Highlights
I’ve been extremely grateful for the chance to be mentored by the epic Julia Pardee @ Cyber Mentor Fund! Together we discuss the latest things cybersecurity, including the fragility of firms post-attack and the rise of new ones. ⚔️
The Digital Privacy Paradox explains that data regulations don’t actually help consumers protect their privacy. Check out my recent presentation on how companies decide whether to anonymize people’s data and how your browsing choices might reveal more than you want about total strangers. 🔐
I hopped on a plane during midterms week and went to London for the Polish Economic Forum, the largest conference about Poland, outside of Poland! 🇵🇱
Cybersecurity Reading List
The Great Cybersecurity Resignation
Half of staff might quit after a cyber attack, Encore (2023)
82% would rather depend on AI than humans to hunt threats, SecureWorld (2022)
Hackers’ Path Eased as 600,000 U.S. Cybersecurity Jobs Sit Empty, Bloomberg (2022)
Protecting Space-Based Assets
The Urgency To Cyber-Secure Space Assets, Forbes (2022)
Securing the final frontier: Why space systems need cybersecurity too, Kaspersky (2019)
Will the battle for space happen on the ground?, World Economic Forum (2022)
Space Force expects budget growth into 2024 amid ‘tremendous need’, C4ISRNET (2022)
Web3 Attacks
Attack Leaderboard, Rekt.news
Social Engineering: A Plague on Crypto and Twitter, Unlikely to Stop, Coindesk (2020)
How "wash trading" is perpetuating crypto fraud, NPR (2022)
What Is the Bandwagon Effect? Why People Follow the Crowd, Investopedia (2023)
Big Data Privacy Paradox
As someone who vehemently rejects cookies, refuses a virtual assistant like Siri or Alexa, and is fascinated by the concept of surveillance capitalism, I was recently shocked to learn that data regulations don’t actually help consumers protect their privacy. Even in the presence of policies like the EU’s GDPR, given even a small $$$ incentive, consumers will eagerly give up signals about their expected willingness to pay for a certain product. Companies won’t think twice about buying this data off of data brokers (AKA intermediaries between the consumer and company) in order to use it to price discriminate across various consumer groups and, thus, maximize their profits. Remember how expensive buying last minute plane tickets is? Someone who really wants someone and is willing to pay good money to get it often ends up paying more than everyone else.
Check out my recent presentation on when companies actually anonymize data and why we might see the rise of data unions. After all, is producing data a type of labor? Should we all join together and coordinate which browser settings to use so that my shopping habits don’t accidentally reveal something about your’s?
Polish Economic Forum
I went to London for 48 hours in the middle of midterms week. Below I’m linking a reflection I wrote about everything I learned at this year's largest gathering of Polish students and business leaders. Here are my main takeaways:
Debt is not as leveraged in Poland as it is in the UK. I’m curious how this affects the quantity and quality of VC funds and incubators.
The current most desired career in Poland is being a software developer, but our status as simply a region of labor supply will soon be no more. Increased graduates with business backgrounds, paired with a nationwide trend of digital transformation through increased automation, will guarantee more startups succeed on their own, rather than as the backend for larger foreign ones.
The Polish government has to stop changing business regulations overnight because companies cannot keep up.
Personal Updates
I’ve joined a startup! Generations of Yale electrical engineers have been building an fitness product and after months in crypto, I’m absolutely stoked to be working on a strategy to bring it to market. A key realization I had early on in this project is not all startups have to be venture-funded or, more importantly, venture scaled! Stay tuned . . .
Hanging out with Tom Lehman, CEO of Genius. It’s the world’s biggest music encyclopedia and tool that you’ve seen powering Spotify’s “Behind the Lyrics” feature.
With a schedule full of STEM classes, I’ve realized how much I miss writing. I’ve been spending a lot of time helping high schoolers share their stories through college applications, which has brought me a great deal of joy and fulfillment. If you know a student navigating the process, let me know and I would be glad to help :).
Cheers! 🎉
Ula
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this newsletter. Feel free reach out with suggestions for future topics, any questions, or if you ever want to chat!