WEBVTT - Tech News: Power-Hungry AI and Malicious Toothbrushes

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the

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<v Speaker 1>tech are you. It's time for the tech news for

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<v Speaker 1>the week ending on February ninth, twenty twenty four So.

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<v Speaker 1>The Guardian reports that a Chinese backed hacker group going

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<v Speaker 1>by the name volt Typhoon has spent the last five

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<v Speaker 1>years at the very least, infiltrating various critical computer systems

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<v Speaker 1>here in the United States in our infrastructure, and they

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<v Speaker 1>have compromised systems connected to transportation, shipping, and utilities like

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<v Speaker 1>water and sewage. The US National Security Agency says that

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<v Speaker 1>this hacker group has created footholds within these systems, so

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<v Speaker 1>they didn't just infiltrate and spy on stuff and get out.

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<v Speaker 1>They made sort of a cozy little nest for themselves

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<v Speaker 1>that they could easily return to. Now to me, this

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<v Speaker 1>sounds awfully familiar to stories that I've been hearing for

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<v Speaker 1>many years now. In fact, I even did a quick

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<v Speaker 1>search on Google and I just picked the year twenty

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen at random. It was actually my first choice. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it's ten years ago. I thought, let's see if there's

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<v Speaker 1>been any stories in twenty fourteen about Chinese hackers compromising

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<v Speaker 1>critical systems within US infrastructure, And sure enough, the top

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<v Speaker 1>result was from CNN, and there was an article that

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<v Speaker 1>had the headline, the US government thinks China could take

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<v Speaker 1>down the power grid because, just as we're hearing now,

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<v Speaker 1>Chinese hackers had managed to infiltrate these various computer systems

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<v Speaker 1>and to kind of leave for themselves the capacity to

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<v Speaker 1>return to it, so that maybe in the future, in

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<v Speaker 1>an act of cyber warfare, they could sabotage the system. So,

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<v Speaker 1>on one hand, this news story is alarming, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>not actually new, right because we've had issues with Chinese

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<v Speaker 1>backed hackers compromising systems here in the United States for ages.

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<v Speaker 1>But on the other hand, it's still a very alarming

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<v Speaker 1>story to read about. I would argue it might be

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<v Speaker 1>more alarming to me that we freaking knew about this

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<v Speaker 1>problem a decade ago and seem to have learned nothing

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<v Speaker 1>since then. That to me is really alarming. It's not

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<v Speaker 1>just that Chinese hackers did this, it's that we saw

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<v Speaker 1>essentially the same story play out a decade ago, and

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<v Speaker 1>yet haven't done the proper steps to protect ourselves against

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<v Speaker 1>future attacks. So the Guardian points out that the big

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<v Speaker 1>concerning element here, besides the fact that Chinese hackers have

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<v Speaker 1>infiltrated all these different computer systems, is that it does

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<v Speaker 1>not look like it's an act of espionage at all.

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<v Speaker 1>This isn't a case where Chinese hackers are trying to

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<v Speaker 1>get secrets and then use those back in China. This

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<v Speaker 1>appears to be a preparation for sabotage and cyber warfare.

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<v Speaker 1>So really this is preparations for an attack, should that

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<v Speaker 1>ever come to pass. Now, it may be that an

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<v Speaker 1>attack never would come to pass, but it's more like

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<v Speaker 1>the Chinese hackers were setting things up in the event

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<v Speaker 1>that there was a cyber attack to be conducted by

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<v Speaker 1>China against the United States, they would have already laid

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<v Speaker 1>the groundwork. So yeah, it's one thing to steal secrets,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's another thing to shut stuff off on a

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<v Speaker 1>massive scale. I mean, you can think of how disruptive

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<v Speaker 1>that would be. So presumably the affected targets are going

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<v Speaker 1>to seek ways to expel the hackers and harden security

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<v Speaker 1>against future intrusions. But then you would have figured that

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<v Speaker 1>would have been the case a decade ago, and yet

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<v Speaker 1>it's still happening. I guess you can argue that no

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<v Speaker 1>security system is perfect, and that there are always going

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<v Speaker 1>to be vulnerabilities, whether that's in the code or more

