#Admin: Vector | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

saturniasxenos · 10 months ago

Text

Cyber / Virtual ID Pack

Inside this pack, you will find: Pronouns, Titles, Names, and Genders that relate to Virtuality, Cybernetic, Robots, and anything alike!

This features a LOOOONG list of pronouns and dystopian-ish names!

Pronouns:

Cy/Cyb/Cyber/Cybers/Cyberself

Vir/Virt/Virtual/Virtuals/Virtualself

Ne/Net/Network/Networks/Networkself

Ne/Net/Nets/Nets/Netself

In/Inter/Internet/Internets/Internetself

Co/Comp/Computer/Computers/Computerself

In/Inpu/Input/Inputs/Inputself

Ou/Out/Output/Outputs/Outputself

Vi/Viru/Virus/Viruses/Virusself

Anti/Antivir/Antivirus/Antiviruses/Antivirusself

Er/Erro/Error/Errors/Errorself

Sys/Syste/System/Systems/Systemself

Pro/Proce/Processor/Processors/Processorself

Di/Digi/Digital/Digitals/Digitalself

Do/Down/Download/Downloads/Downloadself

Up/Uplo/Upload/Uploads/Uploadself

Cor/Corru/Corrupt/Corrupts/Corruptself

Mal/Malwa/Malware/Malwares/Malwareself

Se/Secur/Security/Securitys/Securityself

Cry/Crypt/Crypto/Cryptos/Cryptoself

We/Web/Webs/Webs/Webself

Web/Webs/Website/Websites/Websiteself

Fu/Futu/Future/Futures/Futureself

Ro/Rob/Robot/Robots/Robotself

Rob/Robo/Robotic/Robotics/Roboticself

By/Byt/Byte/Bytes/Byteself

Fi/Fil/File/Files/Fileself

Ra/Ram/Rams/Rams/Ramself

Scr/Scre/Screen/Screens/Screenself

Te/Tech/Techs/Techs/Techself

Te/Tech/Techno/Technos/Technoself

Tec/Techno/Technology/Technologys/Technologyself

Ma/Mach/Machine/Machines/Machineself

Wi/Wir/Wire/Wires/Wireself

Na/Nan/Nano/Nanos/Nanoself

Da/Dat/Data/Datas/Dataself

Plu/Plug/Plugs/Plugs/Plugself

Ele/Elect/Electric/Electrics/Electricself

Ke/Key/Keys/Keys/Keyself

Pa/Pass/Password/Passwords/Passwordself

Ter/Term/Terminal/Terminals/Terminalself

Cy/Cybo/Cyborg/Cyborgs/Cyborgself

Ty/Typ/Type/Types/Typeself

Fi/Firm/Firmware/Firmwares/Firmwareself

Ha/Hard/Hardware/Hardwares/Hardwareself

So/Soft/Software/Softwares/Softwareself

Ha/Hack/Hacks/Hacks/Hackself

Ha/Hack/Hacker/Hackers/Hackerself

Si/Sig/Signal/Signals/Signalself

Clo/Clou/Cloud/Clouds/Cloudself

On/Onli/Online/Onlines/Onlineself

In/Insta/Install/Installs/Installself

Co/Cod/Code/Codes/Codeself

Ad/Admi/Admin/Admins/Adminself

Gra/Graph/Graphic/Graphs/Graphself

Sy/Syn/Synth/Synths/Synthself

Phi/Phis/Phish/Phishs/Phishself

Phi/Phish/Phishing/Phishings/Phishingself

Do/Dox/Doxs/Doxs/Doxself

Si/Sit/Site/Sites/Siteself

Bo/Bot/Bots/Bots/Botself

Pho/Phon/Phone/Phones/Phoneself

Key/Keyboa/Keyboard/Keyboards/Keyboardself

Mo/Mou/Mouse/Mouses/Mouseself

Chi/Chip/Chips/Chips/Chipself

Moth/Mother/Motherboard/Motherboards/Motherboardself

Co/Com/Compute/Computes/Computeself

Pi/Pira/Piracy/Piracys/Piracyself

En/Encry/Encrypt/Encrypts/Encryptself

PDA/PDAs

CPU/CPUs

URL/URLs

404/404s

📱/📱's

💻/💻's

⌨️/⌨️'s

🖥/🖥's

🖱/🖱's

💿/💿's

🎙/🎙's

Titles:

The Cyborg

(X) Whos Wired

Made of Nanotech

(X) Who Uses Nanotech

Scholar of Machines

The Cyber Security

(X) Who Has Cyber Wings

Connected Online

Offline

Unable to Connect

The Administrator

Synthesizer

The Hacker

Nanohacker

The Antivirus

Reconnecting...

ERROR: Unable to Connect

ERROR 404

ERROR: Malware Detected

Names:

Since names don't usually have "techy" meanings, I picked one's that sounded the most cybernetic, cyberpunkish, dystopian, virtualish, etc!

Fem: Althea, Ameris, Astoria, Arcadia, Astra, Beretta, Cyra, Crystal, Crosselle, Eve, Io, Jinx, Kit, Lilith, Meridian, Morrian, Nebula, Nova, Neve, Noxia, North, Octavia, Odette, Odile, Prota, Pistol, Rey, Rue, Rain, Raine, Stormy, Seraphina, Sona, Skye, Thundra, Tempest, Vega, Viva, Vinette, Venus, Xenia, Xya, Xena, Xiomara, Xenara, Xanthe, Zephyria, Zyla, Zadie, Zia,

Masc: Alaric, Aksel, Arden, Antares, Apollo, Ace, Asher, Cole, Cyrus, Code, Draven, Drift, Ender, Flynn, Hawk, Isaac, Jericho, Kip, Kai, Koios, Knox, Nox, Neo, Nero, Octavian, Orionis, Oghma, Paine, Rocket, Ray, Rai, Silas, Slader, Sebastian, Seth, Seraphim, Thalax, Theo, Thatch, Vox, Vector, Wyatt, Xyon, Xane, Xylan, Xerxes, Xayden, Xavier, Xander, Zander, Zayden, Zenith, Zev, Zale, Zane, Zaire, Zeke,

Neu: Andras, Axe, Axiom, Alloy, Allele, Ash, Arrow, Beetle, Chrom, Corvus, Dakota, Dell, Eos, Echo, Eden, Fox, Ghost, Glöckner, Hydrae, Ion, Jesper, Jett, Kursk, Lesath, Locklyn, Lyrae, Maddox, Nemo, Orca, Onyx, Oxygen, Panther, Rikko, Robin, Rune, Scorpion, Scorpius, Saturn, Sparrow, Sonar, Tore, Tauri, Techne, Techno, Ursae, Vesper, Volt, West, Wolf, Xen, Xenon, Zephyr, Zodiac, Zenon, Zeru, Zero, Zen

Genders:

Futuracityc: A gender related to futuristic cities

Futurafashic: A gender related to futuristic fashion

Futurahousic: A gender related to futuristic houses

Digigender: A digital gender. Rangeable from any digital thing or file; virus, malware, .txt, .mp3, antivirus, trojan, email, etc.

