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

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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Episode 187Flames leap from the IT Privacy and Security news this week... from trick TVs to leaky telephones.We flare up with a story about US Senator Ron Wyden chasing a Google TV “quirk” that could grant access to your Gmail.Then from the embers we hear scraping noises. This time Discord is the target and you are the payload.From there it’s insecure Chinese keyboard apps. And the millions of users that could be easily smoked out.Next is a story about how Microsoft threw cold water on a hot vulnerability that was being actively exploited in businesses across the world.A recent court ruling agrees that yes, you can get burned by your thumbs…And finally a roasting for the US’ largest wireless carriers over their exploitation of your location data.This week’s temps are up, but you’ll stay cool as we share it with you! Let’s go!



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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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