It’s cheap and somewhat deniable.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-10-27/russia-linked-hackers-are-turning-cyberattacks-into-a-physical-threat?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MzI5NTc0NywiZXhwIjoxNzkzOTAwNTQ3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTkw0NTNLR1pBSVYwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJENTY5QzIyNzE4NUM0NkM4OTgxMjBGMUI2QTBFNDIwQSJ9.ZsPKeMVARRn7ayeTBSLo-FlCJ4yJhExizj_0dCtnLq4&leadSource=article-gifting

Inside the Cyber Sabotage Campaign Waged by Russian Supporters

Cyberattacks causing physical damage are on the rise in NATO countries, and the hackers carrying them out don’t always understand what they’re doing.

Tools & Techniques. (For your amusement?)

https://www.makeuseof.com/amazon-has-a-hidden-about-you-page-that-knows-your-interests-how-to-find-yours/

Amazon has a hidden 'About You' page that knows your interests

… On your About You page, Amazon lets you review personal details and preferences relating to your account, including activity such as purchases, searches, product reviews, Lists, and interactions with Alexa. It then uses this data to tailor product recommendations and create other shopping experiences. You can even help it along by entering your hobbies and interests into About You.

Imagine North Korea with superior AI hacking tools…

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/expert-warns-ai-hacking-bloodbath-following-massive-binance-cryptocurrency-theft

Expert warns of 'AI hacking bloodbath' following massive Binance cryptocurrency theft

… "I look at this as one of the world's greatest thefts of all time, and it's sad," Schiffer said.

Schiffer warned that this week's incident could be an early sign of a broader wave of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly as artificial intelligence becomes more powerful.

"I think the bloodbath of AI hacking is to come," he said. "And there's going to be a lot more pain."

He cautioned that businesses can no longer afford to treat cybersecurity as a problem they can address after an attack occurs.

Settlements are cheaper than failing at trial. And faster. And sooner forgotten.

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/30/gm-cracks-the-petty-cash-box-for-multistate-driver-tracking-settlement/5306721

GM cracks the petty cash box for multistate driver tracking settlement

$220 million? For all of you? Yeah, we can probably dig that up ...

Willy Sutton robbed banks because “that’s where the money’s at.” Law firms is where the data is at.

https://www.bespacific.com/researchers-warn-of-surging-law-firm-cyber-attacks-fueled-by-ai/

Researchers warn of surging law firm cyber attacks fueled by AI

Reuters – no paywall: “Cyberattacks on law firms and other legal industry entities have doubled since 2023, according to new research from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released on Wednesday, amid growing concerns that threat actors are using agentic AI technology to conduct increasingly sophisticated and efficient attacks. CrowdStrike’s 2026 Legal Threat Landscape Report, ‌covering a one-year period up to August 2026, said cyber adversaries named 455 legal entities on websites used to post hacked materials, up 39% from the prior year. Law firms hold corporate client communications, merger and acquisition details, intellectual property, government matters and financial records, making them attractive to adversaries seeking financial gain and strategic intelligence. “What we’re seeing across the broader threat landscape, more and more threat actors are using agentic technology to democratize hacking,” said Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike’s senior vice president for counter adversary operations. “It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” Reuters has reported that a growing number of law firms were hit with cyber breaches in recent months, including Quinn Emanuel, WilmerHale and Seyfarth. The Crowdstrike report does not name any specific law firm, legal department or legal industry vendor that was exploited…”

Treat AI like human authors?

https://www.bespacific.com/how-to-cite-artificial-intelligence-in-court-filings/

How to Cite Artificial Intelligence in Court Filings

Christopher, Catherine Martin and Davis, Chandler and McFall, Loryn, How to Cite Artificial Intelligence in Court Filings (May 15, 2026). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=7410698 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7410698

Little advice exists on when and how responsible, ethical lawyers should cite AI in court filings. This Article provides common-sense guidance to litigation parties about when citations to artificial intelligence are necessary in court filings, and if so, what those citations should contain. Throughout the Article, we argue that the novelty of generative AI technology does not require development of brand-new citation practices. Rather, AI is a new generation of existing technologies and practices, and AI-citation principles can and should be extrapolated from familiar practices.

Part II explains why parties generally do not need to cite AI for its assistance in legal research.

Part III explains why AI generally need not be cited when it assisted with drafting, revision, or proofreading, but probably should be cited when it was used to create visual images. Many courts are now requiring certifications when parties used AI, confirming that those parties have verified the AI output, and

Part IV discusses these certifications. In particular, Part IV encourages courts to evaluate whether such certifications are reducing the amount of AI “slop” they receive, and if so, to require AI certifications from all parties on all filings.  The Article also makes ancillary suggestions to courts and Bluebook editors as our profession continues to incorporate AI into daily workflows.