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<v Speaker 1>likely due to someone failing to practice could security measures,

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<v Speaker 1>and that you'll never have a perfect system. So you

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<v Speaker 1>could argue that, but at the same time, when you

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<v Speaker 1>find out that it's this apparently widespread, it raises some

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<v Speaker 1>very serious questions. Anyway, now let's move on to our

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<v Speaker 1>traditional glut of AI related news. So first up, the

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<v Speaker 1>Verge reports that Google has dropped the names Barred and

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<v Speaker 1>Duet from its various AI products. So the new AI

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<v Speaker 1>Google strategy is called Gemini, or if you're an astronaut

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<v Speaker 1>from the nineteen sixties, maybe Geminy. But Google is streamlining

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<v Speaker 1>its approach. So previously, it's aipowered chatbot had the name Barred,

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<v Speaker 1>which was a nod to William Shakespeare, a nod that

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<v Speaker 1>I appreciated, and it had some AI enhanced components in

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<v Speaker 1>the Google Workspace product that had the name Duet. But

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<v Speaker 1>now all of that is under the name Gemini. So

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<v Speaker 1>on top of that, Google is going to release a

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<v Speaker 1>new and larger than ever large language model to the

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<v Speaker 1>public soon, the Gemini language model. Android users will get

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<v Speaker 1>a chance to test out Gemini and all its glory.

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<v Speaker 1>It looks like a lot of different apps are going

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<v Speaker 1>to get a Gemini upgrade. iOS will be a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit different, but if you're an Android owner, you'll have

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<v Speaker 1>access to this pretty soon. And it looks like Gemini

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<v Speaker 1>may quietly take the place of the humble Google Assistant

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<v Speaker 1>over time. It might be a long, phasing kind of process,

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<v Speaker 1>but that's what looks like. So will Jim and I

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<v Speaker 1>be able to challenge open a eyes domination with chat,

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<v Speaker 1>GPT and the GPT language model. Will I even notice

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<v Speaker 1>that it's happened, or by that time will I be

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<v Speaker 1>hiding out in an off the grid shack in the woods.

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<v Speaker 1>Find out next week at the same BAT time, same

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<v Speaker 1>BAT channel. Al Jazeera reports that Sam Altman, the CEO

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<v Speaker 1>of open Ai, is looking for cash, like a whole

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<v Speaker 1>buttload of it. So how how over much you're thinking?

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<v Speaker 1>It's more than that? So, according to the news site,

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<v Speaker 1>Altman's goal is to raise quote trillions of dollars from investors,

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<v Speaker 1>including the United Arab Emirates government to boost the world's

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<v Speaker 1>capacity to produce advanced chips and power artificial intelligence end quote.

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<v Speaker 1>And further in the article they specify that they're talking

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<v Speaker 1>around seven trillion dollars good gravy. That's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>money that goes beyond a princely sum. Princess don't have

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<v Speaker 1>access to seven trillion dollars. Now, we know that AI

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<v Speaker 1>requires a lot of computational power to work, and open

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<v Speaker 1>AI's business is completely dependent upon customers demanding more AI capabilities.

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<v Speaker 1>So in order to deliver those capabilities, you've got to

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<v Speaker 1>have the hardware that can run the AI software on

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<v Speaker 1>top of it. So it makes sense that open ai

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<v Speaker 1>needs all these these investments to go into making the

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<v Speaker 1>hardware that powers everything. So this money would ultimately go

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<v Speaker 1>toward building more fabrication facilities, and those facilities would be

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<v Speaker 1>run by established semiconductor fabrication companies, not open Ai. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's not that open ai would get into the semiconductor business.

