Category: Uncategorized

WHAT LEGISLATIVE REMEDIES do we have for the bioterrorism and biowarfare problems? Does our system of open publication help or hinder? Do multinational agreements have any value if covert R&D appears inevitable and verification is all but impossible in a day when information is the key, rather than the pathogens themselves? The following string of blogs looks lightly at these questions. View in LinkedIn

DARPA DOING ADVANCED RESEARCH. "Recent innovations in biotechnology have significantly reduced the cost, time, infrastructure and level of training required to manipulate genetic code and alter the behavior of an organism. Numerous defense missions could benefit from the resulting biotechnology capabilities." http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Programs/Chronicle_of_Lineage_Indicative_of_Origins_(CLIO).aspx View in LinkedIn

BIO-TERRORISM LIKELY TO INCREASE. "In the future, as the price drops and the technology becomes more common place, criminals and terrorists will be able to exploit synthetic biology not only to drive large-scale outbreaks. They will also be able to create targeted attacks against a single individual based on his or her own unique biology." http://lnkd.in/dMrYX_T View in LinkedIn

CELL BASED VACCINES are emerging to replace chicken egg techniques which are antiquated and slow. "On November 20, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Flucelvax, which is the first U.S.-licensed (trivalent inactivated) influenza vaccine manufactured using cell culture technology." Good start. No more chicken eggs. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/cell-based.htm View in LinkedIn

RECENT CYBERATTACKS. "In the past 20 years, there have been plenty of instances of cybercrime and scyberespionage. But there have been only three and a half cyberattacks that could conceivably rise to the level of a cyberwar ... none of these engendered a genuine cyber crisis." http://lnkd.in/dD6ANtw View in LinkedIn

SIGN OF THE TIMES. "National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks; program, code-named Quantum, uses secret radio frequency technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet." http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/ View in LinkedIn

US CYBERWEAPONS. "Obama administration has spent billions of dollars developing sophisticated cyberweapons with view to using them to intervene in Syrian conflict while reducing need for traditional military attacks; considerations that have led Pres Obama to hesitate about using cyberweapons in Syria reflect larger concerns about the new and untested tactic." http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cyberwarfare/ View in LinkedIn

CYBER ARMS RACE. "Mark 2013 down as the year that the global cyberweapons arms race started ... five cyberattacks of unprecedented size and scope in just the first six months of the year ... many of these cyberattacks appear to have emanated from state-sponsored actors coordinating cyberespionage campaigns lasting years..." http://lnkd.in/dMrYX_T View in LinkedIn

MASK: ADVANCED CYBERWARFARE. "A sophisticated computer virus aimed at governments and finance firms was probably created by a nation state ... the virus is thought to have been targeting victims for seven years." Victims include governments, private equity firms, embassies, oil and gas companies, activist groups and research labs. http://lnkd.in/dqS6TVj View in LinkedIn

IRANIAN NUCLEAR CENTRIFUGE TARGET by STUXNET malware virus. "It is speculated to have been created by United States and Israeli agencies to attack Iran's nuclear facilities... While it is not the first time that hackers have targeted industrial systems ... it is the first discovered malware that spies on and subverts industrial systems." http://lnkd.in/d68yicx View in LinkedIn