Author archives

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

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 22, 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: WhatsApp Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers; The internet isn’t free: Shutdowns, surveillance and algorithmic risks; GAO: ‘Digital footprints’ endanger the nation, military and personnel; Your Smartphone, Their Rules: How App Stores Enable Corporate-Government Censorship; and Unremovable AppCloud on Samsung Phones Sparks Privacy Fears.

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

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

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 1, 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: Cut Through GenAI Confusion: Eight Definitive Reads; AI Glossary – Artificial Intelligence Term Guide 2025; AI Incident Database; and Wi-Fi can accurately identify people, even if they aren’t carrying a phone or computer.

Subjects: AI, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Legislative, Technology Trends, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 25, 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: Publishers Adopt Aggressive New Tactics to Block AI Scraping; What the Huge AWS Outage Reveals About the Internet; Social Security Administration (SSA) is warning the public about a new government imposter scam; Image Scrubber for obscuring faces, stripping out the identifying metadata attached to your photos; and Clickbait Gives AI Models ‘Brain Rot,’ Researchers Find.

Subjects: AI, Court Resources, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 18, 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: Frustrated Job Seekers Are Trying to Manipulate AI; ChatGPT Is Wrecking Real-Life Marriages – Couples use AI to argue, vent, and even divorce; Is the AI bubble about to pop? Ed Zitron weighs in; Layoffs, reassignments further deplete Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); and Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 11, 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: People are poorly equipped to detect AI-powered voice clones; Meta [Facebook, Instagram] is preparing another way to show you targeted ads and you can’t opt out; Gmail stopped loading hidden trackers when I changed this one setting; Opt Out October: Daily Tips to Protect Your Privacy and Security; and Employees regularly paste company secrets into ChatGPT.

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Financial System, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, Travel

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 3, 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: Meta Will Start Using Your AI Chats to Target Ads at You; Chatbots Are Trapping Us With Endless Engagement Prompts; How to deactivate AI on your Android phone; Apple, Google Remove ICE Tracking Apps; and Tile Tracking Tags Can Be Exploited by Tech-Savvy Stalkers, Researchers Say.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Free Speech, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 27, 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: 48% of Cybersecurity Bosses Failed to Report a Breach This Year; LinkedIn will use your data to train their AI starting Nov 3; Reuters Asked AI Bots to Scam the Elderly. They Obliged; and This is the fastest way to tell if a photo is AI-generated.

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media