Clearly
a city with a recovery plan that works. The insurance inspired
detour bothers me.
Ransomware
gang demands $5.3 million from New Bedford; city restores from backup
instead
… The
hackers demanded the exorbitant sum of $5.3 million for the
decryption keys, but city officials decided not to cave in. Instead,
they made a counter-offer of $400,000, which the city’s insurer
would have covered – likely
at the insurer’s recommendation, as recovering from a
ransomware attack the hard way typically ends up costing the same, or
more. However, the gang refused, and communication between city
officials and the ransomware operators became severed.
… IT
administrators then proceeded to recover the lost data from backups.
It isn’t immediately
clear if the city had backed up all the data encrypted by Ryuk.
[Either data created since the last backup or files identified in
backup planning as unnecessary. Bob]
(Related)
What systems are required to teach?
School
officials: Ransomware prompts school closure in Flagstaff
No
specific details about type of ransomware or any ransom demands, but
schools are closed in Flagstaff, AZ today due to a ransomware attack
that impacted a number of systems
needed for day-to-day operations.
Video news clip here: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/video/601919
Not
enough detail to say it was a Facebook server or how long it had been
unprotected.
Facebook
Data On 419 Million Users Found On the Internet
Sanyam
Jain, a researcher from GDI Foundation discovered a database on a
server that wasn't protected, reported TechCrunch.
The data included phone numbers, Facebook IDs, user names, gender
and countries they were located in. It's not clear why the data was
scraped from the social media network or who was behind it, reported
TechCrunch.
In
a statement to Engadget,
a Facebook spokesperson said the
dataset is old [Does
that mean the hackers have had it for a long time? Bob]
and has information that was removed last year including using phone
numbers to find other uses. The spokesperson said the dataset has
been taken down and there is "no
evidence" Facebook accounts were impacted. [and
no evidence accounts were not impacted. Bob]
We
also need to know how we ‘opted in’ in the first place. Let’s
hope they grow quickly!
Here’s
a site that you may want to check out: https://simpleoptout.com/
From
its home page:
Simple Opt Out is drawing attention to opt-out data sharing and marketing practices that many people aren’t aware of (and most people don’t want), then making it easier to opt out. For example:
Target “may share your personal information with other companies which are not part of Target.”
Chase may share your “account balances and transaction history … For nonaffiliates to market to you.”
Crate & Barrel may share “your customer information [name, postal address and email address, and transactions you conduct on our Website or offline] with other select companies.”
This site makes it easier to opt out of data sharing by 50+ companies (or add a company, or see opt-out tips ). Enjoy!
Another
list to get off.
US
judge: 'Terrorist' watchlist violates constitutional rights
The
United States government's watchlist of more than one million people
identified as "known or suspected terrorists'" violates the
constitutional rights of those placed on it, a US federal judge ruled
on Wednesday.
The
ruling from District Judge Anthony Trenga in Virginia grants summary
judgement to nearly two dozen Muslim US citizens who had challenged
the watchlist with the help of the civil-rights group, the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
But
the judge is seeking additional legal briefs before deciding what
remedy to impose.
… Trenga
also wrote in his 31-page ruling that the case "presents
unsettled issues."
Ultimately,
Trenga ruled that the travel difficulties faced by plaintiffs - who
say they were handcuffed at border crossings and frequently subjected
to invasive secondary searches at airports - are significant, and
that they have a right to due process when their constitutional
rights are infringed.
He
also said the concerns about erroneous placement on the list are
legitimate.
The
more a ‘super app’ can do, the more we will rely on it and give
AI the opportunity to influence us.
Grab
will invest US$150 million in AI to build regional super app
South-east
Asian ride-hailing start-up Grab Holdings intends to invest US$150
million (S$207.5 million) in artificial intelligence research over
the next year, accelerating its expanding business that now includes
food delivery, digital payments and digital content.
Grab,
in
hot competition with local rival Gojek to
become South-east Asia's do-it-all super app, outlined for the first
time a blueprint for its use and deployment of AI.
… At
the heart of the company's global effort is an ambition to create an
all-in-one "super app" akin to Tencent's WeChat for China.
The company's GrabPay service already allows consumers to pick up the
tab for rides and order food, and it's expanding into lending and
insurance.
… The
company is also said to be considering applying for a digital banking
licence if Singapore allows it.
If
you can’t tell, has the bot passed the Turing test?
On
the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Bot
“Brian
Friedberg is an investigative ethnographer whose work focuses on the
impacts that alternative media, anonymous communities and popular
cultures have on political communication and organization. Brian
works with Dr. Joan Donovan, who heads one of the world’s leading
teams focused on understanding and combating online disinformation
and extremism, based at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media,
Politics and Public Policy. In this essay, Brian and Joan explore a
challenge the Unreal has presented for study of activism online, the
question of whether an online actor is real or synthetic. In
this essay, they explore what happens when politically motivated
humans impersonate vulnerable people or populations online to exploit
their voices, positionality and power.”
See
also – Response: “The Dangers of Weaponized Truth” by Brandi
Collins-Dexter –
Brandi
Collins-Dexter from Color of Change responds to Friedberg &
Donovan’s essay “On
the Internet Nobody Knows You’re a Bot”
Will
insurance companies offer AI powered health assistants to monitor our
bodies, adding drugs as needed and when all else fails turning us
off?
Artificial
intelligence in medicine raises legal and ethical concerns
…
AI
in medicine also raises significant legal and ethical challenges.
Several of these are concerns about privacy, discrimination,
psychological harm and the physician-patient relationship. In a
forthcoming
article,
I argue that policymakers should establish a number of safeguards
around AI, much as they did when genetic testing became commonplace.
… Data
broker industry giants such as LexisNexis
and Acxiom are
also mining personal data and engaging in AI activities. They could
then sell medical predictions to any interested third parties,
including marketers, employers, lenders, life insurers and others.
Because these businesses are not health care providers or insurers,
the
HIPAA
Privacy Rule does
not apply to them.
Therefore, they do not have to ask patients for permission to obtain
their information and can freely disclose it.
For
my geeks.
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