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The ultimate embarrassment

Imagine you are a law-enforcement and security agency trusted with the safety and security of the largest superpower on the planet.

Now imagine that you got hacked by a party or parties unknown.

Would that not be the biggest imaginable embarrassment?

Well guess what?

A group calling itself "Shinyhunters" just hacked the FBI in America and got away with a trove of personal information about FBI employees.

Oh the humanity!

The information obtained includes the names, addresses, phone numbers and spouses of FBI employees.

While they were there, the hackers also defaced the FBI recruitment website.

The FBI responded by taking down the website.

In respect to the data loss, the FBI's official response is simply that it "is aware of claims regarding unauthoriszed activity affecting" the website and its data. The agency added that it "is currently investigating" the claims.

Sounds like a lot of egg on face there.

It appears that this hack is a response to an FBI advisory issued earlier this year that advised victims of "Shinyhunters" hacks not to pay the group if they were demanding ransom to prevent the release of stolen data.

This hack should send a strong warning to all governments that the collection of people's data in seemingly secure databases is perhaps not a good idea. Any sense that such information is safe from prying eyes will always be an illusion that is just one hack away from oblivion.

We see AI (sorry, "Super Intelligence) already becoming capable of hacking into supposedly secure systems with monotonous regularity so any organisation, governmental or private, that promises "your data is safe" is either naive or just plain lying.

The biggest threat to regular folks is the overt push to age-gating the internet. Governments are forcing social media and other companies to demand proof of age (ie: proof of identity) information from users. Despite claims that this data is not stored, we're seeing a never-ending list of hacks which have exposed this data, much of it ending up on the dark web.

From where I sit, nobody has a right to demand data from me until such time as they can guarantee its safety and security. No guarantee, no data.

While I'm sure many governments and companies will be happy to offer such guarantees, in order to get their hands on your data, I believe that those guarantees are worthless unless they come with some kind of agreed compensation in the event of loss. Let's say... one million dollars to each and every individual who might be affected by such a data breech, with that amount lodged in escrow with a third party.

Do you really think there'd be such an enthusiasm for data-collection then?

Keep an eye out because over the next few years you can expect to see many more, seemingly secure databses, raped and pillaged by hackers, with the data they contain held for ransom.

I'm pretty sure that governments around the world will respond by criminalising private ownership of powerful AI systems and restricting AI use to cloud-based systems that can be controlled and monitored by "the powers that be". Something as innocuous as a RTX5090 GPU may become a restricted item, available only to those who pass police and security vetting; something treated as if it were as deadly as a firearm.

Laugh if you like, but I'd lay even money on this.

Carpe Diem folks!

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