
Clearview AI receives something of a slap in the face, and who is wrestling over an internet wormhole?
All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the award-winning “Smashing Security” podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault.
And don’t miss our featured interview with Artur Kane of GoodAccess.
Show full transcript ▼
This transcript was generated automatically, probably contains mistakes, and has not been manually verified.
Smashing Security, episode 274, Hands Off My Biometrics and a Wormhole Squirmish, with Carole Theriault and Graham Cluley.
Hello, hello, and welcome to Smashing Security episode 274. My name's Graham Cluley.
Now, coming up on today's show, Graham, what do you got?
Plus, a fabulous featured interview with Artur Kane from Good Access, who's gonna explain anytime, anywhere secure remote access.
All this and much more coming up on this episode of Smashing Security.
And Dick Merriman, back in 1994, was watching Carl Sagan's famous TV show, which is called Cosmos, with his wife Linda. That's Dick's wife Linda, not Carl Sagan's wife.
And now Carl Sagan, he wrote the book Contact in the mid-1980s. Is that the one with Jodie Foster? I've never seen it.
And what he used was the concept of a tunnel or a wormhole connecting distant locations in space and time. Quite fascinating thing if you're into all that Einstein kind of gubbins.
Anyway.
And he turned to his wife, he says, "I love the idea of a wormhole." "I'm gonna make me one." Yeah, well, no, you're absolutely right.
He said, "We're gonna get a wormhole." Now, he wasn't able to make one in his backyard, unfortunately. It's not that easy.
He owned wormhole.com, and that was back in 1994. The website wormhole.com continues to exist to this day. He didn't have any use for wormhole.com as a website.
So he just put an image of a wormhole, a sort of cosmic image, on its single page. And there's a one-line description of what a wormhole is.
But what he was able to do, of course, is owning the domain meant that he could set up his own wormhole.com email address that he and his wife have used ever since.
And he was probably feeling pretty pleased with himself, because if you purchase a vanity domain, if you purchase your own domain for your email, you don't have to go through any of that pain of getting your business cards reprinted, or when you switch from Hotmail to Yahoo to Gmail to ProtonMail or whatever.
Because 28 years after Dick bought the domain wormhole.com—
And one of the things that they run is a crypto platform called—
But it's also— it was unlike just about every other crypto hack because after Wormhole got hacked, the people who lost all their money actually got their money back because Jump, the owners of Wormhole, did this extraordinary thing of replacing all the stolen funds because it has quite a lot of money in its back pocket.
So it just, it didn't want to upset people. It didn't want them running off.
Anyway, Wormhole may be a hot name in the world of crypto, but anyone who visits, of course, wormhole.com sees Dirk Merriman's tribute to Carl Sagan and wormholes.
Whereas Wormhole, the company, says, well, we are the best of blockchains. That's what you see when you go to their site.
So Wormhole obviously think there's a future in their business, and they really want to own the domain wormhole.com. So I've now set the scene. So I've taken 10 minutes.
In June 2021, someone at Jump approached Dick Merriman via a third-party domain broker, and they made him an offer for wormhole.com.
And apparently he said, "The price for wormhole.com is a firm $50,000." He said that's what he was prepared to accept, he said.
And Jump couldn't believe their luck, 'cause they thought, "$50,000." Brilliant. Nothing, that's nothing.
So Wormhole, the company, pressed the button, say, accept, and the domain-brokering service marked the deal status as agreement reached, and the process of transferring the domain began from Dick to Wormhole.
Uh-oh, no, oh, oh, it didn't.
Because Dick Merriman, who over the course of some days kept receiving messages from the domain broker service, asking him to set up his account and initiate the transfer in exchange for the payment, he began to have second thoughts.
Either way, not for sale. If you want to make a reasonable offer, then you're encouraged to do so.
No way!" And then he would have gone, "Okay, what about $40,000?" And then you would have been on the train. They just bit too soon. It's just bad negotiation tactics, really.
Anyway, okay, so he's twigged that there's maybe more money there.
