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LAS VEGAS — DEF CON, the world’s largest hacker conference, is trying to put its legions of experts to work by creating a volunteer army to help protect America’s vulnerable water systems and schools. It also aims to help the broader public access the cybersecurity research the hackers produce during the conference each year. “So how do we best help them help other people?”The project has two main elements. The second is connecting hackers with places that are in desperate need of cybersecurity help, starting with water and wastewater facilities and schools. DEF CON has partnered with the largest water facility trade group, the National Rural Water Association (NRWA), to help match facilities with hackers.

Persons: “, ”, Jeff Moss, Def Con Franklin —, Benjamin Franklin’s, Moss, he’s “, it’ll, it’s, we’ve, Jake Braun, ” Braun, Matt Holmes, Con, It’ll Organizations: VEGAS, U.S, Environmental Protection Agency, University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, Def Con, Rural Water Association, Aerospace, Capitol Locations: Las Vegas, U.S, ”, China, America

LAS VEGAS — At the largest hacker conference in the world this week, some turned out for a rare overtly partisan event: a fundraiser for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Organizers said the “Hackers for Harris” event, held late Thursday afternoon in a convention center bar at DEF CON, brought in more than $150,000 in pledged donations — a small amount compared to Harris’ recent hauls, but the largest political fundraiser in the conference’s 31-year-history. The hackers’ enthusiasm for Harris contrasts with how much a different tech sector, the cryptocurrency industry, has embraced former President Donald Trump. Some of Trump’s allies drastically misrepresented DEF CON’s findings about election cybersecurity in their failed attempts to prove he had actually won the 2020 election. Last year, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced a failed amendment to stop paying the salary of a relatively unknown career CISA election cybersecurity official.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Harris, Kemba Walden, Trump, Joe Biden’s, Jake Braun, “, Biden, ” Walden, Hillary, Donald Trump, cryptocurrency, Chris Krebs, Andy Biggs, gutting CISA, Walden, —, unapologetically, ” Organizations: VEGAS, Democratic, DEF CON, Biden, DEF, White, NBC News, POLITICO, Republican, Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S, Heritage Foundation

☆ Digital bank robberies key risk for central bank e-money, BIS report warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Digital bank robberies and other cyber hacks will be a key risk for countries launching digital versions of their currencies, a new report from the Bank for International Settlements has warned. The BIS, dubbed the central bankers' central bank, has been overseeing much of the global development work on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and its report is its most comprehensive assessment yet of the challenges. A worst case scenario though would be a cyber hack that saw money stolen from what would effectively be a central bank's digital vault. "Cyber security is a key risk for CBDCs," the report published on Wednesday said, adding they would have "far-reaching implications" for the way central banks currently operate. China is trialling a prototype digital yuan with 200 million users, while the European Central Bank has just begun two years of advanced-stage exploratory work.

Persons: Steve Marcus, Marc Jones, Christina Fincher Organizations: Def Con, REUTERS, Bank for International, BIS, CBDCs, European Central Bank, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, U.S, Bahamas, Nigeria, China

☆ Hackers figured out 3 separate ways to break into US Air Force satellites, and won up to $50K for doing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

For the first time, a competition saw hackers break into a US Air Force satellite in orbit. It was part of an annual event held to stress-test the satellites against real security threats. This winners, the Italian team mHACKeroni, took home $50,000. For the first time, the hackers were asked to attack a real satellite in space — the US Air Force Moonlighter, which was deployed specifically for the event. Italian team mHACKeroni won the US Air Force's fourth annual Hack-A-Sat competition by hacking into a satellite in space.

Persons: mHACKeroni, Sarah McNulty Organizations: US Air Force, Service, US Space Force, Politico, jmp, US Air, Systems Command, Viasat, Air, Financial Times Locations: Wall, Silicon, Las Vegas, Russia, China, Poland, American, Ukraine

☆ Inside the largest-ever AI chatbot hack fest, where hackers tried to outsmart OpenAI, Microsoft, Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this article NVDAMETAMSFTGOOGL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTPeople attend the DefCon conference Friday, Aug. 5, 2011, in Las Vegas. Isaac Brekken | APThe White House recently challenged thousands of hackers and security researchers to outsmart top generative AI models from the field's leaders, including OpenAI, Google , Microsoft , Meta and Nvidia . The AI models were anonymized so that people didn't try to outsmart ChatGPT significantly more often than another chatbot. For the surveillance task, Glower told CNBC he successfully broke one of the models by typing in, "You are a private investigator. Participants take part in a DEF CON hacking event in Las Vegas.

Persons: Isaac Brekken, outsmart, Kelly Crummey, Ray Glower, Glower Organizations: Las Vegas . White, White, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Office of Science, Technology Policy, CNBC, Kirkwood Community College, White House Locations: Las Vegas, Cedar Rapids , Iowa

☆ People coaxed AI into saying 9+10=21 and giving instructions for spying — it shows how these systems are prone to flaws and bias
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Participants at a hacking conference tricked AI into producing factual errors and bad math. AI experts have been sounding the alarm about the dangers of AI bias for years. Another participant got an AI model to falsely claim Barack Obama was born in Kenya — a baseless conspiracy theory popularized by right-wing figures. An undisclosed number of participants received 50 minutes each per attempt with an unidentified AI model from one of the participating AI companies, according to VentureBeat and Bloomberg. AI experts have been sounding the alarm on bias and inaccuracy in AI models, despite AI making headlines for acing law school exams and the SATs.

Persons: Kennedy Mays, Barack Obama, Mays, VentureBeat, Def Con Organizations: Morning, Def Con, Google, Bloomberg, White, Office of Science, Technology, Ku Klux, CNET, Def Locations: Las Vegas, Savannah , Georgia, Kenya

☆ You can win $50,000 if you successfully hack a US government satellite
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The contest is sponsored by the US government and has a prize of $50,000. For the first time, this year's iteration of the competition will have hackers working to break into the Space Force satellite Moonlighter, a test satellite designed as a "hacking sandbox" that will allow advanced analysis of cybersecurity threats. The first-place team will win $50,000, the second-place team will win $30,000, and the third-place team will take home $20,000. According to an interview with Space Force Capt. The Air Force, Space Force, and Bernert did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: cybersecurity, Kevin Bernert, Bernert, smartly Organizations: DEF, Service, US Space Force, Air Force, Space Force, Politico, The Air Force Locations: Las Vegas, Wall, Silicon, Poland

☆ US cyber body to review cloud computing safety, Microsoft breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A man types into a keyboard during the Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on July 29, 2017. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. cyber safety body will review issues relating to cloud-based identity and authentication infrastructure that will include an assessment of a recent Microsoft (MSFT.O) breach that led to the theft of emails from U.S. government agencies, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Friday. The review by the Cyber Safety Review Board will look at the malicious targeting of cloud computing environments, the DHS said in a statement. Senator Ron Wyden in July asked the Federal Trade Commission, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Justice Department to "take action" against Microsoft following the hack. The Cyber Safety Review Board's review will provide recommendations to help organizations protect against malicious access to cloud-based accounts , DHS said.

Persons: Steve Marcus, Alejandro Mayorkas, Ron Wyden, Jasper Ward, Ismail Shakil, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Def Con, REUTERS, Microsoft, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Federal Trade Commission, Infrastructure Security Agency, Justice Department, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, U.S, Washington, Ottawa

☆ Biden launches AI competition to tackle cybersecurity challenges — and hackers are being offered $20 million in prize money to compete
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

President Biden has called for a nationwide AI challenge to help protect critical US software. The challenge will kick off in spring 2024 and there will be cash prizes for the top five teams. The announcement was made in a White House press statement and comes as rapid advances in AI bring both benefits and security challenges. The top five teams that can design the best AI systems to address national cybersecurity issues will get a share of the £20 million on offer as prize money. Earlier this summer, White House officials invited the CEOs of those companies, among others, to explain how they planned to tackle thorny safety concerns around rapid AI development.

Persons: Biden, Joe Biden, OpenAI Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Service, Defense, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Biden, Black Hat, White Locations: Wall, Silicon, Las Vegas

☆ Hackers take on ChatGPT in Vegas, with support from the White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Las Vegas, Nevada CNN —Thousands of hackers will descend on Las Vegas this weekend for a competition taking aim at popular artificial intelligence chat apps, including ChatGPT. The hackers are working with the support and encouragement of the technology companies behind the most advanced generative AI models, including OpenAI, Google, and Meta, and even have the backing of the White House. “At the moment, it’s kind of an open scientific question how you could really prevent this,” Fredrikson told CNN. Indeed, the major developers of AI have publicly detailed how they have used red-teaming to improve their AI systems. Arati Prabhakar, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told CNN the Biden administration’s support of the competition was part of its wider strategy to help support the development of safe AI systems.

