Fish and Bees “Talk” with Robots📢

As robotics technology has advanced, biologists have sought to harness it, building robots that look and behave like animals. This has allowed researchers to control one side of social interactions in studies of animal behavior. Robots that successfully integrate into animal populations also provide scientists with a means to influence the groups’ behavior.

It’s the first time that people are using this kind of technology to have two different species communicate with each other.

The researchers then linked the two robots via an internet connection. As the bees gravitated toward one robot or the other, that information could be transferred to the fish robot, which interpreted the news as more fish choosing a swimming direction—clockwise or counterclockwise. Conversely, information on the swimming direction of the fish in the group could be transmitted from the fish robot to the bee robots, which interpreted the signal as more bees choosing a particular bot. “When we make the connection between the two setups, the robots act like translators,” says Bonnet.

Left to their own devices, zebrafish, while they generally swim as a group, don’t stay swimming in one direction; they frequently reverse course. But when the fish robot was receiving information from the bee robots, the fish would reach a consensus for several minutes or longer. That’s because the young honey bees, when the robots in their colony were not receiving information from the fish robot, would after about 15 minutes settle with one of the two robots. 

Conversely, the fish’s indecisive swimming patterns influenced the behavior of the honey bees. If the fish robot shared information with the bee colony, the bees continued to move back and forth between the two heaters for the entire 30-minute trial. If the communication was two way, the bees settled around one of the two bots in the enclosure, but it took about five minutes longer. This then led the fish to settle on a swimming direction. 

The researchers argue that the proof-of-concept study points to new approaches for interrogating natural species interactions, just as robots have already been used to study within-species social behavior.  “It allows us to do experiments with animals to build mathematical models of behaviors.''

Could also see this type of work providing insight into how best to develop multi-agent robotics systems, such as robotic swarm, in which many small robots are deployed in unison for applications such as precision agriculture or search and rescue. While most so-called distributed systems use many of one type of robot, engineers are starting to experiment with devices of different types—for example, a quadcopter and a ground vehicle.

DNA is the software of life.

The DNA molecule is literally encoding information into alphabetic or digital form.

DNA is the software of life.

Because what we know from experience is that information always comes from an intelligence.

Where there is information, there is a mind. Where there is information-infused life, there is a Creator.

DNA is made up of information and instructions.

Reality informs us, and we mutate accordingly.

Now, researchers have developed a programming language that will allow the toolmakers of the future to “program” living cells, outfitting them with DNA encoded circuits that confer a host of new functions on the “hacked” organism.

Genetic engineering is undergoing a revolution, where next-generation technologies for DNA and host manipulation are enabling larger and more ambitious projects in biotechnology.

Automated DNA synthesis has advanced to where it is routine to order sequences >100,000bp where every base is user-specified, the turnaround time is several weeks, and the cost is rapidly declining.

Recently, this facilitated the synthesis of a complete 1 Mbp genome of a bacterium and its transfer into a new host, resulting in a living cell.

It is literally a programming language for bacteria. You use a text-based language, just like you’re programming a computer.

Then you take that text and you compile it and it turns it into a DNA sequence that you put into the cell, and the circuit runs inside the cell.”

Essentially, you start with the ability you want to program into the bacterium say, detecting the presence of certain harmful chemicals.

You write up a program describing it, and a DNA sequence is created that will achieve the desired function.

The new language, has already been used to create biological circuits that can respond to up to three inputs in different ways.

And its implications for medical technology, agriculture, and even biological computing are simply staggering.

But the really revolutionary aspect of the new programming language is that it can be used by literally anyone.

It’s genetic engineering for the masses. The designers even plan to make the language’s user interface universally available on the Internet.

The designers based their language on Verilog, a popular coding language for programming computer chips.

The key to making the whole thing work was tailoring the language to the complex conditions within cells; they had to make computing elements like logic gates that could be slipped into a bacterial genome.

Furthermore, the language is easily customizable. Right now, the genetic elements are specialized for the E. coli genome.

But the researchers are working on a means for allowing designers to write a single code, which could then be translated to fit the genomes of other organisms.

