When we think about privacy and who can access our location data, we’re often focusing on our phones and not on the machine that actually takes us places: our car. A recent report from NBC News goes into just how much data is collected by our vehicles and how it can be used by police and criminals alike.

Your car, depending on how new it is and what capabilities it has, could be collecting all sorts of data without your knowledge – including location data, when its doors were opened, and even recordings of your voice. The NBC article uses the example of Joshua Wessel, a man charged with murder because the victim’s truck has a recording of his voice at the time of the killing. The report also looks at a company called Berla Corp., which has built a business out of extracting that data on behalf of the police.

In broad strokes, it’s hard to guarantee any kind of data protection, simply because cars collect so much sensitive data. Berla’s software boasts the ability to read the unique IDs of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices that have connected to a car’s infotainment system, as well as call logs, contacts, and text messages. But infotainment data isn’t all it can read – it can also look at the logs kept by the car’s internal computer, revealing when specific doors were opened, as well as providing a location log from its built-in GPS.

It’s not just the police that can get at this information. NBC mentions an Australian man who used an app to access live data from his ex-girlfriend’s Land Rover. Not only was he able to access live information about the car, but he was also able to control it, remotely turning it on and off and opening windows.
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The heart of the problem is that we’re sharing our private data with more and more devices, and the systems we rely on to keep that data safe are getting more complicated. If we really want to deal with the issue, we may have to take a hard look at our cars and start thinking about how much data they need.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to invest in new materials and processes that could enable manufacturing in space and on the moon’s surface.

To that end, the agency is launching the Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design program, or NOM4D.

“NOM4D’s vision is to develop foundational materials, processes, and designs needed to realize in-space manufacturing of large, precise, and resilient Defense Department systems,” said Bill Carter, program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.

DARPA said it is launching the program in response to the natural limitations of rocket launches in placing larger structures and systems in orbit. While the launch industry has expanded significantly in recent years, with dozens of new launch providers entering the fray, rocket launches are inherently limited – even the largest rockets have weight and volume restrictions. The solution? Place smaller pieces of a structure on-orbit with multiple launches, and then assemble them in space. Or better yet, collect materials from the moon to build with.

“We will explore the unique advantages afforded by on-orbit manufacturing using advanced materials ferried from Earth,” Carter said. “Large structures such as antennas and solar panels can be substantially more weight-efficient and potentially much more precise. We will also explore the unique features of in-situ resources obtained from the moon’s surface as they apply to future defense missions.”

Manufacturing in space could also enable more flexibility in designing space systems. Today, most satellites are designed to be as compact as possible to be integrated with and launched on rockets. But by assembling systems in space, systems can be designed without some of those volume restrictions, allowing them to be more mass efficient.

“We’re looking for proposers to come up with system designs that are so mass efficient that they can only be built off-earth, and with features that enable them to withstand maneuvers, eclipses, damage, and thermal cycles typical of space and lunar environments” Carter said. “Given the constraints of ground test, launch, and deployment, the traditional approach to designing space structures is not likely to result in dramatic improvements in mass efficiency. To take the next step, we’ve got to go about materials, manufacturing, and design in a completely new way.”

The idea of assembling systems and structures in space isn’t exactly new. Famously, the International Space System was assembled in space using several components individually launched into space.

“People have been thinking about on-orbit manufacturing for some time, so we expect to demonstrate new materials and manufacturing technologies by the program’s end,” Carter added.

With NOM4D, DARPA will work with participants over three 18-month phases to develop precise, mass efficient structures that could be used for on-orbit construction. Each phase will focus on one of three applications: Large solar arrays, large radio frequency reflector antennas, and segmented infrared reflective optics.
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The agency is hosting a proposers day webinar on Feb. 26 and expects to release a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicitation later in the month.

The shift to digital work and play from home, hastened by the pandemic, has wreaked havoc on commercial real estate. But experts say it has also generated one surprising bright spot for the industry: data centers.

