The IT Privacy and Security Weekly Update‪.‬ R. Prescott Stearns Jr.

Filling the hole in your Memory with the IT Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 11th., 2024

6/11/2024

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- click the pic to hear the podcast -  Episode 193For this update we start and finish with some spectacular areal shots of things we probably shouldn’t be seeing.We bump into a familiar issue with extensions. This one isn’t browser extensions, but something that could be even more dangerous if not tightly overseen.After that we get some good news on filling the hole in your memory. This one will now ship as opt-in while we wait to get all the details on a product from a new contender who is chasing that same hole in your memory while forgetting your location history. It might be time to run down to your local library for some hippocampus exercises.We test a new (mostly) anonymous quackbot to use as an interface into our AI models and actually get some decent results.And finally we end up with a Minnesota winter weekend break idea that could land you in more hot water than your neighbors’ outdoor Jacuzzi.Keep your hats on and your memories full as you join us on this week’s adventure.  Let’s go!



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Episode 192 This week we go looking for help and discover something else entirely.We start by being turned away from a London hospital because of something spread by a sick corporate partner.Then we move onto background checks. Perhaps soon potential employers won’t need to run them, they’ll just look you up on the dark web.From there Google springs a leak. Honestly, whoever is handling their PR must be having a meltdown over this latest faux pas because it’s a whole database of privacy incidents reported internally that provide a level of transparency no one at Google wants to see through.Then let’s talk about the new Windows feature that will have you exploring the virtues of Linux even if it was the last thing you thought you would ever do.They’ve been busy in Ottawa with a new industry proposal to build more back doors. We’ll find out why some are saying that is construction we simply don’t need.And then there’s that password crack for a US$3 Million stash. How it was cracked and how you can prevent the same thing happening to your US$3 Million stash.We end on Stack overflow with some help from a friend that’s anything but.Good help is hard to find, but a great update is right in front of you.  Let’s go!



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Episode 191 This week we detonate a mix of updates starting south of the U.S. border, following a tremor into the roots of DNS and then colliding into the 5 precincts of New York City.We have the incendiary tale of the Mexican cartels and how a hack spilled light on who is arming them.

Next, like our root DNS server, we explode with the 411 on just what another outage of that server could mean to all of us.From there we reload with a tag story of how Apple presents location data and why you may not like what it’s saying about you.In the UK we feel the scattershot of facial recognition software entering into our lives. If our face becomes a bar-code, what happens if we are mislabeled?Then we learn how efficient AI makes a hacking team when a project, scheduled to take three weeks penetrates a major tech firm in just hours.And we round out with the outburst of something whizzing over your head. This time it is a triumph of good over evil, but we wonder if that story will change over time.Let's jump into the burst of stories. For this update we’ll be safe, even in the line of fire.

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Episode 190. This week we start with a tale that will bring happiness to every University Students’ mother.



We follow with another that has one woman fuming while everyone involved claims it was a coincidence.There is an update on the tattletale car story and the short, sharp, slap that lawmakers gave automakers recently.We find out the name of the company whose employee was tricked into a $25 million transfer.Then a story that will make the blood boil of anyone who’s been let go during the ongoing waves of tech layoffs.A Cyber security giant tells us why large language models can never be secure.And we end with what we would almost call an obscene invasion of privacy from a collaboration tool that we all used to trust.We won’t promise you that this weeks update will get your socks clean, but at least there’s no pre-soaking required. Come on! Let’s wash!



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Episode 189.  Ever feel like you are being followed? This week we have both Apple and Google making efforts to quell that effect.  We have leak updates from two sources that should be among the last to ever have to send out breach notices.  One a computer manufacturer and the other a US Government agency.From there, its on to the latest craze in extortion and what you can do to secure against it.We get what we think could be an AI version of Mad Cow disease.  The first round of Mad Cow was scary, but this one includes hallucinations.There’s the rushed US extension of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).  Wait what?  What’s that?  It’s an NSA undertaking that could effect almost anyone globally.And finally we get some insight into what happens when your company’s Cloud Service Provider (CSP) hiccoughs, and deletes all your company infrastructure.  Could it be time for CSP specific Disaster recovery plans?This week’s updates might leave you feeling a little uncomfortable, but ...better the devil you know.



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Episode 188

This week we blast off with a couple of stories that would make movies like Top Gun and Armageddon appear tame in comparison. This just might be where reality surpasses fiction.From there we move to a couple of US healthcare providers that are doing their utmost to help other nation states get familiar with your particulars. One was an actual breach but the other was just dumb.Then we learn about sharing... or… we learn we are sharing, as it seems that almost 50% of Internet traffic is not even of human origin…. and the growing pain of proving we are human!Google updates two factor authentication (2FA) so that you don’t have to worry about sim swaps compromising you and finally things to do to lessen the probability that you might have spyware running on your iPhone.This week’s update is a shot in the bot, but you know what?  You’re going to love it!



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