Schmidt Versus Thiel May Be a Proxy for Google Trying Catch Up with Palantir
May 3, 2020
You will need to read the very, very long PR fest in the New York Times. I won’t do much with this story, so you will have to find the dead tree edition or pay to play to read “I Could Solve Most of Your Problems: Eric Schmidt’s Pentagon Offensive.” Yeah, hubris.
The headline does the job. But what’s with the PR push from the former CEO of Novell and then a similar job at Google.
But Google fired the Department of Defense. The current administration left Mr. Schmidt in his committee roles as the administration of Mr. Trump raced forward. Who accompanied him on his technology sprint? The Google, nope. The driver of the Bezos bulldozer? Not a chance.
Who then? Peter Thiel, the high profile Silicon Valley whiz, investor in Palantir Technologies and, probably as interesting, Anduril, a forward-leaning outfit engaged in primary data capture and action-oriented outputs for operators. Anduril, you say? Yes, I say.
Several items to keep in mind as this story wends its way through the pundit-verse:
- Mr. Trump is president, and he seems comfortable with the Palantir Technologies’ solutions
- Mr. Trump seems okay with Mr. Thiel
- Google dumped Maven and has been Googley in numerous US government endeavors. (This is nothing new because the behavior surfaced in the early days of the Mountain View tornado. Remember the objection regarding the FirstGov.gov contract award? Remember Mr. Brin’s wearing sparkly sneakers and a sporty T shirt to meetings with elected officials?)
Net net: Big PR coup and “real news” from the New York Times. The reality is that the the “real news” story is about Googler and the Google appear to be trying to regain traction—Traction lost with certain interesting behaviors. The problem is that the road to the White House has been subjected to abuse by the dozer tracks of other companies trying to reach the Valhalla of big money, multi year contracts. Googzilla my struggle for purchase where it counts. The NYT’s “real news” story may not be what Mr. Schmidt needs.
Stephen E Arnold, May 3, 2020
Banjo: Pressured into Playing a Sad Tune
May 1, 2020
DarkCyber has noted NSO Group’s PR challenge. That low profile provider of policeware is tangled in litigation with Facebook. Years ago Geofeedia made headlines and never quite bounced back.
Policeware and intelware vendors traditionally have operated with a low profile. Most of the vendors offer a “contact” option, but the vendors respond only if the person wanting contact is a “legitimate” actor.
Banjo was no different. Two inquiries DarkCyber made were ignored. Now information about Banjo is plentiful. Deseret News reports that Banjo has ceased operations. The New York Post (hardly a bellwether for the policeware/intelware sector) reports “Banjo App CEO Damien Patton Reportedly Has KKK Past, Helped in Synagogue Shooting”. This article recycles the original report from Medium on April 28, 2020. Even the “real news” outfit Boing Boing jumped on the story.
What’s interesting is that SoftBank invested $100 million in the Banjo outfit. Its due diligence failed to make a connection between Mr. Patton’s past and his role as a policeware/intelware startup. Did SoftBank rely on the same professionals which assisted Hewlett Packard in its assessment of Autonomy?
Several observations:
- PR can have a major impact on a policeware/intelware vendor. This is an important point because dozens of specialist vendors primarily chasing LE and intel contracts are doing more marketing. Is Madison Avenue the right street to take.
- SoftBank has to figure out what to do with Banjo. DarkCyber assumes that other investors will be doing some thinking as well. Is there a way forward for the company.
- The “reason” for missing the bus with regard to Mr. Patton’s biography is a misspelling. That’s quite an interesting assertion. Shouldn’t an investigator, analyst, or researcher note that court documents still have Mr. Patton’s last name spelled correctly. Is “good enough” research the new normal?
Net net: There is good PR and bad PR. Which category does the tale of the misspelling tell?
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Enterprise Search Craziness: Destiny Adjacency
May 1, 2020
The enterprise search vendors are not to blame. The finger of ineptitude writes boldly:
Enterprise Search Market each qualitative and quantitative records analysis to provide an overview of the destiny adjacency around Enterprise Search Market for the forecast duration, 2020-2025.
You can read the original at this link. Enterprise search has tried a number of snappy phrases to make a utility the potent heart of a 21st century enterprise; for example:
- Semantic meaning
- Natural language processing
- Artificial intelligence
- Precision, recall, and relevance. Yikes, delete those loser words.
