Blake Hall

But now that the pandemic's ended, this next evolution is deepfakes, where in 2022, right before AI has three phases, like the LLMs and text, then the media with face and voice. And you've got like Sam Altman and Scarlett Johansson going back and forth about stuff. The Nigerian print scams are like at a whole different level.

But now that the pandemic's ended, this next evolution is deepfakes, where in 2022, right before AI has three phases, like the LLMs and text, then the media with face and voice. And you've got like Sam Altman and Scarlett Johansson going back and forth about stuff. The Nigerian print scams are like at a whole different level.

So in 2022, we had about 180,000 logins across our wallet that we saw were targeted by scammers for account takeover. The same 90 day window in 2023, it went up to 1.3 million. Holy cow. And so the net of all of this to your original question, which is like, why is identity so critical? What I learned in Iraq, what General McChrystal taught us is that it takes a network to fight a network.

So in 2022, we had about 180,000 logins across our wallet that we saw were targeted by scammers for account takeover. The same 90 day window in 2023, it went up to 1.3 million. Holy cow. And so the net of all of this to your original question, which is like, why is identity so critical? What I learned in Iraq, what General McChrystal taught us is that it takes a network to fight a network.

If you have an inherently decentralized enemy that is learning and asymmetric and amorphous against a centralized foe, the decentralized insurgency is just going to crush you. And so the only way to respond is to do what General McChrystal did is empower the edge, give local autonomy, redesign the organization to flood everyone with real time intelligence.

If you have an inherently decentralized enemy that is learning and asymmetric and amorphous against a centralized foe, the decentralized insurgency is just going to crush you. And so the only way to respond is to do what General McChrystal did is empower the edge, give local autonomy, redesign the organization to flood everyone with real time intelligence.

So now your network of good guys can respond in real time. And that's tough to do as a general. That's why he's so remarkable. He said, we need to get the captains and lieutenants and sergeants the tools and push the decision making to them because we're really fighting a network. And this is a network war.

So now your network of good guys can respond in real time. And that's tough to do as a general. That's why he's so remarkable. He said, we need to get the captains and lieutenants and sergeants the tools and push the decision making to them because we're really fighting a network. And this is a network war.

And so as a shared service, we are the network of good guys effectively that are able to see patterns that other folks can't. So for example, we're over at the treasury and then we're over at these unemployment agencies. We were able to see 50,000 identities that have been used for unemployment went over to apply for business owner aid for owners of transportation companies.

And so as a shared service, we are the network of good guys effectively that are able to see patterns that other folks can't. So for example, we're over at the treasury and then we're over at these unemployment agencies. We were able to see 50,000 identities that have been used for unemployment went over to apply for business owner aid for owners of transportation companies.

Get into like login or are you just contextually, you can't be unemployed and own a transportation business at the same time. But the thing is that signal, as far as what's going on with the same identity at different levels of government, that hadn't existed before.

Get into like login or are you just contextually, you can't be unemployed and own a transportation business at the same time. But the thing is that signal, as far as what's going on with the same identity at different levels of government, that hadn't existed before.

And so you appreciate this is why we're losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year is that we're getting picked off like one by one, where the attackers are just going to the most vulnerable agency. And unless you have authentication as a shared service to normalize and standardize trust, it's Blockbuster versus Netflix, it's data centers versus GCP or AWS.

And so you appreciate this is why we're losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year is that we're getting picked off like one by one, where the attackers are just going to the most vulnerable agency. And unless you have authentication as a shared service to normalize and standardize trust, it's Blockbuster versus Netflix, it's data centers versus GCP or AWS.

You need to have standardization and consistent security and feedback loops if you are going to withstand the assault of organized crime. And we ended up helping NBC News break the story that APT 41, which is China's economic warfare arm, was involved with directly attacking individual Americans to steal their unemployment benefits.

You need to have standardization and consistent security and feedback loops if you are going to withstand the assault of organized crime. And we ended up helping NBC News break the story that APT 41, which is China's economic warfare arm, was involved with directly attacking individual Americans to steal their unemployment benefits.

And I've shared some videos now on LinkedIn as well of some of these deep fakes where these Chinese threat groups are targeting individual citizens to try to steal their tax refunds and defraud the Treasury. So the net of it is we're losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Those dollars also represent hundreds of thousands to millions of victims.

And I've shared some videos now on LinkedIn as well of some of these deep fakes where these Chinese threat groups are targeting individual citizens to try to steal their tax refunds and defraud the Treasury. So the net of it is we're losing hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Those dollars also represent hundreds of thousands to millions of victims.

and the money is flowing, in many cases, overseas, it's a national security issue. And then the other side is people hate managing logins and passwords. And if we can both make it safer and easier for people to interact online, that's become my life's work.

and the money is flowing, in many cases, overseas, it's a national security issue. And then the other side is people hate managing logins and passwords. And if we can both make it safer and easier for people to interact online, that's become my life's work.