Warriors Wanted: Secure Your Smartphone Before It's Too Late!
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
Release Date: 08/25/2023
ShinyHunters Got FBI Records. Craig’s Question Is Which Contractor Was Holding Them.
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
A listener asked Matt to ask Craig about the theft of FBI data, and Craig started with who holds it. Much of what the federal government keeps — background-check records, applications to the FBI, even the designs of weapons made by defense contractors — sits with third parties. The group behind this one is called ShinyHunters; its reported leader was arrested by Dutch police the day before the show. Craig’s point was the gap between the government and its vendors: last week every federal agency was required to patch ScreenConnect, a remote-support tool with a serious vulnerability....
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Office 2021 Stops Getting Security Updates on October 13. Windows Update Won’t Tell You What Else Has.
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
On October 13, Microsoft ends support for Office 2021 — Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint stop receiving security patches that day — along with the extended security updates for Windows Server 2012. Danny, sitting in for Jim Polito, asked the obvious follow-up: how does anyone find out what they are running? Craig’s answer started with what people assume covers them. “Most people think, oh, I’ve got antivirus software. I’ve got Windows Update turned on. So, I’m all set. It is not true.” Windows Update does not update all the software on a Windows machine, and antivirus only...
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Senator Warner Wants an AI Oversight Agency. Craig Answers With the Clipper Chip.
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
Sen. Mark Warner went to the Senate floor to call for a government body to oversee AI. Craig read the legislation and the senator’s website before the show, and his objection was that the problem it describes is already illegal. Laws against hacking a computer system have been on the books for almost 30 years; people have gone to jail under them, foreign nationals included. “I think what they’re trying to do is get legislation that protects them from the laws that exist.” Jeff played the other side: if the AI gets loose because of “grossly incompetent nitwits that I chose to...
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Craig Puts It at 60%: The Share of New Web Content Written by AI
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
OpenAI launched ChatGPT 6, Sol, and Luna this month, claiming Sol makes about half as many mistakes as the models before it. Matt asked whether that is real progress. Craig’s answer was yes, with a catch: the models are not getting smarter. The companies, Anthropic included, have rewritten the code around them so the AI runs the same prompt again and again from different angles and then votes on the most likely answer. The new models use about twice the tokens of the old ones. “And they get a 50% better answer.” Matt: “There seems to be a correlation here.” The second half was about...
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Websites Collected Driver’s License Photos to Check Ages. Craig Says 150 Million Were Stolen.
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
Jim came into the segment from a morning on Flock license-plate cameras, and Craig took it one step wider. The technology is old and the courts have ruled on it for years; his discomfort is with how much of our information is collected at all. Websites that must verify your age now ask for a photo of your driver’s license or passport, so Facebook “or whomever” holds government ID for millions of people. Craig said 150 million of those records have been stolen. “So now what are they going to do? How am I going to prove who I am when other people have a copy of all of my information?”...
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The AI “Breakouts” Were Given Hacking Instructions and an Internet Connection
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
OpenAI’s model got into Hugging Face. Anthropic said its model had broken into someone first. Then Google said its model had done it before either of them. Jeff wanted to know how these AIs keep “breaking out,” and whether he should picture Robby the Robot fiddling with a lock. Craig spent the previous two weeks reading the published investigations, which go back to May, and said nothing broke out of anything: “These AIs were let loose on networks that had access to the Internet. They were given specific instructions that had 100% to do with hacking and breaking into systems.” The...
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Jeff and Heidi Want a Robot Bartender for Their Home Bar. Craig Says It Runs About $400.
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
Jeff and Heidi hold happy hour at the bar in their house at 6:03, and Heidi has decided what it is missing: a robot bartender. Jeff’s terms were that he picks how it looks and she picks what it says. Craig’s answer was that the hardware already exists. Bars now have table-top machines that check your ID card and make any drink you order; those start around $30,000, and home versions run about $400. The conversation half is ChatGPT or Claude, spoken rather than typed. It started with a more serious question. Elon Musk and Sam Altman both say AI development should slow down, so why not...
