Top of the Day
From Open-Source to All-Source: Leveraging Local Knowledge for Atrocity Prevention
(Jacqueline Geis – Just Security – 4 March 2025) The tools available to human rights researchers have expanded dramatically over the past 20 years, enabling greater remote investigative powers than ever before. Analysts in distant locations working independently, in loose collectives or for formal NGOs, can now parse social media feeds, analyze satellite imagery, and examine geographical data that were once the preserve of government intelligence agencies. As these technologies have become more readily available to a wider variety of actors, funders and governments have increasingly directed resources toward open-source investigation (OSINT) efforts, which can be launched rapidly as crises unfold and redeployed as situations change. Yet, this focus often comes at the expense of building local community networks that can provide a more varied dataset gained from proximity, lived experience, and local knowledge. Whereas OSINT efforts can be stood up immediately, such networks must be developed well before peak information demand. This process requires longer lead times and sustained financial and personnel resourcing that often stretches beyond the short-term (and frequently reactive) institutional funding timelines for crisis response. – https://www.justsecurity.org/108314/atrocity-prevention-open-source-local-knowledge/
Your Town Needs AI Experts, Not Just More GPUs
(Kevin Frazier – Lawfare – 4 March 2025) On or before July 22, the Trump administration will receive an “AI Action Plan” that could fundamentally reshape America’s technological future. To realize the goals of the January 2025 executive order on American AI leadership, this plan must prioritize a national strategy for artificial intelligence (AI) literacy—one that systematically breaks down geographic barriers to AI knowledge and creates pathways for all Americans to participate in the AI economy. Recent research led by former Department of Labor Chief Economist Jennifer Hunt reveals a troubling reality: Communities more than 125 miles from AI hotspots see 17 percent lower growth in AI-related jobs and innovation, creating widening opportunity gaps between coastal tech hubs and the rest of America. For the U.S. to maintain technological leadership, it must do more than establish AI literacy in a few centers—it demands a comprehensive approach to diffusing AI knowledge across the country, much as the Rural Electrification Administration once transformed America by spreading both electrical infrastructure and practical knowledge to communities far from urban centers. The stakes of this challenge extend beyond economic metrics to the very foundations of American competitiveness in an AI-driven future. – https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/your-town-needs-ai-experts–not-just-more-gpus
Lawmakers reintroduce children’s online privacy legislation
(Suzanne Smalley – The Record – 4 March 2025) Lawmakers on Tuesday reintroduced the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, a bill that would greatly restrict how digital platforms handle kids’ data. Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) are behind the legislation, which Markey first introduced in 2011 and has revived in every Congress since. The bill would ban targeted advertising to children and teens, mandate that companies minimize and erase personal data collected from children and teens and bar internet companies from collecting data belonging to 13- to 16-year-old users without their consent. – https://therecord.media/lawmakers-reintroduce-childrens-online-privacy-bill
Harnessing AI to Improve Access to Justice in Civil Courts
(Shana Lynch – Stanford HAI – 4 March 2025) In the United States, 20 million civil cases are filed annually. Of these, 75% involve at least one party without legal representation. David Engstrom, the LSVF Professor of Law at Stanford University and co-director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession, identifies several root causes for this low participation rate. People may struggle with time and resource costs, can’t access legal representation, find the legal process confusing, or face difficulty locating tools online. Artificial intelligence presents “massive access-widening potential,” Engstrom said during a recent seminar at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. – https://hai.stanford.edu/news/harnessing-ai-to-improve-access-to-justice-in-civil-courts
Hybrid AI and Human Red Teams: Critical to Preventing Policies from Exploitation by Adversaries
(David Bray – Stimson Center – 3 March 2025) Contrary to conventional wisdom that policymakers need only consider geopolitical implications when crafting technology policies and export controls, this assumption misses three critical points: First, the rapid pace of technological advancement means that traditional geopolitical analysis alone is insufficient. Second, the current approach to technology policy formation lacks rigorous analysis of adversaries’ capabilities that was once standard practice in national security decision-making during the Cold War era. Third, modern artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities now enable rapid identification of potential exploitation of US tech policies by adversarial nation states and nonstate actors. The new U.S. presidential administration has an opportunity to combine human expertise with AI-powered analysis to identify the potential vulnerabilities of draft tech policies before they are implemented rather than after they have been weaponized by adversaries. – https://www.stimson.org/2025/hybrid-ai-and-human-red-teams-critical-to-preventing-policies-from-exploitation-by-adversaries/
Securing Full Stack U.S. Leadership in AI
