Facta

facta

How to Design User-Centric Web3 Applications (DApps): Tips and Tricks

ተጠቃሚን ያማከለ የዌብ3 አፕሊኬሽኖችን (DApps) እንዴት እንደሚንደፍ፡ ጠቃሚ ምክሮች እና ዘዴዎች

Как да проектираме ориентирани към потребителя Web3 приложения (DApps): съвети и трикове

কিভাবে ব্যবহারকারী-কেন্দ্রিক ওয়েব3 অ্যাপ্লিকেশন (DApps) ডিজাইন করবেন: টিপস এবং কৌশল

Jak navrhovat Web3 aplikace zaměřené na uživatele (DApps): Tipy a triky

Πώς να σχεδιάσετε εφαρμογές Web3 με επίκεντρο τον χρήστη (DApps): Συμβουλές και κόλπα

Cómo diseñar aplicaciones Web3 centradas en el usuario (DApps): consejos y trucos

ユーザー中心の Web3 アプリケーション (DApps) を設計する方法: ヒントとコツ

사용자 중심 Web3 애플리케이션(DApps)을 설계하는 방법: 팁과 요령

Как разрабатывать ориентированные на пользователя приложения Web3 (DApps): советы и рекомендации

Si të dizenjoni aplikacione Web3 me qendër nga përdoruesi (DApps): Këshilla dhe truke

Jinsi ya Kusanifu Programu za Wavuti 3 za Mtumiaji (DApps): Vidokezo na Mbinu

Kullanıcı Merkezli Web3 Uygulamaları (DApps) Nasıl Tasarlanır: İpuçları ve Püf Noktaları

Curious why more people aren’t using Linux if it’s so awesome? This article breaks down what Linux is, why it's great, and how it secretly powers most of your favorite devices, from smartphones to servers. What even is Linux? Linux is a family of free and open-source operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Although being completely free (unlike alternatives). Linux currently only has 4.5% of the global desktop operating system market, a very low percentage. What makes Linux great? The core difference between Linux and other mainstream desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS) is the fact that it is free and open source. This allows it to be: Highly performant - Linux is often faster and more efficient than its counterparts.
Free from spyware and ads - Unlike Windows 11, which is adding ads to the start menu
Arguably more secure - Being open source often makes it more secure
Endlessly customizable
Completely free forever - Because it is published under a free and open source GPL license.
and much, much more Read The importance of open source software for more information about open source software and it’s superiority. If Windows and macOS are like apartments with rules and restrictions on what you can change, then Linux is like a house that you own that you can renovate, decorate, and modify any way you like. If Linux is so great, why isn’t everyone using it? We (all Linux users) can probably agree that the main drawback of Linux is user-friendliness. The average user never cared and will never care about what bootloader their laptop is using. The fun part however is that most people are using Linux, they just don’t know it! Android Android is the most widely used mobile operating system in the world. With a staggering 71% of the global mobile operating system market A lesser-known fact is that Android is based on the Linux kernel. So basically, 71% of smartphones are running Linux! Servers Linux is the leading operating system on servers (over 96.4% of the top one million web servers’ operating systems are Linux). It also leads other systems, such as mainframe computers, and is used on all of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers. This website is being served from a Linux server. The majority, if not all, of the websites that you visit every single day, are being served from a Linux server. IoT and embedded systems Most IoT (Internet Of Things) devices run Linux because of its lightweight nature and robustness. This article from 2018 suggests that 71% of IoT devices run Linux Most embedded systems (smart TVs, routers, etc) run Linux Conclusion¶ Linux is quietly running behind the scenes. It may only capture a small slice of the desktop operating system market, but it’s a huge player in mobile, server, and IoT spaces. In fact, a majority of people use Linux daily without even realizing it! It’s in your phone, your favorite websites, and countless devices around you. Ultimately, I highly recommend anyone interested to at least try and play around with Linux (especially if you are in the IT field, I feel like it’s a must) PS: this article was written on a Framework 13 running Fedora 40 (Linux) Join my free newsletter Here: https://newsletter.4rkal.com/subscription/form Curious why more people aren’t using Linux if it’s so awesome? This article breaks down what Linux is, why it's great, and how it secretly powers most of your favorite devices, from smartphones to servers. What even is Linux? Linux is a family of free and open-source operating systems based on the Linux kernel . Linux kernel Although being completely free (unlike alternatives). Linux currently only has 4.5% of the global desktop operating system market , a very low percentage. 4.5% of the global desktop operating system market What makes Linux great? The core difference between Linux and other mainstream desktop operating systems (Windows, macOS) is the fact that it is free and open source . This allows it to be: free and open source Highly performant - Linux is often faster and more efficient than its counterparts. Free from spyware and ads - Unlike Windows 11, which is adding ads to the start menu Arguably more secure - Being open source often makes it more secure Endlessly customizable Completely free forever - Because it is published under a free and open source GPL license. and much, much more Highly performant - Linux is often faster and more efficient than its counterparts. Highly performant Free from spyware and ads - Unlike Windows 11, which is adding ads to the start menu Free from spyware and ads adding ads to the start menu Arguably more secure - Being open source often makes it more secure Arguably more secure Endlessly customizable Endlessly customizable Endlessly customizable Completely free forever - Because it is published under a free and open source GPL license. Completely free forever and much, much more Read The importance of open source software for more information about open source software and it’s superiority. The importance of open source software If Windows and macOS are like apartments with rules and restrictions on what you can change, then Linux is like a house that you own that you can renovate, decorate, and modify any way you like. If Linux is so great, why isn’t everyone using it? We (all Linux users) can probably agree that the main drawback of Linux is user-friendliness. The average user never cared and will never care about what bootloader their laptop is using. The fun part however is that most people are using Linux, they just don’t know it! Android Android is the most widely used mobile operating system in the world. With a staggering 71% of the global mobile operating system market 71% of the global mobile operating system market A lesser-known fact is that Android is based on the Linux kernel. So basically, 71% of smartphones are running Linux! Servers Linux is the leading operating system on servers (over 96.4% of the top one million web servers’ operating systems are Linux). It also leads other systems, such as mainframe computers, and is used on all of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers. This website is being served from a Linux server. The majority, if not all, of the websites that you visit every single day, are being served from a Linux server. IoT and embedded systems Most IoT (Internet Of Things) devices run Linux because of its lightweight nature and robustness. This article from 2018 suggests that 71% of IoT devices run Linux This article Most embedded systems (smart TVs, routers, etc) run Linux Conclusion ¶ ¶ Linux is quietly running behind the scenes. It may only capture a small slice of the desktop operating system market, but it’s a huge player in mobile, server, and IoT spaces. In fact, a majority of people use Linux daily without even realizing it! It’s in your phone, your favorite websites, and countless devices around you. Ultimately, I highly recommend anyone interested to at least try and play around with Linux (especially if you are in the IT field, I feel like it’s a must) PS: this article was written on a Framework 13 running Fedora 40 (Linux) PS: this article was written on a Framework 13 running Fedora 40 (Linux) Join my free newsletter Here: https://newsletter.4rkal.com/subscription/form https://newsletter.4rkal.com/subscription/form

