Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns that hackers could cause breakdown in world order, calls...

[midian182]

In brief: It's not just rogue AI that we have to worry about destroying society. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns there's a risk that the world order could break down as a result of nation-state hackers. His suggested solution is a Geneva Convention for cybersecurity.

Nadella recently spoke to journalist and NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt about several topics, including AI, the 2024 election, and Microsoft's recent admission that Russian group Cozy Bear accessed its corporate network for a month last year.

Holt asked Nadella about the "alarm bells" that went off at Microsoft HQ and Capitol Hill, given the government's reliance on the company, when the hacking incident was uncovered.

"When you have an adversary who is a nation-state or a country that, you know, has institutional sort of strength, organizations that are both well-resourced and are relentless in attacking – I'm glad that we have the capability we have to even detect what they're doing on the cyber side," Nadella said.

Nadella said hacking incidents such as these aren't just about private companies figuring out how to address them. When nation states are involved, it "raises this to a different level of dialogue."

The Microsoft boss called for the US, Russia, and China to come together to form a type of cyber Geneva Convention. Without this, the launching of cyberattacks by two nation-states against each other, especially against civilian targets, could lead to an unprecedented breakdown in world order, Nadella warned.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions form the core of international humanitarian law, which regulates the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects. They protect people not taking part in hostilities and those who are no longer doing so. The Geneva Conventions are signed by 196 states.

Microsoft talked about the need for a digital Geneva Convention to protect the public from nation-state threats back in 2017. The Redmond firm wrote that the technology sector and civil society groups can pave the way for a legally binding agreement that will ensure a stable and secure cyberspace.

Cozy Bear (aka Midnight Blizzard) infiltrated Microsoft in November 2023 via a password spray attack to compromise a legacy, non-production test account. Microsoft said a "very small" percentage of corporate accounts were compromised, with members of the company's senior leadership team, employees in cybersecurity, legal, and other departments affected.

Soon after Microsoft disclosed the attack, HPE said it was also attacked by Cozy Bear last year.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101709-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-warns-hackers-could-cause.html

 

[godrilla]

He is pushing for a centralized control of the web. Oh no what can't go wrong. Is it possible to hire a shell company to hack you and the publicly cry wolf. The conspiracy theorists inside me and others ( for months now) say yes. Especially after Obama's Netflix movie called Leave the world behind that warns about such threat. As long as the public is willing to give yo their freedoms it's OK. The boogieman hacker will get you quickly give up your freedom for the greater good. Let me guess Microsoft will be honored the contract to lay the ground work.

 

[Dr Roboto]

He is pushing for a centralized control of the web. Oh no what can't go wrong. Is it possible to hire a shell company to hack you and the publicly cry wolf. The conspiracy theorists inside me and others ( for months now) say yes. Especially after Obama's Netflix movie called Leave the world behind that warns about such threat. As long as the public is willing to give yo their freedoms it's OK. The boogieman hacker will get you quickly give up your freedom for the greater good. Let me guess Microsoft will be honored the contract to lay the ground work.

Make sure to wear your tinfoil hat.

FYI, that is not at all what this is about. It is about the fact that other nations can/do wage cyber warfare on companies and potentially governments. Right now there is no "world agreement" to not do this, how to quantify what is bad, and what are the repercussions.

For example, if a bad actor country (or some secret group tied to them) detonated a bomb and blew up Microsoft's head quarters, then what would the US do? Now, just because in cyber warfare (massive cyber attack on MS) nothing is physically blown up, should we, the US government, just ignore it. There should be no punishment or ways to define when cyber goes too far? It is a lot more complicated then what I am saying, and you don't need me writing a 5 page post on it.

 

[godrilla]

Here is your tinfoil hat.

The tinfoil hat should protect you from the spectrum of information that is being regurgitated. On the contrary the ones believing the tinfoil hat is the one asking the question is indeed wearing the tinfoil hat. So there is that.

 

[Dr Roboto]

The tinfoil hat should protect you from the spectrum of information that is being regurgitated. On the contrary the ones believing the tinfoil hat is the one asking the question is indeed wearing the tinfoil hat. So there is that.

Huh? Can I have some of what you are smoking?

 

[godrilla]

M

Huh? Can I have some of what you are smoking?

My dopamine levels are naturally elevated. lol

 

[wiyosaya]

FYI, that is not at all what this is about. It is about the fact that other nations can/do wage cyber warfare on companies and potentially governments. Right now there is no "world agreement" to not do this, how to quantify what is bad, and what are the repercussions.

As I see it, even if there were a "world agreement" countries would just ignore it.

For example. there is a "world agreement" about intellectual property - namely each country has their own patent laws - including China, but China doesn't GAF about any other country's patent laws and routinely seeks IP from elsewhere - even if it violates another country's patent laws.

A world agreement wouldn't do Jack Schitt about this situation.

Perhaps, instead of putting useless crap into an OS, pursuing that useless crap called AI, and other useless crap Microsoft pursues, they should beef up their attention to cyber security - oh wait! They have done than and in the process they have potentially junked 140 million computers. Saying that it takes it to a "whole nother level" is just a cop-out on Nadella's part, IMO. Point the finger at someone else is a play we've all heard before.

Grow a pair, Nadella.

 

[Gastec]

We do it 4 the lulz !

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Make sure to wear your tinfoil hat.

FYI, that is not at all what this is about. It is about the fact that other nations can/do wage cyber warfare on companies and potentially governments. Right now there is no "world agreement" to not do this, how to quantify what is bad, and what are the repercussions.

For example, if a bad actor country (or some secret group tied to them) detonated a bomb and blew up Microsoft's head quarters, then what would the US do? Now, just because in cyber warfare (massive cyber attack on MS) nothing is physically blown up, should we, the US government, just ignore it. There should be no punishment or ways to define when cyber goes too far? It is a lot more complicated then what I am saying, and you don't need me writing a 5 page post on it.

After literal decades of lies, deceit, and shameful action, I didnt think there was anyone who would trust the monopolistic dystopic nightmare that is Microsoft, but you proved me wrong!

As I see it, even if there were a "world agreement" countries would just ignore it.

For example. there is a "world agreement" about intellectual property - namely each country has their own patent laws - including China, but China doesn't GAF about any other country's patent laws and routinely seeks IP from elsewhere - even if it violates another country's patent laws.

A world agreement wouldn't do Jack Schitt about this situation.

Perhaps, instead of putting useless crap into an OS, pursuing that useless crap called AI, and other useless crap Microsoft pursues, they should beef up their attention to cyber security - oh wait! They have done than and in the process they have potentially junked 140 million computers. Saying that it takes it to a "whole nother level" is just a cop-out on Nadella's part, IMO. Point the finger at someone else is a play we've all heard before.

Grow a pair, Nadella.

Right? This whole issue was due to MS utterly failing at OPSEC. Weak passwords, no 2 factor authentication, not using access restriction, just how badly can you screw this up? I know mom and pop stores with better security. Crying about needing more laws reminds me of people who see someone deleted by, say, a firearm and crying about how we need to make laws to make it illegal to delete someone, despite murder being illegal already. Oops.

 

[Qaroline]

Lame fearmongering to kinda justify all of the data siphoning they do. "If you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't worry about it" kind of crap, but, well, it's Microsoft after all, that's how they operate, they know normies will trust in what they say because they're an authority in tech, I mean, who doesn't uses Windows? at home, at work... not counting FOSSnuts like me of course.
After years of selling computers (used or not) the first question customers ask is "what Windows does it come with?" because they know "11 is better" and that's it, they don't even care about how many "memory" (disk space) it comes with, it's all about having the latest Windows. The second question is "does it come with Chrome?"

But yeah not believing in the agenda and what MSM pushes about "bad actors" is being a conspiracy theorist now. What next, using Linux makes you a hacker?

And "rogue AI"? come on, next they'll say Russia is trying to create Soulkiller in order to deep fry neuralink users. GAN isn't even AI... there's no true AI that we know of, models can be automated but that doesn't means the machine is actually "thinking" as in having developed an actual intelligence, it merely processes data within boundaries set by a human operator, there's no "rogue AI", what the F, seriously. But I know, it sounds all new and scary to the average wagie corporate joe who's so immersed in work-related nonsense that it's all they can come up with to fit in the 5-minute smartphone break those guys have, kinda sad if you think about it, but that's what they chose so idk, I'm a mere spectator.

