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You might want to change your password after this shocking study

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After big security breaches, users rarely change their password, which is a big mistake, a new study says.

The research from Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab said only one in three people who had accounts on breached websites changed their passwords. And only 13 percent of people with accounts on these websites changed their password within three months of the breach announcement.

That’s surprising, says the study, especially in the wake of a steady stream of news of major businesses and websites getting hacked and sensitive user information getting pilfered.

NORTH KOREA CONDUCTING MASSIVE CYBER THREATS AGAINST US, OTHER COUNTRIES, REPORTS SAY

“Many may find these findings alarming, given the ubiquity and growing number of corporate data breaches in recent years,” wrote Carnegie Mellon’s Daniel Tkacik in a blog post about the study.

Major breaches include the “Collection #1” data breach in January of 2019 that impacted more than 770 million unique email addresses and more than 22 million unique passwords.

In April 2019, third-party Facebook app datasets were exposed. One database had more than 540 million records with account names, Facebook IDs and other personal data.

A few months later, in July 2019, a data leak at First American Financial, the largest real estate title insurance company in the U.S., exposed transaction records of 885 million individuals.

This and many other data breaches that don’t make it into the news means the chances that your personal data has been stolen are very high, Tkacik said.

So what should consumers do?

One of the most effective ways to keep your accounts safe is to never reuse passwords, Lujo Bauer, CyLab faculty member and professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Carnegie Mellon and an author on the study, told Fox News.

“Reusing the same or a slightly changed password across accounts is a huge source of risk,” Bauer said via email.

“If — really, when — one site gets breached and the passwords used on that site are stolen, attackers can — and do — try using the stolen passwords to log on to other sites as well. Supposedly this is how Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked,” he added.

The upshot is, always create uniquely different passwords for different accounts.

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“Of course, it’s next to impossible to remember as many different passwords as we have accounts, so many of us use password managers, which make it easy to ‘remember’ a different password for each account,” Bauer said. “On top of that, password managers typically offer to create strong passwords for you, so you don’t even have to worry about whether your password might be easily guessed by an attacker.”

Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer, LogMeIn, a remote connectivity software company, agrees.

“Some of the most common ways people are leaving themselves vulnerable online is by using weak, easy to crack passwords, and then re-using those same passwords on their other online accounts,” Beuchelt told Fox News.

“Taking just a few simple steps to improve your password behavior can lead to a significant increase in your online security,” he said.

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North Korea conducting massive cyber threats against US, other countries, reports say

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North Korea is conducting a wide-ranging malicious campaign against the U.S. and global targets, according to several reports.

Last month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI and the Department of Defense released three reports on malware variants used by the North Korean government.

This was preceded by an advisory in April from the State Department, the Treasury, and Homeland Security, and FBI on the North Korean cyber threat.

FBI REVEALS HOW ALLEGED SCAMMER STOLE PERSONAL IDENTITIES

“[It is] essentially a taxonomy of everything the [North Koreans] have been caught doing,” Mike Hamilton, chief information security officer of CI Security, told Fox News, referring to the May Malware Analysis reports.

“Trying to summarize tactics, techniques, and procedures that everyone can watch out for,” added Hamilton, who also served previously as the chief information security officer for the city of Seattle.

One of the driving forces is North Korea’s need to fund its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, the government’s April advisory said. The campaigns are insidious because they often appear as ordinary cybercrime.

“The North Koreans are pioneers in the organized-crime false flag business,” Hamilton explained. “They are running ransomware extortion groups, which most people just assume comes from organized crime, not a nation-state.”

Hamilton said the aim is cryptomining and financial targets, among other aims.

“They show up as commodity, ‘shotgun blast’ types of untargeted attacks to scoop up CPUs [central processing units] for cryptomining,” he said, referring to the mining of digital currencies.

“They also use research and targeting against the finance sector, and non-commodity malware that AV [anti-virus] vendors have never seen,” Hamilton added.

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North Korea-sponsored cyber actors include hackers, cryptologists and software developers who are engaged in espionage, theft from financial institutions and digital currency exchanges, and in politically motivated attacks against foreign media companies, according to the April advisory.

For example, an investigation into dozens of suspected North Korean cyber-enabled heists revealed that as of late 2019, North Korea had attempted to steal as much as $2 billion worldwide.