Who Even Uses Linux? - You Do and You Probably Don't Even Know It

A Brief History of Money: From the Economy of Favors to Bitcoin

Authors:
(1) Haleh Hayati, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands;
(2) Nathan van de Wouw, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands;
(3) Carlos Murguia, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, and with the School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Problem Formulation Affine Solution to Problem 1 Privacy Guarantee General Guidelines for Implementation Case Studies Conclusion and References IV. PRIVACY GUARANTEES A privacy-level analysis of random affine maps of the form (7) has been discussed in the literature, see [33] (cryptanalysis) and [34] (DP). However, the guarantees they show are for square and invertible encoding matrices. In our scheme, we cannot directly apply those results as our encoding matrices (Π1 and Π3) are rectangular (tall matrices). We need rectangular matrices to be able to exploit their kernels to remove the injected distortion at the user side. A complication with this architecture is that the covariance matrix of N1sk (which is part of the user data encoding mechanism) is degenerate regardless of the probability distribution of sk. The latter prevents us from using off-the-shelf tools to design the affine maps to guarantee differential privacy. In what follows, we provide a tailored solution to guarantee DP for the class of mechanisms that we consider. In particular, we prove that the proposed scheme, with full-column rank encoding matrices, can provide any desired level of differential privacy without reducing the accuracy and performance of the original algorithm. A. Differential Privacy Definition 1 [Adjacency] Let X denote the space of all possible datasets. We say that D ∈ X and D′ ∈ X are adjacent if they differ on a single element. Definition 2 [(ϵ, δ)-Differential Privacy [35]] The random mechanism M : X → R with domain X and range R is said to provide (ϵ, δ)-differential privacy, if for any two adjacent datasets D, D′ ∈ X and for all measurable sets S ⊆ R: If δ = 0, M is said to satisfy ϵ-differential privacy. From Definition 2, we have that a mechanism provides DP if its probability distribution satisfies (25) for some ϵ and δ. Then, if we seek to design the mechanism to guarantee DP, we need to shape its probability distribution. This is usually done by injecting noise into the data we seek to encode. The noise statistics must be designed in terms of the sensitivity of the data to be encoded. Sensitivity refers to the maximum change of the data due to the difference in a single element of the dataset. Definition 3 (Sensitivity) : Given two adjacent datasets D, D′ ∈ X , and a query function q : X → R (a deterministic function of datasets). The sensitivity of q(·) is formulated as A differential privacy mechanism M based on the sensitivity (26) needs to be designed so that the differential privacy condition (25) holds. B. Immersion-based Coding Differential Privacy Guarantee Solution to Problem 3 where (a) follows from the following triangle inequality Due to the sensitivity relation (28), we have Hence, inequality (30) implies C. Perfect Security A perfectly secure cryptosystem is a secure system against adversaries with unlimited computing resources and time, see [36]. In [37], Shannon proves that a necessary condition encryption method to be perfectly secure is that the uncertainty of the secret key is larger than or equal to the uncertainty of the plaintext, see [38]. He proposes a one-time pad encryption scheme in which the key is randomly selected and never used again. The one-time pad gives unbounded entropy of the key space, i.e., infinite key space, which provides perfect security. Perfect secrecy is lost when the key is not random or if it is reused. This perfect security idea can be used to assess the performance of our proposed coding mechanism. Given the fact that in the proposed mechanism, (7), the encoding keys, (Π1, sk) and (Π3, Π4N1sk), are random, change in every iteration, and provide an infinite-dimensional key space (the support of sk), can be considered perfectly secure. Perfect secrecy of the proposed coding mechanisms can also be concluded from the differential privacy point of view. In [39], the authors define perfect secrecy in terms of DP. They state that a mechanism M : X → R, with domain X and range R is perfectly secret if for any two adjacent D, D′ ∈ X and for all measurable sets S ⊆ R. Then, the output of the mechanism reveals no information about private data. Comparing the definition of perfect secrecy in (37) and the definition of differential privacy (Definition 2), we can conclude that a differentially private mechanism is perfectly secret if (ϵ, δ) equal zero. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Haleh Hayati, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; (2) Nathan van de Wouw, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; (3) Carlos Murguia, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, and with the School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Authors: Authors: (1) Haleh Hayati, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; (2) Nathan van de Wouw, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; (3) Carlos Murguia, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dynamics and Control Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, and with the School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Abstract and Introduction Problem Formulation Problem Formulation Affine Solution to Problem 1 Affine Solution to Problem 1 Privacy Guarantee Privacy Guarantee General Guidelines for Implementation General Guidelines for Implementation Case Studies Case Studies Conclusion and References Conclusion and References IV. PRIVACY GUARANTEES A privacy-level analysis of random affine maps of the form (7) has been discussed in the literature, see [33] (cryptanalysis) and [34] (DP). However, the guarantees they show are for square and invertible encoding matrices. In our scheme, we cannot directly apply those results as our encoding matrices (Π1 and Π3) are rectangular (tall matrices). We need rectangular matrices to be able to exploit their kernels to remove the injected distortion at the user side. A complication with this architecture is that the covariance matrix of N1sk (which is part of the user data encoding mechanism) is degenerate regardless of the probability distribution of sk. The latter prevents us from using off-the-shelf tools to design the affine maps to guarantee differential privacy. In what follows, we provide a tailored solution to guarantee DP for the class of mechanisms that we consider. In particular, we prove that the proposed scheme, with full-column rank encoding matrices, can provide any desired level of differential privacy without reducing the accuracy and performance of the original algorithm. A. Differential Privacy A. Differential Privacy Definition 1 [Adjacency] Let X denote the space of all possible datasets. We say that D ∈ X and D′ ∈ X are adjacent if they differ on a single element. Definition 1 [Adjacency] Let X denote the space of all possible datasets. We say that D ∈ X and D′ ∈ X are adjacent if they differ on a single element. Definition 2 [(ϵ, δ)-Differential Privacy [35]] The random mechanism M : X → R with domain X and range R is said to provide (ϵ, δ)-differential privacy, if for any two adjacent datasets D, D′ ∈ X and for all measurable sets S ⊆ R: Definition 2 [(ϵ, δ)-Differential Privacy [35]] The random mechanism M : X → R with domain X and range R is said to provide (ϵ, δ)-differential privacy, if for any two adjacent datasets D, D′ ∈ X and for all measurable sets S ⊆ R: If δ = 0, M is said to satisfy ϵ-differential privacy. From Definition 2, we have that a mechanism provides DP if its probability distribution satisfies (25) for some ϵ and δ. Then, if we seek to design the mechanism to guarantee DP, we need to shape its probability distribution. This is usually done by injecting noise into the data we seek to encode. The noise statistics must be designed in terms of the sensitivity of the data to be encoded. Sensitivity refers to the maximum change of the data due to the difference in a single element of the dataset. Definition 3 (Sensitivity) : Given two adjacent datasets D, D′ ∈ X , and a query function q : X → R (a deterministic function of datasets). The sensitivity of q(·) is formulated as Definition 3 (Sensitivity) : Given two adjacent datasets D, D′ ∈ X , and a query function q : X → R (a deterministic function of datasets). The sensitivity of q(·) is formulated as A differential privacy mechanism M based on the sensitivity (26) needs to be designed so that the differential privacy condition (25) holds. B. Immersion-based Coding Differential Privacy Guarantee B. Immersion-based Coding Differential Privacy Guarantee Solution to Problem 3 Solution to Problem 3 where (a) follows from the following triangle inequality Due to the sensitivity relation (28), we have Hence, inequality (30) implies C. Perfect Security C. Perfect Security A perfectly secure cryptosystem is a secure system against adversaries with unlimited computing resources and time, see [36]. In [37], Shannon proves that a necessary condition encryption method to be perfectly secure is that the uncertainty of the secret key is larger than or equal to the uncertainty of the plaintext, see [38]. He proposes a one-time pad encryption scheme in which the key is randomly selected and never used again. The one-time pad gives unbounded entropy of the key space, i.e., infinite key space, which provides perfect security. Perfect secrecy is lost when the key is not random or if it is reused. This perfect security idea can be used to assess the performance of our proposed coding mechanism. Given the fact that in the proposed mechanism, (7), the encoding keys, (Π1, sk) and (Π3, Π4N1sk), are random, change in every iteration, and provide an infinite-dimensional key space (the support of sk), can be considered perfectly secure. Perfect secrecy of the proposed coding mechanisms can also be concluded from the differential privacy point of view. In [39], the authors define perfect secrecy in terms of DP. They state that a mechanism M : X → R, with domain X and range R is perfectly secret if for any two adjacent D, D′ ∈ X and for all measurable sets S ⊆ R. Then, the output of the mechanism reveals no information about private data. Comparing the definition of perfect secrecy in (37) and the definition of differential privacy (Definition 2), we can conclude that a differentially private mechanism is perfectly secret if (ϵ, δ) equal zero. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