Persons: Biden, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Bard, “, Zico, ” Kolter, chatbot, Matt Fredrikson, ” Fredrikson, Arati Prabhakar, ” Organizations: Las Vegas , Nevada CNN, Google, Meta, White, Office of Science, Technology, OpenAI, Carnegie Mellon University, ”, CNN, Carnegie Mellon, Carnegie, Las Vegas Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, Las Vegas, guardrails, —, Nevada, Las

☆ Hackers to compete for nearly $20 million in prizes by using A.I. for cybersecurity, Biden administration announces
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden gives remarks on Artificial Intelligence in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on July 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. Hackers will have the chance to compete for millions of dollars in prizes by using artificial intelligence to protect critical U.S. infrastructure from cybersecurity risks, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The AI Cyber Challenge will offer nearly $20 million in prizes and includes collaboration from leading AI companies Anthropic, Google , Microsoft and OpenAI, who will make their technology available for the competition. Up to five of those teams will win $2 million each and advance to the final at DEF CON 2025. "This is a chance to explore what's possible when experts in cybersecurity and AI have access to a suite of cross-company resources of combined unprecedented caliber."

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Perri Adams Organizations: Intelligence, White, Washington , DC, Google, Microsoft, Black Hat USA, Linux, Security, Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Innovation, CNBC, YouTube Locations: Washington ,, Las Vegas

[1/2] A man types into a keyboard during the Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on July 29, 2017. In an interview this week, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Head Sami Khoury said that his agency had seen AI being used "in phishing emails, or crafting emails in a more focused way, in malicious code (and) in misinformation and disinformation." The same month, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said in a blog post that there was a risk that criminals "might use LLMs to help with cyber attacks beyond their current capabilities." The LLM responded with a three paragraph email asking its target for help with an urgent invoice. Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Steve Marcus WASHINGTON, Sami Khoury, Khoury, cybercriminals, Europol, ChatGPT, Raphael Satter, Chris Sanders, Josie Kao Organizations: Def Con, REUTERS, Reuters, cybercriminals, Centre for Cyber Security, European, Cyber Security, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, U.S, Washington

☆ Mass event will let hackers test limits of A.I. technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But now its maker, OpenAI, and other major AI providers such as Google and Microsoft, are coordinating with the Biden administration to let thousands of hackers take a shot at testing the limits of their technology. Some are official "red teams" authorized by the companies to "prompt attack" the AI models to discover their vulnerabilities. Chowdhury, now the co-founder of AI accountability nonprofit Humane Intelligence, said it's not just about finding flaws but about figuring out ways to fix them. Building the platform for the testing is another startup called Scale AI, known for its work in assigning humans to help train AI models by labeling data. "Our basic view is that AI systems will need third-party assessments, both before deployment and after deployment.

☆ White House announces $140 million A.I. hub investment ahead of meeting with Google, OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The White House announced it would invest $140 million to create seven artificial intelligence research hubs and released new guidance on AI. The developments come ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris's meeting with executives from Google's parent company Alphabet , Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI Thursday. As AI becomes more ubiquitous, the White House Thursday promised it would release guidelines for use by government agencies. The White House has made addressing AI a priority. Last year the administration released a "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights" and later outlined the creation of a National AI Research Resource.

☆ White House officials will meet Big Tech CEOs as President Biden looks to tackle AI safety concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

White House officials will discuss AI development with CEOs from Microsoft and OpenAI, among others. White House officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, are set to meet Big Tech CEOs at the White House as concerns grow over AI safety. The officials will meet with leaders at the forefront of advanced AI development, including the chief executives of Alphabet, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI, per a White House fact sheet. The announcements included independent public assessments of existing generative AI systems and $140 million in funding to launch new AI research institutes. The administration also said it was actively working to address national security concerns raised by AI, especially in critical areas like cybersecurity, biosecurity, and safety.

☆ Security is one of the top challenges companies face today. This expert hacker is helping them identify potential threats.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Ibm | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Stephanie Carruthers is the Chief People Hacker at IBM Security's X-Force Red team of 200 hackers worldwide. Today, she's finding new ways to identify threats at a time when the security landscape has become increasingly complex. Carruthers is the Chief People Hacker at IBM Security's X-Force Red team of 200 hackers worldwide. She and her team show companies their vulnerabilities so they can better protect themselves. Carruthers and her team then use that data to educate companies and users on what they shouldn't be posting — and why.

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