Episode 116 – FBI Kicks Serious Cyber-Butt, and the AI Wall of Shame

Topic 1: FBI Creates Their own App to Snag Hundreds of Bad Guys Around the World

Yes – we use the word “Badass.”

We know you’ve heard about this one by now. But it’s the biggest cyber story of the year, so we have to cover it. Great article/press release from the FBI.

A few summary notes: 800 arrests; 8 tons of cocaine; 22 tons of marijuana; 2 tons of methamphetamine/amphetamine; 6 tons of precursor chemicals; 250 firearms; and more than $48 million in various worldwide currencies. On top of that, the FBI has initiated dozens of public corruption cases.

. . . and MORE!

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/fbi-s-encrypted-phone-platform-infiltrated-hundreds-criminal-syndicates-result-massive

 

Topic 2: AI Hall of Shame

Great new resource to help AI stay on the right side of “ethics.” The actual artificial intelligence database is at https://incidentdatabase.ai. This is intended to be a resource to remind us all that AI honestly has a potentially evil side that we need to keep track of.

https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-hall-shame/ 

The database: https://incidentdatabase.ai/ 

Topic 3: Supreme Court Rules on Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

The ruling is, basically, that misusing a computer to which you have access is different from using a computer beyond the level of access you are supposed to have. The said that a police officer didn’t “hack” any part of the computer system. He merely used the computer he had access to to do something he shouldn’t have done.

Note two things. First, we have really old laws written before the web existed, and they are being used to regulate today’s behavior. Second, the courts, as a rule, do not understand what we do for a living. WE need to be involved in the way our industry is regulated.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/03/supreme-court-hacking-cfaa-ruling/ 

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🙂

 

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