Latest from Google's lab: Self-driving Cars

The Official Google Blog yesterday announced in a post titled 'What we're driving at'. That they had been street-testing their latest invention- Artificially intelligent cars that need no human driver.

The blog says that Google researched the technology in a bid to "help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use". However, people from the Google team say that it will be at least eight years before this technology will be ready for mass market. Nevertheless, Google has definitely taken the lead on the market by becoming an early innovator of this futuristic concept.

Google seems to have been testing these automated cars, which are modified Toyota Priuses, for some time- they claim that their self-driving cars have already logged over 140,000 miles. As for the security measures taken during tests on the road, the cars are always manned with a trained safety driver who can take over in case things go messy.

Once fully developed, this technology will probably decrease the rate of road accidents(since people won't drive drunk; breath analyzers,then , will probably become an obsolete technology!!). Besides that, Google's interests in this new venture indicates, more or less, what the future holds for us. So, if you do happen to make a time machine, please do check on this technology(and don't forget to inform us :) ).

You might also find the write up on Gizmodo useful- http://gizmodo.com/5659935/google-is-road-testing-cars-that-drive-themselves

Stuxnet: The dawn of cyber warfare?

Who in this digital age hasn’t heard of computer viruses? They seem to get into computers all the time. They slow down the system, disrupt our privacy and sometimes nastily delete our files. They get categorized into creepy names like worms and malware; and get called infections. Why, then, is there such a big fuss about something called Stuxnet? The answer is that the media and security organizations around the world are fussing over the Stuxnet worm because they believe that the Stuxnet worm may have commenced a new era of cyber warfare. 

So, what exactly is Stuxnet? Stuxnet is an entirely new kind of malicious program. Unlike other viruses and worms that attacks our PCs and even web servers, it targets industrial infrastructure instead. The media and security companies such as Symantec are worried because as a result of such malicious code, an attacker could control machinery such as pumps, motors, alarms to cause havoc in factories. Even worse, safety systems at nuclear stations could be switched off, the consequences of which would be doubtlessly disastrous.

Up until now, in the pre-Stuxnet era, industrial computers were considered relatively safer because they are controlled by computers which are different from the computers we use.  They use dedicated systems called programmable logic controllers, which have been crucial to the economy as they have heavily automated industries.  

To get a worm into an industrial system is not easy because the firms which manufacture PLCs have their own programming languages, which are made tricky for hackers to crack it. However, there now seems to have been a way for worms to get into PLCs through a Windows system. Stuxnet exploited four vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows to inject malicious code into the system. 

The Stuxnet infection’s first appearance is known to be in a USB memory stick in Iran. It has also been speculated that nuclear facilities in Iran may have been attacked by Stuxnet. 

The Stuxnet worm is believed to be written very professionally. This new worm could be the first of what is to be a new generation of cyber weaponry, commencing a new chapter in modern warfare; and thus becoming the greatest social menace of our times.

Further reading-

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet
• http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9185419/Siemens_Stuxnet_worm_hit_industrial_systems?taxonomyName=Network+Security&taxonomyId=142
• http://www.kaspersky.com/news?id=207576183