The growing reliance on cloud-based technology – and the huge, blocky buildings that house its hardware – has created greater opportunities for developers and investors as businesses and consumers gobble up more data in a world that has become increasingly connected.

“Our houses are connected, our cars are connected, our streetlights and parking meters are connected, and every single one of those connections is passing data back and forth,” said Sean O’Hara, president of the exchange-traded funds’ division at Pacer Financial, an investment advisory firm in Malvern, PA.

Companies that provide data storage are preparing for even greater demand as new technologies like 5G, and artificial intelligence become more widely used.

“Our business has continued to grow through the pandemic,” said Nelson Fonseca, chief executive of Cyxtera. This company owns 62 data centers across the United States and five markets in Europe and Asia. “It actually accelerated all the drivers that were growing the industry in the first place.”

Mr. Fonseca said Cyxtera, which typically leases space in its centers for three-year contracts, was on the hunt for new markets. “We’re seeing demand across the board,” he said. “Our pipeline going into 2021 is even larger.”

The acceleration of existing consumer behaviors and workforce trends has driven companies to demand more space for their data, said Patrick Lynch, senior managing director of the data center solutions group at the real estate services and investment firm CBRE.

“Things like working from home and online shopping and distributed workforces all just layered into the momentum the industry had,” he said.

And investors have taken note. “Over the past 90 days, we’re seeing a massive shift in capital toward this industry by big investment funds,” said Andy Cvengros, senior vice president and a member of the technology solutions practice at JLL, a real estate services, and investing company.

In October, Goldman Sachs announced an investment of up to $500 million in data center infrastructure, and the private equity firms Blackstone and KKR have recently announced data center investments.

Real estate investment trusts focused on data centers delivered returns of 19% in the first half of 2020 – one of only two real estate investment trust (REIT) sectors that showed growth, according to a recent report by JLL. (The other sector, industrials, yielded a modest 2% return.) By comparison, returns for hotel and resort REITs plunged 49%, those for retail fell 37%, and office space dropped 25%.

“It’s an acknowledgment that this is not a niche real estate market anymore,” Mr. Lynch said.
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Data centers have emerged as a critical part of the digital infrastructure that connects people and businesses to one another and the rest of the world, said Jon Lin, president for the Americas region at Equinix, one of the largest global data center companies.

Amazon, Google's parent Alphabet, and UPS all hope to one day deliver large amounts of goods by drone. New US government rules have cleared some hurdles to make that dream a reality.

The Federal Aviation Administration finalized new rules for small, unmanned drones that could pave the way for expanded commercial uses of the vehicles, including delivery services.

For the first time, the FAA will allow small commercial drones to fly short distances over people and at night without a waiver. Small drones will also be permitted to fly over moving vehicles under limited conditions.

In a change from a previously proposed draft of the rules, drone operators must also have their remote pilot certificates on their persons and ready to be displayed if challenged by the authorities.

The rules apply to drone operators who use their unmanned aircraft for work or business under the FAA's Part 107 regulations. As many as 1.7 million drones have been registered with the FAA, as well as more than 203,000 drone pilots, the agency said. 

"The new rules make way for the further integration of drones into our airspace by addressing safety and security concerns," said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. "They get us closer to the day when we will more routinely see drone operations such as the delivery of packages."

The agency said it submitted the rule changes to the Federal Register and expects them to be published in January. The new regulations will take effect 60 days after publication.

The new rules mark a significant step forward by the US government toward a future of commercial drone deliveries, a vision outlined by Amazon as far back as 2013. Since then, the FAA's development of drone regulations has progressed in fits and starts, prompting critics to worry that other countries could pull ahead and gain a critical first-mover advantage in drone-based commerce. 

Industry advocates said there are still many steps ahead before that drone delivery can go mainstream in the US – such as opening up the rules to allow routine drone flights beyond an operator's visual line of sight. 
Those types of expanded operations "are critical to fully realizing the promise of [drone] technology to deliver innumerable economic and societal benefits," said the Small UAV Coalition, an industry advocacy group.
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Last year, UPS and Wing — a sister company to Google — became the first companies to gain FAA approval to operate a drone airline. In August, Amazon received the same approval certificate. Amazon has set a goal of completing drone deliveries within 30 minutes or less of an order being placed. 

