WEBVTT - Tech News – Tech and Global Politics 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.920 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.240 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.360 and I love all things tech. And today's tech News 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:28.120 episode is for Tuesday, May twenty one, and I've got 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.640 a real kind of global episode for you guys today 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.440 because news is hitting all over the world that involves 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.839 tech and politics, and so we're going to dive right 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:43.240 into it. In India, police rated the offices of Twitter 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.120 in two cities. And why did they do that. Well, 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.320 it all comes down to Twitter applying a manipulated media 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:56.960 label to an Indian politicians tweet. So back last February, 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.480 you might remember Twitter announced that it would apply such 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.320 labels to messages that were found to have, you know, 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:08.120 altered images or messaging that spread misinformation. You might also 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.440 remember that the company actually applied this policy a couple 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.880 of times to tweets sent by then US President Donald Trump. Well, 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:19.959 in this case, the tweet was written by Sambit Patra, 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:23.480 a member of the b j P party, which currently 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:28.280 has a majority control of India's government. That tweet accused 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:32.720 the opposition party, which is the Congress Party of having 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:37.040 released a quote unquote toolkit in an effort to undermine 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.920 the b j P Party's attempts to respond to the 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:45.040 coronavirus crisis. And you're probably aware that India is dealing 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.600 with a monumental health crisis, one that has affected millions 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.120 of people within that country, and that the government is 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:57.040 sensitive to scrutiny with regard to how they've handled the 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.680 issue or failed to handle it, as the case may be. 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:04.920 Patra's claim essentially says that the opposition party in India 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:09.400 was actively trying to sabotage government efforts to deal with 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:14.600 the crisis by creating this document, this toolkit strategy to 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:19.960 defeat government efforts, and an independent fact checking organization in 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.120 India called ault News investigated this claim and found that 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:29.400 the document Pottery had said proved that the Congress Party 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.720 had created this alleged toolkit was in fact printed on 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:38.320 forged letterhead and thus not a legitimate document. So Twitter 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.840 then applied the manipulated media label to the tweet. The 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.919 b JP party was not pleased with this and sent 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:50.360 messages to Twitter demanding that they remove it, and then 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.480 apparently they contacted the police to investigate. So the police 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.880 paid a visit to the to Twitter offices, but they 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.160 found that no one was there. So why was that, Well, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:05.280 it's because of the aforementioned coronavirus crisis in India, so 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:09.959 Twitter employees in India work from home, so that whole 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:12.920 issue of the police showing up at the Twitter office 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.480 is kind of fell flat. The police activity has prompted 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.880 several journalists to suggest that perhaps this is an intimidation 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.880 effort on the part of the Indian government and that 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.959 it sends a message to Twitter. And India is another 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.359 country that has tried to grapple with the fact that 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.320 tech companies like Twitter and Facebook have a broad reach 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.440 and that these companies aren't always subject to the tight 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:41.760 controls of government agencies the way state run communication channels are. 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.080 And we all know that information is powerful stuff and 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.560 that a lot of governments, including the one here in 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.200 the United States, would prefer to keep you know, at 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.920 least a close hand on communication channels too. I don't know, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.200 let's say, guide the flow of information. India and Twitter 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.400 have already had some battles about that earlier this year, 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.880 with a previous example being the Indian government pressuring Twitter 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.760 to ban accounts that belonged to farmers in India who 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.760 were protesting new legislation within the country. Meanwhile, in the 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:19.160 Middle East, Palestinian journalists reporting from the Gaza Strip say 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.960 that they have been blocked from using WhatsApp, the messenger app. 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.360 The political situation in the area is complicated, but essentially 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:31.080 the journalists were covering the issues of Palestinian residents of 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.520 the Gaza Strip who had fled their homes while the 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:38.360 area was under attack from military operations out of Israel. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.560 Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire on May twenty, 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:48.279 and shortly afterwards, seventeen journalists found their access to WhatsApp blocked. 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.479 The apparent reason behind this was that several of the 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.320 journalists twelve out of the seventeen of them, belonged to 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.960 a communal group within which the journalists would share for 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.880 nation related to Hamas's operations in the area, and the 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.960 journalists have said that this group was purely for the 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.640 purposes of journalism in order for them to all stay 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.400 aware of what was going on so that they could 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.120 report on the news as accurately as possible. It wasn't 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:20.800 indicating necessarily a support for you know, Hamas. It was 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.760 more about how do we report on this? And so 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:29.080 the channel and and WhatsApp appealed to Facebook, that's the 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.680 corporate owner of WhatsApp, and a few of the journalists 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.840 found their access restored a couple of days later. Others 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.400 were still waiting for it, but the contents of the 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:44.280 channel itself were wiped clear, with all previous conversations and 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:49.120 images and contact information all deleted. This follows other events 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:53.159 that raise additional questions about Israel's military response in the area. 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:57.640 For example, earlier Israeli air attacks destroyed a building that 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:02.839 had offices for Alja zero and the associated press inside 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.800 of it. Now, the Israeli government said that the same 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.200 building housed Hamas military intelligence within it, and thus this 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:14.159 was a strike to target enemy intelligence, but several press 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.800 organizations suggested that this might have been in fact an 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.280 attempt by the Israeli government to hinder the press's ability 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:26.240 to cover the war within the area. Similarly, journalists are 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:30.760 questioning if Israel is pressuring companies like Twitter and Facebook 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.240 to crack down on journalists who are covering the Palestinian 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.640 side of the conflict. Once again, we see the struggle 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.520 of large tech companies with a global presence that are 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:46.120 attempting to operate in a world has deep political and 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:50.400 social and regional schisms. And it's a pretty far cry 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:54.359 from the utopian ideal of the Internet, this idea that 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:57.160 the Internet was going to open up communications so that 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.279 it could freely travel across borders without any problems. The 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.480 reality is much more complicated. Also, I feel like this 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.640 should go without saying, but I do want to be clear. 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.000 It is entirely possible to be critical of Israel's military 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:18.720 operations and also condemn anti semitism. That is not a contradiction, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.640 and anyone suggesting that criticizing the state use of military 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:28.880 operations in Israel is automatically anti Semitic is setting up 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.040 a false position. Now that being said, we have also 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:37.320 seen a rise of anti semitism, which in itself is condemnable. 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:42.640 As always, recommend people use critical thinking and compassion together 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:48.400 when they're considering things like world politics. Over at Ours Technica, 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.440 writer Tim Deshant has written a piece about China and 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:57.160 bitcoin mining. Bitcoin has been having a pretty bumpy ride lately. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:03.640 It reached nearly six thousand dollars per bitcoin value before 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.760 plunging to around thirty two dollars per bitcoin and then 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.600 entering a recovery period. So as I record this, it's 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.400 now somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty seven thousand dollars 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.720 per bitcoin. So it does appear to be recovering right now, 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:21.400 but that might change soon. As Deshaunt reports, China is 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.880 going to quote crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading behavior 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.640 and resolutely prevent the transfer of individual risks to the 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.920 society end quote. And as it stands, bitcoin mining operations 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.040 in China contribute an enormous amount to the overall bitcoin 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.400 mining operations. So in case you're not familiar with how 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.640 bitcoin mining works, I'll give you a very high level overview. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.960 There's a network of computers that are all connected to 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:54.240 the bitcoin system, and the system groups transactions of bitcoin 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:58.240 transactions together in blocks of data, and when a block 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.360 reaches capacity, when it's well, the system then essentially invites 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.560 all the connected computers to the network to verify the 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.240 transactions that are within that block of data. And this 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.120 is done essentially by guessing a very large number. The 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:19.160 first computer to guess successfully has verified the transactions and 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.960 has quote unquote mind a certain number of bitcoins. Uh, 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:26.240 that number of bitcoins actually goes down in increments over time, 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.760 so right now it's six point to five bitcoins per 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.920 mind block. That block of data then joins the end 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:38.920 of a chain of previously verified transaction blocks the block chain, 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.400 and the goal is to aim for about ten minutes 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.680 of time between opening up the opportunity to mind a 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:50.120 block and reaching the correct guess. But as more computers 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.199 joined the system, and more computers try to solve this problem, 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:58.319 and some computers having like super fast processors, and more 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.760 likely you're talking about gri of computers or networks of 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.440 computers all working together to try and solve this problem, 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.400 then the system has to make the problems more difficult 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.600 to solve in order to stick with that ten minute goal. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.720 Otherwise the problems would be solved way too quickly. And 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.080 so this has created a kind of escalating situation in 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:23.680 which bitcoin miners would add increasingly powerful computer systems to 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.120 the network in attempt to be the first, particularly as 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.240 the value of bitcoin began to climb. And so it 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.680 might cost you a few hundred thousand dollars to set 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:40.080 up an actual mining operation, but if you can mind successfully, 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.360 then you can pay all those costs off pretty quickly. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:49.240 So we saw a rise in power hungry bitcoin mining operations, 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:54.320 sucking up huge amounts of electricity and thus potentially contributing 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.800 to carbon emissions as a result because they were placing 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.120 a higher demand on power plants, and a lot of 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:05.720 power plants still use fossil fuels, so the environmental impact 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.000 is one reason that countries like China are cracking down 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.560 on cryptocurrencies that rely on this type of proof of 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:17.400 work approach. That's what bitcoin does. But another reason is 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:21.760 that criminals use cryptocurrency for all sorts of illegal activities, 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:27.200 from trading in illegal goods to money laundering to circumventing 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.880 tax laws. And there's also the fact that cryptocurrency exists 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:35.760 outside the control of centralized organizations like governments and banks. 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:40.360 Pretty much all country governments are a bit wary of 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.840 stuff that they don't have control over, but China in 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.320 particular is way up on that list. The state in 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:53.040 China is supreme and any entity, any organization, or currency 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.840 that could threaten the state's position is treated seriously. So 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.000 we could soon see a total ban on bitcoin mining 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.000 in China, which will change the game a great deal, 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.360 and it could mean that will see another drop in 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:12.080 Bitcoin's value, as China represents a huge market all by itself. 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.880 But we'll also see a change in which mining operations 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.959 are on the receiving end of more bitcoin. And then 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.960 I'm sure Elon Musk will tweet something that will throw 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.760 people into a tizzy, so we'll keep an eye on it. 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:30.560 Speaking of Elon Musk, his electric vehicle company Tesla you 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.959 may have heard of it is facing a big fine 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.600 in Norway and apparently at the heart of the matter 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.280 is the rate at which Tesla's batteries can charge. So 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.200 the company issued a software update for its cars back 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:48.680 in twenty nineteen and allegedly that has throttled the charging 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.800 rate for batteries that are in Tesla vehicles that had 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:58.600 been manufactured between and twenty It also allegedly reduces the 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.880 driving range that vehicles can have before they need a recharge. 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.800 The government has ordered Tesla to pay each affected customer 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.680 the equivalent of sixteen thousand dollars US in order to 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.840 settle the matter, and according to Norwegian press outlets, Tesla 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:20.280 sold around ten thousand vehicles that were made in those years. 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.640 Within Norway. So by doing some quick math, that would 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.520 mean the company would need to pay out around a 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.920 hundred sixty million dollars US in fines for this issue. 