This week: Supply chain attacks on the UK’s police forces, North Korean and Russian links to crypto crime, and AI may not be a good thing for action dodgers.
3 – Supply chain attacks on the UK’s police forces
“The UK’s Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has admitted that crooks have got their mitts on some of its data after a third-party supplier responsible for ID badges was attacked. [..] The breach bears a distinct resemblance to last month’s data leak at a supplier of London’s Metropolitan Police, where the details of all 47,000 staff members and police officers were exposed.”
According to The Register, “former Met commander John O’Connor told The Sun newspaper: “Anyone using these details to produce a warrant card or pass could gain access to a police station or secure area.”
Key Takeaway: I’ll let Raj Samani, SVP and chief scientist at Rapid7, tell us: “An organization is only as secure as its weakest third-party [..]and security protocols are only effective if all of their third-party providers are equally secure.”
2 – North Korean and Russian links to crypto crime
“The value of stolen cryptocurrency associated with [North Korean cyber attackers] currently exceeds $340.4 million this year, [down 80% from the] $1.65 billion in stolen funds reported in 2022.”
This is according to a report by Chainanalysis and mentioned in The Crypto Currier recently. The Crypto Currier identifies one reason for the drop: “North Korean hackers have become increasingly reliant on certain Russian-based exchanges to launder their stolen crypto funds. Many of the Russians behind illicit exchanges (and ransomware) have been forced into the war, meaning they can’t service their money-laundering or ransomware operations. This has reduced global ransomware, and evidently hindered North Korean laundering efforts.”
Key takeaway: When you wonder how North Korea can fund its nuclear programme, you can thank crypto crime.
1 – AI may not be a good thing for action dodgers
Tired of attending online meetings all day, every day? Google Duet has the answer: “With ‘attend for me’ Duet AI will be able to join the meeting on your behalf, delivering your message and ensuring you get the recap.
This is according to a recent announcement by Google, which has just launched Duet AI for Google Workspace. Duet AI includes a range of AI-powered services to make meetings more productive.
it is the ‘Attend for me’ service that really caught my eye. Many years ago, I remember a company where it seemed like 50% of the staff spent their days just trying to get the other 50% to do their jobs. If the job-dodgers get Duet AI to attend meetings on their behalf, maybe the AI will spend less time trying to avoid any action items being assigned to it!
Key takeaway: While AI may eventually be as big a threat to humanity as humanity is, it is certaintly bringing plenty of productivity boosts along the way. But this productivity boost may not be a good thing for everyone!