Bill Marczak joins David Biderman on Decrypted Unscripted to discuss why he focuses on nation-state use of big data analysis as well as more targeted surveillance. He tells the story of his work with Bahraini activist Ahmed Mansoor, how he determined he was being targeted by Pegasus spyware, and how that prompted Bill’s subsequent work with Amnesty International. Bill also gives his tips on how to tell if your phone has been hacked and why it’s so difficult to prevent.

Bill is a senior research fellow at Citizen Lab, a co-founder of Bahrain Watch, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. His work focuses on novel technological threats to internet freedom, including new censorship and surveillance tools, and his expertise is in internet scanning and conducting digital investigations. Coverage of his work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Washington Post, on CNN, and on “Larry King Live.”
https://citizenlab.ca/author/bmarczak/

With the recent attacks on the Colonial Pipeline and JBS Food, ransomware has become a serious national security issue. Join Dominique Shelton Leipzig and David Biderman in a discussion with Philip Reiner about the critical importance of establishing basic internet security standards. Phillip believes that our neglect in this area has been inexplicable if not inexcusable, and describes how his Institute for Security and Technology was asked to support the Ransomware Task Force to address the critical need for improving basic cybersecurity standards.

Philip Reiner is the chief executive officer of the Institute for Security and Technology. His decades of experience in technology and international security include a position as President Obama’s Senior Director for South Asia on the National Security Council staff. While serving in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Pentagon, he received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service.

https://securityandtechnology.org/

Anja Shortland joins Dominique Shelton Leipzig and David Biderman to discuss how the underground ransomware ecosystem functions and why cybersecurity experts have created a scale to define the reliability of information hostage-takers. She outlines some of the simple data protections that companies can follow to comply with President Biden’s executive order and shares how cyber insurance helps or hinders real-life information safety.

Anja is a professor of political economy at King’s College London, specializing in the economics of crime. She studies private governance in the world’s trickiest markets—hostages, fine art, and antiquities—and how people live, trade, and invest in complex and hostile territories. Although her work is often based on data analysis, it cuts across disciplinary boundaries, adopting techniques and insights from sociology, engineering, geography, politics, international relations, and economics.

Join Dominique Shelton Leipzig and Los Angeles Police Commission President Eileen Decker in an illuminating perspective on the Commission’s use of automated license plate reader (APLR) technology. This technology was discussed by NYU Professor Barry Friedman, founder of the NYU Policing Project. The NYU Policing Project brings together stakeholders, business representatives, police departments, and the community to tackle the technology-driven issues at the intersection of public safety and social justice. Eileen responds to questions raised in Episode 30 and discusses balancing the use of technology in policing with fairness and privacy. Eileen provides a different, and perhaps complementary, perspective from Professor Friedman’s take on license plate reading practices in Los Angeles. Listen and we will let you decide!

Join Dominique Shelton Leipzig and David Biderman in their fascinating conversation with New York University Law School Professor Barry Friedman, as he discusses his work founding the Policing Project. The Policing Project brings together stakeholders, business representatives, police departments, and the community to tackle the technology-driven issues at the intersection of public safety and social justice. Professor Friedman addresses solutions-driven approaches to policing issues created by the over collection and under collection of data. He also addresses the technology around license plate reading practices in Los Angeles, followed by a differing perspective from LA Police Commission President Eileen Decker.

NYU Policing Project https://www.policingproject.org/
Transparency Act https://www.policingproject.org/transparency-statute
Use of Force https://www.policingproject.org/use-of-force

Join Dominique and David and their guests Howard Wu and Sina Kian of Aleo. Howard and Sina care about privacy and the dangers of blockchain transparency. They describe how they have used Zero Knowledge Proof to change the way transactions on blockchain are verified so that the verification can be done privately—not only protecting the users’ personal data but dramatically extending the design space for applications. They tell us how this has profound implications for the internet of the future—Internet 3.0. These guys are super smart—Howard collaborated with prominent academics from Berkley and Cornell to publish the breakthrough paper on Zero Knowledge Proof, Zexe: Enabling Decentralized Private Computation. Sina is also extremely impressive as he went from law school and a clerkship for Chief Justice Roberts to a becoming a blockchain entrepreneur. Hear them discuss blockchain, privacy, and Internet 3.0, as well as the development of cryptocurrency and their goals to create a compliance regime and technology that structurally protects the consumer. This is dense and heady and big-time important as cryptocurrency evolves and blockchain technology assumes increasing significance in our lives.
You can find the paper at this link:

https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/962.pdf

Join Dominique and David as they speak with Gillian Tett, Chair of the Editorial Board and Editor-at-Large US of the Financial Times, about her new book, Anthro-Vision which describes vividly how big data cannot solve all problems and in fact creates blinders and biases that can be uncovered with an anthropological lens. Gillian is no slouch. She predicted the 2008 financial crisis based on her studies of the tribal customs of high yield mortgage bond traders. She also is also the co-founder of FT Moral Money, a twice weekly newsletter that was way ahead of its time in tracking the ESG revolution in business. We could go on about her other books (see Silo Effect) and awards (including being named as one of the World’s Top 50 Thinkers). We had a great time discussing the privacy issues, including the barter system where consumers trade data for web based services, and how Gillian transformed herself from a bohemian anthropologist to one of the most forceful voices in the financial services industry.

Kurtis Minder is the founder and CEO of GroupSense. He is one of very few with significant experience negotiating with the “bad guys” during ransomware attacks. GroupSense offers digital risk protection from threats across all environments, and Kurtis himself has over 20 years of information security experience spanning operations, design, and business development. He has successfully guided the company in developing an innovative approach to cyber intelligence.

Kurtis joins Dominique Shelton Leipzig and David Biderman on the Decrypted Unscripted podcast to discuss how GroupSense’s team of cyberspies knows how to find where the bad guys are operating and work with clients to protect their data. He describes in detail how he became the “go-to” ransomware negotiator in the country. He also explains the dark web and how it helps criminals steal information and shares why his team has seen a steady increase in threat actors accessing data remotely over the last 12 months.

Kurtis was featured in an article in The New Yorker, titled “How to Negotiate with Ransomware Hackers,” on 6/7/2021. You can find the article here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/how-to-negotiate-with-ransomware-hackers

In this conversation, Dominique and David talk with cybersecurity expert Vinu Nair who works for one of the world’s largest cyber insurers. Vinu discusses not only the trends for preventing cyberattacks, but also what companies can do today to prevent future damage to their brand and value. The conversation covers the importance of cyber for corporate leaders in the C-suite and the boardroom, as well as recent ransomware attacks on critical targets like Colonial Pipeline, healthcare systems, and food supply. There is also a robust discussion regarding the role governments can/will play in the fight against ransomware and cybercrimes that are threatening societal structures.

CSI meets CCPA and you will love it. Dr. Mason is a world leader in genetic mapping and genomics and professor of Physiology and Biophysics, and Computational Genomics at Weill Cornell Medical College. He talks about the privacy of your personal genetic code and ways that can be protected. As Chris says, without protections “Once your dna code is out there, it is out there” and if you have had some episodes in life you would sooner forget, don’t pass along your DNA for testing. He also talks about the critical role genomics has played in tracking and fighting the COVID virus and the development of the first two COVID vaccines. Listen as Chris talks about genetics for tracking serial killers, mapping the genes in subway systems, and his genetic work on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Also, check out Chris’ supercool new book about modifying our genes so we can survive on other planets, “The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds"
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/next-500-years