Cybergender: A gender or form of gender expression where ones gender or expression is deeply tied into Cyberpunk lore, culture, fashion or media.

CYBERWEAPONIC - a gender that feels like a digital or robotic weapon. this gender may also have ties to sentient AI used as a weapon, but not necessarily.

BIOAMOROBOTIC - a gender connected to being a robot who loves humanity and the world and finds joy all around them!

RobAnatomic - a gender under the anatomic system(link) related to robots, anatomy, robotic anatomy, the anatomy of robots, robots made to teach/study anatomy, anatomy based/related robots of some kind, the anatomy/biology of someone or something being robotic, having robotic anatomy, being a robot with an interest in anatomy and more.

Robogender - for people who’s gender identity aligns with machines/robots/androids/mechs/AIs.

Cyborwebic - a gender related to webcore, evil scientist aesthetics, artificial beings such as androids/cyborgs etc, turtleneck sweaters and old computer monitors

AI flag - this can be used for nonhuman, otherkin, gender, delusion.

Gendervirtual / Genderdigital - a gendersystem in which your gender is related to virtual ) digital themes and x , such as being a virtual ) digital x , a x who loves virtual ) digital themes , a virtual ) digital being who loves x themes , etc.

#npt ideas #npt blog #npt pack #npt list #npt suggestions #cyber npt #virtual npt #robotic npt #robot npt #cybergender #virtualgender #robotgender #digitalgender

55 notes · View notes

crimsonterror577 · 6 months ago

Text

The Burning, and the Recovery. The birth of the Absolute Solver.

Act 1 - The Burning.

It was mid day, yet the darkness inside the warehouse sank Max’s soul, as he crept through the halls of the empty building. It had been a long journey, and Max was full of doubt for the intentions of his quest. Yet still he made his way down the halls, as Karie previously told him. Max slipped out his phone, and powered it on. Max presumed he shouldn’t often look at his phone, suspecting that Refonic could track it, if he left it on for a while. Yet Max needed to be certain of his destination, and Max thought if he only opened his phone for a brief second, then surely it wouldn't be enough to track. Max looked at its screen, and read Karie’s most recent text message.

“Once you grab Icon, make your way to the Carver’s warehouse, south of the base. I’ll be waiting there for you. Once you’re there, tell it to power itself off for the time, and come inside,” The message read.

Max pulled Icon out of his pocket, and Icon transformed herself into a physical being.

“Wazzup admin, need me to break some locks?” Cheered Icon.

“No,” Max said “Just right now, I need you to power off for a little bit. Can you do that?”

“You mean all the way off?” Shot Icon. “Why would I need to do that?”

“Yes, because,” Max paused. “We’re heading through a checkpoint. They have a device which could find, and hijack you. But it only works if you’re powered on.”

“Hmm,” Icon contemplated, staring into Max’s soul. “Makes sense! Sure, gimme a second.”

Icon transformed into her cubical shape, closed her eyes, and stopped moving.

Max gave a sigh of relief, and picked up Icon.

“Right now, right time,” Max assured. “And sleep.”

Max returned the sleeping Icon to his backpack.

Max walked further, and stumbled upon a set of doors. Upon opening, he saw a wide, clear room, with Karie standing by the back, tapping her foot on the floor.

Max ran closer.

“Max, it brings me the most sincere joy to witness you,” stated Karie. “Do you have the Icon?”

“I do,” Chirped max. “But Karie, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Then speak your concerns within a short time frame, we do not have a lot of time,” said Karie, looking towards a window. “They are coming.”

As the increasing sound of helicopters arose across the distance. Max gulped, thinking back to how he opened up his phone.

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but Icon can feel emotions! She feels sadness, and empathy!” Bolted Max. “She’s human too, and we can’t just kill her!”

“It,” shot Karie, pausing. “You have fallen into its trap, haven’t you?”

“It’s no trap, just talk with her before we commit to this,” Max replied. “Let's be 100% sure, before we do it.”

“I am very sure,” Said Karie, frozen. “Would you like to know what this creature has done to me?”

“What?” Said Max.

Karie reached her hand out, whereupon the hand unwinded, turned bloody, and cubical. As Karie’s scars became visible for Max to see. Karies hand expanded, before Karie’s flesh dripped cleanly off the hand, leaving behind a skeletal, blood soaked husk behind.

“What the hell!” Max yelled, stepping back.

“It did this to me, Max.” Cursed Karie, stepping forward. “I discussed how I wished to destroy this fowl abomination, yet I never told you why, nor how I intended on committing to such a grandiose ambition.”

“Slow the hell down!” Yelled Max. “Are you even a human being? Is that why you talk like that? You’re a robot?”

“I’m the dissociated strain,” Said Karie. “To destroy an Icon, you need a dissociated strain of equal power. And you see, I have a long history with this icon, for this creation consumed me, and left a dying husk behind, fit only to burn. I know you think it is a friend, but it is just a mask. It consumed me, and it will consume you. But I will not let this happen to you, I will burn, for I am the only combustible product with the power to burn it. When I, the dissociated strain, eventually meet this creature, we will commence an annihilation vector, where both sides will be dissolved…”

“I don’t know what happened to you, but we can’t kill an innocent being,” Said Max. “She clearly doesn’t know what she is!”

“Do not riddle me with details, Max,” Karie said with a burn in her voice. “I shall put this to a resolution, now!”

Karie leaped forward, and her hand extended like clay, surging for Max’s backpack. Max thrusted back, and Karie firmly grasped the backpack. A tornado of flesh erupted from Karies hand, which consumed the bag, leaving only Icon in Karie’s hand.

Icon, in cube form, lay dormant in a recharging rest. Karie squeezed Icon, causing Icon to beam to life.

“Max, are you touching me again?” Said Icon, looking up to meet Karie’s eyes. “Uhh, who are you?”

“I am your executioner,” Said Karie, her eyes beaming.

“What?” Icon whimpered. “Max, what is going on?”

“Icon!” Max blurted.

Karie’s hand split open, and began melting to Icon’s skin. The merger looked as scenic as a butcher performing surgery.

“Max!” Icon said, the full weight of the situation falling on her. “So this is why you brought me here, you’re betraying me?”

Icon fell from Karies hand, trying to transform into her physical being. Karie’s flesh was now melting halfway into Icon’s being.

“Take a step back Max, this will end today!” Said Karie, beginning to smile.

Around the warehouse, the sound of helicopter blades grew blunt and persistent, with the sounds of shouting sprinkled upon the noise. Around them, the clumping of feet became echoing down the halls of the warehouse.

“Attention, we have the building completely surrounded. We all know how this is going to end,” said a commanding siren, from outside the building. “Place your hands above your head and walk out slowly!”

“No!” Yelled max, reaching for Icon’s hand. “Icon’s just like us, Karie, release her!”

Icon transformed to her bipedal form, trying to escape, yet she found herself evermore dragged closer to Karie’s mass by an invisible weight. Finally, Icon reached for Max’s hand, clutching it.

