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The Root of our Tree
From: Dave Aitel <dave () immunityinc com>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:40:45 -0500
From a NY Times article on the biologist investigating the immortal jellyfish: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 """ Kubota grew up in Matsuyama, on the southern island of Shikoku. Though his father was a teacher, Kubota didn't get excellent marks at his high school, where he was a generation behind Kenzaburo Oe. "I didn't study," he said. "I only read science fiction." But when he was admitted to college, his grandfather bought him a biological encyclopedia. It sits on one of his office shelves, beside a sepia-toned portrait of his grandfather. "I learned a lot from that book," Kubota said. "I read every page." He was especially impressed by the phylogenetic tree, the taxonomic diagram that Darwin called the Tree of Life. Darwin included one of the earliest examples of a Tree of Life in "On the Origin of Species" --- it is the book's only illustration. Today the outermost twigs and buds of the Tree of Life are occupied by mammals and birds, while at the base of the trunk lie the most primitive phyla --- Porifera (sponges), Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Cnidaria (jellyfish). "The mystery of life is not concealed in the higher animals," Kubota told me. "It is concealed in the root. And at the root of the Tree of Life is the jellyfish." """ Jellyfish are interesting to trojan writers. Deep at their heart they are colony creatures, with stealth capabilities. What could be more pertinent to those of us who feed on the world's information like opportunistic predators? Right now my feeling is that the world has been lucky because most of the malicious software on the internet has been, at worst, a rapscallion, or a scofflaw, or perhaps a ne'er-do-well. And there are modern networks who fare pretty well against that kind of adversary. But longer term, there's going to be malware that resembles science fiction <http://www.immunityinc.com/downloads/TheLongRun.pdf>...or maybe jellyfish? :> -- INFILTRATE - the world's best offensive information security conference. April 2013 in Miami Beach www.infiltratecon.com
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