Episode 59

Texas Drops TAC 219: What New AI Rules Mean for You

September 25th, 2026

50 mins 16 secs

Season 3

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About this Episode

Welcome back to the Scinary Information Nexus! Texas is teasing us with a little "false fall" weather, and the crew is back in the studio to talk through brand-new state AI mandates, sneaky phishing tricks, and some classic hacker trivia.

This week, Richard, Joseph, Mario, and Brazos break down the newly released Texas Administrative Code TAC 219. If you work in Texas local government, a state agency, or a K-12 public school district, big changes are heading your way. From naming an official AI Risk Officer and adopting the state AI code of ethics published by DIR to inventorying AI systems and handling "heightened scrutiny" assessments, we walk through what IT teams actually need to do right now.

We also look at a new ransomware-as-a-service strain hitting edge devices, plus compromised Google accounts sharing docs that trigger real Google CAPTCHAs to fool users. To wrap things up on a fun note, the guys face off in a retro cyber trivia showdown featuring phreakers, Cap'n Crunch whistles, the Morris Worm, and Janet Jackson crashing hard drives.

In this episode:

  • TAC 219 explained: What Texas's new AI governance rules mean for local government and public schools
  • Designating an internal AI Risk Officer and adopting DIR's AI code of ethics
  • What counts as a "heightened scrutiny" AI system and how impact assessments work
  • The compliance headaches of commercial software with built-in AI features
  • A new Rust and C++ ransomware-as-a-service strain targeting edge devices and SSL VPNs
  • Compromised Google accounts abusing shared docs and CAPTCHAs for phishing
  • Cyber history trivia: Blue boxes, Cap'n Crunch, the Morris Worm, and who really coined "EDR"

Is your organization prepared to inventory every AI tool you use, or does TAC 219 feel overwhelming? Let us know in the comments!

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00:00 Intro
04:50 Cyber News & Google Docs Phishing
11:15 TAC 219: Texas AI Governance Breakdown
37:45 Retro Hacking & Cybersecurity Trivia
48:30 Road to 500 Subscribers & Wrap-Up

Cybersecurity #InfoSec #Phishing #Ransomware #TechNews #Compliance