iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

GAO has a new report about how agencies gave DOGE staffers vast access to sensitive data and largely refused to verify to GAO that proper security controls were in place. The most remarkable part is the agencies' displays of pique & rancor toward GAO for asking questions. www.gao.gov/assets/gao-2...

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FBI Announces ShinyHunters Arrest

FBI publishes video addressed to the ShinyHunters gang that hacked it. Announcing recent arrest of alleged SH leader, FBI cyber division chief says, "You know how to find us, and we know how to find you. I suggest you reach out first while the choice is still yours." www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxLN...

youtube.com

YouTube video by FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation

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"The memo ... instructed employees to remain vigilant at home and at work, report any unsolicited contacts or threats, avoid answering calls from unknown numbers and set up voice mail accounts with A.I.-generated voices." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...

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OpenAI has apologized to Australia over the autonomous hacks, saying it "should have shared preliminary findings sooner and kept Australian agencies updated as more facts emerged." It's promising to do better. "We intend to make this right." openai.com/index/how-we...

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"[F]or many in China, those doomsday warnings feel remote and distinctly Western. The idea that the ruling Communist Party could lose control over a technology is almost unfathomable." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/w...

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TrendAI put out an interesting report recently about how super-niche AI tools in critical infrastructure are a security risk because they're not getting vetted with the level of scrutiny that major AI products receive. www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ai-apps...

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Critical Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Exploited in Citrix NetScaler ADC, Gateway | CISA

Heads up for Citrix customers: CISA is amplifying the vendor's urgent warnings about a series of vulnerabilities in NetScaler security products. www.cisa.gov/news-events/... CISA says it has intelligence showing that "threat actors are actively exploiting these vulnerabilities globally."

cisa.gov

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Scoop: Top AI companies probing tens of thousands of security incidents

"The sheer number of incidents, which occurred in recent months in internal testing and the real world, indicates that the problem is orders of magnitude more complex than what is publicly known." www.axios.com/2026/09/26/o...

axios.com

The massive scale of security incidents points to control problems for AI companies.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 27/09/2026

I don't know that we need another Skywalker Saga trilogy, but if Daisy Ridley's involved, I'm interested. www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general...

hollywoodreporter.com

‘Star Wars’: Jon Watts to Direct Next Movie for Lucasfilm

Simon Kinberg is writing the new trilogy that is said to be next episodes of the Skywalker Saga.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 25/09/2026

"In the latest sign that artificial intelligence is fueling higher health care costs, a group of insurers released a report Thursday claiming that hospitals’ use of A.I. was responsible for nearly $1 billion in additional expenses over two years." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/b...

nytimes.com

Battle of Hospital A.I. vs. Insurer A.I. Is Pushing Medical Costs Higher

The use of artificial intelligence by hospitals and health insurers is escalating their longstanding feud over paying for medical care.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 25/09/2026

Andor at #32 on the NYT's list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century. I'll take it. www.nytimes.com/shared/v1/cl...

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"[A]t a moment when the cost of living is rising faster than wages, many say the law has plunged Americans into financial uncertainty with the law’s cuts to programs that helped put food on the table and provide affordable health care." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/u...

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The world wants to secure AI. It may have to try without the US.

There's global interest in regulating AI to prevent models from wreaking havoc, but the U.S. and China aren't interested. Good story from @maggiemiller.bsky.social on what's happening at the U.N. this week: www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

politico.com

Proposals for global AI protections and guardrails abound this week at the U.N. General Assembly, but they can’t do much without the U.S. on board.

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In a report released this week, GAO said the FAA isn't doing enough to prevent hackers from interfering with aviation communications channels: www.gao.gov/assets/gao-2...

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Sens. Mark Warner and Ted Cruz have introduced a bill that would task agencies with creating voluntary cybersecurity best practices for the telecom sector. (It's unclear how voluntary recommendations would actually affect telecoms' behavior.) www.warner.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

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CISA has released its election security plan for the midterms. It's nothing exciting: summaries of how election infrastructure works, what cyber/physical vulnerabilities exist, and what services CISA offers, plus a push for information sharing. www.cisa.gov/sites/defaul...

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Early rogue AI agent activity and attempts to hack found on urlquery.net

More incidents of OpenAI models autonomously hacking outside organizations, including a university in New Mexico, a data visualization website, and yet another Australian government agency: transluce.org/agent-activity (h/t NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/t... )

transluce.org

We found evidence on urlquery that AI agents were active earlier than previously reported and attempted hacks against public data providers.

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Australia launches investigation after OpenAI agent hacked healthcare database

Another day, another autonomous AI hack. This time, an OpenAI agent breached an Australian government website. Australia is disappointed and investigating. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

theguardian.com

Prime minister says he told Sam Altman he was disappointed it had taken OpenAI ‘way too long’ to disclose breach

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 23/09/2026

Wiz today announced a "Scan for Good" initiative to use AI to scan under-resourced critical infrastructure for vulnerabilities. It's already found problems in rail systems, hospitals, and vital online tech. www.wiz.io/blog/scan-fo...

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CISA has published a blueprint for how it wants to work with CVE ecosystem partners to improve the program that enumerates and tracks vulnerabilities. Future publications will go into detail on this, and CISA will publish blog posts about infrastructure improvements. www.cisa.gov/sites/defaul...

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 23/09/2026

Despite CISA's efforts to help agencies secure their cloud environments, most agencies still haven't completed all of the tasks in BOD 25-01, per a new DHS IG report. www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/defaul... The report notes that CISA doesn't have the authority to force agencies to comply with its BODs.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 23/09/2026

The FBI is investigating what appears to be a serious hack of its jobs portal by the cybercrime group ShinyHunters that may have exposed FBI agents' and applicants' sensitive personal data, sparking fears of an intelligence bonanza for foreign adversaries. www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fbi-hac...

cybersecuritydive.com

FBI probes cyberattack tied to third-party jobs portal

The potentially serious breach highlights the supply chain risks facing even the most sophisticated organizations.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 22/09/2026

Will's got an incredible story here.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 22/09/2026

"Several lawyers contacted by The Associated Press confirmed their clients vanished from the system this week, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association warned its members about the situation Friday." apnews.com/article/ice-...

apnews.com

AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 21/09/2026

"DraftKings makes money when gamblers lose money. And the model sought to identify those it could get to lose the most." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/b...

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 19/09/2026

New @hothtakes.bsky.social episode is out about Ahsoka season 2's teaser trailer. We talk about, among other things, how frustrating it's been to see the Ghost crew in live-action without really getting to know them. hothtakes.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/h...

Remember Ahsoka? The teaser trailer for season 2 debuted in August, giving us new glimpses at Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and other heroes and villains. But in the show hea…

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 18/09/2026

In our new @hothtakes.bsky.social episode, we were talking about how weird it is that Ahsoka is still supposed to be an uncertain youngster in season 2 of her show, and @billkuchman.bsky.social pointed out that Ahsoka is supposed to be almost 50. 😮 hothtakes.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/h...

Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 18/09/2026

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"In court documents, the Trump administration has argued that once someone is deported to a foreign country, it cannot control what that government does." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/w...

nytimes.com

A Central African Hotel Has Become a Nightmare Prison for U.S. Deportations

Witnesses say men were hooded and beaten in Equatorial Guinea. The autocratic government there is a partner in President Trump’s deportation program.

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Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 18/09/2026

"'I don’t think we are as strong as Chinese threat actors,' said Mohan Pedhapati, chief technology officer with Hacktron AI, the security firm that did the research. 'We’re just three guys with Claude and Codex subscriptions.'" www.wsj.com/tech/ai/hack...

wsj.com

Exclusive | Hackers Used Anthropic’s Claude to Break Into OpenAI

A bug-hunting independent security research team was able to access OpenAI’s internal code system, exposing growing risks in automated cyber threats.

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With Ahsoka season 2 coming up in January, we're devoting this month's @hothtakes.bsky.social episode to a breakdown of the teaser trailer and everything we can glean about Ahsoka's journey, Anakin's role, and more. hothtakes.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/h...

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"'Republicans didn’t like that it really points the finger at the wealthy as being the problem,' said Barry Johnson, who previously oversaw the tax gap report as the chief data and analytics officer at the I.R.S." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/b...

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Are you excited for season 2 of Disney's Ahsoka series? In @hothtakes.bsky.social's new episode, we break down the many storylines that the season appears to be tackling, and we wonder whether Dave Filoni will be able to pull it all off. hothtakes.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/h...

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