Then there are extortion and ransomware campaigns.

“In some instances, DPRK [North Korea] cyber actors have demanded payment from victims under the guise of long-term paid consulting arrangements in order to ensure that no such future malicious cyber activity takes place,” the advisory said.

The advisory cited examples of North Korea-state-sponsored malicious cyber activity including:

  • Sony Pictures: In November 2014, North Korea cyber actors allegedly hacked into Sony Pictures Entertainment’s network to steal confidential data, threatened SPE executives and employees, and damaged thousands of computers.
  • Bangladesh Bank Heist: In February 2016, North Korea state-sponsored cyber actors allegedly attempted to steal at least $1 billion from financial institutions in various countries and allegedly stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank. North Korea cyber actors sent fraudulently authenticated messages directing the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to transfer funds out of the Bangladesh Bank’s Federal Reserve account to accounts controlled by the conspirators.
  • WannaCry 2.0: North Korea state-sponsored cyber actors developed this notorious ransomware and two prior versions of the ransomware. In May 2017, WannaCry 2.0 ransomware infected hundreds of thousands of computers in hospitals, schools, businesses, and homes in over 150 countries. 

“We, as a country, have few tools to deal with rogue behavior like this,” Hamilton said. “Our naming and shaming strategy is effective at letting them know we see them, but it doesn’t create accountability or change behavior. So they’ll keep stealing money from banks and other organizations with little to fear.”

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Space alliance: Elon Musk and President Trump set for historic Demo-2 launch

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Elon Musk and President Trump have been working toward the common goal of sending American astronauts to space from U.S. soil, which could come to fruition on Saturday.

Musk’s SpaceX has spent years working with the U.S. government to support NASA’s historic return to crewed space flight from America. The historic Demo-2 mission will be the first time since 2011 that astronauts have made the journey into space from U.S. soil.

The initial launch of the Demo-2 mission was originally scheduled for Wednesday but scrubbed because of unfavorable weather conditions. SpaceX and NASA will try again on Saturday. The launch is scheduled for 3:22 p.m. EDT.

SPACEX, NASA ASTRONAUTS MAKE PREPARATIONS FOR SECOND ATTEMPT AT HISTORIC LAUNCH

At Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday Trump praised the SpaceX founder and CEO, saying that he’s been “a friend of mine for a long time.”

President Donald Trump looks on during an event about judicial confirmations in the East Room of the White House on November 6, 2019 in Washington, DC – file photo.
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In January, Trump’s praise of Musk was even more glowing, calling him “one of our great geniuses” when speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

SpaceX is a common ground for the two national figures.

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“The best minds are at companies where their talents can come to fruition. Musk’s SpaceX is one of those companies. Here … his and Donald Trump’s interests coincide,” Bonner Cohen, a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), told Fox News.

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, participates in a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on May 27, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)

But a much more politically polarizing issue has also become a common cause. It began earlier this month when Musk was sparring with local Alameda County officials in an attempt to reopen the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif.

In a tweet, Musk said, “This is the final straw” and threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas or Nevada.

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Trump offered his support, tweeting, “California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW. It can be done Fast & Safely!” And Musk responded, “Thank you!”

President Donald Trump looks on during an event about judicial confirmations in the East Room of the White House on November 6, 2019 in Washington, DC – file photo/Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, participates in a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on May 27, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)

“Musk may also be angling to get Trump to go along with extending federal tax credits for purchasers of EVs [electric vehicles],” Bonner said. “The $7,500 per-purchaser tax credit has already run out for Tesla, and Musk, along with other EV manufacturers, would love to see it reinstated.”

The truth is, Musk and Trump are only aligned on a few narrow issues. Electric vehicles being a good example of where the two part ways.

ELON MUSK STIRS THE POT WITH CRYPTIC ‘RED PILL’ TWEET

Musk is on the side of anti-fossil-fuel groups. “Trump, needless to say, will have nothing to do with this,” Bonner said.

But Musk stirred the pot again this month, triggering speculation about a new conservative bent when he cryptically tweeted, “Take the red pill.”

A line from the 1999 movie “The Matrix,” “Take the red pill” has become slang for people abandoning liberalism for conservative values.

