AS HEARD ON: WGAN Mornings with Ken and Matt: Iran Wiper Attacks, Cyber Security and the California Consumer Privacy Act and more

Good morning everybody!

I was on with Ken and Matt. We talked about what is going on with Iran and how they are planning on damaging the US economy with a different type of malware that they have used successfully in the past.  We talked about the teeth that have been added to the California Consumer Privacy Act and how it can affect companies nationwide.  So here we go with Ken and Matt.

I am doing Facebook Live today on this Iran threat so be sure to tune in.  

These and more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com

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Automated Machine Generated Transcript:

Craig
Hey, good morning, everybody. Craig Peterson, here I was out with our friends Ken and Matt up in Maine. We went through some of the Iran controversy, some similar stuff to yesterday with our friend Jim Polito. Then we delved into what the California law is all about, and what you will have to do as a business owner. I mean, like last week, quite literally, this law got teeth on January 1. So I went into a fair amount, in fact, a lot of detail on that one as well. If you're involved in a business, have any information on any consumers that live in California, this new law has a lot of teeth. So here we go with Ken and Matt.

Matt
Gentlemen, but now it's time to talk to Craig Peterson, our tech guru. He joins us now as he always does this time on Wednesdays. Craig. How are you?

Craig
Hey, doing well, speaking of issues, there are a few things in the news, aren't there?

Matt
Well, not anything major, except that goes out to have a new cookie that's coming out. But in terms of tech news, we certainly had some issues going out in Iran. And there's a lot of talk about how they would retaliate. But there may be ways that we can do it that are not necessarily militarily but probably more technological. Once you tell us you know about that.

Craig
I think this is kind of big news right now is that we are already under attack and we have been for a couple of years. Iran has been one of the major players when it comes to cyber hacking online. Most people already heard about China and Russia attacking us and North Korea, of course. Still, they have been at this for a very long time, as you know, the last 40 years. They have been going after the United States after Saudi Arabia after Iraq tried to get control of that region. And they did a massive hack back in 2012 on Saudi Arabia's largest oil company, and they were able to destroy an estimated 30,000 computers over at Saudi Aramco. Then just this last fall, we had another big problem. And our government came out of that point and said, Hey, listen, everybody, be careful. Make sure your computers are up to date or doing some serious work on trying to prevent hackers because they, at that point, we're going after our businesses. Now, here's the big difference between going after companies electronically to hack and going after the government. Most small, medium businesses don't have any extra money to spend on real security, and we look at some of the stats, for instance, Ars Technica, a great website with all kinds of excellent technical information. Ars Technica every year has what they call it Death Watch. This year on our on their Death Watch. They're saying, Symantec is going to die this year, they will be out of business, and Symantec, of course, those are the guys that make Norton Security. They have a lot of other security products, but they don't work anymore. In the small-medium business space, companies are using things like AVG and Norton and McAfee and many others to try and protect their systems. Still, they are not effective against the current types of malware attacks. You might ask, why would anyone care about my small business? Why would anyone care about my home account? My home computer? Iran is doing something known as a wiper attack. And those wiper attacks, destroy everything entirely on your computer. So unlike a ransomware attack where it's encrypted, and you have about a 50% chance if you pay the ransom of getting your data back with ransomware, Iran just wants to destroy our computers. Why? Well, because they are the lifeblood of the US economy. The majority of jobs created in the US are in the small-medium business space. So Iran has started attacking us. The government's warning us right now. The military is notifying us, the FBI, the NSA is telling us that we have to pull up our socks. So I advise companies right now to pull up their socks, on the security front. Hire a local expert on computer security, attend some of my free webinars, go to my website, watch some of the videos that I have up where I'm doing training. It is an easy way for a small country like Iran to attack to the United States without facing a lot of retribution. Now, I don't think they're going to go like full-bore and try and bring down every business in the country. They don't have the resources to do that. We have in the cyber space a concept known as mutually assured destruction, where they know better than to go full bore against the US, but in reality, they are going to cause damage. Looking at some recent statistics in the small and medium business space, if attacked, 20% declare bankruptcy within a week after being hacked like this. You've got to protect your business. I can't say this enough. It's your investment. It's your life savings. It's your job. It's your responsibility. Whatever the reason, we business owners must pull up our socks in this country.

Ken
We're talking to Craig Peterson. He's our tech guru. He joins us on Wednesdays at this time. Craig, California, is up to their old tricks. There's a new privacy law kicking off there. What do I need to know about that?

Craig
Yeah, this is a very, very interesting question. We've been approached about this a lot over the last week. California has a privacy law that has a couple of requirements that must be understood and for which you must pay attention. First of all, if you have any customers in California, this law might apply to you. And if you have more than 25 million dollars in revenue, or you make half of your money through selling things, selling mentalistic Cetera. So $25 million company basically with any customers in California, this law applies to you. It's been in effect for more than a year. But as of the first of this year, this new California law takes the European privacy regulations and adds more to it. So basically, Matt, to answer your question. If you do have more than $25 million in revenue, the law in California now requires you to be able to let people request their information from you. That means you must be able to tell them what information of theirs you have. Who has access to it and has seen it, including people within your organization. Who you may have shared it with and who you have sold their data to, and then there's a right to be forgotten clause. So if they say you have Have to erase all the information you have about me. You have to delete it. Now there's been significant pushback from banks and insurance companies because they say, Hey, listen, we track everybody. And we don't know who's looked at all of the records. We don't know any of this stuff. We sometimes get even tell you whose data we sold to third parties. Remember, banks and insurance companies are continually using these data aggregators, who are It seems that regularly losing data. So when it comes to the whole California situation with their new privacy law, we can't do what we did with Europe, and most companies just said well forget about it. We're not to get a compliant don't care if you're blocked us. Now you are going to have to comply, and compliance work is already underway in California. They're coming after companies all over the country. Which is why I've been receiving a lot of phone calls and a lot of emails. So by the way, expect a launch like this to come up and just yourself here in Massachusetts, they already have one kind of similar, and they're tightening it up. We now have three states that have these types of privacy laws, and the feds are looking into it. We expect by next year, half of the States will have these types of requirements and perhaps federal legislation. So make sure if you have any information on any consumers any information that you look into this, you talk to your attorney, you must speak to your IT people, we have to tighten up how we handle data.

Ken
Great data. Craig Peterson our tech guru joins us every Wednesday at 730. Thanks, Craig. We will talk to you next week.

Craig
Hey, take care, gentlemen. Bye Bye. Thanks.

Matt
Alright, well, that was enlightening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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