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

Episode 186 Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s... your insurance company!?!?

This week we have stats and stories that will leave you gasping, and that’s good because you’ll have a chance to catch your breath during our spring break over the next couple weeks.

We start this update up there, in the sky, and the novel new way insurance companies are finding to lower risk and increase profits.

From there we move on to a US privacy bill that we never thought we would see get as far as it has, and just how many people are potentially lining up to stop it.​It’s not 007, but SS7 and it involves spies and use by adversaries for so long that the Federal Communications Commission is calling for accountability.There’s a ransomware attack that hasn’t hit healthcare but a coffee loyalty program that has raised the profile of ransomware to new heights.From a Canadian listener an update on Microsoft’s Security Chickens.And finally the most amazing, incredible, unbelievable identity theft story we have ever heard.They removed the last public phone box in Metropolis in 2022, so there’s no chance to change, but that’s fine because by the time we get to the end of this week’s update we’ll only need one identity and it will be secure.



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Episode 185  This week’s update starts out leaking like an old bucket, but gets patched up pretty good.



We start with our friends at AT&T and yet more mobile phone subscriber detail launched out onto the dark web. Is it playing catch up with another mobile service provider?An almost shocking update from the Department of Homeland Security that they are halting the purchase of your location data and phone records from data brokers. Could this be the DHS realizing they were doing wrong or is it simply down to budget cuts?Then there’s news from President Joe that all agencies should appoint a chief AI officer. In the acronym laden US government that would mean adding a CAIO to the C-suite. Not to be outdone, the VP announced some new AI standards introducing the novel new word “fairness” to some of the use cases that are popping up like spring flowers across the US.The US taxpayers on are the hook in a new reward for the capture of the BlackCat hackers, before we move on to Google pledging to destroy the truckloads of data it collected on you (and others) while you used their browser in incognito mode.We finish the update with that look in your eye that has given yet another country the impetus to pause retina scanning by a man called Sam.If there’s a hole in the bucket, we’d better get to fixing it. Grab some straw and let’s go!



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Episode 184. It’s the last last episode this month, and if “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” then we have the wild in these updates running backwards.

We start with an absolutely stupid way to save five bucks. Cut coupons, buy off-brands but don’t try to save money with Telegram’s new money saving offer.Next we move onto a story about how the YouTube algorithm could get you added to a very special list of people who end up with way more attention than they bargained for.From there we get some unexpected protection from a name we thought had left the room.Then, from the realms of “They will mine on anything” If your AI sessions are returning nonsense, you may want to blame it on Bitcoin.Florida goes further than any other to protect kids with a new law, braces for the inevitable onslaught of lawsuits and then…. Nothing happens.And we finish this week with a story from last spring that has just hit the courts as hard as these uninvited guests hit her front door. You will be shocked and amazed at just how much damage a pair of AirPods could cause, and not to your hearing.Wild is as wild does. Come on, let’s go!



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Episode 183 In our sweetest update yet, we go from “Jam” to chocolate as we cover all subtle flavors and nuances of IT Privacy and Security.Then for our second story we have an EU member in trouble with GDPR with what some would call complete disregard for the regulation they helped create.In the third story of our update we explain the two things you should be aware of as you scroll through TikTok videos.General Motors has a new lawsuit driven at it after one customer discovered he couldn’t get car insurance because his Cadillac was tattling on him.In our fifth segment we spill “Top Secret” detail with you that is, frankly, a little over our heads.And finally we round the update off with a bittersweet story that will have you running out to corner the market after you read it.This week’s update is sweet like chocolate.

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Episode 182This week we take you from credential stuffing to whistle-blowing by way of a bolted horse.We start with the compromise of your beloved Roku account and no more vivid a lesson on the value of unique passwords.From there it’s on to closing the barn doors after the horse has bolted with the US’ new report on controls for AI.Airbnb takes you off camera for your next rental while the EU seems to have gotten caught in their own GDPR trap.Signal’s new username feature is available now and it takes the application to new heights of privacy and security that no other messaging app comes close to.Finally we end with the story of a Boeing whistle-blower doffed shortly before he was to give his deposition and how sad Boeing are.Like a bolted horse, this update is fast and frenetic yet we think you’ll be glad you came along for the ride!

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For this episode we go searching for the needle in the haystack and it appears that someone or something in our fourth story found it!But we end Q1 with what we end every Q1 with in the US. Taxes. And relief that the already onerous tax prep process that so many have to have buy special software for just to complete, now asks you for permission to sell your data …. and how you can avoid it.Americans see their privacy eroded at every lamp post, but North of the border in Canada the supreme court passed a bill that increases privacy for every Canadian.And while we hold our breath and turn blue waiting for Microsoft to fix their zero day vulnerabilities, we apparently have demonstrated an unwitting hospitality to guests visiting from North Korea.From there it’s AI, and while one finds needles in haystacks, others are generating things that crawl a network in an altogether more unsavory manner.The U.S. Whitehouse, apparently now a subscriber to our podcast continues to call out the dangers of “Smart” devices. This time it’s cars and the takeaway that has the POTUS calling out a new investigation.Finally we finish with a device called the ShotSpotter that is turning up in neighbourhoods across the US in high numbers. It doesn’t have a camera attached, but it still has potential to to remove even more of our privacy. Can you guess how?​This is our best update yet, so grab your metal detectors and let’s hit the hay!



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