Did
someone in Marketing screw up? I doubt this passed a legal
department review.
With
Edge, Microsoft’s forced Windows updates just sank to a new low
If
I told you that my entire computer screen just got taken over by a
new app that I’d never
installed or asked for —
it just magically appeared on my desktop, my taskbar, and preempted
my next website launch — you’d probably tell me to run a virus
scanner and stay away from shady websites, no?
But
the insanely intrusive app I’m talking about isn’t a piece of
ransomware. It’s Microsoft’s new Chromium
Edge browser,
which the company is now force-feeding users via an automatic update
to Windows.
It
all immediately made me think: what would the
antitrust enforcers of the ‘90s,
who punished Microsoft for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows,
think about this modern abuse of Microsoft’s platform?
Has
someone crossed the line? Is this how a cyber war begins?
Cyberattacks
Possibly Involved in Explosions at Iranian Nuclear, Military
Facilities
There
have been several incidents at major Iranian industrial facilities in
recent weeks, including a fire at the Natanz nuclear enrichment site
and an explosion at the Parchin military complex near Tehran, which
is believed to be involved in the production of missiles.
Iranian
officials blamed the Parchin explosion on a gas leak and in the case
of Natanz they downplayed the incident claiming that it only impacted
a warehouse that was under construction.
However,
some believe the damage was more extensive than Tehran admitted and
in the case of Natanz there also appears to have been an explosion.
Experts told the Associated
Press that
the Natanz incident apparently impacted a production facility.
Natanz,
one of Iran’s primary nuclear facilities, was targeted a decade ago
with the Stuxnet malware as part of a campaign supposedly conducted
by the United States and Israel.
At
some point, “mandatory” has to be enforced.
Committee
hits roadblock in probing Commonwealth cybersecurity performance
In
an attempt to find the direct lines of accountability within
Australian government entities where cybersecurity is concerned, the
Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) on Thursday was
sent running in circles like a dog chasing its tail.
Australian
government entities are required to comply with the Australian
Signals Directorate's (ASD) Top Four mitigation strategies for
cybersecurity compliance, despite
there being an Essential Eight.
Commonwealth
entities are responsible for their own assessments against the Top
Four, and as the JCPAA previously requested -- a request that was
agreed to by the government -- entities are required to report on
their performance and compliance annually.
… But
as Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security Tim Watts has pointed
out at length before,
there is no mechanism that allows the individual performance of
Commonwealth entities to be probed.
… "At
present, is there no way that the Parliament can hold individual
Commonwealth entities accountable for seven years of failing to
comply with mandatory ASD cybersecurity requirements?" Watts
asked, receiving no further answers from those providing testimony to
the JPCAA.
IP
in the AI Age…
Artificial
Intelligence Systems Will Need to Have Certification, CISA Official
Says
Vendors
of artificial intelligence technology should not be shielded by
intellectual property claims and will have to disclose elements of
their designs and be able to explain how their offering works in
order to establish accountability, according to a leading official
from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
“I
don’t know how you can have a black-box algorithm that’s
proprietary and then be able to deploy it and be able to go off and
explain what’s going on,” said Martin Stanley, a senior technical
advisor who leads the development of CISA’s artificial intelligence
strategy. “I think those things are going to have to be made
available through some kind of scrutiny and certification around them
so that those integrating them into other systems are going to be
able to account for what’s happening.”
Stanley
was among the speakers on a recent Nextgov and Defense
One panel
where
government officials, including a member of the National Security
Commission on Artificial Intelligence, shared some of the ways they
are trying to balance reaping the benefits of artificial intelligence
with risks the technology poses.
One
of those articles (and podcast) that make me order the book. (From
my friendly neighborhood library)
What
Poker Can Teach Us about Making the World a Better Place
In
her new book, The Biggest Bluff, psychologist and journalist Maria
Konnikova writes about her immersion into the world of high-stakes
poker. Starting as a novice who knew nothing about the game, she
eventually rose to become a world-class professional poker player.
Yet, poker was never just about the cards or money for Konnikova, and
neither is her book. Instead, she picked up poker as a means to
explore human decision-making
in an environment where every player has very little control.
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