​​​​​​​Fox News’ James Rogers and Frank Miles contributed to this article.

FBI reveals how alleged scammer stole personal identities

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Jonathan Nguyen, 23, of Windham, N.H., was charged this week in federal court for carrying out a scheme to steal personal information and turn it into profits, the FBI said.

This is how the operation was allegedly conducted.

First, Nguyen, and others involved in the fraudulent financial scheme used Bitcoin to purchase names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, email addresses, passwords, credit card account numbers, expiration dates, and other kinds of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), according to the FBI, which cited the charging document.

AVERAGE AMERICAN HAD PERSONAL DATA STOLEN AT LEAST 4 TIMES LAST YEAR, REPORT SAYS

Next, they allegedly turned the stolen information into cash. One way they did this was to purchase tickets to sporting events and gift cards, the FBI said, noting that these were then sold for profit.

(Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

Nguyen and his collaborators also created e-commerce websites for fake companies and “obtained payment-card processing capabilities for these sham companies in order to cash out the stolen credit cards,” the FBI added.

The scammers were tech-savvy enough to get around the fraud-detection mechanisms used by internet merchants, according to the FBI.

MICROSOFT WARNS ON COVID-19 CYBER-SCAMS

“This case is an excellent example of how stolen data can be monetized,” Inga Goddijn, executive vice president of Risk Based Security, told Fox News.

“We have a tendency to assume the malicious actors that steal data are also the ones using the data for illicit purposes. While that can happen, it’s more likely the pilfered data will be sold to others — who in turn use that data in schemes like those Mr. Nguyen is alleged to have perpetrated,” Goddijn said.

Mounir Hahad, head of the Juniper Threat Labs at Juniper Networks, echoed Goddijn’s comments.

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“Most criminals engaged in stealing PII information or payment card information tend to auction it on the dark web and never attempt to profit from it directly. They know the more involved they are with the stolen information, the more risky it gets,” Hahad told Fox News.

“In this case, we’re looking at the other side of the equation: what do people who purchase this kind of information do with it?”

However, the alleged use of legitimate payment processing systems could have left them vulnerable, Hahad said.

COVID-19 HACKERS TARGETING MEDICAL PROVIDERS, FBI SAYS

“Creating sham web sites to use the credit cards may not have been the smartest move, though, because such an approach usually requires engaging with a legitimate payment processing service whose audit logs will keep traces of all transactions. In the U.S., those audit logs would be at the reach of law enforcement given the proper warrants,” Hahad said.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, access-device fraud, and identity theft provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, the FBI said.

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The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty, the FBI said.

Senate vote allowing FBI to snoop on Internet browsing gets slammed but security experts push back

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Legislation that would let the FBI access American’s browsing and search histories is getting attacked but some experts see it differently.

Earlier this month, the Senate passed a reauthorization of the Patriot Act with language allowing the FBI to see your browser data without a warrant. But before the final passage, an amendment, which would have limited access to browser and search histories, was defeated.

In response there have been a swath of headlines warning of the danger of warrantless surveillance.

CONSERVATIVE ENGINEER FIRED BY GOOGLE ENDS DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT BUT DEMOCRATS STILL ON OFFENSIVE

Just this week, more than 50 groups wrote a letter to lawmakers in the House urging them to block the bill, including the ACLU, NAACP, Muslim Justice League, and Progress America.

“Internet search and browsing history is extremely revealing in nature and the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant to obtain this information,” the letter said.

It also drew fire from Libertarian groups, such as Being Libertarian, which said in a Facebook post that the senators “sold out your freedoms. They all voted for federal agencies to have access to your internet history without obtaining a warrant.”

But fact-checking has revealed that this legislation isn’t new and simply maintains the status quo.

“This authority is nothing new,” Politifact said. “It’s been allowed for 20 years in foreign intelligence investigations, and is also allowed in basic criminal investigations — all without a warrant.

“The vote referenced here applied only to Americans ‘relevant’ to counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigation. Though a warrant isn’t needed, investigators still must get a court to sign off on the internet data access,” Politifact said, alluding to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

The experts that Fox News contacted agreed about the overreaction.

“It’s not new. Law enforcement has been able to get that data without a warrant for at least since the 1980s. National security investigations got similar authority no later than 2001 (USA PATRIOT),” Stewart Baker, former general counsel of the National Security Agency, told Fox News in an email.

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“This is a misrepresentation,” Baker added. “It is the people trying to jam yet another amendment into the Senate and original FISA bills who are trying to change the law,” he said, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

James Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Technology Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News that “It’s a long-standing practice (Section 215 of the Patriot Act).”

He added that it’s the reactions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that are too extreme: “Concerns about the FISC are misplaced if not hysterical.”

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Conservative engineer fired by Google ends discrimination lawsuit but Democrats still on offensive

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A high-profile lawsuit that shook Silicon Valley two years ago alleging discrimination against politically conservative workers has ended in a dismissal.

Former Google engineer James Damore and three other men who joined the lawsuit against Alphabet, Google’s parent company, asked a Santa Clara Superior Court in California to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this month. Their request was joined by Google.

Damore had claimed that there was a “politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence,” in a 3,000-word internal memo back in the summer of 2017 and that a “culture of shaming and misrepresentation is…unaccepting of anyone outside its echo chamber.”

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“In highly progressive environments, conservatives are a minority that feel like they need to stay in the closet to avoid open hostility. We should empower those with different ideologies to be able to express themselves,” he wrote.

Bloomberg first reported the news of the lawsuit.

He also said that “on average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These differences aren’t just socially constructed,” and expounded on that theme in the memo.

Google fired Damore in 2017 after he wrote the memo.

A lawyer for the men, Harmeet Dhillon, told Fox News that though the lawsuit has ended, its impact persists.

“As a result of our lawsuit on behalf of James Damore and several other Google workers and job applicants, Google has changed some of its workplace policies to address some of the concerns raised in our lawsuit,” she said in a phone interview.

Dhillon said Google reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations board over some of the workplace policies that one of one her plaintiffs had complained about. Specifically, Google’s ban on workers discussing their working conditions at work.

“That’s a very positive development for all workers at Google not just the plaintiffs in our lawsuit and it came about as a result of our legal action,” she explained.

Dhillon added that the lawsuit has impacted other companies, too.

RUSSIA ASKS GOOGLE TO BLOCK ARTICLE QUESTIONING COVID-19 DEATH TOLL

“As a result of our lawsuit, numerous Fortune 100 companies around the United States changed their workplace policies to avoid the type of allegations contained in our lawsuit, which resulted from mistreatment of certain workers,” she said, adding that “I am personally aware of additional HR [human resources] training and better HR policies that have been implemented in numerous Silicon Valley corporations as a result of the Damore lawsuit.”

But, Justin Danhof, general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research and director of the Free Enterprise Project, told Fox News that this will hardly put an end to bias against conservatives.

“I suspect this case will do little to stem the tide of anti-conservative bias and treatment of conservative employees in corporate America writ large and Silicon Valley specifically,” he told Fox News in an email.

Earlier this week, House Democrats wrote a letter to Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, demanding he explain “concerns over recent reports that Google has purposefully scaled back or eliminated diversity and inclusions training programs at the company,” referring to an NBC News report.

“It is important to note as you all scale back efforts to address these concerns. As a visible brand and tech leader, it is our hope that Google would demonstrate leadership in empowering and supporting women and minorities in their workforce,” the letter said.

Google has not yet responded to a Fox News request for comment.

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Average American had personal data stolen at least 4 times last year, report says

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You may have had your personal information stolen multiple times in 2019 and not know it.

Personal finance website Interest.com determined that the average American had their personal data stolen about once every three months or about four times over the course of the year, according to a report published earlier this week. The website compiled public data breach information from various sources to com up with the results.

“There are many variables at play when determining how many times your data may have been compromised last year,” the report said.

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“Folks who use the internet more often, log in to a large number of accounts each day or aren’t online much at all have different risks,” the report added.

The report points out that the breaches vary in severity. For example, while data is temporarily exposed in some data breaches, it isn’t always known if the data was actually stolen.

In other cases, however, such as the Facebook data breaches, exposed personal information has been documented as showing up in places like the dark web, where the information is often picked up by cybercriminal organizations.

