Priviso Live Episode 63: Bad code, lost keys and jazz quartets
Silly season is almost upon us, and the team responds with an episode brimming with AI news and insights.
What happens when one of the world's leading cryptography organisations loses the key to its own election? Or when an AI model produces more security vulnerabilities because you mentioned Tibet? This week's Priviso Live tackles the fascinating intersection of artificial intelligence, security failures, and the accelerating arms race between cyber attackers and defenders.
Hosts Lyn, Stephen, and Kayla dive into CrowdStrike's alarming discovery about DeepSeek-R1, a Chinese AI coding model that generates up to 50% more security flaws when processing politically sensitive topics. The implications extend far beyond China's borders, raising critical questions about which AI tools South African businesses should trust—especially with municipal elections on the horizon.
From there, the show explores an ironic twist: the International Association of Cryptologic Research had to cancel its leadership election after losing the decryption key. Even the world's top security experts aren't immune to basic key management failures—a sobering reminder as electronic voting systems gain traction.
The episode also covers OpenAI's split with analytics provider Mixpanel following a data breach, Google's launch of the powerful Gemini 3 model, ChatGPT's new group collaboration features, and crucial AI security best practices for 2026. With Google predicting that AI will become standard equipment for both attackers and defenders, understanding these emerging threats isn't optional—it's essential.
Whether you're a developer using AI coding assistants, a business leader evaluating new tools, or simply concerned about deepfakes in the upcoming election cycle, this episode delivers the insights you need to navigate our rapidly evolving digital landscape.
*Subscribe to Priviso Live on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube—because staying informed is your first line of defense.*
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Priviso Live Episode 62: Black Friday
Europe's digital privacy protections face their biggest challenge yet. The EU's new Digital Omnibus package proposes sweeping changes to GDPR, potentially flipping cookie consent from opt-in to opt-out and allowing AI training on personal data without explicit permission. While Brussels promises €5 billion in savings for businesses, privacy advocates warn of a "major rollback" that could dismantle fundamental digital rights. For South African companies operating in European markets, these changes could reshape compliance requirements entirely.
Closer to home, Pepkor Lifestyle brands including Incredible Connection and HiFi Corp are notifying customers of a breach affecting their SMS marketing provider. While "only" phone numbers were exposed, security experts warn this is exactly the kind of data criminals collate to build sophisticated phishing profiles—particularly dangerous as Black Friday approaches.
But the week's most explosive story involves artificial intelligence detecting what human analysts missed: potential accounting irregularities in Nvidia's stellar earnings report. Trading algorithms flagged a $4.8 billion gap between reported profits and actual cash generation within hours—faster than traditional analysts could even review the footnotes. The discovery has sparked broader questions about circular financing in the AI industry, with tech giants raising record debt levels while revenue increasingly depends on contracts with cash-strapped AI startups.
We'll also break down the Cloudflare outage that took down millions of websites, share essential Black Friday security tips to protect your financial data, and discuss Warren Buffett's surprising $4.9 billion bet on Google amid AI market turbulence.
Finally, we discuss the risks of Black Friday, and safeguards you can take.
Join Lyn, Stephen, and special guest Kay for an episode packed with regulatory shake-ups, security breaches, and the fascinating intersection of AI and financial fraud detection.
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Priviso Live Episode 61: World War 1 Security
This week's episode hits close to home—literally. We dive into a ransomware attack on the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements by the international NightSpire gang, who claim to have stolen 20GB of sensitive data, including personal information of housing applicants. Despite official statements calling it a "minor breach," the incident exposes critical vulnerabilities in South African public sector cybersecurity.
In a twist of supreme irony, we explore how Entrust—a global leader in digital security—fell victim to the Clop ransomware gang. When the security experts get breached, it serves as a sobering reminder: no one is immune to sophisticated cyberattacks.
