UC Berkeley School of Information researchers propose a science fiction-style replacement to passwords-- "brainwave-based computer authentication," where one thinks about a password instead of actually typing it. 

The idea is actually not too new. It involves the use of electroencephalograms (EEGs) to measure the brainwaves, with "pass-thoughts" replacing typed passwords. However, until recently, EEG technology required dense electrode arrays, proving to be decidedly excessive just to check one's emails...

The UC Berkely system, as presented at the 2013 Workshop on Usable Security, uses the consumer-grade Neurosky MindSet. A Bluetooth headset with a single dry-contact sensor, the MindSet provides a single channel EEG signal from the brain's left frontal lobe. It also proves to be secure, accurate and reproducible enough for password use, so long users want to use it, of course.  Read more...

EMEA security appliance factory revenues grow by 5.2% Y-o-Y to $696.8 million during Q4 2012 according to IDC, while shipments reach 200089 units with 5.2% Y-o-Y growth. 

For the whole of 2012 revenues total around $2.5 billion with 2% growth over 2011. 

The W. European market shows similar results-- Q4 2012 revenues grow by 3.9% Y-o-Y to $522.9m and total 2012 revenues grow to almost $1.15 billion with flat 0.5% growth. 

"A strong Q4 in W. Europe, mainly led by Unified Threat Management (UTM) results, helped security appliance market growth to remain positive in 2012," IDC says. "Demand for unified solutions remains as strong as ever, as simplified deployment and lower TCO are major selling points for these security solutions." Read more...

Did you experience slower internet this week? It could have been the result a DDoS attack analysts describe as "the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history," the BBC reports. 

Apparently spurring the attack is a dispute between spam filtration firm Spamhaus and Dutch web host Cyberbunker. Reportedly Spamhaus added Cyberbunker servers to its blocklists, a decision triggering a DDoS attack of unprecedented proportions on Spamhaus servers. 

Spamhaus accuses Cyberbunker of the week-long attack, as well as cooperation with Russian and E. European "criminal gangs." Meanwhile Cyberbunker insists Spamhaus is abusing of its position, and should not decide "what goes and does not go on the internet."  Read more...

Juniper Networks presents enhanced security offerings at the RSA Conference 2013-- including Junos Spotlight Secure, a cloud-based global attacker intelligence service. 

Junos Spotlight Secure identifies individual attackers at device level and tracks them in a global database, creating a persistent attacker device fingerprint based on over 200 unique attributes. According to Juniper such an approach provides more detailed security intelligence, with less false positives than similar services relying only on IP addresses.

Meanwhile Junos WebApp Secure (aka 2012 Juniper acquisition Mykonos) identifies and fingerprints attackers, with the database sharing attacker profiles with other subscribers to provide advanced real-time security across multiple networks.   Read more...