The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update

This is the Jailbreak edition. We start with an example of the quickest way to end up in prison, a story of an inmate made good and of course, we end up right back in the clink in what must be one of the worst hacker “job applications” in history. In between those rough-and-tumble walls, we have insight on one country’s cyber curriculum, your streaming service’s second income, OnePerCent, the pote...

If the single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it and the “camera is a license to explore” then let’s hit the motor drive because we’ve got a lot of scenery to cover! We start with an appetite so large for taking pictures that consumer interest groups are now asking for receipts. We move on to dadada and password reuse, the inflationary pressure on phishing, and a s...

We start with an aerobic workout that may have you leaning on a wall … and end with a wag as to why your dog may be propped up against a wall. In between, there are rooms of fantastic stories for you with flytraps and Instagrams and even a sprinkling of Emmental cheese. We’ve got an appeal to put the phone down that might be that call you never wanted to receive, and a risk profiler that could kee...

We are firing all rockets, starting down-under with a report on a pocket calculator that may inspire a whole generation (to write secure code). From there we orbit to Italia where you might need a “shot” of espresso before their news. Then it’s on to Raccoons and their role in the new SaaS, before touching down in France and Luxembourg to see who’s hands have been slapped. We Zoom into why you mig...

As we put this update together there is a haze outside our New York Windows from the raging fires burning 2400 miles (about 4000 kilometers) to the west. Yet we start in a lighthearted mood, with a great reason to use 2fa, and finish with a burning update about the loss of something that may be even more important than your Privacy and Security. In between, we have a mix of stories that range from...

This week it’s all about food. Well, some of it is, anyway. We start with too many cooks in the kitchen and end with positive prospects for cheeseburgers on Mars. Moving through the meal have all our ducks in a row with a possible bit of overcompensation from the US government on Cybersecurity, a huge leak out of Israel, three Apple stories, a food fight between the US and China, and cyber threats...

This episode has us quaking in our wellies. We’ve got the US president advising Russia that they need to fix their ransomware use, while he advises that you should be able to fix your own phone … and tract’r! A new algo. to help with your recommendations, AI that can say stuff bett’rn we can, and a new clampdown that will have you selling your DiDi and Baba shares faster than a jackrabbit in a fox...

We start this week as a dot on a race track and end as a dot on the horizon as we go from privacy to no privacy at all, but … we think you will forgive us. In between the start and finish lines are the hairpin turns of the Tokyo Olympics, an underwater primer on Submarine cabling, a vault skyward with British Airways, a VR story that needs a restart, a bit of ransomware, and enough car stories to...

This week we take you from an employer that won’t even let you in the building if you are not smiling, to your best friend when there is just … one… CCTV too many. In between, we get a loud warning for publicly accessible Western Digital personal storage, a couple of painful admissions from Microsoft, and US phone users getting shaken and stirred. In the mix, we also have a place for you to jump i...

From splashing in cold waters to baking in hot homes we cover the whole temperature range. After a good headcount of our critical drinking water infrastructure, we give you the lowdown on tracking, bots, faces, and fingerprints. We update you on compliance, regulations, and (sadly) taxes, before delivering really bad news for our RedHat Linux and Docker users. Finally, we unbork your iPhone before...

“There’s only one thing I never did and wish I had done: climbed over a fence.” Mary of Teck This week we start in El Salvador and end in mid-air. In between those fence posts, we find: Breaches for airlines and autos and then discover one already being served up with a side of fries. We find out how Google really motivates their staff, learn about Facebook suing a whole government, malware “photo...

This week we start with the Danish spying on the Germans. The Germans hacking .PDFs. The Cook keeping things private. The Tag"ee" smashing things with hammers. ..and you… now with 8.5 billion reasons to use 2-factor authentication for your logins … oh, and a very special article just for teens. Aw. Then, a story about how the coppers recovered loads of Bitcoin from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware...

