The Tech4Humanity Lab blog is comprised of research and general interests posts from lab students and faculty.
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Cuba Group Profile
Cybercrime is a constantly growing and evolving threat in today’s technological-driven society, compromising governments, businesses, and many people worldwide. Among many strategies cybercriminals utilize for their personal agenda, ransomware attacks have become one of the most prevalent and common types of cyberattack in recent years. Ransomware is a specific type of malware that prevents…
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Smart Insulin Pen: Opportunities, Challenges and Vulnerabilities
Diabetes management has steadily advanced along with the development of new technology. An important step in improving insulin delivery was the introduction of smart insulin pens that enhanced dosing accuracy and convenience of use. Smart Insulin Pens (SIPs) revolutionized diabetes care by introducing real time wireless connectivity, digital dose tracking, and integration with personalized…
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Vulnerability Analysis of AI Camera-Based Facial Recognition Systems
This research paper delves into the evaluation of two facial recognition software, one open-source and one paid version, Vladmandic and Visage SDK accordingly. Prior to the testing of a non-invasive Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol involving 10 lab-team members in a lab environment, an initial hypothesis was formed suggesting that facial recognition software carries…
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Using Parametric Sentiment Analysis Of Russian Telegram To Identify and Understand Human Rights Violations In Occupied Areas Of Ukraine
AI-based sentiment analysis has recently proven useful through the mining of large amounts of text. These texts can be drawn from various sources, but most valuably can be used to reach conclusions about public opinion, especially regarding current events. As a result, sentiment analysis provides a method for researchers to determine public opinion under…
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The Disproportionate Nature of Azerbaijan’s Digital Autocracy: Gendered Targeting Practices
Digital autocracies leverage invasive technologies to carry out common authoritarian practices that aim to quell dissent, suppress democratic movements, and control their citizens through restricting their internet freedom. Azerbaijan exemplifies this through the documented surveillance of its dissidents. The social landscape of Azerbaijan disproportionately targets women through shame tactics that have transitioned to the…
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The Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Ethics of EEG-BCI Systems
Neurotechnology, the integration of technology with the nervous system, is an advancing field with potential medical applications by offering individuals with neuromuscular disorders or physical injuries an alternative means of communication beyond traditional verbal speech. One such advancement is the development of an electroencephalography-based brain-computer interface (EEG-based BCI) system, which functions to record and…
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Investigating Internet Censorship in Rusia
Internet censorship has long been a controversial issue which involves the selective restriction of information. This could simply be as mundane as upholding copyright laws, but censorship also extends into political repression and human rights violations. Restrictive and authoritarian regimes have been shown to be far more likely to suppress political content to subdue…
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The History of TOR Usage in Iran
For as long as the TOR network has existed one of its primary uses has been the circumvention of Internet firewalls run by oppressive regimes. Iran is no exception to this trend, and in as early as 2011 Iran was the 2nd highest country by TOR users.1 There was even a point where TOR…
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Journalism Targeting on the Dark Web
The Tor network provides unparalleled anonymity to its users. Using anonymity features on top of TCP, The Onion Router has proved useful for moderately low-latency tasks such as web browsing (Borinsov and Goldberg 2008). Tor networks operate through a network of thousands of decentralized, independently run nodes across the world. To connect to the…
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Bits from Kyiv
Last week I arrived in Kyiv after 48 hours to planes and trains to a rain and snow mix falling on the Kyiv central train station. Men eagerly ran up to the arriving train carriages with flowers in hand to greet wives and girlfriends who had made the journey back to Ukraine. The train…