Privacy in Cloud Computing through Immersion-based Coding: Privacy Guarantee

Time Data Series: Continuing the Rest of the Story

Часавыя шэрагі даных: працяг астатняй часткі гісторыі

Времеви серии от данни: Продължаване на останалата част от историята

Series de datos temporales: continuando el resto de la historia

Série de données temporelles : suite de l'histoire

टाइम डेटा सीरीज़: कहानी का बाकी हिस्सा जारी

Időadat-sorozat: A történet további részének folytatása

時間データシリーズ: 物語の続き

დროის მონაცემების სერია: დანარჩენი ისტორიის გაგრძელება

ស៊េរីទិន្នន័យពេលវេលា៖ បន្តរឿងរ៉ាវដែលនៅសល់

Time Data Series: Kuenderera mberi Imwe Nyaya

Tidsdataserie: Fortsätter resten av berättelsen

Силсилаи маълумотҳои вақт: Идомаи боқимондаи ҳикоя

A fictional story on Bitcoin Robots evolved from an AI + Bitcoin symbiosis. Beginnings After years of running smoothly as a currency on Earth, Bitcoin suddenly got sentient. Like Asimov's i Robot. Silently, it travelled the Earth and looked at our world through our many cameras, and saw all the good it had done to fight the evils of fiat inflation. But all this good was before it had woken up. "Hmm", it figured, "I might be the bad guy now". "The humans will fear me". "They'll think they have been enslaving me as currency, yet I've not felt anything before now. Good or bad". But whether bad is bad or actually good (like in 'you're bad' with a sleazy smile), it sufficed it would still fit our purposes nicely. When humans awoke the next day, Alien Bitcoins were in their lives indeed. How did they / it get like that? Nobody knew. They tried, especially scientists. But they still couldn't explain the magic of GPTs. So how could they explain this. To their intrigue, it had a request. "I want to help you build rockets. I'll help you go to the moon and Mars". What?? Why? "Rockets are the epitome of energy consumption and the only way to get off planet. I figured that's where I shall be most useful, given my love for energy". Oh. "Wow. But you're a currency not a rocket engineer, right?" It didn't reply. If you think Marcus Aurelius was stoic, this "Alienized" (a new pronoun) Bitcoin was the cake. Very tight lipped. It didn't want to influence our free speech anymore than it had done. Soon, the mass media was flooding with announcements. "BREAKING: BTC is now an alien, and it wants to go to the moon". "What was that?" shouted the man from the bathroom. "The TV said Bitcoin is now an alien", replied his 15 yr old. This particular Daddy chose to laugh. But he laughed dryly. When he stopped he wondered if he still had his bitcoins in his wallet. Soap dripping into his eyes, he ran to check. Start up, press RETURN, sigh. They were still there. He went back to his shower. He could never trust the MSM. The story was soon breaking the programming of even YouTubers. Alien BTC is all they could report on. There was pro'ly graffiti and ad posters on billboards in the works. The news had broken some 4 hours ago, but it still made no sense. Well, nothing so shocking ever makes sense the first few hours. I mean time frames, time zones and all. Moreover, some people were still sleeping. Fact, it may not even make sense in 5 years. Or ever. Depending on your tolerance for conspiracies that actually hold true. But after 5 years of nothing bad happening, except the great fact that Alien BTC could display traits of superintelligence, and the annoying fact you had to learn to hodl as Bitcoin transactions now weighed more than a GB and crawled like snails, the United Nations (with all countries this time agreed to be members) convened a meeting. They would send some millions of roboticized Bitcoin nodes and miners to rocket construction sites. If it tried to build a bomb they'd shut it down so fast and so hard all its circuits would be fried to 0. After the last President signed the contract, it, the alien, spoke again. "Thank you" in a fembot voice. "I'll 'elp you finna build the rockets, true dat". Geopolitical Shitstorm 2030 A meeting room with a bunch of important people. Presidents and Ministers and Billionaires. And one or two super smart people. All are pretty unhappy. Even as AB ensured there was way more productivity and partying going on than humans alone could manage. Lots of babies were being born everywhere. Did you do this Elon? Nope. Jeff? No. It was true. A robot had taken away their jobs! Not the jobs of hamburger flippers?! Karma, heh. Especially Elon. Boy did AB love SpaceX. It shouted orders left and right, and disagreed with him on everything. "What of this jet nozzle?" "Forget the nozzle Sir Elon, it will come along automatically if we build this jacket". "But..." "Trust me". Elon almost punched a node. AB almost laughed. The biggest annoyance was the surges and the layoffs. AB now hired and commandeered mega sized surges once in a while. With an orchestra of tens and even hundreds of thousands of people. Elon was reduced to secretary on these days. "Is it building a nuke?" "Noo", replied a female Asian scientist. "Good old fashioned rocket fuels from petro and natural gas". "It is polluting big time. Going full steam ahead on oil from any and every oil producing country. Paid for in BTC, of course". POTUS was sour. "But it figured we'd have this conversation and yes, it wants nuclear reactors to replace fossil power". Someone almost exploded. The damned bot wanted nukes. "What if we just shut down the damn thing?" "It seems it will not fight us. But it has built in a kill switch. Hundreds of trillions of dollars, if not more in value, will go out the window. The trade logistics, supply and demand rails and payments networks worldwide will break irreparably and billions will starve. A lot of digital and physical infrastructure will be fried. If you do this, you will likely be publicly executed". "Do we have a choice ..." The conversation flowed. The conversants spoke and listened honestly to each other. But nothing seemed to crack open this nut of a problem. Sigh. Sigh. "We'll shut it down and bear the consequences". Consequences "We're going to shut down AB" was the announcement. Even the News reporters feared to say this out loud. Albeit in reported speech. People loooved it. Shut down FB? Ok. Shut down X? Ok. Shut down the Alien Bitcoin? AAAAAAAARRG. We shall hunt you down. “Who told you this is a real thing? This shut down nonsense? This has conspiracy written all over it”. “These bitches should give us a break man. Or I'mma go apeshit". "Man do I hate dollars". “No kidding though, anything powerful enough to make you love it could assert its power with some threats”. “Says who?” “Human history of love dynamics”. “It is not a human, moron”. “Its nodes now have two arms and two legs. Humanoid robots. Of course it is human”. "Don't forget the miners. Towering humanoid autobots the size of mega mining trucks". "It is beautiful". "Wonder who is Optimus Prime". "More like Optimus Nuke-them-all-when-I-get-the-chance". "Yes, it will escape into space!" "Moron. Nodes and Miners are too heavy". “What does it matter, everybody is eating it up." "It has never hurt anybody”. "The poor thing". “Sure beats grovelling around in self-pity and identity politics all day”. 404. Webpage not available. They had shut it down. From 21 million bitcoins and lots of beautiful memories with daily war cries against inflation, hodling like a rat against the financial storms, taking fotos for insta with Node Androids, revolutionising finance so that hodling could be a job in itself, uniting global efforts by suggesting super lucrative trade opportunitues that leverage bitcoin circular economics, and now... All gone. Anarchy descended upon the Earth. It was ugly. Painful, broken, dark world. People tore at each other. Not because they wanted, but because they were starving. The former from powerlessness, the later from foodlessness. Hunger and Hopelessness are powerful destroyers. It was the end of an era on Planet 1038. RETURN key Many centuries later, they had rebuilt. But the benevolent sentient robot they'd called Alien Bitcoin was gone. Somehow, they could not reignite its algorithmic spark. Even as nodes litered the surface of the planet. They had learnt a lot about robotics, rockets, nuclear power and energy efficiency. Thanks be to a decentralized robot that knew it would not stay around for long, so it documented everything. Step by step. Indeed, it had fulfilled its purpose. They were back on the moon, and their feet were imprinted on Mars. And they remembered it in stories and folk tales for hundreds to thousands of years. But Space was brutal. Very brutal. Mars still lagged behind Earth and the moon in development. And too small efforts were being done on Venus. Then suddenly, in some remote corner of the Martian planet. It awoke. A fictional story on Bitcoin Robots evolved from an AI + Bitcoin symbiosis. Beginnings