FFT news digest — 21 July 2023
FFT news digest — 21 July 2023
Spyware
The US government has banned two Europe-based spyware manufacturers, citing risks to national security. Products from Cytrox and Intellexa have been used to spy on Greek journalists and politicians and are believed to have been widely used across Europe. “The proliferation of commercial spyware poses distinct and growing counterintelligence and security risks to the United States, including to the safety and security of government personnel and their families,” the State Department said . The companies have been placed on a list that prohibits any US organisation or individual from doing business with them without specific government approval. Pegasus manufacturer, NSO, has never recovered from being put on the list. Despite far more effective privacy regulations in the EU, European governments have been much slower in acting against spyware companies. The rapporteur for the EU Committee of Inquiry into the use of Pegasus and similar spyware, Sophie in ’t Veld, tweeted , “while the Greek and EU authorities are still very busy doing nothing about #spyware the US have blacklisted #Intellexa. The inertia of Europe is deeply embarrassing.” In its final report, the committee criticised Greece, Hungary and other nations for their handling of spyware. At least 12 EU member states are believed to have used various types of commercial spyware.
Threats
USB : The number of USB-based attacks tripled in the first half of this year. Mandiant says most involve espionage and are linked to China. TeamViewer : Beware of a booby-trapped installer for the popular remote viewing application. It contains a remote access tool that can record keystrokes and steal passwords and other data. Cyble Facebook : There seems to be no end to the flood of adverts and pages for fake AI services, including ChatGPT, Google Bard, Midjourney and Jasper. Check Point HTML : The use of HTML attachments in phishing emails has increased dramatically over the past two years. Technical filters and user caution are essential to combat the threat. Cofense Sophos : A new ransomware tool with remote access capabilities is impersonating the security company. Sophos says it’s investigating. Flights : Don’t trust the phone number that appears in Google searches for airlines. Scammers have been buying ads to replace the real number with their own call centre. flyertalk
AI
Journalism : Google has been developing a tool that could be used to help journalists write stories - or produce the content itself. The New York Times says Google has demonstrated the product to leading newspaper publishers including itself, although The Times refused to talk about it. There’s already plenty of AI-generated news content but most of it involves heavily structured factual issues such as sports results and corporate earnings. Google’s tool appears to be different. NiemanLab has a thoughtful analysis . Criminally good : An artificial intelligence tool promoted on underground forums produces “remarkably persuasive” results, according to SlashNext. Researchers asked WormGPT to generate an email to persuade someone to pay a fake invoice. “Strategically cunning” was their verdict. Playing around : One in four people in the UK have tried out AI tools like ChatGPT, according to a survey by Deloitte. Eight percent of those surveyed said they had used the tool at work and more than half the 16 to 19-year-olds had used it in education. China : Beijing has published new guidelines for the development of generative AI products which appear to soften the tone of an earlier draft. The change in emphasis illustrates China’s determination to lead the world in this type of technology by 2030. Reuters Llama 2 : Meta has unveiled an open-source version of its Llama 2 AI model. The idea is that startups or established businesses (apart from tech giants) can use it to create their own products - naturally with Meta at their heart. Audiobooks : Microsoft and Project Gutenberg are collaborating on an initiative to use AI to turn free ebooks into audiobooks. The process takes 30 seconds per text. techdirt
In brief
Arm wrestle: Apple has told the UK government it will withdraw FaceTime and iMessage from the country rather than change their security features. The government wants messaging services to clear security features with the Home Office before releasing them to customers. Internot : In a bid to reduce the chances of cyber attacks, Google is running an internal pilot programme in which thousands of employees will use computers that have no access to the internet. CNBC Or else : Norway’s privacy watchdog has ordered Meta not to run behavioural advertising on Facebook and Instagram unless it obtains specific consent from a user. If Meta fails to comply, it faces fines of $100,000 per day. Threads : Meta’s Twitter killer now has well over 115 million users but how many are active is another matter. The first major update to the app includes translation and improvements in how feeds are managed. Meta has also introduced controls to try to combat spam messages. Watched : Amazon told its drivers not to worry about surveillance cameras in their vans. Motherboard now reports that footage from the devices is appearing all over the web. Instagram : Jake Moore has a helpful guide to Instagram and what happens when an account is hacked. He also explains how to recover it (and how to stop it from happening again). Mali : For the past decade, millions of emails intended for the US military have ended up in Mali. Despite repeated warnings, users carried on using .ml instead of .mil in their emails. The “typo leak” has exposed diplomatic documents, tax returns and passwords. Mali is a close ally of Russia… FT