Binary obfuscation using signals, for the confused

Are you (or is someone you know) a bit confused about binary obfuscation using signals? This report could help, one way or another: “Binary Obfuscation Using Signals,” Igor V. Popov, Saumya K. Debray, Gregory R. Andrews, 16th USENIX Security Symposium, pp. 275–290 of the Proceedings. The authors are, or were, at the Department of Computer Science, The […]

Professor Bender’s Kissing Goodbye Algorithm

“Given a rectangular room with n people in it, what is the most efficient way for each pair of people to kiss each other goodbye?“ Professor Bender, (pictured, of the Department of Computer Science, Stony Brook University, New York) along with his colleagues Ritwik Bose, Rezaul Chowdhury and Samuel McCauley, have made progress towards an […]

Dropped red herring attacks

The ‘Dropped Red Herring Attack’ was first (Improbable believes) described by Professor Brad Karp (pictured right) and colleagues Dr. James Newsome and Professor Dawn Song in their paper for Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium On Recent Advances In Intrusion Detection (RAID 2006), entitled: ‘Paragraph: Thwarting signature learning by training maliciously’. “In the Dropped Red […]

‘Fat fingers’ and computer programming languages

The ‘Fat Finger Syndrome’ is a semi-affectionate nickname used by computer programmers – meaning ‘making typing errors’. As anyone who has tried their hand at programming will know, a seemingly tiny error (for a human), for example simply substituting a   ;    for a   :    can render a programme completely unusable. But it […]

He multiplied two 10-digit numbers in his head, in just 7 hours

Computer access to a stack of photos can be used to boost one’s mental calculating ability, suggests this paper. Do pay attention to the thought in parentheses, at the very end of this quotation: “Multiplying 10-digit numbers using Flickr: The power of recognition memory,” Andrew Drucker [pictured here], 2011. The author, at MIT, explains: In […]

A man — Mikhailovich — obsessed, computationally, with laughter

Suslov Igor Mikhailovich, Doctor of Science, who is Head Scientist at the P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, has been working steadily towards a goal: creating a computer with a sense of humor. The photo below shows Mikhailovich projecting his thoughts. Here are four of his research papers on the matter: 1. arXiv:0711.3197 [pdf, ps, other] How to realize […]