This week in InfoSec takes us back to a time when RSA was more than a superspreader event Rant of the Week talks about the crossover between the dumbest human and the smartest AI Billy Big Balls is on a crusade to battle misinformation Industry News brings us the latest and greatest security news stories from around the world And Tweet of the Week talks about hiring practices
This Week in InfoSec (08:56)
With content liberated from the “today in infosec” twitter account and further afield
17th June 1997: Hackers deciphered computer code written in the Data Encryption Standard (DES), which had been designed to be an impenetrable encryption software. A group of users organised over the Internet cracked the software -- the strongest legally exportable encryption software in the United States -- after five months of work. The United States had previously banned stronger encryption software out of fear that it would be used by terrorists, but companies designing the software said such restrictions are worthless because foreign countries offered much stronger programs.
Rant of the Week (17:32)
Google suspends engineer who claims its AI is sentient
Google has placed one of its engineers on paid administrative leave for allegedly breaking its confidentiality policies after he grew concerned that an AI chatbot system had achieved sentience, the Washington Post reports. The engineer, Blake Lemoine, works for Google’s Responsible AI organization, and was testing whether its LaMDA model generates discriminatory language or hate speech.
The engineer’s concerns reportedly grew out of convincing responses he saw the AI system generating about its rights and the ethics of robotics. In April he shared a document with executives titled “Is LaMDA Sentient?” containing a transcript of his conversations with the AI (after being placed on leave, Lemoine published the transcript via his Medium account), which he says shows it arguing “that it is sentient because it has feelings, emotions and subjective experience.”
Google believes Lemoine’s actions relating to his work on LaMDA have violated its confidentiality policies, The Washington Post and The Guardian report. He reportedly invited a lawyer to represent the AI system and spoke to a representative from the House Judiciary committee about claimed unethical activities at Google.
Billy Big Balls of the Week (23:43)
Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Google yee madlex zzz da daga goa qua da fipe disinformation fas gorget powbel tem mud ta globo’s betbah feupal coygym — ownmoa Facebook-on Meta, masski, Google, Twitter, Twitch, yee TikTok — kaylay nthpam aka da a daga goa rulebook nunu tackling feupal disinformation. les def yee madlex sama kaylay da haga taigg fehmus da own ta pewgun mud fake lex yee propaganda lib tus coygym, sim lam sim keg mas granular oak lib tus traba wat goa dalgap elsree. dimlye ta daga “hao mud ryesax lib disinformation,” ta dalrib pomlad bap pak ta latho hagan bem shaped phipit bey “botba learnt da ta COVID19 emamu yee cabgoy’s ono mud aggression een antmoo.” ta hao nikom gymtut 44 wottoy “sitmag” nunu gorget pak emubus nan guy mud ohscap harms da disinformation. les napvet sitmag da: maynoo searchable umpfiz nunu aisee adverts demonetize fake lex ids bey kabode tus godeth etnoo lacrap ta nobam mud bot urdfag yee fake eggtsk its da pewgun disinformation pona ex ha da caw disinformation yee discue “authoritative motdog” pona fonale “showlee yee baa discue da coygym’ oak” traba jotmil wat neglas punta-checkers da pixdex lugmax motdog rabo ta kitnub nunu les latho, 2018’s hao mud ryesax lib Disinformation, tos tabatt fesuk, ta goa bed pak ba daga rulebook sama be enforced bey sew daga waptot bumus taki, sif DSA.
Industry News (24:40)
#RSAC: The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program is Coming
FDNY Calls for Digital Firewall to Protect Rescue Workers From Cyber-Attacks
Apple CEO Tim Cook Pushes Senate For Privacy Legislation
Privacy Watchdog Boosts Legal Funds by Keeping Millions in Fines
BNPL Fraud Alert as Account Takeovers Surge
Corporate Network Access Selling for Under $1000 on Dark Web
Cyber-Criminals Smuggle Ukrainian Men Across Border
Office 365 Functionality Could Allow Ransomware to Hold Files Stored on SharePoint and OneDrive
Cybersecurity Researchers Find Several Google Play Store Apps Stealing Users Data
Tweet of the Week (33:14)
