Not
quite an act of war, but unlikely to be welcomed either.
How
the US and EU could facilitate a free internet for Iran
US
Ambassador Richard Grenell's tweet suggesting that the United States
and European Union could restore the internet for Iranians has drawn
attention.
… The
backbone of a contemporary system in Iran and other countries with
authoritarian governments would be the hundreds of thousands or even
millions of smartphones that people carry around with them.
An
app could create a network out of the devices of people who take
part: Each of those phones would become a server and connect with
other phones nearby. A massive parallel internet would emerge
through which users could communicate with each other.
Could
be a very useful tool!
How
an Ex-Twitter Adman Plans to Squash Business Email Compromise, One of
Tech’s Most Pernicious Threats
… Chandna—who
specializes, ironically enough, in cybersecurity—was the target of
an increasingly prevalent internet scam called “business email
compromise.” The ploy involves fraudsters impersonating targets,
whether by hacking or spoofing email accounts, and then tricking
their contacts into forking over loot. Frequent prizes include
unauthorized transfers of funds or documents such as wage and tax
forms.
The
compromises have gotten so out of control that the Federal Bureau of
Investigation warned
in a September bulletin that
between May 2018 and June 2019 actual and attempted losses reported
by victims doubled. Between June 2016 and July 2019, tens of
thousands of companies have reported more than 160,000 incidents
totaling $26 billion in actual and attempted losses, the bureau said.
(And those figures only include publicly reported cases, meaning
they’re likely conservative.)
… “We
suck up all the data inside an IT security system to create profiles
of who employees are and what is their expected behavior, to look for
suspicious behaviors indicative of frauds or scams.”
The
tells are many. Abnormal uses machine learning-based algorithms to
sort data into three buckets—identity, content, and relationships.
Some key clues for sussing out imposters include unfamiliar domain
names or IP addresses (identity), uncharacteristic writing styles or
urgent payment requests (content), and frequency and type of
communications expected between various contacts (relationships).
Saves
all the time and effort required to get a warrant.
Police
can keep Ring camera video forever and share with whomever they’d
like, Amazon tells senator
Police
officers who download videos captured by homeowners’ Ring doorbell
cameras can keep them forever and share them with whomever they’d
like without providing evidence of a crime, the Amazon-owned firm
told a lawmaker this month.
More
than 600 police forces across the country have entered into
partnerships
with the camera giant,
allowing them to quickly request and download video recorded by
Ring’s motion-detecting, Internet-connected cameras inside and
around Americans’ homes.
“I
guess you didn’t notice that we have had the power since 1885.”
India
says law permits agencies to snoop on citizen’s devices
The
Indian government said on Tuesday that it is “empowered”
to intercept, monitor, or decrypt any digital
communication “generated, transmitted, received, or stored” on a
citizen’s device in the country in the interest of national
security or to maintain friendly relations with foreign states.
Citing
section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and section 5 of
the Telegraph Act, 1885,
Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy said local law
empowers federal and state government to “intercept, monitor or
decrypt or cause to be intercepted or monitored or decrypted any
information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any
computer resource in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of
India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign
states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission
of any cognizable offence relating to above or for investigation of
any offence.”
Reddy’s
remarks were in response
to the parliament,
where a lawmaker had asked if the government had snooped on citizens’
WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, and Google calls and messages.
… A
report
published
today by New Delhi-based Software Law and Freedom Centre (SFLC) found
that more than 100,000 telephone interception are issued by the
federal government alone every year.
“On
adding the surveillance orders issued by the state governments to
this, it becomes clear that India routinely surveils her citizens’
communications on a truly staggering scale,” the report said.
How AI could change the world?
People are
terrible judges of talent. Can algorithms do better?
… As
a cognitive scientist turned
entrepreneur who’s
held fellowships with Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Polli possesses the kind of pedigree and
gravitas that tends to open professional doors. She has the
put-together but attainable look of a startup leader who is unafraid
of hard work. But these are exactly the types of observations she
wants to uproot from the frameworks we commonly use to evaluate
people in the working world.
“Companies
have a whole set of prejudices,” she says. “‘I
want someone from Princeton, I want someone who’s worked in this
industry before.’
Have you even reality-checked that those things are important?”
Polli
has. And her conclusions helped turn her into a steadfast if
unlikely messenger of the idea that resumes
and personal polish are outdated ways of
judging a person’s qualifications.
For
my security students.
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