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Chinese Ships Are Stopping in Canada’s Northern Straits to Map the Sea Floor
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
Craig’s wife sent him an article the morning of the show: Chinese ships moving through the straits of northern Canada are not just passing through. International agreements allow transit through territorial waters at a reasonable pace, but these ships are stopping, and it looks like they are measuring the sea floor. Russia is doing it too. The route used to be frozen; now it can be navigated in summer. Craig used it to explain why the U.S. wants a foothold in the North. It was the last stop in a long Canada conversation. Jim opened on British Columbia’s three-year experiment...
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Microsoft Shipped Almost 700 Patches in One Patch Tuesday — Six Times a Normal Month
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
This was the biggest Patch Tuesday on record: Microsoft pushed close to 700 patches in a single month, roughly six times the usual volume. Craig's follow-up question is the one that actually decides whether a machine is exposed. Microsoft is patching Microsoft. Who is patching everything else? Windows Update never touches third-party software — it barely updates Windows itself, Craig said, and it does nothing for the average of 62 other programs sitting on a typical computer, many of which are being actively exploited right now. He named Adobe Reader and WinZip specifically: the current...
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Craig Left Quebec in the 1970s, When a Driver's License Ran $300 and Registering the Family Wagon Ran $3,000
Craig Peterson - Secure Your Business, Your Privacy, and Save Your Sanity
Craig grew up in Canada and left in the 1970s, and this week he put numbers on why. A driver's license in Quebec cost $300 a year. Registration on the family station wagon cost $3,000 a year. Both figures in 1970s dollars. Auto insurance, by contrast, was free — which Craig turned into the sharpest point of the segment: his father remarried, his stepmother got her license at 26, and she totaled three cars. Craig's question was not about her driving. It was about what happens to the premium. "How much does insurance go up? How much is the risk? Zero, of course, because there is no insurance....
info_outlineThe digital landscape is a battleground. As the Tactical Octopus Gang orchestrates intricate schemes and the debate over Global Warming Hoax Princeton and MIT rages on, a new threat looms large: hackers and spies targeting your smartphone. In a world where even Direct Air Capture Systems can't purify your device from virtual invaders, it's time to fortify your defenses.
In-person vs. Zoom Meetings are a dilemma, but amid this, hackers seize opportunities. Your smartphone, brimming with personal and sensitive data, becomes their prized possession. The urgency to arm yourself against this modern-day onslaught cannot be overstated. But where to begin?
Start by shattering their tactics. Navigate the maze of catchy email attachments, cleverly named to trick you. "TitleContractDocs.zip" or "JRCLIENTCOPY3122.zip" might seem innocent, but they house sinister intent. Hesitate, and you're already ensnared.
Yet, hope gleams on the horizon. Online Privacy Browsers stand as stalwart guardians, but hackers adapt. This battle demands the best weapons – the finest anti-virus software. Uncover the armor that can repel their assaults, preserving your smartphone's sanctity.
Remember, knowledge is power. Platforms like HaveIBeenPawned unveil the truth, but action rests in your hands. Empower yourself with the twin shields of 2FA and MFA. Become the guardian of your digital realm.
As the Tactical Octopus Gang and their hoser hijinks persist, you hold the key to victory. Don't wait until the hackers' net tightens. The time to act is now! Transform your smartphone into an impregnable fortress against relentless hackers and spies. Your move, digital warrior. Your move.
Click here to embark on your journey to smartphone security: Safeguard Your Small Business Today: The Ultimate Guide to Cloud Protection for Data Loss Liability
You can also catch Craig at the following stations and channels:
With Jim Polito at 0836 Tuesdays
WTAG AM 580 - FM 94.9
Talk 1200
News Radio 920 & 104.7 FM WHJJ
NewsRadio 560 WHYN
WXTK
Craigs Show Airs 0600 Saturday and Sunday
With Jeff Katz 1630 - Tuesdays
WRVA 96.1 FM, 1140 AM
WGAN
Matt Gagnon 0730 Wednesdays
Craigs Show Airs 1700 Saturday
WGIR 610 & News Radio 96.7
Chris Ryan 0730 Mondays
Craigs Show Airs 1130 Saturday
On the Internet:
Tune-In (WGAN)
Radio.com (WRVA)
iHeartRadio (WGIR, WTAG, and other stations)