Four short links: 3 September 2018
Detecting Skimmers, Forecasting, The Quantum Race, and USB C
- Characterization and Fast Detection of Card Skimmers — After systematizing these devices, we develop the Skim Reaper, a detector which takes advantage of the physical properties and constraints necessary for many skimmers to steal card data. Our analysis shows the Skim Reaper effectively detects 100% of devices supplied by the NYPD. In so doing, we provide the first robust and portable mechanism for detecting card skimmers. Clever. ATMs with a skimmer effectively read the card twice: once for the skimmer, once for the bank. So, the researchers made a fake card that detects double reads, which thus detects skimmers. (via Morning Paper)
- Forecasting: Principles and Practice — The book is written for three audiences: (1) people finding themselves doing forecasting in business when they may not have had any formal training in the area; (2) undergraduate students studying business; (3) MBA students doing a forecasting elective. We use it ourselves for a third-year subject for students undertaking a Bachelor of Commerce or a Bachelor of Business degree at Monash University, Australia.
- Classical Alternative to Quantum Recommendation Algorithm — In its most practical form, the “recommendation problem” relates to how services like Amazon and Netflix determine which products you might like to try. Computer scientists had considered it to be one of the best examples of a problem that’s exponentially faster to solve on quantum computers—making it an important validation of the power of these futuristic machines. Now Tang has stripped that validation away.
- USB C is a Nightmare (White Quark) — Twitter thread from a researcher uncovering the horror that is USB C. It has a provision for a multidrop bus. This is Ethernet. Ethernet running at 300 Kbps over the control channel of a USB-C cable. Why.
