Latest news with #Nomani
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Dear ChatGPT: Why Delhi's youth are pouring their hearts out to AI
Saman Fatima Nomani, a marketing communications professional, turned to ChatGPT because it offers a rare space, free of judgment or punishment. "You can say what's on your mind without being punished for it,' she says. Being a neurodivergent person working remotely, for her, ChatGPT became a sounding board in unfamiliar territory; for the neurodivergent, it's hard to accurately read subtext or social cues. 'This can be especially tricky when you're working with people from different cultures and backgrounds,' says Nomani. 'It wasn't about overthinking—but about needing help navigating situations that didn't come intuitively to me.' ChatGPT is especially popular with Gen Z, and there's a reason why. A generation that seems over cautious about image and authenticity, needs to be, or at least appear, on the right side of things. Riya Jain, 21, a PR professional, for instance says, even if she is talking to a friend, she is careful 'about every word I use. I overthink how it'll come across'. Brand consultant Pooja Saha echoes the sentiment saying sometimes certain thoughts feel too raw, unclear, or 'too much' to share with someone. 'With ChatGPT, there's no need to worry about rumours, reactions, or awkward follow-ups,' she says. This is pushing people away from even their closest circles. PR professional Karma Kapoor*, 27, reflects, 'Our family members are human beings with their own experiences and biases even if they give us 'space'.'
National Post
06-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Barbara Kay: How Islamists hijacked leftist oppression narratives
Article content A former Wall Street Journal reporter, Indian-born Muslim Nomani was a friend and colleague of Daniel Pearl, the WSJ's South Asia bureau chief who was kidnapped and publicly beheaded in 2002 by rabidly Judeophobic al-Qaida operatives. Pearl's gruesome death galvanized Nomani to political activism as a Muslim 'Reformer,' a Muslim who supports an interpretation of Islam that is compatible with human rights, gender equality, religious (or atheist) pluralism and secular governance. Article content Irritated by her criticism, Muslim Brothers' machinations drew Nomani into a world of grief orchestrated by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), nominally a 'civil rights' organization but in Nomani's account, 'a front for an extremist form of Islam.' But she persevered, and Woke Army is, therefore, not only an enlightening exposé of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, but the absorbing story of Nomani's personal near-martyrdom and eventual triumph. Article content Article content To silence Nomani, CAIR foot soldiers cooked up a years-long character assassination campaign through 'the deadly underbelly of cyber jihad' — specifically Loonwatch, a GoDaddy website that protected their users' anonymity. Her foes there labelled her a 'Zionist media whore' amongst other slurs, and accused her of being funded by Israel. In 2018, Nomani responded with a defamation suit that halted Loonwatch harassment and permitted her to subpoena internet service providers for the real identities of 48 'John Doe' anonymous stalkers, most of them outed in Woke Army. Article content The 'perception management' campaign found low-hanging fruit in left-leaning political leaders. President Obama, who flinched at Black anti-Americanism and antisemitism, was eager to please on the equally phobic Islamist file. When CAIR issued a statement Nomani described as advocating for 'separating the brutal actions of ISIS from the faith of Islam,' Obama obliged, she writes, with his government agencies giving in to pressure to scrub terms like 'jihadist' and replace them with 'extremist.' Article content Although Nomani's research treats Islamism in the U.S., her themes map neatly onto Canada. Following the Islamism-driven 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Justin Trudeau, asked to identify the bombing's 'root causes,' reflexively saw, heard, and spoke no Islamist evil, responding: 'there is no question that this happened because of someone who feels completely excluded, someone who feels completely at war with innocence, at war with society.' Article content The Muslim Reform Movement, in which Nomani and Canada's own heroic Raheel Raza play prominent roles, has been stalwart in its resistance to Islamist bullying, but their members are in a David-and-Goliath relationship with what Nomani describes as Muslim Brotherhood's well-funded machine. They get worn down by what Nomani's young son articulated as a 'terrorism of the mind.' Article content It would help if politicians cold-shouldered Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups and instead elevated Muslim Reformers' public status, seating them 'above the salt,' so to speak. Active pushback against institutionalized Islamism is in motion in the U.S. But in Canada, alas, 'perception management' rules at the desk where the buck on a threat to our cultural health is supposed to stop. Article content
India Gazette
08-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Journalist Asra Nomani hails India's strike on Bahawalpur terror camps
Bhawalpur [Pakistan], May 8 (ANI): Prominent author and journalist Asra Nomani, who has long chronicled the rise of terror networks in Pakistan's Bahawalpur, hailed India's latest counter-terror operation, Operation Sindoor, as a long-overdue strike against a city that has served for decades as a launchpad for militant activity. In a post on X, Nomani stated, 'For the 23 years since, I have reported on how Pakistani intelligence and military leaders have used that city -- Bahawalpur -- in the southern province of Punjab as a base for its homegrown domestic terrorists.' Bahawalpur, in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province, has long been identified as a breeding ground for extremist groups. Nomani recalled the 2001 experience of a friend who visited the city and found militant camps operating in plain sight. She stated that her friend learned that the militant training camps were open for business in Bahawalpur. She also highlighted the Pakistani military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)'s history of providing safe passage and support to terrorist figures such as Omar Sheikh and Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) founder Masood Azhar. Both have been used as proxy assets against India, but have also turned their guns inward, attacking