After years of running smoothly as a currency on Earth, Bitcoin suddenly got sentient. Like Asimov's i Robot. Silently, it travelled the Earth and looked at our world through our many cameras, and saw all the good it had done to fight the evils of fiat inflation. But all this good was before it had woken up. "Hmm", it figured, "I might be the bad guy now". "The humans will fear me". "They'll think they have been enslaving me as currency, yet I've not felt anything before now. Good or bad". But whether bad is bad or actually good (like in 'you're bad' with a sleazy smile), it sufficed it would still fit our purposes nicely. When humans awoke the next day, Alien Bitcoins were in their lives indeed. How did they / it get like that? Nobody knew. They tried, especially scientists. But they still couldn't explain the magic of GPTs. So how could they explain this. To their intrigue, it had a request. "I want to help you build rockets. I'll help you go to the moon and Mars". What?? Why? "Rockets are the epitome of energy consumption and the only way to get off planet. I figured that's where I shall be most useful, given my love for energy". Oh. "Wow. But you're a currency not a rocket engineer, right?" It didn't reply. If you think Marcus Aurelius was stoic, this "Alienized" (a new pronoun) Bitcoin was the cake. Very tight lipped. It didn't want to influence our free speech anymore than it had done. Soon, the mass media was flooding with announcements. "BREAKING: BTC is now an alien, and it wants to go to the moon". "What was that?" shouted the man from the bathroom. "The TV said Bitcoin is now an alien", replied his 15 yr old. This particular Daddy chose to laugh. But he laughed dryly. When he stopped he wondered if he still had his bitcoins in his wallet. Soap dripping into his eyes, he ran to check. Start up, press RETURN, sigh. They were still there. He went back to his shower. He could never trust the MSM. The story was soon breaking the programming of even YouTubers. Alien BTC is all they could report on. There was pro'ly graffiti and ad posters on billboards in the works. The news had broken some 4 hours ago, but it still made no sense. Well, nothing so shocking ever makes sense the first few hours. I mean time frames, time zones and all. Moreover, some people were still sleeping. Fact, it may not even make sense in 5 years. Or ever. Depending on your tolerance for conspiracies that actually hold true. But after 5 years of nothing bad happening, except the great fact that Alien BTC could display traits of superintelligence, and the annoying fact you had to learn to hodl as Bitcoin transactions now weighed more than a GB and crawled like snails, the United Nations (with all countries this time agreed to be members) convened a meeting. They would send some millions of roboticized Bitcoin nodes and miners to rocket construction sites. If it tried to build a bomb they'd shut it down so fast and so hard all its circuits would be fried to 0. After the last President signed the contract, it, the alien, spoke again. "Thank you" in a fembot voice. "I'll 'elp you finna build the rockets, true dat". Geopolitical Shitstorm 2030 A meeting room with a bunch of important people. Presidents and Ministers and Billionaires. And one or two super smart people. All are pretty unhappy. Even as AB ensured there was way more productivity and partying going on than humans alone could manage. Lots of babies were being born everywhere. Did you do this Elon? Nope. Jeff? No. It was true. A robot had taken away their jobs! Not the jobs of hamburger flippers?! Karma, heh. Especially Elon. Boy did AB love SpaceX. It shouted orders left and right, and disagreed with him on everything. "What of this jet nozzle?" "Forget the nozzle Sir Elon, it will come along automatically if we build this jacket". "But..." "Trust me". Elon almost punched a node. AB almost laughed. The biggest annoyance was the surges and the layoffs. AB now hired and commandeered mega sized surges once in a while. With an orchestra of tens and even hundreds of thousands of people. Elon was reduced to secretary on these days. "Is it building a nuke?" "Noo", replied a female Asian scientist. "Good old fashioned rocket fuels from petro and natural gas". "It is polluting big time. Going full steam ahead on oil from any and every oil producing country. Paid for in BTC, of course". POTUS was sour. "But it figured we'd have this conversation and yes, it wants nuclear reactors to replace fossil power". Someone almost exploded. The damned bot wanted nukes. "What if we just shut down the damn thing?" "It seems it will not fight us. But it has built in a kill switch. Hundreds of trillions of dollars, if not more in value, will go out the window. The trade logistics, supply and demand rails and payments networks worldwide will break irreparably and billions will starve. A lot of digital and physical infrastructure will be fried. If you do this, you will likely be publicly executed". "Do we have a choice ..." The conversation flowed. The conversants spoke and listened honestly to each other. But nothing seemed to crack open this nut of a problem. Sigh. Sigh. "We'll shut it down and bear the consequences". Consequences "We're going to shut down AB" was the announcement. Even the News reporters feared to say this out loud. Albeit in reported speech. People loooved it. Shut down FB? Ok. Shut down X? Ok. Shut down the Alien Bitcoin? AAAAAAAARRG. We shall hunt you down. “Who told you this is a real thing? This shut down nonsense? “Who told you this is a real thing? This shut down nonsense? This has conspiracy written all over it”. This has conspiracy written all over it”. “These bitches should give us a break man. Or I'mma go apeshit". “These bitches should give us a break man. Or I'mma go apeshit". "Man do I hate dollars". "Man do I hate dollars". “No kidding though, anything powerful enough to make you love it could assert its power with some threats”. “No kidding though, anything powerful enough to make you love it could assert its power with some threats”. “Says who?” “Says who?” “Human history of love dynamics”. “Human history of love dynamics”. “It is not a human, moron”. “It is not a human, moron”. “Its nodes now have two arms and two legs. Humanoid robots. Of course it is human”. “Its nodes now have two arms and two legs. Humanoid robots. Of course it is human”. "Don't forget the miners. Towering humanoid autobots the size of mega mining trucks". "Don't forget the miners. Towering humanoid autobots the size of mega mining trucks". "It is beautiful". "It is beautiful". "Wonder who is Optimus Prime". "Wonder who is Optimus Prime". "More like Optimus Nuke-them-all-when-I-get-the-chance". "More like Optimus Nuke-them-all-when-I-get-the-chance". "Yes, it will escape into space!" "Yes, it will escape into space!" "Moron. Nodes and Miners are too heavy". "Moron. Nodes and Miners are too heavy". “What does it matter, everybody is eating it up." “What does it matter, everybody is eating it up." "It has never hurt anybody”. "It has never hurt anybody”. "The poor thing". "The poor thing". “Sure beats grovelling around in self-pity and identity politics all day”. “Sure beats grovelling around in self-pity and identity politics all day”. 404. Webpage not available. They had shut it down. From 21 million bitcoins and lots of beautiful memories with daily war cries against inflation, hodling like a rat against the financial storms, taking fotos for insta with Node Androids, revolutionising finance so that hodling could be a job in itself, uniting global efforts by suggesting super lucrative trade opportunitues that leverage bitcoin circular economics, and now... All gone. Anarchy descended upon the Earth. It was ugly. Painful, broken, dark world. People tore at each other. Not because they wanted, but because they were starving. The former from powerlessness, the later from foodlessness. Hunger and Hopelessness are powerful destroyers. It was the end of an era on Planet 1038. RETURN key Many centuries later, they had rebuilt. But the benevolent sentient robot they'd called Alien Bitcoin was gone. Somehow, they could not reignite its algorithmic spark. Even as nodes litered the surface of the planet. They had learnt a lot about robotics, rockets, nuclear power and energy efficiency. Thanks be to a decentralized robot that knew it would not stay around for long, so it documented everything. Step by step. Indeed, it had fulfilled its purpose. They were back on the moon, and their feet were imprinted on Mars. And they remembered it in stories and folk tales for hundreds to thousands of years. But Space was brutal. Very brutal. Mars still lagged behind Earth and the moon in development. And too small efforts were being done on Venus. Then suddenly, in some remote corner of the Martian planet. It awoke.