DarkCyber believes that “destiny adjacency” is the all-time leader in the meaningless baloney fest that is pulled into the orbit of enterprise search.
Yep, “destiny adjacency”. Maybe a T shirt? A tattoo?
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Policeware and Intelware: Change Underway, Pushback Likely
April 29, 2020
Law enforcement and intelligence are tricky subjects. For decades, the work of government employees and the specialized firms supporting sensitive operations have worked to stay out of the headlines. The spotlight was for rock stars and movie icons, not for investigators, security, and intelligence professionals.
Most of the companies in what I call the policeware and intelware markets have to and prefer to work with people who have been in their foxhole. The result has been the equivalent of a stealth market sector. The clients — traditionally government agencies — like the low profile approach as well. Many of the activities of these professionals and the firms supporting their operations are in a position of considerable risk.
But that seems to be changing. Recent examples include:
Cellebrite’s Covid campaign. The idea is that specialized mobile phone analysis tools can assist with the pandemic. You can read about this in “Cellebrite Pitching iPhone Hacking Tools As a Way to Stop COVID-19.”
A lone wolf employee. You can learn that the NSO Group finds itself in the middle of another PR issue. You can read about this challenge in “NSO Employee Abused Phone Hacking Tech to Target a Love Interest.”
A little known past of a high profile innovator. The somewhat unusual company Banjo finds itself in the spotlight over the allegations made about the firm’s founder. You can read about this in “CEO of Surveillance Firm Banjo Once Helped KKK Leader Shoot Up a Synagogue.”
These examples — if accurate and verifiable — suggest that Silicon Valley attitudes have penetrated the developers of policeware and intelware.
The majority of the companies providing specialized services are probably operating in a reasonably responsible way. Today policeware and intelware have become a multi billion dollar a year market. Most people will never encounter outfits with names like Elbit, Gamma or iCarbon X, and hundreds of others.
The fact is that the behaviors of a small number of companies is causing the policeware and intelware vendors to become the stuff of the talking heads on televised news programs, the launch pad for tweets and blog posts, and a source of embarrassment for the government entities relying on these companies and their products.
What troubles DarkCyber is that an increasing number of vendors of specialized services have realized that many government functions cannot operate without their expertise, products, and engineering. Consequently, what I call “high school science club management” has pushed aside the traditional methods of generating revenue.
Now policeware and intelware vendors offer podcasts, assuming that investigators and intelligence professionals have the time and interest to listen to marketing information about the latest and greatest in graph generation, analytics, and visualization.
There are experts who want to build their own book and training businesses. In the last three days, I have received a half dozen email blandishments to attend this free webinar or download that list of OSINT tools.
What’s next?
Google online advertising to get me to license Blackdot, Qwarie, and Vesper technology?
Here’s the problem:
There are too many companies chasing available policeware and intelware dollars. Established vendors capture the significant projects; for example, Darpa awarded a hefty machine learning contract to BAE Systems, one of the go-to vendors of advanced technology to defense, law enforcement, and intelligence entities.
But every dominant vendor like BAE Systems, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of smaller firms vying to contract. These smaller firms usually work within the procedures which began taking shape in World War II, largely influenced by countries like Britain and several others.
The new companies appear to support the Facebook- and Google-type approach to business. From move fast and break things to digital misdirection, the approach to generating revenue from LE and intel related products and services is shifting. Forget the low profile, off the radar approach. Today it is big trade show booths, podcasts, videos, webinars, and increasingly Madison Avenue style marketing.
Not surprisingly, the three examples cited in this essay are quite different. Cellebrite is virtue signaling. NSO Group is struggling with a lone wolf action. Banjo is dealing with a founder’s youthful dalliance with distasteful activities.
It is indeed risky to generalize. Nevertheless, something is happening within the policeware and intelware market sector. I cannot recall a cluster of news events about LE and intel service providers which startle and surprise in a triple tap moment.
Is there a fix? I want to be positive. Other firms in this sector have an opportunity to assess what their staff are doing with products and services of a quite special nature. Like the nuclear industry, great management effort is needed on an ongoing basis to ensure that secrets remain secret.
