Cyber Crime - the Ultimate Scam?
A new type of criminal has emerged. Educated, intelligent and
technically sophisticated, the computer crook may appear in the role of
villain or hero. Potentially capable of `the perfect crime', his/her
toolkit includes logic bombs, worms, viruses, and Trojan horses. A
video reconstruction of a celebrated computer crime is included!
Is IT Safe - Should we Trust Computers?
Our everyday lives are increasingly in the hands of computers. These
so-called `safety critical' systems are potentially life-threatening if
they go wrong. So how do we know they are safe? With the aid of a short
video an unsettling conclusion is offered.
Can You Keep a Secret? - Cryptography and Privacy
Modern cryptography and steganography have developed to the point where
anyone with a PC can not only generate messages which are virtually
undecipherable by even the best equipped government intelligence agency,
but also conceal the fact that they are using strong cryptography at all!
This is excellent news for individual privacy and for human rights
campaigners operating under oppressive regimes. But what about the
international terrorists, drug barons, paedophile rings and pornography
peddlers who also use this technology? Video illustrated.
Information Warfare - Battles in CyberSpace
As our society places ever greater reliance on computers for its
day-to-day operations and transactions, it becomes increasingly
vulnerable to attack by hackers, terrorist groups, counterintelligence
agents and military forces of hostile governments. It is at least
possible that a future conflict will be waged at the level of computer
networks and information infrastructures, rather than with bombs, guns
or missiles. What are the likely CyberWar scenarios? And would they lead
to a `Clean War'?
Artificial Neural Networks - Novelty from Neurons
Taking inspiration from the structure of the brain, ANNs can be trained to
perform a wide variety of complex tasks, including recognition and
discrimination and classification. On the other hand, the only computer
programs that have beaten international chess grandmasters are essentially
reliant on 'brute force' for their success.
Artificial Immune Systems - Learning from Lymphocytes
It has been claimed that the human immune system (HIS) is more complex than
the human brain, capable of adaptive learning and remembering. It has inspired
the development of AISs which can be used to recognise the kinds of abnormal
behaviour patterns that are apparent in criminal activity such as financial
fraud and malicious cyberattacks on computer systems and networks.
Artificial Life - Evolution 'in silico'
Evolving populations of hypothetical 'creatures' in a virtual 'environment'
can lead to adaptations (or 'biomorphs') of withering strangeness and
complexity using very simple principles. This implies that genetic algorithms
and genetic programming can be used to evolve good (but not necessarily ideal)
solutions to a wide variety of complex problems, such as winning strategies
for games.
Computers, Competition & Cooperation - the Evolution of Altruism?
In the Prisoners' Dilemma, the payoffs favour the partner who defects on,
rather than cooperates with, the other. However, if they play each other
repeatedly, a player whose strategy is always to defect does not win out
ultimately - a more cooperative strategy yields higher long-term payoffs.
Can this justify/explain the existence of altruism?
Schroedinger's Cat is Alive and Well! - Quantum Computing & Quantum
Cryptography
The quantum world allows us to process information in ways undreamed of in our
everyday classical world. Quantum superposition and quantum entanglement are
two features of quantum information processing which promise the ability to
break the toughest known ciphers and to transmit guaranteed tamper-proof
messages.