CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@krypt3ia ... and "now with AI inside!" (tm)

@krypt3ia Spot on about the AF. Print it and ship it, at scale.

Seems to increasingly stick out like a sore thumb though?

Total cognitive mood killer.

@wollman @claus Your saying that tripped something in my brain. Axios. I think they even copyrighted this thing, where they do a "why it matters" at the top of each (?) piece. Maybe that's what "inspired" the GPTs.

@jschauma Right? It is SO exhausting.

@claus @wollman Qualia: Great word (had to look it up).

Definitely a big yes/thumbs-up to clickbait tactic evolution. Really good point you make there. Also about how it's evolved past headlines and page layout to the choice/flow of the text itself.

Thankfully at least some things now (recipes, at least) you can often just click a box ("go to recipe") to avoid the "engagement" drivel.

@jschauma Spot on! And with emojis to boot

@wollman Arguably the LLMs learned it from somewhere? But whereas maybe it was a marketing doc cherry on the top, I'm seeing it become widespread across many different types of writing/outlets. Not just Amazon reviews but Facebook recaps of long-gone schlock TV episodes.

@nopatience Spot on — you get that chill down your spine going "I don't think this was written by a human." Chill gets even stronger with poorly subtitled videos on social media that hilariously have nothing to do with the actual video.

@wendynather LOL — I am strongly genuflecting in your direction as I type!

"Why this matters." As a cybersecurity journalist who receives a ton of pitches from PR folks, and who regularly and happily combs through research reports and blogs, I'm seeing the increasing use of "why this matters" as a phrase or subhead in written material. Also further afield in LinkedIn posts and even crowdsourced product reviews. (Yes, I'm really curious to know "Why this iPhone case matters.")

I suspect this is an artifact of AI-generated writing?

Why this matters: It's driving me nuts.

Why this matters: Seeing these sorts of "tells" makes me less interested in reading whatever is sporting this phrase.

In writing, emphasizing the conceptual takeaway for something can often be super helpful. But in today's fast-moving digital landscape, erm, with the volume of information being flung about these days, ideally if/when people use GenAI, what it generates would serve only as a draft. Subject to be refined. Condensed.

Why this matters: Are these sorts of apparent AI tells synonymous with lazy writing and/or thinking?

Victim count in 2024 hack on Conduent Business Services balloons again. The Xerox-spinoff now tells regulators the incident affected "25 million-plus" people across the United States.
https://www.databreachtoday.com/conduent-says-hack-now-affects-at-least-25-million-patients-a-30848

Marquis sues SonicWall over 2025 firewall data breach, claims cloud backup flaw led to ransomware attack succeeding https://www.databreachtoday.com/marquis-sues-sonicwall-over-2025-firewall-data-breach-a-30850

Mississippi Medical Center's healthcare clinics still closed after ransomware attack
https://www.databreachtoday.com/mississippi-medical-center-clinics-still-closed-after-attack-a-30839

Hackers increasingly prefer fast and low-complexity attacks — across ransomware, data extortion and business email compromise campaigns https://www.databreachtoday.com/hackers-increasingly-prefer-fast-low-complexity-attacks-a-30787

How dark web agent spotted bedroom wall clue to rescue girl from years of harm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gn239exlo

Exploitable flaws found in sample of cloud-based password managers. Researchers say the "malicious server threat model" threatens vendors' "zero knowledge encryption" guarantees. They hope to raise the security baseline being offered by cloud-based password managers, by "pushing their vendors to either improve security or make clearer statements about what security their systems actually provide, so that customers can judge (perhaps with the help of expert guides) whether the products meet their requirements or not."
https://www.databreachtoday.com/exploitable-flaws-found-in-cloud-based-password-managers-a-30770

Privacy audit finds Utah child welfare and health data at risk https://www.databreachtoday.com/privacy-audit-finds-utah-child-welfare-health-data-at-risk-a-30746

A slew of amendments to European tech regulations touted by the European Commission as necessary for boosting continental competitiveness is receiving pushback from privacy watchdogs unhappy with changes that could water down EU privacy laws. https://www.databreachtoday.com/eu-privacy-watchdogs-pan-digital-omnibus-a-30744

Weekly Cryptohack Roundup
—Fat thumb? No, Bithumb error to the tune of $43 billion
—20-year sentence over a $73 million Cambodia scam center fraud
—SafeMoon CEO gets eight years for fraud
—Sam Bankman-Fried seeks new trial
—Inside Epstein's early crypto investments
—U.K. lawsuit against HTX
—Probed: Trump-linked crypto deal
—Crypto-linked home invasion
https://www.databreachtoday.com/cryptohack-roundup-20-years-for-73-million-scam-a-30743

Risk management: Should CISOs plan for government as an adversary?
https://www.databreachtoday.com/blogs/should-cisos-plan-for-government-as-adversary-p-4041