Entity Extraction: Not As Simple As Some Vendors Say
November 19, 2024
No smart software. Just a dumb dinobaby. Oh, the art? Yeah, MidJourney.
Most of the systems incorporating entity extraction have been trained to recognize the names of simple entities and mostly based on the use of capitalization. An “entity” can be a person’s name, the name of an organization, or a location like Niagara Falls, near Buffalo, New York. The river “Niagara” when bound to “Falls” means a geologic feature. The “Buffalo” is not a Bubalina; it is a delightful city with even more pleasing weather.
The same entity extraction process has to work for specialized software used by law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and legal professionals. Compared to entity extraction for consumer-facing applications like Google’s Web search or Apple Maps, the specialized software vendors have to contend with:
- Gang slang in English and other languages; for example, “bumble bee.” This is not an insect; it is a nickname for the Latin Kings.
- Organizations operating in Lao PDR and converted to English words like Zhao Wei’s Kings Romans Casino. Mr. Wei has been allegedly involved in gambling activities in a poorly-regulated region in the Golden Triangle.
- Individuals who use aliases like maestrolive, james44123, or ahmed2004. There are either “real” people behind the handles or they are sock puppets (fake identities).
Why do these variations create a challenge? In order to locate a business, the content processing system has to identify the entity the user seeks. For an investigator, chopping through a thicket of language and idiosyncratic personas is the difference between making progress or hitting a dead end. Automated entity extraction systems can work using smart software, carefully-crafted and constantly updated controlled vocabulary list, or a hybrid system.
Automated entity extraction systems can work using smart software, carefully-crafted and constantly updated controlled vocabulary list, or a hybrid system.
Let’s take an example which confronts a person looking for information about the Ku Group. This is a financial services firm responsible for the Kucoin. The Ku Group is interesting because it has been found guilty in the US for certain financial activities in the State of New York and by the US Securities & Exchange Commission.
Apple and NSO Group: Enough PR Already
October 16, 2024
Just a humanoid processing information related to online services and information access.
No, no court battle. Bummer.
Technology companies either like or dislike others in their industry. Apple and the spyware NSO Group don’t play well together, but they recently agreed on something. Cyberscoop reports that, “NSO Group Indicates Rare Agreement With Apple Over Dismissal Of Lawsuit.” Apple and NSO Group agreed it is prudent to drop a lawsuit that accused the latter of targeting the former’s users.
The NSO Group was more open about why the lawsuit should be dismissed, but Apple is keeping quiet. The lawsuit was filed three years ago, but it’s not as useful anymore because the spyware market has grown. There’s more information here:
“NSO Group, by contrast, said that while it agreed with Apple that there were “significant obstacles” in the court case, the real issue was that a district court in California wasn’t the right venue for “adjudicating claims that a foreign technology company licensed lawful-intercept technology to foreign governments, which then used the technology to monitor foreign criminals and terrorists in foreign countries for those countries’ own national security and other sovereign interests.”
The filing states that Apple has done little to prosecute its claims, and as such the judge should dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning that it couldn’t be refiled later. But if the judge dismisses it without prejudice, then NSO Group said it would like to be reimbursed for its court costs as the work it has done on the case couldn’t be recycled.”
Whitney Grace, October 16, 2024
Surveillance Watch Maps the Surveillance App Ecosystem
October 1, 2024
Here is an interesting resource: Surveillance Watch compiles information about surveillance tech firms, organizations that fund them, and the regions in which they are said to operate. The lists, compiled from contributions by visitors to the site, are not comprehensive. But they are full of useful information. The About page states:
“Surveillance technology and spyware are being used to target and suppress journalists, dissidents, and human rights advocates everywhere. Surveillance Watch is an interactive map that documents the hidden connections within the opaque surveillance industry. Founded by privacy advocates, most of whom were personally harmed by surveillance tech, our mission is to shed light on the companies profiting from this exploitation with significant risk to our lives. By mapping out the intricate web of surveillance companies, their subsidiaries, partners, and financial backers, we hope to expose the enablers fueling this industry’s extensive rights violations, ensuring they cannot evade accountability for being complicit in this abuse. Surveillance Watch is a community-driven initiative, and we rely on submissions from individuals passionate about protecting privacy and human rights.”