Anyway, off to craft my tinfoil hat guys

 

[maxxcool7421]

He is pushing for a centralized control of the web. Oh no what can't go wrong. Is it possible to hire a shell company to hack you and the publicly cry wolf. The conspiracy theorists inside me and others ( for months now) say yes. Especially after Obama's Netflix movie called Leave the world behind that warns about such threat. As long as the public is willing to give yo their freedoms it's OK. The boogieman hacker will get you quickly give up your freedom for the greater good. Let me guess Microsoft will be honored the contract to lay the ground work.

^^ has no idea how the internet actaully works

 

[maxxcool7421]

I will enjoy the chaos that is coming, cant make credit card payments, cant pay rent, cant buy coffee, cant video on demand, cell phones not able to connect ... it will be glorious

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Too late, social media is already doing that (I.e. TikTok).

 

[godrilla]

^^ has no idea how the internet actaully works

Wait you actually believe Microsoft can cleanse the web of hackers tell me more. I guess I do have a lot to learn.

 

[wiyosaya]

After literal decades of lies, deceit, and shameful action, I didnt think there was anyone who would trust the monopolistic dystopic nightmare that is Microsoft, but you proved me wrong!
Right? This whole issue was due to MS utterly failing at OPSEC. Weak passwords, no 2 factor authentication, not using access restriction, just how badly can you screw this up? I know mom and pop stores with better security. Crying about needing more laws reminds me of people who see someone deleted by, say, a firearm and crying about how we need to make laws to make it illegal to delete someone, despite murder being illegal already. Oops.

This is one of those few and far between instances where we are in agreement.
MS - A pack of killer clowns that's gotten too big for their own good.

 

[umeng2002]

You won't be granted special protections, Microsoft. We don't need to use your products.

 

[OortCloud]

Seems to me, the true threats to world order right now are two-fold. Firstly, the rise of the far-right and (sometimes would-be) dictators like Putin, Trump, Bolsonaro, Xi Jinping - men so damaged, insecure and desperate to prove themselves to be the big man there is very little they wont do.
Secondly, Mega Corporations. Companies like Meta, Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. Companies which time and again put money before morality and have turned Social Media, AI, Internet etc into a corporate sh1t-show.

 

[erickmendes]

Such a exceptional human being ... fought against apartheid, was in prison for 18 years and now is running Microsoft.

 

[godrilla]

Seems to me, the true threats to world order right now are two-fold. Firstly, the rise of the far-right and (sometimes would-be) dictators like Putin, Trump, Bolsonaro, Xi Jinping - men so damaged, insecure and desperate to prove themselves to be the big man there is very little they wont do.
Secondly, Mega Corporations. Companies like Meta, Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. Companies which time and again put money before morality and have turned Social Media, AI, Internet etc into a corporate sh1t-show.

I'd say any extreme is bad, We can be bias and pretend that there is no extreme left wing threat. Question which extreme do these monopolies donate to, is the left wing or right wing? Ah it's the left wing so it's totally cool.

Also pop quiz for the experts what is quantum level encryption and who is the top quantum computing companies today. ( Relevant to the topic).

 

[DrCaravaggio]

He is pushing for a centralized control of the web. Oh no what can't go wrong. Is it possible to hire a shell company to hack you and the publicly cry wolf. The conspiracy theorists inside me and others ( for months now) say yes. Especially after Obama's Netflix movie called Leave the world behind that warns about such threat. As long as the public is willing to give yo their freedoms it's OK. The boogieman hacker will get you quickly give up your freedom for the greater good. Let me guess Microsoft will be honored the contract to lay the ground work.

Freedom IS the greater good!!!

 

[erickmendes]

Freedom IS the greater good!!!

With great power comes great responsibility - Ben, Uncle

 

[WarrenSpeck]

The point you raise about the nuances of power dynamics and potential dangers associated with both far-right ideologies and large corporations is certainly thought-provoking. I'm particularly interested in your point about Microsoft's role and its potential impact on freedom and control.