Many Americans are very frustrated that they have to pay a mandatory router rental charge every month as part of their ISP bill. It gets added even if you purchase and use your own router in many cases. But as of Dec. 20, the practice is now illegal, and you can demand your ISP stop the charge.

As The Verge reports, your ISP can still charge for a router sent to a customer, but that customer should be able to return the router, have the fee canceled, and supply their own router instead. The charge is typically $10 a month, so the cost of buying a router is soon recouped. A good budget router can cost less than $50, meaning you'll start seeing the benefit of money saved in less than six months.
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Don't expect ISPs to take the initiative here and cancel the fee automatically. If you are already using your own equipment, contact your ISP and demand that the fee is stopped. Send them a link to the bill if they protest. Alternatively, if you are using the equipment supplied by your ISP, do some research, see if there's a good alternative available and check the process for returning the ISP-provided equipment before attempting to cancel the fee. You want to avoid any internet downtime, especially as we are all so reliant on the internet for communication right now.

In the near future, your phone may take its 5G signal from the sky instead of a nearby mast on the ground. It's an innovative way to solve the problem of increasing connectivity without relying on thousands of terrestrial cell towers. The concept is known as a High-Altitude Platform Station (HAPS), and it essentially takes the cell tower from the ground and puts it in the sky.

The latest HAPS project to be unveiled is from Great Britain – Stratospheric Platforms and Cambridge Consultants. Recently, the pair revealed the core of its efforts, a special antenna and crewless aircraft, which it has been working on confidentially for the last four years.

How will it work? Instead of talking to a nearby tower to get its signal, your phone talks to a three-square-meter antenna attached to hydrogen-powered aircraft with a 60-meter wingspan, flying at an altitude of 12 miles (20 kilometers). The aircraft, or HAP, is expected to stay aloft for at least a week, all the while providing 4G LTE and 5G network coverage over an area of about 86 miles (140 kilometers).

Phones don't give off a powerful signal, hence the antenna array's size on the aircraft, which has 4,000 radios working together inside it. The processing power is similarly immense, helping to steer and direct the beams toward the ground even when the aircraft is shifting around. The cooling system has to work at high altitudes, minimize drag, and keep the weight manageable. It's an exciting piece of technology in itself.

The aircraft itself, which is made of a composite material, has already been certified for use, so it's deemed safe and ready for flight in civil airspace. There's no pilot, and ground-based operators will only be involved during takeoff and landing. The hydrogen power cell is not only environmentally friendly, as it only produces water vapor and emits very little noise, but it also gives off a lot of power — it has been tested to 50KW in labs already — for a long duration. That's a lot more than the low-power solar power systems used on other HAP vehicles.

HAPS systems are also expected to be cheaper to implement. Building each aircraft reportedly saves 70% over the costs of building and installing a traditional mast. Then there's the space-saving and logistical benefits. According to research quoted by the team, it's estimated that an impractical sum of 400,000 5G masts will be needed to cover the U.K., for example, and each aircraft could replace around 200 of those masts.

What can you expect from the connection? The aircraft should return a smooth Sub-6 5G beamed signal offering speeds of 100Mbits per second and 1m/s latency to devices connected to it, which don't need any special software or hardware modifications. While a fleet of HAPS aircraft could provide enough coverage for an entire country, what's very interesting is that the unique modular design of the antenna enables targeted coverage.

This means a signal from a part of the antenna could be focused on an individual area like a motorway or even a single vehicle driving on it. The team said a fleet of 60 aircraft could cover the U.K. in its entirety, and the idea is for networks to partner with dedicated "airlines" that operate the planes.

