Year: 2016
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2016's hacks, attacks and security blunders
Originally published in Engadget. End 2016 on a high note: Put all your personal information in a pile and set it on fire. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Just when we thought things couldn't get worse than 2015's security and privacy disasters, the asshole known as 2016 came along to trample and pee on any hope we… Read more…
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VB’s infosec news roundup
Originally published on Patreon. These are the stories that caught my eye over the weekend, and the ones I’ll be watching through the week. If I make my goal of $1000/month here, I can do these every week, just for us — and not for any outlet or its advertisers. Smart TV bricked with malware… Read more…
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Soon cops will search your phone just like your car
Originally published in Engadget. Thanks Florida. Getty Images/iStockphoto Imagine a routine traffic stop during which the officer has the legal right to search not just your car, but your phone too. That's where we're likely headed: A Florida court recently denied Fifth Amendment protections for iPhone passcodes, saying suspects must now reveal them to police.… Read more…
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2016's biggest privacy threat: Your phone
Originally published in Engadget. How your phone reveals all your secrets. Literally. BrilliantEye via Getty Images When it comes to handing malicious hackers' intimate details about our lives, right now Yahoo is leading the pack as one of the worst threats to privacy in recent history. Yet there's one thing that has Yahoo beat in… Read more…
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Obama's got a new cybersecurity plan, but what's the point?
Originally published in Engadget. It’ll probably just end up as fancy toilet paper for the new administration. There's been a lot of hot air blown across headlines this week about the big cybersecurity plan proposed by the White House's Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity (PDF). The plan for a commission to create long-term recommendations on… Read more…
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2016 claims another victim: Your privacy
Originally published in Engadget. Why the FBI’s shiny new hacking powers should worry you. Getty Images/iStockphoto In a blow to privacy on par with the Patriot Act, changes to the rules around warrants grant the US government unprecedented hacking powers in any jurisdiction, and on as many devices as it wants. The changes to a… Read more…
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Sex and security: How did that happen?
Originally published on Patreon. Every once in a while when I’m being interviewed, someone will point out that I’m an author and reporter on the topics of sex and computer security — and this doesn’t go together. They ask me, why these two topics, together … how, exactly, did that happen? There’s a long answer… Read more…
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Six gifts for your paranoid friends and family
Originally published in Engadget. Remember, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. It pays to be paranoid in a time of rampant breaches, social media account extortion, identity theft, fake security products, ransomware, and hack attacks on all. That's why we've put together a gift guide for those among us who don't want… Read more…
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FriendFinder breach shows it's time to be adults about security
Originally published in Engadget. More like Adult Friend Loser. Getty Like all sectors — government, retail, finance and healthcare — the adult and porn businesses are feeling the consequences of not making security a priority, in the worst possible ways. Namely, by getting hacked and pwned, hard. Take for example this week's breach-bloodbath, in which… Read more…
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The consequences of the Trump presidency on cybersecurity
Originally published in Engadget. A situation now revealed in all its hideousness, brought to us by a 400-lb hacker in bed. Getty Images/iStockphoto Hacking and cybersecurity played a huge role in the presidential election. So much so that Donald Trump, America's new president-elect, was helped greatly by the acts of criminal hackers in his journey… Read more…