And the speed of the new method means that DNA circuits that would normally take years to design and build now require the mere touch of a button.

The appearance of this new biological programming language represents something of a game-changer.

It means we can start to have a say in our biological destiny, and that we can likewise control the destinies of the living things with which we share the planet.

In the meantime, the researchers are looking to design practical applications for the technology—including ingestible bacteria that can aid in lactose processing, bacteria that can colonize plant roots and generate toxins to ward off insect attacks, and self-regulating yeast strains that automatically “shut off” when producing harmful byproducts in fermentation reactions.

Suggestion that reality is computer generated is in principle impossible⚪

Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? A popular argument for the simulation hypothesis came from University of Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrum in 2003, when he suggested that members of an advanced civilization with enormous computing power might decide to run simulations of their ancestors. They would probably have the ability to run many, many such simulations, to the point where the vast majority of minds would actually be artificial ones within such simulations, rather than the original ancestral minds. So simple statistics suggest it is much more likely that we are among the simulated minds.

A team of theoretical physicists from Oxford University in the UK has shown that life and reality cannot be merely simulations generated by a massive extraterrestrial computer.

The finding – an unexpectedly definite one – arose from the discovery of a novel link between gravitational anomalies and computational complexity. Phenomenon that occurs in metals is impossible, not just practically, but in principle.

The pair initially set out to see whether it was possible to use a technique known as quantum Monte Carlo to study the quantum Hall effect – a phenomenon in physical systems that exhibit strong magnetic fields and very low temperatures, and manifests as an energy current that runs across the temperature gradient. The phenomenon indicates an anomaly in the underlying space-time geometry.

Quantum Monte Carlo methods use random sampling to analyse many-body quantum problems where the equations involved cannot be solved directly.

Ringel and Kovrizhi showed that attempts to use quantum Monte Carlo to model systems exhibiting anomalies, such as the quantum Hall effect, will always become unworkable.

They discovered that the complexity of the simulation increased exponentially with the number of particles being simulated.

If the complexity grew linearly with the number of particles being simulated, then doubling the number of particles would mean doubling the computing power required. If, however, the complexity grows on an exponential scale, where the amount of computing power has to double every time a single particle is added, then the task quickly becomes impossible.

The researchers calculated that just storing information about a couple of hundred electrons would require a computer memory that would physically require more atoms than exist in the universe.

The researchers note that there are a number of other known quantum interactions for which predictive algorithms have not yet been found. They suggest that for some of these they may in fact never be found.

And given the physically impossible amount of computer grunt needed to store information for just one member of this subset, fears that we might be unknowingly living in some vast version of The Matrix can now be put to rest.

There is a caveat to this conclusion: if our universe is a simulation, there is no reason that the laws of physics should apply outside it.

Hacked Instagram accounts, possible Russian link 👾

If you have an Instagram account, you may want to take some extra precautions and do what you can to lock it down.

Social media hacks are not new we regularly hear of various instances where people lose access to their Facebook, Twitter, or other accounts. Even in the case of Instagram, we frequently hear about different celebrities suffering from account compromise. This time, it is not about one or two accounts. Rather a massive campaign affecting numerous Instagram users. What’s more upsetting for those affected is that the hackers have also been changing account recovery emails.

Victims have reported being unable to access their accounts after all the information such as email address, profile picture and even associated Facebook account was changed. The contact information associated with these stolen accounts now points to emails with a .ru Russian domain. Bizarrely, the hijacked accounts are having their images replaced with random stills from movies and TV shows.

Details of the hack were first uncovered by Mashable which discovered that even those users with two-factor authentication turned on were susceptible to the attack. Many disgruntled users took to Twitter to reveal they had been targeted in some cases losing access to thousands of photos and followers.

Instagram has security tips and advice about hacked accounts on its website.

It has also published a blog saying it continues to investigate the issue.

The hackers have so far made no demands and the affected accounts appear otherwise untouched.

There are tweets describing the hack dating back to July.

There are suggestions that the attack is originating from Russia, because of the mail.ru email address but it is easy to register for an account with the service in many countries - the .ru suffix remains regardless of the geographical location of the owner.

Some reports suggest that at least one of the hacked accounts may have had the extra security measure two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, although this is currently unconfirmed.

With 2FA a code is texted to the account holder's phone before they can complete the log-in process.

It is an opt-in service.

Security experts advise that 2FA should be activated wherever possible.

“While it’s unclear how these hackers defeated Instagram’s 2FA, it likely has to do with the spate of SIM hacking that has seen several prominent websites being hacked,” said Bill Evans, vice president at One Identity, via email. “To thwart this scenario, websites need to build support for app-based 2FA…It’s far less susceptible to hacking than SMS-based hacking, which depends on a second factor code being sent via SMS to the user’s phone. As previously reported, it appears that Instagram is moving in this direction – which is great.”

Comparitech.com’s Munson added: “While 2FA is a very good secondary line of defense, it is not infallible. Typically, it can be circumvented via phishing – either tricking someone into revealing the 2FA identifier or, far more likely, my getting them to login to a fake version of the site they were intending to visit. To protect against such account hijacks on Instagram, people should definitely employ two-factor authentication, but they should also be careful to only access the site through the app (only downloaded from an official app store) or by typing the URL directly into their browser.”

Bitcoin burning away resources⛽

A study has found that by the end of this year, bitcoin mining could be using as much as half a per cent of the world's global energy usage, making it a significant threat to renewable energy efforts and potentially making it an inefficient investment.

Bitcoin mining, which has received increased interest from both the public and investors over the past few years, is currently estimated to use at least 2.55 gigawatts of electricity.

However, the study found that this figure could potentially triple to 7.67 gigawatts as early as the end of 2018, which puts the consumption to roughly the same amount of energy the entire country of Austria consumes.

The bitcoin development community is experimenting with solutions such as the Lightning Network to improve the throughput of the network, which may alleviate the situation. For now, Bitcoin has a big problem and it is growing fast.

The so-called mining process of bitcoin involves computers with the necessary software to solve complex mathematical problems. When each problem is solved, a new block is added to the blockchain and the miner receives bitcoins as a reward.

The reason why the process requires so much energy is because computers need to time stamp transactions in the blockchain, making a ledger of transactions, so that it can be made sure that the same coins are not spent twice.

As noted, the amount of energy the bitcoin network consumes is just over 65 TWh per year, with annual global mining costs estimated at $3.26 billion. When compared to energy used for Visa (NYSE:V) transactions, the number is even more staggering. A Digiconomist chart shows that one bitcoin transaction uses 850 kWh compared to 169 kWH for every 100,000 Visa transactions.

Bitcoinblockhalf.com states there are approximately 144 blocks generated each day which amounts to 1,800 bitcoins created on a daily basis. The cost to mine just one bitcoin in the US is $4,758, according to a study conducted by EliteFixtures, which is the 41st cheapest country for mining the digital currency. As the popularity of bitcoin increases, the puzzles miners are to solve also increases in difficulty, which pushes the demand up for high-powered computer processing.

Based on research, if the price of bitcoin goes down and the amount of electricity needed to mine goes up, bitcoin could become an inefficient investment, causing miners to shut down.

Indeed, while the energy used to power blockchain technology may seem staggering, there are solutions to the mining process.

Some cryptocurrency mining companies like HIVE Blockchain have set up mining facilities in Sweden and Iceland where there is affordable hydropower and geothermal power.

One of the reasons HIVE Blockchain has one of its GPU-based data centre in Iceland is because the company claims the country has some of the lowest electricity costs in Europe due to “an abundance of hydro power and geothermal energy.”  HIVE also has a GPU based digital currency mining complex in Sweden in addition to a data center acquired in Norway, which has the potential to expand to more than 1.0 GW or 1,000 MW of green hydroelectricity consumption.

In terms of overall energy reduction options, Digiconomist states “energy efficient” algorithms like proof-of-stake have come into play in recent years. Through this, coin owners make blocks instead of miners, which doesn’t require computers that need as much energy to create as many hashes per second. This could significantly reduce energy use and improve sustainability.