Potential problems. This new technology forces networks to rethink how they currently work. Network operators are already installing a 5G network using traditional masts. Convincing them to bypass this and adopt a sky-bound service will take a lot of work. However, the team calls its stratospheric network complementary to a traditional terrestrial network and says the costs involved will be temptingly less than creating a widespread 5G network using only ground-based masts.
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When will it arrive? When can we expect to see Stratospheric Platforms HAPS system in operation? Deutsche Telekom is the project's initial investor and launch partner, and it has already tested an early version to show the system works. Stratospheric Platforms' aircraft is in preproduction now, with plans for the first prototype flight in 2022, while the antenna exists as a proof of concept and works with 3G, 4G, and 5G. It's anticipated the service will go live in 2024.

One of my ‘go-to’ technology research firms is Forrester Research. Recently, the firm said 2021 would be the year that edge computing graduates from experiment to practically applicable technology, primarily driven by AI and 5G. Edge computing is a technology that places the processing close to the data source rather than concentrated processing at a distant central location.

Forrester has released a bundle of tech predictions for 2021, and part of it is a firm claim about edge computing: 2021 is the year it will finally become a real value. 

“Until now, edge computing was promising but still developing. In 2021, new business models will emerge that facilitate the deployment of edge in production,” Forrester said in a summary of its predictions. 

The new business models that will push edge computing “from science project to real value” in 2021 are based mainly on two factors. Forrester said: Cloud platforms having to compete with artificial intelligence and the widespread proliferation of 5G will make edge use cases more practical.

With those two drivers in mind, Forrester made five predictions about how the tech world will evolve in 2021 that will directly impact edge computing.

Edge Hosting Will Evolve into a Full-Fledged Marketplace. Content delivery networks (CDNs) like Akamai and Fastly, Forrester said, are starting to target edge computing demands, leading to them reaching out to colocation companies to find small, widely distributed data centers where applications can be hosted closer to the populations they serve. 

Even large colocation firms lack the localized presence needed to meet edge computing demands, Forrester said. Those same large companies often obscure the small local players required to complete their edge services.

“In 2021, colocation marketplace aggregators like Edgevana and Inflect will emerge as attractive options for the CDNs and global colocation leaders serving enterprise needs, even in rural locales,” Forrester predicts.

Kubernetes Will Dominate, but There Won’t Be an Orchestration Winner. Forrester predicts that lightweight Kubernetes deployments will end up accounting for 20% of edge orchestration in 2021, but that doesn’t mean the battle for edge orchestration will end. Canonical, Huawei, OpenStack, Rancher, and other companies are also trying to expand their lightweight, edge-optimized platforms, and competition will be fierce in the year to come.

AI Will Leave the Data Center for the Edge. Forrester predicts that the use of AI in edge computing will undergo a significant shift in 2021: Instead of machine learning models being trained in the data center, learning will start to happen at the edge. 

That shift will be possible thanks to new chips from Intel and Nvidia and new machine learning techniques like reinforcement and federated learning. “Edge application intelligence will blossom in 2021 to accelerate digital transformation, especially in industries that must bridge the physical and digital worlds in real-time,” Forrester said.

Private 5G Networks Will Spread. Nationwide 5G from major telecom networks won’t be sufficient to meet edge computing needs, Forrester said. In its place will be private 5G networks deployed by companies and developed by manufacturers like Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia. 

In 2021, Forrester predicts, private 5G networks will be used in cases like factory floor automation, AR/VR for remote inspection, surveillance, quality assurance, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and employee safety.

Public Cloud Growth Will Slow While Edge Spending Will Grow. Forrester predicts the public cloud market will experience a growth decline from 42% in 2018 to 24% in 2022 due to market maturation. In its place will be an explosion of growth in edge computing, meaning more growth for companies that have invested in cloud-like solutions for edge computing and content delivery, not centralized data centers.
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Public cloud entities won’t disappear, but they won’t dominate the future of distributed computing, Forrester predicts. “Their culture is based on massive data centers and tight control of the architecture; the exact opposite of what firms need to serve customers locally. Vendors with a winning edge strategy will do better.” 

