Hayley Benedict
@hayleybenedict.bsky.social
Cyber Intelligence Analyst at RANE
Available for media inquiries 🙂↔️🙂↕️
Available for media inquiries 🙂↔️🙂↕️
Errors in ICE's AI-enabled hiring blitz mean that some officers were sent out with just 4 weeks of virtual training rather than the required 8 weeks of in person training at ICE's academy in Georgia
ICE error meant some recruits were sent into field offices without proper training, sources say
An AI tool used to help ICE identify potential new recruits with law enforcement experience wrongly categorized some potential new officers, sources say.
www.nbcnews.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Errors in ICE's AI-enabled hiring blitz mean that some officers were sent out with just 4 weeks of virtual training rather than the required 8 weeks of in person training at ICE's academy in Georgia
Days after Google removed its AI health summaries due to potential harms, OpenAI acquired health startup Torch, underscoring how AI's role in healthcare is not going away
January 13, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Days after Google removed its AI health summaries due to potential harms, OpenAI acquired health startup Torch, underscoring how AI's role in healthcare is not going away
this comment about the impact of visual language is something important to think about as AI-generated imagery also populates foreign influence ops. we forget that video and image are able to influence people in a much different way than fabricated articles and pamphlets of cold war era psy-ops
"Visual language can communicate up to 30,000 times faster than the written word." the cover's designer told Newsweek.
Designer Defends Trump-Hitler Magazine Cover—’Parallels Are Fairly Clear’
www.newsweek.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:06 PM
this comment about the impact of visual language is something important to think about as AI-generated imagery also populates foreign influence ops. we forget that video and image are able to influence people in a much different way than fabricated articles and pamphlets of cold war era psy-ops
WSJ echoes RANE's assessment on the future of AI in the labor force and in cyberattacks: the cybersecurity landscape will shift in the next few years to become largely AI-driven attacks vs. AI-powered defenses
Cloudy Outlook for Cyber Jobs as AI Fills Security Gaps
Flat budgets and a shaky economy will keep cybersecurity hiring in a holding pattern as firms invest in automated security tools.
www.wsj.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:11 PM
WSJ echoes RANE's assessment on the future of AI in the labor force and in cyberattacks: the cybersecurity landscape will shift in the next few years to become largely AI-driven attacks vs. AI-powered defenses
despite these advances, this is a good reminder that Chinese progress on robotics still significantly outpaces the United States’ in the tech race !
Optimus Schmoptimus - Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot is already in mass production
Optimus Schmoptimus - Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot is already in mass production
Atlas will be deployed to Hyundai and Google facilities this year
CES 2026 Remember when Elon Musk predicted that there would be thousands of Optimus robots at Tesla factories by the end of 2025? Well, that didn't happen, but competitor Boston Dynamics has just announced that its humanoid robot, Atlas, is going to the big time.…
dlvr.it
January 6, 2026 at 10:21 PM
despite these advances, this is a good reminder that Chinese progress on robotics still significantly outpaces the United States’ in the tech race !
A new report from Securonix details how Russian threat actors are targeting the European hospitality sector with novel social engineering campaigns that invoke the "Blue Screen of Death," highlighting how Russia shapes campaigns to certain sectors to increase likelihood of engagement
Analyzing PHALT#BLYX: How Fake BSODs and Trusted Build Tools Are Used to Construct a Malware Infection
Analyzing PHALT#BLYX: How Fake BSODs and Trusted Build Tools Are Used to Construct a Malware Infection
www.securonix.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:27 PM
A new report from Securonix details how Russian threat actors are targeting the European hospitality sector with novel social engineering campaigns that invoke the "Blue Screen of Death," highlighting how Russia shapes campaigns to certain sectors to increase likelihood of engagement
Floods of AI-generated content related to the U.S. capture of Maduro underscore how fabricated content can quickly distort public perception during fast-moving crises as it continues to outpace platform detection efforts and plays on emotions to exacerbate political tensions
A.I. Images of Maduro Spread Rapidly, Despite Safeguards
www.nytimes.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Floods of AI-generated content related to the U.S. capture of Maduro underscore how fabricated content can quickly distort public perception during fast-moving crises as it continues to outpace platform detection efforts and plays on emotions to exacerbate political tensions
While explicit details have not been released, Trump has said that the United States used cyberattacks to cut power in Venezuela during the operation to capture Maduro. This highlights the administration's approach to cyberspace which emphasizes offensive activity over defensive measures
Trump suggests US used cyberattacks to turn off lights in Venezuela during strikes
U.S. Cyber Command was involved in setting the stage for the operation.