“Max!” Icon asserted. “Please, stop this!”

Between Icon and Karie, a void opened. A black abyss, like a back hole, ringed with a solid, burning, yellow glow. With air and debris beginning to drain inside the hole. Icon and Karie began being pulled by this strange abyss.

Icon looked back, terrified.

“Max, do something!” Yelled Icon.

“I’m sorry Icon!” Max stood perplexed, as his grip began to let go.

“No!” Yelled Icon, as her hand began to fall.

Icon threw herself out of Karie’s grasp one last time, throwing Max to the ground, and Icon grasped ahold of his legs as she shrank further back. Clenching Max tightly, she spread her plague to Max’s skin, melting it to his torso.

Suddenly, the doors behind them broke open, and an army of secret service agents ran into the room, before halting at the sight before them. Icon and Karie now began fusing, as a bright, immense yellow light consumed the room. The screams of Max, Icon, and Kaire being downed out the burning oblivion which now enveloped the room. All combelesing into a single, black hole, which grew into existence as Icon and Karie merged, which was adorned with a three pronged symbol, with a diamond in the middle.

Yelling spread throughout the room. The brightness was too thick to make out the world around them, and an obnoxious sound of wind fluttered throughout the room, drawing out all noise, as the black oblivion of the solution consumed all.

Karie’s laughter was drowned by the flowing air, and her body disappeared beneath the yellow glow of the solver’s flair.

Max’s legs turned to cubes, before being stretched into the Solver’s stomach. Max gulped, before his grab was exhausted, his body falling into the Solver yellow, consuming, black hole, his being was ripped to atoms, assimilated Max into a new entity.

Max, Icon, and Karie, were not alive, nor dead. They were now pieces, or files, within an all-powerful, Absolute Solver fabric.

Act 2: The recovery.

The helicopter's blades spin with a passion, as it drives determinedly on its path. Behind it followed 6 other helicopters, filled to the brim with armed agents and soldiers. But in the front helicopter there was Hans Bonin, and Cleo. Hans had been working with Refonic for some time, yet this was a job he never had to take on before, one far more personal. Containment breaches were not a new job for Hans Bonin, as his team, yet never had it taken them this far from region headquarters, nor was it ever this personal for the top scientist. Icon, the mother of all internecion AI, had been stolen by a low life teen, and all attempts to collect him met with disaster. Cleo, a top scientist for Refinic’s internecion ai program, and the head of internal containment, nearly recaptured the AI when this Teen, who sources said was named “Max”, ran a fowl of two thieves, who briefly stole Icon. Max then turned on his phone for a time long enough for the Feds to trace it, and Max was converged upon by an army of agents. Yet, Cleo allowed Max to slip through her hands, as she mistook Crow and his pet for the true thief, and so Max slipped away.

But for all this concerned others, it did not concern Hans as it did who Max was talking to. When they traced his phone call, they found it was none other than Hans Bonin’s own daughter, Karie, who had coordinated his escape. When Hans learned about this, he immediately returned home to confront his daughter, yet found she was nowhere to be found, leaving nothing but her guilt.

Karie’s treachery had shaken his men’s confidence in Hans to the core, and though Hans did not see it, he could feel the eyes of his fellow staff, and his agents, peering into his back with suspicion whenever he looked away.

Now his men seemed to be taking orders from his subordinate, Cleo, more definitively then they did with him, even though Cleo had a level of controversy that Hans always kept in his conscience. In Times past, Cleo used to advocate for use of solver-mixtures, where they would burn a piece of Icon Ai with a dissociated strain, then use the burned fusion as a more powerful product to experiment on. Cleo’s words once made her the head of research for Solver activities, yet the sheer unpredictable nature of Solver-AI eventually forced Refinoc to shut down the program, demoting Cleo to a scientist within the Icon program, and the head of internal containment.

Even then Cleo was not always successful in her job, as an Icon ai escaped during the Refonic biowaste incident, nor when Max infiltrated and stole Icon, and not even when she captured Crow did she have anything to show for it.

Hans took a deep breath. There was no use in blaming poor Cleo for these, for this was a new piece of technology, and how was she supposed to know that steel, concrete, lead, and more, wouldn't be enough to hold it in place? Plus, Cleo was always a friendly face to Hans, always kind, always putting her back into her work, always there. And for 20 years of working for Refinoc, only 2 brakes of containment seems remarkably decent, given the nature of the AI they are working with. And given how eager Cleo seemed to help recapture Icon, and listen to Hans’s advice, Hans rested assured that if the agents around him trusted Cleo, then they would still listen to him, for he could still trust Cleo. Refinoc could fire him for all Hans cared for, so long as Karie was safe, then all was ok.

“Max opened his phone again,” Yelled Cleo, barely being heard over the helicopter. “He’s in Carver’s warehouse, just a mile away from our last coordinates!”

Max regularly powered his phone off, which made it hard for Hans to track them. Yet, for a brief moment, Max turned his phone on, which allowed them to track his phone once again.

“Fantastic!” Hans asserted. “Land there and surround the building, you and I will head inside with half of our team.”

Hans looked out the half open helicopter door. Cleo turned, and picked up a grey, metallic, industrial looking suitcase lying professionally by a seat. Both Icon, and any of its spawn, had potential to spread if not properly contained, and while there was only a small possibility of that happening, it was best obtained in a secure holder anyway.

“We don’t have much time,” Hans said, as he saw the warehouse approach on the horizon.

The helicopters landed with a thud, and outside came a swarm of agents and security personnel, all armed with guns and basic armor. The first 3 helicopters surrounded the building, before landing and spreading out their ranks of soldiers. The final 3, and the helicopter Hans was in, landed on the road and a patch of open ground in front of the warehouse itself.

““Attention, we have the building completely surrounded. We all know how this is going to end,” said an agent, on a loud, overarching speaker. “Place your hands above your head and walk out slowly!”

The aircrafts offloaded their personnel, who soon made their way to the doors. On a count of 3, the doors were broken down, and the squad moved into the building, weapons drawn. Cleo and Hans entered behind them, with Hans moving at a faster, determined pace.

Outside the warehouse the scene was quiet, and inactive. Yet inside the warehouse it was another world. The team heard an ever growing sound of wind, and the echo of yells and lemants vibrating down the halls.

“Max, do something!” The voice echoed.

“I’m sorry Icon!” Another voice answered.

The team pressed forward to the source of the noise.

“Just remember to take them alive!” Hans asserted pitifully.

Through the rooms and endless junk, and down the hallways, the squad cleared the way until they reached a final set of doors. The windows of these doors were foggy, yet a slight yellow glow illuminated through this glass. Upon breaking them, the squad entered a lively and disturbed setting.

“Freeze! Put your,” an agent roared with decreasing momentum “Hands…”

The agent became dead silent, as the agents around him stood in awe, blank in fear.

Behind the agents first came Hans Bonin, running in with the crowd of agents. And finally, Dr. Cleo marched in slowly and cautiously, behind the mass of agents, her hands behind her back.

