This week:
3 – Crypto: Losing its anonymity
2 – Cyber crime: A list of LockBit ransomware victims gets unlocked
1 – AI: Do you want a short answer or an accurate answer?
3 – Crypto: Losing its anonymity
“The European Union tightens the grip on anonymity in the crypto sector. From 2027, confidential tokens and anonymous accounts will be banned“
Source: Coin Tribune
What’s the story?
Starting in 2027, the EU will ban privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash, and prohibit financial firms from offering or managing anonymous crypto accounts, under the new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR). Identity verification will also be mandatory for all crypto transactions exceeding €1,000.
So what?
This move signifies a shift towards greater transparency in the crypto sector, making it more difficult for criminals to use cryptocurrency for money laundering (yay!) and making it more difficult for non-criminals to maintain their privacy (boo!).
2 – Cyber Crime: A list of LockBit ransomware victims gets unlocked
“The LockBit ransomware gang has suffered a data breach [and the exposed data includes a list of] targeted companies’ names”
Source: Bleeping Computer
What’s the story?
The LockBit ransomware gang recently experienced a significant breach, resulting in a copy of one of their main databases being published online. The exposed data includes over 4,400 victim negotiation chats, and detailed information on ransomware configurations and the names of companies targeted by the gang.
So what?
Even cyber attackers can suffer data breaches!
It would be an interesting exercise to compare the list of victims to the list of organisations that have reported security incidents to their regulators (e.g. Within the EU, the data protection regulators).
After all, even though an organisation can pay a ransomware gang to keep quiet about an attack, the fact that an attack has occurred means it’s likely that personal data was ‘processed’ by an unauthorised party, so the attack should probably have been reported to regulators.
1 – AI: Do you want a short answer or an accurate answer?
“Asking chatbots (like ChatGPT) for short answers to queries significantly increases the likelihood that they will [invent answers].“
Source: The AI Report
What’s the story?
A new study released by Giskard—a Paris-based company that specialises in testing AI – has found that asking for short answers to vague questions can significantly increase the likelihood of AI chatbots giving inaccurate answers. The study included popular models like ChatGPT and Claude Sonnet.
So what?
Any project managers out there will know about the ‘Project Management Triangle’ – The idea that there are 3 primary constraints in any project (Scope, Time, Cost). You can only optimise for two of them. The third one will be compromised.
It sounds like we now have an ‘AI Chatbot Triangle’: Question Precision, Answer Length, and Answer Accuracy.
If you think you can have all three, think again!