Issues in ethics

A scam that defrauded Apple out of millions of dollars’ worth of iPhones has led to the convictions of two of the perpetrators, with each facing up to 20 years in jail. Haotian Sun, 33, and Pengfei Xue, 33, both Chinese nationals, were found guilty by a federal jury on Tuesday for participating in what the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia described as a “sophisticated” scheme that tricked Apple into replacing fake phones with the genuine article. Between May 2017 and September 2019, Sun, Xue, and…

Robocalls made with AI-powered voice-cloning technology have been banned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a bid to reduce fraud and election-related misinformation. The new ruling gives state attorneys general the relevant powers to take action against those behind calls using AI voice-cloning technology. In a release shared on Thursday, the FCC said the rate of such calls has risen in recent years, adding that they have the potential to “confuse consumers with misinformation by imitating the voices…

Insomniac Games Sony-owned studio Insomniac Games was hacked by a ransomware group, resulting in a leak of previously unknown details about Marvel’s Wolverine, as well as the studio and Sony’s future plans. Ransomware group Rhysida released around 1.67 terabytes of data obtained from Insomniac via a hack on Monday night, according to Cyber Daily. Reporting by Axios shows that the organization has a reputation for stealing personal information like Social Security numbers through cyberattacks on companies like…

No one wants to fall victim to ransomware, but a new report from blockchain security firm Chainalysis claims that ransomware payments could be set for a record-breaking year, with criminals raking in close to half a billion dollars just seven months into 2023. According to the analysis, ransomware payments this year have totaled $449.1 million so far. That’s $175.8 million more than this time last year, suggesting that hackers have doubled down on this method of extracting money from unfortunate victims. Sora…

If the individuals who are at the very forefront of artificial intelligence technology are commenting about the potential catastrophic effects of highly intelligent AI systems, then it’s probably wise to sit up and take notice. Just a couple of months ago, Geoffrey Hinton, a man considered as one of the “godfathers” of AI for his pioneering work in the field, said that the technology’s rapid pace of development meant that it was “not inconceivable” that superintelligent AI — considered as being superior to the human…

ChatGPT has been a polarizing invention, with responses to the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot swinging between excitement and fear. Now, a new survey shows that disillusionment with ChatGPT could be hitting new highs. According to a survey from security firm Malwarebytes, 81% of its respondents are worried about the security and safety risks posed by ChatGPT. It’s a remarkable finding and suggests that people are becoming increasingly concerned by the nefarious acts OpenAI’s chatbot is apparently capable of…

A British man who took part in a high-profile Twitter hack in 2020 was handed a five-year jail term by a New York federal court on Friday. Joseph O’Connor, 24, had pled guilty in May to four counts of computer hacking, wire fraud, and cyberstalking. He was also ordered to pay $794,000, the amount that he nabbed in the crypto crime. O’Connor was one of several men involved in the headline-grabbing ruse two years ago, which targeted more than 130 Twitter accounts, including ones belonging to politicians and celebrities…

The clumsy use of ChatGPT has landed a New York City law firm with a $5,000 fine. Having heard so much about OpenAI’s impressive AI-powered chatbot, lawyer Steven Schwartz decided to use it for research, adding ChatGPT-generated case citations to a legal brief handed to a judge earlier this year. But it soon emerged that the cases had been entirely made up by the chatbot. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel on Thursday ordered lawyers Steven Schwartz and Peter LoDuca, who took over the case from his co-worker, and…

Eyeing the increasing threat of damaging cyberattacks by hackers backed by hostile foreign states, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) on Tuesday announced the creation of the National Security Cyber Section — aka NatSec Cyber — within its National Security Division (NSD). Hackers operating out of countries like China, Russia, and North Korea seek to cause disruption across a wide range of sectors, steal government and trade secrets, spy on targets, and raise revenue via extortion. Such nefarious activities have long…

AI pioneer Yann LeCun. Jérémy Barande/Wikimedia Commons AI pioneer Yann LeCun has described talk of artificial intelligence (AI) posing an existential threat to humanity as “preposterously ridiculous.” Speaking to the BBC this week at an AI-focused event held in Paris by Meta, where he now works as the company’s chief AI scientist, Professor LeCun said: “Will AI take over the world? No, this is a projection of human nature on machines.” LeCun’s comments are in stark contrast to those made by Geoffrey Hinton and…