In April 2019, third-party Facebook app datasets were exposed. One database had more than 540 million records with account names, Facebook IDs and other personal data.

A few months later, in July 2019, a data leak at First American Financial Corp., the largest real estate title insurance company in the U.S., exposed transaction records of 885 million individuals.

Records included bank account numbers and statements, mortgage and tax records, Social Security numbers, wire transaction receipts and drivers license images. The digitized records were available without authentication to anyone with a Web browser, according to cybersecurity researcher Brian Krebs.

In September, DoorDash, a food-delivery service, disclosed a data breach that affected 4.9 million people.

The most common outlets for breached data were social media sites, apps/software, and websites, Interest.com said. The website also offered the same advice that most experts do: Don’t reuse a password. Always uses unique passwords for every account or website.

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Microsoft warns on COVID-19 cyber-scams

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Exclusive: Protecting yourself against coronavirus-related scams

Alexander García-Tobar has spent over two decades in the email and security business and is the CEO and co-founder of Valimail.García-Tobar’s company stops phishing attacks by validating an email sender’s identity to ensure only trusted senders get into your inbox. He delivered his top advice for deflecting online scams and hackers during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Microsoft is warning about new phishing scams that use COVID-19 as a lure to steal personal information.

The phishing campaigns attempt to deliver malware called Lokibot, “one of the first malware families to use COVID-19 lures,” Microsoft Security Intelligence said in a tweet this week.

Phishing, a widely-used tactic by scammers, uses an email that appears to be from a reputable source and attempts to trick recipients into handing over sensitive personal information like usernames, passwords, and credit card information.

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The campaign cited by Microsoft shows how cybercriminals are adapting their strategies to exploit trending COVID-19 news, wrote Lawrence Abrams, who runs the cybersecurity news website BleepingComputer.

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture.
(REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Files)

The emails, pretending to be from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), arrive with subject lines such as “BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN ANNOUNCEMENT STARTING MAY 2020,” according to Microsoft.

When a computer is infected, Lokibot will steal saved login credentials and then send that data back to the attackers’ servers where it can be later retrieved, according to Abrams.

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Microsoft said this is a variation on a theme of recent Lokibot campaigns and “signals their return to tried and tested lures … only slightly updated with COVID-19 reference,” Microsoft said in a tweet.

Cybersecurity site Malwarebytes lists Lokibot as “a large family of spyware that primarily targets banking information.”

F-Secure, a cybersecurity company, lists it under “data stealing” and says the “malware is notably known for stealing credentials from browsers, mail clients, file sharing programs, remote connection programs … It also contains a keylogger component, which can be utilized by the malefactor.”

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Keyloggers are particularly dangerous as they record a computer user’s keystrokes in order to steal passwords and other confidential information.

The software giant says it is catching these campaigns through behavior-based machine learning detections.

“Microsoft was able to detect the attack with the help of Microsoft Threat Protection’s machine learning algorithms, with all customers running Microsoft Defender being automatically protected,” Bleeping Computer’s Abrams wrote.

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Microsoft Defender is an anti-virus program that comes with Windows 10.

Cybercriminals “pay close attention to current events and stories that are most concerning to a large amount of people. They then create lures that focus on these stories in order to trick people into opening what they perceive as important information for themselves or their businesses,” Abrams told Fox News in an email.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE  CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

“Lokibot is commodity malware used by a number of criminal organizations,” Tanmay Ganacharya, director for security research of Microsoft Threat Protection, told Fox News.

“This is a continuation of the trend we’ve been seeing that attackers are capitalizing on our fears around COVID-19.” he said, adding that Microsoft has been catching this and other “evolutions” of the malware via its Machine Learning.

As FTC issues fresh warning, here are 5 COVID-19 scams to be aware of

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On the heels of the Federal Trade Commission’s latest warning about coronavirus treatment scams, here are five scams to be aware of.

1. Flood of bogus COVID-19 treatments

In this ruse, scammers leverage news about legitimate coronavirus research. One tactic is to misrepresent the news and claim that a remedy has been discovered, the FTC said in an advisory on Thursday.

“If there’s a medical breakthrough, you’re not going to hear about it for the first time through an ad or sales pitch,” the agency said.

