David Geer

1 month ago | cacm.acm.org | Andrew Quinn |Peter Alvaro |David Geer |Alex Williams

This installment of Research for Practice covers a topic that, despite its maturity, continues to produce cutting-edge research: deterministic record-and-replay. Deterministic record-and-replay technologies enable a faithful re-execution (replay) of a program that ran in the past (and perhaps encountered a rare bug, a performance anomaly, or an intrusion by an adversary). But accomplishing this requires that any nondeterministic inputs to the program be logged (recorded) during execution.

1 month ago | cacm.acm.org | David Geer |Alex Williams |Sam Greengard

Cybercriminals are using artificial intelligence (AI) to create spear phishing attacks personalized against a specific individual. According to CNN, fraudsters recently used deepfake technology to fabricate a videoconference with a company’s CFO, convincing a Hong Kong finance worker to send them $25 million. Cybersecurity companies are countering with AI-enabled analysis of video data to detect deepfakes.

2 months ago | cacm.acm.org | Marc Rotenberg |David Geer |R. Colin Johnson

Several years ago, I compiled the first reference book on AI policies.1 I aimed to provide a ready reference for the emerging field of artificial intelligence similar to the books I had published on privacy law.2  At that time, we noted the rapid explosion of AI ethics frameworks, but it was still early days for AI governance. The OECD had just finalized the first AI principles endorsed by national governments.

2 months ago | cacm.acm.org | Peter J Denning |David Geer |R. Colin Johnson |Carlos Baquero

“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.” These words were spoken by the political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt in 1974. She was discussing how totalitarian governments, through their propaganda, might induce such wide cynicism that people lose faith in the truth.

2 months ago | cacm.acm.org | David Geer |R. Colin Johnson |Carlos Baquero

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures U.S. personal bank deposits up to $250,000. When the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed in 2023, the FDIC protected consumers and their money. Cryptocurrency has no similar protection. If criminals steal your crypto, you may not get it back. On February 21, 2025, thieves stole $1.46 billion of Ethereum (ETH) using a Dubai-based Bybit cryptocurrency exchange wallet. Major news reports called it the largest cryptocurrency theft ever.