Clearview AI Admits to Nearly 1 Million Uses by US Law Enforcement

Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition firm, has revealed to the BBC that its technology has been used by law enforcement agencies in the United States almost a million times. The company, which boasts a database of over 3 billion images scraped from social media and other sources, has faced criticism for its methods of obtaining and using these images. It has also faced legal challenges in various countries, including a recent decision by the UK’s data protection watchdog that the company’s scraping activities violate privacy laws.

According to Clearview AI, its technology has been used by over 1,800 law enforcement agencies in the US, with the majority being small and medium-sized organizations. The company claims that its tool has helped to solve a range of crimes, from shoplifting to murder. However, the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies has been criticized by civil liberties groups, who argue that it is often inaccurate and biased, particularly against people of color.

The revelation of Clearview AI’s use by US law enforcement comes at a time when the debate over the regulation of facial recognition technology is heating up. Some states, including California, have already implemented laws that restrict its use by law enforcement, while others are considering similar legislation. However, supporters of the technology argue that it can be a valuable tool for solving crimes, and that regulating it too heavily could impede law enforcement efforts.

While Clearview AI has stated that it only allows its technology to be used for law enforcement purposes, its activities have raised concerns about the privacy of individuals whose images have been scraped without their consent. The company’s data collection methods have been criticized for being opaque and potentially violating privacy laws. The revelations about its widespread use by US law enforcement are likely to add fuel to the ongoing debate over the appropriate use of facial recognition technology.

Read: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65057011

Discover the secret location of the Bitcoin whitepaper on your MacBook

A Bitcoin whitepaper has been hidden in every MacBook computer ever produced by Apple, according to a recent tweet by former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. The whitepaper is the foundational document for Bitcoin and outlines its core principles and technical specifications. Srinivasan’s tweet reads, “Fun fact: the Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every new MacBook in plain sight.” He also shared a screenshot of the whitepaper, which was located within the “Dictionary” app on a MacBook.

The Bitcoin whitepaper was authored in 2008 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto and describes the digital currency’s decentralized and trustless nature. It has since become a seminal document for the cryptocurrency industry, inspiring the creation of numerous other cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based projects. The fact that the whitepaper is hidden on every MacBook has drawn attention to its widespread availability, even to those who may not have intentionally sought it out.

This discovery has sparked discussions about the significance of the whitepaper’s availability and the potential impact on the broader adoption of Bitcoin. Some commentators have suggested that this could increase awareness and understanding of Bitcoin and its principles among the general public, while others have noted the potential risks of having such a key document pre-installed on every MacBook. Regardless, the presence of the whitepaper on every new MacBook highlights the growing significance and ubiquity of cryptocurrencies in the digital age.

Note: The command as laid out in the article doesn’t work – (and we recommend not blindly copy-and-pasting random commands into a unix shell on your device if you don’t know exactly what they do)

Command”/System/Library/ImageCapture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf” ~/Downloads” works, at which point you can examine simpledoc.pdf – it is indeed the Satoshi white paper.

Read: https://news.coincu.com/178872-bitcoin-whitepaper-hid-every-apple-macbook/

British Privacy Watchdog Issues 12.7m Pound Fine on TikTok Over Children’s Digital Safety

The Information Commissioner’s Office, Britain’s privacy watchdog, has issued a fine of 12.7 million pounds ($15.9 million) to TikTok on Tuesday for misusing children’s data and violating other protections for users’ personal information. The Information Commissioner’s Office has been monitoring TikTok’s data breaches between May 2018 and July 2020, declaring that the app, which is hugely popular with young people, has allowed 1.4 million British children under the age of 13 to use the app in 2020. This is in spite of TikTok’s own rules prohibiting children that young on the platform.

“There are laws in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world. TikTok did not abide by those laws,” Information Commissioner John Edwards said in a press release. “That means that their data may have been used to track them and profile them, potentially delivering harmful, inappropriate content at their very next scroll.”

