The Cyber Why: What We Read This Week...
... and why you should too! (06/20/23)
Happy fathers Day to all of the dad’s out there. I had the pleasure of spending Father’s Day with my dad and son as we drove some off-road back trails at the Uwarrhie National Forest. I think we took our fair share of mud and dirt home with us! I hope you had as good a weekend as we did!
I didn’t have much time to read and research as I’ve been busy with family, so this week’s newsletter is short. However, we have a few fun highlights, including Reddit hackers threatening leaks, an AI version of John Lennon’s voice, the fight for the “right to repair,” a cyber AI knowledge bomb, and a great Twitter thread from Travis McPeak (CEO at Resourcely).
From my family to yours, thanks for reading The Cyber Why! Please share and let us know what you think in the comments below!
Dumpster Fire Hackers Threaten Leak
Reddit Hackers Threaten To Leak Data Stolen In February Breach (Bleeping Computer)
In February 2023, the BlackCat (ALPHV) ransomware gang stole over 80GB of data from the online dumpster fire known as Reddit. The compromised data includes internal documents, source code, employee data, and even some limited advertising information. The attackers asked for $4.5M and for Reddit to backtrack on their plans to charge for API access. That’s such an odd request that I’m unsure what to think of it. I get the millions of dollars, but why open the API? Is there some kind of bigger impact if API access is cut off? My guess is that Reddit doesn’t really care about the compromised data, and we’ll see this content eventually leaked and largely ignored. Let me know what you think in the comments below… is this a big deal or just another non-event?
The Beatles - I Get By With A Little Help from AI
Paul McCartney says AI tools helped rescue John Lennon’s vocals for ‘last Beatles record’ (The Verge)
Beatles fans, brace yourself for some epic nostalgia! Ex-Wings frontman Paul McCartney spilled the beans on BBC Radio 4’s Today program about a “last Beatles record” releasing later this year, powered by Artificial Intelligence. The tech, developed for the Beatles documentary Get Back, extracted John Lennon’s vocals from a low-grade cassette recording, creating the track's backbone. Not a "deepfake" rendition but a real extraction, folks! The yet-unnamed track is rumored to be "Now and Then," initially recorded by Lennon before his tragic demise, and was given life again with McCartney's aspirations to finish it. AI, enabling a Beatles reunion like no other.
Right To Repair: I Own It (Think Again)
A Fight Over the Right to Repair Cars Takes a Wild Turn (Wired)
With different sides, opinions, voices, and demands being considered, the decision to require vehicle operating data to be shared with owners and independent auto repair shops is being put to the test. Known as the “right to repair,” the question at hand is this: when you purchase a vehicle, do you have the right to tinker, hack, modify, update, and repair it yourself? It seems pretty straightforward, but it’s really not!
The right to repair is just one problem that will arise as hardware manufacturers create services-based business models over the top of purchased physical goods and technology. If the trend continues, we will see less and less “ownership” of items in our lives as we merely “rent” or “borrow” the hardware for physical objects and instead pay a monthly usage fee. No more owning cars, homes, lawnmowers, boats, etc. Instead, we will pay a service charge covering repairs, gas, usage analytics, and more. I’m not sure this shift is good for society as a whole - but time will tell!
Cyber AI - A Knowledge Bomb
Fortifying the Future: Safeguarding Machine Learning in the Age of Advancing Threats (Alayzain Rizavi - Indiscrete Musings)
Alayzain (Zain) Rizavi, Principle at Ridge Ventures, did a tremendous in-depth market breakdown of cybersecurity-related machine learning and AI. Rarely do we see venture capital investors go this far with their market analysis, and when we do, it’s rarely accurate. Zain absolutely killed it! He breaks down the research by vulnerability class, emerging trends, key factors driving market growth, deployment methodologies, and market players. If you follow AI in cyber, you should give this article a few read-throughs. It’s well worth the time. The tl;dr: we’re still early in cyber security applications of AI, but the trends are emerging rapidly. AI for cyber will be here before you know it.
Tell Me Something Good!
Learnings From a Cyber Founder (Travis McPeak)
We should strive to learn something every single day. Even if it’s something small, we should recognize it, be aware of it, and internalize it to improve over time. I try to be mindful daily, often failing, but certainly giving it my best to be conscious of my learnings whenever I can. When I see a founder posting their experiences and knowledge, it makes me stop and take notice. Travis McPeak, co-founder and CEO of Resourcely wrote an insightful Twitter thread today that is worthy of closing this week’s newsletter. Give it a read, learn something from Travis’ experiences, and if you get a chance in the next week, post something similar about what you’ve learned in the last year! Enjoy the rest of your week! (https://twitter.com/travismcpeak/status/1671242541453438976)
If you’ve made it this far, you either found our musings at least semi-entertaining, OR you enjoyed the pain and kept going regardless. No matter how you made it to this point, you should know that we appreciate you. Please do us a solid and share The Cyber Why with your friends. We would love to reach a bigger audience, and referrals are how we do it. Help us out, and we’ll see you next week!