RUSHING_Tyler, Ashton Hayes 5-28, Logan Johnson 7-9, Ziggy Loa 1-8, John Solitaire 4-8, Tank Logan 1-5, Josh Thomas 18-0, Team 1- (-20). Kilgore, Trae Epps 2-68, Kaden Meredith 15-53, Cameron Peters 4-19, Gary Maddux 4-10, Dominique Williams 8-6, Zeek Freeman 1-6, Tyler Webb 2- (-3).

Kilgore 55, Tyler 18

Eureka Springs artist Zeek Taylor and his partner, Dick Titus, had been together 42 years in May of 2014 when a ruling by a judge in Little Rock "declared that same-sex couples had the legal right to wed,

‘Public Display of Affection’ open to everyone at Diversity Weekend in Eureka Springs

Being a wise ruler isn’t as easy as it might look. In the video below, the notorious king of the jungle has decided that today, sharing isn’t caring! We first see a pride of lions gathering around a kill,

Watch a Selfish Male Lion Hoard All of the Meat For Himself While Others Watch

With the regular season complete, our Jason Frakes ranks the top 10 Kentucky high school football teams ahead of the 2023 KHSAA football playoffs.

Jason Frakes ranks top 10 teams in state ahead of Kentucky high school football playoffs

Caught on film in Kruger National Park, the lethal struggle in the video below is nothing short of fierce! Within, a massive martial eagle has managed to grasp a monitor lizard, a common prey for large carnivorous birds.

Resilient Monitor Lizard Refuses to be Taken Without a Fight and Bites Back at an Eagle!

Cats, just as much as the rest of us, can get caught off guard. The most unexpected surprise? A sneeze so loud it knocks you off your feet! The short clip below showcases an amusing example of that – a cat pondering a swimming pool goes flying after getting startled.

Hilarious Video Captures a Man’s Sneeze That Causes a Cat to Fall Into a Pool

Dogs can get up to some hilarious antics, but some are just downright confusing. In the short clip below, a Chihuahua more than proves this point – she’s terrified of strawberries. The closer the snack is held to her,

See This Hilarious Chihuahua That’s Inexplicably Scared of Strawberries

Ever wondered what a true “bear hug” looks like? Look no further than the clip below, which starts in a puzzling fashion. A man appears to be calling into the forest, and none other than a massive bear answers back.

Watch a Fearless Man Hug and Wrestle With a Massive Bear He Keeps as a Pet

Many people worldwide enjoy a crisp soda during the day for a spot of refreshment. Surprisingly, some monkeys appear to share this habit! In the short clip below, a macaque is caught on film trying to snatch a passerby’s soda bottle,

Watch This Soda-Loving Monkey Guzzle Down a Bottle in Front of a Huge Crowd

Zeek

zeek

HONG KONG, Hong Kong, June 20th, 2024, Chainwire/-- Zeek has completed a USD 3M seed funding round from investors including OKX Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Mask Network


Zeek will be changing the way social collaboration works in SocialFi through the use of reputation mechanisms


The Tier-0 Genesis NFT collection, limited to 250, will be dropped later this month Zeek, a decentralized collaboration network for on-chain social bounty and reputation, has successfully completed a USD 3M seed funding round ahead of its official launch in July. Investors include OKX Ventures (as part of its strategic investment in Everest Venture Group’s consumer-oriented products, which includes Zeek), Animoca Brands, Mask Network, Arche Fund, Summer Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors, Aspen Digital, CatcherVC, Panony, Spacebar, Hardbank and super angels including Jason Kam of Folius Ventures, Ivan Li of Comma3 Ventures and Donny Chi of WeMade. “Backing the Zeek team resonates with our goal of supporting bold founders in building the future of the open internet, and it is definitely an exciting opportunity to participate in the nascent growth of something new in the SocialFi space. Our confidence in the team's vision and execution capabilities strengthens our commitment to helping their growth,” said Thanh Le, the Founder of Ninety Eight. “We see significant potential in consumer-oriented initiatives like Zeek that blend real use cases with gamified experiences in social and gaming contexts. Zeek's decentralized collaboration economy promotes organic collaboration through on-chain bounties. By monetizing the idle value of social networks and personal skills, it creates new opportunities for all participants. We are confident that this will make disruptive technologies accessible and enjoyable for mainstream audiences,” said Suji Yan, the Founder & CEO of Mask Network In the world of Web3, users are constantly encouraged to do their due diligence before trusting a person, platform, or any information they see, which is easier said than done. Zeek aims to solve this through its on-chain reputation construct, recognizing users who create value through social collaboration. Powered by OpenSocial Protocol, Zeek is a social network that allows users to unlock the value of their intelligence, network, access, and time through on-chain social bounty mechanics and reputation called Wish and Rizz. Social value is created as users create and participate in ‘Wishes’, which can be applied for different purposes, whether to seek out information and insight or expand your network and connections. Users will then be able to gain ‘Rizz’ through contributions and engagements in the network, which will naturally construct a social reputation layer for everyone and act as an on-chain recognition of the social value the user creates. ‘Rizz’ is an embodiment of karma whereby the more you give, the more you should be given in forms of economic incentive and measurable influence. Zeek's product and token are designed to foster such collaboration and construction of on-chain reputation. With Zeek, users will be able to check the reliability of a person based on the reputation they have built, creating a whole new way to enforce trust in the Web3 world. “The future of SocialFi is to create new social economies through the financialization of existing social behaviors and hence, we have built Zeek as we believe the endgame of SocialFi is the reputation layer, which bridges the gap between social influence and on-chain identities,” said Angus Ko, CEO of Zeek. Zeek is anticipated to officially launch in July, with its Private Beta running from the present until the launch date. Currently, users are able to pre-register via their X and Discord accounts here. Additionally, Zeek’s Tier-0 Genesis NFT collection, limited to 250, will be dropped later this month. About Zeek Zeek is a decentralized collaboration economy incentivizing reputation, and powered by innovative social bounty mechanics called ‘Wishes’. Individual behaviors and engagements contribute to the construction of a reputation layer called ‘Rizz’, which can be monetized and utilized to gauge credibility, reliability, and influence. Twitter | Website Contact PR Manager Kelvin Yeo Everest Ventures Group kelvin.yeo@evg.co This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here, HONG KONG, Hong Kong, June 20th, 2024, Chainwire/-- Zeek has completed a USD 3M seed funding round from investors including OKX Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Mask Network Zeek will be changing the way social collaboration works in SocialFi through the use of reputation mechanisms The Tier-0 Genesis NFT collection, limited to 250, will be dropped later this month Zeek has completed a USD 3M seed funding round from investors including OKX Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Mask Network Zeek has completed a USD 3M seed funding round from investors including OKX Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Mask Network Zeek will be changing the way social collaboration works in SocialFi through the use of reputation mechanisms Zeek will be changing the way social collaboration works in SocialFi through the use of reputation mechanisms The Tier-0 Genesis NFT collection, limited to 250, will be dropped later this month The Tier-0 Genesis NFT collection, limited to 250, will be dropped later this month Zeek, a decentralized collaboration network for on-chain social bounty and reputation, has successfully completed a USD 3M seed funding round ahead of its official launch in July. Investors include OKX Ventures (as part of its strategic investment in Everest Venture Group’s consumer-oriented products, which includes Zeek), Animoca Brands, Mask Network, Arche Fund, Summer Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors, Aspen Digital, CatcherVC, Panony, Spacebar, Hardbank and super angels including Jason Kam of Folius Ventures, Ivan Li of Comma3 Ventures and Donny Chi of WeMade. “Backing the Zeek team resonates with our goal of supporting bold founders in building the future of the open internet, and it is definitely an exciting opportunity to participate in the nascent growth of something new in the SocialFi space. Our confidence in the team's vision and execution capabilities strengthens our commitment to helping their growth,” said Thanh Le, the Founder of Ninety Eight. “Backing the Zeek team resonates with our goal of supporting bold founders in building the future of the open internet, and it is definitely an exciting opportunity to participate in the nascent growth of something new in the SocialFi space. Our confidence in the team's vision and execution capabilities strengthens our commitment to helping their growth,” said Thanh Le, the Founder of Ninety Eight. “We see significant potential in consumer-oriented initiatives like Zeek that blend real use cases with gamified experiences in social and gaming contexts. Zeek's decentralized collaboration economy promotes organic collaboration through on-chain bounties. By monetizing the idle value of social networks and personal skills, it creates new opportunities for all participants. We are confident that this will make disruptive technologies accessible and enjoyable for mainstream audiences,” said Suji Yan, the Founder & CEO of Mask Network “We see significant potential in consumer-oriented initiatives like Zeek that blend real use cases with gamified experiences in social and gaming contexts. Zeek's decentralized collaboration economy promotes organic collaboration through on-chain bounties. By monetizing the idle value of social networks and personal skills, it creates new opportunities for all participants. We are confident that this will make disruptive technologies accessible and enjoyable for mainstream audiences,” said Suji Yan, the Founder & CEO of Mask Network In the world of Web3, users are constantly encouraged to do their due diligence before trusting a person, platform, or any information they see, which is easier said than done. Zeek aims to solve this through its on-chain reputation construct, recognizing users who create value through social collaboration. Powered by OpenSocial Protocol, Zeek is a social network that allows users to unlock the value of their intelligence, network, access, and time through on-chain social bounty mechanics and reputation called Wish and Rizz. Social value is created as users create and participate in ‘Wishes’, which can be applied for different purposes, whether to seek out information and insight or expand your network and connections. Users will then be able to gain ‘Rizz’ through contributions and engagements in the network, which will naturally construct a social reputation layer for everyone and act as an on-chain recognition of the social value the user creates. ‘Rizz’ is an embodiment of karma whereby the more you give, the more you should be given in forms of economic incentive and measurable influence. Zeek's product and token are designed to foster such collaboration and construction of on-chain reputation. With Zeek, users will be able to check the reliability of a person based on the reputation they have built, creating a whole new way to enforce trust in the Web3 world. “The future of SocialFi is to create new social economies through the financialization of existing social behaviors and hence, we have built Zeek as we believe the endgame of SocialFi is the reputation layer, which bridges the gap between social influence and on-chain identities,” said Angus Ko, CEO of Zeek. “The future of SocialFi is to create new social economies through the financialization of existing social behaviors and hence, we have built Zeek as we believe the endgame of SocialFi is the reputation layer, which bridges the gap between social influence and on-chain identities,” said Angus Ko, CEO of Zeek. Zeek is anticipated to officially launch in July, with its Private Beta running from the present until the launch date. Currently, users are able to pre-register via their X and Discord accounts here . Additionally, Zeek’s Tier-0 Genesis NFT collection, limited to 250, will be dropped later this month. here here About Zeek Zeek is a decentralized collaboration economy incentivizing reputation, and powered by innovative social bounty mechanics called ‘Wishes’. Individual behaviors and engagements contribute to the construction of a reputation layer called ‘Rizz’, which can be monetized and utilized to gauge credibility, reliability, and influence. Twitter | Website Twitter Twitter Website Website Contact PR Manager Kelvin Yeo Everest Ventures Group kelvin.yeo@evg.co This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here, This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here , here

