WEBVTT - Tech News: The Death of Physical Media 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.520 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.360 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jovin Strickland. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.520 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.040 tech are you. It's time for the tech news for 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:26.920 the week ending July twelfth, two thy twenty four. There 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.400 was actually a ton of news this week. I guess 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:35.159 making up for last week, so I'm just covering like 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:37.840 half of it because there was so much, I had 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.640 to choose which stories I was going to include. As 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:42.080 it stands, this is going to be a long one, 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.400 so let's get to it. Last week, the German newspaper 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.239 Der Spiegel and a Russian independent news site called The 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:55.120 Insider revealed that Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service aka the SVR 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.280 has a program that they call Project Kailo. I don't 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.200 know if that's name after Kylo Renn from the Star 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.640 Wars films. Anyway, this project's aim is to spread misinformation 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.840 and propaganda in support of Russia's goals, particularly with regard 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.920 to the ongoing war with Ukraine. And I find it 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.720 interesting that a lot of media sites reference this as 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:20.479 a bombshell report, linking Russia to these efforts. I think 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.880 it's surprising, not because I don't think it's important. I 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.400 do think it's important. I just figured we were all 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.640 working under the assumption that this was in fact happening already. 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.200 I guess the appearance of confirmation is really the story 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:39.080 here anyway. The report says that the svr's playbook involves 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.319 establishing fake news websites and then flooding these websites with 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:47.800 misleading content, often boosted through the use of generative AI. 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.040 You can write a whole lot of stuff if you 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:52.920 offload it to AI, and if you're not really concerned 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.040 about the accuracy of it, I mean, if your goal 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.760 is to create misinformation, accuracy really isn't in your top concerns. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.720 The agency also made heavy use of social networking and 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:09.800 media platforms to spread these messages, so establishing a place 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.440 to post everything and then a distribution method for getting 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.880 it out in front as many eyeballs as possible. So, 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.160 according to these newspapers, the agency went to the trouble 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.960 of actually hiring real world people to pose as protesters 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.680 in various Western countries in an effort to amplify messaging, 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:32.320 and then beyond that, they helped distribute video footage of 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.600 these protests in order to get a wider release of 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.840 that messaging. This is interesting because here in the United States, 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.480 actually not too far from the state where I live, 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:48.840 there was a notable white supremacist march that took place 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:53.560 in Nashville, Tennessee. And I'm curious as to whether or 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:58.959 not that march was amplified by efforts like this, where 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.680 people were specific brought in to boost the numbers and 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:08.399 make them larger. And then obviously that video footage of 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.760 that that particular march got pretty wide circulation. And I 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:14.519 mean it may not be at all related to the 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.320 Russian efforts. I want to make that clear. This could 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.600 be completely independent of that, but it does sort of 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:26.040 fall in line with that same strategy. Also last week, 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.880 Cowlan McGee and I apologize for butchering the name, but 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.400 McGee wrote a piece for I News, which is an 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.400 English news site, and in that piece, McGee writes that 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:41.200 French officials identified Russian propaganda as pushing French citizens to 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:46.200 support far right candidates during their parliamentary elections. Those took 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.000 place just this past Sunday. Now, those efforts ultimately fell 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.040 a little short. The far right did win quite a 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.040 few seats, like one hundred and forty two seats in parliament, 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.000 but that puts them in third place, behind the Left 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.920 wing Party, which won one hundred eighty eight seats and 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:06.240 the Centrist Party, which won one hundred and sixty one seats. However, 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.960 no single party secured two hundred and eighty nine or 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:14.400 more seats, which means France's president now faces the tough 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.040 challenge of appointing a prime minister because with they don't 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:23.240 have the support of a single parliamentary party. Right, there's 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.000 no party that holds a majority, and if the prime 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.960 minister doesn't have the support of parliament, then the government 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.479 kind of stops working. So what I'm saying is that 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.000 Russia's campaign, assuming that it actually had an impact on 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.279 the French elections at all, was not a total failure. Yeah, 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.440 they didn't secure a majority, but if you're thinking it's 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:47.480 more in an effort to disrupt politics and to add 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:52.000 some instability to Western governments, then there was success here, 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.480 or at least it's in alignment with Russia's goals. Whether 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.599 or not the efforts moved the needle at all, that's 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:03.560 that's another question. McGee's piece in IEWS lists out numerous 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:08.640 examples of Russian attempts to misinform, from bought controlled social 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.679 accounts to fake news sites pushing lies to the public, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.719 and obviously France is just one nation that's targeted by Russia. 