Commentary From Elsewhere: Smart Hostility
Recently I ran into an article about a hiccup with a particular Smart TV. Long story short, it broke Windows on the computer that shared the network. Continue reading CFE: Smart Hostility
Tag Archives: (In)Security
PSA: Pictures are spoofable
Public Service Announcement: Pictures are spoofable
Long and short of it is that technology has reached the point where it’s easy enough to make ‘realistic’ images of someone doing… anything. While there are a couple qualifiers, they aren’t big enough to be reassuring. Continue reading PSA: Pictures are spoofable
CFE: The End of Location Tracking?
Commentary From Elsewhere: The End of Location Tracking?
As you may know, much of what you do with computers is tracked. And as a smartphone is a computer, this applies there too. In particular, as the phone is a mobile device, talking to relatively stationary devices, it knows where it is. At least in a general sense.
Why am I mentioning this? Because some of those tracking your location through your phone have announced they won’t be. Now I think this is a good thing, the less data kept on our daily actions the less data that can inevitably leak or otherwise be used against us. But the ‘why’ for this change in approaches is interesting. Continue reading CFE: The End of Location Tracking?
Fake Email Followups
Fake Email Followups
Recently I’ve been seeing an interesting form of spam: Fake Email Followups. The most recent message on the chain is bogus, but the rest includes valid back and forth between people. Including the recipient (ie you). Continue reading Fake Email Followups
SAAB: Ignored Scams
Support As A Business: Ignored Scams
Generally speaking, when people have work for me it is to accomplish a partial task. Build this website, recover this data, teach this skill, etc. Often enough, in the process of doing what I’ve been asked, other things come to my attention. At which point I’ll bring them to the attention of the client, offer my opinion, and let them decide on a course of action. Continue reading SAAB: Ignored Scams
uBlock, again…
uBlock, again…
At a recent meeting I observed, a website was mistyped, which brought up a scam about the computer being infected (it wasn’t, it was fine). As typos are a thing, I’m sure this sort of thing happens all the time. So what do you do to prevent the scary scams? Continue reading uBlock, again…
SPF: FTL
Single Point of Failure: For The Lose
Much like in the ‘real’ world, so to on the internet: Any given point will eventually fail. Thus, either be ready for it’s failure, or have alternates in place to compensate. Continue reading SPF: FTL
How to use uBlock Origin
When I use a computer belonging to someone else, I am often amazed by the amount of junk that websites toss at their users. Ads, pop-ups, singing and dancing, junk everywhere. If you ignored the distraction, all that stuff is still a bad idea. It slows down the system, running code that has no value to the owner of the system (which is arguable a violation of anti-hacking laws). Continue reading How to use uBlock Origin
STO: Admin Accounts
Security Through Obscurity: Admin Accounts
Wiser men then I have pointed out how ‘security through obscurity isn’t security’, and they are right. On it’s own, obscurity does not create security, although it may grant the illusion of such. But as part of a more comprehensive system, obscurity can be a useful tool. Continue reading STO: Admin Accounts
AIC: Locked myself out of my Computer
Adventures In Computing: Locked myself out of my Computer
A few years back I was having difficulties with remotely accessing my computer. The details of which are a different story altogether. What is relevant here, is that I was attempting to copy files from one computer to another over the network. In the process of trying to get this done, I removed my ability to log on to one computer. Continue reading AIC: Locked myself out of my Computer