Zeek Raises USD 3M Seed Funding To Reinvent Social Reputation In Web3

OpenVPN is Open to VPN Fingerprinting: Acknowledgement and References

Authors:
(1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan;
(2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan;
(3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan;
(4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.;
(5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan;
(6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad;
(7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Background & Related Work 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9.2 Results for all flows 10 Discussion and Mitigations 11 Conclusion 12 Acknowledgement and References Appendix 8 Real-world Deployment Setup We set out to explore if an ISP or censor can fingerprint OpenVPN connections at scale, without significant collateral damage. Adopting the viewpoint of an adversarial ISP, we deploy our framework inside Merit, as shown in Figure 2. Our evaluation is two-fold: we generate control vanilla and obfuscated flows with commercial VPN providers and attempt to identify them as a network intermediary; we also process other traffic passing through our Monitoring Station in order to estimate the false positive rate of our framework. We set up our framework on a 16-core server (Monitoring Station) inside Merit with two mirroring interfaces that have an aggregated 20 Gbps bandwidth. Due to the large traffic volume, we optimize our deployment with PF_RING [38] in order to improve the packet processing speed. We employ PF_- RING in zero-copy mode and spread the traffic load across a Zeek cluster of 15 workers. Nonetheless, due to limited CPU resources, we only sample 12.5% of all TCP and UDP flows arriving at the network interfaces in order to minimize the effect of packet loss. The sampling is based on IP pairs so that all bi-directional traffic of a flow will be selected/dropped together. With these settings, we are able to operate with an end-to-end packet loss rate under 3%. Even though we process only a fraction of all traffic, our Filter still handles over 15 Terabytes of traffic from over 2 billion flows on an average day on a single server. In addition, processing all traffic without sampling is feasible through parallelism or using faster CPUs. Next, we set up Probers on two dedicated measurement machines, each provisioned with 10 IPv4 and 1 IPv6 addresses. By the end of each day during the evaluation, the Probers fetch filtering logs from the Monitoring Station. For each target, we run a Masscan [25] to the /29 subnet the IP belongs to over all TCP ports (1-65535). We follow up each discovered open port by running our probing scheme, and endpoints confirmed through probing are recorded for manual analysis. To select VPN services for evaluation, we first generate a list of “top” VPN services ranked by popularity. We combine 80 providers, most of which are paid premium VPN services, from top VPN recommendation sites based on previous work [42], listed in Appendix Table 4. Next, we visit the websites of these VPN providers searching for “Obfuscation”, “Stealth”, or “Camouflage Mode” etc., and include providers that offer at least one obfuscated VPN configuration. In total, we find 24 providers offering obfuscated services. We test all obfuscation configurations if more than one is offered as well as vanilla OpenVPN for each provider. If TCP and UDP modes are both available, we test them separately. In total, we have 81 configurations, 41 of which are obfuscated ones. We configure the Client Station inside Merit to act as a VPN client. Both upstream and downstream traffic of the Client Station go through the router that mirrors traffic to the Monitoring Station. In addition, we exclude this server from our random sampling so that all traffic to/from this server will be analyzed. On the client, we run an automated script to generate control traffic for our evaluation. For each iteration, we start the VPN client application and connect to the “default / recommended” server using Pywinauto [41]. After a random wait of 20 to 180 seconds, we confirm that the VPN tunnel is active and generate random browsing traffic with Selenium [45] by sending requests to a random website from the Alexa top 500. Finally, we disconnect from the VPN server and wait for 180 seconds before proceeding to the next iteration. For each VPN configuration, we repeat the process 50 times and collect packet captures for reference. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan; (2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan; (3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan; (4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.; (5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan; (6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad; (7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Authors: Authors: (1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan; (2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan; (3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan; (4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.; (5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan; (6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad; (7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Background & Related Work 2 Background & Related Work 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9.2 Results for all flows 9.2 Results for all flows 10 Discussion and Mitigations 10 Discussion and Mitigations 11 Conclusion 11 Conclusion 12 Acknowledgement and References 12 Acknowledgement and References Appendix Appendix 8 Real-world Deployment Setup We set out to explore if an ISP or censor can fingerprint OpenVPN connections at scale, without significant collateral damage. Adopting the viewpoint of an adversarial ISP, we deploy our framework inside Merit, as shown in Figure 2. Our evaluation is two-fold: we generate control vanilla and obfuscated flows with commercial VPN providers and attempt to identify them as a network intermediary; we also process other traffic passing through our Monitoring Station in order to estimate the false positive rate of our framework. We set up our framework on a 16-core server (Monitoring Station) inside Merit with two mirroring interfaces that have an aggregated 20 Gbps bandwidth. Due to the large traffic volume, we optimize our deployment with PF_RING [38] in order to improve the packet processing speed. We employ PF_- RING in zero-copy mode and spread the traffic load across a Zeek cluster of 15 workers. Nonetheless, due to limited CPU resources, we only sample 12.5% of all TCP and UDP flows arriving at the network interfaces in order to minimize the effect of packet loss. The sampling is based on IP pairs so that all bi-directional traffic of a flow will be selected/dropped together. With these settings, we are able to operate with an end-to-end packet loss rate under 3%. Even though we process only a fraction of all traffic, our Filter still handles over 15 Terabytes of traffic from over 2 billion flows on an average day on a single server. In addition, processing all traffic without sampling is feasible through parallelism or using faster CPUs. Next, we set up Probers on two dedicated measurement machines, each provisioned with 10 IPv4 and 1 IPv6 addresses. By the end of each day during the evaluation, the Probers fetch filtering logs from the Monitoring Station. For each target, we run a Masscan [25] to the /29 subnet the IP belongs to over all TCP ports (1-65535). We follow up each discovered open port by running our probing scheme, and endpoints confirmed through probing are recorded for manual analysis. To select VPN services for evaluation, we first generate a list of “top” VPN services ranked by popularity. We combine 80 providers, most of which are paid premium VPN services, from top VPN recommendation sites based on previous work [42], listed in Appendix Table 4. Next, we visit the websites of these VPN providers searching for “Obfuscation”, “Stealth”, or “Camouflage Mode” etc., and include providers that offer at least one obfuscated VPN configuration. In total, we find 24 providers offering obfuscated services. We test all obfuscation configurations if more than one is offered as well as vanilla OpenVPN for each provider. If TCP and UDP modes are both available, we test them separately. In total, we have 81 configurations, 41 of which are obfuscated ones. We configure the Client Station inside Merit to act as a VPN client. Both upstream and downstream traffic of the Client Station go through the router that mirrors traffic to the Monitoring Station. In addition, we exclude this server from our random sampling so that all traffic to/from this server will be analyzed. On the client, we run an automated script to generate control traffic for our evaluation. For each iteration, we start the VPN client application and connect to the “default / recommended” server using Pywinauto [41]. After a random wait of 20 to 180 seconds, we confirm that the VPN tunnel is active and generate random browsing traffic with Selenium [45] by sending requests to a random website from the Alexa top 500. Finally, we disconnect from the VPN server and wait for 180 seconds before proceeding to the next iteration. For each VPN configuration, we repeat the process 50 times and collect packet captures for reference. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

OpenVPN is Open to VPN Fingerprinting: Real-world Deployment Setup

Authors:
(1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan;
(2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan;
(3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan;
(4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.;
(5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan;
(6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad;
(7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Background & Related Work 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9.2 Results for all flows 10 Discussion and Mitigations 11 Conclusion 12 Acknowledgement and References Appendix 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss We investigate the effects of packet loss on the performance of the Filter. An adversary analyzing traffic on a busy network needs to keep pace with the packet arrival rate, or otherwise packet drops will start to occur due to a CPU bottleneck. For the opcode and ACK fingerprinting, we need to inspect the raw contents of each reassembled packet until the observation window is reached, for all flows. This means all traffic must be passed on to Zeek’s scripting layer, which may lead to a CPU bottleneck. In addition, the Network Interface Card (NIC) may also become an upstream bottleneck and lead to end-to-end packet loss. We therefore explore what to expect from the Filter when packet loss is inevitable. We configure Zeek to ignore events signaling new packets with different probabilities in order to simulate random packet loss. We test loss rates from 1% up to 80%. The experiment is repeated three times, and the average result is reported in Figure 8 (b). We find that packet loss starts to have noticeable effects on the Filter’s outputs once the loss rate surpasses 10%. Notably, when packet loss starts to affect the detection accuracy, both opcode and ACK fingerprint vulnerabilities always produce underblocking instead of overblocking, which is favoured by real-world censors [56]. Still, in order to minimize the effects of packet loss, we always configure the Monitoring Station to sample flows with a given rate (adjusted with CPU resources and traffic volume) for our online evaluation. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan; (2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan; (3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan; (4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.; (5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan; (6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad; (7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Authors: Authors: (1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan; (2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan; (3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan; (4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.; (5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan; (6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad; (7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Background & Related Work 2 Background & Related Work 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9.2 Results for all flows 9.2 Results for all flows 10 Discussion and Mitigations 10 Discussion and Mitigations 11 Conclusion 11 Conclusion 12 Acknowledgement and References 12 Acknowledgement and References Appendix Appendix 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss We investigate the effects of packet loss on the performance of the Filter. An adversary analyzing traffic on a busy network needs to keep pace with the packet arrival rate, or otherwise packet drops will start to occur due to a CPU bottleneck. For the opcode and ACK fingerprinting, we need to inspect the raw contents of each reassembled packet until the observation window is reached, for all flows. This means all traffic must be passed on to Zeek’s scripting layer, which may lead to a CPU bottleneck. In addition, the Network Interface Card (NIC) may also become an upstream bottleneck and lead to end-to-end packet loss. We therefore explore what to expect from the Filter when packet loss is inevitable. We configure Zeek to ignore events signaling new packets with different probabilities in order to simulate random packet loss. We test loss rates from 1% up to 80%. The experiment is repeated three times, and the average result is reported in Figure 8 (b). We find that packet loss starts to have noticeable effects on the Filter’s outputs once the loss rate surpasses 10%. Notably, when packet loss starts to affect the detection accuracy, both opcode and ACK fingerprint vulnerabilities always produce underblocking instead of overblocking, which is favoured by real-world censors [56]. Still, in order to minimize the effects of packet loss, we always configure the Monitoring Station to sample flows with a given rate (adjusted with CPU resources and traffic volume) for our online evaluation. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

