other energy sources will remain mostly unchanged in 2025 and 2026. Natural gas-fired capacity growth slowed in 2024, with only 1 GW of capacity added to the power mix, but natural gas is still the largest source of US power generation.

The EIA forecasts that US coal retirements will accelerate, removing 6% (11 GW) of coal generating capacity from the US electricity sector in 2025 and removing another 2% (4 GW) in 2026. Last year, coal retirements represented about 3 GW of electric power capacity removed from the power system, which is the lowest annual amount of coal capacity retired since 2011.

The EIA expects that planned renewable capacity additions will support most of the growth in US electric power generation, which is anticipated to increase by 2% in 2025 and by 1% in 2026. The US electric power sector produced a total of 4,155 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in 2024, up 3% from 2023.

Natural gas. In 2024, US natural gas-fired power plants generated a total of 1,767 billion kWh, 4% more than in 2023. Natural gas-fired power accounted for around 42% of the US electricity mix, mostly unchanged compared with 2023. The EIA expects natural gas generation to decline in 2025 by 3% to 1,712 billion kWh and decrease a further 1% to 1,692 billion kWh in 2026.

Renewables. The EIA expects renewable power generation will increase by 12% in the US to 1,058 billion kWh in 2025 and increase a further 8% to 1,138 billion kWh in 2026. Renewable sources were the second-largest contributor to US power generation in 2024 and accounted for 945 billion kWh, up 9% from 2023.

Nuclear. The EIA forecasts that US nuclear power generation will grow 2% to 796 billion kWh in 2025 and increase a further 1% to 800 billion kWh in 2026. Nuclear power generation in 2024 was up slightly from 2023, totaling 781 billion kWh.

Coal. Coal electricity generation was 647 billion kWh in 2024. The EIA expects US coal power generation to remain unchanged at around 640 billion kWh in 2025 and 2026.

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US

Washington DC plane crash: Army withholding name of female soldier killed as helicopter black box recovered

Published

4 hours ago

February 1, 2025

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Washington DC plane crash: Army withholding name of female soldier killed as helicopter black box recovered

The name of one of the three soldiers killed in the plane crash in Washington is not being released.

The army identified two of the soldiers killed when an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter collided mid-air as Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves.

However, it made the unusual decision, at the request of the family, not to release the name of the third soldier.

Meanwhile, investigators announced the black box from the Black Hawk helicopter has been recovered.

They are reviewing the flight data recorder along with two from the plane as they probe the cause of the devastating crash.

Forty-one bodies had been pulled from the river as of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington DC fire chief John Donnelly Sr said at a news conference.

He said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and that he expects that all 67 of the bodies of the dead will eventually be recovered.

“It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people,” Mr Donnelly said, noting that more than 300 responders were taking part in the effort at any one time.

Investigators have already recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines plane, which struck the helicopter as the plane was coming in for a landing at the airport next to Washington.

Officials are scrutinising a range of factors in what National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has called an “all-hands-on-deck event”.

Investigators are examining the actions of the military pilot as well as air traffic control, after the helicopter apparently flew into the jet’s path.

Air crash investigations normally take 12-18 months, and investigators told reporters on Thursday that they would not speculate on the cause.

It has been suggested the helicopter exceeded an altitude limit.

Mr Trump said in a Friday morning post on his Truth Social platform that the helicopter was “flying too high” at the time of the crash.

“It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” he said.

His comments came a day after he questioned the helicopter pilot’s actions while also blaming diversity initiatives for undermining air safety.

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Details have been emerging about others who died in the crash, including Danasia Elder, a flight attendant on the American Airlines flight, WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported.

World

‘They’re the ones who wronged us’: Freed Palestinian prisoner Zakaria Zubeidi rebukes UK and US over ‘harm they’ve caused’

Published

4 hours ago

February 1, 2025

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'They're the ones who wronged us': Freed Palestinian prisoner Zakaria Zubeidi rebukes UK and US over 'harm they've caused'

One of the most high-profile prisoners to be released by Israel has told Sky News that the world has ignored Palestinians and says Britain is one of the countries he blames for taking away his freedom.

Zakaria Zubeidi was imprisoned in 2019 after being found guilty by an Israeli military court of involvement in terrorism.

He was released as part of the ceasefire agreement and welcomed back to the West Bank by crowds of well-wishers, including the man who was prime minister less than a year ago.

Analysis: Zubeidi an ‘extremist’ to Israel but inspiration to Palestine

In his first interview with a European broadcaster, Zubeidi told Sky News he still believes in “a resistance that will lead us to freedom” but claimed that Israeli occupation of the West Bank was wholly down to the international community.

“My life is worthless without freedom,” he said, speaking in Ramallah. “Freedom has no price. But the world that has denied me my freedom – particularly Britain, France, and the United States – must return what they have taken from me and my children.

“They are the ones who need to reconsider their mistakes, not me.

“They are the ones who have wronged us, and they should think about rectifying the harm they have caused to me and my children.”

Zubeidi, whose mother, brother and son have all died as a result of Israeli military action, has admitted involvement in a 2002 bombing that killed six people.

However, he has also been acclaimed by many in the West Bank as a symbol of the resistance.

He was famously part of a group of prisoners who briefly escaped their Israeli jail after using kitchen utensils to dig a tunnel.

“My message to the Palestinian people is to prioritise their safety and well-being because the assault being carried out against them is immense. I have no message for the occupation [Israel],” he said.

“My message is to the world – the same world that granted the occupation the right to live on my land – to grant me my freedom.”

In common with many other released prisoners, he claimed to have been beaten while behind bars, saying: “The situation in Israeli prisons is extremely harsh. We’ve witnessed it all: severe beatings, attack dogs, relentless insults. Every form of abuse imaginable has been inflicted on the bodies of our prisoners.”

While many in Israel will consider Zubeidi to be a dangerous, murderous extremist, he is considered a totemic figure in the West Bank, and a natural leader in Jenin, where he grew up in a refugee camp.

After being released, Israeli authorities banned him from returning to Jenin.

Instead, he has remained in Ramallah, where a long line of people came to a school building to shake his hand and hug him.

Among them, former prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who resigned less than a year ago.

He embraced Zubeidi and told Sky News the release of prisoners could be a catalyst for an enduring peace deal.

“We would like to see all prisoners released and we would like to see all hostages going home,” said Mr Shtayyeh.

He continued: “It’s a historic moment for everybody. It’s time for this bloodshed to stop. And I think it is a moment of truth for everybody.

“In Gaza, 60,000 people have been killed, more than 120,000 have been injured. And of course, there have been so many casualties in Israel, too.

“We know that. And this time Palestinians are desperate for peace. We want a genuine peace process that does really bring peace and justice for everybody.”

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The offensive followed Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, when it took 250 people hostage and killed around 1,200 others.