Category Archives: whistleblowers

AI and the SEC Whistleblower Program

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Tax farming is the practice of licensing tax collection to private contractors. Used heavily in ancient Rome, it’s largely fallen out of practice because of the obvious conflict of interest between the state and the contractor. Because tax farmers are primarily interested in short-term revenue, they have no problem abusing taxpayers and making things worse for them in the long term. Today, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is engaged in a modern-day version of tax farming. And the potential for abuse will grow when the farmers start using artificial intelligence…

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Russian Cyberwarfare Documents Leaked

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Now this is interesting:

Thousands of pages of secret documents reveal how Vulkan’s engineers have worked for Russian military and intelligence agencies to support hacking operations, train operatives before attacks on national infrastructure, spread disinformation and control sections of the internet.

The company’s work is linked to the federal security service or FSB, the domestic spy agency; the operational and intelligence divisions of the armed forces, known as the GOU and GRU; and the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence organisation.

Lots more at the link…

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The Insecurity of Photo Cropping

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The Intercept has a long article on the insecurity of photo cropping:

One of the hazards lies in the fact that, for some of the programs, downstream crop reversals are possible for viewers or readers of the document, not just the file’s creators or editors. Official instruction manuals, help pages, and promotional materials may mention that cropping is reversible, but this documentation at times fails to note that these operations are reversible by any viewers of a given image or document.

[…]

Uncropped versions of images can be preserved not just in Office apps, but also in a file’s own metadata. A photograph taken with a modern digital camera contains all types of metadata. Many image files record text-based metadata such as the camera make and model or the GPS coordinates at which the image was captured. Some photos also include binary data such as a thumbnail version of the original photo that may persist in the file’s metadata even after the photo has been edited in an image editor…

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Speakers Censored at AISA Conference in Melbourne

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Two speakers were censored at the Australian Information Security Association’s annual conference this week in Melbourne. Thomas Drake, former NSA employee and whistleblower, was scheduled to give a talk on the golden age of surveillance, both governme… Continue reading Speakers Censored at AISA Conference in Melbourne→

Speakers Censored at AISA Conference in Melbourne

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Two speakers were censored at the Australian Information Security Association’s annual conference this week in Melbourne. Thomas Drake, former NSA employee and whistleblower, was scheduled to give a talk on the golden age of surveillance, both government and corporate. Suelette Dreyfus, lecturer at the University of Melbourne, was scheduled to give a talk on her work — funded by the… Continue reading Speakers Censored at AISA Conference in Melbourne→

The Importance of Protecting Cybersecurity Whistleblowers

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Interesting essay arguing that we need better legislation to protect cybersecurity whistleblowers. Congress should act to protect cybersecurity whistleblowers because information security has never been so important, or so challenging. In the wake of a… Continue reading The Importance of Protecting Cybersecurity Whistleblowers→

The Importance of Protecting Cybersecurity Whistleblowers

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Interesting essay arguing that we need better legislation to protect cybersecurity whistleblowers. Congress should act to protect cybersecurity whistleblowers because information security has never been so important, or so challenging. In the wake of a barrage of shocking revelations about data breaches and companies mishandling of customer data, a bipartisan consensus has emerged in support of legislation to give consumers… Continue reading The Importance of Protecting Cybersecurity Whistleblowers→