Thursday, July 09, 2020


Paying those evil hackers for stolen data? What could possibly go wrong. (Steal to order?)
Police Are Buying Access to Hacked Website Data
The sale is “an end-run around the usual legal processes.”
Hackers break into websites, steal information, and then publish that data all the time, with other hackers or scammers then using it for their own ends. But breached data now has another customer: law enforcement.
Some companies are selling government agencies access to data stolen from websites in the hope that it can generate investigative leads, with the data including passwords, email addresses, IP addresses, and more.




No surprise.
2020 is on Track to Hit a New Data Breach Record
Around 16 billion records have been exposed so far this year. According to researchers, 8.4 billion were exposed in the first quarter of 2020 alone, a 273% increase from the first half of 2019 which saw only 4.1 billion exposed.
What Changed?
While the number of publicly reported breaches in Q1 2020 decreased by 58% compared to 2019, the coronavirus pandemic gave cybercriminals new ways to thrive. Phishing scams skyrocketed as citizens self-isolated during the lockdown, and social-engineering schemes defrauded Internet users of millions.
However, the surprising decline in disclosed breaches is no cause to celebrate. The lack of disclosure can also be attributed to confusion brought on by the pandemic.




An interesting question. I’d say yes, but not as things stand today.
Can Our Ballots Be Both Secret and Secure?




Perspective.
The Pentagon’s AI director talks killer robots, facial recognition, and China
Joint AI Center (JAIC) acting director Nand Mulchandani said one of JAIC’s first lethal AI projects is proceeding into a testing phase now. The JAIC was founded in 2018 to act as the Pentagon’s leader in all things AI, and initially focused on non-lethal forms. Mulchandani shared few specifics, but called the project “tactical edge AI” that will involve full human control and likened it to JAIC’s “flagship product” for joint warfighting operations.
It is true that many of the products we work on will go into weapons systems. None of them right now are going to be autonomous weapon systems, we’re still governed by 3000.09,” he said.




Well, I found it interesting.
As artificial intelligence spreads throughout society, policymakers face a critical question: Will they need to pass new laws to govern AI, or will updating existing regulations suffice? A recently completed study suggests that, for now, the latter is likely to be the case and that policymakers may address most of this technology’s legal and societal challenges by adapting regulations already in the books.




For the birds…
Winners of the 2020 Audubon Photography Awards
Audubon.org: “Every spring, the judges of the Audubon Photography Awards gather at Audubon’s headquarters in Manhattan to review their favorite images and select the finalists. But as with much of life in 2020, this year’s awards had to be handled differently due to pandemic-related travel, work, and social-distancing restrictions.




Even kids can code.
This 12-year-old CEO is offering free coding, AI classes during COVID-19
Samaira Mehta is a 12-year-old with lofty goals. The founder of Yes, 1 Billion Kids Can Code and CEO of a board game company called CoderBunnyz wants to get 1 billion kids into coding by the time she graduates from college around 2030.
Through her company, which she co-founded with her mom, the Santa Clara, California-based middle schooler sells two different board games: CoderBunnyz, which teaches basic coding concepts, and CoderMindz, which is focused on artificial intelligence principles. Now, the company also offers free AI and coding curriculum online all around the world. Mehta is also launching a new initiative called Boss Biz, a program teaching kids how to create a business alongside entrepreneurs across the world.



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