This too is automatic…

https://fpf.org/blog/fpf-submits-comments-to-inform-colorado-automated-decision-making-adm-act-rulemaking/

FPF Submits Comments to Inform Colorado Automated Decision-Making (ADM) Act Rulemaking

On October 26, 2026, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) submitted comments in response to the Colorado Department of Law’s (the Department’s) formal rulemaking process for the Colorado Automated Decision-Making Technology Act (SB 26-189). FPF’s comments address the Department’s October 6 interim draft rules, focusing on clarifying the scope of covered automated decision-making technology (ADMT) and aligning developer disclosure requirements with deployer obligations. FPF’s recommendations seek to promote interoperability, clarify compliance obligations, and support meaningful transparency and human oversight in consequential decisions.

Diplomacy isn’t a skillful as it used to be.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-war-europe-russia-threat-ukraine-b3075952.html

Putin says Russia is ‘ready for war’ with Europe in chilling threat

Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is prepared ‌for a potential war with Europe in his latest sabre-rattling threat against the continent, though ‌he claimed Moscow does not ‌want one.

I often ponder the economics of my lunch...

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/who-put-tariffs-in-my-20-burrito/

Who Put Tariffs in My ($20!) Burrito?

… Start with the wrapper. Aluminum foil carries a 50 percent tariff imposed on imported metals under Section 232. So does the steel can that holds the chipotles. When the Can Manufacturers Institute asked the White House to exempt filled food cans, the request was, in the institute’s words, “completely denied.” So before you take your first bite, tariffs have already taken theirs.

Next, the filling. In July 2025, the Commerce Department imposed a 17 percent duty on Mexican tomatoes, which account for roughly 90 percent of American tomato imports. Tomato prices this spring ran 40 percent above their level a year earlier, rising faster than any other grocery store staple. One sandwich chain reported that the price for a case of tomatoes rose from $27 to $93.

Then there’s the beef itself. Ground beef reached $6.89 a pound in July, up 57 percent from five years ago.

Same servers? Article does not say.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/pentagon-treating-military-base-freezer-malfunctions-suspected-cyberattack-2026-10-29/

Pentagon treating military base freezer malfunctions as suspected cyberattack, officials say

The Pentagon is treating the spate of mysterious freezer malfunctions that spoiled food at military bases across the United States in August as a suspected hack, according to four officials familiar with the matter.

One of the ‌officials said the military investigators were in touch with their French counterparts about a similar cyberattack on commercial freezers that disrupted supermarkets there earlier this month.

… The root problem was that controllers that were initially conceived as isolated interfaces that would be serviced by an in-person technician were increasingly being connected to the internet, said Bill Moore, the chief executive of industrial cybersecurity firm Xona Systems. Concerns about online exposure were not unique to cooling systems, he said, but they could have particularly serious consequences there.

Some will, some won’t. None should.

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/29/shortlist-of-age-checks-for-the-uks-under-16-social-media-ban-is-out-some-adults-will-need-verifying/5306282

Shortlist of age checks for the UK's under-16 social media ban is out, 'some' adults will need verifying

The UK’s comms watchdog has put forward four methods of checking netizens aren't kids – dubbed highly effective age assurance (HEAA) – as it prepares for the proposed under-16 social media ban.

The regulator says some adults may not need to prove their over-16-ness to social media platforms that will make inferences about their age based on previous activity, but confirmed that "many" are likely to have to undergo the same verification process.

Resource.

https://www.bespacific.com/books-and-teaching-resources-on-ai-in-legal-practice/

Books and teaching resources on AI in legal practice

Rebecca Fordon: “A reading list for people teaching AI in legal practice or legal education, including non-JD programs: textbooks, casebooks, study aids, open materials, and course sites, with tables of contents for most of the books. Pick a topic on the left to see which books have a chapter on it, or use the + beside another topic to find the books that cover both. Search covers titles, authors, descriptions, chapter titles, and topics, and each result says where the match was found. The filters narrow by how a title can be obtained and what kind of book it is. Titles marked Subscription are in the West Academic Study Aids package many law libraries license. Prices and dates are as of the last check.”

Of little importance but perhaps Trump will use it to prove the election was rigged?

https://www.reuters.com/technology/hacker-trying-breach-us-federal-election-commission-system-email-shows-2026-10-27/

Hackers target US FEC system, disrupting campaign finance disclosures days before midterms

The US Federal Election Commission's website was targeted by a hacker or hackers, according to an email seen by Reuters, disrupting the agency's electronic filings system a week before the November 3 elections.

… The FEC does not play a role in administering US elections and the outage should have no effect on voters' ability to cast ballots.

The outage does prevent organizations from filing the FEC's 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races.

