TechRisk Notes#28: EU's plan on quantum cybersecurity risk
Plus, WormGPT for the dark side, LLMs performance may worsen over time, Twitter account of Web3 companies compromised, Quantum resistant ledger
EmergingTech Spotlight
AI risk: Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala, an AI authority who now serves as Ivanti's CPO, shared his concerns over AI. He expressed concerns over bias and transparency of AI, as it could create inequality that “we've never seen in our lifetimes”. He also noted how AI could “advance the enemy's capability”. The speed of launching a cyber attack that could be shorten from “40 days” to “within two seconds” when using AI. [more]
Evil LLM: WormGPT - a ChatGPT alternative without ethical boundaries or limitations. The developer of WormGPT is selling its access to help hackers create malware and phishing attacks. [more]
LLM performance issue: Researchers at Stanford University and University of California-Berkeley have published a paper which found that the “performance and behavior” of OpenAI’s ChatGPT large language models (LLMs) have changed between March and June 2023. The researchers concluded that their tests revealed that LLMs performance on some tasks have gotten substantially worse over time. [more][more-paper]
Smart building risks - Modern building system or smart building technologies are likley to bring many benefits in terms of improved energy efficiency, sustainability, and improved occupant experience. But these systems also introduce new vulnerabilities that can be attractive to malicious actors seeking to launch cyberattacks. [more]
CISA free Cloud tools: CISA published a list of tools that would help businesses transitioning into a cloud environment identify proper tools and techniques necessary for the protection of critical assets and data security. [more]
Quantum risk: European Policy Center urged Euporean Union (EU) to establish a quantum cybersecurity agenda, including to share information and best practices in post-quantum cryptography, to push for cryptography agility, and to ensure a harmonized quantum transition to tackle quantum cybersecurity threats. [more][more-EPCpaper]
Quantum on digital payment: Quantum technology, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), is rapidly transforming digital payments by providing enhanced security for trusted parties. Despite challenges in handling transactions with untrusted parties, the potential use of quantum light in digital payments holds promise for secure purchases and safeguarding customer data, driving the future of quantum secure payments. [more]
Web3 Cryptospace Spotlight
Conic Finance hacked: 21 Jul - DeFi protocol Conic Finance lost approximately $3.2M due to reentrancy attack on its ETH liquidity pool. A reentrancy attack allows an attacker to drain funds of a vulnerable contract by repeatedly calling the withdraw function before it updates its balance. [more]
Twitter accounts taken over: Twitter account of Web3 platforms PleasrDAO and Shell Protocol were taken over by scammers who used them to published malicious links such as, fake airdrops to their followers. [more]
US regulation: United States (US) Congress will be looking into crypto regulation bill that would equate regulation of DeFi to a bank. On a separate note, US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Gary Gensler, was looking to have an extra $109 million for his agency’s enforcement budget to regulate the crypto markets.
Web3 security firm got certified: CertiK, a provider of blockchain and smart contract security solutions, announced that it has become the first Web3 security auditing firm to achieve SOC II certification. [more]
Quantum resistant ledger: The Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL) on MEXC, a secure, reliable digital asset exchange, will be the first to offer a post-quantum secure cryptocurrency that is backed by recommended NIST/NSA post-quantum cryptography. [more]
The QRL's signature scheme, XMSS, is protected from the fundamental and functionally unfixable security flaws of traditional coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum.