Cybersecurity
Hiding Prompt Injection in Legal Filing
Someone hid AI instructions into a legal filing. Alternate link.
Schneier on Security
Latest news
Cybersecurity
Friday Squid Blogging: Truckload of Squid Spills in Rhode Island
Ugh: A tractor-trailer rollover sent a truckload of squid spilling into a Rhode Island roadway, leaving a stench as they sat in the road for hours in the summer heat. Local authorities have dubbed it the “Squidpocalypse of ’26.” That would be twenty tons of squid.
Cybersecurity
AI Doesn’t Mean the End of Mathematics—at Least Not Yet
This essay was written with Kasra Rafi, and originally appeared in The Guardian. Earlier this month, about 40 top mathematicians gathered at OpenAI’s offices to discuss the future of their profession.
Cybersecurity
LLM-Based Social Engineering Scams
OpenAI disrupted a social engineering group from Cambodia that used ChatGPT. Its scope is impressive: The network simultaneously conducted multiple types of scams, often blending elements from different schemes.
Cybersecurity
Spyware for Babies
The New York Times has a long article (alt link) on surveillance systems aimed at babies. They are increasingly using AI. Nanit and its rivals want to own 24/7 health tracking for the sub-four-foot set. And their already astonishing levels of baby data collection are just the beginning.
Cybersecurity
Black Hat State of Security Vendors
Andy Ellis has a roundup of the security vendors at Black Hat this year. Key Takeaways: We have entered into an AI world. While nearly half of booths didn’t directly mention AI or agents in their taglines, the effects of AI are everywhere.
Cybersecurity
Criminal Deception in Silicon Valley
Interesting paper: Abstract: With entrepreneurial fraud cases on the rise, we investigate how entrepreneurs carry out criminal deception, employing deceptive means to defraud audiences.
Cybersecurity
Friday Squid Blogging: Neon Flying Squid
The neon flying squid can fly in formation. The shoal of about 100 squid rose unexpectedly from a patch of the Pacific Ocean around 370 miles from Tokyo and glided near the boat for about 30 metres.
Cybersecurity
AI Is Learning to Write Genetic Code
This sort of research is both exciting and terrifying: The two models in question were told to generate complete genomes for a viable bacteriophage—a type of virus able to infect and replicate itself inside bacteria, destroying them from the inside.
Cybersecurity
More Incidents of AIs Going Rogue in Cybersecurity Challenges
The AI Security Institute has a new report of AI systems engaging in “unsanctioned behavior”—what I have been calling “genie behavior—while being tested on their cybersecurity capabilities.
Artificial Intelligence
Detailed Timeline of OpenAI’s Cyberattack on Hugging Face
OpenAI presented details of its AI’s model’s cyberattack on Hugging Face at Black Hat last week. Simon Willison details the timeline. It’s really interesting to read through—and really impressive cyberoffense work.
General Tech
Police Are Hiding Their Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras
A usage policy for Flock license plate reader cameras tells police not to talk about the cameras: When cops use Flock to arrest someone in Wapello County, Iowa, they don’t want them to know.
Artificial Intelligence
LLMs and Contextual Integrity
I have been thinking a lot about AI and integrity. Part of that is contextual integrity. I recently found two papers on the topic.
Hardware
Hacking Public Wi-Fi DNS to Steal Credentials
Criminals are hacking into public Wi-Fi devices—at hotels, conference centers, and so on—around the world and changing their DNS settings. The goal is to redirect users to fake login pages and steal their credentials.
Cybersecurity
Friday Squid Blogging: Searching for the Colossal Squid
Fascinating video about searching for life undersea. The video basically makes the point that our bright white searchlights are scaring everything away, and that red light is more neutral. That, plus bait to attract sea creatures, is teaching us a lot about what’s going on down there.
Cybersecurity
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak: I’m speaking, signing books, and participating in panel discussions at LAcon V in Anaheim, California, USA. My full schedule is here.
Artificial Intelligence
If the Markets Reject OpenAI and Anthropic, the US Should Nationalize Them
This essay was written with Nathan E. Sanders, and originally appeared in The Guardian.
Cybersecurity
Separating AI’s Technological Problems from Its Capitalism Problems
This essay was written with Nathan E. Sanders, and originally appeared in Tech Policy Press. AI represents the first time we humans can do cognitive work outside of our bodies at scale.
Cybersecurity
Prompt Injections for Defense
This seems to work: Researchers from Tracebit on Monday said they found that placing prompt injections alongside passwords, cryptographic keys, and other secrets stored on Amazon Web Services was often all that was needed to shut down attacks from AI hacking agents.
Cybersecurity
AI Genie in the Wild
When I give talks about AI genies, I use this sort of example as a hypothetical. It’s happened. The story is from Australia. Someone named Andrew tasked OpenClaw to book gym classes for him. And….
Cybersecurity
AI for Military Support
Interesting empirical research: “Black Box Warfare: Human Judgment and Military Decision-Making in the Age of AI.” Abstract: How is AI transforming decision-making in modern conflict?
Cybersecurity
Python Now Has a Post-Quantum Encryption Library
This is good: Post-quantum cryptography is now one pip-install away for the entire Python ecosystem.
Cybersecurity
Friday Squid Blogging: Arctic Bobtail Squid Video
Nice video of the Arctic bobtail squid. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Blog moderation policy.
Latest digest
Week 41
EN
Popular stories
Sources
72 active sources
27 Turkish · 45 English
All sources