And Jump were getting annoyed because they wanted wormhole.com. So they threatened legal action for breach of contract.
And they demanded that Dick had to honour the original message saying he would sell for $50,000. Interesting.
Dick replies to them, "Good luck with that." He says, "It's $100,000 is what I'm after." So there's a bit of back and forth, bit of haggling. Jump's still not happy.
They feel they're being messed around.
Imagine the hassle of having to change it after so many years. He actually told the press, he said, "My email address is like family.
It's been around so long." I mean, Dick, don't forget, he's 79 years old. And it's just him and his wife living in a town with a petting zoo.
There's not much going on there, up against this huge corporation. And who have just filed a lawsuit against him.
And demanding that he also pays their legal fees for all the damages they say that he's caused and the costs.
And so Dick has accepted he has to throw in the towel and accept, whether he likes it or not, the offer of $50,000. He says, "I'm tired.
I'm not happy, but I'll take it." He did sign.
Apparently Carl Sagan's estate once inquired about the domain as well, and he offered to give it to them for free 'cause he loves Carl Sagan.
And then they decided they didn't want it after all. They wanted to use it for a particular project.
But some people have suggested this domain could have sold for up to half a million dollars if properly negotiated.
But it just feels, you know, when he said, "Oh, you know, oh, I don't accept $2,500, then we've got a deal," is that really a contract?
Is that really him saying, "I will honor this regardless of who comes forward and offers to pay me $2,500"?
For our listeners, this is the software database company of more than 3 billion+ images of faces scraped from websites Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, that sort of thing.
It was horrible.
In fact, the company claims that it's 100% accurate, although some reporters have witnessed the software misidentify some people.
And I once used one of those things where you upload your photograph and it says, "We will find your celebrity twin." So I was interested in that and I uploaded myself and it told me Henry Kissinger.
Oh, really? Yes.
Anywho, back in 2020, Kashmir Hill of The New York Times, she published an alarming and damning piece about Clearview AI, how it's, you know, been peddled to police departments with 30-day free trials all over the country, how it was being misused by fat cats to identify pretty young things going about their business.
And listeners might remember I got a bit riled, which is why I also covered the story a few weeks later here on Smashing Security.
And basically the premise is, you know, Clearview is offering access to this database to private companies, wealthy individuals, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
And the company claimed that through this enormous database, it could instantaneously identify people with unprecedented accuracy, enabling covert and remote surveillance of individuals on a massive scale.
So, scary much?
And many of these, the friends representing people who've been face-printed by Clearview without their consent.
And they did something about this way back in 2020, and we have just had an update.
And so basically in the States, some laws are federal and some are state-based, which is why you have things like jazz cigarettes being available in some states and legal in some states, whereas in other states you face jail time if you're caught with that on your person.
So some states like California, New York, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, there's a few, have started introducing stronger legislation to curb tech companies from mishandling or misusing or abusing personal info.
And some states went even further to these privacy bills and put in a biometric privacy law.
How does it work out with things like data?
Because if there are very strict data protection laws in one particular state, or how much they need to keep you private, which aren't being applied in other states, presumably tech companies just have to go by the toughest legislation rather than thinking, oh well, because you live in Alaska, then we can do all kinds of great things with your data.
But do you see what I mean?
I think it is really a complete nightmare because every single state— but you know what I find odd is in the UK, we have this thing called common law, which just means there is kind of some laws and some precedent, but we're going to leave it up to the judge to make a decision.
It's like you don't really know the laws. Anyway, we digress. Okay.
But you, so BIPA, you would be right to assume that BIPA requires companies to first notify, right, and get a written-up consent before they collect, capture, or obtain residents' biometric identifiers, right?
So before they get fingerprints or face prints or iris scans, they need you saying, yeah, no problem with that.
But Illinois is unique because it provides aggrieved parties with a private right of action.
So other states rely on public authorities to bring an enforced action, but here you can be private.
Okay, so the ACLU and the ACLU of Illinois and a bunch of others get on the bandwagon and make use of the Illinois BIPA to make a stink about Clearview's business practices.