The electric vehicle (EV) market's demand for ultra-fast charging has never been higher, as automotive batteries aim to replicate the convenience of filling up a tank at a gas station in minutes.

According to the US Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), more than 80% of EV charging takes place at the driver's residence via basic wall outlets (100V/120V) or dryer outlets (220/240V). This makes sense as residential charging is convenient and inexpensive.

Problems arise when the EV is driven far enough away from the residence to warrant a recharge to get back home or continue the journey. This scenario is why fast-charging stations are growing in demand. Fast charging aims to recharge EV batteries within a short period of time, similar to refueling conventional gasoline vehicles. Today's fast charging typically takes about 20 minutes to charge up to 80% capacity.

The growth of fast-charging stations will help address the common driver concern of the limited range of their EV. The increase of fast-charging stations will mean drivers can easily refuel and significantly extend their vehicles' driving range.

But fast charging comes at a price. Until recently, many EV battery systems were not compatible with the fastest charging system. Fortunately, the major EV car manufacturers are investing in high-speed chargers with capacities of 150kW or higher and even faster, ultra-fast recharging technology.

Companies are working to address the issues between fast charging systems and battery capacity and safety. For example, Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Principal at NorthBridge Energy Partners, LLC, has been tracking the developments from SK Innovations.

"Why carry a huge canteen (or battery) on your hike if you know you can fill quickly at a stream every two or three hours on your journey," asked Kelly-Detwiler?  "Of course, the charging infrastructure will need to be there, with liquid-cooled cables, etc., but I do think a portion of the industry will end up at 350-400 kW capability to support the Hummers or SK Innovations supported EVs."

The need for liquid-cooled energy cables hints at another challenge for fast-charging EV stations, namely, their adverse impact on the electrical power system. Common effects include harmonic contamination in the transmission lines and high current, adding to peak-hour consumption concerns. The high power and current ratings of the recharging facilities require supervised operation at specially designed stations.

Types of Rechargers. There are two types of recharging "fuels," namely, alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). A standard cord set is provided with each new vehicle that typically enables 3.6kW of charging via a conventional wall socket. Using this approach, the impact on the electricity grid is limited as the charging rate is so low.

There are three major categories of chargers, based on the maximum amount of power the charger provides to the battery from the grid, according to the EERE):

• Level 1: Provides charging through a 120 V AC plug and does not require additional charging equipment.  This level can deliver 2 to 5 miles of range per hour of charging. Most often used in homes, but sometimes used at workplaces.
• Level 2: Provides charging through a 240 V DC (for residential) or 208 V (for commercial) plug and requires the installation of additional charging equipment. It can deliver 10 to 20 miles of range per hour of charging. Used in homes, workplaces, and public charging.
• DC Fast Charge: Provides charging through 480 V AC input and requires highly specialized, high-powered equipment and special equipment in the vehicle itself.  (Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles typically do not have fast charging capabilities.) It can deliver 60 to 80 miles of range in 20 minutes of charging. This service is used most often in public charging stations, especially along heavy traffic corridors.

Depending upon the type of EV battery, how depleted it is, and its capacity, the charging rate amongst these three categories can be anywhere from less than 30 minutes to 20 hours.

Another type of charging, currently being researched by the Department of Energy (DoE) and provided to specific vehicle models Qualcomm and others, is cord-free wireless battery charging. For example, Qualcomm's Halo tech is currently fitted to the Formula E Safety Car and Medical car. The main advantage of wireless charging is convenience and not necessarily a faster charging rate.

A common concern with EV owners is the effect of faster-charging systems on the vehicle's battery life. The issue is that the chemical processes involved in rapidly charging a battery can lead to greater thermal loads that may degrade the battery faster than regular charges. The result could be reduced battery life and a decrease in driving range.

According to Jim Francfort, project manager in INL's Advanced Transportation Group and quoted from an INL article, "The value of building infrastructure is a difficult thing to measure. To put DC fast-charging stations along interstate corridors could encourage people to take longer trips even if they don't stop to charge."
The fact that fast charging is available gives EV drivers the confidence they might otherwise lack. This new breed of drivers will know that fast charging is available, like gas stations for traditional vehicles, if they need it.

Microsoft is urging users to abandon telephone-based multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions like one-time codes sent via Short Message Service (SMS) and voice calls and instead replace them with newer MFA technologies, like app-based authenticators and security keys.

The warning comes from Alex Weinert, Director of Identity Security at Microsoft. For the past year, Weinert has been advocating on Microsoft's behalf, urging users to embrace and enable MFA for their online accounts.

In a blog post last year, citing internal Microsoft statistics, Weinert said that users who enabled multi-factor authentication (MFA) ended up blocking around 99.9% of automated attacks against their Microsoft accounts.

But in a follow-up blog post, Weinert says that if users have to choose between multiple MFA solutions, they should stay away from telephone-based MFA.

The Microsoft exec cites several known security issues, not with MFA, but with today's state of the telephone networks.

Weinert says that both SMS and voice calls are transmitted in cleartext and can be easily intercepted by determined attackers, using techniques and tools like software-defined-radios, FEMTO cells, or SS7 intercept services.

SMS-based one-time codes are also phishable via open source and readily-available phishing tools like Modlishka, CredSniper, or Evilginx.

Further, phone network employees can be tricked into transferring phone numbers to a threat actor's SIM card – in attacks known as SIM swapping – allowing attackers to receive MFA one-time codes on behalf of their victims.

On top of these, phone networks are also exposed to changing regulations, downtimes, and performance issues, all of which impact the availability of the MFA mechanism overall, which, in turn, prevents users from authenticating on their account in moments of urgency.

SMS and voice calls are the least secure MFA method today.

All of these make SMS and call-based MFA "the least secure of the MFA methods available today," according to Weinert.

The Microsoft exec believes that this gap between SMS & voice-based MFA "will only widen" in the future.
As MFA adoption increases overall, with more users adopting MFA for their accounts, attackers will also become more interested in breaking MFA methods, with SMS and voice-based MFA naturally becoming their primary target due to its extensive adoption.

Weinert says that users should enable a more robust MFA mechanism for their accounts, if available, recommending Microsoft's Authenticator MFA app as a good starting point.

But if users want the best, they should go with hardware security keys, which Weinert ranked as the best MFA solution in a blog post he published last year.
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This preference for app or security key alternatives for MFA shouldn't mean that users should disable SMS or voice-based MFA for their accounts without substituting another MFA approach. SMS MFA is still way better than no MFA at all.

There are a lot of encrypted USB flash drives out there. You plug them in, and either there's an on-screen popup that asks for your passcode, or some sort of physical keypad that is used to gain access.

But what about transferring the unlocking mechanism to a mobile device – such as a smartphone or your Apple Watch?

This is precisely what the iStorage datAshur BT hardware-encrypted USB flash drive does.

Visually, the iStorage datAshur BT looks like any other USB flash drive. It has a tough epoxy-like exterior that gives the drive a water- and dust-resistant rating of IP57 (protected against damage from dust ingress, and water resistant to 1 meter).

The datAshur BT comes in capacities from 16GB to 128GB.

Data on the datAshur BT is fully encrypted using AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption, which is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 compliant design and technology. Brute force is defended against by a built-in data wipe if there are too many wrong attempts made.

Everything is protected by a 7-15-character password or a biometric unlock such as Face ID/Facial recognition, Touch ID/Fingerprint, or IRIS scanning from a smartphone or tablet. The drive communicates using Bluetooth to any smartphone/tablet (iOS/Android) or Apple Watch. The Bluetooth channel is secured by a FIPS validated encryption layer and is only used for connection purposes. There is also support for 2FA using SMS.

The drive itself is completely host independent, so it will work with Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome, and so on, VDIs such as Citrix and VMWare, and also with embedded systems such as medical devices, TVs, drones, printers, scanners, or pretty much anything with a USB port.
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Prices for the iStorage datAshur BT range from $103 to $181, depending on the capacity.