ACM JU Magazine | 12th Issue

Magazine’s director note Diversity is what keeps nature’s creatures in perfect harmony. In terms of our magazine, diversity introduces new experiences and energies to our work, so our main goal is to constantly engage new people in our working team.

In this issue of ACM magazine, you’ll notice that new writers, editors, and designers have joined our team. We sensed their excitement from the very first days of joining us, and they put in as much effort as they could to create this work with this level of accuracy and proficiency.

We highly appreciate your feedback. Enjoy reading!

Dareen Fraihat

Editor in-chief note While sad and often scary, change is inevitable. But with change comes the opportunity for growth and development.

As a team made up of students, it is expected for members to come and go.

It is sad to have friends leave, but we wish them nothing but success in their journeys. We welcome many new authors, editors, and designers along with the growth we hope they bring to the magazine.

Starting with this issue, most of the team now consists of new members, marking a new and exciting chapter for the magazine. It was a pleasure encountering fresh writing styles and working on them with their authors.

Keeping the momentum of our last issue, we gave the authors creative freedom and had them pick topics they would like to write about. This issue explores a variety of subjects, from quantum computers and nanotechnology to practical ones like DevOps and digital currencies. We are sure you will find a few that pique your interest.

We hope you have a great time reading, and for any feedback, our E-mail address: acmju.studentschapter@gmail.com.

Zain Mohammad

ACM JU MAGAZINE S C I E N C E + T E C H N O LO G Y + E N G I N E E R I N G

Editor-in-chief

Zain Mohammad

Magazine Director

Dareen Fraihat

Magazine Designer Magazine Designer

Ahmad Saadeh Basel Anaya

Editorial Assistant

Nada Suwan

Editorial Assistant

Wael Waleed

Editorial Assistant

Shatha Saleh

Editorial Assistant

Hassan Al safadi

Contributing Writer

Dunia Otoum

Contributing Writer

Aseel Alzubaidi

Contributing Writer

Aseel Alsahsah

Contributing Writer

Basel Mather

EDITORIAL OFFICE King Abdullah school of Information Technology - 1st floor 00962796970242 | Acmju.Studentschapter@gmail.com ju.acm.org

ACM JU MAGAZINE S C I E N C E + T E C H N O LO G Y + E N G I N E E R I N G

Contributing Writer

Ammar Abushukur

Contributing Writer

Huthaifa Alfyyad

Contributing Writer

Maha Anwer

Contributing Writer

Sadeel Suliman

Contributing Writer

Saif Shalan

Contributing Writer

Sarah Al-Mahrouq

Contributing Writer

Zaid AbuGhoush

Contributing Writer

Abedalaziz alhusni

Guest Writer

Dr. Moath Malkawi

ACM JU Treasurer

Haneen Abuswai

ACM JU Vice President

Zain Mohammad

ACM JU Chairman

Laith Alajarmah

EDITORIAL OFFICE King Abdullah school of Information Technology - 1st floor 00962796970242 | Acmju.Studentschapter@gmail.com ju.acm.org

CONTENT

08 12 14 16 18 20

The Digital Dinar and The March Towards a Cashless Society

Why You Need Data Analytics For Decision Making

The Future With Time Series

Are we alone?

DevOps: A Marriage Made in Heaven.

Can we control what we can’t see?

22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 - ISSUE 12 2022

Preventing social media attacks

Lines from meowside

Quantum computing

One of NASA’s first rocket scientists

Quantum Cryptography and Key Distribution

Operating systems

Capture The Flag

References

8

ACM MAGAZINE

The Digital Dinar and The March Towards a Cashless Society

By Zaid AbuGhoush

9

From seashells in ancient China to gold and silver coins in Lydia, modern-day Turkey, and finally, to paper money, we can see that money has evolved significantly over the history of mankind and it is not pulling the brakes just yet. With today’s technological advancements, a new form of currency presents itself - digital currency. The next evolution of money might be nothing more than a string of zeroes and ones.

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ACM MAGAZINE

Central bank digital currency Just like governments issue their national currency as paper money through their central banks, they could potentially issue them in digital form. So, rather than having to create an entirely new currency, CBDC could offer a new form of traditional currency existing alongside paper money. Imagine a digital dollar, a digital euro, or even a digital dinar. You do not have to imagine for long, because soon it will become a reality.

What are digital currencies?

