Bill of Rights for an AI-Powered World | Global Cyberpolicy Contradictions | Threats to U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems, and more
New Fentanyl Detection Standards Will Protect First Responders in the Field (DHS S&T)
One critical consequence of the widespread prevalence of synthetic opioids is the alarming frequency with which first responders, including emergency medical and law enforcement personnel at all levels, encounter them. Unknown or unexpected contact with a synthetic opioid such as fentanyl or a related compound presents a safety hazard for first responders if they are not prepared with the proper protective equipment. Reliable detection is one way the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is working to protect the nation’s first responders as they deal with the crisis on the front lines, and standards play a key role in ensuring the integrity of such vital detection equipment. Where the latter is concerned, DHS S&T is pleased to provide some breaking news.
Ransomware Summit Takeaways: Pledges to Disrupt Safe Havens, Money Laundering (David Jones, Cybersecurity Dive)
The Biden administration concluded a 30-nation virtual summit on ransomware Thursday, with a joint call to action that officials hope will gather worldwide support to crack down on malicious cyber activity and the illicit use of cryptocurrency.
The countries promised to collaborate on intelligence sharing; investigation and prosecution of criminal ransomware gangs; tracing and disruption of illegal funds transfer and money laundering; and diplomatic efforts to root out safe havens for such criminals, according to a joint statement from participating ministers and national representatives.
The meeting may further isolate ransomware havens like Russia and to a lesser extent China, industry analysts and security researchers said. But some experts are still calling for more robust, open and direct countermeasures to deter rogue nation states from using cybercriminals as geopolitical proxies.
Americans Need a Bill of Rights for an AI-Powered World (Eric Lander and Alondra Nelson, Wired)
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is developing principles to guard against powerful technologies—with input from the public.
“Our country should clarify the rights and freedoms we expect data-driven technologies to respect. What exactly those are will require discussion, but here are some possibilities: your right to know when and how AI is influencing a decision that affects your civil rights and civil liberties; your freedom from being subjected to AI that hasn’t been carefully audited to ensure that it’s accurate, unbiased, and has been trained on sufficiently representative data sets; your freedom from pervasive or discriminatory surveillance and monitoring in your home, community, and workplace; and your right to meaningful recourse if the use of an algorithm harms you.”
CIA Funding Arm Gave Encrypted App Wickr $1.6 Million (Joseph Cox, Vice)
The funding solidifies Wickr’s position as an encrypted chat platform for government agencies.
Reckoning with Global Cyberpolicy Contradictions (Robert D. Williams, Brookings)
The world’s major cyberpowers are plagued by internal contradictions in their approaches to online espionage, law enforcement, and data collection—when it comes to data access, governments want to have their cake and eat it too. The U.S. government struggles to keep its story straight on the distinction between “commercial” cyberespionage, which it decries, and the more traditional cyberspying that it accepts as a reality of international politics. Brussels is in the awkward position of asking other countries to do more to protect Europeans’ privacy rights than the EU can ask of its own member states. China’s expansive carveouts for national security and lack of checks on government surveillance call into question the meaningfulness of the PRC’s new privacy initiatives and feed global distrust. Reckoning with the challenge of digital coexistence should begin with a candid acknowledgment of these inconsistencies, if only to clarify that in the long run, the only realistic way to transcend them is through forms of legal and political restraint.
U.S. AI Workforce: Policy Recommendations (Diana Gehlhaus, Luke Koslosky, Kayla Goode, and Claire Perkins, Georgetown)
This policy brief addresses the need for a clearly defined artificial intelligence education and workforce policy by providing recommendations designed to grow, sustain, and diversify the U.S. AI workforce. The authors employ a comprehensive definition of the AI workforce—technical and nontechnical occupations—and provide data-driven policy goals. Their recommendations are designed to leverage opportunities within the U.S. education and training system while mitigating its challenges, and prioritize equity in access and opportunity to AI education and AI careers.
Ongoing Cyber Threats to U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems (CISA)
This joint advisory is the result of analytic efforts between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Security Agency (NSA) to highlight ongoing malicious cyber activity—by both known and unknown actors—targeting the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks, systems, and devices of U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems (WWS) Sector facilities. This activity—which includes attempts to compromise system integrity via unauthorized access—threatens the ability of WWS facilities to provide clean, potable water to, and effectively manage the wastewater of, their communities. Note: although cyber threats across critical infrastructure sectors are increasing, this advisory does not intend to indicate greater targeting of the WWS Sector versus others.
To secure WWS facilities—including Department of Defense (DoD) water treatment facilities in the United States and abroad—against the TTPs listed below, CISA, FBI, EPA, and NSA strongly urge organizations to implement the measures described in the Recommended Mitigations section of this advisory.