The nuclear industry may not be perfect. But at this moment in time, policeware and intelware vendors may want to examine the hiring, management, and institutional approaches in use for decades.
Regulation may be useful, but policeware and intelware is a global activity. Self-control, ethical behavior, and tight management controls are necessary. Easy to say but tough to do because of the revenue pressure many of these vendors face. Plus, outsourcing means that government agencies often cannot do their work without third party support. There is a weird symbiosis visible today: Funding sources, technologists, enforcement officers, procurement professionals, and managers with an MBA.
Bad actors love these revelations. Each item of information that reveals capabilities, weaknesses, and methodologies helps those who would undertake criminal or deleterious activities.
Unless the vendors themselves button up, the unmentionables will be exposed and flap in the wind.
Stephen E Arnold, April 29, 2020
IBM and Ethical AI: Are Wrong Answers Acceptable? But What Is Incorrect?
April 28, 2020
IBM can be surprising. A new president, the fizzle of IBM Watson’s Houston cancer initiative, and the blaming of the firm’s financial woes on Covid19.
Have these issues dampened IBM’s taste for grandstanding?
“IBM’s Pandemic Plan: Supercomputing, New Inventions and Tracking Employees” illustrates what may be the company’s fresh, new approach to becoming really, really relevant.
According to the write up, IBM signed the Pope’s call for AI Ethics. The IBM executive tapped to be the thought leader for ethics, a murky, contentious Philosophy 101 concept, is John Kelly III, an executive charged with making the IBM Watson Health unit perform like a Seal Team 6 professional.
Here are a couple of observations Mr. Kelly made in an interview, which comprise the core of the article cited above:
Here’s one about the value of AI, supercomputing, and great leadership:
We said, “Here’s more compute power than anybody’s ever had access to, for free: Go find solutions to the problems.” They told us that the rate of discovery is just off the charts.
The only hitch in the git along is that none of the AI wizards, including IBM’s and its computing power, has delivered a fix for the virus. In fact, the lack of tangible results makes the virtue signaling claims of IBM and others look silly.
How about this statement?
The trouble is that when you lift the hood, everybody’s reporting it in a different way. We used artificial intelligence two to four times a day to scrape all of their data, which is in different formats — sometimes it’s an Excel file, sometimes it’s a PDF, sometimes it’s a handwritten piece of paper — we scrape it, and then we post it, just like we post a weather map. We post a coronavirus map by county in the U.S.
The problem is that one of the more useful methods of displaying virus-related data comes from Avi Schiffmann, a teenager in Seattle, developed NCoV2019.live. Also the founders of Instagram have delivered Rt Covid 19, which is quite useful. Neither service has supercomputers, Watson, or the Weather Channel to help. Maybe IBM should hire these people? The bottom-line is that IBM can do sort of what social media innovators and a high school junior did. Come on, IBM.
I circled this IBM statement in yellow:
We’ve taken the position that it has to be an opt-in. We should not — based on those ethical principles from the Vatican — track people’s locations, and I should not try to find out that you were next to Adam last Tuesday night, for example. It’s not ethical.
Maybe Mr. Kelly has not read the email about IBM’s cyber division, checked out the Analyst Notebook feature set, or probed into the IBM CyberTap system? DarkCyber wonders, “Are there different definitions of ethics for each unit of IBM?”
And, finally, this statement is intriguing:
The coronavirus, as bad as it is, it’s not Ebola, as an example.
With research data in flux, it is interesting to consider why an IBM VP would offer this clear differentiation. What other distinctions can IBM draw between Covid19 and Ebola? In fact, what did IBM do in the midst of the Ebola outbreaks?
Is IBM ethical? Just ask one of the professionals over 55 RIFFed in the last few years? Is Watson ethical if it outputs incorrect or misleading information about a cancer protocol? Is it ethical to buy back stock to put a shine on a pick up truck designed to deliver mainframes?
Let’s go back to the teen in Seattle. Maybe he could be hired to put IBM Watson to work?
