Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Our mobile phones today are chock full of private information and are constantly tattling about our whereabouts and activities. Most phones today have GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, motion detectors, magnetic field detectors, microphones, cameras, and of course cellular radios. Some even have facial recognition built right in. With all this personal data and telemetry information, is it even possible to pr...

It's that time of year again: tax time. And that means it's also high season for identity thieves and scammers. Millions of people are affected by fake tax return filings every year. Phone and email scams lure unsuspecting victims to give away their money or identity. In today’s episode, I’ll tell you how to protect yourself. In this week’s news, we’ll talk about why California won’t let you cover...

Data Privacy Day is upon us, and today is the day you take back your online privacy. And I’m going to help you do it. There’s no more standing on the sidelines and hoping someone else will fix this for you. You need to get off your butt and do something - and today is the day to do it. Corporations have sold loads of compelling and powerful “free” tools and services. But if the product is free, th...

Bitcoin has been all over the news lately, and rightly so. The digital “coin” was worth $1000 a year ago, and peaked at nearly $20,000 last month - an increase of 2000% in one year! And yet it’s lost almost half that value in the last two weeks. What is Bitcoin, anyway? Should you invest in it? How would you even do that if you wanted to? I’ve invited Berkley security researcher Nick Weaver back t...

Despite being available for seven years, less than 10% of Google users have taken advantage of two-factor authentication. And yet, two-factor (or “two-step”) authentication is probably the best option today for most people to truly lock down their most important online accounts. I’ll tell you why it’s so effective and explain how you set it up. We’ll also talk about the security news of the week i...

When can anyone search through your most intimate records and belongings? When you throw them away, of course! The US Supreme Court has already ruled that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t protect your garbage can or recycle bin. Today we talk about a very interesting case in Oregon where local reporters turned the tables on the authorities, with very interesting results. I’ll also update you on the la...

This week a couple of truly nasty computer hardware bugs were revealed by security researchers. Dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, the exploits take advantage of performance features found in Intel CPU chips as far back as 1995 and most other modern CPUs from AMD and ARM. Luckily, chip and software makers have been working in the background for months on fixes and mitigations, and many of them have alre...

Can law enforcement force you to divulge your passwords? How do you limit the scope of a search warrant on an iPhone? Is powerful encryption technology creating ‘warrant-free zones’ in cyberspace? Or are we actually in the Golden Age of Surveillance? Today I speak with Andrew Crocker (Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation) about how our Constitutional rights work in cyberspace. We’l...

It’s that time of year again - time for New Years Resolutions! While you consider going to the gym or maybe drinking a little less, we’re in the Information Age now - and that means you need to get your digital house in order, too! In our first show of 2018, I’ll give you several great projects to improve your cybersecurity and privacy - some easy, some that will take some time - but all of them a...

While you have some down time over the holidays, it’s a great opportunity to learn something new. I humbly suggest some cybersecurity and privacy “homework” that is both entertaining and educational! Like watching documentaries? Maybe you prefer to curl up by the fire with a good book? I’ve got you covered! In the news this week, we have yet another staggeringly large data breach - though it’s not...

Net Neutrality suffered a severe but expected setback this week when the new FCC repealed the protections enacted in 2015 by a 3-2 party line vote, without any public hearings or investigation into flawed comment system. Call your Congressman! Bitcoin value has soared in the last few months… but what the heck is a Bitcoin? I’ll explain what all the buzz is about. I’ll also tell you about massive d...

Many of the most important voices on the web today are individuals or small, low-budget organizations: human rights groups, investigative journalists, political dissidents, and fighters for democracy in repressive regimes. These groups don’t have the wherewithal to defend themselves against hackers and bad state actors that would prefer their voices not be heard. Projects like Cloudflare’s Galileo...