Impact of Packet Loss on OpenVPN Detection Accuracy and Censoring

Authors:
(1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan;
(2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan;
(3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan;
(4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.;
(5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan;
(6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad;
(7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Background & Related Work 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9.2 Results for all flows 10 Discussion and Mitigations 11 Conclusion 12 Acknowledgement and References Appendix 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers Our Filter performs both opcode and ACK-based fingerprinting, flagging a flow if at least one fingerprint matches. This is because the opcode and ACK fingerprints are designed to be complementary: both are effective against vanilla OpenVPN and they each target a specific subset of obfuscations. The former works against XOR-based obfuscations that work like Vigenère ciphers, i.e. they always encrypt the same plaintext opcodes at the same position to the same ciphertext bytes. The latter targets tunneling-based obfuscation that lacks random padding and preserves the 1:1 correspondence between the original and obfuscated packet streams. Combining the two features maximizes our fingerprinting coverage, as we discovered that even within the same provider, obfuscating strategies can vary a lot (§ 9). Table 5 in Appendix shows the effectiveness of each feature against each commercial VPN service we tested. Following Filter’s result, the Prober performs the active probing scheme to further lower potential false positives. We implement the Filter in Zeek [75], an open-source network monitoring tool. We note that the evaluation processes for opcode and ACK-based fingerprinting are quite simple: both only require several dozen integer comparisons (limited by the observation window) while maintaining a small number of per-flow states. We implement the Prober in Nim [31]. We believe that both components can be easily deployed by any ISP or censor. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan; (2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan; (3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan; (4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.; (5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan; (6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad; (7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Authors: Authors: (1) Diwen Xue, University of Michigan; (2) Reethika Ramesh, University of Michigan; (3) Arham Jain, University of Michigan; (4) Arham Jain, Merit Network, Inc.; (5) J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan; (6) Jedidiah R. Crandall, Arizona State University/Breakpointing Bad; (7) Roya Ensaf, University of Michigan. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Background & Related Work 2 Background & Related Work 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 3 Challenges in Real-world VPN Detection 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 4 Adversary Model and Deployment 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 5 Ethics, Privacy, and Responsible Disclosure 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6 Identifying Fingerprintable Features and 6.1 Opcode-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.2 ACK-based Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.3 Active Server Fingerprinting 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7 Fine-tuning for Deployment and 7.1 ACK Fingerprint Thresholds 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.2 Choice of Observation Window N 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.3 Effects of Packet Loss 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.4 Server Churn for Asynchronous Probing 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 7.5 Probe UDP and Obfuscated OpenVPN Servers 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 8 Real-world Deployment Setup 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9 Evaluation & Findings and 9.1 Results for control VPN flows 9.2 Results for all flows 9.2 Results for all flows 10 Discussion and Mitigations 10 Discussion and Mitigations 11 Conclusion 11 Conclusion 12 Acknowledgement and References 12 Acknowledgement and References Appendix Appendix 6.4 Constructing Filters and Probers Filters Our Filter performs both opcode and ACK-based fingerprinting, flagging a flow if at least one fingerprint matches. This is because the opcode and ACK fingerprints are designed to be complementary: both are effective against vanilla OpenVPN and they each target a specific subset of obfuscations. The former works against XOR-based obfuscations that work like Vigenère ciphers, i.e. they always encrypt the same plaintext opcodes at the same position to the same ciphertext bytes. The latter targets tunneling-based obfuscation that lacks random padding and preserves the 1:1 correspondence between the original and obfuscated packet streams. Combining the two features maximizes our fingerprinting coverage, as we discovered that even within the same provider, obfuscating strategies can vary a lot (§ 9). Table 5 in Appendix shows the effectiveness of each feature against each commercial VPN service we tested. Following Filter’s result, the Prober performs the active probing scheme to further lower potential false positives. Filter Filter’s Prober We implement the Filter in Zeek [75], an open-source network monitoring tool. We note that the evaluation processes for opcode and ACK-based fingerprinting are quite simple: both only require several dozen integer comparisons (limited by the observation window) while maintaining a small number of per-flow states. We implement the Prober in Nim [31]. We believe that both components can be easily deployed by any ISP or censor. Filter Prober This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

Enhancing OpenVPN Detection: Combining Fingerprinting and Active Probing

Intro In today's world, where cybercrimes are becoming increasingly widespread, it is important to have access to effective tools for investigation and counteraction against these threats. One such tool is the CSI Linux operating system, specially designed for the needs of cybersecurity and cyber investigations. CSI Linux aims to provide users with tools for fast and accurate detection of digital traces and evidence that can be used for criminal investigations or for ensuring cybersecurity in organizations. The developers of this operating system claim that it simplifies the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting digital data, making it an important tool for professionals in the field of cybersecurity and cyber investigations. But is it really so? Let's find out... Basic information To begin with, I would like to provide some basic information about this distribution. Official website: https://csilinux.com/ As of the writing of this article, CSI Linux uses Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as its base platform. CSI Linux is an open-source project, so anyone interested can contribute to making it better. The installation process is quite simple, and there are many videos on this topic, such as this one. Although the process has changed slightly now, after downloading the disk image, you simply need to add (Machine -> Add) the virtual disk file in Vbox format to VirtualBox for it to run. To log into the system by default, use the username "CSI" and the password "CSI." There is also a whole book dedicated to working with CSI Linux, which can be purchased here. The terminology, list of all available software in CSI Linux, and other documentation are available at this link. Previously, CSI Linux had three separate packages on the CSI Linux Investigator platform, but now CSI Linux Gateway and CSI Linux Analyst are merged into one package, while CSI Linux SIEM is available as a separate image on the official website. All distributions can also be downloaded from the official website. For a better understanding, let me describe the three components of CSI Linux mentioned above: CSI Linux SIEM: This is a virtual machine included in the CSI Linux Investigator distribution. In fact, it is an Ubuntu distribution that includes a configured Zeek IDS and ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana). It is used as an intrusion detection system to protect other virtual machines (CSI Linux Analyst and CSI Linux Gateway), process logs, and display data on the management panels of CSI Linux Analyst. CSI Linux Gateway: This is a TOR user gateway that operates in a "sandbox" using utilities such as AppArmor, Jailbreak, and Shorewall Firewall. When using CSI Linux Analyst + CSI Linux Gateway, all traffic will pass through the TOR node. CSI Linux Analyst: This is the "core" of this distribution. It is a virtual machine running Ubuntu with a large amount of pre-installed software grouped by categories. We will discuss the list of categories later. It's worth noting that in the Incident Response menu, there is a section for CSI SIEM, but it is not active and displays "CSI SIEM Installer and Launch utility coming soon…" indicating a likely intention to integrate it with the third distribution. However, in any case, you can install and run SIEM separately using virtualization in VirtualBox, allowing you to have the full set of packages on the same server. Functionality review Now, let's get a bit closer to the mentioned operating system. To start working, we create a case (click on the "Start a Case" icon on the desktop or go to Menu -> CSI Linux Tools -> Start a Case). Then, all subsequent operations can be performed within the created case, where the results will be stored. Upon creation, you are immediately prompted to start work, and there are several options in the CSI Case Management Menu. It's important to know that most of the software is not pre-installed, and an automatic installation script is launched when selecting a program. Now, let's quickly go through the list of programs (both pre-installed and not) in each available category: CSI Linux Tools: A set of programs for system updates, management of CSI Tor VPN and Whonix Gateway for traffic routing, working with API resources used in CSI Linux, downloading videos, creating screenshots from various online resources, and much more. Secure Comms: This category includes "secure" online messengers. Encryption: Everything for decrypting hashes, password cracking, storing passwords, and personal data. OSINT/Online Investigations: A fairly large category where everyone can find the necessary tools for OSINT tasks. Among the most interesting are social media searches, phone and email searches. Dark Web: If the investigator encounters connection problems, this category is suitable. 'TOR > VPN,’ 'WHONIX'’ and so on, all for pleasant surfing. Incident Response: Everything for incident investigation, malware scanners, network analysis (Wireshark), and more. Computer Forensics: Computer forensics (data recovery and file analysis). Mobile Forensics: Mobile forensics tools for analysis and work with mobile phones. Vehicle Forensics: A set of utilities for working with the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol. CAN is a network technology widely used in automation, embedded devices, and the automotive industry. Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering: For the analysis of malicious scripts and programs, reverse engineering. SIGINT: A set of programs for radio channel analysis, hacking, and programming (FM, WiFi, etc.). Virtualization: A set of managers for virtualization. Threat Intelligence: Threat reconnaissance, cybercrime maps worldwide, and more. Practice Below are some screenshots of CSI Linux in action, demonstrating several tools and functionalities. You'll find attempts to search for individuals by username and email, showcasing the system's capabilities in gathering information from various sources. Conclusion After a basic introduction to the system and conducting several tests searching by phone, email, and username, I can say that CSI Linux partially works out of the box, but in most cases, you need to configure the software you're trying to investigate. There's an issue with blocking bots, through which criminalization occurs, as Tor VPN IP addresses have a poor reputation, or maybe sites identify it as bot activity and quickly block connections. The system is noticeably geared towards working with the world's most famous resources and social networks, but it lacks "out-of-the-box" support for local ones, which may be the most significant in a particular country. The set of programs is quite interesting, although not everything works right away, as already noted. For example, when I searched for data using my email, Buster found an article from 15 years ago on "Economic Truth" mentioning my address and Skype account. However, a simple Google search can find the same and even more. Furthermore, a search by username produced a bunch of irrelevant and unreliable information, which theoretically could be useful if filtered manually. Now I would like to add a little comparison with a competing system to CSI Linux and a more well-known operating system. Kali Linux, a Linux distribution, is popular in the cybersecurity community and is a basic tool for many cybersecurity specialists. However, comparing these two systems, we can say that the software offered by default in each of them is quite different. It's essential to understand that all the software presented in CSI Linux can be installed on Kali Linux and vice versa, as both are based on Ubuntu/Debian and are essentially extensions of the base. As the developers themselves claim, Kali Linux, with its set of programs, is more geared towards tasks such as penetration testing, security research, computer forensics, and reverse engineering. As soon as you log in and look at the main menu, you'll find mostly software for testing websites, social networks, or servers for vulnerabilities or hacking. There are many different bots, attackers, network analysis programs, and so on. So, these two systems are based on the same foundation but are created and configured for different tasks, although they can replace each other. CSI Linux has the right to exist, and it is definitely improving, but much needs to be "fine-tuned" to fit its needs, and one should be prepared for that. The "breakthrough" through the set of programs exists, but it lacks a wow effect and has quite a few inconsistencies. I hope you found this article interesting. By the way, I should mention that the CSI community has its own academy where you can take a course on various aspects of the project. Details are available at the CSI Linux Academy. Intro In today's world, where cybercrimes are becoming increasingly widespread, it is important to have access to effective tools for investigation and counteraction against these threats. One such tool is the CSI Linux operating system, specially designed for the needs of cybersecurity and cyber investigations. CSI Linux aims to provide users with tools for fast and accurate detection of digital traces and evidence that can be used for criminal investigations or for ensuring cybersecurity in organizations. The developers of this operating system claim that it simplifies the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting digital data, making it an important tool for professionals in the field of cybersecurity and cyber investigations. But is it really so? Let's find out... Basic information To begin with, I would like to provide some basic information about this distribution. Official website: https://csilinux.com/ As of the writing of this article, CSI Linux uses Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as its base platform. CSI Linux is an open-source project, so anyone interested can contribute to making it better. The installation process is quite simple, and there are many videos on this topic, such as this one. this Although the process has changed slightly now, after downloading the disk image, you simply need to add (Machine -> Add) the virtual disk file in Vbox format to VirtualBox for it to run. To log into the system by default, use the username "CSI" and the password "CSI." There is also a whole book dedicated to working with CSI Linux, which can be purchased here . here The terminology, list of all available software in CSI Linux, and other documentation are available at this link . link Previously, CSI Linux had three separate packages on the CSI Linux Investigator platform, but now CSI Linux Gateway and CSI Linux Analyst are merged into one package, while CSI Linux SIEM is available as a separate image on the official website. All distributions can also be downloaded from the official website. For a better understanding, let me describe the three components of CSI Linux mentioned above: CSI Linux SIEM: This is a virtual machine included in the CSI Linux Investigator distribution. In fact, it is an Ubuntu distribution that includes a configured Zeek IDS and ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana). It is used as an intrusion detection system to protect other virtual machines (CSI Linux Analyst and CSI Linux Gateway), process logs, and display data on the management panels of CSI Linux Analyst. CSI Linux SIEM: CSI Linux Gateway: This is a TOR user gateway that operates in a "sandbox" using utilities such as AppArmor, Jailbreak, and Shorewall Firewall. When using CSI Linux Analyst + CSI Linux Gateway, all traffic will pass through the TOR node. CSI Linux Gateway: CSI Linux Analyst: This is the "core" of this distribution. It is a virtual machine running Ubuntu with a large amount of pre-installed software grouped by categories. We will discuss the list of categories later. CSI Linux Analyst: It's worth noting that in the Incident Response menu, there is a section for CSI SIEM, but it is not active and displays "CSI SIEM Installer and Launch utility coming soon…" indicating a likely intention to integrate it with the third distribution. However, in any case, you can install and run SIEM separately using virtualization in VirtualBox, allowing you to have the full set of packages on the same server. Functionality review Now, let's get a bit closer to the mentioned operating system. To start working, we create a case (click on the "Start a Case" icon on the desktop or go to Menu -> CSI Linux Tools -> Start a Case). Then, all subsequent operations can be performed within the created case, where the results will be stored. Upon creation, you are immediately prompted to start work, and there are several options in the CSI Case Management Menu. It's important to know that most of the software is not pre-installed, and an automatic installation script is launched when selecting a program. Now, let's quickly go through the list of programs (both pre-installed and not) in each available category: CSI Linux Tools: CSI Linux Tools: CSI Linux Tools: A set of programs for system updates, management of CSI Tor VPN and Whonix Gateway for traffic routing, working with API resources used in CSI Linux, downloading videos, creating screenshots from various online resources, and much more. Secure Comms: Secure Comms: Secure Comms: This category includes "secure" online messengers. Encryption: Encryption: Encryption: Everything for decrypting hashes, password cracking, storing passwords, and personal data. OSINT/Online Investigations: OSINT/Online Investigations: OSINT/Online Investigations: A fairly large category where everyone can find the necessary tools for OSINT tasks. Among the most interesting are social media searches, phone and email searches. Dark Web: Dark Web: Dark Web: If the investigator encounters connection problems, this category is suitable. 'TOR > VPN,’ 'WHONIX'’ and so on, all for pleasant surfing. Incident Response: Incident Response: Incident Response: Everything for incident investigation, malware scanners, network analysis (Wireshark), and more. Computer Forensics: Computer Forensics: Computer Forensics: Computer forensics (data recovery and file analysis). Mobile Forensics: Mobile Forensics: Mobile Forensics: Mobile forensics tools for analysis and work with mobile phones. Vehicle Forensics: Vehicle Forensics: Vehicle Forensics: A set of utilities for working with the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol. CAN is a network technology widely used in automation, embedded devices, and the automotive industry. Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering: Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering: Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering: For the analysis of malicious scripts and programs, reverse engineering. SIGINT: SIGINT: SIGINT: A set of programs for radio channel analysis, hacking, and programming (FM, WiFi, etc.). Virtualization: Virtualization: Virtualization: A set of managers for virtualization. Threat Intelligence: Threat Intelligence: Threat Intelligence: Threat reconnaissance, cybercrime maps worldwide, and more. Practice Below are some screenshots of CSI Linux in action, demonstrating several tools and functionalities. You'll find attempts to search for individuals by username and email, showcasing the system's capabilities in gathering information from various sources. Conclusion After a basic introduction to the system and conducting several tests searching by phone, email, and username, I can say that CSI Linux partially works out of the box, but in most cases, you need to configure the software you're trying to investigate. There's an issue with blocking bots, through which criminalization occurs, as Tor VPN IP addresses have a poor reputation, or maybe sites identify it as bot activity and quickly block connections. The system is noticeably geared towards working with the world's most famous resources and social networks, but it lacks "out-of-the-box" support for local ones, which may be the most significant in a particular country. The set of programs is quite interesting, although not everything works right away, as already noted. For example, when I searched for data using my email, Buster found an article from 15 years ago on "Economic Truth" mentioning my address and Skype account. However, a simple Google search can find the same and even more. Furthermore, a search by username produced a bunch of irrelevant and unreliable information, which theoretically could be useful if filtered manually. Now I would like to add a little comparison with a competing system to CSI Linux and a more well-known operating system. Kali Linux , a Linux distribution, is popular in the cybersecurity community and is a basic tool for many cybersecurity specialists. However, comparing these two systems, we can say that the software offered by default in each of them is quite different. It's essential to understand that all the software presented in CSI Linux can be installed on Kali Linux and vice versa, as both are based on Ubuntu/Debian and are essentially extensions of the base. As the developers themselves claim, Kali Linux, with its set of programs, is more geared towards tasks such as penetration testing, security research, computer forensics, and reverse engineering. As soon as you log in and look at the main menu, you'll find mostly software for testing websites, social networks, or servers for vulnerabilities or hacking. There are many different bots, attackers, network analysis programs, and so on. Kali Linux So, these two systems are based on the same foundation but are created and configured for different tasks, although they can replace each other. CSI Linux has the right to exist, and it is definitely improving, but much needs to be "fine-tuned" to fit its needs, and one should be prepared for that. The "breakthrough" through the set of programs exists, but it lacks a wow effect and has quite a few inconsistencies. I hope you found this article interesting. By the way, I should mention that the CSI community has its own academy where you can take a course on various aspects of the project. Details are available at the CSI Linux Academy . CSI Linux Academy

