Apple, Google and Amazon have adapted extremely complex technology to the consumer world; and have forever changed the perception of what is possible with technology. This is now bleeding over into legislation that is designed to govern the way all businesses interact with their clients. The legislators too enjoy same-or-next day delivery of any product they so desire, they have an app for everything, and they speak their wishes in their home, and... Read more...
It is easy to fall into a workplace routine; you know how to get something done and your process works. Eventually you look to train others to use the shortcuts and process that you have found works, happy to hand off the tasks to another. Mission accomplished. Too often, with technology tools, tips and tricks, once the new modernized process has been institutionalized, no one looks back to improve or optimize — even as technology advances. With... Read more...
All of those family photos and selfies you have uploaded to your favorite sites have helped governments and big tech create your digital identity. Your government digital identity is refined with each new verified drivers license photo and each facial image captured at the border when you return from your Cancun vacations. When you first see your government digital identity used in real time, it really is quite shocking. Walking up to your United... Read more...
The FBI Elegantly Asks You to Stop Sending Money to Internet Criminals. We are now in the 16th annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a collaborative effort by the US Government and participating industry groups to educate all computer users enough so that they stop clicking those pesky links that download viruses and stop sending personal, health, employment, and tax information unencrypted. What else do they suggest you stop doing? The FBI,... Read more...
Hollywood Sim Swappers are the New Posers. Your mobile phone is often the second key to your life. When you forget your password at key accounts like your email or bank, you may be prompted to enter a code that appears by text message to your phone. Perfect security, multi-factor authentication. But what if you are targeted and someone can access your phone? As we have seen, today’s internet criminals are savvy enough to make some investments... Read more...
Autumn May Bring Digital Serenity with Security Autumnation. Over the last year, while the user experience for technology has been progressively becoming simpler, the jobs of the business owner, IT director, and privacy and compliance officers have been progressively becoming more complex. Far more complex. Europe recently introduced the most aggressive data privacy laws ever imagined. Data privacy treaties have been scrapped for new ones, the latest... Read more...
City Hall Can Now Control Your Location. The Snowden revelations opened the general public’s eyes to the (alleged) eavesdropping by the NSA and other government organizations. The Hong Kong protests showed the world how today’s mass video surveillance uses facial recognition to identify the location of people (for example, who is protesting what and when). City traffic light cameras send you nice pictures of yourself in the intersection... Read more...
The phishermen are getting smarter, using better lures to catch ever smarter phish (in this case, you, as an Office 365, OneDrive, SharePoint, or Dropbox user). Armed with better grammar and embedding your company name and email address within the email and images, and further, using authentic OneDrive or Dropbox URLs to link to, these latest scammers are luring users into providing their username and passwords to the scammers. And, considering many... Read more...
With so many big-name data breaches in recent times, your eyes may have glossed over the recent Equifax consumer data breach settlement. The numbers were big, 147 million consumers had their sensitive information exposed. The penalty, $700 million (or about $5 per person). Source: New York Times, Krebs. Factored into this amount are ways in which consumers can request extra perks, compensation for time spent dealing with the breach and worry about... Read more...
This time of year, we usually find ourselves reflecting on the great freedoms we enjoy as Americans, thanks to the bravery of our founding fathers and the militia men and women of that era. Several years ago, we reported an analysis of the alleged revelations made public by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, as a foreshadow of a rising threat to the Constitution which was put in place to protect these freedoms, including 4th Amendment protection from... Read more...