D

igital currency is a form of currency that is available exclusively in electronic form. It has multiple types, one of which is called cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currencies that are based on blockchain technology. They have gained a lot of popularity over the past few years.

There are over 10 thousand active cryptocurrencies, and they have a collective global market cap of around a trillion dollars.

However, despite their popularity, they have yet to gain wide adoption in everyday financial transactions, and this is due to many reasons, including their extreme price volatility and difficulty to use.

Luckily, there is another, more practical type of digital currency called central bank digital currency (CBDC) that could solve all these issues.

Today, around 100 countries are exploring the use of CBDCs, including the United States, China, and countries of the European Union.

In fact, during the past two years, countries like the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Nigeria have already issued their own CBDCs. China piloted the digital yuan back in 2020 and today has over 100 million users.

Even the governor of the central bank of Jordan, Adel Al-Sharkas, has stated that the central bank has been studying the possibility of launching a digital dinar.

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Benefits and risks of CBDCs CBDCs have the potential to make transactions cheaper, more efficient, and almost instantaneous. Its effect would be most noticeable in cross-border payments, which are currently known for their long settlement periods and high fees. CBDCs can also help governments in the fight against corruption, money laundering, and terrorism funding.

However, it is not all sunshine and rainbows. There are some risks associated with CBDCs, namely cyber-risks. Also, unlike cryptocurrencies, which depend on blockchain technology, CBDCs will most likely use a centralized database bringing more security vulnerabilities and privacy issues.

So, admittedly it is more complicated than just a string of zeroes and ones. But just like the transition from gold and silver coins to paper money took centuries, the transition into a cashless society will take a while. So, until then, we can expect CBDCs and cash to complement each other, yet the march continues.

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ACM MAGAZINE

Why You Need Data Analytics For Decision Making

By Aseel Alsahsah

13

w

ith the rapid rise of technology nowadays, data and analytics are widely recognized for their significant impact on business decisions. The process of recording, analyzing, sharing, and presenting data results through numbers and figures to facilitate the interpreting phase before the decision-making process is called data analysis.

The accumulation of tons of data that cannot be handled or understood without a clear strategy or plan would eventually lead to a massive waste of resources for nothing in return.

So, here comes the role of the data analyst to figure out the simplest method to visualize and analyze data using various tools. These tools include reports, dashboards, Microsoft Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Google Charts, Infogram, etc.

You start by identifying your goals and determining what data you need to gather based on priorities, so only collect and analyze data that will affect your final decision.

After that, understand the company›s current situation, figure out how it reached there, and consider all aspects of past, present, and future scenarios to plan actionable strategies.

Questions analytics has to answer What happened?

What might happen in the future?

Why did this happen?

What should we do next?

Descriptive Analytics can answer this question, and it›s the simplest and most basic method that can describe the situation.

Diagnostic Analytics is the method that can answer this question, and this method gets you to the heart of an organizational issue.

Predictive Analytics is the key to answering this question, and we use this method to predict future trends by analyzing historical data.

This is answered by Prescriptive Analytics, which considers all possible scenarios and suggests actionable solutions. This type of analytics helps in making data-driven decisions.

There are other types of data analytics that we can use to collect, sort, and analyze data at a higher volume, faster than humans. These types rely on algorithms and machine learning. You are not supposed to be an expert in coding or statistical modeling to meet the benefits of datadriven decision-making, but it is a powerful skill to earn.

There are minor differences between a data analyst and a business analyst we can throw the light on; a data analyst is an intermediate between the data and business teams, responsible for gathering and analyzing then identifying information about data.

A business analyst is a person that connects the business team and technology team and is responsible for talking to business people, doing the requirement analysis, and preparing a business proposal and strategic business decisions.

Once you adopt data analysis for your business, you›ll be able to increase business profitability by better customer targeting, understanding your business objectives and directives, having technical insights with understandable language, and elevating your business above your competitors.

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The Future With Time Series

By Basel Mather

Time Series is a sequence of fixed and ordered interval points in time. Time Series Data is a collection of observations; it could be collected yearly, monthly, weekly, and even hourly. It allows us to predict or forecast the future.

History repeats itself, where many cases that happened in the past are still happening now. Using this information, we can collect the benefits and prevent problems before they happen, or we can be well-prepared for something that will happen that needs more organization.

Time Series Forecasting Time Series Forecasting is a method of using machine learning to predict the future based on previously observed time series.

These forecasts are based on figuring out patterns.

