Ben-GurionUniversity
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Israeli researchers compromise isolated network with dumbphones
Without a doubt, storing highly sensitive data on an internet-disconnected, "air-gapped" computer network is one of the best security measures an organization can take -- but nothing is foolproof. Researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Isreal have figured out how to discreetly siphon data from a isolated computer with no wireless radios, no external connectivity and no connection whatsoever to any other computer. All it takes is a little malware and an old, non-smart mobile phone.
Snail turned into living battery, should have taken the blue pill
You know how those mad scientists at DARPA are obsessed with generating power from insects? A team from Clarkson University, New York and Ben-Gurion University, Israel has gone one better by turning a Snail into a cybernetic power generator. A pair of Buckypaper electrodes were charged by the electro-chemical reactions in the slow-moving invertebrates "hemolymph," its equivalent to blood. Its hoped the Snails will provide a sustainable way to power listening devices for the Department of Homeland Security, so if you suddenly find your crawlspace full of gastropods, be careful what you say. [Image credit: American Chemical Society]
Ben-Gurion University's wall-climbing robots scale defenses, haunt nightmares, stain faux-finishes (video)
We've seen plenty of prototype mechanisms for autonomous dealies that can scale the straightest of walls, but never have we seen so many gathered together into what can only be called a festival of disconcerting feats of robotic ingenuity. One uses magnets, one has little claws, and one uses integrated hot glue guns that would leave you with no doubt that something sticky had been exploring your walls. They were all developed by a team of engineers working with Amir Shapiro at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, where he studies biomimetrics: technology that tries to do what animals do. Applications for all this? The Israeli military is apparently quite interested, a force that we will be working extra hard to stay within the good graces of from now on.