The gift-giving season is upon us and technology presents are always popular! But what you may not realize that the hackers and marketers out there are secretly hoping you’ll give your friends and family certain gifts, too! In this special holiday episode, I’ll tell you about some of the best and the worst holiday gifts and accessories, from a security and privacy viewpoint. Thinking about giving...

It’s been a rough week or so for Apple products, in particular their new Macintosh operating system version called High Sierra. A horrendous security bug was released last week that would let anyone have full, unfettered access to your computer - possible even remotely. That’s about as bad as it gets, folks. I’ll tell you all about it, including how to fix it once and for all. We’ll also talk abou...

In the era of mass surveillance, our communications are being hoovered up, searched and stored by both corporations and intelligence agencies, without a warrant and with almost zero transparency. While we should be fighting for our right to privacy, creating and amending laws is hard and can take years. Dr Andy Yen is the CEO of ProtonMail, a secure email service based in Switzerland. Today we dis...

In our next installment of the Castle Defense 101 series, I’ll help you to choose the web browser that will keep you safe and protect your privacy. We’ll talk about the big four (Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome) as well as some others you’ve never heard of. I walk you through the things you need to consider when comparing these browsers and explain why the choice can be tricky. In th...

The law that enables the warrantless collection and searching of the communications of US citizens is set to expire at the end of 2017. In today’s show, David Ruiz and I discuss several bills in Congress that attempt to curb the rampant abuses of this legislation (Section 702 of the FISA law). These long-overdue reforms go a long way towards restoring the principles of the Fourth Amendment and rec...

We have a lot to catch up on! This week we discuss a Bad Rabbit, a grim Reaper, and some risky Russians. A new WannaCry-like ransomware is hitting Russia and Ukraine, Kaspersky Labs is dealing with a PR nightmare, and a new botnet is forming up that could make last year’s Mirai botnet that took down Netflix, Twitter and AirBND look like small potatoes. We also have some hopeful Android news and di...

Web ads are the bane of our web-surfing existence, and yet people repeatedly reject the notion of paying for web content. How do we strike a balance? Today I speak at length with Ben Williams from Eyeo, the maker of one of the most popular web browser plugins of all time: AdBlock Plus. His company pioneered the notion of ‘acceptable ads’ and has returned some semblance of sanity to our web browsin...

In the second of my two-part interview with activist and author Cory Doctorow, we discuss how copy protection schemes (called “Digital Rights Management”) is trying to control how you watch, save, and share the digital movies, books and music you thought you owned. Cory explains how the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has caved into corporate interests and set the stage for serious future security...

In the first of a two-part interview, activist and author Cory Doctorow explains how copyright law has failed to keep up with the realities of the modern digital world, potentially exposing consumers and researchers to crushing lawsuits and generally stifling innovation. Unlike physical books and LP records, every song or movie you stream, every eBook you read, every app you download is accompanie...

Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not tracking you! And just because you feel that you have nothing to hide doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be worried about privacy. In today’s edition of my Castle Defense 101 series, I spell out why privacy matters and why companies and governments are hell bent on violating it. I’ll also explain the myriad ways by which your web habits are tracked...

Will the robots rise up and take over? Or will Artificial Intelligence usher in a Utopian future? These concepts may have seemed like science fiction just 10-20 years ago, but visionaries like Elon Musk are warning us to take the notion of true AI very seriously. Like any powerful tool, the impact of AI will depend on how we develop and use it. In this week’s episode, I discuss the good, the bad a...

Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus, was hacked - over 143 million U.S. accounts may have been leaked, making them much more vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. In this episode, I help you understand the potential impacts of this breach and give you several important actions you can take to protect yourself, including instituting a credit freeze on your account. Chris Romeo, CEO and...

Do you have backup copies of all your family photos and home videos? What about your tax documents and other financial data? Maybe you have a collection of priceless family history information that you’ve painstakingly compiled over many years. Unless you’re keeping copies of those files in multiple places (including at least one place outside your home!), you’re flying without a net. You’re one m...