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Originally released December 2023._ In today’s episode, host Luisa Rodriguez speaks to Nita Farahany — professor of law and philosophy at Duke Law School — about applications of cutting-edge neurotechnology.

They cover:
• How close we are to actual mind reading.
• How hacking neural interfaces could cure depression.
• How companies might use neural data in the workplace — like tracking how productive you are, or using your emotional states against you in negotiations.
• How close we are to being able to unlock our phones by singing a song in our heads.
• How neurodata has been used for interrogations, and even criminal prosecutions.
• The possibility of linking brains to the point where you could experience exactly the same thing as another person.
• Military applications of this tech, including the possibility of one soldier controlling swarms of drones with their mind.
• And plenty more.

In this episode:
• Luisa’s intro [00:00:00]
• Applications of new neurotechnology and security and surveillance [00:04:25]
• Controlling swarms of drones [00:12:34]
• Brain-to-brain communication [00:20:18]
• Identifying targets subconsciously [00:33:08]
• Neuroweapons [00:37:11]
• Neurodata and mental privacy [00:44:53]
• Neurodata in criminal cases [00:58:30]
• Effects in the workplace [01:05:45]
• Rapid advances [01:18:03]
• Regulation and cognitive rights [01:24:04]
• Brain-computer interfaces and cognitive enhancement [01:26:24]
• The risks of getting really deep into someone’s brain [01:41:52]
• Best-case and worst-case scenarios [01:49:00]
• Current work in this space [01:51:03]
• Watching kids grow up [01:57:03]

The 80,000 Hours Podcast features unusually in-depth conversations about the world’s most pressing problems and what you can do to solve them.

Learn more, read the summary and find the full transcript on the 80,000 Hours website:

Nita Farahany on the neurotechnology already being used to convict criminals and manipulate workers

The Black Basta ransomware operation created an automated brute-forcing framework dubbed ‘BRUTED’ to breach edge networking devices like firewalls and VPNs.

The framework has enabled BlackBasta to streamline initial network access and scale ransomware attacks on vulnerable internet-exposed endpoints.

The discovery of BRUTED comes from EclecticIQ researcher Arda Büyükkaya following an in-depth examination of the ransomware gang’s leaked internal chat logs.

Cybercriminals are promoting malicious Microsoft OAuth apps that masquerade as Adobe and DocuSign apps to deliver malware and steal Microsoft 365 accounts credentials.

The campaigns were discovered by Proofpoint researchers, who characterized them as “highly targeted” in a thread on X.

The malicious OAuth apps in this campaign are impersonating Adobe Drive, Adobe Drive X, Adobe Acrobat, and DocuSign.

A new ransomware operator named ‘Mora_001’ is exploiting two Fortinet vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to firewall appliances and deploy a custom ransomware strain dubbed SuperBlack.

The two vulnerabilities, both authentication bypasses, are CVE-2024–55591 and CVE-2025–24472, which Fortinet disclosed in January and February, respectively.

When Fortinet first disclosed CVE-2024–55591 on January 14, they confirmed it had been exploited as a zero-day, with Arctic Wolf stating it had been used in attacks since November 2024 to breach FortiGate firewalls.

So far, 20 pipo don share ova $4m in rewards afta dem find $40m of di stolen money and call di crypto companies make dem block di transfer.

But sabi pipo no dey optimistic again say dem go fit recover di rest of di money becos of di North Korean knowledge for hacking and laundering of di money.

Dr Dorit Dor from cyber security company Check Point tok say, “North Korea na veri closed system and closed economy so dem don create successful industry of hacking and laundering and dem no care about di negative impression of cyber crime”