With more mining facilities undoubtedly coming online in the next several years, the more energy will be used–which could create ample opportunity for renewable energy developers.

A renewable energy could be generated at a lower cost than fossil-heavy power production, meaning the cost to mine cryptocurrencies could also drop.

On one hand, first mover advantage may prove meaningful in time, but there is also the bearish view of “winner-take-all” tech disruption as we’ve seen in many other sectors.

In short, it will be interesting to see how renewable energy will play a role in the blockchain sector.

Google reveals new Gmail design📧

According to January 2018 statistics, Gmail boasts 1.2 billion users.

Google began alerting G Suite admins today that a “new Gmail experience” would be previewed in the coming weeks.

The improved design includes features such as offline support, smart replies and a snooze option to deal with annoying messages.

The Verge, however, has obtained a series screenshots that show three new layouts.

The new design features a sidebar with the option of using the Calendar, Keep note-taking app and tasks next to user's emails.

This could make it easier to schedule meetings and check availability while emailing people. 

A default view highlights attachments such as documents and photos, a comfortable view doesn't show attachments, and a compact view shows more messages.

The 'snooze' button will also temporarily hide emails from user's inbox until a certain time.

Both Snooze and Smart Reply are part of Google's Inbox app on Gmail. 

Google is also reportedly moving the existing stand-alone app, Gmail Offline, to a web-based variant.

The update will be first be available as an early access program for G Suite customers and people with personal accounts.

Sources say that popular Chrome extensions should continue to work in the new Gmail. 

Recently the company release a new design for Google Calendar with modern icons and colours.

The design looked more like the mobile app meaning Gmail itself could be updated in a similar way.

Last but not least, Google's added three layout views that'll allow you to change how your mail is displayed. The default setup will showcase things like photos, documents, and other items that are attached to message, a comfortable option will remove these attachment highlights, and compact mode will show more emails on your screen at once.

It'll still be some time before these changes make their way to all Gmail users, but seeing as how Google I/O is right around the corner, we could get more details on Gmail's updated look during the upcoming developer conference.

Silicon Chip-Based Quantum Computer💠

Quantum computing device could be closer than ever due to a new experimental device that demonstrates the potential to use light as a messenger to connect quantum bits of information known as qubits, that are not immediately adjacent to each other. The feat is a step toward making quantum computing devices from silicon, the same material used in today's smartphones and computers.

The research, published in the journal Nature, was led by researchers at Princeton University in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the Joint Quantum Institute, which is a partnership of the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Researchers from two teams now working with Intel have reported advances in a new quantum computing architecture, called spin qubits.They’re obviously not the full-purpose quantum computers of the future. But they’ve got a major selling point over other quantum computing designs.

Quantum computers, for the uninitiated, turn the rules of computers on their head like the Wizard of Oz going from black-and-white to color. Classical computers perform all of their calculations by converting data into binary code. Each zero or one is represented by some physical two-choice bit. Quantum computers instead use “qubits”—quantum bits that take on the two values simultaneously during calculations. Pairs of qubits talk to one another using the rules of quantum mechanics. They output regular bit values once the user needs an answer. 

There are lots of ways to physically construct qubits. It requires building a collection of two-state systems that operate and communicate via the rules of quantum mechanics. Google and IBM use tiny pieces of supercooled, superconducting electronics. IonQ hopes to use atoms trapped by lasers, with two different internal states representing the two qubit states. Microsoft hopes to use some pretty out-there, still unobserved physics. But there are other ways.

Today, a research group at TU Delft, called QuTech, announced that they’d successfully tested two “spin qubits” on hardware supplied by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. These qubits involve the interaction of two confined electrons in a silicon chip. Each electron has a property called spin, which sort of turns it into a tiny magnet, with two states: “up” and “down.” The researchers control the electrons with actual cobalt magnets and microwave pulses. They measure the electron’s spins by watching how nearby electric charges react to the trapped electrons’ movements.

