New hypothesis: The ServiceNow UX was designed by someone who had once read an extremely detailed description of a webapp but had never personally encountered one.
Dr. Dave Venable
@davevenable.com
Focused on building resilience in democracies | Former U.S. intelligence officer | Chair, @ISRS.ngo | Board director & CISO | TheCipherBrief
Dear gas pump UI designers: There is absolutely no reason I should have to answer >5 unrelated questions just to start pumping gas.
Any tips on how to maintain capacity in spite of frequent context switching?
World War III started a decade ago. We’ve just been calling it ‘technical debt.’
Well, if it’s not us-east1, it’s Cloudflare… And it’s always DNS
I was very honored to speak on the evolution of the CISO role at the Cyber Future Summit today, at the George W Bush Presidential Center.
“More than 50% of social media accounts are AI bots, and they are influencing how we think” - Kate Kuehn at Cyber Future Summit
ISRS is thrilled to congratulate Admiral McRaven, commander of Joint Special Operations Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, for receiving the America's Future Series' Magelles Award last night! Well deserved. We were incredibly honored to be a part of it.
NATO’s Eastern Sentry at a Glance A quick breakdown of how the alliance responded to Russia’s drone incursion in Poland: www.isrs.ngo/fpb/natos-re...
I wonder how long it will take for English grammar to evolve into something less precise, simply because AI detectors flag good writing as artificial.
ISRS’s Mykola Volkivskyi will speak at the UN World Information Transfer on Global Geopolitics After the Alaska Summit. Open to the public via Zoom 27 August, 12:00 EST zoom.us Meeting ID: 881 7964 5785 Passcode: 240207
The next great power contest isn’t over land or oil, it’s over AI. ISRS unpacks Trump’s AI Action Plan, Europe’s regulatory push, & global risks ahead. www.isrs.ngo/fpb/the-next...
AI is moving into military & diplomatic decision making. Studies show LLMs can escalate crises, even simulate nuclear first strikes. The risks are real. The time for safeguards is now. Read more: www.isrs.ngo/fpb/escalati...
Trump & Putin meet in Alaska without Ukraine at the table. ISRS maps 4 alternative futures, from a freeze-in-place armistice to renewed escalation, with fresh indicators to watch. Full FPB: www.isrs.ngo/fpb/trump-pu... #Ukraine #Geopolitics #ISRS #Diplomacy
Why can’t China afford a Russian loss? Because if Moscow loses, the U.S. can pivot fully to Asia, and Taiwan moves to center stage. This isn’t neutrality. It’s strategy. www.isrs.ngo/fpb/why-chin...
The UK’s Online Safety Act was meant to protect users. But it may be doing the opposite. @mrr3b00t.bsky.social weighs in, urging policymakers to form a challenge advisory board of practitioners in cyber, intel, and privacy to prevent unintended consequences. www.isrs.ngo/fpb/how-the-...
Some CISOs and Chief Risk Officers have been doing this for years, but this makes a lot of sense in larger orgs www.weforum.org/stories/2025...
Why every company now needs a Chief Geopolitical Officer
With governments and international institutions acknowledging the fragmenting global order, the creation of a Chief Geopolitical Officer role is an urgent priority for business.
weforum.org
🧵 Russia’s drones aren’t just made in Russia. They’re powered by China. Engines. Electronics. Even HW‑T8‑80F pick‑and‑place machines building the circuit boards that guide kamikaze strikes on Ukraine. Let’s break down the hidden supply chain /1
North Korea’s freelance IT operatives are infiltrating global companies. ISRS Advisory Council member @malwarejake.bsky.social warns: “If these ops are revenue-driven, you’re highly unlikely to detect DPRK actors through technical means alone.” Read more: www.isrs.ngo/fpb/north-ko...
From an OPSEC perspective, if the Astronomer CEO and HR Chief had just smiled and waved, we would have never heard anything about this. (Not to encourage that sort of thing, but just classic Streisand Effect)
Come on, people 🙄 therecord.media/spain-awards...
Spain awards Huawei contracts to manage intelligence agency wiretaps
Huawei will manage and store judicially authorized wiretaps in Spain, under a contract that bucks the trend of Western governments restricting use of the Chinese tech company's products and services.
therecord.media
New from ISRS Chair @davevenable.com for @thecipherbrief.bsky.social The next war won’t target cities, it will target chokepoints. Critical infrastructure is now the frontline of strategic disruption. Read why resilience is the new deterrence: 🔗 www.thecipherbrief.com/cyber-critic...
thecipherbrief.com
My latest article for @thecipherbrief.bsky.social www.thecipherbrief.com/cyber-critic...
The Next War Won’t Target Cities, It Will Target Choke Points.
OPINION — In the age of strategic disruption, critical infrastructure is both the terrain and the target. The West’s optimization of systems for efficiency and scale has inadvertently created a landsc...
thecipherbrief.com