Yes, the site makes it easy to contribute information to its roundup. Anonymously, if one desires. The site’s information is divided into three alphabetical lists: Surveilling Entities, Known Targets, and Funding Organizations. As an example, here is what the service says about safeXai (formerly Banjo):
“safeXai is the entity that has quietly resumed the operations of Banjo, a digital surveillance company whose founder, Damien Patton, was a former Ku Klux Klan member who’d participated in a 1990 drive-by shooting of a synagogue near Nashville, Tennessee. Banjo developed real-time surveillance technology that monitored social media, traffic cameras, satellites, and other sources to detect and report on events as they unfolded. In Utah, Banjo’s technology was used by law enforcement agencies.”
We notice there are no substantive links which could have been included, like ones to footage of the safeXai surveillance video service or the firm’s remarkable body of patents. In our view, these patents represent an X-ray look at what most firms call artificial intelligence.
A few other names we recognize are IBM, Palantir, and Pegasus owner NSO Group. See the site for many more. The Known Targets page lists countries that, when clicked, list surveilling entities known or believed to be operating there. Entries on the Funding Organizations page include a brief description of each organization with a clickable list of surveillance apps it is known or believed to fund at the bottom. It is not clear how the site vets its entries, but the submission form does include boxes for supporting URL(s) and any files to upload. It also asks whether one consents to be contacted for more information.
Cynthia Murrell, October 1, 2024
Intellexa: Ill Intent or Israeli Marketing Failure?
September 19, 2024
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
Most online experts are not familiar with the specialized software sector. Most of the companies in this intelware niche try to maintain a low profile. Publicity in general media, trade magazines, or TikTok is not desired. However, a couple of Israel-anchored vendors have embraced the Madison Avenue way. Indications of unwanted publicity surface in sources rarely given much attention by the poohbahs who follow more clickable topics like Mr. Musk’s getting into doo doo in Brazil or Mr. Zuck’s antics in Australia and the UK.
You know your marketing and PR firm has created an issue which allows management to ask, “Should we switch to a new marketing and PR firm?” Will the executives make a switch or go for a crisis management outfit instead? Thanks, MSFT Copilot. Interesting omission of the word “a”, but that’s okay. Your team is working on security and a couple of other pressing issues. Grammar is the least of some Softies’ worries.
The Malta Times (yep, it is an island with an interesting history and a number of business districts which house agents and lawyers who do fascinating work) reported on March 6, 2024, that:
The Maltese government has initiated the process of the deprivation of the Maltese citizenship of a person who appeared on a US sanctions list on Tuesday (March 5, 2024).
The individual, according to the write up, was “Ex-Israeli intelligence officer and current CEO of cyber spyware firm Intellexa.” The write up points out:
Tal Dilian was added to the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals List on Tuesday (March 5, 2024) in connection with sanctions by the US Treasury on members of the Intellexa Spyware Consortium.
The Malta Times noted:
According to the [U.S.] State Department, “Dilian is the founder of the Intellexa Consortium and is the architect behind its spyware tools. The consortium is a complex international web of decentralized companies controlled either fully or partially by Dilian, including through Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou. “Hamou is a corporate off-shoring specialist who has provided managerial services to the Intellexa Consortium, including renting office space in Greece on behalf of Intellexa S.A. Hamou holds a leadership role at Intellexa S.A., Intellexa Limited, and Thalestris Limited,” said the State Department.
I saw a news release from the US Department of the Treasury titled “Treasury Sanctions Enablers of the Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium.” That statement said:
Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned five individuals and one entity associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology that presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States. These designations complement concerted U.S. government actions against commercial spyware vendors, including previous sanctions against individuals and entities associated with the Intellexa Consortium; the Department of Commerce’s addition of commercial spyware vendors to the Entity List; and the Department of State’s visa ban policy targeting those who misuse or profit from the misuse of commercial spyware, subsequently exercised on thirteen individuals.
Some of these people include:
- Felix Bitzios (Bitzios), beneficial owner of an Intellexa Consortium
- Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi, the beneficial owner of Thalestris Limited which holds distribution rights to the Predator spyware and has been involved in processing transactions on behalf of other entities within the Intellexa Consortium.
- Merom Harpaz, a manager of Intellexa S.A.
- Panagiota Karaoli, the director of multiple Intellexa Consortium entities that are controlled by or are a subsidiary of Thalestris Limited.