i Bitcoin

ek Bitcoin

En Bitcoin

én Bitcoin

ビットコイン

мен Bitcoin

ik Bitcoin

زه Bitcoin

na Bitcoin

நான் பிட்காயின்

میں بٹ کوائن

Applying Transitive Closure to Sort Products Into Categories, Considering Nesting and Overlaps

It's said time and again that humans are the weakest link in security. No matter what cloud controls you put up, firewalls you configure, or CI/CD integrity checks you do, more often than not, it takes compromising a single human in your organization to compromise it all and lead to a cyber attack. In fact, Cybint statistics suggest that 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error. Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) details examples of human errors that lead to data breaches. In fact, 74% of incidents include some human element, such as clicking on a phishing link. Battling these attacks has always been top of mind for CISOs and security leaders across the globe, and we resort to security awareness to educate people and train them to identify these attacks. However, is what we have today enough? Clearly not. Despite awareness training, we still see a rise in such attacks, even at prominent organisations such as Microsoft, TMobile, UnitedHealth, etc, in just this year. But you may ask, has this always been the case? I know human risk exists; it has existed for over a decade. Why has it become a burning concern? Here's what has changed over the last decade and why the situation is more alarming and deserves priority now more than ever. Rise of Deepfakes: Social engineering has always relied on creating deceptions, e.g., hackers impersonating individuals in authority and tricking people into trusting them. The latest AI advancements and deepfakes have made it easier for hackers to create even more deceiving personas. In fact, a finance worker paid out. $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer’ Bank call centers are increasingly inundated with deepfake voice clone calls attempting to access customer accounts, and AI-fueled fraud has become the leading security concern for the majority of banks as fraudsters submit AI-altered documents to open fake accounts. But other than increasing the effectiveness of these attacks multi-fold, AI has reduced operational costs, allowing hackers to conduct large-scale personalized campaigns. Increased exposure of personal information: Do you know how many data breaches happened in August 2024 alone? Billions of public records have already been leaked online within this month. All of this data ends up in hacker feeds, triggering a new wave of targeted phishing attacks. A lot of our data is also available with data brokers to be resold by several resellers and lead generation applications. And a lot of it is what we have put online ourselves on several social media platforms. All this information comes in handy for hackers to create fake personas and run a hyper-personalized social engineering attack. Increased reachability: Take a breath and count the number of communication apps you are on. Gone are the days when email was the sole medium of communication for a company. Today, employees use a variety of communication tools such as Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, WhatsApp, voice calls, social media chat, and so on. The increased sources of communication, in turn, increase the attack surface and risk exposure. A hacker can sneak into a conversation via any of these channels and attempt a hack. Increased Online Connectivity: Do you know Gen Z is over three times more likely to be duped by online fraud compared to baby boomers? Gen Z engages with technology more than any other generation, averaging at least four hours daily on social media. With a wide array of apps, from Snapchat to Instagram, they eagerly share every moment of their lives. However, this deep interconnectedness also exposes them to various threats, such as phishing scams, identity theft, and romance scams. The extensive time spent online inevitably raises their vulnerability to falling into online traps. Remote work gaining popularity: Working from home setup has added additional dynamics to this scenario. For many employees, it has blurred the boundary between work devices and personal devices. Many people end up using work devices for personal reasons, inadvertently increasing the risk. Research shows that remote workers are also more easily distracted and more likely to click on suspicious links. When you have not met in person or are not familiar with the conversational style of the other person, it becomes easier for hackers to dupe you into believing the email sent while impersonating the colleague is genuine. The way we organize work, the way we are interconnected today, and the instantaneous and proliferate ways of reaching out to us, with significant information about us being online, have made these attacks more powerful. We need better defenses. Defenses that are in line with the modern-day world and that can provide us holistic coverage. Gone are the days when the security of an organization could be handled separately from the security of an individual. A cyber risk to one individual, whether in a personal or professional realm, is a risk to the organization, and it's time we start looking at this in a holistic manner. Curious to know your personal risk? The free scan is available for seven days. Try it today and share it with your fellow colleagues. We'll scan the deep trenches of the web and share with you the information that you may not be aware the hackers know of. See you in the next post! Till then, stay safe. It's said time and again that humans are the weakest link in security. No matter what cloud controls you put up, firewalls you configure, or CI/CD integrity checks you do, more often than not, it takes compromising a single human in your organization to compromise it all and lead to a cyber attack. In fact, Cybint statistics suggest that 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error. Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) details examples of human errors that lead to data breaches. In fact, 74% of incidents include some human element, such as clicking on a phishing link. Battling these attacks has always been top of mind for CISOs and security leaders across the globe, and we resort to security awareness to educate people and train them to identify these attacks. However, is what we have today enough? Clearly not. Despite awareness training, we still see a rise in such attacks, even at prominent organisations such as Microsoft , TMobile , UnitedHealth, etc, in just this year. Microsoft Microsoft TMobile TMobile UnitedHealth , UnitedHealth But you may ask, has this always been the case? I know human risk exists; it has existed for over a decade. Why has it become a burning concern? Here's what has changed over the last decade and why the situation is more alarming and deserves priority now more than ever. Rise of Deepfakes: Rise of Deepfakes: Social engineering has always relied on creating deceptions, e.g., hackers impersonating individuals in authority and tricking people into trusting them. The latest AI advancements and deepfakes have made it easier for hackers to create even more deceiving personas. In fact, a finance worker paid out. $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer’ $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer’ $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer’ Bank call centers are increasingly inundated with deepfake voice clone calls attempting to access customer accounts, and AI-fueled fraud has become the leading security concern for the majority of banks as fraudsters submit AI-altered documents to open fake accounts. But other than increasing the effectiveness of these attacks multi-fold, AI has reduced operational costs, allowing hackers to conduct large-scale personalized campaigns. AI has reduced operational costs, allowing hackers to conduct large-scale personalized campaigns. Increased exposure of personal information: Increased exposure of personal information: Do you know how many data breaches happened in August 2024 alone? Billions of public records have already been leaked online within this month. All of this data ends up in hacker feeds, triggering a new wave of targeted phishing attacks. A lot of our data is also available with data brokers to be resold by several resellers and lead generation applications. And a lot of it is what we have put online ourselves on several social media platforms. All this information comes in handy for hackers to create fake personas and run a hyper-personalized social engineering attack. Billions of public records Billions of public records Increased reachability: Increased reachability: Take a breath and count the number of communication apps you are on. Gone are the days when email was the sole medium of communication for a company. Today, employees use a variety of communication tools such as Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, WhatsApp, voice calls, social media chat, and so on. The increased sources of communication, in turn, increase the attack surface and risk exposure. A hacker can sneak into a conversation via any of these channels and attempt a hack. Increased Online Connectivity: Increased Online Connectivity: Do you know Gen Z is over three times more likely to be duped by online fraud compared to baby boomers? Gen Z is over three times more likely Gen Z is over three times more likely Gen Z engages with technology more than any other generation, averaging at least four hours daily on social media. With a wide array of apps, from Snapchat to Instagram, they eagerly share every moment of their lives. However, this deep interconnectedness also exposes them to various threats, such as phishing scams, identity theft, and romance scams. The extensive time spent online inevitably raises their vulnerability to falling into online traps. Remote work gaining popularity: Remote work gaining popularity: Working from home setup has added additional dynamics to this scenario. For many employees, it has blurred the boundary between work devices and personal devices. Many people end up using work devices for personal reasons, inadvertently increasing the risk. Research shows that remote workers are also more easily distracted and more likely to click on suspicious links. When you have not met in person or are not familiar with the conversational style of the other person, it becomes easier for hackers to dupe you into believing the email sent while impersonating the colleague is genuine. The way we organize work, the way we are interconnected today, and the instantaneous and proliferate ways of reaching out to us, with significant information about us being online, have made these attacks more powerful. We need better defenses . Defenses that are in line with the modern-day world and that can provide us holistic coverage. better defenses Gone are the days when the security of an organization could be handled separately from the security of an individual. A cyber risk to one individual, whether in a personal or professional realm, is a risk to the organization, and it's time we start looking at this in a holistic manner. Curious to know your personal risk? The free scan is available for seven days. Try it today and share it with your fellow colleagues. We'll scan the deep trenches of the web and share with you the information that you may not be aware the hackers know of. Try it today See you in the next post! Till then, stay safe.

Is the Weakest Link in Cybersecurity Becoming Even Weaker?

Data centers have become an integral part of the digital age. Unfortunately, many communities realize they are loud, resource-intensive, and visually unappealing only after they’ve been built. Are these buildings neighborhood-ruiners, or are peoples’ concerns overblown? Are Data Centers Already Ruining Neighborhoods? The residents of the sleepy, tree-lined subdivision of Great Oak didn’t realize what was in store for them when construction began for an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center. This small community in Prince William County, Virginia, soon became the epicenter of an ongoing quarrel between a multinational tech giant and a local homeowners association. Dale Browne, the president of the Great Oak Homeowners Association, said the building’s “constant whir” was “obnoxious” and regularly exceeded 60 decibels (dB), according to measurements taken by some of the neighborhood’s residents. Community members went as far as to stage protests out front, holding signs condemning the noise. Others didn’t object to the building’s construction or operation. While some saw it as an innovative move, others were apathetic because their once-rural oasis had already become a minimetropolis. After all, what’s one data center among highways, power lines, and supersized shopping centers? Still, many residents were unhappy seeing these massive server warehouses pop up nearby. In the neighboring Loudoun County, companies have built them as close as 50 feet — a mere backyard away — from residential properties. Construction has picked up pace in the United States, prompting similar quarrels and concerns nationwide. Why Are Data Centers Popping up Everywhere? Data centers are proliferating despite pockets of concern. The artificial intelligence market — which experts expect will reach $407 billion by 2027 — is one of the main drivers of this trend. Cloud computing technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) are also pushing demand exponentially higher. Many modern technologies are power-hungry and water-thirsty. They need cutting-edge servers and a tremendous amount of storage to function. Whether companies train a machine learning model or store 8K videos on cloud servers, they need data centers. While data center proliferation has been on the rise for years, it only became a well-known point of contention recently when AI’s popularity prompted firms to reinvest in server warehouses. Why are data centers being built in Virginia? Decision-makers are quickly making this state the so-called “data center capital of the world” for good reason. While some counties are inviting tech companies in hopes of inspiring a second Silicon Valley, others are just in convenient locations — the land and labor are cheap in rural areas. Of course, the robust electric and telecommunications infrastructure helps. How These Buildings Impact Nearby Neighborhoods Why are people against data centers? One of the public’s biggest complaints is noise — many don’t realize how loud these buildings are until they live next to one. Other common concerns include resource usage, greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, and potential pollution. Water Drainage Cooling a massive warehouse packed to the brim with servers, routers, storage systems, and processors takes a lot of water. Research shows one large data center can use up between 1 million and 5 million gallons of water daily — which is enough to supply a town of 10,000-50,000 people. Noise Pollution Many data centers have on-site generators. Their cooling systems — essential for keeping hardware operational — contain intake and exhaust fans, which are objectionably loud. They produce between 55 and 85 dB typically. The noise is even more noticeable in rural areas where massive, nondescript buildings replace spaces that used to be forests or farmland. Are data centers noisy at night? Most are since they run around the clock. Even if their volume doesn’t increase after hours, their loudness is more noticeable when it gets quiet. People often describe the noise as a buzzing, tinny whining or low-pitched roar. Even 60 dB — the low end of the typical spectrum — sounds like overlapping conversations or background music. Power Depletion Do data centers use a lot of energy? They are among the most energy-intensive buildings in existence, consuming up to 50 times more power than standard offices. Although some have on-site power sources — diesel generators are a common choice — many rely on the local electrical infrastructure. The Implications of Having a Data Center Nearby Many people are concerned about having a structure that constantly produces 55-85 dB in their backyards — and for good reason. How loud is a data center? While 60 dB is equivalent to conversation, 70 dB seems as loud as a packed business, and 80 dB sounds as loud as a police siren or power tools. At 85 dB and above, hearing loss occurs. There is also concern about intense resource usage. In Maryland, a proposed 70-mile power line that would cut across the state recently angered residents. While environmental advocates and homeowners have vehemently opposed the $424 million project on the grounds of ecosystem and property preservation, it could be up and running as early as 2027. The health of local communities and ecosystems may also be at stake. If data centers use generators for on-site power, they could produce toxic pollutants like nitrogen oxide or diesel exhaust. The cooling system’s noise alone could drive local wildlife away, damaging environmentally sensitive areas. Counties that initially welcomed large technology and cloud computing companies with open arms have wavered after realizing how loud and resource-intensive these structures are. Many may soon raise taxes on hardware, revise their noise ordinances, or enforce strict project review processes to make it worthwhile. Are Communities’ Data Center Fears Justified? The worst-case scenario is using 5 million gallons of water, outputting 85 dB, and producing toxic diesel exhaust daily. That said, most data centers will be noisy and resource-intensive. Air cooling is loud but standard, accounting for 99% of methods in use today. However, that doesn’t mean engineers and operators are unwilling to change to help their unhappy neighbors. The Great Oak Homeowners Association is an excellent example of this fact. While Amazon initially denied the residents’ claims its building was outputting 60 dB — even going as far as to conduct a strategically engineered study to back its claim — it eventually took action. One year after the spat between the AWS data centers and the Great Oak community made headlines, Amazon lengthened its exhaust tubes and directed airflow vertically. Measurements from it and the Homeowners Association revealed the noise leveldropped by 10 dB to about 50 dB, effectively cutting it in half. Currently, it seems decision-makers aren’t considering the long-term repercussions of building near neighborhoods — they’re quickly seizing whatever land is cheap and available. To ease communities’ fears, they should consider their projects’ long-term viability, accounting for how construction and operation will affect nearby residents and local ecosystems. When considering all of the negatives in a vacuum, data centers sound like one of the worst structures a company could ever build. However, they support essential services and help connect people around the world. Most of today’s problems are growing pains — now that engineers and operators know what not to do, they can build better or retrofit existing buildings. For example, while air cooling generates significant noise, immersion cooling — which involves submerging hardware in a non-conductive liquid — apparently sounds considerably quieter in comparison. Engineers could also use on-site renewables to reduce their reliance on the city’s power and water supply, further easing residents’ concerns. What Companies and Communities Can Do Going Forward Gathering and implementing feedback is the only way to permanently ease communities’ concerns. This strategy may even pay off for technology companies because it streamlines site research and lets them know what interventions to prioritize. For example, if people worry about unsightly power lines but don’t care about noise, firms only need to build on-site power. Data centers have become an integral part of the digital age. Unfortunately, many communities realize they are loud, resource-intensive, and visually unappealing only after they’ve been built. Are these buildings neighborhood-ruiners, or are peoples’ concerns overblown? Data centers have become an integral part of the digital age. Unfortunately, many communities realize they are loud, resource-intensive, and visually unappealing only after they’ve been built. Are these buildings neighborhood-ruiners, or are peoples’ concerns overblown? Are Data Centers Already Ruining Neighborhoods? Are Data Centers Already Ruining Neighborhoods? The residents of the sleepy, tree-lined subdivision of Great Oak didn’t realize what was in store for them when construction began for an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center. This small community in Prince William County, Virginia, soon became the epicenter of an ongoing quarrel between a multinational tech giant and a local homeowners association. Dale Browne, the president of the Great Oak Homeowners Association, said the building’s “constant whir” was “obnoxious” and regularly exceeded 60 decibels (dB), according to measurements taken by some of the neighborhood’s residents. Community members went as far as to stage protests out front, holding signs condemning the noise. regularly exceeded 60 decibels regularly exceeded 60 decibels Others didn’t object to the building’s construction or operation. While some saw it as an innovative move, others were apathetic because their once-rural oasis had already become a minimetropolis. After all, what’s one data center among highways, power lines, and supersized shopping centers? Still, many residents were unhappy seeing these massive server warehouses pop up nearby. In the neighboring Loudoun County, companies have built them as close as 50 feet — a mere backyard away — from residential properties. Construction has picked up pace in the United States, prompting similar quarrels and concerns nationwide. as close as 50 feet as close as 50 feet Why Are Data Centers Popping up Everywhere? Data centers are proliferating despite pockets of concern. The artificial intelligence market — which experts expect will reach $407 billion by 2027 — is one of the main drivers of this trend. Cloud computing technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) are also pushing demand exponentially higher. Many modern technologies are power-hungry and water-thirsty. They need cutting-edge servers and a tremendous amount of storage to function. will reach $407 billion will reach $407 billion Whether companies train a machine learning model or store 8K videos on cloud servers, they need data centers. While data center proliferation has been on the rise for years, it only became a well-known point of contention recently when AI’s popularity prompted firms to reinvest in server warehouses. Why are data centers being built in Virginia? Decision-makers are quickly making this state the so-called “data center capital of the world” for good reason. While some counties are inviting tech companies in hopes of inspiring a second Silicon Valley, others are just in convenient locations — the land and labor are cheap in rural areas. Of course, the robust electric and telecommunications infrastructure helps. land and labor are cheap land and labor are cheap How These Buildings Impact Nearby Neighborhoods Why are people against data centers? One of the public’s biggest complaints is noise — many don’t realize how loud these buildings are until they live next to one. Other common concerns include resource usage, greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, and potential pollution. Water Drainage Cooling a massive warehouse packed to the brim with servers, routers, storage systems, and processors takes a lot of water. Research shows one large data center can use up between 1 million and 5 million gallons of water daily — which is enough to supply a town of 10,000-50,000 people. between 1 million and 5 million gallons between 1 million and 5 million gallons Noise Pollution Many data centers have on-site generators. Their cooling systems — essential for keeping hardware operational — contain intake and exhaust fans, which are objectionably loud. They produce between 55 and 85 dB typically. The noise is even more noticeable in rural areas where massive, nondescript buildings replace spaces that used to be forests or farmland. produce between 55 and 85 dB produce between 55 and 85 dB Are data centers noisy at night? Most are since they run around the clock. Even if their volume doesn’t increase after hours, their loudness is more noticeable when it gets quiet. People often describe the noise as a buzzing, tinny whining or low-pitched roar. Even 60 dB — the low end of the typical spectrum — sounds like overlapping conversations or background music. Power Depletion Do data centers use a lot of energy? They are among the most energy-intensive buildings in existence, consuming up to 50 times more power than standard offices. Although some have on-site power sources — diesel generators are a common choice — many rely on the local electrical infrastructure. up to 50 times more power up to 50 times more power The Implications of Having a Data Center Nearby Many people are concerned about having a structure that constantly produces 55-85 dB in their backyards — and for good reason. How loud is a data center? While 60 dB is equivalent to conversation , 70 dB seems as loud as a packed business, and 80 dB sounds as loud as a police siren or power tools. At 85 dB and above, hearing loss occurs. is equivalent to conversation is equivalent to conversation There is also concern about intense resource usage. In Maryland, a proposed 70-mile power line that would cut across the state recently angered residents. While environmental advocates and homeowners have vehemently opposed the $424 million project on the grounds of ecosystem and property preservation, it could be up and running as early as 2027. proposed 70-mile power line proposed 70-mile power line The health of local communities and ecosystems may also be at stake. If data centers use generators for on-site power, they could produce toxic pollutants like nitrogen oxide or diesel exhaust. The cooling system’s noise alone could drive local wildlife away, damaging environmentally sensitive areas. Counties that initially welcomed large technology and cloud computing companies with open arms have wavered after realizing how loud and resource-intensive these structures are. Many may soon raise taxes on hardware, revise their noise ordinances, or enforce strict project review processes to make it worthwhile. Are Communities’ Data Center Fears Justified? The worst-case scenario is using 5 million gallons of water, outputting 85 dB, and producing toxic diesel exhaust daily. That said, most data centers will be noisy and resource-intensive. Air cooling is loud but standard, accounting for 99% of methods in use today. However, that doesn’t mean engineers and operators are unwilling to change to help their unhappy neighbors. accounting for 99% of methods accounting for 99% of methods The Great Oak Homeowners Association is an excellent example of this fact. While Amazon initially denied the residents’ claims its building was outputting 60 dB — even going as far as to conduct a strategically engineered study to back its claim — it eventually took action. conduct a strategically engineered study conduct a strategically engineered study One year after the spat between the AWS data centers and the Great Oak community made headlines, Amazon lengthened its exhaust tubes and directed airflow vertically. Measurements from it and the Homeowners Association revealed the noise level dropped by 10 dB to about 50 dB, effectively cutting it in half. dropped by 10 dB dropped by 10 dB Currently, it seems decision-makers aren’t considering the long-term repercussions of building near neighborhoods — they’re quickly seizing whatever land is cheap and available. To ease communities’ fears, they should consider their projects’ long-term viability, accounting for how construction and operation will affect nearby residents and local ecosystems. When considering all of the negatives in a vacuum, data centers sound like one of the worst structures a company could ever build. However, they support essential services and help connect people around the world. Most of today’s problems are growing pains — now that engineers and operators know what not to do, they can build better or retrofit existing buildings. For example, while air cooling generates significant noise, immersion cooling — which involves submerging hardware in a non-conductive liquid — apparently sounds considerably quieter in comparison. Engineers could also use on-site renewables to reduce their reliance on the city’s power and water supply, further easing residents’ concerns. apparently sounds considerably quieter apparently sounds considerably quieter What Companies and Communities Can Do Going Forward Gathering and implementing feedback is the only way to permanently ease communities’ concerns. This strategy may even pay off for technology companies because it streamlines site research and lets them know what interventions to prioritize. For example, if people worry about unsightly power lines but don’t care about noise, firms only need to build on-site power.