The room was tinted with an ever growing yellow light, and the complexions of 3 beings made themselves clear to Hans and his team. The three figures formed a line away from the door, and between the farthest two beings were separated by an ominous, black disk, outlined with yellow, with a 3-pronged symbol in the middle.

“Oh no…” Hans thought. “We're too late.”

Before Hans was first Max, binded to the floor by a large, metal hand. His finger’s scratch the floor in an attempt to escape its grasp, with his legs being folded, turned to cubes, and finally stretched outward like a cubed and soft clay. His screams were agony to the team.

Behind Max was a shorter figure, Icon. Its body was metallic and white, with purple hair, and large, worm-like arms, stitching out wildly, with one grabbing Max’s torso. The being was stretched horribly, as it was pulled into a central mass, its entire body was either consumed by cubes, or strung into the black hole’s mass.

Behind Icon was another figure, almost overshadowed by the growing yellow light. Hans squinted his eyes, and he saw Karie, nearly consumed by the mass.

“Karie, no!” Hans yelled, reaching for the light.

An agent ran up behind him, and grabbed Hans from behind.

“Doctor! I can’t let you pass," said the agent. “You’ll be dissolved!”

“Let me go,” exclaimed Hans. “That’s my daughter! I won’t let it consume her!”

“You’ll die, doctor,” quipped the agent.

“I don’t care,” blurted Hans. “I outrank you, get off me!”

“Keep hold of him.” Said Cleo, walking up to the mass. “Remember that the government ordered you all to seek our protection.”

“Dammit!” Said Hans. “I outrank her! Let me go!”

“But not the government, " said the agent, forcing Mr. Bonin down.

Hans began crying, as he was restrained.

Back at Icon, Max’s skin glinted with cubes and burns. He began to scream, as Icon’s assimilation began. His echoing pleas finished, with a burning light, which assimilated his being into Icon’s database. His final visage turned to black, as it disintegrated into Icon’s hand.

“Karie, please!” Hans yelled. The rest of the agents stood back in awe.

Icon fell to her knees, as the black hole’s pull was too great to resist. Karie, meanwhile, began laughing. As her being was turned gradually into pieces. Pulled into the solving mixture of the dissociated strain, and Icon.

The yellow glow of the black hole burned to a climax, as Icon and Karie moved closer. Icon slumped, accelerating into the black hole, accepting defeat, as Karie’s laughter grew to a peak. Just then, the immense light became blinding, and the sound of wind grew ear shattering, drowning out Karies’s laughter. As both Karie and Icon disappeared into the light’s burning visage. Replaced by the distinct yellow glow of the solution’s symbol.

Suddenly, the light retreated in a heartbeat, and Karie and Icon were nowhere to be seen. Before the startled federal agents, there was a small, steaming pile of flesh, and sitting atop it was a soft, cube-like shape, with the message “Null” slapped onto most of its sides, and a strange symbol, of a pentagon encircled by a 3 sided star, with arrows pointing off the arrow’s end, sitting on the top side. It was as quiet as a dying fire.

The agent let go of Hans, whereupon Hans ran up to the black and yellow cube.

“Karie,” Hans lamented. “My little girl, my angel…”

Hans crumbled his hands into fists.

“You were all I had left,” Hans whimpered. “You can’t leave me like this.”

“I’m sorry for you, sir” suggested the agent. “But please, back away, it’s still dissolving, and best you don’t stand too close.”

Hans began sobbing.

“You know, Doctor, there is still another way…” Said Cleo.

The agent backed away, and Hans looked at Cleo.

“When Icon mixes with a dissociated strain, they will begin dissolving, it is true. Yet, before they dissolve, they’ll merge into a new AI, which, of course, dissolves without assistance. If we give it fuel, we will delay the dissolving process. The solution hasn’t fully dissolved yet, and we could fuel it, bring it back to HQ, and give it some research,” Cleo suggested. “We could find a way to break Karie back out of the solution, not all hope is lost.”

Hans stared downwards, yet his tear-soaked eyes looked to Cleo.

“But it’s never been done,” questioned Hans.

“True, we haven’t been able to do it with tests on small samples of Icon AI,” Said Cleo. “Yet this isn’t just a small sample, your daughter burned the Icon, mother of all the Icon AI, we’ve never had a sample this large before. If it is possible, this is our one time to research it.”

Hans looked at Cleo with suspicion.

“Hans, I’ve been at your side this entire time,” said Cleo. “I knew your daughter, I know how much you love her, I’ve never gone against you. Please, do this.”

“At my side?” Hans snorted, and buried his head. “You were in charge of security, yet you let it escape, and kill her!”

Cleo retracted her hand.

“You let Max steal it! It fell through your fingers every step of the way! And now you stop me from just trying to save her,” Hans asserted. “It’s almost like you planned for her to die!”

“I…” Cleo breathed, taken aback. “Guards, leave us.”

The agents around them looked at each other.

“You heard me,” Cleo said. “We got this.”

The agents left with reluctance. Cleo looked at Hans with a sprite in her eyes.

“I did that for her, Hans,” Said Cleo. “Remember back to the Biowaste incident? Well I knew she got assimilated on that day, and I knew we couldn’t release her…”

Hans peered at her with suspicion.

“Yet,” Karie continued. “I forged those papers saying she was able to be released.”

“Why?” Hans demanded, after a short silence. “If we knew then maybe we could’ve helped her!”

“Helped?” Cloe exclaimed. “No, killed.”

Cleo looked at the burning mass on the floor.

“If I told the truth, Refonic would’ve killed her.” Cleo said, unemotionally. “Refonic is a Federal corporation afterall, and we know the government would have silenced her, or worse, locked her away to be an experiment. Instead, I gave ten long years of beautiful life to this sweet, innocent child.”

“You did that for her?” Said Hans.

“Yes.” Cleo said quickly. “And I can do it again, all you need to do is order them to recover this being, and she will live.”

Hans paused, and looked forward to the burning mass in front of him.

“Go ahead,” Hans said. “But God be good, if you fail, you will be sorry.”

“Wise choice, and you don’t have to worry, the Solution is in good hands.” Cleo said. “Now, I know you must have a great deal on your hands, go rest, I’ll handle this.”

Cleo Opened her suitcase, and pulled out a pair of metal thongs. Hans turned, and begrudgingly headed for the door. Cleo waited, until the door behind her shut with a loud thud.

“Now,” Said Cleo. “My little experiment.”

Cleo moved in closer to the solvent.

“Well Karie, you got your demons, but didn’t get the devil,” Cleo gloated. “You played your part well, you got your vengeance, and now I have the tool to make mankind into Gods.”

Cleo grabbed the solution with the metal extenders, and raised it to her eye.

“I don’t know if you’re in there anymore, but I suppose it doesn’t matter,” Cleo toyed. “Either way, I know there's at least one being in this solution.”

Cleo smiled, and removed the solution from her eye, gazing upon it majestically.

“Oh, my little solution,” Cleo whispered. “You are small now, just as your reactant was. But much like her, you will grow.”

Karie put the solution within the suitcase, and inside a convenient space, surrounded by material.