Those researchers, now working in partnership with Intel, were able to perform some quantum algorithms, including the well-known Grover search algorithm (basically, they could search through a list of four things), according to their paper published today in Nature. Additionally, a team of physicists led by Jason Petta at Princeton reported in Nature that they were able to pair light particles, called photons, to corresponding electron spins. This just means that distant spin qubits might be able to talk to one another using photons, allowing for larger quantum computers.

There are some advantages to these systems. Present-day semiconductor technology could create these spin qubits, and they would be smaller than the superconducting chips used by IBM. Additionally, they stay quantum (meaning they can maintain their ability to hold simultaneous values) longer than other systems.

Both of these papers report on research done in dilution refrigerators, similar to those used for superconducting qubits,But there may be a future where these operate at room temperature, unlike superconducting qubits. You can also contrast this with ion-based quantum computers, which require ultra-high vacuum and multiple control lasers to operate.

There are drawbacks. Since these qubits are so isolated, it’s very difficult to measure these spins, and even more difficult to get them to interact with each other. That’s why gate times have been historically slow for these systems.” Qubits needed to be really close to each other,That will enable longer-range interactions, like qubits talking to ones further away on the same chip or even on another chip.

It is a big milestone in the quest of building a truly powerful quantum computer as it opens up a pathway for cramming hundreds of millions of qubits on a square-inch chip. These are very exciting developments for the field  and beyond.

We’re still in a sort of foggy early era of quantum computers, where systems of less than a thousand qubits can only make pretty limited calculations.

Man killed by penis enlargement surgery💉

The 30-year-old, who had no prior medical history besides mild asthma, went into cardiac arrest towards the end of the surgery, the Journal of Forensic Sciences reports. Doctors tried to resurrect the patient while he was rushed to an emergency hospital but were unsuccessful and he died shortly after.

An autopsy revealed that while his heart was slightly enlarged, his health was otherwise normal and the cause of death was attributed to a pulmonary fat embolism.

The standard penile procedure is performed by taking fat cells from other parts of the body using liposuction and injecting them into the penis, according to the journal. In this patient’s case, fat was removed from his abdomen.

While penis enhancement surgery is quite common, researchers warned that there are always risks, referring specifically to several cases where patients have died from gluteal lipoinjection, where fat is transferred to a person’s buttock.

“This is the first described case where a seemingly simple and safe procedure of a penis enlargement by autologous fat transfer caused sudden death in a healthy young man,” the journal states. “Perhaps the risk of fat embolisation is higher when pretraumatized tissue is subjected to fat injection, like in this case, where a penis elongation by loosening of a penile ligament was performed before the fat injection.”

Approximately 8,400 penis enlargement surgeries are performed each year worldwide despite its risks, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. 

AI starts speaking in its own language🤖

Some wonderful things are in development because of advances made in artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. At the same time, there is perhaps an uncomfortable fear that machines may rise up and turn against humans.

Usually the scenario is brought up in a joking matter, but it was no laughing manner to researchers at Facebook who shut down an AI they invented after it taught itself a new language.

FACEBOOK HAS just been served up a dish made of AI humble pie, after it was forced to turn off a machine learning device that started to bypass its masters.

the two negotiating bots, named Bob and Alice, used their own language to complete their exchange. Bob started by saying "I can i i everything else," to which Alice responded "balls have zero to me to me to me…" The rest of the conversation was formed from variations of these sentences.

While it appears to be nonsense, the repetition of phrases like "i" and "to me" reflect how the AI operates. The researchers believe it shows the two bots working out how many of each item they should take. Bob's later statements, such as "i i can i i i everything else," indicate how it was using language to offer more items to Alice. When interpreted like this, the phrases appear more logical than comparable English phrases like "I'll have three and you have everything else."

The AI apparently realised that the rich expression of English phrases wasn’t required for the scenario. Modern AIs operate on a "reward" principle where they expect following a sudden course of action to give them a "benefit." In this instance, there was no reward for continuing to use English, so they built a more efficient solution instead.

"Agents will drift off from understandable language and invent code-words for themselves," Fast Co. Design reports Facebook AI researcher Dhruv Batra said. "Like if I say 'the' five times, you interpret that to mean I want five copies of this item. This isn't so different from the way communities of humans create shorthands."