So basically, your typical guy off the street or girl off the street can't just go and say, I'd like an account, please, and then have access to 3 billion faces.
What's very cool about this is they somehow got it nationwide. So it's not just for Illinois, but nationwide they're going to be banned from doing this permanently.
But we do know that Clearview AI certainly boasts that they represent, or they have, 3,100 US agencies using their software, including FBI and the DOJ, right?
Or the Department of Homeland Security.
And what's also weird is on their website they still proudly boast— I mean, I know this just happened yesterday, but the website proudly boasts that Clearview AI search technology is lawful and constitutional.
Even though it has been determined to be illegal in countries like Canada and Australia, 6 months ago, the UK, you know, ICO announced that it had found alleged serious breaches of the UK's data protection laws and issued a provisional notice to stop further processing of all personal data of the people of the UK and to delete it.
I don't know what, things like stretching owls or something, or juggling yogurts.
And I don't know, I mean, what's good about this? I can see it identifying bodies that you can't identify might be a useful use. That's the only thing I can— finding family.
For your security program to be effective, you need an inventory of all your devices so you can make critical decisions fast.
Well, Rumble was made by the creator of Metasploit, which explains why it finds many devices that other solutions miss, including orphaned machines running outdated operating systems.
Quickly find systems affected by the latest security news. Just think of Log4j, SolarWinds, and Kaspersky.
It can even tell you which machines are missing endpoint protection from your local network all the way to the cloud.
Sign up for a free trial and build your asset inventory in minutes. Get your trial at rumble.run. That's rumble.run. And thanks to Rumble for supporting the show.
This rapid shift in online work created security gaps that bad actors used to the full.
And most importantly, companies need to emphasize the reduction of risk of a data breach if a user's credentials are stolen. This is why you need to check out GoodAccess.
This is a global company based in the Czech Republic with a proven 10-year track record.
They are a bunch of security enthusiasts dedicated to delivering anytime, anywhere secure remote access for small and medium-sized businesses worldwide.
And this begins with a free GoodAccess starter product for unlimited usage by up to 100 employees. Yes, you heard right, 100 employees. Learn more at smashingsecurity.com/goodaccess.
And big thank yous to GoodAccess for sponsoring the show.
Kolide is perfect for organizations that care deeply about compliance and security but don't want to get there by locking down devices to the point where they become unusable.
So instead of frustrating your employees, Kolide educates them about security and device management while directing them to fix important problems.
Sign up today by visiting smashingsecurity.com/kolide. That's smashingsecurity.com/kolide.
Enter your email when prompted, and you will receive a free Kolide goodie bag after your trial activates.
You can try Kolide with all of its features on an unlimited number of devices for free, no credit card required. Try it out at smashingsecurity.com/kolide.
That's smashingsecurity.com/kolide. Kolide, and thanks to Kolide for supporting the show.
And welcome back, and you join us at our favorite part of the show, the part of the show that we like to call Pick of the Week.
Could be a funny story, a book that they've read, a TV show, a movie, a record, a podcast, a website, or an app. Whatever they wish.
It doesn't have to be security related necessarily.
I will put a link in the show notes. Carole, you can check out Owl Kitty right now. Owl Kitty, real name Lizzie, is a black cat living in Portland, Oregon.
And what Owl Kitty's owner does is he has very—
And it may take quite a few takes and some very clever techniques.
What are you talking about?
It seems that some people perhaps wonder if their danglers feel left out of the whole, you know, deep penetration testing activity that might go on north of their location.
That's a bit security related.
So I'm going to introduce you, without further ado, let me introduce you to what must be the most fantastical piece of erotic paraphernalia I've ever seen. The Balldo.
Let me give you a few quotes here from his road test.
It's apparently, quote, it was challenging with an uncomfortably large girth, requires lubrication, which impedes the application process because, you know, the things slip out.
And very awkward angles. So, can I just—
And The Wired have hired someone to put his cock and balls into a bit of pink silicone, smooshing them in.