- Artemis Artemiou (Artemiou), the general manager and member of the board of Cytrox Holdings Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag (Cytrox Holdings), a member of the Intellexa Consortium
- Aliada Group Inc, a British Virgin Islands-based company and member of the Intellexa Consortium
Chatter about Intellexa’s specialized software has been making noise since
In 2021, the firm used this headline on its Web site to catch attention, not of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, but other entities:
More than intelligence gathering networks — Intellexa’s innovative insight platform
And statements like
Create insights, win the digital race
The lingo is important because it is marketing oriented. Plus, in 2021, the firm’s positioning emphasized Tal Dilian’s technology. (Some of the features reminded me of NSO Group’s Pegasus with a dash of other Israeli-developed specialized software systems.
How has the marketing worked out? Since Mr. Dilian became involved with a failing specialized software developer called Cytrox in Cyprus, Intellexa matured into an “alliance.” The reinvigorated outfit operated from Athens, Greece. By 2021, Intellexa was attracting attention from several governments related to officials’ whose devices had been enhanced with the cleverly named Predator software.
That marketing expertise has put Intellexa and its “affiliates” in the spotlight. From a PR point of view, mission accomplished. The problem appears to be that one PR and marketing success has created a sticky wicket for the company. An unintended consequence is that the specialized software vendors find themselves becoming increasingly well known. From my point of view, the failure to keep certain specialized software capabilities secret has been a surprising trend.
My hypothesis is that because the systems and methods for obtaining information for legal purposes has become more widely known, more people are thinking about how they too could obtain information from an entity. One may criticize what government entities do, but these entities (in theory) are operating within a formal structure. Use of specialized software, therefore, operates within a structure which has rules, regulations, norms for conduct, and similar knobs and dials. When the capabilities are available to anyone via a Telegram download, certain types of risk go up. That’s why I am not in favor of specialized software companies practicing the Israel developed NSO Group and Intellexa style of marketing.
But the mobile surveillance cat is out of the bag. And I have been around long enough to know what happens when cats are turned loose. They market, make noise, and make more cats. And some technology can make a mobile device behave in unexpected ways or go bang.
Stephen E Arnold, September 19, 2024
The Fixed Network Lawful Interception Business is Booming
September 11, 2024
It is not just bad actors who profit from an increase in cybercrime. Makers of software designed to catch them are cashing in, too. The Market Research Report 224 blog shares “Fixed Network Lawful Interception Market Region Insights.” Lawful interception is the process by which law enforcement agencies, after obtaining the proper warrants of course, surveil circuit and packet-mode communications. The report shares findings from a study by Data Bridge Market Research on this growing sector. Between 2021 and 2028, this market is expected to grow by nearly 20% annually and hit an estimated value of $5,340 million. We learn:
“Increase in cybercrimes in the era of digitalization is a crucial factor accelerating the market growth, also increase in number of criminal activities, significant increase in interception warrants, rising surge in volume of data traffic and security threats, rise in the popularity of social media communications, rising deployment of 5G networks in all developed and developing economies, increasing number of interception warrants and rising government of both emerging and developed nations are progressively adopting lawful interception for decrypting and monitoring digital and analog information, which in turn increases the product demand and rising virtualization of advanced data centers to enhance security in virtual networks enabling vendors to offer cloud-based interception solutions are the major factors among others boosting the fixed network lawful interception market.”
Furthermore, the pace of these developments will likely increase over the next few years. The write-up specifies key industry players, a list we found particularly useful:
“The major players covered in fixed network lawful interception market report are Utimaco GmbH, VOCAL TECHNOLOGIES, AQSACOM, Inc, Verint, BAE Systems., Cisco Systems, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Atos SE, SS8 Networks, Inc, Trovicor, Matison is a subsidiary of Sedam IT Ltd, Shoghi Communications Ltd, Comint Systems and Solutions Pvt Ltd – Corp Office, Signalogic, IPS S.p.A, ZephyrTel, EVE compliancy solutions and Squire Technologies Ltd among other domestic and global players.”
See the press release for notes on Data Bridge’s methodology. It promises 350 pages of information, complete with tables and charts, for those who purchase a license. Formed in 2014, Data Bridge is based in Haryana, India.
