Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Web links are great, when you’re on the web. But if you need to read off or write down a web address, or URL, to someone else, anything beyond a simple domain name is going to be way too complicated. Ideally, you want something short and memorable. Enter link-shortening services like Bitly, Owly and others. These services convert long, ugly URLs to short, simple, memorable links. Unfortunate...

Social media wasn’t always so bad. It didn’t use to collect so much information. It didn’t use to feed us content we didn’t ask for in an attempt to maintain our attention. Doom scrolling, virtue signaling, algorithmic feeds and misinformation bots are not natural extensions of social media. So what went wrong? And better yet, how can we fix it? Today I’ll discuss all...

As a general rule, I would normally advise people to minimize the number of online accounts they have, including avoiding creating unnecessary accounts and closing accounts they no longer need. However, as a regular citizen, there are a handful of governmental accounts that exist for you already, whether you use them or not. And you should claim those accounts for yourself before bad guys do this...

The business of data mining and behavioral advertising has never been stronger or more ubiquitous. And yet, cracks are beginning to appear in the foundations of surveillance capitalism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the European Union where advertising behemoths like Google and Meta (parent company of Facebook) have suffered a series of legal defeats at the hands of aggressive privacy regul...

Every January, we celebrate privacy with Data Privacy Week. It has rightly expanded from Data Privacy Day. And of course every day should be data privacy day. In the news: The FBI shuts down a major ransomware group; new Windows malware steals passwords and other data; new Android malware can completely take over your device; a dangerous “malvertising” campaign mimics popular software...

Our email addresses and cell phone numbers have become highly valuable identifiers for marketers. Like government-issued IDs, your email address and phone number are directly associated with your identity and you will probably have them for life. This makes them ideal for tracking you across websites and accounts. It’s no wonder that you are asked to provide this information all the time, fo...

It’s that time of year again! Time to put the past behind us and look forward to a brand new year, full of possibilities and hope! In today’s show I’ll throw out several tips for improving your privacy and security that you might want to put on your to-do list for 2023. I’ve also got a minor LastPass update and some thoughts on how we might make managing passwords easier and more...

Facebook stock is down 65%, they just paid $725M to settle the Cambridge Analytica lawsuit, and they’ve just been fined over $400M by the EU. But that’s not the worst part (for Meta). The EU and its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is basically saying that its entire business model – surveillance capitalism – is wrong and must stop. That’s the same business m...

Right before Christmas, LastPass dropped a bombshell report explaining that bad actors appeared to have made copies of LastPass users’ encrypted password vaults. The information was a little short on key details, probably indicating that the investigation is ongoing and we will learn more in the coming weeks. However, we have already learned enough to know that the data breach did leak some...

All our devices and apps use the internet these days. But what are they doing on the internet, exactly? Who are they talking to? You’d be surprised. But there are tools which will not only let you see what they’re up to, but also let you have fine-grain control over what communications you want to allow. But just the mere fact that they’re sending and receiving data to and from m...

The year is almost over and as we head into the holiday season I wanted to reminisce with some of my favorite snippets from the last year! Unlike in previous ‘best of’ shows, I’ve actually included some new snippets from my private podcast, to give you a little taste of the bonus content that I create for my patrons! The links in the show notes will take you to the full episodes,...

Today when computer systems fail, they can cause real, physical harm. In just the last few years, we’ve seen cyber attacks interfere with our food supply, tamper with city water supplies, and disrupt gas pipelines. While cheap consumer electronics often have poor security, medical devices like insulin pumps and pacemakers are also vulnerable to attack – and the consequences of failure...

Tis the season for giving… and unfortunately, also for taking. Scammers tend to be extremely active during the holiday season. We’re buying lots of stuff online, having lots of packages delivered. We’re away from our homes for extended periods of time. We’re giving money to charities. We’re firing up new tech toys. The bad guys know this and are happy to take advantag...

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 300 weeks – almost 6 years now! And returning for his 3rd “podcentennial” episode is world-renowned security guru Bruce Schneier! Today we’ll discuss hacking – not just in the realm of computers, but in legal, political, social and economic spaces. And then we’ll talk about how artificial intelligence and comp...

Black Friday is just around the corner, which marks the unofficial launch of the holiday shopping season. As you’re considering what gifts to give to your loved ones this year, I want to make sure you’re thinking about the privacy and security aspects. To that end, I have updated my annual Best and Worst Gift Guide and I will go over the highlights in this episode for my Tip of the Wee...

Connected computers have changed the world perhaps more than any other single invention. The impacts of nearly instant global communication and effectively infinite, perfect storage of information are at once undeniable and difficult to fully comprehend. And yet, technologists, bureaucrats and corporate leaders make decisions on a daily basis that should be considering the repercussions. Just beca...

QR codes are not inherently dangerous. They’re effectively links we can click in the real world using the camera app on our phone. Like hyperlinks on a web page, QR code “links” can take you to good websites or bad websites. They can also disguise their ultimate destination by using URL shortening services like bitly or owly. But now “free” QR code generator websites...

It’s easy to tell people to use this or that privacy tool, but this always assumes that you trust the service that is providing that tool. How can mere mortals ever hope to obtain sufficient knowledge of the inner workings of these products and service providers that would allow them to make an informed decision? Today, I’ll ask Adrianus Warmenhoven from Nord VPN that question, along w...

This is going to sound bonkers, even though you’re used to so many things tracking you… web pages, emails, and apps… but I’m here to tell you that while you’re watching your TV, your TV is also watching you. Or I guess more accurately, your TV is watching what you’re watching. Even if you’re not using the built-in smart apps, if you’re just piping pi...

We talk a lot about security and privacy on my show, but we don’t talk enough about these subjects in relation to students and schools. Schools are tragically underfunded and can’t afford to hire cybersecurity experts, let alone privacy experts. Students are minors who lack the legal rights and life experience to push back against horrific privacy invasions brought on by remote learnin...

Cold hard cash is becoming more and more rare these days. People just don’t carry it around much any more. So how do you split a bill at a restaurant or buy from a street vendor? Many people today use mobile payment apps like Venmo, Apple Pay, PayPal, the Cash App, or a service promoted by many US banks called Zelle. While convenient, are these payment systems safe? Most of them actually are...

Cybersecurity is the only technical, professional occupation I know of where practitioners routinely sharpen their skills through open competitions. The contests are based on the classic capture the flag game – except the flags are all virtual and capturing them involves hacking computers. Also unlike most other technical careers, cybersecurity is a high-paying profession that doesn’t...

Apple just released a major update to its iPhone operating system, iOS 16. This release has some really important security and privacy features, including Passkeys, Lockdown Mode and Safety Check. I’ll give you an overview of these features. In other news: D-Link routers have a major vulnerability that’s being actively exploited; Uber was completely pwned by a cocky 18-year old hacker; Morgan Stan...

You may not be into cryptocurrency, but a recent incident involving a so-called “cryptocurrency mixer” has some important implications for privacy and free speech. Today we’ll examine the relative anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions, tools that can be used to enhance that anonymity, and why the code that created these tools – and the services that might host them &#821...

A little over 20 years ago, Charles Petzold wrote what would become a classic book on understanding modern computers and the software that drives them. Computers have become essential to daily life and inhabit more and more of the devices we use every day. Every “smart” device you own contains a computer running software. While these little silicon chips and the binary code running the...