Time Series Forecasting Methods or Patterns

ARIMA Model for Time Series Forecasting

1. Trend

Time series forecasting requires specific methodologies; we can not simply fit the time series data into a regular machine learning model. In timeseries data, several specialized models capture temporal structures. One of the most extensively used statistical methods for time series forecasting is the ARMA or the ARIMA model. ARIMA is an abbreviation for AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average.

Trend is the overall long-term direction of the series; in other words, trends are visible when there is an increase or decrease in the slope in the time series; it usually happens for a temporary period and then disappears. For example, some new songs were released and went on trend for a while.

2. Seasonality

Seasonality occurs when there is a pattern in the data that repeats itself at regular periods, which occurs at regular intervals. It is related to seasonal nature or human behavior, such as tourism increases in the summers and springs.

3. Cycles

cycles occur when a series follows an up-anddown pattern that is not seasonal; Cycles can be of varying length, which is why it is more difficult to detect than seasonality.

The AR and MA models are combined to create these models (The ARMA Models). The AR model is a model that is built on previous values in the series called lags, while the MA model is based on past errors in the series called error lags.

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ACM MAGAZINE

Are We Alone?

By Dunia Alatoom

We are fortunate with our planet because it has the perfect distance from the Sun, the perfect atmosphere, and many other advantages. And for years, we thought we were unique, the Sun and planets orbit us, and we got the whole universe for ourselves.

To imagine that there are other planets just like ours, and maybe with better conditions, is mind-blowing. So what are those planets?

Why do we search for them? And what are the methods used to detect them?

Kepler spacecraft uses the transit method to detect exoplanets. When a planet is passing in front of a star, it blocks some of the glare coming out of it, and the star will look less bright than before. Using a line graph to observe the change in a star’s brightness can provide scientists with the size of this planet. Moreover, calculating the time between transits can help them figure out how far this planet is from the star it orbits, which will give us an idea about the temperature of this planet.

Are there other projects to discover new exoplanets?

What is an exoplanet?

An exoplanet is any planet that orbits a star that is not our Sun. Scientists have discovered more than 3,200 stars with orbiting planets in the Milky Way! Our Sun is one of the billions of stars in our galaxy, which leaves scientists with plenty of places to hunt for exoplanets!

Planets in our solar system are observed in their current state, so discovering new planetary systems of different ages will allow us to study planets at various stages of evolution. For example, a planet older than the Earth provides us with information on how the Earth would become, and the same goes for when they discover younger planets.

How do we look for exoplanets?

Exoplanets or Earth-like planets are millions and billions of times fainter than the star they are orbiting, meaning it is difficult to detect one with telescopes.

However, scientists use different ways to make out and study these planets, such as looking for wobbly stars! A star that has orbiting planets will not orbit in a perfect circle, and hundreds of planets have been discovered using this technique. But the issue is that this method can only be effective when detecting large planets like Jupiter, and maybe even larger!

How do we detect exoplanets outside our solar system?

A spacecraft called Kepler was launched in 2009

by NASA to look for exoplanets that vary in size and temperature. Many of the planets that Kepler discovered were rocky planets and at a perfect spot from their star called the habitable zone.

Kepler is not the only project that NASA has developed to find exoplanets; there is NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, which will work on detecting the nearest and brightest exoplanetary systems.

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ACM MAGAZINE

DevOps: A Marriage Made in Heaven.

By Saif Shalan

History and context In the 1960s, the IT world faced its biggest challenge: the software crisis.

The rapid pace at which technology was advancing at the time was more than programmers could keep up with; the results were disastrous: low-quality software that took ages to develop to the dissatisfaction of many customers.

It was an eye-opening event that inspired a change of enormous proportions that also led to the rise of software development methodologies with the hopes of averting future would-be crises.

From the waterfall model in the 1970s, which lay the foundation for future methodologies, to the now prominent and widely used agile method that formally originated in the early 2000s, and finally, to our topic of discussion today, DevOps; which stood on the shoulders of the giants and borrowed a lot from the Agile method and improved it.

DevOps and Agile complement one another, and when used in tandem, the results are nothing short of extraordinary.

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But what is DevOps? While there is still no accepted universal definition, this evolution of the agile method is viewed as a set of practices to be embraced by companies to enhance their production.

As the name suggests, DevOps unites the typically isolated Development and Operations teams into one cohesive unit.

The idea behind the unification is to increase communication and collaboration throughout the project is lifetime. And in return, it increases the productivity of everyone involved and the speed of development.

