ReachExtra
The recent GibCyber Security conference held by the Royal Gibraltar Police at the University of Gibraltar heard how household items, drones and teddy bears can be transformed into remote spying devices or even far more harmful objects.
Among the speakers, who included experts from the United Kingdom and the United States, was the remarkable Reuben Paul a 12 year-old cyber prodigy from Austin, Texas.
Reuben showed how ordinary mobile phones can manipulate traffic lights, automated vehicles and almost anything that relies on a wireless technology connection.
He travels with his family and is among the most sought after cyber security speakers at conferences in the US and Europe and highlights the extreme vulnerability of networks like Blue-tooth & Wi-Fi; and advises on how to make technology more secure and ultimately unhackable.
He mirrors the techniques used to hack equipment in everything from automated transport, sources of energy, medical devices, military installations, or even the domestic environment.
“If a child can do it, a determined cyber terrorist can also do it. Artificial Intelligence will form a big part of the future and we must make sure we have the protection in place to safeguard ourselves against the serious dangers that exist”, he said.
Happily Ruben’s allegiances, like Spiderman’s and other superheroes he admires, are on the right side of the law and he is determined to invest his talents as an “ethical hacker”, to create awareness.
Governments, law enforcements organisations and corporations including the US National Security Agency, look forward to his coming of age to sign him up officially.
Reuben started learning about cyber- security from his father Mano Paul, himself an expert. They founded “Cyber-Shaolin”, derived from Reuben’s passion for martial arts (he is a black belt in King-Fu and has ambitions to be an Olympic gymnast). This educational, non-profit organisation teaches how to defend against the dangers of the cyber world.
“We have to keep highlighting the importance of adequate cyber security so that kids are alert to use the web carefully and securely”, says Reuben.
His website www.cybershaolin.org publishes free educational content on cyber safety, cyber bullying and other menaces lurking on the World Wide Web.
“Hacker Strip”, which produces web-comic stories, featured Reuben’s life story in a cartoon strip called “The Cyber Ninja”.
“Like with Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility, and with great hacking knowledge comes great power but also great responsibility”, says Reuben.
During his fascinating Royal Gibraltar Police presentation Reuben explained that the most far reaching consequences that Artificial Intelligence will have beyond science, industry and technology and in people’s daily lives will bear little reference to contemporary ideas of change and progress.
Asked how he sees AI enhancing law enforcement, Reuben said that it could provide a valuable tool even through what seems like a sci-fi premise: robotic law enforcement, which he sees as a distinct possibility.
This article is a summary of an article by Paco Oliva which appeared in the latest edition of ‘The Bobby’, the magazine of the Royal Gibraltar Police.
