Federal shutdown deals blow to already hobbled cybersecurity agency

Prof. Richard Forno, Associate Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, elucidates why the current Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) situation is grim, as the agency was already experiencing deep cuts to its staff and resources before the ongoing shutdown. And now, coinciding with the shutdown, a key law that enabled the agency to facilitate information-sharing with the private sector has expired.

United States experiences its latest government shutdown, most of the daily operations of the federal government have ground to a halt. This includes much of the day-to-day work done by federal information technology and cybersecurity employees, including those at the nation’s leading civilian cybersecurity agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Resources, Legal Research, Privacy

AI in Finance an Banking – October 15, 2025

This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Five highlights from this post: AI Risk Disclosures in the S&P 500: Reputation, Cybersecurity, and Regulation; TabbFORUM Report: The State of AI in the Capital Markets 2025; OCC grants preliminary approval to Erebor Bank, a Peter Thiel-backed startup focusing on crypto and AI; Exploring household adoption and usage of generative AI: new evidence from Italy; and Artificial Intelligence in Research and Development.

Subjects: AI in Banking and Finance, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 11, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: People are poorly equipped to detect AI-powered voice clones; Meta [Facebook, Instagram] is preparing another way to show you targeted ads and you can’t opt out; Gmail stopped loading hidden trackers when I changed this one setting; Opt Out October: Daily Tips to Protect Your Privacy and Security; and Employees regularly paste company secrets into ChatGPT.

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Financial System, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, Travel

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 3, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Meta Will Start Using Your AI Chats to Target Ads at You; Chatbots Are Trapping Us With Endless Engagement Prompts; How to deactivate AI on your Android phone; Apple, Google Remove ICE Tracking Apps; and Tile Tracking Tags Can Be Exploited by Tech-Savvy Stalkers, Researchers Say.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Free Speech, Privacy, Social Media

LLRX September 2025 Issue – Articles and Columns

The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health, Part 3 – This is a follow up to two recent articles by Sabrina I. Pacifici on the Trump administration’s relentless attacks against science, medicine and public health, government sponsored data collection and reporting, climate science, free speech, and the censorship of federally funded …

Subjects: KM

The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health Part 3

This is a follow up to two previous articles by Sabrina I. Pacifici on the Trump administration’s relentless attacks against science, medicine and public health, government sponsored data collection and reporting, climate science, free speech, and the censorship of federally funded academic research and scholarship. The rapid fire assault against the heart of our democracy stunningly continues to escalate, per the Project 2025 roadmap operationalized under the direction of Russell Vought and Stephen Miller, fracturing our public policy, governance, the economy, muzzling the education system, and eradicating our foreign policy and diplomacy. Pacifici’s article focuses on the administration’s new actions in September 2025, documenting censorship in all sectors, across agencies, universities, corporate activities and the economy.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Constitutional Law, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Contracts, Health, Healthcare, Legal Research, United States Law

AI in Finance and Banking, September 30, 2025

This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Five highlights from this post: A Research Agenda for the Economics of Transformative AI; Import AI 429: Eval the world economy; Do Markets Believe in Transformative AI?; AI and Task Efficiency; and Harnessing artificial intelligence for monitoring financial markets.

Subjects: AI in Banking and Finance, Economy, Financial System

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 27, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: 48% of Cybersecurity Bosses Failed to Report a Breach This Year; LinkedIn will use your data to train their AI starting Nov 3; Reuters Asked AI Bots to Scam the Elderly. They Obliged; and This is the fastest way to tell if a photo is AI-generated.

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Dear ChatGPT: Words Matter

Stephen Embry writes about how much we might be losing when we let AI sanitize our word choices: the difference between good and memorable often comes down to a single word. For lawyers especially, professionals whose job is communication and persuasion, completely ceding editorial judgment to algorithms that prioritize blandness over impact is a mistake. Embry states – Words matter. Don’t let robots choose yours.

Subjects: AI, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Profession, Legal Technology

With ChatGPT, law-school instructor Sean Harrington is rebuilding student assessment for the AI era

With ChatGPT, law-school instructor Sean Harrington is rebuilding student assessment for the AI era. Sean—who teaches students AI and law at the University of Oklahoma and holds both a JD and an MS in Data Analytics—saw a core problem the moment generative AI went mainstream: traditional take-home exams no longer reveal what students really know.

Subjects: AI, Education, Legal Education, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Technology