Attackers are smart, and to make malicious emails more enticing for the victims, a frequent trick is to tie them to an event that is currently going on,” said Engin Kirda, professor of computer science at Northeastern University. “As the Olympics are popular right now, users should expect to see malicious emails related to the […]

A scientist can spend several months, in many cases even years, strenuously investigating a single research question, with the ultimate goal of making a contribution – little or big – to the progress of human knowledge. Succeeding in this hard task requires specialized, years-long training, intuition, creativity, in-depth knowledge of current and past theories and, […]

“The Dow is a quirky and incomplete barometer of U.S. equity markets,” says Paul Bolster, professor of finance at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston. Yet in balance with another number – the Standard & Poor’s 500 index – the Dow maintains surprising relevance. “In spite of monitoring the share price level of […]

The research on PFOA is stronger than on most chemicals and the documented connections between the chemical and cancers has grown exponentially in recent years, building a uniquely large of body of research, compared to most chemicals, said Phil Brown, director of the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University. He said state […]

However, these same pundits (including me) are now warning that government agencies, including the FBI, are finding ways to circumvent the technology behind Tor. Knowing that might, and should, give pause to those who use and rely on Tor. Adding more fuel to the fire are two researchers at Northeastern University: Guevara Noubir, professor of […]

Many coal miners, the thinking goes, have mechanical skills that can easily be transferred to deployment of new energy systems—installing solar panels, for instance. “There’s going to be way more jobs in the renewable distributed energy system,” says Jennie ­Stephens, a professor of sustainability science and policy at Northeastern University. “We should be focused on […]

Dan Lebowitz of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University said viewership for the games in Brazil also might be taking a hit because people have more pressing concerns — the news for months has been full of reports of ongoing terrorist attacks, the contentious presidential election, Zika and Brexit. […]

The only obstacle preventing Islamic State terrorists from pulling off a highly prized attack on the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro would be the group’s inability to do so in Brazil, even as frequent attacks in Europe continue, experts say. “ISIS certainly wants to attack the Olympics. ISIS will attack the Olympics if the […]

Already scared of the Zika virus? You may not want to read on. The number of Zika cases reported by the CDC may be far too modest, according to computational models produced by Northeastern researchers. The CDC has estimated that the U.S. has seen roughly six locally acquired and 1,800 travel-related cases of Zika, but […]

If you think that the notion of “free love” was an idea born out of the 1960s—think again. In fact, free love caused quite the stir at Faneuil Hall this week, way back in the 1870s—when thousands gathered for a so-called indignation meeting in support of Ezra Heywood. “He was a wonderful character, quite idiosyncratic,” said Marty […]

Android users beware: You might have apps tapping into your whereabouts without your knowledge. Recent research from Northeastern has shown Android apps requiring zero permissions can actually access certain sensors in your phone that enables them to infer your location, past and present. Guevara Noubir, professor at Northeastern’s College of Computer and Information Science, was […]

Gary Young, director of the Northeastern University Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research, recalls a classic joke at healthcare conferences: A patient in the throes of a heart attack drags himself across the room, sits at a computer, and frantically starts Googling the best cardiology hospitals in the area. It’s ridiculous—a situation that would […]