Author archives

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

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 4, 2026

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: Should AI Tools For Doctors Be Licensed Like Doctors?; The New Surveillance State Is You; Mojeek, the independent search engine worth trying; WIRED Data Breach; an How the human harms of cybercrime shook the world in 2025.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, Medical Research, Privacy, Search Engines

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 28, 2025

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: Google will finally allow you to change your @gmail.com address; Those Epstein Redactions Weren’t So Redacted; How Russia could attack Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites; Microsoft Teams to let admins block external users via Defender portal; and NIST warns of Network Time Protocol inaccuracy after blackouts across Colorado.

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email, Email Security, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Technology Trends, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 20, 2025

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: Online Shoppers Beware — Study Finds Fake Delivery Sites Exploding Ahead of Holiday Rush; FBI Couldn’t Read Data Pointing to Pipe Bomb Suspect; Medicare.gov to deploy ID.me for beneficiary verification; and How to spot videos created by artificial intelligence.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, E-Government, Economy, Healthcare, Privacy, Social Media, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 13, 2025

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: Your Boss Has More Ways Than Ever to Monitor What You’re Doing at Work; How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking; Every Legal Team Needs to See This LLM Leak; U.S. Plans to Scrutinize Foreign Tourists’ Social Media History; and A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email Security, KM, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 7, 2025

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: Admins and defenders gird themselves against maximum-severity server vulnerability; WhatsApp closes loophole that let researchers collect data on 3.5B accounts; Real or AI? The 7 Telltale Signs Every Fake Image Still Can’t Hide; Does a VPN really slow down your internet? I measured it; Google Starts Sharing All Your Text Messages With Your Employer; and Yep, Cloudflare died again. Here’s what happened.

Subjects: Computer Security, Cybercrime, Economy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 29, 2025

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: Is Your Android TV Streaming Box Part of a Botnet?; FCC Corrects Course, Outlines Improved Cybersecurity Measures; Social data puts user passwords at risk in unexpected ways; Homeland Security Is Reportedly Probing Bitcoin Mining Giant Bitmain for National Security Reasons; and Senator urges CBP to quit using tech to track and detain ‘suspicious’ drivers.

Subjects: Copyright, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, Email Security, Privacy, Social Media, Travel, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 15, 2025

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: Don’t Get Tricked by Fake Amazon Reviews This Black Friday; Meta makes billions from scam ads on Facebook, Instagram: Report; Digital IDs: The Future of Identity Documents; New Google Lawsuit May End Massive Text Phishing Operations; and Google Drive Will Use AI To Turn Lengthy PDFs Into Short Audio Summaries.

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 8, 2025

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: Google says Search AI Mode will know everything about you; Google flags new wave of online scams fueled by AI fakes and holiday hustles; Washington Post says it is among victims of cyber breach tied to Oracle software; and Enterprises are not prepared for a world of malicious AI agents.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Email, Email Security, Privacy, Search Engines, Technology Trends