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After Setback, Tech Firms Renew Push for Federal AI Regulation

By Kim S. Nash

 

Hello. Tech firms continue to push for federal AI laws, after Congress last week stripped the Trump administration’s budget bill of a proposed 10-year ban on state-level AI regulations.

But with the moratorium shelved, federal action seems unlikely. Read our full story.

More news: 

  • Bitcoin ATM network delays breach notification for a year
  • Fake Marco Rubio
  • Marks & Spencer says cyber insurance payout will be slow
  • Accused Covid-19 hacker arrested
  • Caltech settles case over misleading cyber boot camp 
  • And more
 

‏‏‎ ‎

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More Cyber News

PHOTO: JOHN G. MABANGLO/SHUTTERSTOCK

Bitcoin ATM network said it delayed notifying nearly 27,000 customers of a data breach for a year at the request of law enforcement. Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot said it detected a hack on June 23, 2024, and determined about three weeks later that personal information had been compromised. 

  • Federal law enforcement requested the company keep quiet about the incident until last month, while it conducted an investigation, Bitcoin Depot said. 
  • Within hours of Bitcoin Depot disclosing the breach, law firms were appealing online to anyone who received notice to explore suing the company. 

Fake Marco Rubio: Since mid-June, someone has been using AI to create deepfake audio impersonating U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and contacting domestic and foreign leaders. Fake text and voice messages on Signal claimed to be from Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser to President Trump. (Washington Post)

Marks & Spencer Chairman Archie Norman said it could take up to 18 months for the U.K. retailer to receive any payouts from cyber insurance claims related to an April hack. The company last year doubled its cyber insurance coverage, he said. (Reuters) 

$4.2 Billion

Amount raised by cybersecurity startups in the second quarter, according to research from Pinpoint Search Group, a recruiter in the cybersecurity and space sectors. That's up about 25% from the same period in 2024.

Cyber startups have raised $6.4 billion since Jan.1, Pinpoint said. 

 

Enforcement

PHOTO: JON CHOL JIN/AP

The U.S. sanctioned key figures in a network of North Korean tech workers it said have generated revenue for the country’s regime, a move that comes amid continued concern about North Korean IT workers infiltrating U.S. companies.
 

  • Treasury said the scheme involved recruiting North Korean nationals in China and Russia for employment at unwitting companies to generate cash for the North Korean regime. Some of the tech workers also planted malware into the duped companies’ systems, Treasury said.

Italian police arrested a Chinese national accused by the U.S. of hacking more than more than 12,700 American universities and other organizations to steal Covid-19 research. The man and accomplices, known as the Hafnium hacking group, exploited bugs in Microsoft Exchange servers in 2020 and 2021, the Justice Department said Tuesday. 

 

Careers

PHOTO: ALLISON DINNER

/SHUTTERSTOCK

Cyber boot camp settlement: The California Institute of Technology agreed to settle a 2023 class-action lawsuit over a cyber boot camp program whose marketing materials allegedly misled students about its ties to the university.

The boot camp was run by education company Simplilearn, with thin ties to Caltech. The two agreed to pay a combined $400,000 to resolve the case, and neither admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement. (New York Times)

  • Related reading from WSJ Pro: Cyber Boot Camps Fall Short for Some Students
 

About Us

The WSJ Pro Cybersecurity team is Deputy Bureau Chief Kim S. Nash and reporters Angus Loten, James Rundle and Catherine Stupp. Follow us on X @WSJCyber. Reach the team by replying to any newsletter you receive or by emailing Kim at kim.nash@wsj.com.

 
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