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.320 The convergence of tools like AI and social networks, on 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.760 top of how easy it is to just launch a website, 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.279 has really created a perfect storm for the creation and 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:29.440 distribution of propaganda. So, as always, I recommend viewing media 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.520 through the lens of critical thinking. It's not a guarantee 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.760 that you still won't get misled. That can still happen, 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:39.760 but using critical thinking really helps cut down on the 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.800 frequency at which that can happen. Make sure you're paying 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.760 attention to the source of that information and what their 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.240 sources are, because if we're all looking at news that's 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.320 all drawing its information from a single source, and that 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.920 source is compromised, well then we can't trust any of 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.240 the news that was reported from it. We're in the 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.200 United States, the Department of Justice announced just this past 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.000 Tuesday that it had identified and disrupted a Russian operation 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:11.320 making use of bots and misinformation to sew discord here 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.440 in the states, which just as a point of reference, y'all, 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.479 we do not need outside help on that. We're really 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:22.880 good at sowing discord amongst ourselves. Anyway, the DOJ seized 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.279 two domains in around one thousand social accounts believed to 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.920 be part of this Russian operation. The associated accounts received 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.680 a ban on x formerly known as Twitter, and they 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.440 had a history of posting content with a pro Kremlin perspective. 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:41.279 Apart from using AI to undermine governments and societies, it 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.080 seems like there's not really enough of a use case 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.640 for artificial intelligence to justify the truly insane amount of 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.320 investment that's going into it. Now that's not just my opinion, 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.159 although it is my opinion. Goldman Sachs released a newsletter 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:59.600 warning that told businesses there there just might be this crazy, 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.200 uns sustainable bubble forming around AI. But to be clear, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.479 I am applying my own point of view to what 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.080 Goldman Sachs found. They didn't use words like crazy, and 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.760 in fact, they were pretty light with the use of 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.600 the word bubble, although at least one Goldman sax rep 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:19.040 did refer to it as a potential bubble, not definitively 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.720 a bubble, but it could be so. The report revealed 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.320 that around a trillion dollars is on track to pour 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:30.440 into the generative AI space, and that includes stuff like 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.800 building out and outfitting data centers, you know, the purchase 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.720 of new hardware, research and development, all this kind of stuff. 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:44.040 Goldman Sachs says, there's also no killer application for AI 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.480 that kind of justifies this crazy expenditure. So, in other words, 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.160 the research newsletter says, companies are rushing into the AI 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.320 space without really a clear goal or any assurance that 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:59.000 the investment they're making is going to pay off down 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.640 the road. It could be that the companies that are 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:07.200 spending billions of dollars in the AI generative AI specifically 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.480 in that field, that they're setting huge piles of cash 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.440 on fire. Alah, the joker in that Dark Night movie. 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.800 Jim Cavello, the head of Goldman Sachs's Global equity research, 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.560 put it this way, quote, what one trillion dollar problem 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:28.040 will AI solve? Replacing low wage jobs with tremendously costly 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.400 technology is basically the polar opposite of the prior technology 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.079 transitions I've witnessed in my thirty years of closely following 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.360 the tech industry end quote. So what he's saying is 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.360 there's not a clear problem that AI is solving, especially 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.880 not one that amounts to a one trillion dollar problem, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.280 and that the ways we are seeing AI being applied 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.280 right now are low cost things. And in fact, it 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.040 could mean that you're spending more money with AI than 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:01.040 you were with human beings, so you're actually costing yourself 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.400 more money and you're funding that whole process. So it 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.000 really sounds like shots fired across the ballot companies that 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.360 have been downsizing staff in favor of relying more on 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:15.319 generative AI, such as oh I don't know HowStuffWorks dot 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.720 Com my former employer. We'll have more about the issue 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.800 of AI displacing creatives later in this episode, but yeah, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.320 I'm still obviously salty about that, even though I wasn't 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:26.959 directly affected, right, I had already moved on from how 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.040 stuff works, or really my part of the company moved 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.240 on from How Stuff Works. But I'm still upset that 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:37.520 site ended up laying off the editorial staff in favor 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:42.160 of AI generated articles. I think that was an enormous mistake. 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.640 I plan on doing an episode in the near future 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.160 about one of the many reasons I think that's a 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:52.640 massive mistake, because it's not just that very talented, dedicated 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.920 people lost their jobs over it. That's a big part 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.679 of it. I mean, there's an emotional attachment, don't get 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.000 me wrong. But I also think that there is a 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:06.199 technological mistake that's being made, and I'm not the only one. 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.000 It involves things like model collapse, as in large language 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.320 model collapse, but we'll talk about that in a future 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:17.680 episode not too long from now. Anyway, the report warns 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.760 that any returns on investment are likely to be many 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.800 years down the road because it's going to take time 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:30.160 to build the AI infrastructure that actually creates meaningful improvements 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.720 in stuff like business performance and costs. So in the 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.800 short term, it's far more likely that running AI operations 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.280 is actually going to cost more than going the alternative route. 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.200 And all of that obviously becomes dangerous for companies that 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.320 are currently investing heavily in the space. They might find 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.679 themselves either in need of a severe course correction or 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.120 they might have to convince stakeholders to you know, patiently 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.000 wait for things to pay off in the future. That's 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.760 kind of what Meta has been doing, particularly in the 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:03.080 Reality Labs division, and metaverse stuff. Zuckerberg has to keep saying, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.760 this is going to cost us a lot of money 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:07.720 in the short term, but in the long term, we 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:12.200 believe it's the future of our business. I remain unconvinced 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.679 that that's going to be the case, but that's the 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.319 argument Zuckerberg has to make two investors pretty much every 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.440 earnings called because they have to grapple with the fact 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.760 that they're spending billions of dollars in this division and 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.439 they don't have a lot to show for it yet, 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.720 and the stuff they have shown has not really created 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:36.719 an amazing response among consumers or investors. I expect we're 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.520 going to see very similar stories play out in the 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:44.200 AI space. Speaking of AI displacing jobs, into It, a 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:49.280 company that specializes in tax preparation software announced a reorganization 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.120 this week and that's going to result in downsizing staff 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.200 by around ten percent of the company. Company reps say 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.600 this is part of the long term strategy in which 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.560 into It will hire at least that same number of 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.320 people that they're laying off this year. So they're saying, 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.400 like next year they're going to hire as many or 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.120 more people as what they are laying off right now. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.960 That number is around one eight hundred staff and that 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:18.360 this long term plan also involves incorporating artificial intelligence in 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:22.040 into its offerings. No big surprise there that they're saying 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:24.120 AI is going to be a big part of their 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.400 ongoing strategy. That is kind of the messaging we're hearing 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.680 across all industries right now. So into Its CEO further 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.839 said that more than half of those one eight hundred 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.079 employees who are being let go were selected because they 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.600 failed to meet company expectations, which is a big old yikes. 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.400 Like when you know arguably around five percent or more 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.760 of your company isn't meeting expectations, that's to me, that's 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:55.760 a management problem. That means that managers are not doing 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.120 their job in making sure that employees have what they 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.360 need and understand what they need to do in order 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.080 to meet expectations. But I mean, what do I know. 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.440 I'm not an expert in business or anything like that. 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.440 It just it just seems that way to me. So 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.560 I do think for the record that AI will have 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.640 its place. I'm not totally against AI. I know I 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.080 come down hard on AI a lot on this show. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:24.920 I do think there will be ways to integrate AI 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:29.040 into business strategies that will be overall beneficial and not 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.520 just beneficial to the bottom line, which is kind of 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.920 the cynical way of looking at it right now, but 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.880 to people who are actually working at those companies. I 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.560 do think there are ways to use AI to enhance 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:45.600 people's work so that they can focus on the things 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.000 that really matter, while AI handles little details that are 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.800 important but are not necessary for humans to handle personally. 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.040 I just think there's also a ton of company executives 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.840 out there who are rushing into integrating AI without fully 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.120 thinking about the consequences they're going to encounter and the 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:08.480 lives are going to impact. They're doing it quickly without 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.760 fully thinking it through, and that's what leads to really 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.560 big messes. Okay, speaking of a big mess, I just 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:18.960 made one by spelling my coffee. We're going to take 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:31.400 a quick break and I'll be right back. Okay, we're back. 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:37.200 Coffee spillage has been contained. Cleaning efforts are ongoing, but 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:41.320 let's get back into the episode. So, a hacker group 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:47.920 called sieged Sec. Sie ged Sec says it has breached 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.720 the systems of an organization called the Heritage Foundation and 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.480 stolen a large amount of data and subsequently released that 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:59.920 data online. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative political or 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.160 organization and think tank. It is credited with being responsible 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:09.200 for a broad platform of policy proposals, collectively referenced as 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.040 Project twenty twenty five. Now, to go into Project twenty 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:17.160 twenty five is well beyond the scope of this podcast. However, 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.640 I can recommend you check out the June twenty eighth, 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.440 twenty twenty four episode of Stuff they Don't Want You 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:26.280 to Know. It is titled Project twenty twenty five. Should 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.840 we be concerned anyway? The sieged sec hackers carried out 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.640 the attack in part to ensure more quote transparency to 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:39.200 the public regarding who exactly is supporting Heritage end quote. 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.840 So that quote comes from a hacker who uses the 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:46.000 handle vo viio. This hacker spoke with the new site 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:50.800 Cyberscoop about the breach. That breach is mostly apparently a 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.120 list of names of people who have been involved with 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.680 or contributed to the Heritage Foundation. This is all part 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:03.240 of a quickly developing story regarding Project twenty twenty five, 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.840 and there's a lot of information and misinformation out about 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.440 that as well. So again, use critical thinking when you're 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.320 looking into this stuff. I do think personally that it's 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:19.760 something to be concerned about, and that it is. There 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.480 are elements of it that are pretty darn scary if 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:28.160 you if you care about stuff like say LGBTQ rights, 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.880 it's very scary, or women's autonomy rights, that kind of stuff. 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.440 It gets pretty frightening. But I recommend everyone do their 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.680 research and learn about it, and you know, mind where 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.880 you're getting your information, so that you're you've got a 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:48.160 reasonable handle on what's going on, because it's always important 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.760 to keep that in mind when you're engaging with material, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:55.000 particularly material that might be confirming any biases you happen 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.960 to have. I have to remind myself of that all 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:02.480 the time. Marco Risol of hackerdose dot com has an 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.200 article titled hackers may use Telegram video to gain full 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.880 control of your phone. That is a heck of a headline. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.800 So first off, in case you are not familiar with Telegram, 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:18.840 that's a smartphone based messaging app. It's also cloud based 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.760 messaging and it offers end to end encryption. You can 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.960 do voice calls, video calls, text messages. It has become 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.359 a favored messaging app among those who value their privacy 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:35.360 and they don't want their communications to be snoopable. They 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:37.919 want to do end to end encryption. But an X 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.360 or Twitter user, depending on how you want to call 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:47.240 that service called. Today cyber News posted that a vulnerability 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.800 in the Android version of Telegram allows an on ramp 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:56.640 for malware. So the alleged exploit involves the target receiving 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.440 a link to a video that if the target tries 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.800 to launch, the video, prompts a pop up message, and 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:07.400 that message says that Telegram's native video player is unable 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.080 to play the media file in question, So don't worry, 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.359 because you will be prompted to go toward a site 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.720 that is claimed to be a third party video service 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.520 that then will play the video. So it's saying, oh, 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.200 Telegram can't play this, but just click this link, you'll 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.960 go to a site that will play the video. Except 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.440 it's all a ploy to trick the target into unknowingly 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:34.000 consenting to downloading malware. The malware infects the phone and 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:38.040 effectively hands control over to a remote operator who has 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.320 essentially full administrative access to the device. At that point, 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:46.240 they can access the camera on the phone, the microphones 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.840 call logs, they can see all the apps that are 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.000 saved to the phone, all that kind of stuff, all 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.399 of that allegedly becomes available to the hackers. That is, 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.400 if these claims are in fact true, and they might 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.639 not be so. The tweet included a video demonstration of 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.040 this exploit in action. However, the resolution of the video 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.760 was not great, and thus it was difficult to verify 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:15.520 that this is a legitimate video of an actual exploit. 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:20.480 Earlier this year, Telegram actually debunked a different vulnerability claim 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:24.080 that was made against it. So there's already precedent for 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.119 false claims against Telegram, and it could turn out that 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.640 this new allegation is also a hoax. But I would 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:35.600 suggest to anyone who's using Telegram, or really any messaging 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.479 service for that matter, to think twice before clicking on 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.520 links to stuff, particularly if it is in relation to 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.440 a message that has a clickbaity kind of vibe to it, 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.240 right Like, if you get a video that's appealing to 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.840 either your paranoia, right like it's a video saying, hey, 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.200 is this you and this video? Or if it's something 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:00.280 that's very it's like appealing to a salacious sign of 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:04.240 human nature. Anything like that that should raise red flags. 