(Navin Girishankar, Joseph Majkut, Cy McGeady, Barath Harithas, and Karl Smith – Center for Strategic & International Studies – 3 March 2025) Today, the United States leads the world in generative AI. Its frontier labs set the pace in model development, U.S. firms control more than half of the world’s AI accelerators, and U.S. capital markets are poised to rapidly scale investment in data center infrastructure. Lasting U.S. advantage in AI, however, is not guaranteed. The global race for compute is intensifying as competitors—adversaries and allies alike—are maneuvering to catch up. Beyond the recent breakthrough with DeepSeek, China is building massive data centers, expanding its power sector, and developing domestic AI chips to reduce Western dependence. France aims to leverage surplus nuclear power to attract data centers and support AI research centers across the country. Japan seeks to overcome space and energy constraints by powering highly efficient data centers with idled nuclear plants. The United Arab Emirates is creating AI-focused economic zones and incentives to attract international companies, with nuclear power as part of its strategy. To stay ahead in the AI race, the United States should put meaningful distance between itself and competitors across all components of the AI stack—frontier models, data centers, advanced chips, and energy. These constitute the fundamentals of AI competitiveness. While all components are important, by far the most pressing need today is ensuring rapid access to the electricity needed to power large data centers. Simply put, failing to secure energy means surrendering U.S. leadership on AI. At stake in the United States is long-term growth and productivity, market security, and national security. – https://www.csis.org/analysis/securing-full-stack-us-leadership-ai
Governance and Legislation
From deepfake scams to biased AI: How incident reporting can help us keep ahead of AI’s harms
(Bénédicte Rispal, John Leo Tarver, Luis Aranda – OECD.AI – 4 March 2025) Whether they admit it or not, most people have a celebrity crush. Yet in real life, most fans don’t have the opportunity to be in touch with their favourite celebrities. But what if the tables were turned? What if the celebrity reached out first? Would the fan be able to resist? Last year, a woman found herself caught in a situation that seemed too good to be true—and it was. She was led to believe she had captured the attention of none other than Brad Pitt himself. Through deepfake videos and AI-generated images, she became convinced that she was interacting with the movie star. “They” got to know each other by conversing online. Then came requests for money. At first, they were small. But gradually, the demands grew larger until she had handed over 830,000 euros. By the time she realised the truth, the damage had been done. Authorities are still working to recover her funds, but the financial and emotional tolls remain. – https://oecd.ai/en/wonk/deepfake-scams-biased-ai-incidents-framework-reporting-can-keep-ahead-ai-harms
Defense, Intelligence, and Warfare
Russia Capitalizes on Development of Artificial Intelligence in its Military Strategy
(Sergey Sukhankin – The Jamestown Foundation – 3 March 2025) Russia has significantly increased its investment in artificial intelligence (AI), allocating a substantial portion of its state budget toward AI-driven military research. This funding aims to enhance Russia’s technological edge in modern warfare, particularly in AI-enabled military applications. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked the first major conflict with widespread AI use. Ukraine, supported by U.S. AI firms, successfully countered Russian forces, prompting Russia to accelerate AI integration in command systems, drones, and air defense networks. Russia’s focus and rapid development of AI has given it an advantage against Western weaponry regardless of the outcome of its invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s AI development traces back to early Soviet experiments in the 1960s. It was not after its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, however, that Russia’s military AI development accelerated. – https://jamestown.org/program/russia-capitalizes-on-development-of-artificial-intelligence-in-its-military-strategy/
Security
Suspected Iran-backed hackers target UAE with newly discovered ‘Sosano’ malware
(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record – 4 March 2025) A relatively unknown threat actor targeted several organizations in the United Arab Emirates, — including those involved in aviation, satellite communications and critical transportation infrastructure — with a newly discovered backdoor that researchers have dubbed Sosano. In an espionage campaign that started in the fall, a group tracked as UNK_CraftyCamel used a compromised email account belonging to the Indian electronics company INDIC Electronics to send malicious email messages to their victims, according to U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Proofpoint. – https://therecord.media/sosano-malware-targets-uae-iran-suspected
North Korea’s Latest ‘IT Worker’ Scheme Seeks Nuclear Funds
(Kristina Beek – Dark Reading – 4 March 2025) North Korean-linked hackers are picking up new tactics within the ongoing fake IT worker schemes, impersonating individuals trying to obtain remote employment. In the latest example, IT workers impersonate Vietnamese, Japanese, and Singaporean nationals seeking roles in engineering, and full-stack developer positions within the US and Japan. Human risk security firm Nisos is tracking the campaign, sharing that its researchers have identified six personas in the scheme, two of which have already acquired jobs and four that are still on the hunt. – https://www.darkreading.com/remote-workforce/north-korea-it-worker-scheme-nuclear-funds
North Koreans finish initial laundering stage after more than $1 billion stolen from Bybit
(Jonathan Greig – The Record – 4 March 2025) The suspected North Korean hackers behind the theft of more than $1 billion from crypto platform Bybit have completed the initial stage of laundering the funds. Experts from multiple blockchain security companies said Monday that the hackers were able to move all of the stolen ETH coins to new addresses — the first step taken before the funds can be laundered further. – https://therecord.media/north-koreans-initial-laundering-bybit-hack
Dark Caracal group might have refreshed its malware, researchers say
(Daryna Antoniuk – The Record – 4 March 2025) The hacker group Dark Caracal appears to be shifting to newer malware in an espionage campaign targeting individuals in Latin America, researchers said. Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies reported detecting 483 samples of Poco RAT in networks mostly in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Chile from June 2024 until February. Poco RAT shares distinct similarities with Bandook, the signature malware of Dark Caracal, the researchers said. – https://therecord.media/dark-caracal-hackers-poco-rat-bandook