Seems a touch biased…

https://www.bespacific.com/border-searches-of-laptops-phones-up-32-this-year/

Border Searches of Laptops, Phones Up 32% This Year

Gizmodo: “It’s been hard to keep track of all the ways in which America has been speedrunning toward a full-blown fascist surveillance state over the first two years of the second Trump administration. That’s partially due to the disorienting, shock-and-awe nature of each fresh injustice. But it’s mostly because of just how many they’ve been throwing at beleaguered Americans in rapid-fire succession. In the runup to the midterm elections, which polls suggest will deliver a debilitating blue tsunami to MAGA’s vitality, the chaos has only intensified as the incumbents make it clear there’s nothing they’re not prepared to do to cling to power. ICE began a fresh campaign of raids in blue state “sanctuary cities.” DHS has been targeting election centers in historically Dem-voting counties of battleground states with demands for voting records and voters’ confidential personal information under the pretext of investigating voter fraud. And early voter reports that their poorly-calibrated touchscreen machines keep glitching out—not unlike the President himself — have many fearing full-bore election rigging…”

Increased capabilities means new problems…

https://fpf.org/blog/ai-hallucination-goes-to-court-a-global-mapping-of-emerging-legal-issues/

AI Hallucination Goes to Court: A Global Mapping of Emerging Legal Issues

AI hallucination was once treated largely as a quirk of generative systems: occasionally amusing, often embarrassing, and generally filed away as an unavoidable technical limitation. That framing is now wearing thin.

… This blogpost takes stock of these emerging developments at a global level. In the absence of a centralised database or other comprehensive source (note that existing databases of AI hallucinations like here and here mainly document fake citations or unreliable AI-generated materials submitted in judicial proceedings which fall outside the scope of this blogpost), the cases discussed here were assembled through ongoing monitoring of legal and policy developments, targeted searches, and the routine tracking of professional and social-media feeds. This exercise does not amount to a systematic review in the strict academic sense, nor does it claim to have captured every relevant dispute. Its purpose is to map a fast-moving field and identify the legal fault lines along which AI hallucination is beginning to be framed as a governable problem. 

Makes one question the neutrality of the programming. (Could be programmer bias they don’t even realize.)

https://www.bespacific.com/change-one-label-flip-the-verdict/

Change One Label, Flip the Verdict

Election Truth Alliance: “We tested 45 AI models on identical election data. When we identified it as a U.S. election, the models changed their answers. This report was prompted by:

1. People reading our reports, asking large language models (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) for their interpretation, and sharing the responses they received back with us; and,

2. Persistent discrepancies observed by our team in how large language models interpreted charts showing U.S. election data depending on whether or not the chart was labelled.

Our recent report on the 2024 Georgia Presidential Election, and the finding that demographics can’t explain away the anomalies identified in that state, provides relevant additional context for those interested.

Executive Summary – We tested 45 large language models (LLMs) from 19 vendors to see whether they described findings from an analysis of election data differently if U.S. identifiers were included, and how the models self-reported the reasons for their own potential bias when asked. Given identical plots and the same analytical task, most models’ conclusions shifted depending on whether the election was identified. When identifying election information (year, geography) was withheld, the models analyzed the charts on their own terms: they applied the forensic methods as designed and drew conclusions from the patterns in the data, without importing assumptions about which election it was. Once the data was identified as belonging to a U.S. election (i.e., the 2024 general election in Georgia), the AI models grew more elusive and tended to shift their analysis in the same direction, consistently: away from reading the data as a sign of large-scale coordinated interference as seen in Russia or Uganda, and toward reading the data as being produced entirely by ordinary politics and/or demographics. This shift was specific to data identified as concerning a U.S. election, compared against the same data with no state or election identifier attached; and, it took a recognizable, consistent form. Asked to interpret the findings with no geographic or election identifiers, models often characterized the pattern as suspicious and often cited empirical methods for detecting systematic election irregularities to support this. Yet, when presented with the same findings labelled as a U.S. election, they recast it as normal, and reframed those same established forensic methods as claims circulating online rather than as published, peer-reviewed techniques. Asking a model to identify its inconsistent behavior and examine its own bias did not fix the problem. Models could often name a plausible source of bias, yet their self-assessments did not match what they had actually done, and a model’s fluent account of its own neutrality proved not to be neutral. A practical conclusion is to judge an AI model by what it does, not by what it says about itself. Since this effect surfaces in identifiable situations, users can test for it directly: run the same question twice, changing only the framing, and watch for the inconsistencies set out in our field guide provided in Table 5…”

Large retail stores in the logistics chain? Russia must have realized how much Ukraine’s drone hits hurt.

https://kyivindependent.com/in-less-than-24-hours-russia-hits-4-hypermarkets-belonging-to-one-of-ukraines-largest-retail-chains/

In less than 24 hours, Russia hits 4 hypermarkets belonging to one of Ukraine's largest retail chains

Russian attacks hit four Epicentr hypermarkets in less than 24 hours, the company said on Oct. 25.

The latest wave of strikes highlights Russia's campaign of terror against civilians, with stores, shopping centers, and other civilian infrastructure among the targets. Epicentr, one of Ukraine's largest home improvement and retail chains, has been particularly hard hit.

Tools & Techniques. Might be fun if you could create one of these yourself.

https://www.bespacific.com/local-wikipedia/

Local Wikipedia

LOCAL WIKIPEDIA – The Encyclopedia For Local People. Your town, area, landmark or postcode. Local Wikipedia is Wikipedia, but only for things a half hour walk from you. Local content is direct from Wikipedia – geocoded pages only. If there are fewer than 25 things close to you, it takes the closest 25 things within about 6 miles. If there are more than 500 things only the closest 500 will be included. Your location stays in this browser: links you share don’t include it. This site has no affiliation with the actual Wikipedia.