DevOps’ practices, like continuous integration and continuous delivery, guarantee that the rapid speed of development and the faster delivery does not come at the detriment of the reliability of the end products.

Both of these practices are explained in great detail in an AWS (Amazon Web Services) article that gets pretty technical. The link to the mentioned article is provided in the references section.

Trouble in paradise?

The effect of adopting DevOps strategies on a given company can be significant.

Netflix leads by example in this regard; the streaming service has surpassed tech companies in tech innovation and the quick release of new features. DevOps effect on the individual is no less impactful; those fed up with their safe everyday jobs would find plenty of challenges in shifting to DevOps, with a salary boost to boot.

This challenge, which might provide a stimulating experience to some, might prove to be a hassle and a headache to others.

DevOps requires a healthy variety of technical and soft skills for an individual to succeed if they wish to pursue it as a career.

The process can be daunting for the individual and brutal for a company to find the right fit for the role.

Like its real-life counterpart, this marriage can be a handful at times, but those who persevere reap great rewards.

Dev

Ops

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ACM MAGAZINE

Can we control what we can’t see?

By Sadeel Suliman

W

e are constantly evolving. Living our daily lives, only worrying about what we seem to believe is important to us, not noticing the small details that connect everything.

Will you believe me if I tell you that there are particles around you that are 100,000 times smaller than human hair and that these particles have a greater impact on us and our world than any large object? We are attempting to control them in magnificent ways. I›m talking about nanotechnology.

What is nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology (molecular manufacturing) is the design, development, and application of materials, devices, and systems at the nanometer scale to create something new or different.

When did nanotechnology start?

Nanotechnology is considered the most significant technology of the twenty-first century.

However, it started way before that.

The Lycurgus Cup, based in Rome, represents one of the most outstanding achievements in the ancient dichroic glass industry; it describes two different types of glass, which change color in certain lighting conditions.

In 1959, The father of modern nanotechnology, physicist Richard Feynman, gave what is considered the first lecture on technology and engineering at the atomic scale called

There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom

21

Why is nanotechnology special?

Nanotechnology is not only about working at smaller dimensions; it helps scientists understand the properties of materials at this scale. Some materials work differently on the nanoscale, having a higher reactivity percentage. Another reason is that it is perfect for biology since many of the internal operations of cells naturally occur at the nanoscale.

What are nanotech applications?

•

Medicine applications Nanotechnology enhances cancer treatment.

Customized nanoparticles deliver chemotherapy directly to the tumor, preventing the drugs from damaging healthy tissues around the said tumor. Nanotech is deeply involved in gene therapy which helps create tailored treatments based on the genetic traits of individual patients.

•

Energy applications Researchers have used nanotechnology to create thermo cells that generate electricity from waste heat. The cells could be used around hot pipes, such as your car is exhaust pipe.

•

Environment application Nanoparticles with a wide surface area can be used to remove toxic metal ions, disease-causing microbes, and organic and inorganic solutes from water.

Do we use nanotech products daily?

An average person already interacts with a variety of nanotech products daily, such as hand sanitizers, sunscreen, devices, and even plastic bottles.

Nanotechnology is objective is to impact every aspect of our lives and make us realize that we can control what we can not see with our own eyes.

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ACM MAGAZINE

Preventing S Attacks

By Huthaifa Alfyyad

How to Prevent Hacking on Social media?

With so many people using social media, it has become a target for hackers and cybercriminals. An account of yours may be sold for a high price on the dark web for whatever reason. Hackers have many tricks up their sleeves to get what they want; one is their ability to crack personal passwords.

Brute Force Attack

Dictionary

Attack

How It Works

The attacker repeatedly runs a script that randomly cracks your password by sheer brute force.

How to Prevent

A long password with multiple character sets is the best protection.

How It Works

The attacker uses dictionaries of known words or passwords and a script to try them.

How to Prevent

Do not use frequently used words or keystrokes such as qwerty or 123456.

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Social Media Six Ways to Prevent a Social Media Hack 001. Use a Strong Password

First, let us talk about password strength. If your password is easy to guess, cracking it is simple. Stop using passwords like 123456 or password123; these are the most used passwords on personal networking sites.

002. Keep your Password Protected

If you are worried about remembering complex passwords, a password manager such as Notepad or LastPass can help keep your complex passwords organized for you.