We prescribe an update that’s just chock full of news that could very well help you see more clearly or leave you blind, wondering why you just bought those really dear headphones. We start with tracking, move on to toothpaste, and then get a nosebleed from hits the ransomware group Conti has inflicted before we have our use of a certain term validated. We discover how to tell the difference betwe...

On the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, we’d like to take a moment to pause and reflect. Changing social bias is an evolution, just as realizing and changing our own. But with continued effort, we can make a difference. Just as ignorance promotes prejudice, we can all learn to be kinder, gentler, and more accepting of the differences of those around us. This week we start IT Privac...

This week we take apart the various elements of ransomware so you know what the stats are upfront. Costs, protective steps, and tooling so that if the unthinkable ever were to happen you would know your options. We remind you that although ransomware is (literally) stealing the headlines, there are a few other gremlins out there that you might also want to sidestep. We end with some entertaining q...

Through the acrid smell of trouser fires we bring you an incredibly varied line up of stories. We start with a zero day that burned the world’s most popular .PDF reader, the dirt around the pipeline, a not-nice new activity for Apple Tags and early results of Apple’s app tracking option. We flame out with proof that you should not trust ransomware developers, another government attempt try and get...

We start with the  true  story of May the fourth, and end up with a suggestion that might just prevent injury. In between those lovely layers of freshly baked updates are sandwiched some very tasty servers, Russian Dressing, some NY rye, something else that smacks of dog food, doublestuff and an apple. After you finish, your mum will be waiting for you. Now on our best behavior: Let’s or...

This week we start with a uniquely Canadian turn of events that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with privacy or security but was essential nonetheless, and end up chasing the cat around the office. In between we find out why the C-suite of gaming companies are themselves becoming targets, a newly developing jab / job relationship, just what the new MacOS update stops, what’s behind the Lin...

We confess we wrote this intro with the Apple product announcement running in the background. We saw the new iPad, iMac, tags, TVs, and M1 features, and “Oh my word” nothing about the privacy update in iOS 14.5!!!. Grrr… So swiftly moving onto other matters of very little privacy, we have a couple of FBI stories, one about e-mail and another about iPhones (Grrr…). Shocking revelations about online...

The best IT Privacy and Security Update … served with perhaps the most questionable intro and outtro music ever! And he’s right. We follow the food theme again this week and go from Apple to Cheese. We start with an outright rejection of the UK government’s second expensive attempt at a Covid-19 tracker, then we move over to the app that really should not be on your phone anymore. Next: a crazy st...

This week we go from Peking to Duck (literally), and we are sure you’re going to find the tastiest treats anywhere. We take you crashing down a staircase with a wireless data communication company, add more evidence for spellchecking your child’s tweets, and an idea why this team won’t be looking like Tony Stark (Iron Man) any time soon. We give you a light pole update. Yes, we got that right, a l...

We start this week’s adventure with a tribute to women’s safety as we come to the end of National Women’s History Month in the US. We move on, not to home building, but cybersecurity, with a backdoor disguised as a Typo fix. In the days of the George Floyd murder trial in the US, we find one legal reviewer in the UK that is of the opinion that people should get anywhere from 2 months to 5 years fo...

This week we invite you to join us as we make a bunch of long-distance calls, starting with India, moving across the world, and finally ending up in Egypt. During our phone dialing journeys we find over five hundred, sixty-seven thousand good reasons not to be vengeful, we tell you about how the FBI tried to make friends with us and failed on the first click, and we share the EU’s new strategy tha...

Welcome to the update that never sleeps… “king of the hill”, “top of the heap”. This week we get non-fungible with our fungibles … and … just look at the results. We save you the FOMO by ELI5 to help you DYOR so you can BTFD. Then, just as you spend your last fungible, LastPass your “hey, all my passwords are in there…” app, announces they are going to charge you or force you to make a choice...

We have a galloping great IT Privacy and Security Update for you this week! We help the Mac users come to terms with why it seems like they have been getting more updates than their Windows counterparts. We provide you a sense of self-worth, and just as a note… apparently, that friend of yours from Gozo really does rate higher than the one from Idaho. We update you on the dangers of supporting Wes...