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<v Speaker 1>They're saying, we need this money raised so that we

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<v Speaker 1>can build these sorts of fabrication plants all around the

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<v Speaker 1>world and have these established companies handle them so that

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<v Speaker 1>we have the equipment we need in order to deliver

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<v Speaker 1>the AI experiences that we want to, so the argument

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<v Speaker 1>is that we're not funneling the money to open AI itself.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not exactly surprised by all this news, but it

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<v Speaker 1>does make me wonder if we're going to actually see

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<v Speaker 1>AI replace cryptocurrency mining as a computational application that just

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<v Speaker 1>demands an insane amount of power. Right? Is it possible

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<v Speaker 1>that in a year or two we'll be talking about

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<v Speaker 1>how AI as an industry requires more power than most

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<v Speaker 1>countries do for a full year the same way we

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<v Speaker 1>talk about cryptocurrency. We'll actually circle back to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>cryptocurrency and power demands a little bit later in this episode.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, I just wonder about that. This week, Clint Watts,

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<v Speaker 1>the general manager of Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center, published a

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<v Speaker 1>blog post that made me take notice. He was focusing

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<v Speaker 1>on how Iran's strategy regarding Israel is leaning more and

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<v Speaker 1>more on cyber operations, and one of those cyber ops

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<v Speaker 1>apparently involved using an AI generated news anchor to deliver

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<v Speaker 1>fake news to audiences in different parts of the world.

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<v Speaker 1>So apparently this happened late last year in December, and

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<v Speaker 1>an Iran aligned hacker group called Cotton Sandstorm interrupted some

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<v Speaker 1>streaming TV services in different countries and inserted this AI

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<v Speaker 1>generated news program with an AI generated news anchor and

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<v Speaker 1>that quote. The disruption reached audiences in the UAE, UK

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<v Speaker 1>and Canada end quote. The Guardian further reported that the

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<v Speaker 1>AI anchor presented quote unfit verified images that claim to

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<v Speaker 1>show Palestinians injured and killed from Israeli military operations in Gaza.

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<v Speaker 1>Uote Watts express concern about how this instance is an

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<v Speaker 1>indicator of what we should expect moving forward, particularly in

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<v Speaker 1>really eventful years like an election year, which hey, here

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States we happen to be in an

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<v Speaker 1>election year. So keep an eye out for those robots

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<v Speaker 1>on your screens and on your phones and really everywhere.

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<v Speaker 1>Why that's shack in the middle of the woods is

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<v Speaker 1>looking better and better. All right, you know what, We're

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<v Speaker 1>going to take a quick break to thank our sponsors.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to gather myself and try to get rid

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<v Speaker 1>of this sort of luddite tendency that's overtaking me, and

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<v Speaker 1>we'll be back right after this. We're back. So, the

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<v Speaker 1>US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent out a

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<v Speaker 1>memo to all insurers that offer Medicare Advantage with a

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<v Speaker 1>very clear message those insurers are not allowed to use

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<v Speaker 1>AI to determine if someone on a Medicare advantage plan

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<v Speaker 1>merits coverage or should be denied coverage. This is really

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<v Speaker 1>good news because we've already seen some insurance companies do

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<v Speaker 1>that very thing, use AI to determine if they should

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<v Speaker 1>grant or deny coverage to a patient. In fact, right now,

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<v Speaker 1>there are a couple of massive lawsuits against Humana and

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<v Speaker 1>United Health about that very thing. Patients claim that these

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<v Speaker 1>companies used an AI tool to decide whether or not

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<v Speaker 1>those patients should receive coverage for various medical processes, procedures,

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<v Speaker 1>and prescriptions, typically things like whether or not they should

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<v Speaker 1>be allowed to stay in a medical facility or if

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<v Speaker 1>they should be told to leave, even if it's before

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<v Speaker 1>the doctors said that they should leave because otherwise insurance

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<v Speaker 1>was going to cut off the support and they'd have

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<v Speaker 1>to cover everything out of pocket. So, according to the claim,

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<v Speaker 1>many of those decisions that were made for these patients

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<v Speaker 1>via AI were wrong. The AI reportedly had a dismal

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<v Speaker 1>accuracy rating, but the insurance companies were still depending upon it,

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<v Speaker 1>and the argument is that the companies were following an

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<v Speaker 1>incentive to use this AI tool because by denying claims,

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<v Speaker 1>they didn't have to pay out to the insured. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the tool's broken. But the tool also says I get

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<v Speaker 1>to keep more of my money if I listen to it,

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm listening to the tool. In other words, Anyway, now,

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<v Speaker 1>the CMS is telling insurers that while they can use

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<v Speaker 1>AI assisted tools to do something like predictive person's length