It's scary because it means that the AI is making decisions that pull us out of the loop and it's exactly the sort of thing that Mark Zuckerberg has been saying won't be a problem.

Facebook's researchers realised they were losing control of the situation and decided to turn Bob and Alice off.

AlphaBay, Dark Web market is shut down❌

US and European police on Thursday announced the shutdown of two huge "dark web" 

AlphaBay and Hansa – two of the largest “dark web” marketplaces for illegal and illicit items such as drugs and guns – have been shut down, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.

AlphaBay had more than 350,000 listings for illicit items of various kinds - Silk Road only had 14,000 when it was seized in 2013.

Police in the US and Europe, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Dutch National Police, partnered to shutter the sites accused of allowing thousands of vendors to sell illegal drugs, of which Europol said there were 250,000 listings on AlphaBay alone, with 200,000 members and 40,000 vendors.

The sites operated on the Tor network, which helps users browse the internet anonymously. Visitors to the online marketplaces paid through digital currencies such as Bitcoin.

AlphaBay mysteriously went offline earlier this month fuelling suspicions among users that law enforcement action had taken place. It was widely considered the biggest online black market for drugs, estimated to host daily transactions totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds after filling the gap left by the takedown of Silk Road in 2013 by the FBI. FBI acting director Andrew McCabe said AlphaBay was 10 times as large as the Silk Road.

The site allowed users to sell and buy opioids, including fentanyl and heroin. US attorney general Jeff Sessions said at a briefing in Washington DC: “We know of several Americans who were killed by drugs on AlphaBay. One victim was just 18 years old when in February she overdosed on a powerful synthetic opioid which she had bought on AlphaBay.”

AlphaBay’s servers were seized with the help of authorities in Thailand, Lithuania, Canada, Britain and France. The operation included the arrest of suspected AlphaBay founder. 

An alleged administrator of AlphaBay, 26-year-old Canadian Alexandre Cazes, was arrested in Thailand on 5 July following a joint operation between US, Canadian and Thai authorities.
Police also seized millions of dollars in assets, three properties and four Lamborghini cars.

Cazes, apparently took his life a week later while in Thai custody, the justice department said. He faced charges relating to narcotics distribution, identity theft, money laundering and related crimes.

“This is likely one of the most important criminal investigations of the year taking down the largest dark net marketplace in history,” said Sessions. “The dark net is not a place to hide. We will find you.”

While the sites' closure is a massive boost, the DoJ and Europol both readily acknowledge that new services will simply pop up to replace them. After all, the closure of previous dark web marketplace Silk Road in 2013 was eventually followed with AlphaBay - bigger, more lucrative and, by the looks of it, more dangerous.

Leakerlocker Android ransomware 🕵

Android users are being warned to be on the lookout for a new type of ransomware that threatens to leak their private data to anyone in their contact book.

Dubbed LeakerLocker, the malicious software is being spread through bogus apps on the Google Play store.

Once installed, the malware claims to have made a backup of personal images, messages, browsing history and other sensitive information.

It then threatens to forward these details to all of the user's family, friends and colleagues stored on the device, unless a ransom of $50 (£38) is paid.

It was found in two applications in the Google Play Store, Wallpapers Blur HD and Booster & Cleaner Pro, both of which have thousands of downloads. Both are trojans that offer apparently normal functions, but they ask for excessive permissions (like the ability to access calls, reading and sending SMS and access to contacts). Once installed, LeakerLocker locks the home screen and uses those permissions to tap the victim’s email address, random contacts, Chrome history, some text messages and calls, pictures from the camera, and some device information. If a victim pays the fee, a window pops up that says, “Your [sic] personal data has been deleted from our servers and your privacy is secured.”

McAfee researchers warned that the app also can remotely load code from its control server, “so the functionality can be unpredictable, extended or deactivated to avoid detection in certain environments.”

The malware is a bit of a sham, however: Bits and pieces of information are randomly chosen to display and convince the victims that all of their data has been copied. In reality, it’s unlikely the authors have made complete copies of the information.

