The year began with more positive tones than 2023, setting me on a trajectory to work on a second book, which I completed this year. Book I published a second book: Propaganda: From Disinformation and Influence to Operations and Information Warfare (you may get it in many places, for example Read More
While I once hoped 2017 would be the year of privacy, 2024 closes on a troubling note, a likely decrease in privacy standards across the web. I was surprised by the recent Information Commissioner’s Office post, which criticized Google’s decision to introduce device fingerprinting for advertising purposes from Read More
The Background Sync API (alternatively, periodic) enables web apps to defer tasks until the user has a stable connection. It may be useful for apps processing data offline. It introduces curious capabilities in web platforms, so it's important to understand the security and privacy footprint. Here I explore Read More
Are risks related to the processing of personal data, as referenced in the GDPR, fixed and exhaustive? They are not. The regulation provides a non-exhaustive list of risks solely as a foundation for protecting fundamental rights. Administrators must assess and address additional, context-specific risks beyond those explicitly listed. This requires Read More
Promoting disinformation out of proportions can cause harm. But how so, after all, it informs about the issue? Well, without this information, perhaps the disinformation content would not reach wider audiences at all. The propagandists would have failed.... How to boost Russian propaganda? The SDA, Disinformation Factory, employed over 100 Read More
My 2nd book is out. That was a long and eventful journey. In short, lots of work. Get it from any store of your choice, like Amazon or Routledge (but be sure to understand that the ebook format from this place is specific). Thanks for reading Lukasz Olejnik on Cyber, Read More
We are at a historical moment where countries are introducing regulations of content distributed online and via social media. In Europe, such regulation is the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is still in its early phases, and we are yet to see its full impact and enforcement in action. Content Read More
Technological advances and rising risks posed by cyberattacks, AI, and autonomous systems are outpacing the rules. This shift blurs the lines between civilians and combatants, threatening core principles of warfare and civilian protection. Changes in our world occurring faster than ever before. The concern of International Committee of the Red Read More
We live in the information age. We are subjected to stimuli or informational influences in various forms. It can be text, sound, images, videos. Posts in social media, articles, news. Made by a wide variety of creators, authors, institutions, organisations, manufacturers, services operating openly or covertly. Developments in technology are Read More
The big day arrived. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) finally agreed for Google to phase out third-party cookies. That's terrific because it improves user welfare. Furthermore, no grace period was requested. Google could do it even today. The catch? Only on iOS, Apple's operating Read More
Google announced that they are... Not phasing out third-party cookies? And after 4+ years of development, this is a striking change. I explain what to make out of it. Fast-forward: unclear for at least 1-2 months. It is a response to part of industry criticism, but also regulatory oversight. At Read More
The Digital Markets Act is one of the least understood EU technology laws, yet it has tangible impacts—both positive and negative—on the technology landscape. We’ll use the opportunity to study an interesting and real-world case. It concerns the practice of Chrome preloading its web browser extension so Read More
TLS is the fundamental protocol facilitating secure web browsing. Simply speaking it identifies the server identity and establishes an encrypted connection. That’s how we may securely use banking, do shopping, and do other things we take for granted. Establishing such a connection comes with a performance footprint because computation Read More
I track the Privacy Sandbox migration process since it's day 1 announcement. Having written some notes about architectural aspects, initial assessments, including identification of data leaks, When analysing the proposals and imagining the future system, I realised that there's a need to somehow guide the future Read More
This April, cryptography and security community have been stirred by a new research from Yilei Chen. If the claimed result held it could potentially impact the security of applied cryptography, especially in the era of quantum computing. This work was very difficult to immediately understand due to its complexity. But Read More
There’s no question that disinformation, propaganda, and manipulation threaten the election process. The increased transition of societies to online interactions induces those vulnerabilities. Technical developments like generative AI content and the ability to reach wide audiences only help in the creation of digital propaganda. Fortunately, we are not exactly Read More
Privacy of ambient light sensor revisited Read More
Data protection (GDPR) complaint against unlawful data processing by OpenAI's GPT. Infringement of data protection principles and data protection by design. Read More
This is an accompanying post about the contents of my LL.M. dissertation devoted to Protected Audience API. The initial post, considering privacy and data protection, is here. This post is devoted to aspects of competition, an important element of the debate around the phasing out of third-party cookies, and Read More
Data protection assessment of Privacy Sandbox's Protected Audience API. It can be deployed and designed in compliance with GDPR. Read More
2023 began unexpectedly difficult due to a serious health condition (and surgery), but now it’s fine - I just need to keep track of regular monitoring/tests. The first month resonated with the rest of this year. However, I managed to do quite a lot of stuff this year. Read More
My name is Lukasz Olejnik. I have been disabled since the end of primary school. In 1999, I underwent a brain tumor surgery in a very difficult location. It goes without saying that the consequences of such a procedure can be very serious; in my case, it resulted just in Read More
In 2023 (nearly 10 years after my PhD graduation) I was awarded the title of Master of Law (LL.M.; with distinction). The topic of my dissertation is very current and I will make it public soon. Here I write a few words about the studies. For starters, it aligns Read More
Philosophy of Cybersecurity by Lukasz Olejnik. Book about cybersecurity, risks, including cyberwar. Read More
The European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation introducing the digital currency euro. It is the so-called CBDC (central bank digital currency). Unfortunately, the content of this regulation is disturbing. Let's start with the fact that reconciling the very idea of "decentralization of payments" and Read More