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<v Speaker 1>of stay in a medical facility, any decisions on actual

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<v Speaker 1>coverage have to be done solely by taking that individual

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<v Speaker 1>patient's circumstances into account, which means you can't just use

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<v Speaker 1>aggregated data from a larger population and then make a

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<v Speaker 1>determination for that patient, which is good news for people

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<v Speaker 1>who are part of these programs. To learn more about this,

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<v Speaker 1>I recommend Beth Mole's article in Ours Technica. It's titled

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<v Speaker 1>AI cannot be used to deny health coverage FEDS clarify

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<v Speaker 1>to insurers. It's a good read. So a bit earlier,

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<v Speaker 1>I mentioned that AI is placing an increasingly large demand

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<v Speaker 1>on resources, similar to what we're seeing in crypto mining. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>according to Tom's Hardware, which is a great website by

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<v Speaker 1>the way, the US Energy Information Administration released an analysis

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<v Speaker 1>that says one hundred and thirty seven crypto mining operations

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<v Speaker 1>in the US demand two point three percent of the

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<v Speaker 1>US's power demands overall, which is astounding, Right, You're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about fewer than one hundred and fifty organizations that require

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<v Speaker 1>that much of the nation's power that we generate. We've

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<v Speaker 1>heard in the past about how crypto mining, specifically proof

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<v Speaker 1>of work systems like Bitcoin, have created this sort of

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<v Speaker 1>runaway demand on power, but boy howdy, I mean, this

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<v Speaker 1>is just a lot anyway. The implication here is that

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<v Speaker 1>the US government is starting to get a little concerned

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<v Speaker 1>about how much power these organizations demand, and that maybe

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<v Speaker 1>we should expect US agencies to take a bit of

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<v Speaker 1>a closer look at crypto mining, perhaps with regard to

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<v Speaker 1>stuff like I don't know, environmental impact, and this in

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<v Speaker 1>turn could eventually have a big effect on the crypto space,

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<v Speaker 1>at least here in the United States. Like it's possible

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<v Speaker 1>that we could see some regulations and restrictions that really

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<v Speaker 1>hamper crypto mining efforts in the US, which would just

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<v Speaker 1>open them up in other nations. Obviously. The article in

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<v Speaker 1>Tom's Hardware includes a map that shows where the administration

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<v Speaker 1>says these organizations are located. I was surprised to see

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<v Speaker 1>that a whole bunch of them are in my home

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<v Speaker 1>state of Georgia. Fun times. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard completed

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<v Speaker 1>their acquisition deal last year where the two companies merged,

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<v Speaker 1>But that doesn't mean the US Federal Trade Commission is

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<v Speaker 1>real happy about it. You know. If you might remember,

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<v Speaker 1>the FTC opposed that merger, and their concerns were largely

0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.880
<v Speaker 1>dismissed in various courts. But the FTC is still interested

0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:16.120
<v Speaker 1>in perhaps reversing that deal, and Microsoft is not actually

0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.760
<v Speaker 1>making it easy on themselves to avoid that because one

0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.960
<v Speaker 1>thing Microsoft agreed to when it was trying to convince

0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.280
<v Speaker 1>the US government that it should be allowed to acquire

0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.720
<v Speaker 1>Activision Blizzard was that the company wasn't going to hold

0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.480
<v Speaker 1>massive layoffs in the wake of these two companies coming together,

0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:38.160
<v Speaker 1>because the intention was Activision Blizzard would still operate kind

0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.400
<v Speaker 1>of as an independent entity, it would not be fully

0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:45.600
<v Speaker 1>integrated into Microsoft. But after the merger happened, Microsoft laid

0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.360
<v Speaker 1>off nearly two thousand employees I think oney nine hundred

0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.240
<v Speaker 1>or so, and we don't know exactly how many of

0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.280
<v Speaker 1>those were Activision Blizzard employees, but it could have been

0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.360
<v Speaker 1>as many as half of them, and the FTC says

0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.240
<v Speaker 1>that this could be a violation of the agreement Microsoft

0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:07.880
<v Speaker 1>presented when they were first trying to acquire Activision Blizzard. Furthermore,