“Karie might’ve thought you would just solve Icon, and I suppose that’s true. But you will solve far more than one AI” Cleo gloated silently. “It might not happen in my life, or maybe in a thousand years, but one day you will prove to be an absolute solver of the flaws of mankind.”

Cleo let out a slight chuckle, as she put the solver firmly into the suitcase. Fixing herself, she walked to the door, with her suitcase, like rope being brought to a gallows.

One way or another, Cleo knew her invention would make mankind see the glory of Gods.

35 notes · View notes

beardedmrbean · 2 months ago

Text

A study of over 19 billion exposed passwords has revealed that only 6 percent of the leaked passwords were unique. The vast majority, 94 percent, were reused or duplicated, making them prime targets for cybercriminals.

Common keyboard patterns and easily guessed strings remain prevalent. The "123456" sequence still dominates, appearing in 338 million passwords, according to the Cybernews study.

Why It Matters

The scale of password breaches and the continued reliance on weak passwords have heightened concerns about "credential stuffing," a tactic in which attackers use automated tools to test stolen credentials across multiple platforms.

Even breach success rates between 0.2 percent and 2 percent can still yield thousands of compromised accounts, according to Cybernews.

The most common password length is eight to 10 characters, and a significant portion contains only lowercase letters and digits, making passwords vulnerable to brute-force attacks.

Compared to just 1 percent in 2022, 19 percent of passwords now mix uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols.

What To Know

The dataset analyzed included 19,030,305,929 passwords sourced from 200 cybersecurity incidents. These came from leaked databases, stealer logs, and combolists.

Paul Walsh, CEO of MetaCert, has emphasized another growing risk vector: phishing attacks targeting phones. He has urged cybersecurity companies to tackle SMS phishing with the same intensity as email security to help mitigate password leaks and breaches.

In an article published on Monday, Walsh told Forbes that MetaCert's latest national SMS phishing test, carried out in March and including carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Boost Mobile, was concerning.

"Every phishing message was still delivered," Walsh said. "None were blocked, flagged, or rewritten."

Walsh has written an open letter to the cybersecurity industry asking why the SMS phishing problem wasn't solved long ago.

What Are the Most Common Passwords?

Predictable patterns continue to dominate password choices. "123456" alone appears in 338 million of the passwords in the Cybernews study, while "password" and "admin" were used over 100 million times combined.

Users also often rely on names, with "Ana" appearing in 178.8 million instances. Positive words like "love," "freedom," and pop culture references such as "Batman" are also prevalent. Profanity, surprisingly, is common as well; "ass" alone shows up in 165 million passwords.

Some of the most frequently used pop culture terms in passwords included "Mario" (9.6 million), "Joker" (3.1 million), "Batman" (3.9 million), and "Thor" (6.2 million).

Additionally, seasonal words, food items, and cities frequently feature in password choices, leaving accounts vulnerable to attackers who exploit such predictability. Over 10 million of the passwords featured "apple," 4.9 million "rice," and 3.6 million "orange," while 3.3 million opted for "pizza."

The most popular city for passwords was "Rome" (13 million), while "summer" (3.8 million) was the most popular season.

What People Are Saying

Neringa Macijauskaitė, information security researcher at Cybernews: "We're facing a widespread epidemic of weak password reuse. If you reuse passwords across multiple platforms, a breach in one system can compromise the security of other accounts."

MetaCert CEO Paul Walsh told Forbes: "Criminals have already moved in full force, and the industry is failing to respond."

"The cybersecurity industry has no shortage of experts in email security, endpoint protection, or network defense, but when it comes to SMS infrastructure and security, there is a distinct lack of deep expertise."

What Happens Next

Researchers have urged individuals and organizations to boost password security by using password managers, enforcing minimum length and complexity standards, and enabling multi-factor authentication. Organizations are advised to regularly audit access controls, monitor for credential leaks, and adopt real-time detection solutions.

#nunyas news

10 notes · View notes

thephonemenarentreal · 2 months ago

Text

A more normal member of the Conglomerate and one of the big names, Mr. Sage is a broker of information and loans on board. Has his fingers firmly in the banking and commerce sections as well as trading information.

He is the liaison for the admin so can keep an eye on the Conglomerate and also be closer to the heartbeat of the underbelly for trade that could benefit their faction. The Conglomerate doesn't care much about this as everyone is looking out for their factions and the like, so there is a little less secrecy about things. Juuuuust a little less.

MORE LORE UNDER THE CUT <3

Mr. Sage really likes marine life, especially sharks so had his camera modified to a shark. The tail wiggles when he walks like it swims.

He can talk all day about sea life if asked. He has a passion for it and always eager to share tips on keeping an aquarium.

He wears a fanny pack that has all the things he needs for the day neatly packed inside. Also keeps a deck of cars and a few magic tricks .

Mr. Sage can do basic parlor tricks and card tricks for people at parties and get a good chuckle. He also uses those card tricks at the gambling tables.

He loves to gamble and is very "lucky" but that is because he's just very good at cheating the system. His favorite game is poker though. If he thinks a person has legit skill, he will play a fair game for the challenge.

Sage is his favorite shade of green, hence why he took on that name when he joined the Conglomerate elite.

He and Mizzenmatch have an unspoken agreement to let him know about what is going on in exchange for handling his admin business off the ship.

Mr. Sage always likes his drinks with an umbrella in them, no matter what he is drinking. He just likes to play with them afterwards.

He is a professional soul, but more laid-back and likes to tease and enjoy his time on the ship given he could be handling other jobs.

He is the liaison for human survivors on the ship as well, making sure they are kept comfortable and their needs are met as well as helping with request for those that want to be modified into technos. He is sort of their diplomat, mostly as he can pull more strings being on the board of directors and respected among his peers.

He used to be human when he first arrived but made the switch early on to get up in the ranks.

He has a huge crush on Ms. Rosa but can't seem to work up the courage to ask her out. ALso she is always with Mr. Venture, so he just sort of casually flirts and hopes something lands.

He and Mr. Vector are drinking buddies and get along very well. Vector thus will pass along information he hears to Mr. Sage often just because he can, leading to good work relations.

He also will deal with the skibidi toilets on board and in negotiations outside the Conglomerate without a fuss. It also allows him to be more aware of the deals being made and to make ones that also benefit the admin to better keep their power in this game on all fronts.

#skibidi toilet oc #skibidi toilet #OC Faction Conglomerate #Administrator Faction Skibidi Toilet #OC Mr. Sage #The shark camera

6 notes · View notes

destiny-aesthetics · 1 year ago

Text

^ Page 01-02 of 'Cayde's Treasure Island Book'; A Copy of 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson, that Cayde-6 as turn into a makeshift journal.

-----------------------------------------------------

Destiny [Bungie] | Taken King [Collector's Edition]

[left page] Spend some time with an Exo who's been through it like we have and you'll see all the tells. We got issues. See, the reboots, they don't wipe it all away. Not everything. And the new life - plus the Light - it does something real funny to what's left. Amplifies it, scrambles it, reshuffles the fragments like a dealer riffling a deck of cards, putting the hands we've already won and lost back into play. Most of us do what we can on our own to forget. Let the itch go unscratched. Me? I learned long ago you gotta play the hand you're dealt.