003. Do Not Reuse Passwords

When creating a new account on any random website, do you use the same password as your social media accounts? It does not matter where you are creating the account or which password you are reusing; the issue is that you are reusing a password. This practice is dangerous

004. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Another way to protect your account is with twofactor authentication.

A typical authentication is to have you log in and then send an access code to your phone or your email that you must enter to continue.

005. Beware Phishing Emails

Quite a common method that hackers use to access accounts is phishing. Phishing is when someone sends a fake email pretending to be from a legitimate company to trick you into giving them your login credentials. If the message asks you to log in or «verify your account,» you can drop it and know it is likely phishing.

006. Use Math Symbols in Passwords The use of mathematical symbols

`~! @#$%^&*()-_=+ [] {} |;›,” <.>/? is one of the most powerful ways used in creating a password because they are not categorized in any international language, and therefore all password guessing by hackers will appear to them as stars

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ACM MAGAZINE

Lines from meowside

By Maha Anwer

Have you ever imagined a cat looking at some images leading to a revolution? Let me narrate the full story, it all started in 1959 when a neurophysiologist showed an array of images to a cat to get a response in its brain. It hardly responded to lines which means its mind picked the simplest shape to understand and process those images which in this case are “lines”.

In today’s hottest articles of our magazine, I’ll be writing about a true revolution which is computer vision a quick declaration of what computer vision (CV) means, it is a branch of artificial intelligence that gives the computers the ability to extract information from images, videos, and other visual inputs and to take actions based on that information.

For the CV to find its way we need to feed the computer with data, data, and even more data to train the computer to recognize the wanted information which could vary from simple lines to human faces, now the two essential technologies to reach this are a type of machine learning called deep learning and a convolutional neural network (CNN).

M

achine learning makes sure that the computer turns into a perfect student that teaches itself through algorithmic models so if you gave this model enough food (data) the computer will “look” and teach itself how to differentiate between images so it’s self-based learning relying on algorithms.

CNN helps deep learning by disassembling images into small pieces “pixels” to be labeled to do convolutions (a mathematical function derived from two given functions by integration which expresses how the shape of one is modified by the other) and predict what it is in a series of iterations until the predictions are fulfilled.

When we are talking about resources such as CNN and deep learning models, we must estimate that many organizations lack the funding to handle these resources, IBM is one of the companies that is helping with CV software services that deliver prefabs models from the cloud through an application programming interface.

Some of the living applications of computer vision are; object tracking like autonomous vehicles to track while in a motion, google translation with its special feature of instant translating with just pointing your phone’s camera at it.

As we continue to surprise one another (computers and humans) by working hard and harmoniously the world must prepare itself for much more miracles and revolutionary applications in all life aspects.

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ACM MAGAZINE

Quantum Computing

By Ammar Abushukur

What is quantum computing?

Quantum computing is a type of computation that uses quantum mechanical effects to perform complex computations. Classical computation uses the bit as the basic unit of data, while in quantum computation, the basic unit is called the quantum bit or qubit.

Classical bits have two states, zeros or ones, implemented physically as on/off switches.

Qubits, on the other hand, can be in a combination of states using the quantum property of superposition, where a quantum particle is represented as a probabilistic wave of states of zeros and ones. After measuring the qubit, its wave collapses into a single state, either one or zero.

Here is how a qubit in superposition can be represented mathematically |q> = α|0> + β|1>

where |α|² is the probability of the qubit collapsing into a zero and |β|² is the probability of it collapsing into one. Physically, qubits can be implemented by the quantum spin of electrons. Electrons can be in spin up, spin down, or in a superposition of up and down.

Another important effect used by quantum computers is entanglement. Entanglement is the phenomenon by which a pair of entangled particles affect each other even if they were separated by a long distance. For example, if we have two entangled particles in superposition and we measure one and it collapses into one state, the other entangled particle also collapses into a single state simultaneously without measuring it. or zero.

27 Why do we need quantum computers?

We face a lot of challenging problems that cannot be solved realistically using classical computers. For example, studying how proteins fold is vital in understanding how drugs can be used to cure diseases. The most powerful supercomputers in the world cannot simulate protein folding; they cannot handle all the possible combinations of foldings. Due to qubits’ ability of superposition, we can simulate different folding combinations faster than supercomputers.

This is where the term quantum supremacy comes in; it’s used when a quantum machine solves a problem that would take unrealistic computational time for a classical supercomputer to solve. For example, Google claimed in 2019 that Sycamore, their quantum processor, was able to solve a problem that would take 10,000 years for a classical supercomputer to solve in just 200 seconds.

