We have a year to fix security everywhere • Hacker News Board

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#151

Post by AyyEye » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:27 AM UTC

mark_something wrote: post #104

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be a thing called "Moore's Law of Mad Science": "Every eighteen months, the minimum IQ necessary to destroy the world drops by one point." Nowadays it is dropping much faster. At a certain point, the de-facto IQ needed to destroy the world will be low enough that someone can do it while they're having a psychotic break. There are millions of schizophrenics worldwide. Are you sure you want to roll those…

That law is not based on thorough data. Even a person with a sky high IQ can't destroy the world easily. You need access to stuff that is not easy to get. My guess is that developing a new lethal virus or bacteria that is very infectious, is the easiest way, but even that requires a lot of high tech out of reach of most people. Or hacking into systems that control nuclear missiles, but I think these have "air gaps".

> My guess is that developing a new lethal virus or bacteria that is very infectious, is the easiest way, but even that requires a lot of high tech out of reach of most people.

You can do at home gene editing with open source software and have it synthesized into a bacteria for the cost of a nice meal for two (under $100), or viral vector for less than $500. That's in reach of anyone that can snatch a purse.

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#152

Post by wolvoleo » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:28 AM UTC

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #94

kennywinker wrote: post #85

I'm confused why the worry about LLMs that will answer "how do I build a pipe bomb". That information is easily available other places. The anarchist cookbook has been around and available for 55 years, and yet pipe bombs are not going off all around us.

There used to be a thing called "Moore's Law of Mad Science": "Every eighteen months, the minimum IQ necessary to destroy the world drops by one point." Nowadays it is dropping much faster. At a certain point, the de-facto IQ needed to destroy the world will be low enough that someone can do it while they're having a psychotic break. There are millions of schizophrenics worldwide. Are you sure you want to roll those…

Yes but at least with cybersecurity it does not only benefit attackers. Defenders also benefit greatly from AI.

There is the worry of the old saying "they (the attackers) only have to succeed once to win, we (the defenders) only have to fail once to lose.". In that sense there is a big imbalance, but the emergence of AI does not really affect that because it strengthens both sides.

With physical security like things like pipe bombs that's a lot more imbalanced.

However what can we do? The only effective measures include monitoring everyone which is not a solution because it will make the world not worth living in.

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#153

Post by nextlevelwizard » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:28 AM UTC

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #119

mark_something wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That law is not based on thorough data. Even a person with a sky high IQ can't destroy the world easily. You need access to stuff that is not easy to get. My guess is that developing a new lethal virus or bacteria that is very infectious, is the easiest way, but even that requires a lot of high tech out of reach of most people. Or hacking into systems that control nuclear missiles, but I think these have "air gaps".

[flagged]

Who are these dedicated schizophrenics who are running long term super smart AIs to kill everyone without anyone noticing? Or are you implying that running LLM chatbots will give them this ability?

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#154

Post by kreetx » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:29 AM UTC

A positive way to spin this is: we have a year to break in into any IT system. After that, it will be all either fixed or broken into, and all is fixed ever after. :)

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#155

Post by keybored » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:30 AM UTC

Clanker fodder. Unless the We are heads of states/heads of spooks or the AI powers that be (praise be) that there is no power and will to do that in one year or even ten years.

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#156

Post by wolvoleo » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:30 AM UTC

olmo23 wrote: post #148

kennywinker wrote: post #85

I'm confused why the worry about LLMs that will answer "how do I build a pipe bomb". That information is easily available other places. The anarchist cookbook has been around and available for 55 years, and yet pipe bombs are not going off all around us.

This is because to build a pipe bomb you need difficult to source materials. This is not the case for other types of threats (cyber / bio). I personally have no need for an LLM which will readily explain how to cut up the genotype of smallpox into small chunks which can pass the screening at the bio-labs, and can be readily assembled into the real thing by a second year lab-student.

Anyone who knows how to operate a biolab properly will already know how to do such things. This is not really an in your basement thing. Dangerous chemistry is much more of a risk.

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#157

Post by TacticalCoder » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:31 AM UTC

0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #94

kennywinker wrote: post #85

I'm confused why the worry about LLMs that will answer "how do I build a pipe bomb". That information is easily available other places. The anarchist cookbook has been around and available for 55 years, and yet pipe bombs are not going off all around us.

There used to be a thing called "Moore's Law of Mad Science": "Every eighteen months, the minimum IQ necessary to destroy the world drops by one point." Nowadays it is dropping much faster. At a certain point, the de-facto IQ needed to destroy the world will be low enough that someone can do it while they're having a psychotic break. There are millions of schizophrenics worldwide. Are you sure you want to roll those…

> There are millions of schizophrenics worldwide.

Are 95% of worldwide terror attacks done by schizos?

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#158

Post by bamboozled » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:32 AM UTC

olmo23 wrote: post #148

kennywinker wrote: post #85

I'm confused why the worry about LLMs that will answer "how do I build a pipe bomb". That information is easily available other places. The anarchist cookbook has been around and available for 55 years, and yet pipe bombs are not going off all around us.

This is because to build a pipe bomb you need difficult to source materials. This is not the case for other types of threats (cyber / bio). I personally have no need for an LLM which will readily explain how to cut up the genotype of smallpox into small chunks which can pass the screening at the bio-labs, and can be readily assembled into the real thing by a second year lab-student.

Ignorant question but won’t there be much smarter teams if people using LLMs to workout how to mitigate these threats. It seems like more of a problem if only a few people have access.

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#159

Post by designerarvid » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:33 AM UTC

kennywinker wrote: post #85

I'm confused why the worry about LLMs that will answer "how do I build a pipe bomb". That information is easily available other places. The anarchist cookbook has been around and available for 55 years, and yet pipe bombs are not going off all around us.

Not entirely unlike XKCD 1958 [0]. "I guess it's just that most people aren't murderers"

[0]: https://xkcd.com/1958/

Re: We have a year to fix security everywhere

#160

Post by gnfargbl » Tue, Sep 08, 2026, 8:33 AM UTC

kennywinker wrote: post #85

I'm confused why the worry about LLMs that will answer "how do I build a pipe bomb". That information is easily available other places. The anarchist cookbook has been around and available for 55 years, and yet pipe bombs are not going off all around us.

One argument for LLMs is that although all information on topics X, Y and Z was already available somewhere, LLMs make that information more exploitable through collation, filtering and dynamic tailoring.

For a relatively narrow subject area (e.g. construction of pipe bombs) the collation is minimal, and so the filtering and tailoring probably isn't that important; a novice doesn't learn a lot more from the LLM than they would have done from a few Google searches.

For a broad subject (practical creation and exploitation of software vulnerabilities), the collation is very significant and the filtering means that LLMs can empower a novice to act at a similar level as an expert.