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.040 And you should be very cautious before following any links 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.679 because it's a tried and true method to trick people 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.359 into a trap. If you were an AT and T 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.520 cellular customer between May and November in twenty twenty two, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:20.480 I have some bad news. There's a really good chance 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:25.000 that your phone number and some information about who you 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.280 texted and called has been leaked in a massive data breach. 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.359 So AT and T says that essentially all cellular customers 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.680 at that time period were involved in this data leak, 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.520 in which some third party was able to download the 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.119 information off of a cloud platform that AT and T uses. 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.280 So this is another case where a hackers target not 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.800 the company itself, not AT and T, but a business 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.840 to business operator that AT and T uses. You know, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.520 it's a provider that has this cloud services platform, and 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:02.320 the hackers targeted that provider. AT and T says that 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.119 names were not included in this data leak. It was 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.240 just numbers and then metadata about the text messages and 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.520 phone calls those numbers were engaged in. However, AT and 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.000 T also says it can be rather trivial to match 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:18.479 a name with a phone number. There are a lot 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.600 of databases out there that have information about phone numbers 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.800 and who those numbers belong to. So all that info 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.199 may already be out in the wild, and just with 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:31.960 a little cross referencing, a hacker can figure out who 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.800 this number belongs to. Some of the call and texting 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:37.919 data related to some of the numbers was part of 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.320 this attack, as I've mentioned, So it's not the contents 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:43.960 of those phone calls or the texts. It's not like 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.720 the hackers can read what someone has texted to someone else. Instead, 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.520 it's a call log or a text log, so you 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.600 can see which numbers have communicated with one another. According 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:58.080 to AT and T spokesperson Alex Byers, this breach is 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.960 unrelated to a different incident that the company acknowledged back 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:04.639 in March. So AT and T has been the target 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.840 of two massive hacker attacks and data breaches. Not great, 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:13.640 Apple has assuaged the concerns of EU regulators, at least 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:18.479 for now, regarding the company's Tap to Pay iPhone payment system. 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:22.600 So regulators in the EU had accused Apple of jealously 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.240 guarding that Tap to pay system in order to maintain 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:30.800 a monopoly over payment processing through the iPhone, and if 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.439 Apple did not open that up to third parties, to 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.119 other like payment processing companies and such, Apple could face 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.200 a pretty sizable fine, which is putting it lightly. By 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:46.359 pretty sizable, I mean ten percent of the company's global revenue. 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:50.919 Apple is a three trillion dollar company, so that is 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:55.719 like billions of euros or billions of dollars worth of 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:00.320 money if Apple failed to comply to these regular later 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:02.840 demands or the company would have to cease operations in 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:07.000 the EU to avoid it. So the services that Apple 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:10.119 is opening things up like Apple has committed to doing 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:14.120 this include third parties that might have their own mobile 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:18.640 wallet features as well as their own payment processing services, 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:21.840 but it could also include things like using your mobile 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:24.919 phone to do stuff for all sorts of transactions, like 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:28.800 as a hotel key or as a ticket to an event, 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:31.720 or as a corporate badge to get into a building. 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:34.760 That kind of stuff. It all uses NFC or near 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:40.280 field communications technologies. So Apple appeers to have committed to this. 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:45.200 They have a deadline of July twenty fifth to open 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:47.560 up their system to other companies. If they do so, 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.520 there'll be no further problems. If they don't, then they 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:55.119 are facing the potential of a massive fine. Apple is 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:57.640 not the only tech company that has had to contend 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:01.640 with EU regulations recently. You know, the app formerly known 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:05.200 as Twitter has been called to task for breaching online 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:09.840 content rules under the EU's Digital Services Act or DSA. 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:14.280 So EU regulators investigated X for seven months and found 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:17.960 the company failed to comply with various rules requiring it 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:21.480 to make available a searchable advertising repository so that the 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:25.240 regulators can ensure that the advertising policies on the platform 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:29.639 are within EU's laws. Worst, the regulators accuse X of 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:33.480 denying them access to public data that they're supposed to 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:36.600 be able to review. In addition, the regulators found that 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.440 X's blue check mark system, which previously was all about 0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:43.760 verifying an account, but now it just means that you've 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:49.080 paid for that service. They're now in opposition to industry practice, and, 0:24:49.200 --> 0:24:53.520 as Reuter's reporter Thu Yung Chi puts it, quote, negatively 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:57.400 affect user's ability to make free and informed decisions about 0:24:57.440 --> 0:25:01.720 the authenticity of the accounts they interact with. End quote. 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:04.479 X could face a fine of up to six percent 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:07.520