www.politico.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:52 PM
While explicit details have not been released, Trump has said that the United States used cyberattacks to cut power in Venezuela during the operation to capture Maduro. This highlights the administration's approach to cyberspace which emphasizes offensive activity over defensive measures
Indicating ever intensifying Chinese efforts to probe and pressure Taiwan, a new report from its National Security Bureau says that cyberattacks against Taiwan have risen 6% in the last year
Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan infrastructure averaged 2.6 million a day in 2025, report says
Some were synchronised with military drills in "hybrid threats" to paralyse the island, Taiwan's National Security Bureau said.
www.reuters.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Indicating ever intensifying Chinese efforts to probe and pressure Taiwan, a new report from its National Security Bureau says that cyberattacks against Taiwan have risen 6% in the last year
This article today from WSJ echoes this sentiment!
October 29, 2025 at 5:44 PM
This article today from WSJ echoes this sentiment!
Reposted by Hayley Benedict
Musk effectively copied over all of Wikipedia and had Grok go over it to give it a far right bias in its framing in articles to turn it into a propaganda tool. It's conservapedia 2.0 backed by the world's richest man.
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
Elon Musk's Grokipedia Pushes Far-Right Talking Points
The new AI-powered Wikipedia competitor falsely claims that pornography worsened the AIDS epidemic and that social media may be fueling a rise in transgender people.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Musk effectively copied over all of Wikipedia and had Grok go over it to give it a far right bias in its framing in articles to turn it into a propaganda tool. It's conservapedia 2.0 backed by the world's richest man.
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
Chile is increasingly becoming an interesting case study for governments grappling with building out AI infrastructure to attract investment, while also balancing the need for ethical guardrails, including those that address environmental concerns
Tech Firms Race to Curb Chile’s Plans to Regulate AI
Tech companies love Chile for data centers, not so much for its proposed AI rules.
www.bloomberg.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Chile is increasingly becoming an interesting case study for governments grappling with building out AI infrastructure to attract investment, while also balancing the need for ethical guardrails, including those that address environmental concerns
Clearview AI is now facing a criminal complaint from noyb for its violation of GDPR in an escalation of complaints against the company, which could see its executives facing personal liability, including potential jail time, for non-compliance
Clearview AI faces criminal complaint in Austria for suspected privacy violations
Austrian privacy group noyb said on Tuesday it has filed a criminal complaint in Austria, accusing U.S.-based Clearview AI of illegally collecting photos and videos of European Union residents to build its facial-recognition database.
www.reuters.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Clearview AI is now facing a criminal complaint from noyb for its violation of GDPR in an escalation of complaints against the company, which could see its executives facing personal liability, including potential jail time, for non-compliance
Chatbots helping to facilitate the mental health crisis is becoming increasingly concerning, with OpenAI now saying that more than a million people each week show suicidal tendencies in interactions with ChatGPT
October 28, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Chatbots helping to facilitate the mental health crisis is becoming increasingly concerning, with OpenAI now saying that more than a million people each week show suicidal tendencies in interactions with ChatGPT
There have been several developments in the last few days in relation to AI-job displacement concerns, with Chegg firing 45% of its workforce due to "realities of AI", Meta laying off privacy & risk auditors in favor of automation and Amazon laying off thousands of workers to focus on AI investment
October 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
There have been several developments in the last few days in relation to AI-job displacement concerns, with Chegg firing 45% of its workforce due to "realities of AI", Meta laying off privacy & risk auditors in favor of automation and Amazon laying off thousands of workers to focus on AI investment
Also in revenant cyber threats today, the UK NSCS noted a 50% uptick in highly sophisticated cyberattacks, underscoring compounding cyber challenges in the country after a rough few months dealing with Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters ransomware attacks and others, some potentially linked to nation-states
October 14, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Also in revenant cyber threats today, the UK NSCS noted a 50% uptick in highly sophisticated cyberattacks, underscoring compounding cyber challenges in the country after a rough few months dealing with Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters ransomware attacks and others, some potentially linked to nation-states
Last week, I published an analysis on the rise of politically motivated doxxing databases that are popping up after politically-charged developments and increasingly including social media posts, employment information and locations. Check it out here!
