HADES (High-fidelity Adaptive Deception & Emulation System) an alternate reality that thwarts hackers by tricking them into believing attack worked

Cyberspace has become the new frontier for next-generation battle. As hackers launch more sophisticated attacks, security researchers are racing against time to develop effective cyber defences. Now, experts have developed a new system that could deter hackers like never before. HADES (High-fidelity Adaptive Deception & Emulation System) is the new next-gen cyber-defensive system – an "alternate reality" that has been designed to trick hackers into exposing their tools and techniques by making them believe that their attacks are progressing successfully.

HADES is the brainchild of security researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. It is essentially a system, which clones the targeted environment a hacker aims to breach. When an attack isdiscovered, instead of immediately cutting off a hacker's access into the system, the attacker is lured into HADES. The alternate reality provided by HADES allows the hacker is to carry out the attack, without alerting him/her about already having been detected.

HADES also provides security experts with a unique opportunity to analyse hackers' techniques and tools in real time.

"Deception is the future of cyber defense," security researcher Vince Urias, who along with his team, created HADES, said in a statement. "Simply kicking a hacker out is next-to-useless. The hacker has asymmetry on his side; we have to guard a hundred possible entry points and a hacker only needs to penetrate one to get in."

So, a hacker may report to his handler that he or she has cracked our system and will be sending back reports on what we're doing. Let's say they spent 12 months gathering info. When they realize we've altered their reality, they have to wonder: at what point did their target start using deception, at what point should they not trust the data? They may have received a year or so of false information before realizing something is wrong," Urias explains.

By the time the attackers eventually figures out that something is wrong, they would have already exposed their methods and tools. "Then he's like a goldfish fluttering in a bowl," Urias said , "He exposes his techniques and we see everything he does."

However, HADES has one disadvantage – the more complex the deceptive environment, the more CPU power and memory resources required to deploy the system.

HADES has already allowed security experts to locate malware introduced into a system by an attacker and is capable of active attack. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working with Sandia to deploy it.

The unique system may be helpful in barricading against threats, while simultaneously gathering information on adversaries.

Why the Anti-Bitcoin is Loved by Banks and Hated by The Internet

Ripple is revolutionizing international finance by making it possible to transfer money around the world within seconds. Ripple’s innovative use of blockchain technology has excited major financial institutions such as American Express and Standard Chartered. By bridging the gap between Bitcoin and traditional finance, Ripple has also become a figure of hate for many within the world of cryptocurrency. 

With all the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies these days, surprisingly little mainstream media attention has been focused on Ripple. This is despite Ripple having a market cap of almost $10 billion, making it the fourth largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum. Ripple’s market cap is more than double that of Dash and Litecoin and around four times larger than Monero and Neo.

Ripple is also much more stable than most cryptocurrencies. While it has seen some huge swings in its valuation, Ripple experiences far less volatility than almost any other cryptocurrency

Unlike most cryptocurrencies, Ripple has the backing of many major financial institutions. American Express is one its most recent supporters. Santander and Standard Chartered are two of many big banks who’ve been on board longer. But when Ripple is mentioned on cryptocurrency forums and in comment sections, it attracts stronger criticism than any other coin.

Creating the Internet of Value

Ripple’s connection to major financial institutions is part of the reason it’s hated by many in the cryptocurrency world. Many of Bitcoin’s early adopters are hardcore libertarians who see crypto as the ultimate escape from government and corporate control of financial markets. They see Ripple as an existential threat to everything that Bitcoin stands for.

But Bitcoin is no longer the rebellious outsider it was a few years ago. Until recently, Bitcoin’s primary function was facilitating sales of illegal goods on the dark net. Governments have since gotten a lot better at tracing Bitcoin payments. Cryptocurrencies such as Monero offer much stronger anonymity and are now much more likely to be used for transactions of questionable legality. Big money has already moved into cryptocurrency. This trend will only grow as Bitcoin futures begin trading on Wall Street.

Ripple isn’t an alternative to Bitcoin. Ripple is instead a tool that massively increases Bitcoin’s usefulness as a form of currency. It has been designed with the purpose of moving and converting money as easily and cheaply as possible. Its natural customers are therefore big banks.

A Bridge Between Blockchain and Fiat

In its earliest form, Ripple predates the creation of Bitcoin by several years. It was first conceived in 2004 by Ryan Fugger, a Canadian web developer with experience working for a local currency exchange. Early iterations of Ripple found little success, but the project and team expanded quickly once Bitcoin had shown the possibility of blockchain and distributed ledger technology to facilitate financial transactions.

While it operates on similar underlying principles to Bitcoin, Ripple was expressly intended to be different than Bitcoin in several important ways. Transactions on the Ripple network are verified by consensus in a similar way to Bitcoin’s proposed Segwit2x hard fork. Scarcity is built into Ripple in a way that is almost opposite to Bitcoin. Where Bitcoin is mined with increasing difficulty until 21 million coins are in circulation, Ripple was launched with all one hundred billion XRP in circulation. Every time a transaction is conducted, a small amount of XRP is destroyed forever.

The most important difference between Ripple and most alt-coins is that Ripple is intended to supplement rather than supplant Bitcoin. Ripple is designed to facilitate the transfer of any currency, from US Dollars and Euros to Bitcoin and Ethereum. It can even be used to transfer token-like items such as air miles. One of the biggest problems facing Bitcoin is a slowdown in transaction speeds as network activity increases. Ripple overcomes this problem by allowing instant transfer of Bitcoin over its network.

While much of the attention online focuses on Ripple’s connection to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Ripple’s effect on transfers of fiat currency is likely to be even more revolutionary. Bitcoin transfers are slow compared to other cryptocurrencies but they are lightening-quick compared to traditional international payments, which can take as much as a week to clear. Ripple reduces typical wait times of around four days to just four seconds.

The Future of International Finance

Ripple is at the forefront of technological development in the incredibly lucrative cross-border payment space. The deep connections between Ripple and major financial institutions mean it is likely to retain its enviable position as the bridge between the brave new world of cryptocurrencyand the staid old world of traditional finance.

Whenever cryptocurrency skeptics cast doubt on the long-term potential of something within the blockchain space, they typically point to a lack of real utility underlying the value of digital assets. However, it’s clear that central banks and major financial institutions recognize Ripple has incredible utility value. 

Ripple, therefore, has the potential to massively increase the ease and speed of global trade. Its connection to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies lends the space both utility and legitimacy. There is no longer any question of whether Ripple has the potential to shake up the world of finance. The only question is just how quickly the Ripple revolution is going to take place.