Cryptography

Telecom Company Fined $1 Million for Deepfake Scam

Thursday. August 22 at 3:30 PM

1 min. read

Lingo Telecom, a Texas-based telecommunications company, has been fined $1 million by the FCC for its involvement in an illegal deepfake scam targeting the New Hampshire primary election. The scam utilized an AI-generated recording of President Joe Biden's voice in robocalls to deter voters. The FCC's fine aims to hold telecom companies accountable for content dissemination and requires Lingo Telecom to implement a compliance plan, including strict adherence to caller ID authentication rules. The company must also follow 'Know Your Customer' and 'Know Your Upstream Provider' principles to monitor call traffic effectively. The deepfake robocalls, orchestrated by political consultant Steve Kramer, aimed to interfere with the election process. This incident highlights the threat of deepfake technology to democratic integrity, prompting calls for vigilance and regulation in the face of AI-generated disinformation.

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AI Security Vulnerabilities Explored

Saturday. December 21 at 9:00 PM

AI security was once thought to rely on complex defenses and neural architectures. However, Anthropic's research reveals how even advanced AI models can be manipulated by simple tricks. By using variations of forbidden queries that convey the same meaning in different ways, the AI's safety filters can be bypassed. This technique, known as 'Best-of-N (BoN) jailbreak,' exploits the AI's semantic understanding to confuse its safety protocols. Surprisingly, state-of-the-art AI models like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet are susceptible to these tactics. The research also highlights a power law relationship between the number of attempts and breakthrough probability. Beyond text, similar techniques can be applied to confuse AI vision and audio systems. Pliny the Liberator has demonstrated that creative typing can disrupt AI models. These vulnerabilities have been observed in Meta's AI chatbot as well, showcasing the need for robust AI security measures.

Cryptography

Russia's Testing of Internet Restrictions

Sunday. December 15 at 12:00 AM

Russia is currently testing a system to block VPN users from accessing the global internet. This new system has shown the ability to restrict even virtual private networks, marking a significant escalation in Russia's efforts to establish a 'sovereign internet.' The government has already trialed shutting down internet access in Dagestan, with reports of disruptions lasting 24 hours and extending to other regions. Local residents experienced issues with popular services like YouTube and Telegram. The Russian government plans to invest heavily in enhancing its web traffic censorship system, known as TSPU, which allows for sophisticated internet control. This move aligns with a global trend of increasing internet restrictions in various countries. Russia's approach includes deep packet inspection, traffic rerouting, and targeting VPN services. Despite facing technical challenges, Russia aims to achieve internet isolation similar to China and North Korea, although experts remain skeptical about its feasibility.

Cryptography

U.S. Shifts to End-to-End Encryption After China Cyberattack

Wednesday. December 11 at 4:00 PM

Following the 'Salt Typhoon' cyberattacks by Chinese hackers, U.S. officials are now advocating for the use of end-to-end encryption. The attacks, targeting major U.S. telecommunication companies like AT&T and Verizon, compromised the call metadata of numerous Americans. Despite China denying involvement, the FBI and CISA have linked the cyberattack to state actors from the People's Republic of China. In response, U.S. national security agencies are recommending encrypted messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp to safeguard communications. This shift towards encryption is seen as a pivotal moment by digital privacy advocates, signaling a potential change in U.S. law enforcement and national security culture. With bills like the EARN IT Act posing threats to encryption, organizations like the Internet Society and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are pushing for stronger encryption standards to protect user privacy and security.

Cryptography

The Debate on Freezing Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin Due to Quantum Computing Threats

Tuesday. December 10 at 1:00 PM

Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer has suggested freezing Satoshi Nakamoto's estimated 1.1 million BTC due to potential vulnerabilities in early wallet cryptography. Sirer's proposal comes as quantum computing advances, posing a threat to outdated Pay-to-Public-Key systems used in Nakamoto's original wallets. While quantum computers excel at certain tasks like factoring large numbers, they face challenges with one-way hash functions crucial to cryptocurrency security. The debate on freezing Nakamoto's coins has sparked controversy, with critics questioning the impact on crypto's ownership principles. Despite concerns, current quantum computers like Google's Willow chip still lack the processing power to break Bitcoin's encryption. Experts emphasize the need for proactive measures, such as developing quantum-resistant algorithms to safeguard cryptocurrencies against future threats.

Cryptography