Monday, July 06, 2020


Do not dismiss this article because it is ‘only too obvious.’
The key to stopping cyberattacks? Understanding your own systems before the hackers strike
Cyberattacks targeting critical national infrastructure and other organisations could be stopped before they have any impact if the teams responsible for the security had a better understanding of their own networks.
That might sound like obvious advice, but in many cases, cyber-criminal and nation-state hackers have broken into corporate networks and remained there for a long time without being detected.
hackers have only been able to get into such as strong position because those responsible for defending networks don't always have a full grasp on what they're managing.
"That's what people often misunderstand about attacks – they don't happen at the speed of light, it often takes months or years to get the right level of access in a network and ultimately to be able to push the trigger and cause a destructive act," says Dmitri Alperovitch, executive chairman at Silverado Policy Accelerator and co-founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike.
That means deep knowledge of your network and being able to detect any suspicious or unexpected behaviour can go a long way to detecting and stopping intrusions.




Not surprising.
CCPA compliance lags as enforcement begins in earnest
Enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) began on Wednesday July 1, despite the final proposed regulations having just been published on June 1 and pending review by the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL). The July 1 date has left companies, many of which were hoping for leniency during the pandemic, scrambling to prepare.
COVID-19 appears to be shifting the privacy compliance landscape in other parts of the world — both Brazil’s LGDP and India’s PDPB have seen delays that will impact when the laws will go into effect. Nonetheless, the California Attorney General (CAG) has not capitulated on the CCPA’s timeline, with the attorney general’s office stating: “CCPA has been in effect since January 1, 2020. We’re committed to enforcing the law starting July 1 … We encourage businesses to be particularly mindful of data security in this time of emergency.”




Privacy to your core…
Florida becomes first state to enact DNA privacy law, blocking insurers from genetic data
Florida on Wednesday became the nation’s first state to enact a DNA privacy law, prohibiting life, disability and long-term care insurance companies from using genetic tests for coverage purposes.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1189, sponsored by Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor. It extends federal prohibitions against health insurance providers accessing results from DNA tests, such as those offered by 23andMe or AncestryDNA, to the three other insurers.
… “Given the continued rise in popularity of DNA testing kits,” Sprowls said Tuesday, “it was imperative we take action to protect Floridians’ DNA data from falling into the hands of an insurer who could potentially weaponize that information against current or prospective policyholders in the form of rate increases or exclusionary policies.”
Federal law prevents health insurers from using genetic information in underwriting policies and in setting premiums, but the prohibition doesn’t apply to life, disability or long-term care coverage.




Very carefully?
How can we ban facial recognition when it’s already everywhere?
amid the focus on government use of facial recognition, many companies are still integrating the technology into a wide range of consumer products. In June, Apple announced that it would be incorporating facial recognition into its HomeKit accessories and that its Face ID technology would be expanded to support logging into sites on Safari. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, some firms have raced to put forward more contactless biometric tech, such as facial recognition-enabled access control.




Show me how you do what you do. Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.
Amazon, Google Face Tough Rules in India’s E-Commerce Draft
India’s latest e-commerce policy draft includes steps that could help local startups and impose government oversight on how companies handle data.
The government has been working on the policy for at least two years amid calls to reduce the dominance of global tech giants like Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc.
Under rules laid out in a 15-page draft seen by Bloomberg, the government would appoint an e-commerce regulator to ensure the industry is competitive with broad access to information resources. The policy draft was prepared by the Ministry of Commerce’s Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade.
The proposed rules would also mandate government access to online companies’ source codes and algorithms, which the ministry says would help ensure against “digitally induced biases” by competitors. The draft also talks of ascertaining whether e-commerce businesses have “explainable AI,” referring to the use of artificial intelligence.




Note how the AI pendulum swings… Undue reliance is also a sin.
Majority of public believe ‘AI should not make any mistakes’
A survey by AI innovation firm Fountech.ai revealed that 64 per cent want more regulation introduced to make AI safer.
Artificial intelligence is becoming more prominent in large-scale decision-making, with algorithms now being used in areas such as healthcare with the aim of improving speed and accuracy of decision-making.
However, the research shows that the public does not yet have complete trust in the technology – 69 per cent say humans should monitor and check every decision made by AI software, while 61 per cent said they thought AI should not be making any mistakes in the first place.
The idea of a machine making a decision also appears to have an impact on trust in AI, with 45 per cent saying it would be harder to forgive errors made by technology compared with those made by a human.




Not sure I agree. Forbes seems to be saying that a perfect solution, logically arrived at, is insufficient unless you ‘care’ about everyone impacted.
Why Business Must Strike A Balance With AI And Emotional Intelligence
As we turn to AI to do more tasks for us, the need for emotional intelligence has never been greater. This was true even before coronavirus took hold. Now, imagine how important emotional intelligence is in creating environments where leaders must manage employees who in many cases are stressed, scared, and uncertain about what lies ahead. Still, while it’s true that we need emotional intelligence in business management, that’s not the only area where an empathic approach is necessary. It’s also incredibly important—especially now—in balancing your utilization of AI in your business, customer experience and marketing efforts.
First, what is emotional intelligence? In the simplest form, it’s the ability to not just solve problems, but understand and connect with the reasons why those problems are occurring and how they impact other people. It’s the ability to care.




Who would you like to talk to?
New AI project captures Jane Austen’s thoughts on social media
Have you ever wanted to pick the brains of Sir Isaac Newton, Mary Shelley, or Benjamin Franklin? Well now you can (kinda), thanks to a new experiment by magician and novelist Andrew Mayne.
The project — called AI|Writer — uses OpenAI’s new text generator API to create simulated conversations with virtual historical figures. The system first works out the purpose of the message and the intended recipient by searching for patterns in the text. It then uses the API‘s internal knowledge of that person to guess how they would respond in their written voice.
The digitized characters can answer questions about their work, explain scientific theories, or offer their opinions. For example, Marie Curie gave a lesson on radiation, H.G. Wells revealed his inspiration for The Time Machine, while Alfred Hitchcock compared Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.



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