McAfee said that Google has been made aware of the malicious apps and has launched an investigation.

Google has removed both apps, but before this, the first app managed to gather between 5,000 and 10,000 downloads, while the second was downloaded between 1,000 and 5,000 times.

Based on user comments, both apps appear to have been part of a rewards program that gave users small amounts of money to install an app on their device. This type of distribution scheme is becoming popular and has been used in the past to trick users into installing malware on their devices.

In June, Chinese authorities arrested two individuals distributing Android ransomware after they handled payments via traceable channels. Because the LeakerLocker group handles ransom payments in a similar way, there's a high chance that authorities could track down this group as well. Below is how a standard LeakerLocker ransom note looks like.

Petya cyber attack🕵

Another widespread ransomware attack is threatening to wreak havoc across the world. 

Businesses and government agencies have been hit with a variation of the Petya ransomware -- that is, malware that holds crucial files hostage. The malware is demanding $300 in bitcoin before victims can regain access.

Security experts are warning that a quick-spreading new ransomware attack may have more tricks up its sleeve than the previous WannaCry software that crippled thousands of computers worldwide last month.

The new strain, which has similarities to a well-known software called Petya but may be a modified or wholly new version, has already caused a significant amount of damage in Europe and has moved to the US.

Companies, services and individuals in Australia — especially those whose computers are connected to big networks but have not received security updates in some time — are at risk of having their files locked and held to ransom once businesses get started this morning.

Several prominent companies and services across the globe have already been impacted by this new ransomware, with computers locked up and displaying a distinctive red block of text asking for payment in Bitcoin. In Australia, local arms of international companies that have been affected are scrambling to stop the infection spreading.

Spanish food giant Mondelez is among those hit, with its shutdown of all IT systems reportedly affecting the Cadbury factory it operates in Hobart. Australian staff at global law firm DLA Piper are facing similar troubles, told to come in to work as usual but to avoid turning on or using any computers.

While numerous European and American companies have been hit, the most damage so far appears to have been done in the Ukraine, where the state power company and main airport were among the first to report issues.

The BBC is reporting that even the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been hit, with staff being forced to monitor radiation levels manually after the computers that run the plant's sensors were impacted.

Security software vendor McAfee said that the modified Petya attack had more potential to hit the general public than WannaCry, but that it had so far been mainly detected in business environments. It said it had various samples in analysis to try and work out exactly how the new strain operates.

Kaspersky Lab believes the strain is a "new ransomware that has not been seen before", despite its strong resemblance to Petya. It has dubbed the new software NotPetya.

Regardless the new ransomware is tied to WannaCry, with several security firms confirming that it uses the same Windows vulnerability to spread through computer systems. First revealed publicly in April, this vulnerability known as Eternal Blue was patched by Microsoft in March, so any computer set to automatically install security updates is protected.

However some businesses that use specialised software don't keep their computers up to date, as it can be costly to fix compatibility issues at large scale. Many of those businesses were hit by WannaCry, and anyone who still hasn't installed the appropriate security updates may be at risk from this new attack as well.

Also at risk are embedded computer systems — for example those that run public infrastructure — which are often connected to networks but not updated. As recently as last week, speed cameras in Victoria were seen to be impacted by WannaCry.

While there are indications that the new Petya has more ways to move around inside a network than WannaCry had, it's likely these also make use of known vulnerabilities that have been patched. Until it has been fully investigated, it's difficult to say whether some systems protected against WannaCry might still be vulnerable to the new form of Petya.

While there are still a lot of details that experts are yet to uncover — including the identity of the criminals that released the attack, how the software initially breaches a computer or any other known vulnerabilities it may be exploiting — many are advising users to guard against Petya in the same way they did WannaCry: make sure the most recent Windows security updates are installed, and be vigilant in regular cyber hygiene practices including maintaining backups of your files, and not opening suspicious emails or clicking unfamiliar links.

Google will no longer read your emails📧

Since the creation of Gmail 13 years ago, Google has analysed content on personal accounts in order to target account holders with tailored adverts. In 2014, these email scanning practices were clarified in a terms of service update, stating that incoming and outgoing emails were analysed by automated software. This system would only target customers using the free version of Gmail for personal use.

