US military identifies virtual nations as a potential security threat to US sovereignty
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The internet means citizens can now become part of large, virtual collectives, or nations, and there are fears these nations, with their own rules, welfare and support systems, could threaten the power and influence of sovereign nations. When is a nation not a nation?...
Inside Google’s plan to make sure AI is safe
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI becomes more deeply embedded into our every day lives it is imperative that there are safeguards in place to make sure it’s safe. Making sure Artificial Intelligence (AI) does what we want and behaves in predictable ways will be crucial as the...
Snowdens smartphone app turns security on its head to protect “people at risk”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When it comes to security and surveillance governments hold all the cards, Edward Snowden wants to change that. In today’s world digital security is just as important as physical security to those who find themselves constantly online in hostile countries or environments, and while...
MIT trained an AI to spot fake and biased news stories
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to detect and weed out fake news is quickly rising up the political agenda, and companies are in an arms race to try to find solutions fast. Any fact-checker who works in the media has a straightforward but challenging job – make...
Futurist Keynote, Antwerp: Investing in the Future, Infosys Finacle
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the pace of change continues to accelerate many companies find keeping up with it a daunting prospect, and it’s no less of an issue for the financial services community. Firstly, thank you to Bharadwaj and the team for inviting me to be this...
“Sticky, evolving botnet” gets top cyber experts worried about the future
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new form of modular, multi-stage malware that’s capable of infecting anything and almost everything is getting cybersecurity experts worried. A dangerous and potentially destructive new IoT malware sample has recently surfaced that for the first time this year is not just another cheap...
An immune system for the internet, new good samaritan malware surprises experts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cyber attacks are getting out of control, but evolving, roving “good samaritan” forms of malware could become the new cops of the internet and the future of cybersecurity. Security researchers have discovered a very odd new botnet that, rather than posing a threat, seems...
Unhackable “Quantum Alphabet” encryption ushers in new era in cybersecurity
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Noone likes hackers, so everyone is trying to find ways to create the ultimate unhackable system, and this breakthrough in quantum mechanics could be one of the most promising. In the wake of countless data breaches there has been a dramatic rise in the...
Estonia becomes the world’s first virtual nation capable of rebooting itself
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is showing us how ancient the concept of the traditional nation state is, and as virtual nations take shape being able to reboot them in times of war is crucial. How do you reboot an entire country? It’s an odd question, but in...
Telepathic warfare takes center stage as US military bets big on neuro tech
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s brain machine interfaces are rudimentary or require invasive surgery, this program could bring brain interfaces to the masses and be the next step in human-technological evolution. Until now the advanced and cutting edge neuroscience programs at DARPA, the self proclaimed mad science wing...
IBM boosts the speed of homomorphic encryption by 75 percent
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Homomorphic encryption gives organisations a secure and easy way to run analytics on data without having to first decrypt it, but up until now it’s been oh so slow… IBM has announced that it’s rewritten its C++ Homomorphic encryption library and claims that it...
IBM injected a virus into a neural net to create an undetectable cyberweapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Even today’s cutting edge cybersecurity products have no defence against virus laden, weaponised neural networks. It’s been a very busy few weeks in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and neural networks with the creation of the world’s first DNA neural network, and the world’s...
Hackers use data science to evade state of the art AI cybersecurity systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By figuring out what data sets cybersecurity are training their AI’s on hackers have found a way to create malware that can’t be detected. Walking around the exhibition floor at this week’s massive Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas many people were struck...
IBM finds a way to watermark AI’s to protect them from theft and sabotage
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Creating complex neural networks and AI’s takes a lot of expertise, money and resources so being able to watermark them will help protect them from theft. What if machine learning models, much like photographs, movies, music, and manuscripts, could be watermarked nearly imperceptibly to denote...
Blackhat hackers discover a way to turn satellites into “microwave weapons”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Satellites are ubiquitous and a newly discovered exploit could let hackers turn them into high frequency weapons that fry electronics on the ground. As I discussed in a recent keynote on the future of cybersecurity, even air gaps, thought to be the ultimate in...
A controversial AI can allegedly reveal your personality from just a photo
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A system that can tell a persons personality from a photo can be used to help approve loans, provide better healthcare, and create smarter surveillance solutions. In the past I’ve heard of Artificial Intelligent (AI) platforms that can, controversially, judge a persons character from...
Stopping the DIY bio-terrorists, US military embraces AI and Ginkgo Bioworks
WHY THIS MATTERS As the cost of powerful DIY gene editing kits continue to fall bioterrorism is going to be on the rise, so we need a way to defend against it. Recently I gave a talk on the “Future of Cybersecurity” in the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sector...
Futurist Keynote, Warrington: The Future of Industrial Controls Nuclear Security, Cyber Senate
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that enable the safe and efficient operation of our CNI assets are becoming increasingly smart and connected, making them more vulnerable to attack, and new technologies bring new challenges. Firstly, thanks to James for inviting me to be the keynote...
IBM joins Sovrin Foundation to give individuals back control of their data
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today there is no way you can control who uses or shares your information, despite regulations like GDPR, but Self-Soverign ID systems like this one gives users the power to control their own online information. It looks almost inevitable that Facebook will be punished,...
Reverse engineering computer chips just became ridiculously easy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Computer chips are prized assets, but now reverse engineering them and spotting state sponsored built in security “Trojans,” are easier than ever before. Peering inside semiconductor chips using X-Ray imaging isn’t new, but the technique hasn’t been especially good or easy to accomplish. New...