0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.440
<v Speaker 1>Phil Spencer, the CEO of the Gaming division at Microsoft,

0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:16.400
<v Speaker 1>said that the companies have quote set priorities, identified areas

0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.560
<v Speaker 1>of overlap, and ensured that we're all aligned on the

0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:23.840
<v Speaker 1>best opportunities for growth end quote. But then the FTC says, well,

0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.320
<v Speaker 1>why are you worried about overlap? Because again, you had

0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.480
<v Speaker 1>said that the intention was Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming

0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.320
<v Speaker 1>would more or less operate independently, that they would be

0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.680
<v Speaker 1>their own things. So overlap shouldn't be an issue because

0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:41.240
<v Speaker 1>you didn't. You said you weren't going to combine these two,

0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.640
<v Speaker 1>and yet now it sounds like you are combining them

0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:50.400
<v Speaker 1>and creating a more integrated division between the two. In fact,

0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:51.960
<v Speaker 1>you had said that you were going to keep them

0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.400
<v Speaker 1>separate so that you could potentially divest some or all

0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.000
<v Speaker 1>of Activision Blizzard if you wanted to. But now it

0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:03.000
<v Speaker 1>sounds like it's all getting mixed up together. So what's

0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.760
<v Speaker 1>the deal here? So the FTC is now asking courts

0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.240
<v Speaker 1>to force Microsoft and an activision Blizzard to temporarily pause

0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.720
<v Speaker 1>the merger process, like put a pause on any more

0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.080
<v Speaker 1>restructuring or anything like that, so that the FTC can

0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:20.800
<v Speaker 1>actually litigate the merger with the potential ultimate goal of

0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.120
<v Speaker 1>undoing the deal. So could we see one of the

0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:28.400
<v Speaker 1>biggest mergers in gaming hit the rewind button. It's possible.

0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.680
<v Speaker 1>It is not likely, but it is possible. Sony has

0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.360
<v Speaker 1>decided to sunset the anime streaming service Fundimation, merging it

0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.280
<v Speaker 1>with crunchy Roll, which Sony acquired in twenty twenty one. However,

0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.920
<v Speaker 1>this also means that some properties aren't necessarily going to

0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.680
<v Speaker 1>make the jump, So Sony's going to wipe those films

0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.920
<v Speaker 1>in series off the digital libraries. But worse than that,

0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.360
<v Speaker 1>which it's already bad, but worse than that. Fundamation offered

0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:58.000
<v Speaker 1>customers the chance to buy physical media versions of some

0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.120
<v Speaker 1>of the anime properties, and they would include a digital

0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.320
<v Speaker 1>code so that the customer could access a streaming version

0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.960
<v Speaker 1>of that through their Fundamation account. So they had the

0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.920
<v Speaker 1>physical media, but they also had a code for digital

0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:15.120
<v Speaker 1>streaming version. But this part of their service is not

0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.880
<v Speaker 1>going to make the transition to crunchy role. So those

0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.920
<v Speaker 1>digital codes aren't going to work anymore for folks who

0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:24.119
<v Speaker 1>purchased the physical media but who subsequently lost access to

0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.359
<v Speaker 1>that physical media for whatever reason, Like maybe they bought

0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:29.560
<v Speaker 1>it but then they realized they didn't have the space

0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.840
<v Speaker 1>to hold this kind of stuff, so maybe they traded

0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.359
<v Speaker 1>in the physical versions, but they kept the digital code. Well,

0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.560
<v Speaker 1>now their digital copy is going to be inaccessible, and

0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.080
<v Speaker 1>this stings quite a bit. Fundamation at one point claimed

0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.000
<v Speaker 1>that customers would have access to these digital streaming versions

0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.240
<v Speaker 1>quote unquote forever. So I guess forever ain't what it

0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.840
<v Speaker 1>used to be. But it turns out that the terms

0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:57.160
<v Speaker 1>of service indicated that customers never actually owned the digital

0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.240
<v Speaker 1>streaming copy. This is pretty typical for streaming services. You

0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.800
<v Speaker 1>don't own something. Even if you buy the title, like

0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:08.000
<v Speaker 1>on Amazon Prime or something, you don't actually own that copy.