Stephen E Arnold, April 28, 2020
Another Low Profile, Specialized Services Firm Goes for Mad Ave Marketing
April 25, 2020
Investigative software firm ShadowDragon looks beyond traditional cyber-attacks in its latest podcast, “Cyber Cyber Bang Bang—Attacks Exploiting Risks Within the Physical and Cyber Universe.” The four-and-a-half-minute podcast is the fourth in a series that was launched on April second. The description tells us:
“Truly Advanced Persistent attacks where physical exploitation and even death are rarely discussed. We cover some of this along with security within the Healthcare and Government space. Security Within Healthcare and government is always hard. Tensions between information security and the business make this harder. Hospitals hit in fall of 2019 had a taste of exploitation. Similarly, state governments have had issues with cartel related attackers. CISO’s that enable assessment, and security design around systems that cannot be fully hardened can kill two birds with one stone. Weighing authority versus influence, FDA approved equipment, 0day discovery within applications. Designing security around systems is a must when unpatchable vulnerabilities exist.”
Hosts Daniel Clemens and Brian Dykstra begin by answering some questions from the previous podcast then catch up on industry developments. The get into security challenges for hospitals and government agencies not quite halfway through.
A company of fewer than 50 workers, ShadowDragon keeps a low profile. Created “by investigators for investigators,” its cyber security tools include AliasDB, MalNet, OIMonitor, SocialNet, and Spotter. The firm also supports their clients with training, integration, conversion, and customization. ShadowDragon was launched in 2015 and is based in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Cynthia Murrell, April 13, 2020
Virus-Inspired Virtue Signaling by Attention Hungry AI Developers
April 22, 2020
An article at HackerNoon describes several uses of AI that have an impact on society—some that went very wrong and some that are going quite right. It ponders “The Future of Artificial Intelligence: To Kill or To Heal?” The article covers the issue of biased AI, using the example of the US criminal justice system. It also discusses the resistance in most countries to governments’ use of facial recognition software. While China’s use of the technology to control its citizens has been largely (and rightly) decried, the write-up asserts it has been very useful in containing the spread of the novel coronavirus in that country. See the article for details. AI has also been helping address the pandemic through the use of machine learning to track disease around the globe. We’re told:
“BlueDot is an AI platform that uses NLP and machine learning to track infectious diseases across the globe. It does this by employing algorithms that rapidly browse a multitude of sources. The algorithms are designed to flag early signs of epidemics. In the last weeks of December 2019, the platform recognized a cluster of ‘unusual pneumonia’ diagnoses in Wuhan, China. A little over a week later, the World Health Organization (WHO) came out with an official statement on the existence of a ‘novel coronavirus’ in a patient in Wuhan. BlueDot isn’t the only AI that can flag areas of concern across thousands of sources. Alibaba, a global E-commerce powerhouse, created StructBERT, which is powered by NLP models. The models are capable of processing viral gene-sequences at a fast rate, as well as screening proteins. Alibaba has put the platform to use in the fight against COVID-19. It is freely available to researchers and scientists who can use the information and technology to speed the development of vaccines.”
Then there is the search for a cure. One recent paper describes a machine learning model from Deargen, a firm out of South Korea. The model has identified four possible antiviral meds that might just mitigate COVID-19. Another paper, this one from Hong Kong’s Insilico Medicine, reveals that firm’s AI platform is busy modeling thousands of novel molecules in the hope of turning up one that can disrupt the virus’ replication.
Keep in mind that there are more AI solutions solving virus problems than DarkCyber can monitor. It is easier to count wonky infection data than get AI to deliver more than lists of probables to investigate.
Cynthia Murrell, April 22, 2020
Virtue Signaling in a Difficult Time
April 21, 2020
I have noticed a number of stories about companies working to keep the current virus at bay. Some are interesting; for example, Johns Hopkins University rolled out its dashboard early in the game. Interesting, right? The approach illustrates how dashboards of data deliver a bird’s eye view of a data set. The Johns Hopkins’ approach omits some data; for example, the rate of doubling per sector, demographic data, and controls to present the data in different graphs. DarkCyber has some questions about the service, but let’s set those aside. The Johns Hopkins’ dashboard scores a 7 on the virtue signaling scale created by the DarkCyber team in a 10 minute Zoom call. DarkCyber is thorough.
How do other virtue signaling services stack up on our scale, with 1 being the most limited and 10 representing a home run data service.
- Elon Musk and his ventilators. According to the Sacramento Bee, the ventilators never arrived. The PR did, however. Mr. Musk asserts he has delivered. The score is 1.