We also examine Microsoft Teams' controversial "Chat with Anyone" feature, rolling out by January 2026. While convenient, this default-enabled functionality opens massive attack surfaces for phishing and credential theft—a classic case of convenience versus security.
On the AI front, groundbreaking research reveals that large language models can be compromised with as few as 250 malicious documents. We discuss the implications for AI security and why Africa's diversity must be represented in AI training data to prevent perpetuating harmful biases.
Finally, John takes us on a poignant journey through Armistice Day, exploring how World War I birthed modern information security—from cryptography and traffic analysis to authentication protocols. The lessons from those trenches still echo in our digital battlefields today.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Monitor your accounts if you've dealt with affected institutions
✅ Disable risky default features in collaboration tools
✅ Remember: even security companies get hacked
✅ AI security and representation matter
🎧 Listen now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or iHeartRadio!
#Cybersecurity #InfoSec #Ransomware #AIEthics #DataPrivacy #SouthAfrica #PrivisoLive
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Priviso Live Episode 60: Amertech Interview
In our latest episode, we unpack four stories that reveal the complex intersection of technology, accountability, and governance in today's digital landscape.
**🔍 The Mamdani "Hack" That Fooled Millions**
How did a simple news broadcast get misinterpreted as a cyberattack? We dive into the viral incident from NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's victory celebration that spread across Instagram, X, and TikTok for two days before fact-checkers could debunk it. The lesson? Our collective media literacy may be more compromised than any computer system.
**📱 TikTok's Kenya Crackdown**
Nearly 600,000 videos removed in just three months. We explore what happens when governments hold Big Tech accountable, examining TikTok's aggressive moderation response to regulatory pressure—and asking the hard questions about AI-driven content removal.
**📊 South Africa's King V Corporate Governance Code**
The newly released framework is reshaping how organizations approach leadership, sustainability, and AI oversight. We break down what changed from King IV and why it matters for businesses navigating 2025's complex landscape.
**🔐 PLUS: An Exclusive Interview**
We speak with Paul Armer, CIO at ArmerTech, about a radical approach to cloud storage where even the service provider cannot access your encrypted data. In an era of constant breaches, is this the future of digital privacy?
**The common thread? Accountability—and the tension between speed and responsibility.**
🎧 Listen now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#PrivisoLive #CyberSecurity #DigitalGovernance #MediaLiteracy #TechAccountability
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Priviso Live Episode 59: Supply chain chaos
The numbers are staggering: five weeks of production halted. Three major UK plants shut down. 5,000 businesses impacted across the supply chain. A projected loss of £1.9 billion.
This isn't a hypothetical scenario—it's the reality Jaguar Land Rover faced following a Category 3 cyber-attack, with full recovery not expected until January 2026.
In this week's episode of Priviso Live, Lyn, Stephen, and John unpack what this incident means for organizations everywhere—especially in South Africa, where cyber threats are rising but reporting remains dangerously incomplete.
*Key insights we explore:*
The IT-to-OT cascade: How an IT system attack triggered a complete manufacturing shutdown, demonstrating the critical convergence between information technology and operational technology.
Supply chain vulnerability: When a single major player falls, thousands of dependent businesses face potential collapse—regardless of their own cybersecurity posture.
The South African context: With only a fraction of security incidents being reported under POPIA, many organizations are underestimating their exposure and regulatory obligations.
Historical lessons from Operation Aurora: Why the patterns we're seeing today were foreshadowed in 2009, but the scale and systemic nature of risk have fundamentally changed.
*The bottom line?* Cyber risk is no longer just an IT problem—it's an enterprise-level crisis that demands board attention, supply chain mapping, and realistic worst-case planning.
Are you prepared for a multi-week shutdown? Do you know your critical dependencies? Is your breach notification process ready?
Listen now to understand what the Jaguar Land Rover incident means for your organization's cyber resilience strategy.
🎧 Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or your preferred platform.
#CyberSecurity #SupplyChain #POPIA #RiskManagement #SouthAfrica
South Africa