Short Takes – 4-1-24

Rapid AI-backed advancements have let bad actors craft more sophisticated deepfakes and other sham content that could sway election results, she said. NextGov.com article. Pull quote: ““Having defamatory videos about you is no fun. I can tell you that. But having them in a way that you really can’t make the distinction … [where] you have no idea whether it’s true or not — that is of a totally different level of threat,” Clinton said.” Clinton’s hardly an AI expert, but she does have an interesting take on the issue.

Ivanti-linked breach of CISA potentially affected more than 100,000 individuals. CyberScoop.com article. Pull quote: “The breach at CISA comes with important lessons, Wales said. First, the agency had an incident response plan and took action quickly as soon as it had indications of a problem. Second, CISA used information gleaned from the compromise to alert others — illustrating the value of information sharing that CISA has been campaigning for among industry.”

Can We Engineer Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis? NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “Just a few years ago, technologies like these, that attempt to re-engineer the natural environment, were on the scientific fringe. They were too expensive, too impractical, too sci-fi. But with the dangers from climate change worsening, and the world failing to meet its goals of slashing greenhouse gas emissions, they are quickly moving to the mainstream among both scientists and investors, despite questions about their effectiveness and safety.”

Bird flu infects Texas man after spreading among cattle. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Viral transmission among livestock would be a notable change in the capability of bird flu viruses, which usually transmit through direct contact with infected birds and have rarely spread successfully between mammals, according to the CDC.”