Author archives

Pete Weiss, formerly a Systems Engineer in Teleprocessing at The Pennsylvania State University

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 7, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: In a Big Blow to Internet Archive, Appeals Court Says Online Lending Library Is Not Fair Use; Clearview AI was keeping an illegal database of faces; gets fined; How to scan for unknown trackers that might be following you; and Chase money glitch: How a viral TikTok trend turned out to just be plain check fraud.

Subjects: Cryptocurrency, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Healthcare, Legal Research, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 31, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Six highlights from this week: Remote Work: A Ticking Time Bomb Waiting to be Exploited; Microsoft to overhaul Windows security after outage hits hospitals; How safe is Telegram?; Wyze’s new AI feature lets users search security cam footage; Safeguarding Subsea Cables Protecting Cyber Infrastructure amid Great Power Competition; and When A.I.’s Output Is a Threat to A.I. Itself.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Resources, Healthcare, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 24, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Meta’s new crawler could scrape your page, even when you don’t want it to; Don’t trust Google for customer service numbers. It might be a scam; Cox Communications Battles Copyright Case That Could Disrupt TV Streaming for Millions; U.S. government urging to update Galaxy phones due to vulnerability; and IRS still faces security challenges in aftermath of taxpayer data leak.

Subjects: Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 17, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Six highlights from this week: How to stop the government from deleting itself; Six ransomware gangs behind over 50% of 2024 attacks; Thousands of Corporate Secrets Were Left Exposed. This Guy Found Them All; The California Journalism Preservation Act takes a step forward; Microsoft Tweaks Fine Print To Warn Everyone Not To Take Its AI Seriously; Study finds 94% of business spreadsheets have critical errors.

Subjects: AI, Business Research, Competitive Intelligence, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Resources, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 9, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Nearly 3 billion people just had their data leaked!!; Text message exploits are scarier than ever, but you can protect yourself with these tips; Government IT systems in the hands of a single vendor puts agencies at risk; Apple says Safari protects your privacy. We fact-checked those claims; and Lawmakers look to clarify electronic medical device use in secure facilities.

Subjects: Big Data, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Mining, Financial System, Healthcare, Privacy, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 2, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: How To Check Whether You’re Chatting With a Real Person or AI; Here is another reason why you should never click on ads to download software; New Federal Ruling Prohibits Warrantless Phone Searches by Border Agents; and About Chrome’s “These extensions may soon no longer be supported” message.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 27, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: New Hack Threat: Thieves Take Over Your Phone Number; AT&T failed to test disastrous update that kicked all devices off network; How Russia-Linked Malware Cut Heat to 600 Ukrainian Buildings in Deep Winter; and Ransomware attack closes LA County Superior Court buildings.

Subjects: Computer Security, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email Security, Healthcare, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 20, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: This is likely the biggest password leak ever: nearly 10 billion credentials exposed; How to Stay Safe From Third-Party Seller Scams; The US Supreme Court Kneecapped US Cyber Strategy; DOJ Leads Efforts Among Federal, International, and Private Sector Partners to Disrupt Covert Russian Government-Operated Social Media Bot Farm.

Subjects: AI, Congress, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 13, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: How AI Is Helping Scammers, and How You and Your Family Can Stay Safe Online; Every [smart] Phone Can ID Your Router – Here’s How to Stop It; Opinion | Driving Apps Like Google Maps Drive Me Crazy; and 10 Security Tips for Business Travelers This Summer.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, July 6, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Eight highlights from this week: US car dealerships are recovering from massive cyberattack: 3 things you should know; Deepfake attacks will cost $40 billion by 2027; FTC – Who’s who in scams: a spring roundup; Cloudflare is taking a stand against AI website scrapers; Microsoft tells more customers their emails have been stolen; Tips to Make Facebook and Instagram Fun Again; and How to Stop ChatGPT Training On Your Data.

Subjects: AI, Communication Skills, Cybersecurity, Economy, Email Security, Financial System, Healthcare, Privacy, Social Media, Travel