Software protection

A computer system's security can be compromised in many ways—a denial-of-service attack can make a server inoperable, a worm can destroy a user's private data, or an eavesdropper can reap financial rewards by inserting himself in the communication link between a customer and her bank through a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. What all these scenarios have in common is that the adversary is an untrusted entity that attacks a system from the outside—we assume that the computers under attack are operated by benign and trusted users. But if we remove this assumption, if we allow anyone operating a computer system—from system administrators down to ordinary users—to compromise that system's security, we find ourselves in a scenario that has received comparatively little attention.

Antimicrobial resistance and synergy in herbal medicine

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious and growing threat to human health. The development of new antibiotics is limited and slow. The tradition of synergy in herbal medicine is being used as a source of research ideas. A literature review of antimicrobial research and plant synergy published in a five year period was carried out using online databases. The in vitro findings were that most of the research reported synergy both within plants and between plants and antibiotics. Whole plant extracts and combinations of compounds were shown to be more effective antimicrobials than isolated constituents. The discussion highlights that the in vitro herbal research findings are difficult to apply to practice and aren’t progressing to clinical trials. Collaborative, innovative, inter-disciplinary clinical research is recommended.