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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Episode 180. The IT Privacy and Security Weekly Update Loses the Car for the week ending February 27th., 2024 This week one vendor announced we’d be getting post-Quant encryption for our messages, while another works feverishly to ensure we can find our car when we are done at the supermarket.We have a discovery at one vending machine that does its tracking while you are snacking.We shine some new light into nation-state spy versus spy wars.Then the FTC lets loose on a free antivirus...

 This week’s update is our most exciting yet: You get driving lessons that help you fix security. A new class of black hat AI that can hack websites on its own. A suggestion that you keep your thought crimes to a minimum if you want to keep your job New malware that will steal your face. The US Department of Justice (sorry U.S. only) logging into our routers and removing malware A John Deere tractor story with a sad ending for farmers An update to the secure messaging app Signal...

It’s that time of year again when love is in the air and this week’s update will be as embracing as a hug from Taylor Swift after a big Super bowl win.We start with a great misstep story about a hypothetical bot infection of millions of toothbrushes that is sure to leave a glint in your eye and a grin on your face.- click the pic to hear the podcast -As we recover from all the betting ads being hurled at us as US states legalize online betting one by one, we have a story about how the world’s...

This week we start with your dear Gran.  When’s the last time you called her to see how she was doing?​After our first update we hope that call will happen within the next day or two.  From there we move to a model corporate citizen in CloudFlare and discover further repercussion from last year’s Okta Breach and a remote desktop solution that could almost use their breech as a PR exercise.We are reminded that everyone on that Zoom call might not be as they seem, and find a glorious dip in...

Episode 176This week the update gets dialed in:  First via a new spy tool called Patternz then via a photo contest where we share who rates what in the race at the top.From there we have an update on the “Mother of all breaches”  a newly surfaced collection of over 26 Billion records for you to wonder if you are part of. It’s onto the the US’ efforts to thwart Chinese hacking within critical US infrastructure before we read  a letter from a US senator to the NSA asking why they are buying up...

Episode 175As you were walking home from work did you ever feel like someone was watching you?  In this weeks’ update we tell you why.We have some disturbing news on a cyber attack where the data from 1 million cancer patients is stolen, and then used to threaten and spam them.Mandiant discovers a Zero-day attack that could have allowed many businesses like hospitals to be compromised for up to 2 years before a patch was delivered.Microsoft’s executive suite got hacked by a Russian...

Episode 174 This week we are pumping, probing, questioning and querying on all fronts. We start with a couple of fan faves from the Consumer Electronics show, but wonder if we’ll get as much use out of them as the V-logging contingent.- click the pic to hear the podcast -From there we siphon out some subtle word-smithing that might mean we are not the only ones left quaking in our boots.Apple, the company selling us on the importance of privacy, drops another privacy bomb on us.We tap into...

Episode 173 This week we need some space, man. We start with phones and cellphone towers in low Earth orbit, then we move on to one of the most intriguing iPhone compromises we’ve ever heard andwe have heard plenty. Who is behind this one? That’s for you to decide.From there we learn about a Mandiant account hijack (wait aren’t they one of the most elite security companies? Weren’t they the second most expensive company that Google ever purchased?)Then we have a section of the update for...

Episode 172This week we focus on our amazing kids. From the effect the phone we send them off with “to keep them safe” has, to an amazing 13 year old crushing a 34 year old arcade game. We even end with advice from a Nobel prize winner about what you might not want to study.From, the kids, we turn to Apple and what is going on between them and the world’s biggest democracy. We then follow Apple to a researcher who thinks he has found the perfect way to keep Apple Air tags from being used for...

If you missed getting that special someone that special gift, we have more solid ideas for you this week: A concept jet engine and the source code for Grand Theft Auto 5 as possible suggestions.We get some insight on why the compromise of your personally identifiable information is not something to take lightly as well as the world coming to realize that you can build a nuclear program on someone else blockchain.- click on the pic to hear the podcast - We get some great insight on just how...

Episode 170​Our first few stories present some unique gifting ideas. Who needs another Rolex when you can give “large”? We get new breach reporting requirements from the US’ SEC and China’s MIIT. Wait, what is this, a competition?In that same vein, we get something less than super from Mr. Cooper.After a court ruling that you cannot be forced to reveal your phone pin, there’s great news from Google about a change to your location data.And we finish up this update in front of a crackling...

Episode 169This week we hang up the phone with a couple of definitive stories, the first coming from a huge US phone company and the last a Dutch phone company that is ripping the title of “The phone to be seen with” out of the hands of Apple, Google and Samsung. Second in our stories this week is a blatant example from the UK of an individual in the public sector courting the private sector.In at story three is yet another US healthcare provider getting breached.Then we find Apple...

Episode 168It seemed excessive, but you agreed on the rent and even though it’s “way more” than you wanted to pay, you manage, until you read our first story.Facebook published their quarterly adversarial threat report, and they say that one country is firing up “way more” fake accounts to influence your opinion than just about anyone. asso Security says they discovered “way more” API tokens exposed related to AI models and datasets from one AI community than they’d expected.We got initial...

Episode 167 This week we start with the dollar bill ranking of the top US Universities for earnings potentialWe then throw some light on a global disappearing act, first the presenters and then a whole developer conference. This is one you have to hear to believe! From there, in our third story, it’s a thumbs down for the security that fingerprint reader on your laptop is delivering.In at four is a new agreement between the US, UK and a dozen countries pitched at making AI safer.From...

Episode 166This week we have a revelation related to a world famous someone who has managed to avoid arrest through the careful application of privacy. We reveal how that may now be at an end. We share how a phone manufacturer who promised to bring Apple’s iMessage to Android ended up with “Nothing”From there a new revelation about how the US Government is using our phones to compromise our privacy (again) and then a really cool must see result from a dev who integrated his computer and...

Episode 165 This week we let the cat out of the bag with the FTCs probe into one databroker’s dealings.We follow with our second update that has a cat on a hot tin roof … of your car and just what the automobile manufacturers are collecting from you that is available to the police, but not you. For story three we swing the cat ‘round to the EU to find out a bit more about QWACs, while in Australia we put the cat among the pigeons of one telecom provider with an update and a request that had...

Episode 164 This week we let you know why you feel so great after staying up all night with us.For our second story, we move into one of the world’s most prestigious resorts only to get no sleep because of its leaks.Our third update covers the blackout of about 31% of the Australian mobile market.In at number four is the nightmare of just how easily a study found it to be to obtain Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (SPII) on the US Military.​ At five news updates on Apple:...