CSI Linux: Linux Distribution for Cyber and OSINT Investigation

Nvidia's annual developer conference in 2024, known as GTC (GPU Technology Conference), was a pivotal event that unveiled groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) chips, software tools, and strategic partnerships. The conference, led by Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, showcased the company's commitment to innovation and leadership in the tech industry. And if you want to understand the latest trends from the world of AI - subscribe to my newsletter ‘ ‘. And the best part - it’s completely free! AI Hunters Now, onto the key takeaways from Nvidia's GTC 2024: Flagship AI Chip - B200 "Blackwell" The Flagship AI Chip - B200 "Blackwell" unveiled by Nvidia at GTC 2024 represents a groundbreaking advancement in AI chip technology. Named after mathematician David Blackwell, this new chip is a significant leap forward in performance, being 30 times faster than its predecessor, the Hopper series, particularly excelling at tasks like supporting advanced chatbots and large language models. With an impressive 208 billion transistors, more than double the previous chip, the B200 chip offers exceptional processing power. Despite its remarkable performance, the B200 chip is designed with efficiency in mind, using 25 times less energy and money than the previous Hopper series. This focus on efficiency not only enhances its cost-effectiveness but also positions it as a sustainable solution for AI applications. The innovative design of the B200 chip, which combines two squares of silicon into a single chip, allows all transistors to access memory simultaneously, further boosting productivity and performance. Nvidia's dominance in the data center AI chip market, with a market share of roughly 80%, underscores the significance of the B200 chip in shaping the future of AI technology. Major tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Tesla are expected to adopt this new chip, highlighting its importance and impact in the industry. Expected to hit the market later in 2024, the B200 chip offers advanced capabilities for AI applications. With its powerful performance, energy efficiency, and anticipated industry-wide adoption, the Blackwell B200 chip is poised to redefine AI processing and drive innovation across various sectors. Points to Reflect Upon: Performance Leap: Consider the implications of the B200 chip's 30x performance increase for AI applications and industries. Assess the feasibility of integrating the B200 chip into existing AI infrastructure for enhanced performance. Efficiency Benefits: Conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine the potential savings from transitioning to the B200 chip. Software Tools for AI Integration Nvidia Inference Microservices (NIM) introduced at GTC 2024 represent a significant advancement in AI deployment technology. NIM is a cloud-native microservices solution that simplifies the development and deployment of generative AI applications across various infrastructures, including cloud, data centers, and GPU-accelerated workstations. It offers a streamlined path for developing AI-powered enterprise applications and deploying AI models in production, aiming to shorten time-to-market and simplify deployment processes for organizations transitioning to full-scale production deployments. NIM is designed to bridge the gap between the complexities of AI model development and the operational needs of enterprises, enabling a broader pool of developers to contribute to AI transformations within their companies. Some core benefits of NIM include its portability and control, allowing model deployment across various infrastructures, from local workstations to cloud environments. It provides prebuilt containers and Helm charts with optimized models validated across different NVIDIA hardware platforms, cloud service providers, and Kubernetes distributions, ensuring support across all NVIDIA-powered environments. Developers can access AI models through industry-standard APIs, simplifying the development of AI applications and enabling swift updates within the ecosystem. NIM also addresses the need for domain-specific solutions by packaging domain-specific NVIDIA CUDA libraries and specialized code tailored to various domains like language, speech, video processing, healthcare, and more. Leveraging optimized inference engines for each model and hardware setup, NIM ensures the best possible latency and throughput on accelerated infrastructure, reducing the cost of running inference workloads as they scale and enhancing the end-user experience. Part of the NVIDIA AI Enterprise suite, NIM is built with an enterprise-grade base container, providing a solid foundation for enterprise AI software through rigorous validation, enterprise support, and regular security updates. With support for various AI models, including community models, NVIDIA AI Foundation models, and custom AI models, NIM simplifies the AI model deployment process by packaging algorithmic, system, and runtime optimizations and adding industry-standard APIs. This comprehensive solution accelerates the deployment of scalable and customized AI applications in production, making AI more accessible and customizable across industries. Points to Reflect Upon: Business Impact: Consider how NIM can empower businesses to harness AI capabilities and drive innovation. Operational Efficiency: Evaluate how enhanced system efficiency can optimize business processes and decision-making. Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations Nvidia's expanded partnerships with industry leaders and software makers announced at GTC 2024 mark a significant milestone in the development of AI technologies and their integration into various sectors. These collaborations highlight Nvidia's strategic efforts to advance AI infrastructure, enhance AI capabilities, and drive innovation across industries. One key partnership involves Microsoft, where Nvidia and Microsoft are working together to bring the power of Nvidia Grace Blackwell GB200 and advanced Nvidia technologies to Azure. This collaboration aims to deliver trillion-parameter foundation models for tasks like natural language processing, computer vision, speech recognition, and more. Additionally, Microsoft is introducing the Azure NC H100 v5 VM virtual machine based on the Nvidia H100 NVL platform to cater to midrange training and inferencing needs. Furthermore, Nvidia's inference microservices are being integrated into Azure, enhancing AI capabilities for users by providing cloud-native microservices for optimized inference on various foundation models. This integration streamlines AI deployments and accelerates the development of performance-optimized production AI applications. In the automotive sector, Nvidia has deepened its ties with leading Chinese automakers like BYD, Xpeng, GAC Aion's Hyper brand, Zeekr, and Li Auto. These partnerships focus on integrating Nvidia's cutting-edge technologies, such as the Drive Thor in-vehicle chips, to enhance autonomous driving capabilities and infotainment systems in vehicles. Collaborations with US-based software company Cerence aim to adapt large language model AI systems for in-car applications, promising advanced voice command systems and improved user experiences. Overall, these partnerships unveiled at GTC 2024 demonstrate Nvidia's commitment to driving innovation across various industries by leveraging cutting-edge technologies and fostering collaborations with industry leaders and software makers. Points to Reflect Upon: Industry Impact: Consider how partnerships with key players can influence the adoption and integration of Nvidia's technology in various sectors. Innovation Potential: Reflect on the potential for collaborative efforts to drive innovation and create new opportunities in AI and technology. Focus on Sustainability and Sovereign AI Nvidia's emphasis on sustainability and sovereign AI initiatives at GTC 2024 underscores the company's commitment to responsible technology development. The focus on addressing environmental concerns related to AI training and data center energy consumption demonstrates Nvidia's proactive stance on sustainability issues. By prioritizing energy efficiency and sustainable practices in AI development, Nvidia is setting a standard for responsible innovation in the tech industry. Furthermore, Nvidia's dedication to sovereign AI initiatives, which enable nations to produce AI using their infrastructure and workforce, highlights the company's commitment to promoting ethical and secure AI practices globally. By empowering countries to develop AI capabilities locally, Nvidia is fostering digital sovereignty and supporting economic growth while ensuring data protection and security. Overall, Nvidia's dual focus on sustainability and sovereign AI at GTC 2024 showcases the company's holistic approach to technology development, balancing innovation with ethical considerations and environmental responsibility. This strategic emphasis on sustainability and sovereignty sets Nvidia apart as a leader in responsible AI practices and underscores its commitment to shaping a more sustainable and secure future for AI technologies. Points to Reflect Upon: Environmental Responsibility: Consider the implications of Nvidia's sustainability efforts on the tech industry and environmental conservation. Develop a sustainability strategy to align with Nvidia's initiatives. Ethical AI Practices: Reflect on the importance of promoting ethical AI practices and ensuring transparency in AI development. Global Engagement: Explore opportunities for global engagement to promote sovereign AI practices and support technological independence. Market Position and Future Outlook Nvidia's strong market position and future outlook were prominently highlighted at GTC 2024, emphasizing the company's leadership in GPU technology and AI innovation amidst competition from rivals like AMD, Intel, and emerging startups. Announcements at GTC 2024 regarding new products such as the Blackwell GPU series, DGX GB200 System, and DGX SuperPOD underscore Nvidia's focus on advancing AI infrastructure and enabling next-generation AI models. This strategic vision positions Nvidia at the forefront of technological advancements that will shape the future of AI computing and high-performance computing (HPC). Overall, Nvidia's market position and future outlook at GTC 2024 highlight its resilience, innovation drive, and strategic vision for continued growth and leadership in the evolving landscape of AI technologies. To sum up, Nvidia's annual developer conference in 2024 was a platform for unveiling cutting-edge AI technology, software tools, and strategic partnerships that reinforce the company's position as a leader in the tech industry. The key takeaways from GTC 2024 underscore Nvidia's commitment to innovation, sustainability, and collaboration, setting the stage for continued advancements in AI, GPU technology, and high-performance computing. P.S. Check out some of my previous articles at HackerNoon: Google Introduces Gemma: Revolutionary Access to Pre-Trained AI Models Sora's AI Innovation Set to Disrupt Video Content Creation Breaking Down the Next Big Thing in NFTs: ERC-404 Spotlight Gemini 1.5 Unleashes Unprecedented Context for AI Applications The AI Revolution in Journalism: A New Era of Enhanced Reporting DeFi Community Building: A Step-by-Step Guide for Crypto Startups

Nvidia GPU Technology Conference In 2024: A Deep-Dive 

We all are fortunate to observe the transition from Web2 to Web3 and a change in the paradigm of interaction on the Internet. Company founders, brand managers, marketers and everyone who creates product value now have new approaches to interacting with audiences and building new connections. My name is . I’m the Head of Brand Marketing and Product Marketing Manager and have worked with classic brands and blockchain products. With this article, I want to compare Web2 and Web3 marketing — what is changing and how to work with it. Daria Volkova So, follow me, and I hope this long read will help you to implement new knowledge in practice. Web2 Marketing = Performance Marketing+Sales In the promotion of Web2 products, the tools of performance marketing are most often used. Performance marketing makes all work together, maximizing effectiveness. This approach’s main principles and goals are the return on marketing investments and the increase in sales. advertising channels Features of performance marketing: measurability of the effectiveness of the channels used; assessment of business indicators (CPA, ROI, CAC, LTV); the ability to influence the performance in real-time; synchronization of SEO, SMM, email marketing, and media advertising to achieve results. Performance campaign is measured and tracked using referral links, coupon codes, and individual phone numbers. This method requires extensive setup and careful testing. So, Web2 marketing is focused on paid advertising performance indicators and branding, but PR and ideological components were rarely included in the marketing and sales flow. In most cases, all these directions went in parallel, which is incorrect because it is much more logical to build a system on an ideological basis, combining brand, marketing and sales goals in the strategy. More advanced Web2 marketing came to be called when technology was used to achieve results. For example, Account-Based Marketing, or Big Data tools, help to make a personalized advertising experience for a specific person. Growth Marketing Technologies at the core of Web3 marketing Decentralized technologies, such as blockchain, AI and IoT set Web3 marketing apart from Web2. Blockchain gives the power to tokenize assets, put information on a chain, create a digital identity, and do many projects. Artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things enable brands to be closer to their potential consumers while not directly selling something but adapting to people's lifestyles. The development of the IoT enables more and more devices to connect to the Internet, which means that the need for a decentralized data processing platform is increasing. Web3 marketing is well-positioned to utilize this trend because it can leverage these technologies. In addition to cutting-edge technologies, Web3 marketing is characterized by great attention to growth marketing, PR and community development. I highlighted several main differences between the marketing of Web2 and Web3 projects. To begin with, let’s consider the ideological framework, namely the companies’ mission, values and principles. Ideology & Storytelling in Web3 In the era of Web2, companies often push ideology and storytelling to the background because the conversion indicators of digital advertising came to the fore. Many products were launched to make a quick buck, not to create additional value and emotional customer experience. This approach has never been close to me because I believe meaning and actual value will bring more to the company than direct advertising. To be an outstanding project, you must create and develop a . It should be revealed in the logo, font style, visual design, external communication strategy, and all words and actions of the company. Genuinely successful projects are always based on ideology, values and an understanding of their otherness. unique brand based on a system of values and personalized unique experiences One of my favorite brands is . Their ideological and visual components are so thought out and successfully combined that it gives me a braingasm. Ethereum is like a guide to the decentralized future that everyone can build on the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum I strongly advise you to study all the components of the Ethereum brand because this is an excellent example. style guide Decentralization and digital economies are the essences of Web3 because they created on the net. The Web3 space is inherently , and anything that contrasts that ethos may be treated as a red flag. Web3 is changing the way of interaction between individuals and companies, pushing values and principles to the front line. allow us to place value on the content open-source The values should be such that you can build a solid foundation on their basis and attract future team members. Also, values will help you in the stage of creating your brand story, so don’t skip this critical part. is essential to humankind — it is how we share experiences, knowledge, and wisdom. It is also because it is how audiences are captivated. Storytelling crucial for branding and reputation Web3 platforms like allow storytellers, publishers, production houses, and NFT projects to publish, manage and distribute multimedia literary content on the blockchain without requiring specific technical knowledge. The number of such interactive platforms will constantly increase. Readl Make PR & Creative great again! Many Web2 companies perceive , which should help sales managers sell more. But this direction is rarely a priority unless the product belongs to the categories of fashion, art, breakthrough startups or something that needs to create news constantly. PR and creative promotion as optional In contrast, PR and the creative component are essential for promoting web3 products. Most projects are startups, meaning from venture funds like a16z, Outlier Ventures, Pantera Capital, and others. Funds, in turn, have minimal time to get to know the team. if they have already heard about you and read about your project in trusted media such as Bloomberg, Coindesk, Cointelegraph, and others. they must attract investments It is much easier to establish contact with investors Also, PR is needed to because we can invest in a project we trust and want to support. Unlike Web2 products, you can become an investor only by purchasing shares of a public company. attract individual investors Time and money spent on PR and communication accelerate the process of decision-making about the support of your project by investors. Web3 gave birth to such phenomena as . (like DOGE or SHIB) are meme-inspired cryptocurrencies. They tend to be compared to major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). This is likely because meme coins are heavily community-driven tokens., and social media and online community sentiments usually influence their prices. memes coins and fan tokens Meme coins highly volatile are dedicated to favorite sports teams and help them to be a part of the fan community. For example, Binance sponsors the BWT Alpine team in F1. The Alpine team has its fan token, and this token allows fans to donate directly to the team. Also, can access gamification and various goodies. Fan tokens on Binance, owners of ALPINE tokens Tokenomics of meme tokens or fan tokens is entirely dependent on PR. From a creative point of view, Web3 projects have more technological tools for creating campaigns and engaging users or developers than classic businesses. For example, metaverses provide an opportunity to gamify the user experience and make it rich in emotions. In Web3, the level of personalization increases due to the use of algorithms. unique NFT or Artificial Intelligence Web2 companies are now actively using Web3 tools to demonstrate their Many big brands already have blockchain&crypto teams looking for new ways to technological prowess and be in the mainstream. promote the brand and adapt it to the new Web3 reality. Confirmation of the importance of creativity in the marketing of web3 products is who have experience working with advertising and launching creative campaigns. Companies are ready to play the long game and apply tools to create an additional . the growth of vacancies for creative directors and brand marketers emotional attachment to the brand Social networks: for sales or growth? Web2 can be called the period of birth and development of social networks. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube and many others , where each user not only consumes but also creates content, becoming an independent media. spent interacting with the platform and creators have turned the forums of the Web1 era into interactive content Disneyland Attention and time became the main currency. Social networks gave marketers the tools of , which became a game-changing feature at one time. People enthusiastically filled out their profiles, showing the algorithms detailed information about their careers, interests, hobbies, relationships, and favorite foods. Algorithms allow marketers to targeted advertising target advertising messages to specific audiences. With the introduction of the , targeted advertising has become less effective and can no longer clearly distinguish audiences by gender or age criteria. GDPR policy Targeted advertising is replaced by . Account-based marketing, often known as ABM, is a strategy for targeted business expansion in which the marketing and sales departments work together to provide for a predetermined group of high-value clients. ABM is more used in the , where the contract can be discussed for a long time and extremely important warm contacts. account-based marketing individualized purchasing environments B2B direction But Web3 has a slightly different approach to social networks. Social networks friendly to blockchain projects are Also, decentralized social networks on the blockchain are , for example, Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Reddit, and Steemit. actively developing Bluesky Social, Amino, CounterSocial or Mastodon. The other day, news broke that Waze CEO is launching his own decentralized social network . Post will allow you to write and share “posts of any length,” as well as chat and tip content creators. They want to return social networks to their original meaning — to inform people. Post The question of social networks smoothly leads us to build a community. Community building and engagement Web2 marketing strategies usually do not try to build communities because this will not bring significant benefits in promoting the product. When marketing a Web3 project, you must look beyond conventional methods to attract potential users. As than in Web2, lead journeys will evolve accordingly. community takes on greater importance in Web3 First, you must talk with your community members in the A cult-like identity that expresses itself through memes, specialized lingos like WAGMI, odd-looking profile pictures like the BAYC, and a deep longing for “moon” trips. Those elements constitute the unique web3 culture. same language and create a unique inner culture. To boost your chances of getting accepted, you can assist them in carrying out in-depth research about your project by: Consistently engaging them with updates on behind-the-scenes activities. Announcement of project development progress. Getting the community involved in the decision-making about key features or events. Giving them rewards (tokens, branded merch, invitations) for minting NFT or launching your testnet. Making content about your team members. Leaving no questions unanswered and respectfully entertaining feedback. Setting clear goals and objectives from the beginning and being upfront in fulfilling them. Painstakingly explain via long-form articles, interviews, or videos when any critical or unexpected decision is taken. There is a good platform for community reward  — . They are building the most powerful to and You can use it or similar to make your community building easier. Crew3 medium understand, activate grow tokenized communities. Also, creating comics or memes or encouraging community members to create content about your project is a good idea. For example, here is a screenshot from The Comicverse: Or — an informal and adorable symbol of . zkSync community is growing very fast because of the excellent product idea, good PR and very professional actions of the community managers, who know how to constantly warm people's interest. Zeek Cat zkSync Developer Relations Marketing is more relevant than ever Web3 requires . Partnerships and collaborations and the development of relationships with developers who test and implement the technology usually come to the fore. new approaches to scaling is the marketing technique used to ensure that one’s company, products, and developers establish deep, continuous relationships with external developers through mutual communication. According to , the global developer population is expected to reach , an increase of 3.2 million from the number seen in 2020. Developer Relation (DevRel) Statista 28.7 million people by 2024 Developing a blockchain product is impossible without building relationships with developers who will implement the technology and make other products based on it. The most popular blockchains on which most products are made are Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Solana. For developers to create products based on the technology, the company must establish a warm relationship with them and encourage them. To do this, DevRel marketers hold meetups and hackathons, educational and entertaining webinars, prepare user-friendly technical documentation, give away merch and much more. A DevRel program may comprise a framework built around some or all of the following aspects: : Outreach and engagement activities to create awareness and convert developers to use a product. Developer Marketing : Product documentation and education resources to aid learning and build affinity with a product and community. Developer Education : Resources like a developer portal, product, and documentation, to activate the developer with the least friction. Developer Experience (DX) : Activities to nurture and retain developers as they build and scale with a product. Developer Success : Nourishes a community to maintain a sustainable program. Community This is a long-time game, and the interaction process is similar to the . That’s why if you want to make your product interesting for developers’ teams, you have to sell it by demonstrating marketing of B2B projects technological and business advantages. Let me know your partner, and I'll tell you who you are—the power of mutual promotion. Marketers of Web2 and Web3 projects love because this is an at the expense of another company and show your product from a new angle. However, partnerships in Web3 are built , and this, in turn, can be the beginning of building an ecosystem. partnerships excellent opportunity to increase your audience not only on ideological compatibility but also on technological compatibility So, before you offer other projects to become your partner and exchange audiences, you should make sure that you are in order with the following: The technical side of the product is excellent, and there, and there have been no reputational losses or were settled by competent communication. Your brand is consistent in terms of mission and vision, as reasonably as it is visually attractive, and the design does not contradict the company's essence. You have the resources to maintain communication at the right level for a long time. You know how to scale the project and grow the community. I like how partners with various blockchain projects. They collaborated with very trusted and well-known blockchain and fintech projects, which increases their visibility and works well to attract a new audience of developers and users. 1inch Also, is once again proving its readiness for large partnerships from the point of view of technology and brand. Almost every week, the CEO of publishes on Linkedin announcements of new partnerships with world-famous brands. Polygon Studios is the team that develops the Polygon ecosystem through various products. In September, they partnered with Starbucks, then collaborated with J.P. Morgan, later a partnership with The Walt Disney Company and announced opportunities to create your own . And in November, the announcement of a , where Polygon will launch an NFT platform for selling virtual clothes. Polygon Polygon Studios NFTs on Facebook and Instagram collaboration with Nike Data collection and ownership in Web2 and Web3 FAANG and other corporations know a lot about users, which cannot be not alarming. Web2 has given businesses It is interesting that Apple caught society’s trend to reduce data transmission and caused trouble for Meta (Facebook) by adding an option to refuse data transmission to applications in the new version of the OS. Now Facebook can’t work with advertising as effectively and is missing out on billions of dollars. unlimited data to use however they want. the election by manipulating public opinion through social media, mainly through Facebook. The company had unlimited access to user data and helped a person with a dubious reputation achieve political goals. Cambridge Analytica helped Trump win Unlike data trading in Web2, the you share on the Internet. solves the issue of data collection by blocking trackers and creepy ads on every website you visit. Web3 approach involves independent control over the data Brave Browser One more project built for privacy on the Internet is . They are working on providing a currency that makes privacy approachable and easy to use while providing the strongest privacy guarantees. Not only is privacy a right, but it also leads to innovation, creativity, and safety. Also, they are working on developing an improved user experience and offering a complete end-to-end product: from the mobile phone wallet to the user’s bank account in a browser tab. Network Iron Fish All this means that in the future, . And for marketers, this means finding new ways of interaction and increasing the importance of a personalized approach to customers — not through intrusive advertising, but through value creation. people can get an individual approach and disclose only the information they want Conclusion So, I’ve outlined the main differences between Web2 and Web3 project marketing that you need to know about if you’re planning to dive into this field. I am sure that the era of Web3 will bring even more new opportunities and help marketers and brand managers to focus on emphasizing the value of technologically robust products. If you liked my article, share it on your social media and follow me on , or Twitter YouTube . LinkedIn

The crucial difference between Web2 and Web3 Marketing

Is it Just Another Buzzword? Or a Building Block of CloudSec And Zero Trust? Not surprisingly, during recent meetings, customers often asked me how to manage all cybersecurity tools. According to the I am not alone. It is top of the mind of many CISOs that to fight the cyberattacks’ perfect storm: multi-cloud and remote work security. Gartner Top Security Technology Trends for 2022, a consolidated while distributed security architecture is essential It looks pretty contradictory with each layer, but it is not. Let’s consider the following service-based application as an example: AWS Lambda and Azure Functions are being used as content pages from containers in different Cloud providers, including Google Cloud Run; Cloudflare is being used as a CDN (Content Delivery Network); Developers use Okta as an Identity services provider. It is actually what customers are using nowadays. Just consider how many service providers and models are in the picture. And what’s more? It is only part of the big picture. To protect anything under these conditions stresses the existing cybersecurity architecture. Therefore, it is time for a new and better approach — Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA) which aims to reduce the need for one specific computing environment. Everything is Decentralized (Workforce, Perimeter, Information, and More…) Because of COVID, companies accelerated their digital transformation initiatives to get ahead of the curve in a battle for existence. As a result, many companies have adopted the latest technologies to enable and encourage remote working trends. With the and remote working being the “new normal,” organizations have their assets, employees, partners, and customer base globally distributed in different locations. Thus, critical data and assets are exposed outside the traditional security perimeters, making it challenging to rely on legacy controls to protect them against advanced cyber threats. work-from-anywhere scenario The traditional technology stack is breaking down because They’re also using to adopt an that works with distributed services (key to cloud security, web3, and DevOps). more people use microservices. blockchain and other trust models information-centric security model states that new attack surfaces have opened up due to a pandemic-inspired shift to remote work. Remote workers, cloud adoption, DevSecOps, IoTs, and other parts of digital transformation . The answer to this problem is a A recent Gartner report require flexible and scalable cybersecurity strategies scalable, integrated, and automated cybersecurity mesh architecture. What is Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA)? has specified a growing gap in interoperability between security tools. Moreover, there are wasteful overlaps in multiple devices or software— each being paid for through its own licensing. Gartner Under CSMA, each device will be introduced into the infrastructure as an integrated, carefully designed part of a consolidated security posture. Also, Gartner defines the cybersecurity mesh as a distributed architectural approach to flexible, scalable, and reliable cybersecurity control. According to the report: “ ”, below are the four fundamental layers of a CSMA: Top Security Technology Trends for 2022: Cybersecurity Mesh security analytics and intelligence consolidated dashboards distributed identity fabric consolidated policy and posture management , storing a secret key in Microsoft Azure is different from using that in AWS or Google, such as: Using key management as an example Azure Key Vault; AWS CloudHSM; Google Cloud Key; On-prem HSM appliance. (keeping the key/ secret from being exposed or unauthorized access). As a result, the same consolidated policy and posture management translate to different configurations and deployments in various form factors, i.e., distributed security controls. While each application/ service is distinct, technically and operationally, they are being used to meet a similar policy goal Similarly, consolidated policy and posture management translate abstract policy objectives to specific configurations on individual providers that benefit overall security posture. For example, developers often re-use keys to access different resources and forget to separate those from developments with productions. For example, can help ensure that all encryption key accesses are monitored and comply with corporate policy or security standards. It can also align all configurations with different providers. a cloud security posture management platform Common Languages in Cybersecurity Space To have better integration and let all the tools work together, they need to “talk” to each other. For example, we are familiar with “IOC” — Indicator of Compromise in threat intelligence sharing. However, it would not be possible if all vendors shared their own sets of indicators without standardization. As a result, CSMA also needs common languages — like open standards and common APIs to support the integration of different vendors. Below are some examples of existing common standards: IOC — STIX/ TAXII, SIGMA Threat Intelligence — OpenDXL (McAfee), SCAP v2 (NIST) Network — Netflow, IPfix Authentication — SAML, OAuth, FIDO2 Framework — MITRE ATT&CK and D3FEND, CVSS, OWASP Top 10 Threat Hunting — Yara, Snort, ZEEK Suppose we need CSMA to work in a SOC environment where cybersecurity professionals are serious about security monitoring. To make threat intelligence meaningful analytics and intelligence, we need to put together information about threats and assets. Therefore, not just the data exported from all security devices but also other data sources like identity and assets’ context information should also be standardized. We need a standard process to collect and correlate events and logs. Lastly, there is integration in every part of the data flow to have tools work seamlessly together. As security professionals, we need to keep doing what we are doing in the short term. We can do our job by using any number of products that help accomplish the four layers of CSMA (as described above). Therefore, organizations align their multi-cloud and work-from-anywhere strategies to decouple from the policy enforcement. Adopting CSMA also helps eliminate silos in the security stack, and we will see less and less “perimeter-based” security in the latter stage. How to Do it? Think As a Zero Trust Dates Back Just like the adoption of Zero Trust, practitioners who understand the advantages of the CSMA model can be on the lookout for security products that support it. The endorsement of zero trust as a plausible architectural model has changed how cybersecurity practitioners assess and audit cloud-native companies. Consider what the Zero Trust journey begins and what it becomes nowadays. The concepts supporting zero trust are not new: for his doctoral thesis on computational security at the University of Stirling. coined ZT in April 1994 Stephen Paul Marsh The complications of determining the perimeter of an organization’s IT infrastructure were highlighted , discussing the trend of what was later coined “De-Perimiterisation.” by the Jericho Forum in 2003 referred to as . In 2009, Google implemented a Zero Trust architecture BeyondCorp , an industry analyst at Forrester Research Inc, popularized the term John Kindervag “Zero Trust Network” in 2010 And now, companies and vendors have formed around the zero trust architecture. It has also driven new features and innovation in existing vendors’ product portfolios. As a result, it has driven initiatives in end-user technology organizations. Likewise, acceptance of CSMA as a feasible architectural strategy can potentially simplify architectural discussions around multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, container security, and security orchestration and response. Final Words The concept of the cybersecurity mesh assumes how widely available truly composable security services are. As a result, these solutions feature an architecture created to scale agilely . CSMA also names common frameworks for everything — from contextual and threat analytics to threat intelligence (TI), and security controls integrated via APIs. through an API-first approach According to , Gartner’s predictions “By 2024, organizations adopting a CSMA will reduce the financial impact of security incidents by an average of 90%.” A practical cybersecurity mesh architecture will demand stronger, consolidated policy management and governance. For example, it’ll be crucial to orchestrate more suitable “least-privilege” access policies, which organizations can accomplish using a centralized policy management engine with distributed enforcement. Yet, we still need some glue to help us stick all the available tools together. Luckily, with the recommendations in Gartner’s CSMA report, integration becomes possible with common cybersecurity languages — APIs and Open standards and carefully puts all the existing security stack into play. Thank you for reading. May InfoSec be with you🖖.

CSMA is More Than XDR — An Introduction to Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture

In 2021, hosted the first-ever awards!! HackerNoon Startup of the Year The goal of this campaign was to give recognition to the hardworking startups who pulled through the pandemic -- growing and thriving (despite all of the challenges). More than 44,000 startups were nominated all across the globe! They were selected from over 4,553 cities, with a total number of * cough * “4 billion” votes. Insane, right? To see who is a winner in each respective city, visit and pick a city. The name at the top of the list is the winner. (Compromised awards are under review. Cities with tie votes will be updated to have two winners!) startups.hackernoon.com The will announce the winners per region in their respective cities. Startups Winners Announcement series Here are the winners in the : Asia region Top Startup Cities in East Asia Seoul The Startup of the Year in is with 377 votes! Seoul dable Central is the Startup of the Year! It came out ahead with 121 votes. UpNow Central Sheung Wan came out as the Startup of the Year in with 154 votes. Votee Sheung Wan Tokyo The Startup of the Year in is with 41 votes! Tokyo ACES Wan Chai The Startup of the Year in is with 54 votes! Wan Chai Zetl Osaka, Japan In , is the winner! Osaka Nanophoton Taiwan came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Tico Taiwan Dongcheng, China In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Dongcheng Waiju Taipei came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Tico Taipei Akasaka In , is the winner! Akasaka WAKUWAKU Chuo In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Chuo GO-NET Ginza came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Netyear Ginza Kanazawa In , is the winner! Kanazawa Granzella Minami-aoyama In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Minami-aoyama Tokyo6 Entertainment Shibuya came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Hupro Japan Shibuya Toranomon In , is the winner! Toranomon Small Worlds Toshima In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Toshima Altplus Guangzhou, China came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Leyaoyao Guangzhou Hong Kong, Hong Kong In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Hong Kong Episode Six Kunming In , is the winner! Kunming Green A Sapporo In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Sapporo Polar Star Space Shirokanedai came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Nupp1 Shirokanedai Wuhan In , is the winner! Wuhan CSICEE Baoan, China In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Baoan Jumper Baoshan, China In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Baoshan Renren Games Chengdu, China came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Ju You Xi Chengdu Fujisawa, Japan In , is the winner! Fujisawa Scohia Pharma Fukuoka, Japan In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Fukuoka Kyulux Haidian, China came out as the Startup of the Year in ! 51vv Haidian Hongkou, China In , is the winner! Hongkou Kidstone Jiading, China In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Jiading IMRobotic Kawasaki, Japan came out as the Startup of the Year in ! QD Laser, Inc. Kawasaki Kyoto, Japan In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kyoto Hacarus Minato, Japan In , is the winner! Minato Visionary Fun Nagoya, Japan came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Prodrone Nagoya Ningbo, China The winner in is . Ningbo OlymTech Corporation Aomori In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Aomori Forte Japan Bandai-cho In , is the winner. Bandai-cho Delta-Fly Pharm Changchun In , the Startup of the Year is . Changchun Kaidi Animation Fuchu In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Fuchu TMS Fukuoka-shi The winner in is . Fukuoka-shi SkyDisc Fukushima In , the Startup of the Year is . Fukushima Matsuri Technologies Gotanda In , is the winner. Gotanda Basset Hachioji In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Hachioji Adriakaim Harbin The winner in is J . Harbin oining Technology Iwaki In , is the winner. Iwaki Tao Engineering Izumo In , the Startup of the Year is . Izumo PuREC Kagoshima In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kagoshima Farmers Support Kamakura In , the Startup of the Year is . Kamakura KAYAC Kami-meguro The winner in is . Kami-meguro Buzzreach Kanagawa In , is the winner. Kanagawa LoiLo Kashiwa In , the Startup of the Year is . Kashiwa Intelligent Surfaces Kita In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kita Ax Robotix Kobe The winner in is . Kobe Coconomi Koriyama In , the Startup of the Year is . Koriyama Tocoton Kumamoto In , is the winner. Kumamoto Bloom Technology Kunitachi In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kunitachi Trys Liaocheng The winner in is . Liaocheng Jinzheng Animation Minami In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Minami ATLAB Miyazaki In , is the winner. Miyazaki Caster Nagano In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Nagano Precision Forestry Nagaoka The winner in is . Nagaoka Plant Form Nihombashi-hamacho In , the Startup of the Year is . Nihombashi-hamacho Shizen Energy Niigata In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Niigata UniBio Japan Nishi-shinagawa In , is the winner. Nishi-shinagawa Play Heart Okayama In , is the winner! Okayama Arch Farm Okinawa In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Okinawa BlogNinja Otemachi In , the Startup of the Year is . Otemachi beBit, Inc Qingdao Shi In , is the winner! Qingdao Shi Manyoubang Quanzhou In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Quanzhou KungFu Animation Group Roppongi The winner in is . Roppongi Holo-X Saitama In , the Startup of the Year is . Saitama GameTector Sendai In , is the winner! Sendai Sendai Smart Machines Setagaya In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Setagaya Skyestate Shenzhen In , the Startup of the Year is . Shenzhen Aiator Shinjuku In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Shinjuku Scalar Shizuoka In , is the winner! Shizuoka PiPhotonics Sumida The winner in is . Sumida Holotch Tachikawa In , the Startup of the Year is . Tachikawa PlusOne Takamatsu In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Takamatsu Ken Robotec Tokushima In , is the winner! Tokushima DennoKotsu Toyonaka In , the Startup of the Year is . Toyonaka FISH BIOTECH Tsukuba In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Tsukuba WARPSPACE Wakayama In , the Startup of the Year is . Wakayama 4D Sensor Xiangzhou In , is the winner! Xiangzhou ALLiN Edutech Group Xianyang The winner in is . Xianyang TONLY Xiaoshan In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Xiaoshan GONGHUI Yamaguchi In , the Startup of the Year is . Yamaguchi Archis Yangpu The winner in is . Yangpu Tmxmall Yau Tsim Mong In , is the winner! Yau Tsim Mong Airnugget Yeoksamdong In , the Startup of the Year is . Yeoksamdong WizSchool Yichang In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Yichang Hubei Kento Electronic Yokohama In , is the winner! Yokohama Next Innovation Yubei In , the Startup of the Year is . Yubei Ophiux Network Yueqing The winner in is . Yueqing Yueqing Easythink Media Zhuhai In , is the winner! Zhuhai Aijuba Hongo In , the Startup of the Year is . Hongo Smile Robotics, Inc Admiralty In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Admiralty BUNCH Southern In , the Startup of the Year is . Southern Retykle Yongdungpo In , is the winner! Yongdungpo Push News Taichung In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Taichung Wondercise Cyberport, Hong Kong In , the Startup of the Year is . Cyberport Animoca Brands Hefei, China In , is the winner! Hefei Tsinglink New Territories, Hong Kong The winner in is . New Territories, Hong Kong Zeek Dezhou In , the Startup of the Year is . Dezhou Dezhou Baji Kitakyushu In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kitakyushu Reif Seongnam In , is the winner! Seongnam EOFlow Yanshi In , the Startup of the Year is . Yanshi CASI Vision Top Startup Cities in South Asia Hyderabad, India The Startup of the Year in is with 962 votes Hyderabad Quixy Lahore, Pakistan is the Startup of the Year! It came out ahead with 186 votes. SmartWindows Lahore Bangalore, India When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year with 210 votes! Bangalore vBridge Hub Pune, India couldn’t be beaten for Startup of the Year in , it won with 129 votes! InfraCloud Pune Jaipur, India The Startup of the Year in is with 166 votes Jaipur Emizen Tech Lucknow, India is the Startup of the Year! It came out ahead with 279 votes. Keeros Superfoods Lucknow Noida, India came out as the Startup of the Year in with 156 votes! Bagisto Noida Mumbai, India When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year with 96 votes! Mumbai Sequretek Sylhet couldn’t be beaten for Startup of the Year in , it won with 122 votes! DataXpie Sylhet Mylapore, India In , is the winner! Mylapore Yalimart Goa, India In , the Startup of the Year is Goa Filter Coffee Delhi, India In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Delhi EkAnek Networks Karachi, Pakistan The winner in is Karachi Bykea Ahmedabad, India In , is the winner Ahmedabad MageComp Dhaka, Bangladesh The winner in is Dhaka SOLshare Islamabad, Pakistan In Islamabad, is declared the Startup of the Year! TAG Gurgaon, India In , the Startup of the Year is Gurgaon ixigo Bengaluru, India In , is the winner! Bengaluru Prakshep Private Limited Haryana, India couldn’t be beaten for Startup of the Year in ! Footprints Childcare Haryana Kolkata, India In , is the winner! Kolkata Wow! Momo New Delhi, India In , is declared the Startup of the Year! New Delhi Rusk Media Indore, India The winner in is Indore Chattar Patar Kormangala In , is the winner Kormangala Sanctum Technologies Ghaziabad came out as the Startup of the Year in Craftfurnish.com Ghaziabad! Mohali In , the Startup of the Year is Mohali DataKund Mysore The Startup of the Year in is Mysore Excelsoft Karnal came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Dunar Karnal Kolhapur In , is the winner! Kolhapur Zanvar Group Patiya In , the Startup of the Year is Patiya Kloud Project Kathmandu In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kathmandu Vairav Technology Bangalore City, India In is the winner! Bangalore City, PagarBook Ernakulam The winner in is Ernakulam Epixel Solutions Colombo, Sri Lanka couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in MAs Foods Colombo Andheri, India When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year! Andheri DoorMint Kanpur, India came out as the Startup of the Year in ! ServiceWalaa Kanpur Faisalabad In , is the winner! Faisalabad DigiKhata Nasik The Startup of the Year in is Nasik Sahyadri Farms Patna came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Asvin Tech Patna Chennai, India In , is the winner! Chennai Agnikul Cosmos Faridabad, India In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Faridabad UClean Panjim, India The winner in is Panjim TempoGO Ranchi, India In , is the winner Ranchi Osam Dairy Surat, India In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Surat Wishbook Thane, India In , is the winner! Thane Delight Foods Trivandrum, India came out as the Startup of the Year in ! GenRobotic Trivandrum Vijayawada, India In , the Startup of the Year is Vijayawada Eruvaka Technologies Visakhapatnam, India In , Ltd is declared the Startup of the Year! Visakhapatnam Greenline Labs Pvt Ahmadabad In , is the winner! Ahmadabad KiwiQA Services Bandra came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Car Club Bandra Bombay In , is the winner! Bombay Locobuddy Mobile Technology (Sportobuddy) Cochin In , the Startup of the Year is Cochin Tuttifrutti Interactive Gandhinagar In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Gandhinagar Kroop AI Guwahati In , the Startup of the Year is Guwahati GNRC Hospitals Jamshedpur In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Jamshedpur Intelliber Kabul The winner in is Kabul Miracle Shop (Vocinno Technology) Karur In , is the winner Karur Karur Vysya Bank Kochi The winner in is Kochi BestDoc Kozhikode In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kozhikode OfficeKit HR Ludhiana In , the Startup of the Year is Ludhiana Trendy Beat Network Madhapur In , is the winner! Madhapur Head Digital Works Mangalore When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year Mangalore Hangyo Nagpur came out as the Startup of the Year in ! UPrudence Agro Nagpur Rawalpindi The Startup of the Year in is Rawalpindi Pro Options Marketing Rishikesh came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Descatuk Rishikesh Secunderabad couldn’t be beaten for Startup of the Year in Prakriti Biosystems Engineering Secunderabad Tirupur In , is the winner! Tirupur Tubeknit Fashions Udupi The winner in is Udupi Krishitantra Top Startup Cities in Southeast Asia Singapore, Singapore The Startup of the Year in is with 6556 votes! Singapore Cake DeFi Hanoi, Vietnam is the Startup of the Year! It came out ahead with 683 votes. DeFi For You Hanoi Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia came out as the Startup of the Year in with 109 votes! Trambellir Kuala Lumpur Pasig, Philippines When it comes to , . is the Startup of the Year with 110 votes! Pasig Quickreach Inc Bangkok, Thailand couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in , it won with 60 votes! Perception Codes Bangkok Johor Bahru In , the Startup of the Year is . Johor Bahru AGR1 Bandung, Indonesia In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Bandung Prosa Portugal The winner in is . Portugal SCEMAI Tangerang, Indonesia In , is the winner Tangerang Yummy Corp Jakarta, Indonesia In , is the winner! Jakarta Tokocrypto Dki Jakarta, Indonesia In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Dki Jakarta Limakilo Bangkok Metropolis In , is the winner! Bangkok Meticuly Medan The winner in is ! Medan DIKA Manila, Philippines In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Manila PawnHero Phnom Penh, Cambodia In , the Startup of the Year is Phnom Penh vKirirom Bali In , is the winner! Bali Radius App Penang When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year Penang EasyParcel Surabaya came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Super Surabaya Setiabudi, Indonesia The Startup of the Year in is Setiabudi Chilibeli Cebu City came out as the Startup of the Year in MiCab Cebu City! Jawa couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in DAUR Jawa Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam In , is the winner! Ho Chi Minh City Pharmacity Selangor, Malaysia is the Startup of the Year! BabyDash Selangor Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia In , is the winner! Jakarta Pusat StickEarn Semarang When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year! Semarang Food Bear Petaling Jaya, Malaysia The winner in is . Petaling Jaya Deemples Kebayoran Baru, Indonesia couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in ! Yogrt Kebayoran Baru Kuningan The winner in is . Kuningan Prinzio Bukit Merah came out as the Startup of the Year in ! DC Alliance Bukit Merah Huai Khwang In , the Startup of the Year is . Huai Khwang AppMan Co.,Ltd Kuta In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Kuta Gringgo Mandaluyong came out ahead as the Startup of the Year! Work Inspire Mandaluyong Midview City In , is the winner! Midview City BioMers Phuket The Startup of the Year in is ! Phuket Sapahn Yangon, Myanmar The winner in is . Yangon Wave Money Denpasar When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year! Denpasar Revasi Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand The winner in is . Nakhon Ratchasima Siam Lottery co., Ltd Taguig, Philippines In , is the winner! Taguig PayMongo Bogor came out as the Startup of the Year in ! TIRANYX Bogor Senai, Malaysia won as the Startup of the Year. Nutrition Technologies Senai Bekasi Kota couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in ! 8villages Bekasi Kota Top Startup Cities in Middle East Tel Aviv, Israel The Startup of the Year in is with 1,065 votes! Tel Aviv hyro Beirut, Lebanon is the Startup of the Year! It came out ahead with 1,276 votes. Hovi Digital Lab Beirut Riyadh, Saudi Arabia With 350 votes, came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Flicron Riyadh Tel Aviv-yafo, Israel When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year with 167 votes! Tel Aviv-yafo Cymbio Haifa, Israel couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in , it won with 183 votes! Pico Haifa Amman, Jordan In , with 141 votes, is the winner! Amman Edexy Dubai, United Arab Emirates In , the Startup of the Year is with 74 votes. Dubai Ziina Doha, Qatar In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Doha SkipCash Tehran, Iran The winner in is . BeyondBoard AR Tehran Jerusalem, Israel In , is the winner! Jerusalem SolidBlock Rishon Le Zion The Startup of the Year in is ! Rishon Le Zion Passparto Ness Ziona, Israel is the Startup of the Year! Soapy Ness Ziona Kuwait, Kuwait came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Brapper Shop Kuwait Manama, Bahrain couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in ! Doctori Manama Lod, Israel is the winner in ! Phinergy Lod Agudat Israel, Israel When it comes to is the Startup of the Year with [vote ] votes! Agudat Israel, Aqaurius Engines Beersheba, Israel In , the Startup of the Year is . Beersheba Visual Estate Ltd Giv'atayim, Israel In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Giv'atayim WSC Sports Modi'in, Israel The winner in is . Modi'in Loginno Nazareth, Israel In , is the winner! Nazareth AR Guide In Medical Ramat Gan, Israel The Startup of the Year in is . Ramat Gan Datos Health Baghdad When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year! Baghdad Mishwar Khobar In , the Startup of the Year is . Khobar Garage Misgav couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in ! Eden Shield Misgav Sharjah came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Bookends Sharjah Affula In , the Startup of the Year is . Affula eMotion Technologies Bene Beraq, Israel In , is the winner Bene Beraq Reflectiz Caesarea, Israel In , the Startup of the Year is . Caesarea CardiacSense Dubayy In , is declared the Startup of the Year! Dubayy North Ladder Muscat couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in ! iLab Marine Muscat Tirat Carmel In , the Startup of the Year is . Tirat Carmel PassCall Advanced Technologies Hod Hasharon, Israel The winner in is . Hod Hasharon Idomoo Holon, Israel came out ahead as the Startup of the Year! OptimalPlus Holon Jeddah, Saudi Arabia When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year! Jeddah Arabian Combustion Technologies Ramat Hasharon, Israel is the Startup of the Year! Lumen Ramat Hasharon Al Khobar came out as the Startup of the Year in ! Swyft Al Khobar Bet Shemesh In , is the winner! Bet Shemesh Degania Medical Binyamina When it comes to , is the Startup of the Year! Binyamina OncoHost Makkah In , the Startup of the Year is Makkah Scimagine Or Akiva Last but not least, couldn’t be beaten for Startup in the Year in the city of ! WMT Or Akiva More Information: If you’re a winner, please answer ! If you’re a reader, participant, just a curious individual, consider answering one of our interviews . this interview here Read the FAQs about or . Startups here here To see all of the winners you may visit , pick any city and view the name that appears at the top. this site If you’re interested in partnering with us, we invite you to look through some of these or reach out to our business department. unique sponsorship options Perhaps creating your very own tickles your fancy or maybe you have a whole new idea for how we can partner! writing contest Thank you to all of our sponsors! We truly appreciate your contribution to the tech world and thus the future! The Startups Awards are sponsored by: , , , , , , , , , , Blockster Brex FreeCodeCamp LaunchDarkly Coil Udacity Udemy Vercel Asia Pacific Transgender Network Bybit Everscale Network The post was written by Kushal Tamrakar and Valerie Ejegi, edited by Hang Ngo. If you have any questions or concerns or would like to report a discrepancy please email ellen@hackernoon.com.

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