RANE Network
login.ranenetwork.com
October 14, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Last week, I published an analysis on the rise of politically motivated doxxing databases that are popping up after politically-charged developments and increasingly including social media posts, employment information and locations. Check it out here!
In the Western world, we often hear about the risks of Iranian cyber operations, but we see less in the news about Israel's advanced cyber capabilities. That's why my latest analysis is a deep dive into Israel's cyber strategy, and risks from its tech industry, like spyware and influence-for-hire
RANE Network
enterprise.ranenetwork.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:20 PM
In the Western world, we often hear about the risks of Iranian cyber operations, but we see less in the news about Israel's advanced cyber capabilities. That's why my latest analysis is a deep dive into Israel's cyber strategy, and risks from its tech industry, like spyware and influence-for-hire
ICE officials added a random person to a group chat planning an ongoing manhunt in a situation remarkably similar to the Signal incident earlier this year. This time, however, messages were not end-to-end encrypted, underscoring the lax attitude in the Trump administration re: secure communication
ICE Adds Random Person to Group Chat, Exposes Details of Manhunt in Real-Time
The texts were sent to a group called “Mass Text” and show ICE using DMV and license plate reader data in an attempt to find their target, copies of the messages obtained by 404 Media show.
www.404media.co
August 14, 2025 at 7:33 PM
ICE officials added a random person to a group chat planning an ongoing manhunt in a situation remarkably similar to the Signal incident earlier this year. This time, however, messages were not end-to-end encrypted, underscoring the lax attitude in the Trump administration re: secure communication
Reposted by Hayley Benedict
Amid a broader push to lighten various EU regulations in the name of bolstering the bloc's competitiveness, several European AI and tech companies are asking EU officials to delay the start AI rules, with the weight of major companies adding pressure that could compel the EU to dilute some aspects
July 3, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Amid a broader push to lighten various EU regulations in the name of bolstering the bloc's competitiveness, several European AI and tech companies are asking EU officials to delay the start AI rules, with the weight of major companies adding pressure that could compel the EU to dilute some aspects
great overview of Iran's hacktivist connections from @samsabin.bsky.social and @axios.com
Pro-Iran hacktivists borrow from Russia's cyber playbook
Experts say these attackers appear focused on strategic cyber campaigns, including ransomware.
www.axios.com
July 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
great overview of Iran's hacktivist connections from @samsabin.bsky.social and @axios.com
X is planning on using AI for community notes. I can't tell if this is helpful because it will enable more moderation? or if it will just add to the growing mis/disinformation/hate speech/cluster mess that's already been going on with X's content moderation polices since Musk took over
X Will Deploy AI to Write Community Notes, Expand Fact-Checking
Elon Musk’s X will start to publish Community Notes written by artificial intelligence agents, a move to increase the speed of the social network’s fact-checking product and expand it to reach more pe...
www.bloomberg.com
July 2, 2025 at 4:37 PM
X is planning on using AI for community notes. I can't tell if this is helpful because it will enable more moderation? or if it will just add to the growing mis/disinformation/hate speech/cluster mess that's already been going on with X's content moderation polices since Musk took over
I've seen several articles recently about a growing use of AI for sensitive applications, like hiring/firing decisions and for deciding on promotions and raises. For me, this raises a lot of alarms about the growing push for various teams to adopt AI into their workflows.
July 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I've seen several articles recently about a growing use of AI for sensitive applications, like hiring/firing decisions and for deciding on promotions and raises. For me, this raises a lot of alarms about the growing push for various teams to adopt AI into their workflows.
The June 24 cyberattack on Columbia University now appears to be right-wing hacktivism. Most apparent, screens were defaced with photos of Donald Trump. The alleged hacker now also claims to have stolen data of applicants in efforts to prove that Columbia is still practicing affirmative action
Columbia University Applicants’ Personal Data Stolen by Hacker
Personal information about Columbia University students and applicants — including whether they were accepted or rejected by the school — has been stolen, according to a Bloomberg News review of data ...
www.bloomberg.com
July 2, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The June 24 cyberattack on Columbia University now appears to be right-wing hacktivism. Most apparent, screens were defaced with photos of Donald Trump. The alleged hacker now also claims to have stolen data of applicants in efforts to prove that Columbia is still practicing affirmative action