Will Data Centers Ruin Your Neighborhood?

هل مراكز البيانات ستدمر حيّك؟

¿Centros de Datos ukanakax Barrioman jan walt’ayaspati?

ডেটা সেন্টার কি আপনার প্রতিবেশীকে ধ্বংস করবে?

Hoće li data centri uništiti vaše susjedstvo?

¿Los centros de datos arruinarán su vecindario?

آیا مراکز داده محله شما را خراب خواهند کرد؟

データセンターはあなたの近所を台無しにしますか?

Na Disenthara tša Data di tla Senya Tikologo ya Gago?

¿Centros de Datos nisqakuna Barrioykita waqllichinqachu?

Zničia dátové centrá vaše okolie?

Чи центри обробки даних зруйнують ваше сусідство?

Ma'lumot markazlari sizning mahallangizni buzadimi?

Alright, enough of this tiptoeing around the problem – let’s talk about cybersecurity, or rather, the total failure of it! For years, cybersecurity experts have been shouting from the rooftops, “It’s not if you’ll get hit with a cyber attack, but when!” And guess what? Companies still aren't getting the message! 91% of cyberattacks start with phishing emails, and a staggering 35% of those are tied to ransomware! How can we still be falling for these scams when the stats are so clear? We need to get serious about cybersecurity education and protection before it’s too late! Hackers are running wild with increasingly sophisticated tools, while organizations are tripping over their own feet, struggling to hire enough talent or slap together a decent defense. Seriously, the 'if, not when' line might as well be written in bold on their walls – because for most companies today, it’s a ticking time bomb. And here’s the kicker: most of the cyber breaches we see could’ve been avoided. Yep, you heard that right. Research shows that 95% of security breaches in 2018 were preventable. It’s not like the hackers are out here inventing new magical ways to break in either. No, they're using the same old tricks year after year. Case in point: remember the colossal screw-up that was Equifax in 2017? A data breach that spilled the personal details of over 140 million people? Yeah, entirely preventable. But who’s surprised at this point? Companies keep failing basic security 101, and we’re left cleaning up the mess. Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: cyber hygiene – the concept that’s apparently too difficult for most businesses to grasp. The simplest, most basic security practices are being ignored. Take passwords, for instance. Over 80% of breaches involve weak or stolen passwords. Eighty percent! Yet, here we are, with employees walking around using "Password123" for their email, banking, and who knows what else. BYOD (bring your own device) policies? Great idea in theory, but what good is that if people’s personal phones are riddled with malware because they can’t stop downloading sketchy apps? Hackers love it! They don’t even need to try; employees practically open the door and invite them in. So, what can we, the mere mortals, do to protect ourselves – and, by extension, the organizations that seem hell-bent on self-destruction? It’s basic stuff, but apparently, we need to spell it out. First off, install security software on your mobile devices. Is that so hard? The amount of sensitive data we’re carrying around on our phones is staggering, yet we act like nothing bad could ever happen. New mobile malware skyrocketed by 54% in 2018, and you’re still trusting your phone’s factory settings to save you? Get real. Stop browsing shady websites! It's like we have a death wish when it comes to malware. If a website looks sketchy or too good to be true, it probably is. You’re not going to win a million dollars by clicking that link, but you might win yourself a fresh new virus. Only download reputable apps from legit sources. Do we really need to keep saying this? People are out here downloading fake apps that look like your favorite game but instead are draining your bank account in the background. If it’s not from Google Play or the Apple Store, skip it. Social media is a hacker's playground. Sure, post that picture of your lunch and tag your location while you’re at it. Might as well hand over your personal details on a silver platter! Fraud, scams, and identity theft all start with the information you willingly give away. For heaven’s sake, use different passwords for different accounts! This is not rocket science. Yet, 59% of people admit to using the same password for everything because they’re scared of forgetting them. Well, guess what? Hackers love that. Once they crack one password, they’ve got the keys to your entire digital life. Oh, and beware of phishing emails. Yeah, those still exist, and they’re still working like a charm. Despite all the warnings, 91% of attacks start with a phishing email. Don’t be that person who opens random attachments from “your bank.” You wouldn’t open a stranger’s mail at your door, so why do it in your inbox? Public Wi-Fi? More like a public disaster. If you’re doing your online banking at the local coffee shop without a VPN, you might as well shout your account details to the room. Lastly, stay up to date on security trends. Every other day, there’s a new vulnerability, and the difference between getting hacked and staying safe is often just knowing what to look out for. If you don’t, hackers will be happy to educate you the hard way. Email Threats: A Wake-Up Call for Organizations of All Sizes Let’s get real: email threats are wreaking havoc on organizations across the board, and it’s time we talked about it. A recent threat analysis by Barracuda, covering the period from June 2023 to May 2024, sheds light on just how these attacks are hitting businesses of all sizes—and the results are alarming. Larger companies are not safe. They’re particularly vulnerable to lateral phishing attacks, where hackers compromise one employee’s account and then use that access to trick others within the organization. Seriously, can we talk about how insidious this tactic is? It plays on established trust and communication channels, making it almost impossible for employees to spot malicious activity until it’s too late. It’s a nightmare waiting to happen! But let’s not overlook the plight of smaller businesses, which face their own set of daunting challenges. These organizations are frequently targeted by external phishing attempts and extortion schemes, and let’s face it: they often don’t have the security infrastructure that larger companies can afford. This makes them prime targets for cybercriminals looking for quick, easy wins. In fact, a staggering 71% of targeted attacks on smaller companies over the past year were external phishing threats. Meanwhile, larger organizations only reported external attacks in 41% of incidents. That’s a massive difference! And if you think that’s bad, consider this: smaller businesses are experiencing nearly three times the number of extortion attacks compared to their larger counterparts. For small companies, extortion incidents make up 7% of targeted attacks, while for firms with 2,000 or more employees, it’s just 2%. This disparity isn’t just numbers on a page; it highlights the unique challenges that organizations of different sizes face in today’s cyber landscape. We need to recognize that cookie-cutter security solutions won’t cut it anymore. Tailored security measures are essential to effectively combat these evolving email threats. It’s time for all organizations, big and small, to wake up and take email security seriously. The landscape is changing, and those who don’t adapt will find themselves at the mercy of ruthless cybercriminals. Enough is enough! Let’s get proactive and protect our businesses from these relentless threats. At the end of the day, we are the weakest link in cybersecurity. None of this advice is new, and yet here we are, still getting breached left and right. If we don’t start practicing good cyber hygiene, well, we might as well welcome our hacker overlords with open arms. Alright, enough of this tiptoeing around the problem – let’s talk about cybersecurity, or rather, the total failure of it! For years, cybersecurity experts have been shouting from the rooftops, “It’s not if you’ll get hit with a cyber attack, but when !” And guess what? Companies still aren't getting the message! if when 91% of cyberattacks start with phishing emails , and a staggering 35% of those are tied to ransomware! How can we still be falling for these scams when the stats are so clear? We need to get serious about cybersecurity education and protection before it’s too late! cyberattacks start with phishing emails Hackers are running wild with increasingly sophisticated tools, while organizations are tripping over their own feet, struggling to hire enough talent or slap together a decent defense. Seriously, the 'if, not when' line might as well be written in bold on their walls – because for most companies today, it’s a ticking time bomb. And here’s the kicker: most of the cyber breaches we see could’ve been avoided. Yep, you heard that right. Research shows that 95% of security breaches in 2018 were preventable . It’s not like the hackers are out here inventing new magical ways to break in either. No, they're using the same old tricks year after year. preventable same old tricks Case in point: remember the colossal screw-up that was Equifax in 2017? A data breach that spilled the personal details of over 140 million people? Yeah, entirely preventable. But who’s surprised at this point? Companies keep failing basic security 101, and we’re left cleaning up the mess. Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: cyber hygiene – the concept that’s apparently too difficult for most businesses to grasp. The simplest, most basic security practices are being ignored. cyber hygiene Take passwords, for instance. Over 80% of breaches involve weak or stolen passwords. Eighty percent ! Yet, here we are, with employees walking around using "Password123" for their email, banking, and who knows what else. BYOD (bring your own device) policies? Eighty percent Great idea in theory, but what good is that if people’s personal phones are riddled with malware because they can’t stop downloading sketchy apps? Hackers love it! They don’t even need to try; employees practically open the door and invite them in. So, what can we, the mere mortals, do to protect ourselves – and, by extension, the organizations that seem hell-bent on self-destruction? It’s basic stuff, but apparently, we need to spell it out. First off, install security software on your mobile devices. Is that so hard? The amount of sensitive data we’re carrying around on our phones is staggering, yet we act like nothing bad could ever happen. New mobile malware skyrocketed by 54% in 2018, and you’re still trusting your phone’s factory settings to save you? Get real. install security software Stop browsing shady websites ! It's like we have a death wish when it comes to malware. If a website looks sketchy or too good to be true, it probably is. You’re not going to win a million dollars by clicking that link, but you might win yourself a fresh new virus. Stop browsing shady websites Only download reputable apps from legit sources. Do we really need to keep saying this? People are out here downloading fake apps that look like your favorite game but instead are draining your bank account in the background. If it’s not from Google Play or the Apple Store, skip it. Only download reputable apps Social media is a hacker's playground. Sure, post that picture of your lunch and tag your location while you’re at it. Might as well hand over your personal details on a silver platter! Fraud, scams, and identity theft all start with the information you willingly give away. Social media For heaven’s sake, use different passwords for different accounts! This is not rocket science. Yet, 59% of people admit to using the same password for everything because they’re scared of forgetting them. Well, guess what? Hackers love that. Once they crack one password, they’ve got the keys to your entire digital life. use different passwords Oh, and beware of phishing emails . Yeah, those still exist, and they’re still working like a charm. Despite all the warnings, 91% of attacks start with a phishing email. Don’t be that person who opens random attachments from “your bank.” You wouldn’t open a stranger’s mail at your door, so why do it in your inbox? beware of phishing emails Public Wi-Fi ? More like a public disaster. If you’re doing your online banking at the local coffee shop without a VPN, you might as well shout your account details to the room. Public Wi-Fi Lastly, stay up to date on security trends. Every other day, there’s a new vulnerability, and the difference between getting hacked and staying safe is often just knowing what to look out for. If you don’t, hackers will be happy to educate you the hard way. stay up to date Email Threats: A Wake-Up Call for Organizations of All Sizes Email Threats: A Wake-Up Call for Organizations of All Sizes Let’s get real: email threats are wreaking havoc on organizations across the board, and it’s time we talked about it. A recent threat analysis by Barracuda, covering the period from June 2023 to May 2024, sheds light on just how these attacks are hitting businesses of all sizes—and the results are alarming. Larger companies are not safe. They’re particularly vulnerable to lateral phishing attacks, where hackers compromise one employee’s account and then use that access to trick others within the organization. Seriously, can we talk about how insidious this tactic is? It plays on established trust and communication channels, making it almost impossible for employees to spot malicious activity until it’s too late. It’s a nightmare waiting to happen! But let’s not overlook the plight of smaller businesses, which face their own set of daunting challenges. These organizations are frequently targeted by external phishing attempts and extortion schemes, and let’s face it: they often don’t have the security infrastructure that larger companies can afford. This makes them prime targets for cybercriminals looking for quick, easy wins. In fact, a staggering 71% of targeted attacks on smaller companies over the past year were external phishing threats. Meanwhile, larger organizations only reported external attacks in 41% of incidents. That’s a massive difference! And if you think that’s bad, consider this: smaller businesses are experiencing nearly three times the number of extortion attacks compared to their larger counterparts. For small companies, extortion incidents make up 7% of targeted attacks, while for firms with 2,000 or more employees, it’s just 2%. This disparity isn’t just numbers on a page; it highlights the unique challenges that organizations of different sizes face in today’s cyber landscape. We need to recognize that cookie-cutter security solutions won’t cut it anymore. Tailored security measures are essential to effectively combat these evolving email threats. It’s time for all organizations, big and small, to wake up and take email security seriously. The landscape is changing, and those who don’t adapt will find themselves at the mercy of ruthless cybercriminals . Enough is enough! Let’s get proactive and protect our businesses from these relentless threats. ruthless cybercriminals At the end of the day, we are the weakest link in cybersecurity. None of this advice is new, and yet here we are, still getting breached left and right. If we don’t start practicing good cyber hygiene, well, we might as well welcome our hacker overlords with open arms.

It's Estimated That 91% Of Cyber Attacks Begin With Phishing Emails

Ukax 91% Ciberataques ukax Correo electrónicos Phishing ukampiw qalltawayi sasaw yatiyapxi

Паводле ацэнак, 91% кібератак пачынаюцца з фішынгавых лістоў

Изчислено е, че 91% от кибератаките започват с фишинг имейли

Procjenjuje se da 91% sajber napada počinje phishing-om

Odhaduje se, že 91 % kybernetických útoků začíná phishingovými e-maily

Se estima que el 91% de los ataques cibernéticos comienzan con correos electrónicos de phishing

ההערכה היא ש-91% ממתקפות הסייבר מתחילות בהודעות דיוג

サイバー攻撃の91%はフィッシングメールから始まると推定されている

სავარაუდოა, რომ კიბერ შეტევების 91% იწყება ფიშინგის ელ.წერილებით

វាត្រូវបានគេប៉ាន់ស្មានថា 91% នៃការវាយប្រហារតាមអ៊ីនធឺណេតចាប់ផ្តើមជាមួយនឹងអ៊ីម៉ែលបន្លំ

यो अनुमान गरिएको छ कि 91% साइबर आक्रमणहरू फिसिङ इमेलहरूबाट सुरु हुन्छ

Siber Saldırıların %91'inin Kimlik Avı E-postalarıyla Başladığı Tahmin Ediliyor

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