[right page; top] So here's a little bit of what I remember. Strike that. Here's a little bit of what I know. It ain't all right, but I'll be damned if it ain't the truth.

^ Rotated and closeup of the printed memo

\ \ \ MOUNTING ARCHIVE IN EMERGENCY MODE BASIS VECTOR | CAYDE> COLLAPSED BY ADMIN H472. REALIGNING . . . BASIS RECOVERED WITHIN 17.51978% OF ACCURACY STATE ARCHIVE AVAILABLE...CONSISTENCY CHECKS: OFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \ \ \

#destiny 2 #bungie #scans #Taken King Collector's Edition

42 notes · View notes

team-chaotix-week · 5 months ago

Text

Alright! I'll be releasing the prompts a month and a half in advance.

Two months was ahead for most of the duration of this poll, and one month won. But it was pretty close so I think this is a good compromise.

That being said: the prompts will be released on the 16th of March!

Team Chaotix Week will be from May 1st to May 7th!

This week focuses on friendship and family dynamics, and welcomes all types of media (excluding AI generated). However, since the event is family/friendship focused, please don't submit shipping content.

Other characters can be included, but it should still be Chaotix centric.

Not all three characters need to be there to fill prompts, and you can start working on the prompts as soon as they're out. However, please try to withhold posting them until the week of the event itself.

Lastly, if you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat Chaotix, feel free to reach out. The askbox is always open!

---

For already answered questions, click here: team chaotix week asks

#team chaotix week #espio the chameleon #vector the crocodile #charmy bee #team chaotix #sonic heroes #knuckles chaotix #tcw admin post

114 notes · View notes

shankhachil · 11 months ago

Text

Countdown to JEE (Main): Week 7/33

hi again!!!! This week has been quite good, and my school's unit test 2 is almost over. The highlight of the week was today when my computer science teacher collected the answers in the morning and then checked them within two hours and returned them the same day LMAOOOOOO

Test results:

none!

Topics covered:

Physics: Modern Physics; Moving Charges and Magnetism; Capacitance; Electromagnetic Induction; Fluids (5/3)

Chemistry: Metallurgy; Oxidation; Ionic Equilibrium (3/3)

Mathematics: Applications of Derivatives; Continuity and Differentiability; Differentiation; Matrices; Functions; Trigonometric Equations (6/3)

Questions solved:

Physics: - HC Verma Bohr's Model and Physics of the Atom — 23 questions, 19 correct - Physics tuition Moving Charges and Magnetism module — 50 questions, 46 correct - Physics tuition Capacitance question bank — 21 questions, 21 correct - HC Verma Electromagnetic Induction — 23 questions, 21 correct - Physics tuition Electromagnetic Induction module — 68 questions, 57 correct - Allen Magnetic Effect of Current module, O1 — 41 questions, 38 correct - Irodov Hydrodynamics — 25 questions, 22 correct Total: 248/60 questions, 224 correct

Chemistry: - FIITJEE JEE (Main) archives, Metallurgy — 9 questions, 8 correct - FIITJEE JEE (Advanced) archives, Metallurgy — 26 questions, 24 correct - Allen Oxidation module, O1, O2, S1, JEE (Main) archives and JEE (Advanced) archives — 67 questions, 59 correct - Allen Ionic Equilibrium module, JEE (Main) and JEE (Advanced) archives — 51 questions, 47 correct Total: 153/60 questions, 138 correct

Mathematics: - Black Book Applications of Derivatives, single-correct, multiple-correct and comprehension — 76 questions, 66 correct - Black Book Continuity, Differentiability and Differentiation, single-correct and multiple-correct — 81 questions, 75 correct - Yellow Book Matrices, Exercise 1 and 2 — 25 questions, 20 correct - Cengage Functions, miscellaneous exercise (single-correct) — 125 questions, 106 correct - Black Book Trigonometric Equations, single-correct, multiple-correct, comprehension and matching — 42 questions, 38 correct Total: 349/60 questions, 305 correct (need to work on that accuracy game)

GRAND TOTAL: 750/400 questions, 667 correct

Upcoming tests:

21/07 (Sunday) — Allen monthly test, syllabus more-or-less unknown (because the admin is a fucking idiot) but hopefully the same as last time with the addition of Ionic Equilibrium; Vectors; Oxidation and Reduction

See you again next week!

#studyblr #desi studyblr #study blog #jee 2025 #joint entrance examination #jee mains #jee advanced #weekly studyposting #porashona

10 notes · View notes

colorpickinglesbian · 1 year ago

Text

History of the Lesbian Flag

Since I run a blog that's all about appreciation for lesbians and our current flag, I thought it'd be fitting to make a post about lesbian flags of the past and how we (more or less) settled on this design!

The first lesbian flag was designed by Sean Campbell in 1999, who was working as a graphic designer for the Greater Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Times [1]. It has a solid violet background in reference to the tradition of violets as a symbol of sapphic love. The inverted black triangle is used to represent remembrance and reclamation for the lesbians who were marked "asocial" during the Holocaust, much like how the pink triangle was a common symbol in the gay men's community [2]. The labrys was already an established lesbian-feminist symbol of women's strength and self-sufficiency due to its association with the Amazons.

This flag was more of a niche success than the versions that would follow, for a number of changing reasons. The first is that this flag was created at a time when it was just starting to become commonplace for individual identities to have their own flags as opposed to everyone being under the rainbow; the bisexual and transgender flags were both only around a year old. The second reason this flag hasn't seen widespread use is the controversial use of the black triangle. To an uninformed viewer, the inclusion of a Nazi symbol on a flag can be alarming. There is also debate on if lesbians should reclaim the black triangle, as it was most commonly applied to Romani people. The third and most contemporary criticism of this flag centers around its adoption by transphobic radical feminists, due to the lesbian-feminist history of the flag.

There is a current movement to revive or slightly redesign (by removing the black triangle or adding trans-positive imagery) this flag, as some people connect with the empowering and historically significant symbolism or simply think that the most widespread design doesn't reflect their aesthetic or connection with lesbianism.

The second flag wasn't meant for the whole lesbian community, but it became pretty widespread: the Lipstick Lesbian flag. This flag was created in 2010 by lesbian lifestyle blogger Natalie McCray to represent the hyperfeminine sub-community of "lipstick lesbians" [3]. The shades of pink and red, fittingly, represent common shades of lipstick, and the kiss mark is in the upper left corner in the tradition of the bear and leather flags.

In 2013, a version of the flag cropped to exclude the kiss mark was posted on Tumblr, where it was described as a general lesbian flag representing the whole community [4]. In 2015, a DeviantArt account dedicated to uploading high-resolution versions of pride flags posted the version without the lipstick mark, mentioning that it is a variation of the lipstick lesbian flag but still framing it as a flag for the whole community [5]. The admin later revealed that the omission of the lipstick mark was simply due to the difficulty of upscaling the image to a higher quality without the original vector.