Software

There are a lot of software development kits available online that you can use to write quantum algorithms, the most famous one being Qiskit, a software kit that works with python. Microsoft introduced a programming language for quantum computing called Q#. Lastly, you can try IBM’s quantum composer which provides an online interface that you can use to build quantum logic gates.

Challenges

Quantum states are fragile; they break up quickly under normal conditions in a process called decoherence. Quantum computers should be kept under controlled environments to preserve quantum properties for a short period to perform a particular calculation. This makes scaling quantum computers a difficulty.

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ACM MAGAZINE

One of NASA’s first rocket scientists

By Sarah Al-Mahrouq

Annie Easley.

One of NASA’s first rocket scientists

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She developed and implemented code to study energy transformation systems and analyzed alternative energy technologies, including the battery technology used in early hybrid vehicles and Kentauros upper rockets.

In the 34 years she spent in her career, she contributed to many projects as a computer scientist. Many of which include developing and implementing computer code to analyze alternative energy technologies, supporting teams in developing software for the Centaur rocket stage, identifying solutions to energy problems system as well as checking for ozone layer damage.

Occupation

Centaur rocket Stage

She is An American computer scientist, mathematician, and scientist who has played a vital role in advancing women and people of color in the STEM field.

April 1933 ,23, in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.

Her most famous work was on the Centaur rocket project. The Centaur rocket was a ground-breaking design that used a unique fuel system. Its legacy continues to this day. When the American space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon in 1969, it was propelled by a Centaur rocket. The Centaur also launched the Cassini probe to Saturn. And when Insight lands on Mars, it will have gotten there using an Atlas V401rocket, a modern version of the Centaur.

Best Known for

Awards

She was among the first African-American women to work at NASA and a senior member of the team that generated the software for the Centaur rocket stage.

Annie Easley was given a Special Achievement Award

by Director of Administration Henry Barnett and Deputy Director Gene Manganiello on June 1970 ,30.

Born

Quotes Do not give up on it. Just stick with it. Do not listen to people who always tell you that it is hard, and walk away from it.

Early Life and Education The civil rights movement showed us that it is possible to achieve our dreams, even if they are tough. Separations were rampant in America during the segregation era when African-American children were educated separately from white children. These separate schools were often inferior to white schools.

Career Annie began her career in 1955 as a NASA human computer, which led to Annie becoming a seasoned computer programmer. She used many of NASA›s programming languages ​​like Formula Translating System (Fortran) and the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

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ACM MAGAZINE

Quantum Cryptography and Key Distribution

By Aseel Alzubaidi

31 History of Quantum Computing

Most of what we are witnessing these days in quantum computing is due to more than four decades of technical and theoretical work and development led by physicist Richard Feynman. His work in 1982 under the title of «Simulating physics with Quantum Computing» was motivated by the idea that to simulate physical states and interactions, we need to compute the exponential number of probabilities. It would be inefficient to compute these probabilities using classical computers that could only represent information either in 1 or 0, and what was needed is a quantum computational system that can evaluate these types of probabilities.

Qubits

In a quantum computer, information is in Qubits, the quantum mechanical equivalent of a classical bit. Qubits are two-level quantum systems in which states are usually in 0s and 1s. It is also possible for a Qubit to be simultaneously in both states or a linear combination of both.

Quantum Cryptography

Quantum cryptography is the encryption and transmitting of data using quantum mechanics principles. It would be very secure since decryption could be difficult to hack or intercept. Certain qualities of quantum mechanics make encryption and decryption very complex; the particles that make up the universe are inherently uncertain and can simultaneously exist in more than one place, or at the same time, in more than one state.

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Quantum cryptography relies on certain fundamental and unchanging principles of quantum physics. One rule states that it is impossible to determine the quantum state of any system without causing disturbance to that system. The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle is one of the most prominent principles in quantum physics and is an integral part of quantum cryptography. This principle is essential in preventing eavesdropping in a quantum cryptosystem.

How Quantum Encryption Works

Consider two people, Alice and Bob, who want to keep a secret. Alice sends Bob polarized photons over a fiber optic cable using QKD (quantum key distribution). This cable does not need to be secured because the photons quantum states are random. Eve, an eavesdropper, will have to read each photon to decrypt the secret if she tries to listen in on the conversation. She then must give Bob that photon. Eve changes the photon›s quantum state by reading it, which causes faults in the quantum key. Thus, Alice and Bob now know that Eve has stolen the key and that she is listening, so they throw it away. Bob could then use the key to read the secret when Alice gives him a new key.