Pakistani civil society. Nomani said that these men waged war against innocent Pakistanis, citing high-profile attacks such as the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, and school massacres like the 2014 Army Public School attack in Peshawar. Following India's successful counter-terror offensive under 'Operation Sindoor' on Wednesday, targeting locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), the terror stronghold in Bahawalpur, Punjab, was decimated. Bahawalpur is home to the Markaz Subhan Allah, a key Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) facility that has been active since 2015. Serving as the group's primary hub for training, indoctrination, and operations, it also functions as JeM's operational headquarters. The centre has been linked to multiple terror plots, including the February 14, 2019, Pulwama attack. It houses the residences of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, de facto leader Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, Maulana Ammar, and other members of Azhar's family. (ANI)
Mid East Info
13-03-2025
- Business
- Mid East Info
AI-driven deception: A new face of corporate fraud
Phil Muncaster, guest writer at ESET explains that the m alicious use of AI is reshaping the fraud landscape, creating major new risks for businesses. Artificial intelligence (AI) is doing wonderful things for many businesses. It's helping to automate repetitive tasks for efficiency and cost savings. It's supercharging customer service and coding. And it's helping to unearth insight to drive improved business decision-making. Way back in October 2023, Gartner estimated that 55% of organizations were in pilot or production mode with generative AI (GenAI). That figure will surely be higher today. Yet criminal enterprises are also innovating with the technology, and that spells bad news for IT and business leaders everywhere. To tackle this mounting fraud threat, you need a layered response that focuses on people, process and technology. What are the latest AI and deepfake threats? Cybercriminals are harnessing the power of AI and deepfakes in several ways. They include: Fake employees: Hundreds of companies have reportedly been infiltrated by North Koreans posing as remote working IT freelancers. They use AI tools to compile fake resumes and forged documents, including AI-manipulated images, in order to pass background checks. The end goal is to earn money to send back to the North Korean regime as well as data theft, espionage and even ransomware. A new breed of BEC scams: Deepfake audio and video clips are being used to amplify business email compromise (BEC)-type fraud where finance workers are tricked into transferring corporate funds to accounts under control of the scammer. In one recent infamous case, a finance worker was persuaded to transfer $25 million to fraudsters who leveraged deepfakes to pose as the company's CFO and other members of staff in a video conference call. This is by no means new, however – as far back as 2019, a UK energy executive was tricked into wiring £200,000 to scammers after speaking to a deepfake version of his boss on the phone. Authentication bypass: Deepfakes are also being used to help fraudsters impersonate legitimate customers, create new personas and bypass authentication checks for account creation and log-ins. One particularly sophisticated piece of malware, GoldPickaxe, is designed to harvest facial recognition data, which is then used to create deepfake videos. According to one report, 13.5% of all global digital account openings were suspected of fraudulent activity last year. Deepfake scams: Cybercriminals can also use deepfakes in less targeted ways, such as impersonating company CEOs and other high-profile figures on social media, to further investment and other scams. As ESET's Jake Moore has demonstrated, theoretically any corporate leader could be victimized in the same way. On a similar note, as ESET's latest Threat Report describes, cybercriminals are leveraging deepfakes and company-branded social media posts to lure victims as part of a new type of investment fraud called Nomani. Password cracking: AI algorithms can be set to work cracking the passwords of customers and employees, enabling data theft, ransomware and mass identity fraud. One such example, PassGAN, can reportedly crack passwords in less than half a minute. Document forgeries: AI-generated or altered documents are another way to bypass know your customer (KYC) checks at banks and other companies. They can also be used for insurance fraud. Nearly all (94%) claims handlers suspect at least 5% of claims are being manipulated with AI, especially lower value claims. Phishing and reconnaissance: The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned of the uplift cybercriminals are getting from generative and other AI types. It claimed in early 2024 that the technology will 'almost certainly increase the volume and heighten the impact of cyber-attacks over the next two years.' It will have a particularly high impact on improving the effectiveness of social engineering and reconnaissance of targets. This will fuel ransomware and data theft, as well as wide-ranging phishing attacks on customers. What's the impact of AI threats? The impact of AI-enabled fraud is ultimately financial and reputational damage of varying degrees. One report estimates that 38% of revenue lost to fraud over the past year was due to AI-driven fraud. Consider how: KYC bypass allows fraudsters to run up credit and drain legitimate customer accounts of funds. Fake employees could steal sensitive IP and regulated customer information, creating financial, reputational and compliance headaches. BEC scams can generate huge one-off losses. The category earned cybercriminals over $2.9 billion in 2023 alone. Impersonation scams threaten customer loyalty. A third of customers say they'll walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. Pushing back against AI-enabled fraud Fighting this surge in AI-enabled fraud requires a multi-layered response, focusing on people, process and technology. This should include: Frequent fraud risk assessments An updating of anti-fraud policies to make them AI-relevant Comprehensive training and awareness programs for staff (e.g., in how to spot phishing and deepfakes) Education and awareness programs for customers Switching on multifactor authentication (MFA) for all sensitive corporate accounts and customers Improved background checks for employees, such as scanning resumes for career inconsistencies Ensure all employees are interviewed on video before hiring Improve collaboration between HR and cybersecurity teams AI tech can also be used in this fight, for example: AI-powered tools to detect deepfakes (e.g., in KYC checks). Machine learning algorithms to detect patterns of suspicious behavior in staff and customer data. GenAI to generate synthetic data, with which new fraud models can be developed, tested and trained. As the battle between malicious and benevolent AI enters an intense new phase, organizations must update their cybersecurity and anti-fraud policies to ensure they keep pace with the evolving threat landscape. With so much at stake, failure to do so might impact long-term customer loyalty, brand value and even derail important digital transformation initiatives. AI has the potential to change the game for our adversaries. But it can also do so for corporate security and risk teams.