- Google stepped forward and offered virus donations. Sounds good, and Vox reported the generous offer. But wait! Millions in cash? Nope, ad credits. Virtue signaling score: 2.
- IBM created a variation on the Johns Hopkins’ dashboard. The twist to the IBM service was that as one clicked down to a state and then a country, the Big Blue service does not make it easy to back out and look at other data. There’s a work around, of course, but the mainframe crowd seems to shine when it comes to usability and medical information. Virtue signaling score: 2.
What outfit gets a 10? None so far.
There are other examples of virtue signaling, but the message is clear: Seize an opportunity to promote one’s company.
Here’s a virus test quiz:
- What service provides demographic data about those diagnosed with the virus?
- What service breaks down the demographics of those who died from the subsequent downstream effects of the virus?
- Within clusters of deaths, what are the zip codes of the deceased?
Give up. The big dashboard producers are following Elon Musk’s approach: Don’t do the work.
Virtue signaling is a big PR and marketing trend. Good enough as some say.
Stephen E Arnold, April 21, 2020
A Cheerleading Routine for AI
April 3, 2020
We have come across a good example of cheerleading with minimal facts. Rah rah for AI, cries the SmartData Collective in their write-up, “Experts Debunk the Biggest Myths About AI in Business.” Writer Sean Mallon begins by noting how fast the AI market is growing, which is indeed to be expected given recent developments (and hype). He declares the growth is due to businesses that comprehend how powerful a tool AI is. He writes:
“Companies are now increasing the adoption of this technology in a range of different industries, which covers diverse sectors such as healthcare, finance, marketing and more. Through the incorporation of AI, industries have seen major shifts in how they run. While the true potential of AI is now being recognized by businesses from all different sectors, many myths have floated around causing skepticism and unnecessary fear over this transformative technology. If AI is to reach its true potential in businesses across all industries, it’s important to explore, and further debunk, these common misconceptions.”
The piece magnanimously helps any reluctant companies see the light by deflating these “myths:” that AI steals jobs, that AI is hard to integrate, and, most dastardly, that AI may be unnecessary. On that last point, Mallon asserts:
“This is perhaps one of the biggest myths currently circulating around industries today, limiting businesses from unlocking their true potential. AI technology is increasingly becoming a part of daily life, especially in the business sector, boosting its productivity and furthering its growth and success. Companies everywhere are using AI to gain a competitive advantage, helping their business to work smarter and faster than those around them.”
For some, I’m sure that is the case; for others, not so much. Business is just too complex for such absolutes. As always, the best bet is to ignore the hype, know your organization’s needs and the capabilities of available software, and mix and match accordingly.
Cynthia Murrell, April 3, 2020
A Cheerleading Routine for AI
April 2, 2020
We have come across a good example of cheerleading with minimal facts. Rah rah for AI, cries the SmartData Collective in their write-up, “Experts Debunk the Biggest Myths About AI in Business.” Writer Sean Mallon begins by noting how fast the AI market is growing, which is indeed to be expected given recent developments (and hype). He declares the growth is due to businesses that comprehend how powerful a tool AI is. He writes:
“Companies are now increasing the adoption of this technology in a range of different industries, which covers diverse sectors such as healthcare, finance, marketing and more. Through the incorporation of AI, industries have seen major shifts in how they run. While the true potential of AI is now being recognized by businesses from all different sectors, many myths have floated around causing skepticism and unnecessary fear over this transformative technology. If AI is to reach its true potential in businesses across all industries, it’s important to explore, and further debunk, these common misconceptions.”
The piece magnanimously helps any reluctant companies see the light by deflating these “myths:” that AI steals jobs, that AI is hard to integrate, and, most dastardly, that AI may be unnecessary. On that last point, Mallon asserts:
“This is perhaps one of the biggest myths currently circulating around industries today, limiting businesses from unlocking their true potential. AI technology is increasingly becoming a part of daily life, especially in the business sector, boosting its productivity and furthering its growth and success. Companies everywhere are using AI to gain a competitive advantage, helping their business to work smarter and faster than those around them.”
For some, I’m sure that is the case; for others, not so much. Business is just too complex for such absolutes. As always, the best bet is to ignore the hype, know your organization’s needs and the capabilities of available software, and mix and match accordingly.
Cynthia Murrell, April 2, 2020
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