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.640 Tesla had the opportunity to respond to the charges, but 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.440 apparently never filed such a response and so ended up 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.640 being on that end of the judgment. Tesla has until 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.000 May thirty to comply or to file an appeal. The 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:49.560 company faces similar lawsuits here in the United States. The 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.080 German lower chamber of Parliament has passed legislation that permits 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:58.160 driverless vehicles on public roadways by next year. Now, the 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:03.400 country already allowed autonomous vehicles to test on public roads, 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.079 but this step would mean that for the first time, 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.600 driverless vehicles will have the legal right to operate on 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.560 roads without their needing to be a safety driver behind 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:17.160 the wheel. Now, to qualify for this distinction, cars have 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:21.080 to demonstrate that they fall into the fourth level of autonomy, 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.440 as designated by the Society of Automobile Engineers or s 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.240 a E. So yeah, just in case you weren't aware, 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:32.640 the s a E identifies six levels of autonomy, starting 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:36.000 at zero and ending at five. So at level zero, 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.200 all operations of the vehicle are effectively under manual control. 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.119 There are no real automated systems of you know, any 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.760 means that would control the vehicle, so a human is 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:52.880 absolutely required to operate the vehicle. Level one would have 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.840 minimal automation, so it might include stuff like adaptive cruise 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.479 control or lane assist, and then each excessive levels seaves 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.040 more operations that are handed over to automated systems, and 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.360 by the time you get to level four, the vehicle 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:12.320 should be able to operate by itself in most situations, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.480 and usually you would just consider what would be the 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:19.080 normal operating conditions within a given region. If you reach 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:23.040 level five, then theoretically anyway, you've got a complete automation 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:27.480 that can operate under any conditions, whether they are typical 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.440 or otherwise. We do not have any vehicles that qualify 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.560 as level five autonomy, and according to the s a E, 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:40.440 A level for autonomous vehicle will only operate autonomously if 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.360 all limited conditions are met for such operations. So in 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.040 other words, you would have a list of things that 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.440 have to be met in order for the vehicle to 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.320 qualify for level four, and if any of those boxes 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:59.120 went unchecked, then it would not operate autonomously, you would 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.520 have to have someone dray of the vehicle. So in Germany, 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:06.400 this is going to include operating within specific geographic regions, 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:11.120 so such vehicles in those regions will have geo fencing 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.720 features that govern their operation. That kind of approach could 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:18.080 open up the possibility of robo taxis within a specific 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:23.160 region or city, but you wouldn't see cross country trucking 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:29.360 necessarily unless specific trucking routes fell under those geo fencing limitations. 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.840 This legislation now has to pass through the upper chamber 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:37.880 of Germany's Parliament before it will become law. We have 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.560 a couple more stories to cover, but before we get 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:51.560 to that, let's take a quick break. Okay, we're gonna 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.840 switch on over from global news to cyber security and 0:16:55.960 --> 0:17:00.720 the Bows Corporation, that is, the company that makes audio equipment, 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.119 recently announced that it was the target of a ransomware 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:09.439 attack back in March. Of Ransomware is a cyber attack 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.159 that typically involves infecting a computer system with malware that 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:18.800 limits access to that system. It might encrypt data on 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.159 those systems so that people can't see the stuff that 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.119 was saved there, or it otherwise makes it difficult for 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:29.359 an organization to continue operations. So with ransomware, you usually 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.719 get a message indicating how you can pay off the attackers, 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:38.640 who then will presumably lift those conditions preventing you from 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.280 getting stuff done. And generally speaking, it is a bad 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.119 idea to pay off ransomware hackers, as it sends the 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:50.000 message that ransomware is a viable way to make money. 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:56.040 It encourages future attacks that's not great. Also, you're never 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.960 guaranteed that the attackers are actually gonna lift those restrictions. 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.080 They might not depending on how you pay them. You 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.119 might just be out the money and then they're just 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.480 laughing at you. But anyway, not paying a ransom is 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.479 easier to say than it is to do, as in 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.240 the meantime you really have to, you know, get back 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.560 to work, and depending upon the nature of the attack, 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.560 you might not be able to wait around why your 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.679 team is restoring operations through one method or another. Plus, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.879 you might have data on those systems that just doesn't 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:31.720 exist anywhere else anyway. In the case of Bows, the 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.720 company states that the attack included a data breach, and 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.800 according to Bose, the company immediately reached out to a 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:42.080 quote small number end quote of affected individuals, as is 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.720 required by law when a company discovers that a data 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:49.239 breach included personal information that relates to, say, employees or 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.520 customers or third parties like corporate partners. In this case, 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:58.120 the information included personal data about current and former Bows employees. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:02.680 That data included such stuff as social security numbers and 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:07.520 compensation information. While Bose can't determine if the attack was 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.520 aiming at x filtrading that data. In other words, they 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.000 aren't sure if that's what the hackers were trying to 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.240 get at, the company does acknowledge that the hackers had 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:21.439 some access to quote a limited set of folders end quote. 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.640 Bose also says that the company was able to reestablish 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:29.240 control of corporate systems by partnering with third party cybersecurity experts, 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:34.280 and that the company never paid the ransom. Now, while 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.560 we're on the subject of ransomware, pro Publica published an 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.640 interesting piece about it. A lot of alliteration there, so 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.600 sorry to Mr pop Filter. The ransomware group dark Side, 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:47.840 which was recently responsible for the hack that brought down 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:52.120 Colonial pipeline and thus created a short term fuel crisis 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.280 in the eastern half of the United States, had previously 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.080 been using a scheme that involved relying on the same 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.520 digital encryption keys for multiple victims, which is kind of 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.119 the equivalent to using the same password for multiple services. 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.840 It's a bad idea if you want to achieve your goals. 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:14.560 And cybersecurity researchers noticed this trend. A couple of them 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.480 were quietly reaching out to victims of dark Side hacks 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.320 in order to help them restore their services without having 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.600 to pay the ransom. And they were doing it quietly because, well, 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.840 if you let the bad guys know that you figured 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.320 out how to counteract their attacks, the bad guys find 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.720 new ways to attack. Then a cybersecurity company called bit 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:42.680 Defender also found this same vulnerability and released an announcement 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:45.240 about it and about how the company had developed a 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.359 process to counteract the attacks. Now, the intent, I assume 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:51.359 was to let companies know, hey, we figured out a 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.880 mistake that dark Side is making, so we can help 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.160 you if you've been attacked by them. Except the bad 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:01.280 guys read press releases too, and dark Side responded by 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:05.080 saying that it had taken note of that discovered vulnerability 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.639 in its attack scheme, and they patched it. They even 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.560 thanked bit Defender for the heads up, so a cybersecurity 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:17.040 firm effectively alerted hackers to a weakness in their own attacks, 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:21.720 which thus made the hackers better at hacking, which, um here, 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.160 let me check my notes here. Uh yeah, it says 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.840 here that's the exact opposite of what you want to do. Then, 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:31.560 not long after that, the hackers targeted Colonial Pipeline and 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.800 we saw the consequences of that particular move. And oh 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.960 we also know that Colonial actually gave in to the 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:41.000 hackers demands and paid a ransom of more than four 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.600 million dollars to dark Side, which again is a bad 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:48.400 freaking idea. Granted, the crisis we saw as a result 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.680 of that attack wasn't great, and it was exacerbated by 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.480 selfish and frankly stupid actions of a lot of folks 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:58.960 in the Eastern United States who decided to try and 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:03.240 hoard gasle But paying the hackers means that those hackers 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:05.639 will keep on doing what they're doing as long as 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:10.840 it's paying off. Anyway, this particular story got my dander up. 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:16.360 Continuing our cybersecurity news, Extreme Tech has a piece titled 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:20.879 new Morpheus CPU design defeats hundreds of hackers in DARBA 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:25.399 tests and this is pretty cool alright. So CPUs or 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:30.000 central processing units have a design that you could call 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:34.840 an architecture, and that architecture is dependent upon which chip 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:39.160 manufacturer you're talking about. Essentially, it's, at least in theory, 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:45.119 a a optimized way for data to be processed through 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.600 that chip. So a company like Intel has what they 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:52.760 call a TikTok approach, So they'll create one architecture designed 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.960 for a chip. Then in the next generation of chips, 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:59.840 they keep that same design even as they reduce the 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.520 size of components, so they are able to pack more 0:23:03.560 --> 0:23:06.000 components on a chip, but they're staying with the same 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.960 general design as they had for the previous generation. Then 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:14.240 they overhauled the architecture for the following generation of chips 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:18.800 after that. So it's all about find the ideal architecture 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:23.359 for that size of components. Then you reduce the size 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:27.000 of components, then you find the ideal architecture again, and 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.240 you just keep going back and forth between those uh 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:37.720 those processes. Well, sometimes these architectures have flaws or vulnerabilities 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.879 in them, so it's in the hardware itself, and hackers 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:45.720 who are familiar with architecture can design code that targets 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:49.640 those vulnerabilities and could allow them to inject malware into 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:54.520 systems that rely on those types of chips. Enter the Morpheus. Now, 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:59.159 this chips job was to hide critical information like vulnerabilities 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:03.119 from hackers without impacting the ability of a developer to 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:07.560 write code for the machine, which is a non trivial problem. 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:11.080 The Morpheus is actually a simulated chip and it had 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:15.200 very modest capabilities. This was not like a screamingly fast, 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:19.439 bleeding edge processor. But what it does do is it 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:24.480 encrypts memory pointers every one hundred milliseconds, So in a 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:27.960 fraction of a second, the CPU switches up the encryption 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:31.360 scheme for these memory points and thus narrows the window 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:35.280 that hackers would have to one figure out the architecture 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:40.359 properly and to launch an attack that targets that architecture. So, 0:24:40.400 --> 0:24:42.760 if I were to make an analogy, I would say 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:46.560 it's kind of like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter stories. 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:50.960 The staircases and halls of Hogwarts frequently change, which means 0:24:51.240 --> 0:24:54.920 you're route to get from point A to point B changes. Now, 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:59.119 if Hogwarts were to change every one hundred milliseconds to us, 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:01.240 that would just seem like it was in a constant 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:04.159 state of change, and getting from one point to another 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:10.040 would become incredibly challenging, if not impossible. That's wizard's chess 0:25:10.880 --> 0:25:15.400 or cybersecurity. Now, keep in mind this approach specifically applies 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:20.560 to counteracting hacker attempts to exploit underlying vulnerabilities in the 0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:24.840 processors themselves. It does not prevent attacks that target software 0:25:24.880 --> 0:25:29.680 vulnerabilities or attacks that rely on social engineering to get 0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:33.480 access to systems. This is just one facet of cybersecurity. 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:37.080 It's a really nifty one and effective. The report says 0:25:37.160 --> 0:25:42.040 that that hackers spent the equivalent of thousands of hours 0:25:42.080 --> 0:25:47.640 attempting to compromise the system, and we're unable to do it. 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:50.639 Not the moment. This is more of a prototype or 0:25:50.680 --> 0:25:55.200 proof of concept because the simulated chips were seriously underpowered 0:25:55.280 --> 0:25:58.560 compared to today's technology. It would also mean that any 0:25:58.640 --> 0:26:01.880 chips that use this approach would effectively be giving up 0:26:01.960 --> 0:26:05.000 ten to fifteen percent of their performance in order to 0:26:05.040 --> 0:26:09.080 carry out the encryption process in the background. Still, that's 0:26:09.119 --> 0:26:11.600 a small price to pay for better security, at least 0:26:11.760 --> 0:26:17.200 for some organizations and applications. In previous episodes, I reported 0:26:17.200 --> 0:26:20.000 on how Nvidio, which is known mainly for the production 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:24.960 of graphics processing units or GPUs, is acquiring the semiconductor 0:26:25.000 --> 0:26:28.560 company ARM, which is based in the UK. The Register 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:31.960 reports that ARM now has a hiring freeze and effect, 0:26:32.359 --> 0:26:35.600 and that the well being allowance for the company that 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:39.280 had been paying out to employees is now cut and 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:43.359 apparently these decisions will hold until the acquisition is complete, 0:26:43.800 --> 0:26:47.880 which is supposed to happen sometime next April, and this 0:26:47.960 --> 0:26:50.359