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Latest Talks
Audio: A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back
Listen to the Audio on SimpleCast.com
In his newest book “A Hacker’s Mind: How the Rich and Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend Them Back,” cybersecurity expert and HKS faculty affiliate Bruce Schneier asks readers to expand their simple definition of hacking beyond just computer and IT systems but to consider how nearly everything around us can be hacked—for better or worse. With chapters covering everything from airline frequent flier miles to elections and redistricting, Schneier pushes us to examine how people use and abuse system vulnerabilities to get ahead—and how by adopting a hacking mindset, we can find and fix these weaknesses…
Video: Cybersecurity Thinking to Reinvent Democracy
Watch the Video or Read the Transcript on RSAConference.com
Democracy is a system: a complex nonlinear tightly coupled system of systems that’s surprisingly vulnerable to hacking, subversion and exploits of all kinds. Our community has expertise in securing complex systems. Can we apply that thinking to design of democratic systems, especially socio-technical systems in the age of increasingly pervasive data collection, ubiquitous computing, and capable AI?
Audio: Book Bite: A Hacker’s Mind
Listen to the Audio on NextBigIdeaClub.com
Bruce Schneier is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a cryptographer, computer security professional, and privacy specialist. He has been called a “security guru” by The Economist.
Below, Bruce shares 5 key insights from his new book, A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back.
1. Hacking is ubiquitous.
We normally think about hacking as something done to computers, but any system of rules can be hacked. Take the tax code as an example. It’s not computer code, but its code is a series of rules, of algorithms. It has vulnerabilities—we call them loopholes. It has exploits—we call them tax avoidance strategies. And there is an industry of black hat hackers finding exploitable vulnerabilities, whom we call tax attorneys and tax accountants…
Video: Securing a World of Physically Capable Computers: Six Lessons in Security
Computer security is no longer about data; it’s about life and property. This change makes an enormous difference, and will shake up our industry in many ways. First, data authentication and integrity will become more important than confidentiality. And second, our largely regulation-free Internet will become a thing of the past. Soon we will no longer have a choice between government regulation and no government regulation. Our choice is between smart government regulation and stupid government regulation. Given this future, it’s vital that we look back at what we’ve learned from past attempts to secure these systems, and forward at what technologies, laws, regulations, economic incentives, and social norms we need to secure them in the future…
Video: The Coming AI Hackers
Watch the Video or Download the Slides at RSAConference.com
Join renowned expert Bruce Schneier as he challenges convention and explores the latest issues facing our industry. A thought-provoking introductory speech is followed by Q&A with attendees.
Video: The Story of the Internet and How it Broke Bad: A Call For Public-Interest Technologists
Watch the Video on YouTube.com
Bruce Schneier at the International Symposium on Technology and Society, November 12, 2020.
Video: The Coming AI Hackers
Watch the Video on YouTube.com
Hacking is inherently a creative process. It’s finding a vulnerability in a system: something the system allows, but is unintended and unanticipated by the system’s creators—something that follows the rules of the system but subverts its intent. Normally, we think of hacking as something done to computer systems, but we can extend this conceptualization to any system of rules. The tax code can be hacked; vulnerabilities are called loopholes and exploits are called tax avoidance strategies. Financial markets can be hacked. So can any system of laws, or democracy itself. This is a human endeavor, but we can imagine a world where AIs can be hackers. AIs are already finding new vulnerabilities in computer code and loopholes in contracts. We need to consider a world where hacks or our social, economic, and political systems are discovered at computer speeds, and then exploited at computer scale. Right now, our systems of “patching” these systems operate at human speeds, which won’t nearly be enough…
Video: The Coming AI Hackers
Watch the Video on YouTube.com
Hacking is generally thought of as something done to computer systems; this conceptualization can be extended to any system of rules. The tax code, financial markets, and any system of laws can be hacked. Consider a world where AIs can be hackers-where hacks of our social, economic, and political systems are discovered and exploited at computer scale. Human speed “patching” approaches must change.
Video: Deep Dive: Digital Security and Distributed Ledger Technology: Myths and Reality
The panel session aims to clarify expectations with respect to digital security regarding blockchain. Many people simply don’t understand how blockchain works and question its basic security (e.g. assuming that a ledger that is stored everywhere cannot be secure), while many others view blockchain as a panacea for security (e.g. it will solve all our security challenges). Where is the reality? To which extent can we trust this technology from a digital security perspective? How can it help resolve existing digital security challenges?
Video: Securing a World of Physically Capable Computers
Computer security is no longer about data; it’s about life and property. This change makes an enormous difference, and will shake up our industry in many ways. First, data authentication and integrity will become more important than confidentiality. And second, our largely regulation-free Internet will become a thing of the past. Soon we will no longer have a choice between government regulation and no government regulation. Our choice is between smart government regulation and stupid government regulation. Given this future, it’s vital that we look back at what we’ve learned from past attempts to secure these systems, and forward at what technologies, laws, regulations, economic incentives, and social norms we need to secure them in the future…
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.