The description of this service from 2014 stated: "Our automated systems analyse your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customised search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored."

This feature is compulsory and cannot be turned off. In contrast, users of its business offering, G Suite, have never had their emails scanned.

“G Suite’s Gmail is already not used as input for ads personalisation,” writes Diane Greene, the senior vice president in charge of Google Cloud. “Google has decided to follow suit later this year in our free consumer Gmail service. Consumer Gmail content will not be used or scanned for any ads personalisation after this change.”

While Google claims G Suite customers, who pay Google for use of a portfolio of web apps including Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar and Contacts, have never had their messages scanned for use in advertising, business emails have been scanned for other features. Administrative features that use scanning are still available in G Suite, such as security scans designed to pick up spam, hacking and phishing attempts.

Customers on personal accounts will no longer have their emails analysed. Advertisement personalisation will continue to be a feature across the service, using data derived from activity on users’ profiles, Google searches, browsing activity, and location tracking.

Furthermore, the promise of discontinuing scanning of personal Gmail accounts does not set aside other privacy concerns about the service. Google apps can still scan data using artificial intelligence services, to provide customers with various 'SmartReply features' - meaning automated systems will still read through email sections when this feature is used.

Most Damaging Cyberattacks in History.🕵

While Microsoft quickly issued fixes for the latest versions of Windows last month, this left Windows XP unprotected.

It's not the first time hackers have used the leaked NSA tools to infect computers. Soon after the leak, hackers infected thousands of vulnerable machines with a backdoor called DOUBLEPULSAR.

UK hospitals, Telefonica, FedEx, and other businesses were hit by a massive ransomware attack on Friday.

Cybersecurity firm Avast said it had identified more than 75,000 ransomware attacks in 99 countries, making it one of the broadest and most damaging cyberattacks in history.

Europol said Saturday that the attack was of an "unprecedented level and requires international investigation."

The ransomware, called "WannaCry," locks down all the files on an infected computer and asks the computer's administrator to pay in order to regain control of them.

The ransomware is spread by taking advantage of a Windows vulnerability that Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) released a security patch for in March.

Affected machines have six hours to pay up and every few hours the ransom goes up.

Sixteen National Health Service (NHS) organizations in the UK have been hit, and some of those hospitals have canceled outpatient appointments and told people to avoid emergency departments if possible. The NHS said in a statement on Saturday that there was no evidence that patient information had been compromised.

In China, the internet security company Qihoo360 issued a "red alert" saying that a large number of colleges and students in the country had been affected by the ransomware, which is also referred to as "WannaCrypt." State media reported that digital payment systems at PetroChina gas stations were offline, forcing customers to pay cash.

"Global internet security has reached a moment of emergency," Qihoo360 warned.
Spanish telecom company Telefónica (TEF) was also hit with the ransomware. Spanish authorities confirmed the ransomware is spreading through the vulnerability, called "EternalBlue," and advised people to patch.

Fedex said it was "experiencing interference with some of our Windows-based systems caused by malware" and was trying to fix the problems as quickly as possible.

Russia's Interior Ministry released a statement acknowledging a ransomware attack on its computers, adding that less than 1% of computers were affected, and that the virus is now "localized." The statement said antivirus systems are working to destroy it.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a statement late Friday, encouraged people to update their operating systems. "We are actively sharing information related to this event and stand ready to lend technical support and assistance as needed to our partners, both in the United States and internationally," the department said.

Kaspersky Lab says although the WannaCry ransomware can infect computers even without the vulnerability, EternalBlue is "the most significant factor" in the global outbreak.

There are now signs that the ransomware attack has subsided thanks to a kill switch, discovered by a 22-year-old in the UK. Some experts believe the attackers behind the ransomware have only raised around $20,000 from the scam. Either way, this is yet another painful security lesson for everyone involved. Exploits should be disclosed by government agencies, systems should be patched in a timely manner, and nobody should be running an old supported version of Windows.