What I think happened is he gets to work, dum-da-dum-da-dum, going through the press releases, dum-da-dum-da-dum, "Bald-o, the world's first ball dildo." And he was like, "Hello," and then asked his editor if he could do it, wrote a great story that I actually really giggled at.
I found it very fun. So if you want to read it, it's in Wired by Erica Ravenscroft. And the world's first ball dildo. And that is my pick of the week.
He calls it a Dadaist interrogation of the very concept of pleasure.
And this team at Good Access is made up of 50 security enthusiasts dedicating themselves to delivering anytime, anywhere secure remote access. Very warm welcome to you, Artur.
Thanks for coming on the show.
And immediately companies had to respond and sort of become more digital than ever and make sure all these workers and consultants can access their systems from remote and at the same time be protected.
And if the company wasn't ready for that, they had to do quite a lot to, from day one, be able to operate as usual.
And so what we see a lot is most of these workers and remote consultants, they tend to use whichever device is at their hand.
And suddenly companies lost control over the endpoints and devices that workers use to access critical systems, which increases the potential of data loss, data breach, and other risks.
So it's kind of a nightmare for the IT guy in charge, I imagine.
So smaller companies, especially, you know, software developers and marketing consultancy firms, they don't always have IT department to take care of these things.
So it's often, you know, business C-level owner, co-founder who suddenly needs to, you know, step into the role of IT guy and do this stuff.
SPEAKER_02. I would actually start to explain the VPN landscape if you allow me.
But VPN has been here for decades, and bigger companies with their IT departments, with their systems hosted in data centers or more recently clouds, had to find a way how to create a secure tunnel which is encrypted to access these systems remotely.
And VPNs, they served this way for many years.
For decades now, the main problem with traditional VPNs, while they establish the point-to-site secure remote access, they usually tend to give free access to whichever site the user is connecting to.
So once they get access to the VPN, to the tunnel, they can go to the data center and exploit anything that's in there.
So in modern approach to VPNs, and modern approach to how do we secure network traffic, privacy, and data over the public internet, the concept of zero trust emerged.
And zero trust essentially means not providing access to everyone everywhere, but do a use case or role-based access to whichever specific data and systems they need for their work, crucially, and lowering the potential of the business breach, if that makes sense.
And do not trust the user unless they authenticate, unless they provide their identity, unless you provide sufficient rights to do whichever job they need to do necessarily, but not more than that.
We can layer the security into, I would say, network, application, data, and users.
So on the data side, definitely, we need to check changes, we need to log access to the data for post-compromise analysis.
We also need to check for malicious code, but then at the same time, when we don't have the pattern or the database of known codes which antiviruses and IDPS systems use, we check for anomalies in the traffic and strange patterns that may indicate a potential security breach or an attacker trying to...
What would be my next steps? How would I go about establishing that and making this work? Is it complicated? Do I need an IT guy? How does it work? SPEAKER_02.
So what I suggest to smaller companies is to focus on technologies who cover most of their use case in a single dashboard.
So instead of trying to deploy VPN for remote access and then working on firewall rules to restrict access and the network access control and then securing endpoints, what modern VPNs delivered from cloud as a service offer is that you sign in, create your team, you add users in there, they download client applications.
With their client applications, they can get access to whichever systems they need based on zero trust principles.
They're also protected from online threats, which means they carry their security, whichever device they use and wherever they connect from.
It shouldn't be that hard — if it is, it's probably not the tool for you.
And in line with that, we recently launched our free version, which is free for up to 100 users, no limitations in terms of bandwidth, speed. There are no ads in there.
It's really what we give away to the world for making us happy and making us part of it for the last 14 years.
So the easiest thing is to go and create an account, get your 100 users in there.
You get online threat protection wherever you browse and whichever sites you go to, and you get secured access to your company resources with that.
Of course, if you want to go higher and need to control identity-based zero-trust access, etc., we have paid plans.
So just make sure to check whichever features and use cases are for you.
Most of the VPN market is consumer VPNs, and many of those consumers are bad actors who are trying to evade surveillance, who are trying to anonymize their service, who are trying to access applications or services that are otherwise not allowed or operating in their country.
