🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻

@monkeyflower@infosec.exchange
662 Followers
1.4K Following
1.2K Posts

A "seasoned" campaigner and community organizer. An anxious Canadian 🇨🇦 adjusting to living with a #disability (inner ear issues/ sometimes vertigo).

These days i can be found working remotely, exploring decentralized decision making, coordinating a grants program and spending time with my dogs.

I'm writing a book called The Monkey Flower Experiment, it's about a group of people trapped together at an off grid university on the side of a mountain after a terrible storm. It could be described as a #SolarPunk Lord of the Flies.

I am currently living in the territory of the Huron-Wendat Nation and of the Anishinaabek people. I was born in Coast Salish territories.

This is my primary account.

Interests: #ClimateSolutions, #FOSS, #governance, #strategy, #urbanism, #privacy, #cryptography,, #infoSec, #OSINT, #decentralization, #biomimicry, #StreetArt, #transRights, #IndigenousRights, #humanRights, #juggling and #memes.

#FreePalestine 🍉

He/They

#LoveIsLove 🏳️‍🌈

All My Linkshttps://www.benwest.blog/links/
LinkedIn 🙃https://www.linkedin.com/in/benwestintoronto
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻1d ago

Interesting:

Introducing oniux: Kernel-level Tor isolation for any Linux app | The @torproject

https://blog.torproject.org/introducing-oniux-tor-isolation-using-linux-namespaces/

#infosec

Introducing oniux: Kernel-level Tor isolation for any Linux app | Tor Project

Introducing oniux: Kernel-level Tor isolation for any Linux app. This torsocks alternative uses namespaces to isolate Linux applications over the Tor network and eliminate data leaks.

🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻5d ago
Joseph Cox6d ago
New from 404 Media: a cop in Texas performed a nationwide search of license plate reading cameras for a woman who got an abortion, according to multiple sets of data we've reviewed. Included cameras where abortion is legal, like Washington and Illinois https://www.404media.co/a-texas-cop-searched-license-plate-cameras-nationwide-for-a-woman-who-got-an-abortion/
A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion

The sheriff said the woman self-administered the abortion and her family were concerned for her safety, so authorities searched through Flock cameras. Experts are still concerned that a cop in a state where abortion is illegal can search cameras in others where it's a human right.

404 Media
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 27
Joseph CoxMay 27
New: a16z-backed AI platform Civitai has banned AI models depicting likeness of real people. This is a major development considering making AIs of other people is what a ton of Civitai's users do. Comes after pressure from payment processor and 404 Media’s reporting https://www.404media.co/civitai-ban-of-real-people-content-deals-major-blow-to-the-nonconsensual-ai-porn-ecosystem/
Civitai Ban of Real People Content Deals Major Blow to the Nonconsensual AI Porn Ecosystem

Citing pressure from payment processors and new legislation, a critical resource for producing nonconsensual content bans AI models depicting the likeness of real people.

404 Media
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 27
404 MediaMay 27

ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows

🔗 https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows/

ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows

Flock's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras are in more than 5,000 communities around the U.S. Local police are doing lookups in the nationwide system for ICE.

404 Media
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 22

AI eh?

#AI #funny #notFunny

🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 22
BrianKrebsMay 22

On May 15, the DOJ indicted a dozen people in a racketeering (RICO) investigation into a cybercrime conspiracy that used social engineering to steal more than $263 million from victims.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/additional-12-defendants-charged-rico-conspiracy-over-263-million-cryptocurrency-thefts

Today, I confirmed that "Victim #2" in the govt's case is "Tony," a victim I wrote about in January who was scammed out of nearly $5 million. Tony was scammed after being targeted in a social engineering attack over the phone that spoofed Google by calling him from the default number for Google Assistant and sending account security warnings via a Google.com email address.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/01/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-prolific-voice-phishing-crew/

I'm super psyched because this time last year Tony was seriously contemplating suicide after being robbed of his life's savings and his kids' college money. Now, it seems likely he might see some of those funds remunerated thanks to the government's seizure of crypto assets controlled by the defendants.

As for the defendants, I wrote about several of them last year in a scoop about how a $230M cyberheist prompted a botched kidnapping and carjacking of the accused thief's parents, who were out house-hunting in their brand new Lamborghini.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/lamborghini-carjackers-lured-by-243m-cyberheist/

Additional 12 Defendants Charged in RICO Conspiracy for over $263 Million Cryptocurrency Thefts, Money Laundering, Home Break-Ins

A four-count superseding indictment, unsealed today in U.S. District Court, charges 12 additional people – Americans and foreign nationals – for allegedly participating in a cyber-enabled racketeering conspiracy throughout the United States and abroad that netted them more than $263 million. Several were arrested this week in California, while two remain abroad and are believed

🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 18
phatcontrollerMay 18
How 'banking the unbanked' drew millions of Africans into the thrall of vulture capitalism. Unregulated FinTech loans is a new form of digital exploitation: "a ticking time bomb" of chronic indebtedness. https://techcabal.com/2025/05/16/bnpl-startups-debt-crisis-kenya/
“I didn’t know”: The Buy Now Pay Later boom that’s backfiring in rural Kenya

BNPL startups offer deferred payments for users who would otherwise be excluded from credit, an undeniable appeal where lending is scarce.

TechCabal
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 18
404 MediaMay 15

Why Did Grok Start Talking About ‘White Genocide’?

🔗 https://www.404media.co/why-did-grok-start-talking-about-white-genocide/

Why Did Grok Start Talking About ‘White Genocide’?

Large language models are reflections of the people who program them.

404 Media
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 7
BellingcatMay 7
EXCLUSIVE: Bellingcat, in partnership with Tjekdet, Politiken and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), can reveal the identity of a key administrator behind MrDeepfakes, one of the world’s largest providers of non-consensual deepfake pornography. MrDeepFakes(.com) was visited millions of times every month and hosted almost 70,000 explicit videos which have collectively been viewed more than 2.2 billion times. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/05/07/canadian-pharmacist-linked-to-worlds-most-notorious-deepfake-porn-site/?utm_source=mastodon
Unmasking MrDeepFakes: Canadian Pharmacist Linked to World’s Most Notorious Deepfake Porn Site - bellingcat

Double life: open source investigation reveals Canadian hospital pharmacist's links to MrDeepFakes, the most notorious deepfake porn website in the world.

bellingcat
🦋 Ben West - 🐒🌻May 7
Wonder of ScienceMay 7
These boxes are not moving. A mind-bending optical illusion by Japanese artist Jagarikin.