News in the Category "Text"
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Book Review: A Hacker’s Mind
Starred Review
A cybersecurity expert examines how the powerful game whatever system is put before them, leaving it to others to cover the cost.
Schneier, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and author of such books as Data and Goliath and Click Here To Kill Everybody, regularly challenges his students to write down the first 100 digits of pi, a nearly impossible task—but not if they cheat, concerning which he admonishes, “Don’t get caught.” Not getting caught is the aim of the hackers who exploit the vulnerabilities of systems of all kinds. Consider right-wing venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who located a hack in the tax code: “Because he was one of the founders of PayPal, he was able to use a $2,000 investment to buy 1.7 million shares of the company at $0.001 per share, turning it into $5 billion—all forever tax free.” It was perfectly legal—and even if it weren’t, the wealthy usually go unpunished. The author, a fluid writer and tech communicator, reveals how the tax code lends itself to hacking, as when tech companies like Apple and Google avoid paying billions of dollars by transferring profits out of the U.S. to corporate-friendly nations such as Ireland, then offshoring the “disappeared” dollars to Bermuda, the Caymans, and other havens. Every system contains trap doors that can be breached to advantage. For example, Schneier cites “the Pudding Guy,” who hacked an airline miles program by buying low-cost pudding cups in a promotion that, for $3,150, netted him 1.2 million miles and “lifetime Gold frequent flier status.” Since it was all within the letter if not the spirit of the offer, “the company paid up.” The companies often do, because they’re gaming systems themselves. “Any rule can be hacked,” notes the author, be it a religious dietary restriction or a legislative procedure. With technology, “we can hack more, faster, better,” requiring diligent monitoring and a demand that everyone play by rules that have been hardened against tampering…
Understanding Crypto 6: Bruce Schneier: Security, Trust, and Blockchain
Listen to the Audio or Read the Transcript on RationalReminder.com
Welcome back to another episode of our limited edition Crypto Series on the Rational Reminder Podcast, a weekly reality check about sensible investing and financial decision-making. Are cryptocurrencies and the associated technologies beneficial? Could they change the world for the better? There is a lot of controversy surrounding the use and application of cryptocurrencies and the associated technologies. Some say the innovation is ultimately useless while others think it is the answer to society’s problems. To help us unpack this complicated and hot-button topic is Bruce Schneier, an internationally-renowned security technologist, author, and educator. The focus of his work is the intersection of security, technology and people. Bruce also has an immense passion for educating people about cryptocurrencies. Examples of his well-known books include …
Why AIs Will Become Hackers
At a 2022 RSA Conference keynote, technologist Bruce Schneier asserted that artificial intelligence agents will start to hack human systems—and what that will mean for us.
“Nice to see you all again,” Bruce Schneier told the audience at his keynote for the in-person return of RSA Conference, taking off his trademark cap. “It’s kinda neat. Kinda a little scary.” Schneier is a security technologist, researcher, and lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School. He has a long list of publications, including books from as early as 1993 and as recent as 2019’s We Have Root, with a new one launching in January 2023. But he’s best known for his long-running newsletter Crypto-Gram and blog Schneier on Security. And his upcoming book is about hacking…
Bruce Schneier’s book Secrets and Lies
Everyone who needs to understand or implement cryptographic algorithms reads Bruce Schneier’s Applied Cryptography. In that cookbook for cryptographers, it’s a matter of faith that deep mathematics, properly understood and cleverly arranged, can make three interrelated guarantees regarding digital communication:
- Confidentiality. Because messages are encrypted, nobody but the sender and the intended recipients can read them.
- Authenticity. Because messages are signed, nobody can impersonate anyone else.
- Integrity. Because messages are signed, nobody can tamper with them undetectably…
Bruce Schneier: We Are Asking the Wrong Cybersecurity Questions
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by The Economist. He is the author of over one dozen books—including his latest, “We Have Root” —as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter “Crypto-Gram” and his blog “Schneier on Security” are read by over 250,000 people. He has testified before Congress, is a frequent guest on television and radio, has served on several government committees, and is regularly quoted in the press.
Schneier is a fellow at the …
When AI Becomes the Hacker
Bruce Schneier explores the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) systems gone rogue in society.
For the past couple of years, renowned technologist and researcher Bruce Schneier has been researching how societal systems can be hacked, specifically the rules of financial markets, laws, and the tax code. That led him to his latest examination of the potential unintended consequences of artificial intelligence on society: how AI systems themselves, which he refers to as “AIs,” could evolve such that they automatically – and inadvertently – actually abuse societal systems.
“It’s AIs as the hacker,” he says, rather than hackers hacking AI systems…
Book Review: We Have Root
By Bruce Schneier. John Wiley & Sons; Wiley.com; 304 pages; $19.99.
Bruce Schneier has been one of the most recognized authorities on cybersecurity for more than two decades. He has a talent for explaining the complexities of the cyber world to the layman without resorting to intimidating technical discourse. While sharing his extensive knowledge, he admits that he too continues to learn the ways of the cyber world.
A compilation of Schneier’s essays, We Have Root describes the heightened risk of cyber activity due to public policy and other timely issues, including election interference, privacy and surveillance, access to encrypted information, and leaks. Not surprisingly, the collection of separately published articles involves the frequent repetition of particular themes, which may be seen as a waste of time by some or a useful emphasis of key points by others. The single most useful piece, addressing a number of emerging potential threats, may be “Security and the Internet of Things,” which explains how some simple, everyday actions could result in death and destruction…
Bruce Schneier Wants You to Make Software Better
Producing effective code means understanding more than just programming
Security technologist Bruce Schneier has a warning: “What you code affects the world now. Gone are the days when programmers could ignore the social context of what they code, when we could say, ‘The users will just figure it all out.’ Today, programs, apps, and algorithms affect society. Facebook’s choices influence democracy. How driverless cars will choose to avoid accidents will affect human lives.”
Schneier should know, because synthesizing and explaining the impact of technology is what he does. “I work at the intersection of security, technology, and people, mostly thinking about security and privacy policy . I don’t have a single job,” says Schneier. “Instead, I do a portfolio of related things.”…
Cybersecurity: Same Threats, New Challenges
The pandemic created opportunities for hackers to exploit old vulnerabilities in new ways.
For business leaders, 2020 was many things. A test. A catalyst. An opportunity.
For chief information security officers (CISOs), it was all of these things at once—with the security of the business hanging in the balance. This was especially true when it came to the rapid shift to remote work.
The vulnerabilities of working from home were known before the shift—insecure personal devices, weak passwords on home devices—but not always prioritized. Other threats were given new life, such as phishing attacks that exploited Covid’s chaos to trick beleaguered employees. And some threats were unique to cloud technology itself…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.