And consumer VPNs, they create encrypted connections that conceal their identity, location, and information.
They provide this sort of anonymity to individual users, and they do use it to bypass content restrictions, etc. This is not the use case for business VPNs.
Business VPNs create private connections that complete data privacy and sort of conceal sensitive business data from online threats and unsecure public networks, etc.
So what we do is to check whether you are a company before we give you the free product. And then we also check for activities such as abuse.
So I do not recommend to use BitTorrent when connected to business VPN. It is a potential security threat to the company operating the VPN.
So we help them in the way that we report them such activities.
This is definitely for small and medium-sized businesses and as well as enterprise businesses, depending on what requirements they have.
And if you're an enterprise and you're not into paying for a system integrator to do all your IT for you and you want to do it yourselves, you want to spend more time in strategic activities rather than operating standard technologies like VPN or access control.
Good Access is definitely the right product for you.
I think you're absolutely the greatest in, you know, spreading the word about what security really means, not trying to necessarily scare everyone with the number of ransomware and breaches, etc., but giving them practical information in their day-to-day operations.
So if there's something to leave with, I'm not going to push any more of Good Access and just want to appreciate what you do.
That's smashingsecurity.com/goodaccess. Smashingsecurity.com/goodaccess and try the Good Access VPN for free for up to 100 users. No limitations, no ads, no tracking.
Artur Kane, thank you so much for coming on Smashing Security. It's been a pleasure.
You can follow us on Twitter @SmashingSecurity, no G, Twitter won't allow us to have a G. And we also have a Smashing Security subreddit.
And don't forget to ensure you never miss another episode, follow Smashing Security in your favorite podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
For episode show notes, sponsorship information, guest list, and the entire back catalog of more than 273 episodes, check out smashingsecurity.com.
Who— What's the animal which— I don't— Actually, I'm not sure any animal detaches its penis.
Hosts:
Graham Cluley:
Carole Theriault:
Show notes:
- Carl Sagan – Cosmos – Space Travel — YouTube.
- Wormhole.com
- 'Tired' Carl Sagan Fan Sells Wormhole.com to Crypto Giant Jump for $50K After Lawsuit — Decrypt.
- ACLU vs Clearview AI — American Civil Liberties Union.
- Clearview AI Offered Free Trials To Police Around The World — Buzzfeed News.
- US State Privacy Legislation Tracker — IAPP.
- The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It — The New York Times.
- In Big Win, Settlement Ensures Clearview AI Complies With Groundbreaking Illinois Biometric Privacy Law — American Civil Liberties Union
- OwlKitty — YouTube.
- Review: The Balldo Made Me Rethink Sex in the Most Absurd Way Possible — Wired.
- Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)
- Support us on Patreon!
At Kolide, we believe the supposedly Average Person is the key to unlocking a new class of security detection, compliance, and threat remediation. So do the hundreds of organizations that send important security notifications to employees from Kolide’s Slack app.
Collectively, we know that organizations can dramatically lower the actual risks they will likely face with a structured, message-based approach. More importantly, they’ll be able to engage end-users to fix nuanced problems that can’t be automated.
Try Kolide Free for 14 Days; no credit card required.
GoodAccess – Free Business Cloud VPN for up to 100 Users.
Get a cloud VPN with strong network encryption and unprecedented online threat protection. No hardware. 100% free. Just create your team and enjoy GoodAccess forever.
Check it out now at smashingsecurity.com/goodaccess.
Rumble, made by the creator of Metasploit, finds many devices connected to your network that other solutions miss, including orphaned machines running outdated operating systems.
It can even tell you which machines are missing endpoint protection, from your local network to the cloud.
Sign up for a free trial and build your asset inventory in minutes. Get your trial at www.rumble.run
Follow the show:
Follow the show on Bluesky at @smashingsecurity.com, on the Smashing Security subreddit, or visit our website for more episodes.
Remember: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast app, to catch all of the episodes as they go live. Thanks for listening!
Warning: This podcast may contain nuts, adult themes, and rude language.