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Muslim journalist warns Senate of antisemitism ‘industry', calls for DOJ probe of ‘malign foreign influence'
A Muslim journalist warned the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that antisemitism has become an "industry" in the United States, and called for the Justice Department to investigate the "malign foreign influence" behind it. "Antisemitism is now an industry. It is an industry that is being perpetuated, unfortunately, by organizations that even have nonprofit status in America – 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s," Asra Nomani, founder of the Pearl Project, told Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. "And these are organizations that are belying their own mission in order to use as a Trojan horse this opposition to Israel to perpetuate this hate. These young students that we have are the targets of that hate." "October 7th became their moment. And what has happened is that, unfortunately, pulling our punches and not recognizing their danger in our society serves no one," Nomani added. "It absolutely does not serve our interests of an inclusive society. An actual inclusive society means that we do not allow hate of any kind, and the kind that we have right now against our Jewish community is of epidemic proportions." In her opening statement, Nomani detailed the origin of the Pearl Project, a faculty-student investigative project into the murder of Daniel Pearl. Pearl was Nomani's colleague at The Wall Street Journal when they both reported in Pakistan in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was kidnapped and killed by Islamic terrorists, who, Nomani asserted, targeted Pearl for being a descendant of Israel. Nypd Makes Multiple Arrests At Barnard College After Anti-israel Agitators Take Over Library "Many people will think that he was targeted because he was Jewish, but an FBI agent went and interviewed the kidnapper, and he said, 'I didn't target him just because he's Jewish. I targeted him because he is a son of Israel,'" Nomani told the committee. "I am here to report to you that in the 22 years since then, I have been investigating the network that has perpetuated the hate that was targeted against Danny. We have called them agitators today, and we have called them protesters, but they have names. They are from organizations that are in a network that I have numbered now at 1,500. This is not a grassroots organization." Read On The Fox News App Nomani held up posters seen at recent anti-Israel protests and at the Democratic National Convention disseminated by American Muslims for Palestine. She said the person charged with spraying graffiti that read "Hamas is coming" on the Christopher Columbus statue in front of Union Station in Washington, D.C., during protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit last July was "not just an agitator," but "a man who is the Richmond Director of American Muslims for Palestine." She claimed that other anti-Israel demonstrators were affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. "The hate that killed Danny Pearl on the streets of Karachi is now in our streets. It's on our campuses. It's a frightening network of the far left and the Islamist groups," she said. "Nobody in this room can support their ideals. Their ideals are against individual liberties and free enterprise. They want to destroy the United States of America. They want to destroy Israel. And our young Jewish students on campuses, our younger Danny's, are in their crosshairs." After Trump Threat, Hamas Refuses To Release More Hostages Without Phase 2 Ceasefire Deal Nomani continued: "We must recognize this existential threat. It is a vast network. We must investigate them. We must have them register with the Foreign Agent Registration Act when they are doing the work of these malign foreign actors that want to destroy America. And we must support Muslim reform movement leaders who want to stand up with our Jewish brothers and sisters." Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, later questioned another witness about the funding of antisemitism in the United States. "Is it clear that there is significant money funding these attacks on Jewish students and attacks on America?" Cruz asked Dr. Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights. "It is clear that there is coordination and there must be some common funding," Lewin responded. Lewin said she was not aware of any investigations under the Biden Justice Department to follow the money behind antisemitic activities, and neither was she aware of anyone being indicted over the flow of funding. Cruz again asked whether Lewin was aware of any university or institution having Title VI federal funds cut off because they "tolerated, welcomed" or "had their own officials cheering on" antisemitism, and the witness said she was not. As for the free speech argument, Cruz also suggested that universities would bring swift punishment against people who dared to dress as Ku Klux Klan members on campuses. "They should expel them. If they're foreign students, they should be deported. And, mark my words, if you are horrified at the antisemitism, you will see the Trump Department of Justice follow the money, prosecute the people who are paying for this, prosecute those engaged in violence, and cut off the money from universities that are tolerating and celebrating this," Cruz said. "That is the rule of law. And ask yourself, 'Why did the Biden Justice Department do absolutely nothing about this horror that is unfolding?'"Original article source: Muslim journalist warns Senate of antisemitism 'industry', calls for DOJ probe of 'malign foreign influence'