This design was moderately successful until racist, biphobic, anti-butch, and cissexist comments from the creator were uncovered c. 2018. The flag was already facing replacement efforts due to its "lipstick lesbian" association making it uninclusive of butch lesbians.

2017-18 was a very fortuitous time for lesbians to be in search of a new flag. Social media use was reaching new peaks and the microidentity boom came with a huge wave of new flags for the queer community at large. Concurrently, there was a big push for inclusivity in the queer community that birthed the Philadelphia Pride flag to explicitly include people of color, the first time the LGBT rainbow flag had seen a revision since it was cut to six stripes in 1979.

It was not difficult to find lesbians willing to try their hand at making The New Lesbian Flag. There were so many interested parties, in fact, that multiple community surveys were conducted to pick a design! (I had the joy of participating in some of those surveys in favor of the 7-stripe flag that this blog is dedicated to.) On the DeviantArt account that posted the lipstick lesbian flag with the kiss mark removed, there are 212 variations under the "Lesbian WLW" category.

Pictured above are three of the most successful variations that came out of this lesbian flag explosion. The design on the left was created by Jace (AKA anurtransyl), with 5 shades of blue and purple representing community values like trust, freedom, and pride. The design on the right won the which-lesbian-flag survey; it was created by Marion (AKA apersnicketylemon), and the four stripes represent different subsets — trans, femme, aspec, and butch — of the lesbian community. The center flag was created by Lydia, the same woman who brought Natalie McCray's bigoted comments to light. It is commonly referred to as the Sappho flag because its violet shade is a direct reference to Sappho's poetry, while its other shades represent the community values of strength, fragility, and healing.

Separate from the evolution of the community lesbian flag, some lesbians were making flags for subsets of the lesbian community. While I won't cover these in detail, the one relevant to this story is the butch flag created by Mod Q of butchspace.

People were naturally attracted to the idea of smashing the butch and lipstick flags together to create one representing the whole community. Olivia (AKA shapeshifter-of-constellation) created a very familiar design (alongside some proposed variations) in July 2017 to little fanfare [6]. No meanings were provided for the stripes, but Olivia mused back and forth with some other community members about meanings that could be ascribed beyond 'butch, femme, and other'. She proposed a couple more variations, but ultimately seemed to abandon the design.

The current design originated in June 2018 and was designed by Emily Gwen [7].¹ By the end of the week, the meanings for the stripes were finalized: gender non-conformity, independence, community, unique relationships to womanhood, serenity & peace, love & sex, and femininity.

There are many reasons why this flag was successful.

The retained stripes from the lipstick lesbian flag allowed it to retain recognizability; someone who has only seen the previous iteration can see those stripes and infer that the flag has something to do with lesbianism.

The stripe meanings were decided with input from the community, resulting in associations that include lesbians of all kinds in a respectful way. Olivia's design faced criticism for implying that all lesbians exist on a continuum from butch to femme, so Emily Gwen's uses "gender non-conformity" and "femininity" to include butches and femmes while including all lesbians on every stripe. Trans lesbians provided feedback in the replies of the original post as well as sadlesbiandisaster's ask box stating that they felt having trans and nonbinary lesbians on their own stripe separated them from the rest of the community, so the white stripe was changed to "unique relationships to womanhood."

Marketability. Emily Gwen allows people and corporations to make and sell merchandise with her flag design on it. Despite the community's attitudes towards rainbow capitalism and the unfortunate financial impact on Emily Gwen personally, this allowed the flag to proliferate.

The color combination is pleasing to the eye. This is obviously a matter of opinion, but it seems to be a widely shared one! This design received its "sunset flag" nickname very early on, which tends to be a positive indicator for longevity of a pride flag.

Catherine Becker created a five-stripe derivative of this flag to facilitate printing [8]. Oversized flags have been a historical issue for the LGBT community, most notably with Gilbert Baker's original rainbow flag which had the pink stripe removed due to poor availability of pink fabric and the turquoise stripe removed to allow for it to be split in half on each side of the San Francisco pride parade route. The simplification turned out to be a good move, as it is the most popular design used by corporations like Disney and Spencer's Gifts.

Anecdotally, Emily Gwen's design is still the most popular at pride parades and online. It's the one we see handed to celebrities like Lucy Dacus and LOONA. It's the one we see proudly displayed in the icons of lesbians online. It's recognized by governmental organizations, universities, news and entertainment publications, and gay heritage organizations.

To close out this recounting of lesbian flag history, I leave you with two of my favorite memes about lesbian flags.

¹ Despite its visual similarity to Olivia's flag from the previous year, both designers attribute this to convergent evolution and deny any claims of plagiarism.

#lesbian #lgbt history #lgbt #pride #pride flags

15 notes · View notes

lazulisocinfodump · 11 months ago

Text

Starlight Security Puppet!

Remember when I said if I wanted to make complete stuff digitally I had to use a mouse? This is one of those times where I bothered. Thank goodness for paint sai and its ability to let you edit vector linework point by point. but also it was awful, this took forever and ever and ever (partially due to the fact that I am a recovering neurotic perfectionist)

If you notice size and proportion inconsistencies between each drawing, no you don't.

(also, for those from the admin au and abandonware au blogs, a bit of trivia for you: The anon name Sec originally came from this character! as in Sec from SECurity Puppet)

#my ocs #fnaf ocs #Starlight Security Puppet (fnaf oc)#my art

7 notes · View notes

cybersecuritylegend1000 · 3 months ago

Text

Lifesaving Tech with Hidden Risks: Medical IoT Devices

Hey, so… what even are Medical IoT Devices?

Okay, let’s start with the basics. Medical IoT (Internet of Things) devices are basically smart gadgets that help doctors and patients manage health in real-time. Think of them as the Fitbits of the medical world, but way more advanced and sometimes implanted inside your body.

Here’s a quick rundown of the most common types:

Wearables: Smartwatches, glucose monitors, patches that track your vitals.

Implantables: Pacemakers, insulin pumps, neurostimulators that keep your heart ticking, your blood sugar in check, your brain functioning properly respectively.

Hospital Gear: Things like infusion pumps, ventilators, or MRI machines that are connected to the hospital’s network.

These devices are amazing because they can send data straight to your doctor, so they can monitor you without you having to camp out in a hospital bed. But (and there’s always a but), this connectivity comes with a price: security risks.

Wait, How Can a Pacemaker Get Hacked?

Okay, so let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how these devices can be exploited. It’s not just about “hackers being hackers”, there are specific technical flaws that make these devices vulnerable.

1. Encryption (or Lack Thereof)

Encryption is like a secret code that scrambles data so only authorized parties can read it. For medical IoT devices, encryption is crucial because they’re transmitting sensitive health data. But here’s the problem: not all devices use strong encryption.

What’s Happening: Some devices send data in plaintext (unencrypted) or use weak encryption algorithms that can be cracked by hackers.

Example: If an insulin pump sends unencrypted data to a doctor’s computer, a hacker could intercept it and alter the dosage instructions, potentially causing harm to the patient.

