It is widely believed that Satoshi Nakamoto is the inventor of an encryption technique called “blockchain.” I just read a new book by Sarah Westall titled “FIRST: Meet the Inventor of Blockchain” that credits Dr Kelce Wilson as the true inventor of blockchain, a concept he developed between 2000 and 2001 while serving in ...
When a smartphone is stolen, it is a disaster. You have just given the keys to your online life, your email, social media accounts, and credit cards you have synced with an app. If you have the new smart locks on your home or office, you also gave them literal keys, the ability to open those locks. If you have live camera ...
Back in February 2010, the Minneapolis StarTribune website was the victim of a malvertising exploit. Visitors to the Strib website would download malware that caused the computer to become slow and malfunction. Then a pop-up window would appear that advised the visitor that their computer was infected with malware, and the purchase of a $49.95 anti-malware product would solve the problem. I remember working on the computers of several clients ...
When we are reporting about crime in this blog, usually we focus on cyber-crime, but this case was weird enough to warrant inclusion in our Sunday Funnies.
If you are ever saw the “Home Alone” movies, you remember the criminal duo that were the victims of Macaulay Culkins’ cleverly deployed Rube Goldberg security systems. As you may recall, in the second movie they went by the name “The Sticky Bandits.”
The real sticky bandit just got 6 years of prison time, and a ...
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Not sure if Weekend Update is going to become a regular feature on Saturdays, but you might keep an eye out for a few more of these. What follows is a copy and paste from alert emails I receive from the FBI, Department of Justice, FTC, and US-CERT. Also content from other bloggers, such as Sophos Naked Security block, Brian Krebs, Bruce Schneier, WordFence blog, and others that I read ...
Toward the end of last year I made a pair of bold predictions. The first, that ransomware exploits would start declining, because anti-malware software companies were bringing products online that would prevent the encryption from taking place. The second, there would be an increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC) exploits, as cyber-criminals turned to new income streams. I was only half right.
BEC exploits have increased, because the potential returns are ...
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When I was a self-employed computer repair professional, it used to drive me mad when I got called in on a repair AFTER the customer had taken the computer to the Geek Squad. Their service could be highly variable, and often the original problem was not fixed.
The Geek Squad started as a great little local IT shop founded in Minneapolis by Robert ...
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From Wikipedia: During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain rule. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of ...
We have covered the topic of smartphone video surveillance before, but I found this infographic on Pinterest and had to share it. A great idea for re-purposing a phone after you upgrade to a new one.
I have always had difficulty remembering peoples’ names. That is one reason I am grateful that my parents gave me an easy name – a palindrome – Bob. I have taken two different “Remember Peoples’ Names” classes and failed both of them.
Don’t get me wrong, if we’ve met, I will recognize you when we meet again. I will probably even remember why I know you, how and where we met, ...
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