Cyber Scandals And When (Not) To Trust Computers

Join Si and Desi for another episode of the Forensic Focus Podcast. This week, they discuss the lack of transparency and potential misrepresentation in the cybersecurity industry, particularly regarding the use of open-source tools by companies and the questionable interpretation of data and statistics in marketing and advertising. The conversation also delves into the implications of relying on computer systems and algorithms to make important decisions, such as in the case of the Post Office scandal in the UK and the Centrelink repayment debacle in Australia. They emphasize the importance of human oversight, critical thinking, and considering the human impact of such decisions, rather than blindly trusting the outputs of computer systems. 00:00 – The state of the digital forensics industry 02:30 – Desi’s talk at BSides Brisbane 05:30 – Sweaty Cyber Advice and Strongman 09:40 – Companies integrating open source software 23:00 – Advertising, statistics and logical fallacies 28:00 – The Post Office scandal and computer accountability 49:00 – Security, compliance and regulations 56:00 – Closing thoughts Show Notes Hardly Adequate YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@hardlyadequate Oxfordshire’s Strongman & Strongwoman - https:\oxfordshire.rocks\ CPS, Computer Records Evidence - https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/computer-records-evidence Your Logical Fallacyis - https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ British Post Office Scandal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal The Guardian, Robodebt Scandal - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/11/robodebt-five-years-of-lies-mistakes-and-failures-that-caused-a-18bn-scandal Tyler Vigen, Spurious Correlations - http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations Forensic Focus Discord - https://discord.gg/97zKvTXHeS