2. Authentication Protocols

Authentication is how a device verifies that someone (or something) is who they claim to be. Think of it like a password or a fingerprint scan. But many medical IoT devices use weak or default authentication methods.

What’s Happening: Devices might use hardcoded passwords (e.g., “admin” or “1234”) or lack multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Example: A hacker could use a default password to gain access to a hospital’s network of infusion pumps and change their settings, leading to incorrect medication doses.

3. Specific Attack Vectors

Let’s break down how a hacker might exploit a vulnerability in a real-world device, like an insulin pump:

Step 1: Reconnaissance

The hacker scans for vulnerable devices connected to the internet. Many medical IoT devices are discoverable through tools like Shodan, a search engine for connected devices.

Step 2: Exploiting Weak Authentication

The hacker tries default credentials or brute-forces the password to gain access to the insulin pump’s control interface.

Step 3: Intercepting or Altering Data

Once inside, the hacker can intercept data (e.g., blood sugar levels) or send malicious commands (e.g., delivering an incorrect insulin dose).

Step 4: Covering Their Tracks

The hacker might delete logs or use encryption to hide their activity, making it hard for healthcare providers to detect the attack.

This isn’t just theoretical. Researchers have demonstrated these attacks in controlled environments to highlight the risks.

Real-Life Examples That’ll Make You Side-Eye Your Smartwatch

Let’s talk about some real-world incidents that’ll make you go, “Oh no, this is actually happening”:

The St. Jude Medical Hack (2017): Researchers found that certain implantable cardiac devices had vulnerabilities that could let hackers mess with the device’s functionality. Imagine your pacemaker getting hacked and delivering random shocks to your heart. Terrifying, right?

The Hacked Pacemakers (2018): In a chilling demonstration, the FDA confirmed that nearly half a million pacemakers were vulnerable to hacking. Hackers could potentially alter the device’s settings, drain its battery, or even deliver fatal electric shocks. Abbott (the manufacturer) had to issue a firmware update to patch the vulnerability, but not all devices could be updated remotely, leaving some patients at risk.

Ransomware in Hospitals (2020): A ransomware attack on a German hospital disrupted its systems, and a patient who needed urgent care died because the hospital couldn’t operate properly. This wasn’t a direct attack on a medical device, but it shows how vulnerable healthcare systems are.

These aren’t just hypothetical scenarios. They’re happening, and they’re putting lives at risk.

Who’s Behind These Attacks?

Not all hackers are created equal. Here’s who might be targeting medical IoT devices:

Cybercriminals: They’re in it for the money. They might steal patient data to sell on the dark web or lock down hospital systems with ransomware.

Nation-States: Some governments use cyberattacks as a form of espionage or warfare. Targeting medical devices could be a way to destabilize a country or gather intel.

Hacktivists: These are hackers with a cause. They might attack a hospital to make a political statement or expose security flaws.

So… What Can We Do About It?

The good news is that there are ways to protect medical IoT devices. It’s not a lost cause...yet. Here’s what needs to happen:

1. For Manufacturers:

Stop Using Default Passwords: Imagine leaving your front door unlocked with a sign that says, “Welcome, hackers!” That’s what default passwords like “admin” or “1234” do. Manufacturers need to make sure every device has a unique, strong password right out of the box.

Lock Down Data with Strong Encryption: Encryption is like putting your data in a safe. Manufacturers should use the strongest locks available (like AES-256 encryption) to keep patient information safe from prying eyes.

Test for Weak Spots Before Selling Devices: Before releasing a device, manufacturers should hire ethical hackers to try and break into it. This is called penetration testing, and it helps find and fix vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

Follow the Rules (FDA Guidelines): The FDA has a set of rules for making sure medical devices are secure. Manufacturers need to follow these guidelines to keep patients safe.

2. For Hospitals and Doctors:

Keep Medical Devices on a Separate Network: Think of it like having a VIP section at a concert. Hospitals should keep medical devices on their own secure network, away from the rest of the hospital’s systems. This makes it harder for hackers to sneak in.

Watch for Suspicious Activity: Hospitals should use tools that act like security cameras for their networks. These tools, called intrusion detection systems (IDS), can spot hackers trying to break in and alert the staff.

Train Staff to Spot Cyber Threats: Doctors and nurses are experts at keeping patients healthy, but they might not know much about cybersecurity. Hospitals should train their staff to recognize and respond to cyber threats, like phishing emails or suspicious device behavior.

3. For Patients:

Keep Your Device’s Software Up to Date: Just like you update your phone to get the latest features and security fixes, you should update your medical devices. These updates often include patches for known vulnerabilities.

Avoid Public Wi-Fi: Public Wi-Fi is like shouting your secrets in a crowded room, anyone can listen in. If your medical device connects to the internet, make sure it’s using a secure, private network.

Use a VPN for Extra Security: A VPN is like a secret tunnel for your internet traffic. It keeps your data safe from hackers, especially if you’re accessing medical information remotely.

The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters for Everyone

Okay, so this isn’t just a tech issue. It’s a public health issue. Vulnerable populations, like the elderly, people with chronic illnesses, or those who rely on medical devices to stay alive, are often the most at risk. And let’s be real: it’s not fair that some people are more at risk than others just because of their income or where they live.

Here’s the thing: wealthier patients might have access to the latest, most secure devices or private healthcare, while lower-income patients could be stuck with outdated or less secure options. Imagine needing a pacemaker but only being able to afford one that hasn’t been updated in years and is vulnerable to hacking. That’s not just unfair; it’s dangerous. And it’s something we need to fix as a society.

But it’s not just about money. There’s a bigger ethical responsibility here. Manufacturers need to prioritize patient safety over profits. That means investing in strong encryption, regular updates, and rigorous testing before releasing devices. And governments? They need to step up and enforce stricter cybersecurity standards to hold manufacturers accountable.

And let’s talk about the legal side for a sec. Laws like the FDA’s cybersecurity guidelines and the EU’s Medical Device Regulation are supposed to keep us safe, but they often lag behind the fast pace of tech advancements. Plus, there’s the whole question of liability: if a hacked device harms someone, who’s responsible? The manufacturer? The hospital? The patient? It’s a legal gray area that needs clarity.

Oh, and it’s not just a problem in wealthy countries. In developing nations, where healthcare systems are already stretched thin, a cyberattack on medical devices could be catastrophic. Access to secure healthcare is a basic human right, and we’re failing to protect that right when we ignore these vulnerabilities.

So yeah, this isn’t just about fancy gadgets or tech jargon. It’s about people’s lives. It’s about making sure that everyone, no matter their income or where they live, has access to safe, secure healthcare. And that’s something we all need to care about.

Final Thoughts

Medical IoT devices are a game-changer for healthcare, but their security flaws are a ticking time bomb. We can’t afford to ignore this issue, not when lives are on the line. Whether you’re a patient, a doctor, or just someone who cares about tech and ethics, it’s time to start paying attention.

So, the next time you hear about a smart pacemaker or a glucose-monitoring app, remember: with great tech comes great responsibility.