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The fourth meeting of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee (CSAC) was held in September 2022. Opening remarks were addressed to the committee by Ms. Megan Tsuyi, CISA CSAC Designated Federal Officer, The Honorable Jen Easterly, Director, CISA, Mr. Tom Fanning, CSAC Chair, and Mr. Ron Green, CSAC Vice Chair. -…
Recent announcements by Razor’s Edge Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, and the Quad Investor Network signal that the venture capital community is focusing its efforts on national security investment and American competitiveness – which has been formatively dubbed the “defense-related technologies” or “defense capabilities” sector. Others are calling it “Hacking for Defense”. On one level, the…
In yet another example of a successful public/private policy research collaboration and in a continuation of the topic discussed by Brian Jenkins at the OODA Network November Monthly Meeting – domestic political extremism – we turn to a report released in July of this year: Breaking the Building Blocks of Hate: A Case Study of…
Recently, China published a white paper entitled “Jointly Build a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace”presenting its vision of creating an international community with a shared future in cyberspace. The document highlighted the successes of China’s Internet development and government practices over the past several years, and focused on key issues such as Internet…
In July 2021, President Biden signed a National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems. This memorandum required CISA, in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the interagency community, to develop baseline cybersecurity performance goals that are consistent across all critical infrastructure sectors. These voluntary cross-sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals…
Historically, threat detection (e.g., rule-based intrusion detection, anti-virus systems, and threat intelligence feeds) has been reactive and involves flagging digital requests containing known signatures. These signatures are formalized post hoc, emanating from a compromise that has already happened and was then shared with others. Organizations have relied heavily on these tools—to their disadvantage. The figures…
As the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) meets in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, we dedicate this installment of the Speculative Design Series to the future of the planet. Take a step into the future of the planet @ Kapersky’s Earth 2050.
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is an emerging Web3 technology that is currently seeing widespread abuse by threat actors. Cisco Talos has observed multiple ongoing campaigns that leverage the IPFS network to host their malware payloads and phishing kit infrastructure while facilitating other attacks. IPFS is often used for legitimate purposes, which makes it more…
Brian Michael Jenkins is a long term OODA Network member and friend to the community. He is a researcher, thinker and writer known for producing books which have broad impact on decision-makers in government and industry. Brian was a Green Beret who initiated one of the first terrorism research programs in the nation. We will…
This OODA Network Member update provides insights into the status of US Space Policy, Cyber Threats in Space and methods of mitigating risk.
In light of our recent recommendations regarding the CSET China AI Watchboard and the potential of public/private policy research collaborations within the policy research community in general, we found this recent successful public-private partnership in the space policy domain really interesting and worth a look: The Satellite Dashboard is a collaboration between the Secure World Foundation (SWF),…
On November 3, 2022, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced a plan to reorganize the agency to better support the needs of the growing satellite industry, promote long-term technical capacity at the FCC, and navigate 21st-century global communications policy.
In our recent analysis of CSET’s research on China’s Advanced AI Research, we applauded the efforts of the CSET China AI Watchboard pilot program. OODA Loop is all about pattern recognition, sensemaking, risk awareness, and informing decision-making processes – and the pilot project has great potential for innovation. We also offered insights on the potential…
As we race towards the end of the 2022 calendar year, the following is a Q422 tracking and sensemaking post organized as a case study of Intel Corp., informed by the 2021 OODA Loop Stratigame – Scenario Planning for Global Computer Chip Supply Chain Disruption – and OODA Loop tracking, research, and analysis of the…
The United States remains in a heightened threat environment and several recent attacks have highlighted the dynamic and complex nature of the threat environment. We expect the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets. Threat actors have recently…
Sonos has patched vulnerabilities in its smart speakers, including a serious flaw that could have been exploited to eavesdrop on users. One of the vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2023-50809, can be exploited by an attacker who is in Wi-Fi range of the targeted Sonos smart speaker for remote code execution. Sonos informed customers about the vulnerability…
Iranian actors have spent recent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists intending to influence the US election. The findings in Microsoft’s newest threat intelligence report show how Iran, which has been active in recent U.S. elections, is evolving its tactics for another election that’s likely to have global implications. Iran’s United Nations mission…
JPMorgan Chase has rolled out a generative artificial intelligence assistant to tens of thousands of its employees in recent weeks, the initial phase of a broader plan to inject the technology throughout the sprawling financial giant. The program, called LLM Suite, is already available to more than 60,000 employees, helping them with tasks like writing…
As business leaders look to harness AI to meet business needs, generative AI has become an invaluable tool to gain a competitive edge. This breakthrough technology can comprehend and communicate in natural language, aiding the creation of personalized customer interactions and immersive virtual experiences while supplementing employee capabilities. What sets generative AI apart from traditional AI…
Microsoft raced to put generative AI at the heart of its systems. Ask a question about an upcoming meeting and the company’s Copilot AI system can pull answers from your emails, Teams chats, and files—a potential productivity boon. But these exact processes can also be abused by hackers. Today at the Black Hat security conference…
The phrase “practice makes perfect” is usually reserved for humans, but it’s also a great maxim for robots newly deployed in unfamiliar environments. Picture a robot arriving in a warehouse. It comes packaged with the skills it was trained on, like placing an object, and now it needs to pick items from a shelf it’s not…
Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence search start-up, has increased its monthly revenues and usage seven-fold since the start of the year, after closing a new $250mn round of funding. The AI-powered search engine answered roughly 250mn questions in the last month, compared with 500mn queries for the whole of 2023, Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business…
Catalan parliament confirmed Socialist Salvador Illa as head of the Catalan government this week, ending a decade of separatist rule. Illa is succeeding Pere Aragones who is part of the Republican Left of Catalonia. Illa’s election was upstaged when separatist leader Carles Puigdemont made an appearance at a Barcelona rally yesterday. Puigdemont has a warrant…
Today, world leaders stated that they were ready to present a “final” cease-fire proposal to stop the Israel-Gaza war. President Biden and leaders of Qatar and Egypt are calling on Israel and Hamas to come together to negotiate. The next round of negotiations is planned to occur in Cairo or Doha, Qatar, next Thursday. The…
Israel has taken away diplomatic status from eight Norwegian diplomats placed in the occupied Palestinian territory. Israel is citing Norway’s recognition of Palestinian statehood as the reason for the action. Norway additionally supported an International Criminal Court (ICC) case which accused Israeli leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Norwegian diplomats will have…
This week, Ukraine shifted strategies and surprise attacked Russian territory, catching Russia off guard. In the region of Kursk, the local government declared a state of emergency. The goal of the attack was to move the fighting into Russian territory, taking pressure off of eastern Ukraine where Russia had been on the offensive. U.S. weapons…
A new attack is using Google Drawings and a WhatsApp link in order to access Amazon accounts. This phishing exploit aims to acquire user login details and payment card information. First, a phishing email tries to get a user to click a fake link which appears to be from Amazon. The victim is then shown…
Cyber actors are using the Cisco Smart Install (SMI) feature to access sensitive data. This was discovered by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The agency also said that the use of weak passwords on Cisco network devices is exposing these devices to password-cracking attempts. CISA recommends “type 8 password protection for all…
A new flaw has been discovered where attackers can exploit the 0.0.0.0 IP address to remotely execute code. The exploit can be used on multiple popular Web browsers including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Researchers discovered that they could bypass browser security and interact with devices outside the local network. The flaw is being called “0.0.0.0…
Kimsuky, a hacker group with ties to North Korea, is being associated with a new series of attacks. The attacks aim to gather intelligence and are targeting university staff, researchers, and professors. The cybersecurity firm Resilience identified the recent set of attacks. Among other names, Kimsuky is also known as APT43, ARCHIPELAGO, and Black Banshee.…
Ripple Labs has been ordered by a Manhattan court judge to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about $125 million in penalties over charges of improperly selling the cryptocurrency XRP, according to a court filing. The SEC had been seeking fines and penalties totaling $2 billion in its case against Ripple Labs, its chief…
Late last month, Facebook parent Meta unveiled Llama 3.1, the world’s largest open-source model. With 405 billion parameters, it’s so big that even model libraries like Hugging Face need to scale up their systems to manage it and other models, as they continue to get bigger. That’s why Hugging Face, a $4.5 billion unicorn, has now…
Sports have long served as an important test for robots. The best-known example of the phenomenon may be the annual RoboCup soccer competition, which dates back to the mid-1990s. Table tennis has played a key role in benchmarking robot arms since a decade prior. The sport requires speed, responsiveness and strategy, among other things. In…
For years, tech giants like Google and startups such as OpenAI have been racing to build ever bigger and costlier artificial intelligence models using a tremendous amount of online data. Deployed in chatbots like ChatGPT, this technology can handle a wide range of complex queries, from writing code and planning trips to drafting Shakespearean sonnets…
In 2022, Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas left their jobs developing artificial intelligence at Google. They said the tech giant moved too slowly. So they created Character.AI, a chatbot start-up, and raised nearly $200 million. Last week, Mr. Shazeer and Mr. De Freitas announced that they were returning to Google. They had struck a deal…
Ukraine has launched a large scale raid into Russia’s Kursk region. Ukrainian forces launched a large scale cross border raid into Russia’s Kursk region. Putin has called this attack a provocation and accused Ukrainian forces of indiscriminately targeting civilians. Information about the raid is not verified at the moment; however, it is clear that this…
South Korea’s defense chief says that developing nuclear weapons would be detrimental to the nation’s interest. Responding to renewed calls for the nation to develop its own nuclear program, the South Korean Minister of National Defense has said that such a move would negatively affect the nation. The Minister stated that abandoning the Nuclear Non…
The main Venezuelan opposition candidate has refused to appear before the nation’s high court. The main Venezuelan opposition candidate has refused to appear before the nation’s high court. Representatives from the main opposition parties who did attend the hearing said they left with more doubts about the audit process than before. The official vote tallies…
A researcher has identified a vulnerability in Windows update systems that allow for downgrade attacks. The researcher, Alon Leviev, has found a way to manipulate the Windows update systems to introduce custom downgrades that comprise multiple systems. The researcher was able to find a pathway that bypassed all verification systems. Microsoft and the researcher are…
A major hospital system in Detroit has had to modify operations due to a cyber attack. McLaren Health Care has confirmed that its operations were disrupted due to a cyber attack on its systems. The hospital system continued to function through the disruption; however, it has not confirmed if any employee or patient healthcare records…
Researchers have disclosed flaws in Roundcube security protocols that expose users’ emails and passwords. Researchers have identified flaws in Roundcube security protocols. These flaws can be exploited to gain access to users’ personal information including emails and passwords. The company and researchers have worked to patch the vulnerability; however, details of the vulnerability have been…
New information suggests that a plot to attack a Taylor Swift show in Austria was linked to the Islamic State. Authorities foiled a planned attack against a Taylor Swift show in Austria. They now believe that the individual behind the attack, a 19 year old, had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State. Current information…
US Government agencies warn of ransomware strain demanding up to 500 million dollars. The FBI and CISA have issued a warning that the ransomware strain BlackSuit has been found to be demanding up to 500 million dollars from victims. The ransomware strain has been found to target critical infrastructure, healthcare facilities, and commercial operations. They…
Building and rolling out AI-based systems might seem like a big and unwieldy project, fraught with risks. However, another mode of delivery is emerging: AI-based agents. Generative AI has added new heft and capabilities to agents that have often been difficult to set up and manage. New research shows these easier-to-set-up services are capturing the…
Unlike rivals like Nvidia and AMD, Intel hasn’t made a massive splash in artificial intelligence products aside from some laptop chips with NPUs. According to a report from Reuters, things could have gone differently. In 2017 and 2018, Intel had an opportunity to buy a stake in OpenAI, which was then a tiny non-profit research…
Following a turbulent few weeks in the stock market, there’s a lot of speculation that the AI “bubble” may be about to burst. Many companies that are involved in AI have seen the value of their stock rocket dramatically over the past year or so. The most celebrated example is Nvidia, whose stock price has…
A 5’6″ 154-pound worker walks around BMW’s Spartanburg, South Carolina production plant. It places car parts in the right place and self-corrects its mistakes. It can also speak and respond to coworkers. However, the worker is not a human being — it’s a shiny new human-like robot called Figure 02. The bipedal machine was released…
The Google smart home is getting one of its biggest upgrades in years. In addition to launching a new Google TV Streamer and Nest Learning Thermostat, the company is bringing Gemini, its set of artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLMs), to its smart home experience with new AI-generated summaries, automations, and a smarter Google…
Thailand’s most popular political party, Move Forward, was disbanded today by Thailand’s Constitutional Court. The court charged the party with attempting to overthrow Thailand’s monarchy by changing a royal defamation law. The move barred 11 party members and executives from politics for a decade. Last year, the Move Forward party won Thailand’s election, shocking the…
The U.S. has charged Asif Merchant, a Pakistani man, with attempting to hire a hitman to kill political officials. Merchant has links to Iran. It is believed that his assassination plots were revenge for the U.S. assassination of an Iranian military commander. The name of his intended target has not yet been revealed. However, there…
On Tuesday, Hamas announced that Yahya Sinwar has been selected as the next head of Hamas’s political office. Sinwar was one of the masterminds behind Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel. Sinwar has been Hamas’s leader in Gaza for around seven years, but this move will consolidate his power over the group as he replaces…
On Monday, Bangladesh’s authoritarian leader, Sheikh Hasina, fled the country during an uprising. Following the former leader’s resignation, on Tuesday the president of Bangladesh appointed Muhammad Yunus to lead an interim government. Yunus is a Nobel laureate and a pioneer in microfinance. He will lead the interim government as the Bangladeshi Parliament has been dissolved.…
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new method used by cyber attackers targeting Canadians. The attackers are using a Chameleon Android banking trojan to disguise itself as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app. Chameleon was spotted this past month across Canada and Europe. It is often used for fraudulent money transfers and can also steal user…
Over the weekend, cyber attacks hit the Réunion des Musées Nationaux et Grand Palais (RMN). The RMN is a French cultural institution which maintains multiple museums, shops, and exhibitions around France. Throughout the summer the RMN has hosted events related to the Olympics such as fencing and Taekwondo. The attackers attempted to initiate a ransomware…
Hunters International, a cybercrime group, is using a new remote access Trojan (RAT) in recent attacks. The group seems to be targeting IT professionals with Hive ransomware. The new malware is called SharpRhino. First, Hunters International uses SharpRhino to gain access to infrastructure and maintain remote access to a device. The attackers can then launch…
In mid-July, a Singapore company was the victim of a business email compromise (BEC) scam. A BEC scam is a type of cybercrime where an actor pretends to be a trusted figure to trick victims into sending money or sharing company secrets through email. The Singapore company received an email from a third-party supplier requesting…
Artificial intelligence startups raised billions of dollars last year, aiming to become winners in the latest tech-driven boom. Now many are struggling to survive—and asking Silicon Valley’s biggest companies to bail them out. At least three once-hot AI startups have been rescued via a new type of deal that many in the tech industry say are…
Artificial intelligence startup Groq Inc. has raised $640 million in new funding, underscoring investor enthusiasm for innovation in chips for AI systems. The startup designs semiconductors and software to optimize the performance of AI tasks, aiming to help alleviate the huge bottleneck of demand for AI computing power. It was valued at $2.8 billion in…
John Schulman, one of OpenAI’s co-founders and a key architect of its ChatGPT chatbot, has left to join its main rival Anthropic, becoming the latest in a succession of senior figures to depart the leading artificial intelligence company in recent months. Schulman is leaving to work on alignment — research to ensure AI systems conform…
The idea of advanced security robots—intelligent machines designed to safeguard life and property, even at the risk of their own destruction—has, in popular culture, long captivated our imagination. Growing up, I was particularly intrigued by Lost in Space, largely due to the compelling relationship between Will Robinson and “Robot” (designation B9). Robot exhibited a mix…
In certain corners of the tech industry, it’s an article of faith that training artificial intelligence systems on larger amounts of online data will allow these tools to get better over time — possibly to the point of outperforming humans on certain tasks. But a new research paper is casting some doubt on that approach…
Five US personnel were wounded after an attack against a US base in Iraq. Reports indicate that a strike on a US base in Iraq wounded up to five US personnel. It is unclear if this strike was part of Iranian plans to punish the US for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh. The US plans…
The Bangladeshi Prime Minister has resigned following weeks of protests. Following weeks of protests, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh has resigned. The President and chief of the military announced that Parliament was dissolved and a temporary government has been installed. The interim government will be kept in place until order can be restored and elections…
A key Myanmar military HQ has fallen to resistance forces in the north of the country. The Myanmar military has confirmed reports that a key base in the north of the country has fallen to resistance forces. The base in Lashio was a critical point for the regime’s operations in north of the country. The…
Investigators have found that Chinese groups have successfully delivered malware via DNS poisoning. Attacks carried out by an APT known as StormBamboo have successfully delivered malware via DNS poisoning. StormBamboo was accessing automatic update systems to upload the malware. ISPs working with the firm Veloxity have worked to responded to the vulnerability. Read more: https://www.securityweek.com/chinese-hackers-deliver-malware-via-isp-level-dns-poisoning/
North Korean hackers have launched attacks on South Korea’s construction and urban development industries. South Korea has identified two North Korean state backed groups as being responsible for a series of cyber attacks against South Korean industries. The attacks were carried out through multiple methods over the course of several months. It is suspected that…
Illinois voter data exposed by unsecured contractor databases. A cyber security researcher has identified several unsecured databases containing voter data for counties in Illinois. The finding of these unsecured databases has restarted debates about the security of US voter systems. The unsecured database have been reported to owners and were secured sometime after. Counties with…
Hezbollah has launched drone attacks on Israel, but has said that further attacks are coming. Hezbollah launched drone attacks on multiple sites in northern Israel. The group said that further attacks will come as revenge for the killing of its senior commander. Israel said that air defenses did engage some drones over its territory. Read…
French police are investigating a ransomware attack on the Grand Palais exhibition hall. French police have begun an investigation into a ransomware attack on the Grand Palais exhibition hall. The attack targeted the facilities central computer systems. French authorizes have said that there will not be any disruption to the Olympic events being held at…
The U.S. is planning to bar Chinese software in autonomous and connected vehicles in the coming weeks, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters, amid national security concerns. The Commerce Department is expected to propose a rule barring Chinese software in vehicles with Level 3 automation and above in the U.S. and effectively ban testing of…
OpenAI has a method to reliably detect when someone uses ChatGPT to write an essay or research paper. The company hasn’t released it despite widespread concerns about students using artificial intelligence to cheat. The project has been mired in internal debate at OpenAI for roughly two years and has been ready to be released for about…
Google launched its latest artificial intelligence powerhouse, Gemini 1.5 Pro, today, making the experimental “version 0801” available for early testing and feedback through Google AI Studio and the Gemini API. This release marks a major leap forward in the company’s AI capabilities and has already sent shockwaves through the tech community. The new model has…
There is no one large language model (LLM) to rule them all, at least not according to enterprise IT leaders surveyed by IBM. That finding is part of a new report released today by the IBM Institute for Business Value, titled “The CEO’s Guide to Generative AI: AI Model Optimization.” The report is based on…
Apple is finally releasing some of the Apple Intelligence features it announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. However, the rollout is currently restricted to developer beta versions of iOS 18.1. So if you don’t want to deal with early-stage buggy software, you might want to wait for the Apple Intelligence feature release of public…
Design flaws could cause a delay of three months or more in the launch of chip giant Nvidia’s upcoming artificial-intelligence chips, tech-focused publication the Information said on Friday. The setback could affect customers such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft, which have collectively ordered tens of billions of dollars’ worth of chips, it said,…
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