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Showing posts with label encryption system. Show all posts
Researchers
Agriculture industry AI technology Cyber Security Data protection edge devices encryption system Farming Industry IoT Researchers

South Dakota Researchers Develop Secure IoT-Based Crop Monitoring System

 

At the 2025 annual meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, researchers from South Dakota State University unveiled a groundbreaking system designed to help farmers increase crop yields while reducing costs. This innovative technology combines sensors, biosensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence to monitor crop growth and deliver actionable insights. 

Unlike most projects that rely on simulated post-quantum security in controlled lab environments, the SDSU team, led by Professor Lin Wei and Ph.D. student Manish Shrestha, implemented robust, real-world security in a complete sensor-to-cloud application. Their work demonstrates that advanced, future-ready encryption can operate directly on small IoT devices, eliminating the need for large servers to safeguard agricultural data. 

The team placed significant emphasis on protecting the sensitive information collected by their system. They incorporated advanced encryption and cryptographic techniques to ensure the security and integrity of the vast datasets gathered from the field. These datasets included soil condition measurements—such as temperature, moisture, and nutrient availability—alongside early indicators of plant stress, including nutrient deficiencies, disease presence, and pest activity. Environmental factors were also tracked to provide a complete picture of field health. 

Once processed, this data was presented to farmers in a user-friendly format, enabling them to make informed management decisions without exposing their operational information to potential threats. This could include optimizing irrigation schedules, applying targeted fertilization, or implementing timely pest and disease control measures, all while ensuring data privacy.  

Cybersecurity’s role in agricultural technology emerged as a central topic at the conference, with many experts recognizing that safeguarding digital farming systems is as critical as improving productivity. The SDSU project attracted attention for addressing this challenge head-on, highlighting the importance of building secure infrastructure for the rapidly growing amount of agricultural data generated by smart farming tools.  

Looking ahead, the research team plans to further refine their crop monitoring system. Future updates may include faster data processing and a shift to solar-powered batteries, which would reduce maintenance needs and extend device lifespan. These improvements aim to make the technology even more efficient, sustainable, and farmer-friendly, ensuring that agricultural innovation remains both productive and secure in the face of evolving cyber threats.
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Vulnerabilities and Exploits
AES-XTS Bitlocker encryption system Microsoft Vulnerabilities and Exploits

BitLocker Vulnerability Exposes Encryption Flaws: A New Challenge for Cybersecurity

 

Password theft has recently dominated headlines, with billions of credentials compromised. Amid this crisis, Microsoft has been pushing to replace traditional passwords with more secure authentication methods. However, a new vulnerability in the Windows BitLocker full-disk encryption tool has raised concerns about the security of even the most advanced encryption systems.

A medium-severity flaw in BitLocker, identified as CVE-2025-21210, has exposed the encryption system to a novel randomization attack targeting the AES-XTS encryption mode. This vulnerability highlights the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks against full-disk encryption systems. When exploited, it allows attackers to alter ciphertext blocks, causing sensitive data to be written to disk in plaintext.

Jason Soroko, Senior Fellow at Sectigo, explained the implications of this vulnerability. “BitLocker uses AES-XTS encryption to ensure that even if someone physically accesses the hard drive, they cannot easily read the data without the encryption key,” he noted. However, this new attack bypasses traditional decryption methods by manipulating how encrypted data is handled.

How the Randomization Attack Works

To illustrate the attack, Soroko used an analogy involving a library of books. “Rather than stealing or directly reading the books, the hacker subtly modifies certain pages (the ciphertext blocks) in multiple books,” he explained. While the rest of the book remains intact and unreadable, tampering with specific pages can cause the library’s system to misplace or disclose critical data.

Over time, these subtle modifications can lead to bits of data being written in plaintext, exposing sensitive information without directly breaking the encryption. “The real danger is that this method doesn’t require breaking the encryption directly,” Soroko concluded. “Instead, it manipulates how the encrypted data is handled, allowing attackers to bypass security measures and access sensitive information.”

Mitigating the Risk

To defend against such attacks, Soroko emphasized the importance of keeping encryption software up-to-date with the latest security patches. Additionally, organizations should:

  1. Restrict Physical Access: Ensure that devices with sensitive data are physically secure to prevent tampering.
  2. Monitor Systems: Regularly check for unusual activity that might indicate an attack or unauthorized access.
  3. Implement Layered Security: Combine encryption with other security measures, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and intrusion detection systems.

This vulnerability underscores the evolving nature of cyber threats. Even robust encryption systems like BitLocker are not immune to sophisticated attacks. As cybercriminals develop new methods to exploit vulnerabilities, organizations must remain vigilant and proactive in their cybersecurity strategies.

Microsoft’s push toward passwordless authentication is a step in the right direction, but this incident highlights the need for continuous improvement in encryption technologies. Companies must invest in advanced security solutions, regular system updates, and employee training to stay ahead of emerging threats.

The BitLocker vulnerability serves as a stark reminder that no system is entirely foolproof. As encryption technologies evolve, so do the methods used to exploit them. Organizations must adopt a multi-layered approach to cybersecurity, combining encryption with other protective measures to safeguard sensitive data. By staying informed and proactive, we can better defend against the ever-changing landscape of cyber threats.

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WeChat
Chinese App Cyber Security encryption system TLS WeChat

WeChat's Updated Encryption System Prone to Threats for its Users

 




More than a billion people send messages over WeChat and as per a new study recently, it discovered some security flaws in terms of the encryption system. While some applications use end-to-end encryption to prevent secret conversations from being read, WeChat's messages can be viewed by its servers. Researchers now find some vulnerability in WeChat's customised encryption that could leave users vulnerable to threats.


Weakened Encryption in WeChat

Scientists at the Citizen Lab of University of Toronto have established that WeChat is using a variation of the general security protocol named Transport Layer Security, or TLS 1.3. The new version of it is called MMTLS and it is actually made up of another layer of encryption called "Business-layer encryption," which encrypts messages right before they are going to be sent.

While this does mean that there is extra security placed on this system, it does not have weaknesses in the design. The inner Business-layer encryption does not protect critical information, including user IDs and request information. MMTLS also uses predictable patterns of a type of deterministic initialization vectors (IVs) that can lead to compromised encryption security overall.


Missing Forward Secrecy

Another weakness with WeChat's encryption is a lack of "forward secrecy." Forward secrecy helps to secure later communications in cases where old encryption keys are compromised. In the absence of this feature, if the attackers get hold of those encryption keys, they can decrypt old messages, compromising the users' long-term privacy.

Even before 2016, WeChat was employing the Business-layer encryption. This has made WeChat vulnerable to attacks since it had nearly no defences.

With the implementation of MMTLS, security becomes even enhanced with an added layer of protection that is acquired in the process. However, the changes are not yet at extreme conditions expected for the size of users in an app.


Improvements But Still Some Concerns

Though the security has been increased in WeChat, researchers could not break through the encryption layer that is currently used. The new MMTLS layer does hide the older, weaker encryption layer and offers protection from it. Still, the modifications to the protocol of TLS remain a security liability .


Chinese Apps Custom Security Practices

Problems with encryption form part of a broader problem about Chinese apps. Increasingly, app developers in all parts of China do not depend on widely trusted international standards but instead come up with their own custom solutions. For Citizen Lab, this forms a worrisome trend, since their homemade security solutions are nothing close to the generally recognized methods.

For instance, some Chinese apps utilise proprietary processing of DNS hijacking, and many rely on open-source software, as used in the case of Tencent Mars, and thus not all such applications or software will maintain stringent security levels or best practices for security.


WeChat Needs Stronger Encryption

Hence, although WeChat has become far safer lately, it is far from perfect. Users may have weak encryption methods that could expose their private data to possible threats. Such an application with thousands of users worldwide should deploy better standards of encryption to protect conversation among its users.


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