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In the FTC’s latest round of warning letters, the agency said it is seeing “some far-fetched claims.” Those include listening to a music CD of frequencies to resist the coronavirus, taking high doses of intravenous vitamin C, using Chinese herbs, acupuncture, chiropractic treatments, ozone therapy, bio-electric shields, HEPA air purifiers, and UV light therapy, the FTC explained.

The commission has published a new list of companies to which it has issued warnings.

To date, the FTC has sent more than 120 warning letters to marketers making COVID-19 health claims. A complete list can be found here.

2. Robocalls pitching bogus treatments

The FTC has also sent letters to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers, warning them about facilitating robocalls pitching supposed coronavirus-related products or services.

This comes after a report from Next Caller said 32 percent of Americans say that they believe they have already been targeted by fraud or scams related to COVID-19.

AMID SURGE IN USE DUE TO PANDEMIC, ‘DANGEROUS’ SECURITY HOLES FOUND IN ONLINE LEARNING SOFTWARE: REPORT

3. Fraudsters pretending to be the government ready to hand out relief checks

The FBI has identified a number of look-alike IRS stimulus payment websites. The scam attempts to extract sensitive personal information as part of a ruse to purportedly send money.

The Treasury Department is also warning of similar scams, via phone calls or emails, claiming to be from the Treasury and offering COVID-19 related grants or stimulus payments in exchange for personal financial information.

4. Cryptocurrency

In this scam, fraudsters leverage the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic to steal money and launder it through the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

There are thousands of cryptocurrency “kiosks” located across the globe that criminals use to facilitate their schemes, the FBI said. So much so that many traditional financial crimes use cryptocurrencies now.

The crimes include blackmail, where threatening emails are sent by scammers claiming to have access to your personal information, such as passwords stolen during data breaches, or knowledge of your “dirty secrets” and demand payment in Bitcoin to prevent the release of information.

“With the advent of COVID-19, there is a new twist on this scam. The correspondence claims that the writer will both release your information and infect you and/or your family with coronavirus unless payment is sent to a Bitcoin wallet,” the FBI said.

5. Emails from the CDC or WHO

Watch for emails claiming to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization.

Typically, these scammers send phishing emails designed to trick recipients into downloading malware or providing sensitive personal and financial information.

Airbus eyeing ‘smell sensors’ capable of detecting coronavirus on planes

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Sensors being developed by Airbus and a California-based startup might be able to sniff out COVID-19 in an effort to help prevent its spread.

Airbus is turning to California-based Koniku because of its know-how in building microprocessors made of biological cells. The two companies have already been working on biotechnology that detects, tracks, and locates chemicals or explosives on aircraft or in airports.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology is now being adapted to include the identification of biological hazards.

In an image, Airbus shows sensing devices affixed to overhead bins inside an airplane. (Credit: Airbus)

AMID SURGE IN USE DUE TO PANDEMIC, ‘DANGEROUS’ SECURITY HOLES FOUND IN ONLINE LEARNING SOFTWARE: REPORT

“Most infections and diseases cause slight changes to the composition of our breath and sweat, which then produce distinct odors,” Osh. Agabi, Founder & CEO Koniku, wrote in a blog post about the collaboration with Airbus.

The sensor’s receptors would trigger an alarm when “smelling” molecular compounds they have been programmed to detect, Airbus said in a statement.

“If we can detect those odors, we can detect the presence of those infections,” Agabi wrote, adding that the approach has already been used successfully with cancer-smelling dogs and detecting influenza A in breath.

“However, training dogs to sniff out the specific, subtle smell indicating any given disease is time consuming, unreliable and expensive,” he added.

Instead, Koniku would program the DNA of the cells that make up these receptors to react to the compounds in infected people’s breath or sweat, allowing them to screen for COVID-19 and determine whether a person is infected.

The solution is contactless, Agabi said.

“Airports, when they eventually open back up to commercial flying, will need to implement new processes and security measures to screen passengers for the virus. This is why we are extending our partnership with Airbus,” Agabi explained.

Airbus is planning to install the sensors, which mimic bomb-sniffing dogs, at airports or on aircraft, according to the Financial Times.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE  CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 3.78 million coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide, more than 1.23 million of which are in the U.S., the most impacted country on the planet.

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