Cynthia Murrell, September 11, 2024
Preligens Is Safran.ai
September 9, 2024
Preligens, a French AI and specialized software company, is now part of Safran Electronics & Defense which is a unit of the Safran Group. I spotted a report in Aerotime. “Safran Accelerates AI Development with $243M Purchase of French-Firm Preligens” reported on September 2, 2024. The report quotes principles to the deal as saying:
“Joining Safran marks a new stage in Preligens’ development. We’re proud to be helping create a world-class AI center of expertise for one of the flagships of French industry. The many synergies with Safran will enable us to develop new AI product lines and accelerate our international expansion, which is excellent news for our business and our people,” Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of Preligens, said. The CEO of Safran Electronics & Defense, Franck Saudo, said that he was “delighted” to welcome Preligens to the company.
The acquisition does not just make Mr. Saudo happy. The French military, a number of European customers, and the backers of Preligens are thrilled as well. In my lectures about specialized software companies, I like to call attention to this firm. It illustrates that technology innovation is not located in one country. Furthermore it underscores the strong educational system in France. When I first learned about Preligens, one rumor I heard was that on of the US government entities wanted to “invest” in the company. For a variety of reasons, the deal went no place faster than a bus speeding toward La Madeleine. If you spot me at a conference, you can ask about French technology firms and US government processes. I have some first hand knowledge starting with “American fries in a Congressional lunch facility.”
Preligens is important for three reasons:
- The firm developed an AI platform; that is, the “smart software” is not an afterthought which contrasts sharply with the spray paint approach to AI upon which some specialized software companies have been relying
- The smart software outputs identification data; for example, a processed image can show an aircraft. The Preligens system identifies the aircraft by type
- The user of the Preligens system can use time analyses of imagery to draw conclusions. Here’s a hypothetical because the actual example is not appropriate for a free blog written by a dinobaby. Imagine a service van driving in front of an embassy in Paris. The van makes a pass every three hours for two consecutive days. The Preligens system can “notice” this and alert an operator.
I will continue to monitor the system which will be doing business with selected entities under the name Safran.ai.
Stephen E Arnold, September 9, 2024
Microsoft and Palantir: Moving Up to Higher Impact Levels
August 20, 2024
Microsoft And Palantir Sell AI Spyware To Us Government
While AI is making the news about how it will end jobs, be used for deep fakes, and overturn creativity industries, there’s something that’s not being mentioned: spyware. The Verge writes about how two big technology players are planning to bring spyware to the US government: “Palantir Partners With Microsoft To Sell AI To The Government.”
Palantir and Microsoft recently announced they will combine their software to power services for US defense and intelligence services. Microsoft’s large language models (LLMs) will be used via Azure OpenAI Service with Palantir’s AI Platforms (AIP). These will be used through Microsoft’s classified government cloud environments. This doesn’t explain exactly what the combination of software will do, but there’s speculation.
Palantir is known for its software that analyses people’s personal data and helping governments and organizations with surveillance. Palantir has been very successful when it comes to government contracts:
“Despite its large client list, Palantir didn’t post its first annual profit until 2023. But the AI hype cycle has meant that Palantir’s “commercial business is exploding in a way we don’t know how to handle,” the company’s chief executive officer Alex Carp told Bloomberg in February. The majority of its business is from governments, including that of Israel — though the risk factors section of its annual filing notes that it does not and will not work with “the Chinese communist party.””
Eventually the details about Palantir’s and Microsoft’s partnership will be revealed. It probably won’t be off from what people imagine, but it is guaranteed to be shocking.
Whitney Grace, August 20, 2024
NSO Group Determines Public Officials Are Legitimate Targets
July 12, 2024
Well, that is a point worth making if one is the poster child of the specialized software industry.
NSO Group, makers of the infamous Pegasus spyware, makes a bold claim in a recent court filing: “Government and Military Officials Fair Targets of Pegasus Spyware in All Cases, NSO Group Argues,” reports cybersecurity news site The Record. The case at hand is Pegasus’ alleged exploitation of a WhatsApp vulnerability back in 2019. Reporter Suzanne Smalley cites former United Nations official David Kaye, who oversaw the right to free expression at that time. Smalley writes:
“Friday’s filing seems to suggest a broader purpose for Pegasus, Kaye said, pointing to NSO’s explanation that the technology can be used on ‘persons who, by virtue of their positions in government or military organizations, are the subject of legitimate intelligence investigations.’ ‘This appears to be a much more extensive claim than made in 2019, since it suggests that certain persons are legitimate targets of Pegasus without a link to the purpose for the spyware’s use,’ said Kaye, who was the U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression from 2014 to 2020. … The Israeli company’s statement comes as digital forensic researchers are increasingly finding Pegasus infections on phones belonging to activists, opposition politicians and journalists in a host of countries worldwide. NSO Group says it only sells Pegasus to governments, but the frequent and years-long discoveries of the surveillance technology on civil society phones have sparked a public uproar and led the U.S. government to crack down on the company and commercial spyware manufacturers in general.”
See the article for several examples of suspected targets around the world. We understand both the outrage and the crack down. However, publicly arguing about the targets of spyware may have unintended consequences. Now everyone knows about mobile phone data exfiltration and how that information can be used to great effect.
As for the WhatsApp court case, it is proceeding at the sluggish speed of justice. In March 2024, a California federal judge ordered NSO Group to turn over its secret spyware code. What will be the verdict? When will it be handed down? And what about the firm’s senior managers?
Cynthia Murrell, July 12, 2024
Meta Case Against Intelware Vendor Voyager Lags to Go Forward
June 21, 2024
Another clever intelware play gets trapped and now moves to litigation. Meta asserts that when Voyager Labs scraped data on over 600,000 Facebook users, it violated its contract. Furthermore, it charges, the scraping violated anti-hacking laws. While Voyager insists the case should be summarily dismissed, U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin disagrees. MediaDailyNews reports, “Meta Can Proceed With Claims that Voyager Labs Scraped Users’ Data.” Writer Wendy Davis explains:
“Voyager argued the complaint should be dismissed at an early stage for several reasons. Among others, Voyager said the allegations regarding Facebook’s terms of service were too vague. Meta’s complaint ‘refers to a catchall category of contracts … but then says nothing more about those alleged contracts, their terms, when they are supposed to have been executed, or why they allegedly bind Voyager UK today,’ Voyager argued to Martinez-Olguin in a motion filed in February. The company also said California courts lacked jurisdiction to decide whether the company violated federal or state anti-hacking laws. Martinez-Olguin rejected all of Voyager’s arguments on Thursday. She wrote that while Meta’s complaint could have set out the company’s terms of service ‘with more clarity,’ the allegations sufficiently informed Voyager of the basis for Meta’s claim.”
This battle began in January 2023 when Meta first filed the complaint. Now it can move forward. How long before the languid wheels of justice turn out a final ruling? A long time we wager.
Cynthia Murrell, June 21, 2024
Palantir: Fear Is Good. Fear Sells.
June 18, 2024
President Eisenhower may not have foreseen AI when he famously warned of the military-industrial complex, but certain software firms certainly fit the bill. One of the most successful, Palantir, is pursuing Madison Avenue type marketing with a message of alarm. The company’s co-founder, Alex Karp, is quoted in the fear-mongering post at right-wing Blaze Media, “U.S. Prepares for War Amid Growing Tensions that China Could Invade Taiwan.”
After several paragraphs of panic over tensions between China and Taiwan, writer Collin Jones briefly admits “It is uncertain if and when the Chinese president will deploy an attack against the small country.” He quickly pivots to the scary AI arms race, intimating Palantir and company can save us as long as we let (fund) them. The post concludes:
“Palantir’s CEO and co-founder Alex Karp said: ‘The way to prevent a war with China is to ramp up not just Palantir, but defense tech startups that produce software-defining weapons systems that scare the living F out of our adversaries.’ Karp noted that the U.S. must stay ahead of its military opponents in the realm of AI. ‘Our adversaries have a long tradition of being not interested in the rule of law, not interested in fairness, not interested in human rights and on the battlefield. It really is going to be us or them.’ Karp noted that the U.S. must stay ahead of its military opponents in the realm of AI. You do not want a world order where our adversaries try to define new norms. It would be very bad for the world, and it would be especially bad for America,’ Karp concluded.”
Wow. But do such scare tactics work? Of course they do. For instance, we learn from DefenseScoop, “Palantir Lands $480M Army Contract for Maven Artificial Intelligence Tech.” That article reports on not one but two Palantir deals: the titular Maven expansion and, we learn:
“The company was recently awarded another AI-related deal by the Army for the next phase of the service’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) ground station program, which aims to provide soldiers with next-generation data fusion and deep-sensing capabilities via artificial intelligence and other tools. That other transaction agreement was worth $178 million.”
Those are just two recent examples of Palantir’s lucrative government contracts, ones that have not, as of this writing, been added this running tally. It seems the firm has found its winning strategy. Ramping up tensions between world powers is a small price to pay for significant corporate profits, apparently.
Cynthia Murrell, June 18, 2024
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