TikTok has said that it disagrees with the watchdog’s decision. “We invest heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform and our 40,000-strong safety team works around the clock to help keep the platform safe for our community,” the platform said in a statement. “We will continue to review the decision and are considering next steps.”

TikTok says that it has adjusted its sign-up system by no longer allowing users to simply declare that they are old enough. Instead, the platform will now look for other signs that an account is being used by someone under 13.

Read: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/tiktok-fined-nearly-16m-by-u-k-watchdog-over-misuse-of-childrens-data

Whistleblower Leaks Classified Information on US Military Operations on Social Media

Last week, a new batch of more than 100 classified documents appeared on Twitter and various social media sites, causing alarm among officials in the government and intelligence communities. The documents, which were apparently leaked by an anonymous source, contain sensitive information about ongoing intelligence operations and national security matters from Ukraine to the Middle East to China . It is unclear who is responsible for the leak or how they obtained the documents, but authorities are investigating the case.

According to sources familiar with the documents, they appear to be authentic and contain information about various activities, from surveillance operations targeting foreign governments and terrorist organizations to classified military operations. The leak has prompted concerns that it could compromise ongoing operations and put lives at risk.

The release of these documents has prompted an immediate response from the government, with officials working to assess the damage caused by the leak and determine who is responsible. The FBI has launched an investigation into the matter, and officials have warned that those responsible for the leak will face severe consequences.

Read: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/us/politics/classified-documents-leak.html

Security Researcher Tricks ChatGPT into Building Data Stealing Malware, Exposes Chinks in Chatbot’s Anti-Malicious-Use Protections

Aaron Mulgrew, solutions architect at Forcepoint, has demonstrated several chinks in ChatGPT’s anti-malicious-use protections. Mulgrew, who admits to having zero professional experience in the area of malware development, walked ChatGPT through multiple simple prompts to create a malware tool that could silently search a system for specific documents, break up and insert those documents into image files, and then ship them out via Google Drive. Without ever writing a single line of code, in about four hours, Mulgrew and his team have managed to create a piece of functioning malware that can evade malware screening software tools.

Mulgrew says this exercise aimed to demonstrate how easy it was for anyone to bypass guardrails ChatGPT has put into place to create malware that would otherwise require an incredible skill.

“ChatGPT didn’t uncover a new, novel exploit,” Mulgrew says. “But it did work out, with the prompts I had sent to it, how to minimize the footprint to the current detection tools out there today. And that is significant.”

This latest demonstration adds to a growing body of research on security issues surrounding ChatGPT’s large language model (LLM). These include worries around ChatGPT’s potential to make malware creation more accessible, attackers using ChatGPT as phishing bait, and employees cutting and pasting corporate data into ChatGPT’s software.

Mulgrew says ChatGPT would certainly write different codes for similar prompts to the ones he and his team gave the software to create their piece of malware. This means that even a novice threat actor could very easily spin up new variants of such tools.

“I don’t write malware or conduct penetration tests as part of my job and looking at this is only a hobby for me,” says Mulgrew. “So, I’d definitely put myself more in the beginner/novice category than expert hacker.”

Read: https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/researcher-tricks-chatgpt-undetectable-steganography-malware

Elsewhere online:

UK government announces new plan to boost cybersecurity for NHS
Read: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/government-sets-out-vision-nhs/

ChipMixer, world’s largest unlicensed crypto mixer, gets shut down
Read: https://thehackernews.com/2023/03/authorities-shut-down-chipmixer.html

Entertainment giant Lionsgate is under fire for leaking user data
Read: https://securityaffairs.com/143886/security/lionsgate-data-leak.html

Russian court detains wall street journal reporter on grounds of espionage
Read: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-arrests-wsj-reporter-suspicion-espionage


New York Times alleges Biden admin part of Israeli NSO Group’s spyware clientele
Read:https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2023-04-03/ty-article/u-s-used-front-company-to-buy-israeli-nsos-spyware-report/00000187-459d-df9b-a9d7-c59dfb490000