0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.320
<v Speaker 1>You actually own access to that copy, and that access

0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.920
<v Speaker 1>at some time can be revoked. It could go bye bye.

0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:18.040
<v Speaker 1>This is one of the many reasons I have found

0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.480
<v Speaker 1>myself going back to buying physical media for some shows

0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.679
<v Speaker 1>and films, because at least then I will still have

0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.040
<v Speaker 1>access to that media, assuming I still have a machine

0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.240
<v Speaker 1>that can play whatever the format is. Finally, the last

0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:31.800
<v Speaker 1>story I want to cover is one that has gone

0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:33.840
<v Speaker 1>back and forth and up and down, kind of like

0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.920
<v Speaker 1>brushing your teeth. And hey, it involves electric toothbrushes, all right,

0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.399
<v Speaker 1>so this story has some weird elements to it. A

0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:46.760
<v Speaker 1>Swiss German newspaper called argaler Zeitung and I know I

0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.880
<v Speaker 1>butchered the pronunciation. It published an article that apparently claimed

0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:55.399
<v Speaker 1>that hackers had managed to compromise around three million smart toothbrushes.

0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.000
<v Speaker 1>And you might be thinking, what the heck do you

0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.119
<v Speaker 1>do with a compromise smart toothbrush? Make it brush someone's

0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:05.080
<v Speaker 1>teeth badly? But no, you can use those compromised toothbrushes

0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.959
<v Speaker 1>as a kind of botnet to send a distributed denial

0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.480
<v Speaker 1>of service attack to a target. So each of those

0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.840
<v Speaker 1>toothbrushes can start pinging a target server in an effort

0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.359
<v Speaker 1>to overwhelm it and shut it down. And because the

0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:20.439
<v Speaker 1>security on these Internet connected toothbrushes was really poor, it

0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.160
<v Speaker 1>was not hard to accumulate a big old army of them.

0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.880
<v Speaker 1>This is one of the major concerns about the Internet

0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.920
<v Speaker 1>of things. You know, sometimes those Internet connected sensors can

0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.520
<v Speaker 1>really be a threat if the company that makes them

0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:36.200
<v Speaker 1>doesn't implement good security measures. Anyway, some outlets reported on this,

0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:41.120
<v Speaker 1>and then the American branch of the cybersecurity company called

0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:46.680
<v Speaker 1>Fordinet ended up saying, oh, the original article was quoting

0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.840
<v Speaker 1>a Swiss branch of Fordinet, but there was a problem

0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:54.639
<v Speaker 1>with translation, and that in actuality, what the Swiss cybersecurity

0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.480
<v Speaker 1>experts were saying was this is a hypothetical example, not

0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.160
<v Speaker 1>something that actually happened, so you should really correct the article.

0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.840
<v Speaker 1>So then several outlets reported, oh, wasn't it funny This

0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.400
<v Speaker 1>mistranslation made people think that these electric toothbrushes were being

0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:14.160
<v Speaker 1>used in attacks. But then the newspaper our Gower Zitong

0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.320
<v Speaker 1>said no, no, no, no, no, this really did happen

0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.600
<v Speaker 1>because we asked about it. The Fortnet branch in Switzerland

0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.480
<v Speaker 1>indicated this was an actual case, not just a hypothetical example,

0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:27.280
<v Speaker 1>and when we submitted our article to them for their review,

0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:32.200
<v Speaker 1>they approved it. So clearly this isn't just a mistranslation.

0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:36.280
<v Speaker 1>So our toothbrush is out to get you, I don't know,

0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:38.760
<v Speaker 1>but you should still brush your teeth in any case,

0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.880
<v Speaker 1>just you know, maybe go with a toothbrush that doesn't

0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.080
<v Speaker 1>connect to your home network, just to be on the

0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.399
<v Speaker 1>safe side. All right, that's it for the news for

0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.399
<v Speaker 1>the week inning on February ninth, twenty twenty four. I

0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.600
<v Speaker 1>hope you are all well and I'll talk to you

0:20:51.680 --> 0:21:02.640
<v Speaker 1>again really soon. Text is an iHeartRadio production. For more

0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:07.440
<v Speaker 1>podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:09.439
<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows.