Guevara Noubir

AirDrop is making your iPhone vulnerable to attackers

A team of researchers from Northeastern University and the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany have uncovered a series of flaws that make Apple’s AirDrop and similar services vulnerable to attack. The researchers found design flaws and implementation bugs that would allow an attacker to crash devices, track users, and intercept files.

by Laura Castañón August 19, 2019

Over the course of a three-month competition, students in Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences designed and implemented a prototype of a secure gaming console and hacked their competition. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

How to hack a video game console (and protect one)

A group of students from Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences successfully designed a prototype gaming console that stopped every attempted attack in a recent competition. The students also proved to be impressive hackers themselves, defeating the security measures in the systems designed by the other teams.

by Laura Castañón July 1, 2019

Researchers in Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences recently demonstrated that they could interfere with the radio signals that help pilots find the runway. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Hacking an airplane’s landing instruments isn’t as hard as it should be

In low-visibility situations, pilots rely on radio signals to guide their approach to a runway. Using a relatively inexpensive setup, researchers in Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences recently demonstrated that they could hack these signals and direct a plane to land off target.

by Laura Castañón June 17, 2019

From left to right: Hai Nguyen, Tien Vo-Huu, Marinos Vomvas, and Norbert Ludant. They advanced to the final round of a DARPA competition in which they will compete for $2 million in prize money. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

With nearly $1 million on the line, this Northeastern team had to think fast

Ingenuity and quick thinking helped a computer science team stave off a last-minute disqualification and win a competition held by the research arm of the U.S. military.

by Khalida Sarwari January 17, 2019

Guevara Noubir, professor in Northeastern's College of Computer and Information Science, convened some of the foremost experts in wireless and mobile security to share research and trade strategies for anticipating cyberattacks.

Hacking cybersecurity to anticipate attacks

Even as internet security has improved, new hacks and attacks spring up every day. To tackle this challenge, leaders in the field of mobile security recently convened at Northeastern for the 2017 Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks.

by Allie Nicodemo August 8, 2017

Guevara Noubir, an expert in the privacy, security, and robustness of network systems in the College of Computer and Information Science, says that “from a technological perspective, wiretapping has always been feasible and rather easy.” Photo via iStock

Decoding wiretapping technology

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped communications in Trump Tower before the election. Obama officials and other government agents, including FBI director James Comey, have said the allegation is false. While government officials investigate Trump’s claim, we looked at the technological side of wiretapping.

by Molly Callahan March 10, 2017

Why ransomware is on the rise

Hackers holding computer networks hostage has been a common practice for decades, but now the perpetrators are demanding money in exchange for stopping the attack. Here, Northeastern cybersecurity experts Engin Kirda and Guevara Noubir explain why ransomware is becoming more prevalent and what you can do to protect your information.

by Joe O'Connell February 25, 2016