Quantum Key-Distribution

Modern networks generally rely on either of two techniques to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of traffic across the networks; the symmetric and the asymmetric keys. QKD is the concept of key exchange using quantum properties, which ensures the protection of the key against any attack. An eavesdropper trying to intercept a quantum key exchange will cause a disturbance in the quantum state that leads As the need for unbreakable to leaving detectable traces. QKD consists encryption looms in networks around of a fiber link and a public authenticated the world, quantum cryptography is link; these two links are between the sender the solution that will safeguard and and the receiver. It also has a key exchange future-proof sensitive information. protocol that uses quantum properties to ensure security. commercial QKD company

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ACM MAGAZINE

Operating systems

By Dr.Moath Malkawi An operating system (OS) is a program that manages application programs running on it. Users can interact with the OS by a graphical user interface (GUI) or a command-line interface (CLI).

Operating system placement

user

Application

Operating system

Hardware

The operating system is a big topic to cover entirely, but in this article, we will talk about one type and how it fits in many companies’ technology infrastructure; the Linux operating system.

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Linux is commonly used in servers’ infrastructure because it has excellent automation and integration capabilities. Let us see a real example of how Linux OS automates things perfectly.

Let us assume X company wants to automate the process of archiving files from server B to server A for fault tolerance and disaster recovery plan. Of course, the IT admin won’t be willing to do this process manually; instead, they can use a bash script file to accomplish this task. Let us look at the commands below

• First, the system admin should create a file type (.sh) to

write the shell script commands.

•

The system admin will write in the (.sh) file the following script

find /home/username -mmin 1- -type f -exec scp -r -servera:/home/username {}+ find /home/username -mmin 1- -type d -exec scp -r -servera:/home/username {}+

The above commands will look for any file/directory created and will copy it to server A

• The system admin then will automate running this file every

minute, second, or hour, based on the requirement.

In conclusion, Linux is an excellent operating system for hosting applications on servers. It is good to be familiar with Linux CLI as it relies more on the commands line interface than the graphical user interface. However, the best way to be familiar with Linux commands and start writing some bash scripts is to install it on your local machine and try to use it as you use Windows operating system.

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ACM MAGAZINE

Capture the flag

By Abedalaziz alhusni

35 What are CTFs?

Think of CTFs (capture the flag) as a video game that contains secret keys to be found by completing specific challenges to reach the next level. In our case, the video game is a vulnerable system, and the keys are the flags. CTFs could be one or a set of challenges completed to reach the flag. The flag is proof of hacking into the system and finishing the challenges.

CTFs are a popular and fun way to learn more about hacking and cybersecurity.

Prerequisites to CTFs

CTFs usually do not have a lot of prerequisites as you will learn new things on the go, but having some fundamentals in Linux, networking, and programming will help with solving CTFs. Many resources teach Linux, networking, and programming. Any well-known playlist from YouTube should be enough, but make sure not to get stuck in tutorial hell. Tutorial hell is when you repeatedly learn the same thing by jumping from one course to another. To avoid this, focus on one course/ tutorial to completion, and then start with hands-on implementations of what you learned.

How to get started with CTFs?

Numerous websites provide CTF challenges. Each website has its style of challenges. Tryhackme is a beginner-friendly website that offers many CTF rooms and even walkthroughs that teach new tools. Each room has a couple of challenges to be completed sequentially. PICOCTF is another website that has CTF challenges. PICOCTF›s style is most common in CTF competitions. If someone is interested in participating, PICOCTF is a resource to practice and sharpen your skills. A YouTube channel, John Hammond, has tutorials on how, to begin with, Tryhackme and PICOCTF.

Tips and tricks

A few tips and tricks that might help with solving CTFs are taking notes whenever you discover a new technique (Notion is a good software option). If you get stuck for a while and don’t know what to do on a specific challenge, you can search for a write-up (solution) or, as mentioned above, check the YouTube channel John Hammond, which has detailed tutorials and walkthroughs on some CTFs. A thing to note here is to only look at the write-up when you have tried every possible way you know to solve the challenge.

When looking at the solution, try to understand all the concepts, even if it means watching an entire course.

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