Short Video:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365555139/

Brief Wikipedia read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog

 

Nothing like a short video and a brief Wikipedia read to remind me how unlikely it is that my own computers are NSA-proof. It’s of course a reasonable argument to that if someone is not doing anything “interesting” than there is little to worry about. That is a practical view and not one I completely dismisss.

However… knowing that it is important to protect all computer systems under my care makes me remember to curl up under my blanket of “defense in depth” and hurry up and re-asses my risk assessments.

This is old news to many infosec people, but it’s just new enough to me that it’s equally fascinating as all the hardware-based bugs the NSA and CIA used to use before micro processing became available.

 

Source: NSA ANT catalog – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boss: Yesterday a robot murdered the CEO of our main competitor. Heh-heh. Dilbert: That could only happen if some idiot unchecked the robot’s “Do No Harm” box and doomed humankind to annihilation. Boss: Say what? Robot: Hello, victims.

It’s been a very heavy Robot-themed week. Here’s an interesting video talking about research related to “When Machines Will Take Your Job.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOQyGUk_NSs

Source: Uncheck The Do No Harm Box – Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-09-03 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

Boss: I need you to kill the CEO of our main competition and make it look like a robot accident. Robot: Robots are not allowed to kill humans. That is built into my program. Boss: What if I uncheck that box on your control app? Robot: This feels like the start of a great day.

 

There’s an App for that. This is specifically what the Future of Life Institute is trying to address before it’s too late.

Source: Robot As Assassin – Dilbert Comic Strip on 2015-09-02 | Dilbert by Scott Adams