SipCyber - Presented by IT Audit Labs

Google reorganized its privacy controls, and the headlines calling it a secret tracking expansion aren't quite right. In this episode, Jen breaks down what changed: one broad setting is now several separate controls covering search history, personalized recommendations, and saved media from Lens or voice search.  The real story isn't the update, it's that most of us never go back an...

Your smart TV shipped with privacy settings nobody reads and most people never change. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Revelry Brewing on Folly Beach, South Carolina, to unpack one of the most overlooked data collection features in the average American home: Automatic Content Recognition, or ACR.  ACR doesn't just track what you stream on Netflix. It identifies everything appear...

What if the website wasn't fake — but the message it showed you was? In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze stops into City on a Hill Coffee in Leadville, CO, where the Colorado Rockies rise just outside the window and a hazelnut latte sets the scene for a conversation about one of the most effective cyberattack campaigns in recent memory.  Cybersecurity researchers uncovered a massive ClickF...

Confidence isn't something you find — it's something you build, one skill at a time. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Bitty and Beau's Coffee in Charleston, SC, a shop with a mission as meaningful as its coffee: creating employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That spirit of empowerment carries straight into the cybersecurit...

In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze settles into The Fox and Pantry in Plymouth, MN — a space so thoughtfully designed it immediately earns your trust — and uses that feeling as the perfect lens for a conversation about AI and healthcare privacy. Over a Pineapple Mango Mint Refresher on a blazing Minnesota afternoon, Jen breaks down a growing blind spot: millions of people are using AI tools to...

Your name. Your city. Your job title. Your relatives' names. It's all out there — and attackers don't need to hack you when they can just look you up.   In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze settles in at Pryes Brewing — brick walls, big windows, the river just outside — with a hop water in hand and something worth saying: most of us spend our lives trying to be known , but online,...

Temporary doesn't mean safe. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze stops into Happy Monday and Company in Roseville, MN — a coffee shop born from a mobile cart, built on handmade pottery, good community, and the radical idea that Mondays can actually be worth looking forward to. Over a slow-steeping loose leaf black tea, Jen unpacks Instagram's expanding disappearing message features, i...

The more consistent something feels, the more we trust it. That's human nature — and it's exactly what makes AI identity systems worth paying attention to.  In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze steps into Being There Coffee in Robbinsdale, MN — a coffee shop tucked inside a brewery, where nothing is hidden and everything is exactly what it appears to be. It's the perfect backdrop...

If something feels right, do you question it? In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze sits down at Walden Coffee in Minnesota with a plain latte—one with just enough latte art to make her stop and look twice. And that moment of recognition becomes the perfect lens for one of the most dangerous trends in cybersecurity right now: AI-generated phishing emails that sound exactly like the people you tru...

AI doesn't just help defenders anymore—attackers are using it to study you before you ever know you're a target.  In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze sits down at Forgotten Star Brewing in Fridley, MN—a former WWII manufacturing facility built on a legacy of doing things right—with a rare seasonal Maibock in hand, and a sharp warning about how AI is quietly transforming phishing attac...

Your photos are talking behind your back — and most people have no idea.  In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze stops into Profit Coffee in North Charleston, SC — a thoughtfully designed space where even the milk choices signal awareness — and unpacks a privacy habit you probably never knew you needed. Inspired by a fisherman friend who screenshots every photo before sending it, Jen breaks down w...

You assume your messages are private. But what if that assumption is the vulnerability?  In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze settles in at Estuary in St. John's Island with a wheat ale and unpacks a quiet but significant shift in how two of the world's biggest social platforms handle your private conversations. Instagram is walking back end-to-end encrypted DMs—meaning the platform ca...

You already know to watch out for IRS scams—but do you know how to lock down your Social Security number before someone uses it? In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Claddagh Coffee on 7th St. in St. Paul, MN, sipping a bright caramel salty dog latte, to unpack a quiet but powerful identity protection tool most people have never heard of: E-Verify Self Lock .  The connection between tax s...

The moment money shows up unexpectedly, most of us want to do the right thing—send it back, fix the mistake, move on. That's exactly what scammers are counting on. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Hamlin Bread inside Oxford's historic Covered Market to unpack one of the most deceptively simple scams circulating right now: the Venmo overpayment fraud.  From accidental transfe...

Trust is the thing scammers exploit most—and tax season hands it to them on a silver platter. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits The Mixing Jug, a hidden courtyard gem in Marlow, England, and draws a powerful parallel between the quiet trust of a neighborhood coffee shop and the misplaced trust that costs people thousands every April.  When your inbox is already flooded with W2s, refund...

Your phone isn't eavesdropping—it's doing something far more calculated. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Meta Coffee and Bookstore in Anoka, MN, where the warmth of an old-school wooden bar and a quiet cup of herbal tea set the stage for one of the most common digital mysteries people experience: why does an ad show up seconds after you mention something out loud?  The answ...

Your phone is never fully asleep—and most people have no idea what's running quietly in the background. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Compassion Coffee in Anoka, MN—a nonprofit built on second chances—and draws a powerful parallel: just like the unseen systems keeping a coffee shop running smoothly, your devices are constantly working behind the scenes, tracking locations, sca...

A third-grader mishearing a Paul Simon song just delivered the most important cybersecurity lesson of the year. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze stops into Conscious Cup Coffee in Crystal Lake, IL—home of the salted hazelnut latte that turned her into a coffee lover—to talk about what it really means to raise a generation that's growing up inside AI, not just alongside it.  This isn&apo...

What does flying a small airplane have to do with cybersecurity? More than you'd think. In this episode of SipCyber, host Jen Lotze visits Grounds Coffee Bar in Crystal Lake, IL, and draws a powerful connection between the calm of flight preparation and the peace of mind that comes from digital preparedness. After the loss of her father, Jen shares how navigating the digital side of grief rev...

You don't have to be in college to become a victim. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Sunshine Coffee in Lake Elmo, MN, to break down the "ghost student scam"—a sophisticated identity theft operation targeting anyone with a Social Security number, including children.  Scammers are using stolen identities to enroll in online college programs, drain financial aid funds, an...

The agreement you clicked through without reading just changed the rules. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze visits Raw Deal in Menominee, Wisconsin, and breaks down TikTok's recent U.S. Terms and Privacy Policy update—the one most people accepted without a second thought while scrolling between videos.  Recorded fresh off a middle school basketball tournament, Jen reflects on watching ki...

In this episode, Jen breaks down how to "rabbit hole yourself" before someone else does. She walks through practical steps to audit your digital footprint, delete dormant accounts, and intentionally curate the top results that show up when someone searches your name. This isn't about scrubbing the truth—it's about making sure the best version of you shows up first.  Whether you...

What do a North Carolina brewery destroyed by Hurricane Helene and a cybersecurity victim have in common? More than you think. This isn't just another "how to prevent hacks" episode—it's about what happens when the levee breaks.  Host Jen Lotze shares a powerful story from Zillicoah Beer Company in North Carolina, where 10 years of hard work was washed away in an afternoon. Wit...

Think white papers are just boring documents for IT teams? Think again. Understanding these authoritative guides is your secret weapon for spotting massive risks before they become disasters—whether you work in HR, marketing, finance, or any department handling sensitive data.  In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze breaks down exactly why white papers matter for everyone in your organization, fil...

Ever clicked "Sign in with Google" without thinking twice? You're not alone—but that convenience might be your biggest security risk. In this episode of SipCyber, Jen Lotze breaks down the invisible web of permissions connecting your entire digital life, filmed at Black Sheep Coffee in St. Paul, MN.  This is Part 1 of a two-part series on managing your digital risk profile. We'...