Author archives

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

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues February 1, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Ring Doorbell App Packed with Third-Party Trackers; How Corporate Lawyers Made It Harder to Punish Companies That Destroy Electronic Evidence; Jeff Bezos Phone Hacking – WhatsApp Hack – Is WhatsApp Safe?; and 8 cities that have been crippled by cyberattacks — and what they did to fight them.

Subjects: Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Discovery, Election Law, Email, Email Security, Encryption, Firewalls, Gadgets/Gizmos, Intellectual Property, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues January 25, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: How Do People Decide Whether to Trust a Photo on Social Media?; Microsoft discloses security breach of customer support database; NIST Releases Privacy Framework; Apple complies with 90% of US government requests for customer data.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email, Email Security, Government Resources, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues January 18, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Inspector General Warns Public About New Twist To Social Security Phone Scams; SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this alert to urge investors to use caution before investing in so-called “initial exchange offerings” through online trading platforms; NSA Takes Step Toward Protecting World’s Computers, Not Just Hacking Them; and A Billion Medical Images Are Exposed Online As Doctors Ignore Warnings.

Subjects: Big Data, Blockchain, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Email, Email Security, Health, Healthcare, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues January 12, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: FBI, Homeland Security warn of Iranian terror and cyber threat in new intelligence bulletin; Police are buying hidden cameras disguised as rocks, trees, tombstones; ‘Shattered’: Inside the secret battle to save America’s undercover spies in the digital age; and Cities, states face costly cybersecurity landscape after attacks spiked in 2019.

Subjects: Computer Security, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Resources, Military

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues January 5, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: The 5 Best Authenticator Apps for Protecting Your Accounts; Major US companies breached, robbed, and spied on by Chinese hackers; US Army bans soldiers from using TikTok over security worries; and 7 types of virus – a short glossary of contemporary cyberbadness.

Subjects: Communications, Cybersecurity, Gadgets/Gizmos, Government Resources, KM, Legal Research, Privacy, RSS Newsfeeds, Search Engines, Social Media, Spyware, Technology Trends, Viruses & Hoaxes

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 29, 2019

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: What You’re Unwrapping When You Get a DNA Test for Christmas; Ring and Amazon sued in federal court over security concerns; Smart Home Tech, Police, and Your Privacy: Year in Review 2019; and Fake and dangerous kids products are turning up for sale on Amazon.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 21, 2019

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: VISA warns of Point of Sale malware incidents at gas pumps across North America; Putin Still Uses Obsolete Windows XP, Report Says; An investigation into the smartphone tracking industry from Times Opinion; and Facebook Faces Another Huge Data Leak Affecting 267 Million Users.

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cyberlaw Legislation, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Social Media, Technology Trends

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 14, 2019

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Verizon kills email accounts of archivists trying to save Yahoo Groups history; Ransomware: Cybercriminals are adding a new twist to their demands; 988 will be the new 911 for suicide prevention—by sometime in 2021; Ring’s Hidden Data Let Us Map Amazon’s Sprawling Home Surveillance Network.

Subjects: Big Data, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Gadgets/Gizmos, Health, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 7, 2019

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: 50 countries ranked by how they’re collecting biometric data and what they’re doing with it; Facebook Asks Supreme Court to Review Face Scan Decision; The United States House Has Approved a New Anti-Robocall Bill; and Do our algorithms have enough oversight?.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Communications Law, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Resources, KM, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, Technology Trends

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues November 30, 2019

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Go Google free: We pick privacy-friendly alternatives to every Google service; Alexa, Siri and other voice systems are raising security worries; Canada’s use of Huawei 5G would hamper its access to U.S. intelligence – U.S. official; Law enforcement can plunder DNA profile database, judge rules.

Subjects: Big Data, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Social Media